Secret Base | Ano Hana ED

We still don’t know the name of the flower we saw that day.

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai, or Ano Hana, is an eleven-episode anime which I can guarantee you one thing: it will make you cry. Now that I have finally finished it after a few months of stalling, I find it quite stupendous that I didn’t finish it earlier. I stopped at episode 8, and when I watched episodes 9, 10 and 11, I cried on every single fucking episode. I cry on some random parts of the episodes, but I always, always cry at the ending. It’s because of this song. It’s the perfect song to set up the mood, that even if I’m fucking trying to control the tears, then suddenly this song comes up, BOOM. Good bye self control. 

Ano Hana is, albeit its slightly supernatural setting, very realistic when touching on some issues such as friendship, family, love, jealousy and pain. The common synopsis for this series goes along the lines of one group of friends who drifts apart when one of them dies in an accident. Several years later, the group is brought back together when this dead friend appears to one of them, asking that her wish be granted so she can go to heaven. It’s such a simplistic plot summary. The synopsis didn’t even warn us that we had to prepare our tissues beforehand watching. Imagine watching this at the middle of the night comfortably in your bed and you realize you have to get up to get a tissue or a handkerchief. Not cool, man. You’re likely to settle for your bed sheets or sleeve because you don’t want to interrupt the drama. That’s what I felt, anyway.

What I loved most from this show is that the characters aren’t perfect, that even though Menma was somewhat perfect in her own way (even the voice acting for her is), her friends aren’t—that they aren’t capable of being not selfish even though they honestly want to be better. The guilt that they felt when the fireworks weren’t able to send Menma to heaven pushed them to admit their “sins”, and I was surprised that Poppo had one of his own. The character development in this show was flawless for everyone except Poppo at first, which is kind of sad since Poppo seemed to lift everyone’s spirit higher when things are looking down. It’s a good thing that near the end, Poppo’s character caught up when he admitted that it’s as if he could always, only watch. Like what’s happening to his friends now. Like when Menma died.

I tried to write several paragraphs on my feelings for each character, but as I assumed, I cannot put my feelings into words efficiently so I’ll scratch the idea. But please believe me, the anime executed the character’s emotions so well that 11 episodes, though seemingly inadequate, is strangely enough. The direct to the point lines always get to me, like when Jintan told Menma to stay with him forever by the river. The ending was the best though. Pretending that they were just playing hide and seek almost made my tear ducts irreparable. 

The bright and colorful visuals presented with emotions so raw—overall, it’s an anime that I will never forget. 

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai Persuasion Post

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai, translatable to “We Still Don’t Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day” and shortly called Ano Hana, has more to it than meets the eye. Looking back at the watchlist I prepared before this anime season started, I realized that this title wasn’t even on it. I based it on the summary given on the poster, and honestly, something about childhood friends reuniting doesn’t sound all interesting to me. Anyway, it doesn’t matter since I’m a liar and of all those series I listed before, I only watched Gintama and Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko.=P

Going back to the topic at hand, Ano Hana is a series in which its circulating previews hardly do justice. Thanks to all the hype that is dedicated to it around Tumblr, I decided to give it a try. You should too, I give you my word. Within the five episodes that I have watched (myanimelist says it has 11 total), I didn’t feel as if I wasted a single second of my life for it. The pace isn’t fast, but it isn’t slow either. It’s about six childhood friends who upon the death of one, drifted apart. Jintan, their leader who became a social recluse ten years later, was suddenly troubled upon the appearance of their supposedly dead friend, Menma. Menma claims to be back in order to make her wish come true, it’s just that she can’t exactly remember what it is. Jintan can’t decide if Menma is a ghost or an illusion from his stress. I also can’t decide if Menma is real. See, Jintan is the only one who can see her. This single fact already can bring heartaches to the others as it is connected to their past, of childhood love that possibly went wrong, of jealousy, of falling apart, of the mysteries connected to her death. Five episodes have already passed but it still isn’t revealed how she exactly died. Yes, she might have drowned, but what lead to her going to the stream?

Do not expect to watch this and finish it in a happy mood. More or less, your mood will range from confused to slightly sad to depressed. I’m always on the slightly sad stage, but you know what? I feel tears coming soon. We’re not even on half of the series yet and all I can say is… this is sad.

Masterfully combining scenes from the past and present is what I applaud this series for. The opening and ending songs are pretty good too, the opening even has the ”We Still Don’t Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day” thought embedded in it. I don’t love the songs enough to download them, but I like them enough to not skip them even once.

The art is similar to that of Highschool of the Dead’s without the watermelon boobs and overzealous skin shine. I could have sworn that they have the same animator but I’m too lazy to check up on it. Stare at Anaru and Jintan and you’ll know what I mean.  

Spoilers ahead for episodes 1-5:

Basing on the way people feel invisible weights ala Shutter, it looks as if Menma isn’t a product of Jintan’s wild imagination, but who knows? Anime’s not exactly known for predictability. Plus, if Menma can eat, pick up things and even cook, why hasn’t it come to their reasons to use that to verify her realness? Really. It could be that Menma is really that of an airhead (in a good way at times) or Jintan is that convinced he’s really just imagining her, or the anime has more in store for us. I don’t think a smart and handsome guy crossdressing as his dead friend  is the last of their explosions. What about Anaru and Yukiatsu going out? Will that happen?