"Ano Hana" Review

     To be honest, this will probably be pretty short. I've been caught up in other things, and I'm starting to forget the show's finer points. But don't let that sway your opinion: Ano Hana (also known as Ano Hi Mita no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai whew-what-a-mouth-full) is quite possibly one of the best shows I've seen in a long while.

GENIUS: The Story is Heartwarming and Emotional
      Premise: At first, I found the story a bit odd. A troubled youth, Jinta, begins to see apparitions of a long-dead friend, Menma. When she won't go away, he seeks out his childhood friends to help him put her spirit to rest. Menma has something she wanted to do, something that is tying her to this world and preventing her from moving on. They try several different things, each grander than the last, and none of which work. In the end, Menma's wish was simple... and I won't spoil it. As the anime went on, I couldn't wait to watch the next episode. Then I reached the end... and I knew it was going to be a doozy.

And it was... oh, how it was...

     I won't lie, I cried at the end, even with my roommate giving me weird glances from across the room (rather he would have, if he had noticed me). It's one of only three anime to do so. I'm not talking about crying because my favorite character died, or because the anime isn't going in the direction I want it. I'm talking about crying because the ending struck that chord, plucked that nerve, or pulled that heartstring. I'll be the first to say I don't normally cry at the end of anything. Dumbledore's death at the end of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? Nope, not really. Captain Kirk's death at the end of Star Trek: Generations? Yeah, a little. Gandalf and Frodo leaving at the end of The Lord of the Rings? Bawled my eyes out. Okay, maybe I do cry at the end of a lot of things... but they're manly tears! Point is, Ano Hana made me cry out of affection and sympathy for the characters, not just because I'd reached the end of another good anime. Therefore, it gets a GENIUS in my book.

GENIUS: I Liked the Animation Style, Especially the OP
     I don't have to explain this one too much. The pictures I use in this review and watching the show will reveal how good the animation quality is. A-1 did a fantastic job artistically. Speaking of animation, the opening animation is one of my favorite OPs of all time... Unfortunately, those dang communists at Youtube won't let anyone upload it, and I can't for the life of me figure out how to use Nico Nico Douga. So you get a picture and the music...

     With every episode, the opening gets sadder and sadder, because, as the story is revealed, the opening starts to make sense. And it's sad... ah, you'd have to see it to understand...

Good: The Characters are Like-able... and Hate-able
     There are a wide variety of characters in Ano Hana, as with most anime dramas. Of course, you have your main, male lead insert-kun, Jinta, whose life has been pretty rough and hasn't really had much to look forward to other than a self imposed state of misery. It's not a common character model, but I've seen it around. Then you have Menma, the "girl that everyone likes". She's not too bright, but she's beautiful... at least when they were kids.

Kawaii! Wait... I mean... uh, yeah... sure, she's cute... I guess...

     You have your typical tsundere-san (character who starts out hating the main character, but then likes them, or loves them, by the end), Anaru. She likes Jinta, and always had. But Jinta has an eye out for Menma, until she died. Now Jinta's stuck in this state of depression, and she's moved on... somewhat. Then there's creepy-san, Yukiatsu, who likes the typical cool, black haired Tsurumi. But she won't show him the same affection, so he goes after Anaru...

     Wait a minute, I've got to throw this out there...

Meh: Over 9000% of Your Daily Recommended Helping of Teenage Angst
     I realize that, as a drama, Ano Hana must have some love-triangle... love-square... love-rhombus storyline bits, and that everything that can go wrong to keep them apart, will go wrong to keep them apart. Everyone has feelings but no one will come right out and confess, they have to go about it in the most roundabout way possible. Then, at one point, it becomes a cry-fest where everyone is crying and confessing to one another. I understand that this is how writers build the tension for the story, therefore making the eventual happy ending where, "everyone gets with the people we always knew they would get with", even happier; but there's just so much... angst.

Alright, every just get it all out so we can move on!

     Perhaps I don't have the patience for this sort of thing, which is why I tend to stick to action anime as often as possible. Although, most every anime tends to have a lot of inter-relationship angst, so there's really no getting away from it...

     Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah...

     I call Yukiatsu a creeper, because that's what he is. At one point, he dresses up like a girl and goes running through the forest.

Don't worry, it makes sense in the anime... as bad as that sounds...

     Besides all these creepy and angsty characters, we have Poppo. Poppo is hilarious. He is in the same boat as Jinta: he quit school at a young age. However, he has a very different reason and a vastly different outlook on life. Poppo is energetic and rambunctious. When Jinta first tries to bring the group together, he's the first one on board. When Jinta first tells them that he can see Menma, he's the first one to believe. He's a genuinely amazing dude, the type of friend everyone needs to have at least one of. Out of all the characters, I liked him the most.

Mixed: Quite a few "Adult Themes"
      I'm not talking about fanservice or nudity or anything like that. I'm talking about teenagers who are fighting the forces of puberty and love (I'll let you figure that one out on your own). True, it is a drama, and therefore it's to be expected. They didn't go over-the-top... often. Overall, I didn't find it to extreme, but it's not really an anime for children.

Picture not related. But this is about the part in a horror movie when someone dies... or gets eaten.

Final Thoughts
     Ano Hana was a "Mystery Meat" anime for me: I wasn't quite sure what to expect outside of the fairly decent ratings I saw on the internet. I knew it was a drama, but that was pretty much all I knew. I found Ano Hana to be one of the best shows of 2011 (even though I didn't get around to watching it until 2012). The story alone, although filled with teenage angst and more mature themes, was good enough to give the show a good rating. The fact that it genuinely made me tear up is another point that makes the rating higher. It was only eleven episodes long, but in those eleven episodes I came to appreciate the character's relationships with one another and their relationship with Menma. I'd watch it again in a hearbeat...

Do I Recommend It?

Yes, for fans of the same genre

(i.e. drama, tragedy, romance, slice of life, etc.)