Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

Anohana is one of the most slow paced anime I have ever seen, but still you would not find yourself getting bored. The story revolves around an incident that happened 10 years ago with a group of friends. A tragedy occurred in which the life of a young girl was taken. After that grievous incident, the rest of the friends barely kept in touch. But 10 years later, the spirit of the dead comes to ‘haunt’ Jintan. Menma, who had died the unfortunate death appears as a ghost because she wants a wish granted, which she is unable to recall.

The story goes on depicting the different characters of the friends, and how they react in the situations they face. Even though you can watch the show without using your head much, I couldn’t help noticing the meticulous way the characters were so carefully designed. For example, how a certain character plays his or her part as though a real person would if they had the same kind of personality. For most people (though I can’t really say for sure), Menma stands as the star of the series. I feel so too! I am not sure if it is her divine innocence, or her sympathy that makes me like her. The character who is generally in the shadow of the others is Anaru. The first time that I watched Anohana, she didn’t leave such an impression on me, but now I could see her pure intentions, although selfish but she admitted them like the others. She is one of the friendliest characters in the group. Although, there’s one thing that gets to me every time. Her hair! It looks a weird (not that I should be saying anything, you should see my hair).

Tsuruko is the prudent type. If they would have shown her with a better sense of dressing, she would look great. Honestly, am I the only one who finds her cute? She hangs out with Yukiatsu, I will not reveal anything else. Yukiatsu on the other hand is short-tempered, and has a big ego. But he’s passionate about the things he loves and consistent at academics. Poppo is a carefree person. He never fails to make the atmosphere lively. He loves travelling.

One of the things that I would like to point out is the rocket. Everyone thinks that that is Menma’s wish, but even after all the hard work that went into making it, it turns out that it really was not her wish to begin with. To me it seemed kind of pointless.

In the first few episodes, Menma had made her point clear, that the wish that she wanted to be granted would only be possible when everyone was together. But later, as it turned out the wish was granted by Menma herself.

The revelation at the end of the show was that, a spirit which was barely a physical entity in the world could unite old friends, and sort out some really deep emotions. I find that conclusion wonderful. Anohana is one of the most fun-to-watch anime.