Scar Talks: Anime Edition

AnoHana: The Flower We Saw That Day Review

Title: AnoHana: The Flower We Saw That Day
Rating: 10/10
Description: A group of six childhood friends drift apart after one of them, Meiko "Menma" Honma, died in an accident. Ten years later, the leader of the group, Jinta Yadomi, has withdrawn from society and lives as a shut-in. One summer day, the ghost of a maturer looking Menma appears before him and asks to have a wish granted, reasoning that she cannot pass on into the afterlife until it is fulfilled. At first, he only tries to help her minimally because he thinks he is hallucinating. But since Menma does not remember what her wish is, Jinta gathers his old friends together once again, believing that they are the key to resolving this problem. Everyone joins him, though most of them do so reluctantly. However, things become complicated when his friends accuse him of not being able to get over the death of Menma since Jinta is the only one who can see Menma's ghost and his friends think he is seeing things. But as matters progress, it is shown that Jinta is not the only person in the group who is having trouble letting go of the past. It is revealed that the other group members blame themselves as well for Menma's death. The group struggles as they grow from trying to help Menma move on and help each other move on as well.

Personal Review: Wow, what an anime. This is the first anime that has ever made me cry myself to sleep. Seriously, I stayed up until 5AM crying over it. Honestly, at first I wasn't so sure about this anime, since at the beginning it kinda made me thing it was an Ecchi anime, but as the story progressed, I realized that it was actually a saddening tale about a group of friends who are consumed with guilt for the death of their childhood friend. It was a story of forgiveness, and it makes you realize about forgiving not only others, but yourself, and I honestly can relate to that, and so I believe this was one of the greatest animes I've ever watched.

Art Style Rating: 9/10
Art Style Review: The art style for this anime was pretty decent. It appealed to me, and to be honest I am very picky when it comes to art styles. The childish characters had a childish appearance and the maturer characters had that mature look to them. They seemed to fit perfectly to the characters personalities and I believe that the art style was nicely done.

Story Plot Rating: 10/10
Story Plot Review: The story plot is unique, compared to all of the other animes out there. Honestly, the anime plot was inspiring and heart breaking at the same time, since the character development was amazingly done. Although it contained light humor, which blended everything perfectly, when it comes down to it, this show is so raw and it really pulls at the heart strings. Every single person has experienced a loss of some kind, and I think this anime is just spot on when it addresses the aftermath, the passage of time and human relations- therefore I feel all the watcher can relate to it. Even though there were only 11 episodes, I feel like the episodes weren't rushed and blended in nicely.