Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day - Reviews

Was a great and somewhat surprising experience. I was expecting it to be good and all but not that good since its only 11 episodes long as I thought it won't sink into me that much, boy was I wrong.

IT was a really touching, emotional and satisfying anime. Focusing on a loss of someone special and friendship. The execution was great. 

The soundtrack was amazing, especially the song that always played at the end of the episode, really took the scenes to new heights. DEM FEELS all around. 
Loved the animation/art too, really detailed and beautiful.

It felt kinda similar to Angel beats in some ways. 
Definitely a must watch for everyone.

8.7/10

SPOILER FREE

I'm very on the bench with this anime. I did go into it with high expectations, expecting to cry my eyes out. (Personally I cry really easily to anime) But this only made me tear up a little but there is a little more to what I'm saying. 

First of all it's frustrating. It is really really frustrating. The characters them selves and how they act and deal with their emotions and generally just how the whole plot was planned. 

But with saying that this is a sort of key factor that a lot of people either hate or love. Let me explain. 

For me the obvious meaning was to process grief properly (Which sounds a lot easier said than done but believe me it is not) and this anime really highlights the importnace of grieving properly and healing. So yes the charcters have some major faults but you have to take into account how old they are and the trauma that they have experienced. 

I also noticed that this anime does what similar animes that are usually ranked around the 6/10 mark do and I call it the carrot on a stick. Which is when an anime has an obvious question that must be answered. It's always there no matter what but you have to wait till the end of the anime to figure out the answer. 

EXAMPLE IN THIS CASE 

The carrot on the stick was "What is Menma's wish?" 

It was burried under "Why does everyone feel guilty?", "What are they hiding?" and many other questions that kept the anime going all the way till the end when they finally reveal the question. To cover my own ass from the die hard Anohana fans (that cut you when you say anything constructive about this series) I think carrots on a stick work really well somtimes. But other times you get this outcome. Where the entire anime relies on my curiosity to figure out the answer and not my enjoyment of watching the show (At least in my case) 

I watched this anime due to the reputation and my dying urge of curiosity and was well dissapointed. BUT LET ME JUST SAY!

This anime could really help you. I think depending on how you feel, you could really relate and heal in your own way.

So in conclusion hehe. This anime in my opinion will connect well with you, if you need it. And if you can also get over Menma being the most annoying anime character alive in the first two episodes (Don't come for me Loli fans, having someone push me around and cry "Ramen, Ramen" and "Egg soup, Egg soup" does not sound fun. I get that she's supposed to be a little kid but adding those weird sexual scenes that yes once again I understand she's a kid and she doesn't understand sitting on his lap and coming out of the shower will arouse him. It's still disturbing and doesn't take away how annoying she is) 

SPOILER DISCUSSION 

1. Unnecesary yet necesary issues!

EXAMPLE IN THIS CASE 

One thing that was very frustrating was the others not believing Menma was really there for so long. I side with them because I wouldn't really believe my friend either but by the end of the series Menma proves her exsistence physically. So my point is you could have just done that from the start (this is the unnecsary part) but the anime justifies this by saying that Kenma only wanted her to himself which was a (necesary) action for his character. (To show his attachment to her) But making us as the audience watch Kenma work really hard, get pushed around and basically hated on by everyone was really frustrating and than when they proved her existence there were no apologies or any patch ups. (I wasn't expecting a parade but at least something). 

2. Creepy (more of my personal perspective)

This anime is creepy and I feel like I'm the only one who thinks that. The two main boy characters who are teens (And yes I understand technically her ghost form is a teen but since she died as a child and the two males particularly Yukiatsu talk about loving her in a weird obsessive way. In my head they are talking about thier love for a child (the child she was) and yeah maybe they are actually talking about her (grown up ghost body) but both options are creepy. 

3. Menma's Wish

I do feel like the plot could have been laid out a little better to make things less frustrating because Menma's wish wasn't that much of a shock. I would have never guessed it but it would have been a lot better if she started to dissapear the first time he cried or something like that. 

4. Last Minute Hugs 

This anime kind of spent a really long time establishing frustrating characters all the way to the end. I was really disturbed when they were saying good bye to Menma for the first time because even prior before the confession scene everything felt really off (which is actually a good thing meaning that the anime set up the scene really well because it was supposed to feel wrong) But for me it felt really really wrong and disturbing. I mean you're saying goodbye to this important character, your best friend when you were younger and all you can think about is how this is gonna benefit your chances of getting a GF/BF (besides poor Poppo, in my perspective he was the only one who's actions weren't frustrating and his motive wasn't either). But than we get one last episode where everyone kisses and makes up whch I get is the point of the anime but you can't really make them all frustrating up until the last minute and expect the audience to go "Oh they are all best friends now how sweet" 

I'd really like to hear what other people have to say (I sounded super mean but I love to hear other people's perspective/interpretation).

Okay, first off I would like to say thanks to the animators for such splending and heartmoving work.

I'm a guy, and even then I'm completely blown back by the impact of this story. I was moved to tears.

It is definitely a series of anime I would love to see over and over again. But for now I have to pity myself for the sorrow the story left me, and with the great enlightment it brought to me. It was one of the best series I have seen in a long time. The story gets more than 10, it beats everything and was well-composed.

 

This was all from me I leave the rest to the more professional reviewers. Though I am a normal manga/anime-loving dude I would like to say my word for this fantastisc anime. Watch it with all your heart!

 

Sayonara!

 

 

 

jinchurikii

Now it's time for a little rant,
I know this anime ranks place 8 at the charts on this site, so probably there are a lot of people gonna disagree with me.

This rant will contain spoilers, so don't read any further if you don't wanna be spoiled (you can read the recommandation though).

It may be a bit sloppy, but I just wanna point some things out.

Ok, so we have the basic premise that Jintan suddenly is able to see a ghost of Menma, a ghost of a childhood friend. That is quite nice. You also get to know a lot about his other childhood friends, how they got drifted apart from each others and what problems they bear with the death of Menma. Still fine. Of course they think Jintan is crazy when he starts saying he can see Menma. So they screw around 8 from 11 episodes with believing him/not believing him. Well well. But I've got to point out that Menma as ghost can FREAKINGLY INTERACT WITH PHYSICAL OBJECTS. There may be some hesistation due to Jintan first thinking she is just a hallucination, but keeping that up for the most parts of the series is just downright stupid! She can eat (however that works, does she have to go to the toilet too?), she is able to write in her diary but not in other books (wth!? that makes no sense at all, if she can move the pen, she can write, WHY NOT!?)

When they finally found out that she actually can convince them by showing her presence in the last episodes (at least they do), the series becomes a bit better.

By the way: Later on Jintan admits his love to Menma, she is like. "Ya, I love you,too. And I wanna marry you. But uhm... on a second thought...see ya next live, I'm gonna reincarnate." There may be reasons, maybe she knows she cannot stay. But it's delivered in a strange way.

Otherwise the anime isn't that bad, the animation is ok, the music is nice and fitting, the characters have unique part (maybe Menma was a bit too one-sided though). There are some scenes that left a smile on my face, but the show never managed to hook me like e.g. Clannad. The story isn't awful either, but sometimes some details can ruin the complete show.

If you want to watch a kinda cute story about childhood friendship, mixed up with some rougher tones of drama,grief and selfish thoughts, there is a chance you aren't annoyed by the same problems with this series as I am and are able to enjoy it.

Recommendation:

Overall I would say, watch it. Wait what..? That doesn't fit the score at all?

Yeah, personally I couldn't get myself to like it, but I was really put off by that one plot hole. I know that most people enjoy the show, so go ahead and give it a try.

Going to make this short and sweet.

Not going to lie, this anime is one that will make anyone tear up or even cry if you're more on the sensitive side. The ending really got me especially when the song started to play. Even though I was crying a bit from the eipsodes before.

Great anime.