Ano Hi Mita Hana Review

Synopsis:
A group of six childhood friends drift apart after one of them, Meiko "Menma" Honma, dies in an accident. Ten years later, the leader of the group, Jinta Yadomi, has since become withdrawn and lives as a recluse. One summer day, an older looking Menma appears before him, saying she wants to have her wish from long ago granted, though she does not remember what it is. Jinta, remembering his memories of the past, once again attempts to bring his childhood friends together and fulfilling his promise with Menma.

Review:

It’s hard to cope with the loss of someone that you were very close to, especially if that said someone was a young person. People get filled with “what ifs”, and thoughts of what could have been if that person was still here. Which is why Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai (Ano Hana for short) rings true to a lot of people who had to deal with the loss of somebody they cared about, except for the seeing ghost part, which is not possible in real life. Ano Hana is a character driven show revolving around the lives of 6 childhood friends, 1 of which died 10 years before the show takes place. Most of the characters are likable, and they all do a good job of being realistic as possible which is important in a slice of life anime. The music in the anime is one of the best I have ever heard when it comes to relating to what’s going on with the anime. I almost get goose bumps at the end of every episode hearing the song "Secret Base", it may seem crazy, but it almost feels like the anime was made just because of this song.

There was one character in the show named Yukiatsu, that I thought came off of sort of weird. Without ruining what he does, the reason I don't like him is because he is full of himself most of the time in the show. You can make an argument that there wasn't much character development until the end of the anime, but there is some of it at bits and pieces during the entire show. Also it may seem irritating to some with Menma's actions during the show on why she didn't do what she did in one of the episodes earlier, but there's a loosely solid reason why she doesn't do it in the earlier episodes. Other than those problems that I had with this anime, there's nothing else really wrong with it. 

Many people, like me, may wish that this show wasn't as short as it was, but honestly when I think more about it, the pacing for this show was really good. Even with people wanting more of this show, and being sad that it ended with 11 episodes they should be happy with the way this show ended. After seeing the ending, I couldn't think of how they could have made it better. Whoever did this shows story, truly did a good job from beginning till end. Fair warning to people who don't like to be sad, that this show will give you a web of emotions that ranges from being happy, sad, teary eyed, and yes like me even goose bumps. Hopefully with the success from this show, and last season’s show Mahou Shoujo Madoka, more people from the anime industry will start coming out with better and original concepts for anime instead of trying to get their material from already written, or drawn material like visual novel/eroge, light novels, and mangas.

5/5

Studio: A-1 Pictures Genre: Drama Episodes: 11

Original Run: Apr 15, 2011 – June 24, 2011 Language:Japanese with Subs

Article by: MDB