I've only gotten into anime in the last two months, and one thing I did at the beginning of my journey to find more shows to watch was to ask those who I knew had watched a lot of shows what was worth watching. I often got recommended Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, as a solid, short and moving slice of life show, and I finally got around to watching it after having it hyped up for so long.

Unfortunately, however, it was a little overhyped, and a lot of the criticisms I see on forums like Anilist are definitely credible. I blame myself for having such high hopes, that is true, it just wasn't anything like how I expected it would be. I do see the good in it though, if I couldn't I would definitely have rated it lower. I will start with what I think Anohana does well so if you're a super-fan of the show that doesn't want to see anything negative, you may feel free to dip out towards the end of this review.

The concept of Anohana is great. For those who don't know, Anohana is about a friend group, approximately five years after the death of one of their childhood friends. We follow Jinta, our protagonist I suppose as he becomes haunted by his dead friend Menma. However the haunt is not anything spooky, she just appears to him although she is dead. The friend group has grown apart but they try to reunite with each other after Menma convinces Jinta to get closure with his friends so her soul can rest. It's a wonderful premise.

I like the way the show made me feel, it was relaxing, the way a good slice of life should be, perfect to put on in the background while you study, which is how I usually watch my slice of life. It was paced well, animated well, character and set design are aesthetically pleasing although nothing extraordinary. It went for the perfect amount of episodes needed to tell the whole story and I liked its non-linear storytelling, it really added to the feel of the story they were trying to tell.

Okay, now on to my criticisms.
I feel like the characters have no chemistry, This is likely intentional to show how everyone has now grown up and grown apart,

Spoiler, click to view

but even at the end when everything is all happy and yay we are all friends again! Nobody works.

The characters aren't all that memorable either, and those who are are for the wrong reasons. Menma is obviously the most fleshed-out character here which is good since the plot revolves around her but everyone else is a little underdeveloped. The other female characters in this story, Naruko and Chiriko are given very little character or even purpose for being there at all, which is sad honestly. I didn't even remember the names I had to look them up.

Spoiler, click to view

Basically, their whole story is "we became bitches when we grew up and we have crushes on the boys in our friend group" which is lazy ass writing, especially for female characters

. Tetsudo has personality at least, it is a little over the top but at least he serves a purpose in this story as acting as the mediator in the group. Atsumu is interesting, and I will talk more about him in a second.

There are a lot of plot holes in this story, a few questions that aren't resolved by the end.
For instance, why does Menma haunt Jinto?

Spoiler, click to view

Is it because she likes him? Is it because he called her ugly the day she died and has been meaning to apologise ever since? If so, why isn't it the first thing he says to her? Why doesn't Menma haunt Atsumu? He even asks this question three times in the show and we never get an answer.

Spoiler, click to view

What was keeping Menma from passing on? Was it to get her friends back together? If so, why didn't she appear to them years ago? Was it to build the rocket? If so, why did she not pass on when the launch was successful?

Also what the fuck are Atsumu's motivations for dressing up like Menma and running through the forest? Are they trying to tell me it's just a grief reaction? People don't usually do that when they are grieving. I think the writers just wanted a haha funny moment and this is all they could think of.

Personally, I feel like this show could have been so much better if it was treated with a bit more respect by the writing team. It could have been the perfect coming of age, recovering from grief and loss show that dealt with these issues appropriately, but we got a show that kind of almost does that. That's been good enough for some though since I know people REALLY love Anohana. I think it's fine, pretty average, nothing crazy.