My goodness, if you don’t know the Anime Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai otherwise known as Anohana. Then I ask you this, where you have been? What have you been doing with your Anime life, and how do you not know what this Anime is all about?
In my opinion, Anohana is one of the best Anime I’ve ever seen. I’m pretty sure it’s 4th on my favourites list. Anohana, was is an Anime that will make me cry everytime I watch it, in fact, I cannot for the life of my watch the Anime solely because the Anime hurts me too much.
Airing in the Spring of 2011, Anohana has a total of 11 episodes, is known to just under 600k people on MAL and is currently sitting with a rating of 8.57. Oh and I almost forgot, out of the 568,169 people who know of the Anime, just over 60% of them rated the Anime an 8 or higher. Pretty darn good!
Story: 9.5/10
When you experience something earth-shattering (that’s awful) isn’t the first thing you want to do is forget about it? To bury it with something, anything to get rid of those horrid memories? Don’t you just want to curl up in a ball and forget reality for maybe, ever? Years have passed since a tragic accident happened between what used to be five really close friends. How do they interact? How will they react to one another if they become forced in close proximity? Isn’t something so terrible it’s hard to speak of it without bringing up memories supposed to be left buried? Yadomi and the gang struggle to make peace with their past, all the while finding out who they are and what they mean to each other in the present.
The anime moves fast, and you have to keep up. It really was beautiful story-telling; the truth is a dark, dark secret many are willing to risk their lives to keep hidden. Many times, it’s to protect people you love or to have the burden of it on yourself. Yadomi and the gang have to learn: is it worth it to keep your true emotions hidden? Or are you actually hurting those around you for your own individualistic needs? This anime delves deeper than simple human or friendship or even love relationships. It answers questions much deeper that pervade the subconscious.
Art: 9/10
Interestingly enough, the art wasn’t gloomy. In fact, it was almost like a juxtaposition of light and dark: when Yadomi was happy, sometimes the colors flitted about between midnight and the sunshine. The characters were drawn normal, skinny, not too flashy and not too dull either. The animation wasn’t disappointing in the least. I didn’t see many flaws; however, nothing really jumped out at me. I do want to mention the facial expressions. They were accurate and went anywhere between lighthearted laughter to deadly serious in seconds. Each character had their moments, and what fantastic moments they were.
Sound: 9/10
The score is high, not because of the OP and ED, but because of the voice acting. My goodness, I have never seen such raw emotion in a voice before. The pain is almost tangible; you can literally almost empathize with every fiber of the being, even if you weren’t there and this isn’t your life. It was beautiful, really, to hear the sounds of human emotion, of raw pain, pleasure, or sadness, to creep into the voices of each character. Normally, the voice acting is pretty sub-par, but that’s because nothing compares to the depth at which these morals and lessons pierce through one’s fragile childhood heart. The OP is upbeat, a little slow; the ED is sad and depressed, almost like a love song to a deceased wife or husband. It’s not like I didn’t like them, it’s that I thought they were pretty plain, considering the weight this anime carries.
Character: 10/10
People have blasted this anime because of how “static” or “inflexible” these characters are; how they don’t change throughout the anime, and how each of them is surprisingly bland. Who in their right mind would drastically, completely change because of a trauma? I know it sounds wrong to judge others so harshly, but the reason people go into depression or turn to alcohol or drugs when they experience such trauma isn’t that they changed as a person, but because they want to get out of the past. But it haunts them, day in and day out, never ceasing to be erased from the curse and blessing that is the human memory. Yadomi exhibits this through his attachment issues; Anjou through jealousy; Hisakawa, through belongingness; Atsuma, through clinging to a hopeless past; Tsurumi through learning to let go; and Homna Meiko? You’re going to have to find out.
This fantastic anime takes average kids, high schoolers, and really brings out basic qualities of a person that can’t be changed from the past. Interestingly, it does so with accuracy and gusto, with plenty drama in between. The character score is a perfect 10/10 because they followed the human condition with such perfection I tend to never see. Something that also contributes to this rating is the fact that I too can relate to each character in the Anime.
There is something about the ending the makes me cry every time I see it, the gifs that are on the blog today gave me goosebumps as I looked at them, and I felt the emotions that were tied to that last episode. There is something about the last episode that connects with me on a personal level, I don’t know what it is, but somehow I feel connected to it.
That is why I love this Anime dearly, the ending is so beautiful you cannot help but cry. It’s an Anime that literally moves me. I’m not one to cry to Anime, but only TWO Anime were capable of achieving such goal, Anohana, and EF: A Tale of Melodies (Which will be coming soon). I really do recommend this Anime to anyone, it definitely is an Anime before it’s time.
Now, let us cry together as we watch the last moments of the Anime. ;-;
– OOCentral
T: @OOCentral
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2 responses to “Anohana | An Anime before its time”
I’m glad I was able to find you through Google+ of all things! You gained another reader for sure 🙂
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