Review of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

I found this anime to be quite good. I loved the art, the colours are vibrant and the shapes are sharp. The overall plot of the anime was interesting to say the least. I had not watched anything quite like it, especially in the slice of life/romance genre this anime appears to be of. The main plot of the anime was to be able to get Menma to heaven by fulfilling a certain wish. The initial focus was on Jintan's romantic feelings for Menma with his desire to discover and fulfil her wish but it slowly shifted towards the internal conflicts and feelings of eachof the 5 characters. Personally, I welcome this shift as it really dug deep into the core of each character and it provided an opportunity for the show to cover them and express them as much as they could. The last few episodes were a great way to end the anime with a farewell to Menma and the reunion of old and once broken friendships. It made me shed a tear and I could relate to the struggles of the characters as well. Other than that, the opening and ending were great. The ending was what made me pick up this show in the first place. My only problem with the show was that it had several tiny plot holes here and there and like why couldn't Menma or Jintan just be honest from the start and revealed there was a ghost in the first place. That part kind of bugged me and half of the episodes could have just been skipped altogether. Overall, despite those plot holes, I found the story to be quite well integrated and meaningful so it will have to fall just short of a masterpiece :')