AnoHana: The Flower We Saw That Day

"I thought I could just apologize tomorrow. But that tomorrow... never came."

AnoHana: The Flower We Saw That Day starts with shut-in Jinta Yadomi surprised upon seeing Meiko Honma (a girl also known as Menma) in his room. Of course, Jinta excuses this as a hallucination due to the hot summer temperatures, as she died in an accident years earlier. To further this “hallucination” theory is the fact that Jinta is the only one who can see her. But as the story goes on, it becomes apparent that Menma returned to fulfill a wish she promised to make, and along the way bring the old group of friends (that Jinta and Menma were a part of) back together after they went their separate ways proceeding Menma’s death.

AnoHana starts off perfectly. The opening scene has Menma make her first appearance right off the bat, and it seems just as sudden to Jinta as it is to us. At the time, Jinta was just in his room playing video games, since he dropped out of school due to the trauma of his friend’s death. That’s also one thing that the creators did well: showing young adults dealing with death. As we get introduced to more characters, we can see how Menma’s death affected each and every one of the “Super Peace Busters.” Some cases are more serious than others: becoming a shut-in, changing your entire personality, and obsession. As the show goes on, it becomes perfectly clear that all of them have to face their trauma once and for all.

Though, when the first emotional moments were beginning, Menma ruined some of them. She yelled when two characters (who couldn't hear or see her) were talking, so she was less of a heartbreaker and more of a nuisance. This stops in later episodes, but it was still heavily distracting.

7.5/10- The way it handles death and coming to terms with trauma is an experience all its own.