My Fandom-Filled Crazy Life

Anohana

So, yesterday I started, and finished, Anohana. Let me first say this:

Do not watch this if you don't want to cry.

Anohana is an anime with 11 episodes, all the normal length. The animation is beautiful and the color choices are breathtaking. The plot was very original and quite sweet, though a little complicated.

Summary (mostly taken from Wikipedia):

A group of six childhood friends drifts apart after one of them, Keiko "Menma" Honma, dies in an accident. Years after the incident, the leader of the group of friends, Jinta Yadomi, has completely withdrawn from society and does not attend high school and lives as a recluse. One summer day, the aged ghost of Menma appears to him and asks to have a wish granted, telling him that she can't pass on or be reincarnated until it was fulfilled. At first Jinta only helps because he thinks he is hallucinating. Since Menma does not remember what the wish is, Jinta gathers his old friends together once again, believing that they are the key to solving the problem. All of the group ends of joining him, though most do it begrudgingly. Things grow increasingly complicated when Jinta is accused 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 only seeing things. As things go further it is found that Jinta was not the only person in the group who was having troubles letting go of the past. It is revealed that each of the group members blame themselves for Menma's death and long hidden feelings are rekindled. The group struggles as they grow from trying to help Menma move on and help each other move on as well.

I can say this anime is in the top five anime that made me cry hardest. The actual list(currently) from least crying to most crying is:

5th: Fullmetal Alchemist(2003 and 2011 versions combined) because goodness gracious, the end of the 2003 version is so sad, and I got WAY to attached to the characters

4th: Naruto(Shippuden and original combined) because my favorite character(ever) died and the flashback made me cry for two episodes, then other major characters die and I'm a sobbing wreck when it comes to fictional people

3rd: Angel Beats because... well because everyone was dead to begin with! And the freaking ending of the episodes, watching them fade away one by one DEAR HADES THAT HURT

2nd: Anohana because it was freaking depressing. You read the summery, which is pretty depressing by itself, but the show was really sad. Episode 8 and 10-11 made me cry. 

1st: Clannad. Enough said(unless you don't know about the anime, which in that case GO WATCH IT).

Favorite quotes from the show:

"Everyone has changed. That's not it... the one who's changes most is me." -Jinta

"Nothing you or your friends saw will affect my life in any way, shape, or form." -Jinta

"I want to be friends with everyone until the end." -Menma

"I thought I could just apologize tomorrow, but that tomorrow.... never came." -Jinta

"I love you. It's the "I want to marry you" type of love." -Menma.

There were other great quotes, but these really stood out to me.

Anyway, I'd rate this anime a 4/5 (I'm trying not to be too generous with my ratings, but I really enjoyed it!) If you're up for crying or a good anime about friendship/getting over a loss this is a great anime for you!