Back to ajisai's Profile ajisai's Profile

I watched the movie immediately following the anime and found that it added a lot to other perspectives of other characters I felt was missing.

What I like about the series is that it's realistic. It doesn't hit you over the head in a direct way about feelings/motivations/thoughts. It's very Japanese in it's indirectness.
A lot of anime are quite unrealistic when it comes to characters blurting out everything which just doesn't happen in Japan. A lot of people are meant to "read one another's minds", which as we know doesn't really work- but it's so Japanese. Hence you have certain characters with unrequited feelings and issues.

The ... anime showed great contrast in their maturity since being children, but it didn't make them too mature. They're still a group of teenagers who have a lot to learn about life and relationships. I loved that things weren't wrapped up neatly with a definitive bow. One of the characters states that in the future they might state their feelings, and especially for a Japanese character it felt so real.

Not a spoiler per se, but if you pay attention in the original anime, several times it shows Menma's mother's name to be Irene- so Menma is essentially a "haafu" half Japanese which is a big deal in Japan.

They don't go into great detail except that it is a point which affects her life in one way or another. If you're not familiar with Japanese culture it might go over your head. Even if you're born in Japan, and are half Japanese (or even not Japanese ethnically) a lot of people will treat you like an outsider.

They elaborated ever so slightly more in the movie with a few scenes without beating it over our heads and I appreciated it as a characterization point.