Introduction

Normally I like to open these reviews by saying something about how I found the show or how something about it. For School Days I had a funny story of how I saw it on twitter and thought I saw a gun so I binged it. For Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai I asked a question directly relating to how fucking weird the characters are. For Anohana, I have no such story, I saw someone mention it off-handly in a video and grew curious, so I watched it.

People often say curiosity killed the cat, and it normally does. Fortunately this time it not only didnt kill me (thankfully), it gave me a new perspective on grief and growing past it. Obviously I'm being a bit dramatic, I'm not going to say that I 100% know how to grow past tragic events, but it offers a unique perspective that I really never considered. If you want to read the rest of my take on this one-of-a-kind anime, keep reading.

Also warning for spoilers, if you want to go in blind stop reading now thank you.

Plot

In case you wanted a reminder, the story revolves around our boy Jinta Yadomi who talks to this girl called Menma, however no one can see her for some reason. I doubt its for any serious reason though.

A little while later, we find out Menma is actually just dead. Yep, shes a ghost who can't move on because the group Jinta used to be apart of the with Menma, called Super Peace Busters disbanded when she died.

The rest of the anime revolves around all the people in the Super Peace Busters, Jinta, Anaru, Poppo, Yukiatsu ,Tsuruko and Menma as they confront this tragedy head on together, grow past their traumas and move on to a brighter future.

Thoughts

Normally I'd split this into different sections like music and animation, but honestly those are meaningless in this show. Yes the music is good, and the animation is clean, but it really doesn't matter in this anime in my very non-professional opinion.

This story is all about the characters. The main and maybe only take-away most people have is the characters, and I honestly do not blame anyone for this. The progression of Jinta from a anti-social prick with no outlook on life, no driving factor in living to someone with a clear purpose in his life, someone who wants to actually try and make himself a better person is nothing short of inspirational, even if its just a 2d person. The likes of Yukiatsu overcoming his narcissism to actually face his trauma head on, or Anaru growing from a popular girl who is a fake version of her to someone who can accept who they are for who they actually are, or even Poppo finally opening up about his guilty of seeing Menma die and being able to overcome it is something that can leave an impact on anyone.

I believe the view this anime has on grief is the most significant part for me.

Anohana is simply about grief. How to move on from our past experiences. The characters are a tool that is used specifically for this purpose. It presents the hardships of moving on for children who cant comprehend what has actually happened to them. Its important to understand that the characters are only around 15, still more mature than when they were kids but also still clinging onto the past. It shows how with time we can come to terms with what we have lost, how in life these things happen and all we can do is move on. Anohana also wants us to understand how grief truly works. That the 5 stages of grief don't really exist, according to this anime anyway, more that its a coping mechanism to distract ourselves from what has happened. We want to forget, we want to believe we have already grieved but actually we never have come to 'acceptance' because we can't. We are forced to come to terms with our true human nature and that is we never forget. We can only move on by taking this bad memory and keeping it close. Ignoring the problem, not accepting the fact we will forever stop grieving our loss and not keeping that close with us will bottle us up. It will turn us into unrecognisable, broken people who display only their worse self. It wants us to look at what we've lost and keep it close, never letting go because doing so will only lead to more pain and suffering.

In short, always keep what you've lost close so you can carry it with you and keep on living.

Conclusion

Anohana is a work of art that honestly utilises character development in the best way possible. Not just one or two, but the whole cast grows into likable people. It shows us how grief is overcome with time and what it really means, how we cant just accept but instead that we should just embrace it and move on.

This is one of my favourites of all time, and nothing will change that. Thanks for reading, stay safe and have a blessed day.

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