"We'll grow up. And as the seasons rush past the flowers blooming along the roadside will change, too. I wonder... What were the names of the flowers that bloomed during that season? They trembled slightly in the breeze, felt little prickly to touch... and when you moved your nose close to them, they gave off the dress scent of sunlight. In time, that scent will fade. And we'll grow, But... I'm sure those flowers will continue to bloom somewhere. Yes. We'll go on... granting the wishes of those flowers forever."
Anohana is about a group of friends that get separated when a friend, by the name of Honma, dies and the trauma gets too much for them. We see how much they have changed over the years, and how it affects all the characters. But one day, Honmas ghost appears at Yadomis house, the main character. At first, he thinks that he is hallucinating, but he slowly realizes what is happening.
The first episode gives us a pretty good idea of what happened the day that Honma died, but it leaves things so that the characters find out more of what happened. So even though the first few minutes doesn't do a great job at setting up that Honma is dead and not just Yadomis annoying sister (at least for me), the rest was great.
As the show goes on, you get to learn more about the characters and their past. And because of that, none of the episodes feel unnecessary. Cause they either showed us something that would affect the show as it continued, or it hinted at something that would happen in a later episode. And that's something this show does really well. You might not see it first time watching. But if you rewatch it, then everything seems so planned. Like some of the animation that shows hidden feeling, that you see if you know what feelings the characters are hiding.
But something I was surprised at was how it handled the dramatic elements of the show. All the ways that the characters coped with their trauma, all felt very realistic. putting on a facade, not getting over the past and regret are all ways that the characters cope with their emotions, and it's presented very realistically. But my problem with it though is that most of them cope with the same thing. Regret. Sometimes it makes sense, cause it actually had a part in Honmas death, but some didn't. One of the characters was very emotional about wanting to send Honma to heaven so that she could accept his apology but he didn't do anything?! It got a bit annoying when everyone was competing about who's fault it was for Honmas death. Cause there has to be other ways to be affected by trauma other than feeling like it was your fault. Please educate me if I'm wrong, cause I'm interested.
My favorite scene in the movie was easily in episode 6 when Anjou comes back to school after what happened before. I don't want to say what happened, but I'll try to explain why I loved it. When Anjou comes into the classroom, you can see how the classroom starts talking about her when she comes in. And when you see her sit down and you hear everyone whispering about it, it really feels like torture. So when Yadomi stands up for her to take that attention to him, it really made me happy. It made Yadomis and Anjou's relationship feel more realistic.
And then we get to the ending, which is what got me to watch the show. I had heard so much praise about the ending. Hearing that it was one of the saddest endings in anime made me curious. And even though I liked it, it was pretty disappointing.
This is where I'm going to talk about some spoilers. So here's your warning!
I didn't get why everyone loved Honma so much. She wasn't very interesting. She just felt like the cliche cute little sister. She wasn't a terrible character by no means, but I didn't get why both Yadomi and Atsumu were in love with her when Anjou and Chiriko were both much more interesting. So when everyone started crying in the end, it just felt too melodramatic.
There were, of course, other things I liked and disliked. Like the music that set the tone very well, the sometimes bad character animation (mainly when seeing the characters from a distance. It kind of looked rushed. Otherwise it was really good), and some inconsistencies in the story. But they weren't as important to me as the things I have already said.
So if you haven't watched Anohana yet, I would highly recommend it! 7/10
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