Depending on its execution, it can either be an endearing scene that can pull at a viewer's heartstrings, a scene that comes off as generic and uninspired or worse yet, a cringey, edgy scene that accomplishes absolutely nothing except make the viewer stare in boredom...or in extreme cases, have the opposite affect and make them laugh their heads off.
Ano Hana generally is viewed as the former by most people...and the latter by myself.
Let's not drag this out and get to the meat of this review, shall we?
The story is exactly what the premise says it is; a girl died 10 years ago, friends are now separated and now she returns as a ghost. While not necessary specifically like this, if you've been exposed to fiction in general then you've probably heard something similar to this premise.
Before I jump and bash it too hard...to its credit it does flesh out certain aspects that add to the overall narrative. For example, we get an idea of what it would be like if the ghost, say, grew up, or a limited (but still in my opinion rather shallow) view on how people would grow further from one another if a common tragic event happens.
The soundtrack is very pleasant and clearly fits the tone of the show, portraying a nostalgic, sad yet hopeful tone. In fact, I frequently listen to several tracks from the soundtrack from time to time even now.
I cannot say the same about the abysmal voice-acting, none of which sounds human and all of which sounds extremely forced. The yelling in particular that occurs over the course of the show sounds irritating and over-the-top, and not a single shred of drama in this show comes off as well-acted.
Have I mentioned just how bad the yelling is? Seriously, did the voice actors take drugs before recording?
Artwork is relatively decent, though nothing particularly special from usual A-1 Pictures fare. It's impressive if this show is one of your first anime ever, but if you've seen at least 2 other A-1 Pictures shows, then this show is nothing special in terms of character designs especially, which look exactly the same as almost every other recent A-1 Pictures show. Backgrounds look visually impressive, bringing life to the show; a lot of the scenery shots are clearly influenced by real life locations, which is always a nice touch.
Animation quality is standard fare from A-1 Pictures; pleasant to look at, has its fare share of sakuga moments, but otherwise is nothing special. It's decent and it never really drops to a level where it's intolerable to look at, but it's not a mind-blowingly great looking show either.
Now, let's get to the meat of the show; the story and characters. For convenience's sake, I'm fusing both parts into one for this, since this is supposed to be a character-driven show.
The characters are, quite frankly, plot devices. None of them feel like they behave like real people would actually behave, they're irritating and annoying; people in my eyes simply do NOT act like this. I cannot relate nor do I feel connected to any of the characters, and their behavior as well as reasons for their behavior are either incredibly basic or make little to no sense.
Speaking of that, that's ultimately my main issue with the characters; they're basic. They all feel like the worst versions of their respective archetypes, never advancing past that into becoming "people". Yes, I'm fully aware this is fiction; characters do not strictly need to act like people, but the fact this show masquerades as a character-driven show means that I do need to take that into consideration. And, in my eyes, it fails.
I do need to point out, however, that the entire show only works on a superficial level; the more I think back on this show, the worse it gets. It doesn't have any particular complex themes, resolves itself in the most basic way imaginable and ultimately bets everything on pulling in the viewers heartstrings (or, for those of us who like to use meme terms, "feels").
The issue is, it has no real merit in case that doesn't work, and this is where my views on the show and most people diverge. The show feels...empty. I didn't feel invested in it, the characters are mundane and uninteresting, the interactions feel like fluff to get to the dramatic parts without taking into consideration how to make either the interactions or the drama actually work and the story and themes are too basically presented for me to care for.
I didn't enjoy this show in the slightest, and I hold no real issue against you if you did.
You can take my opinion with the smallest pinch of salt possible.
Thank you very much for reading my review; any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.
