Ano Hana is the best anime i have seen to date, and is the main reason i got into watching anime. I was always hoping for another dose of ano hana in a new story, but i have yet to find an anime that can compete in Ano Hanas genre. Ano Hana is an extremely sweet story of friends gathering again, and their previous 'leader', jintan, overcoming his social phobia. Don't listen to haters, and watch this anime for yourself. My review focuses on the haters points and shows how utterly refutable they are and talks about what is good about this anime. There are different messages one can infer from this anime, some cheesy ones like not to take anything for granted, to deeper ones, like to seize the moment and live life to its fullest. I enjoyed this anime because of its innocence (uh...please ignore the 100% random few sec of fan service in the first episode) and love triangle type themes. These characters are all depressed and its easy to see why as you keep on watching. But, like in reality, they don't always show it. The portrayal of the characters was perfect, in my opinion; from the 'airhead' type innocence that is Menma to the dimwitted/pure Popo, each character is severely effected by the events that took place in their childhood, and each effect is at least implied, it won't take too much thinking too see how each character is effected. The effects seem superficial at first, but once you dig a little deeper, you can really get a sense of how these characters felt. This anime really let me feel the emotions of each character, and it was easy to imagine why they did something or how they felt at a specific moment. This anime took full advantage the fact that it was an anime, and lets you imagine how epic life would be with a sound track, and the innocent type art really falls into place in this anime, blending in with the characters and story line flawlessly.
Criticizing..the haters.
The hate this anime has been receiving is ridiculous, they mull over idiotic things that actually made the story better for me. If you want to watch, IMO, one of the saddest and sweetest anime ever, watch ano hana. if you hate romance/tragedy-drama, watch it anyways, maybe you'll come to your senses when exposed to this masterpiece. You really shouldn't expect heavy ecchi in this anime or any kind of hard core action crap. This anime would best be described as an intense burst of innocent love, though contradicting as it may sound.
Personal Criticism.
I found the ending slightly repetitive, not about what the did that entire last episode, but the writers couldve held back from ****SPOLIER*** using that "It's the kind of love when i want to marry you" line until the end, it wouldve had a greater impact. That was the only flaw i found in this anime, and this is considerably small. Even with this "flaw", i still crie-- uh, I was sad and amazed by this anime.Warning- I watched w/o break all 11 episodes right away, just captivated with this anime, so you should start watching in the middle of the day. Haters please read on to get your arguments whipped to pieces.
Yeah, whipped. Like whip cream. I'll frost your Ano Hana hating asses.*** Light story line spoliers may be up ahead***
General Storyline Haters Here!
This could have been presented without supernatural events but that wouldn't be as exciting now would it? It would've been dragged on longer and he would've never realized in certainty of her love for him. As he did know this, he was able to move on in his life and seek out new love instead of mulling over her and how she never found out about it. Without the supernatural element, this would've been another boringly surreal slice of life anime. Even with the amount of hate Ano Hana was receiving now, it is still ranked 21. Without supernatural elements, i wouldn't have rated this a 10, or even a 9. I would've likely categorized it with 5cm per second, which was good in it's own aspects, but definitely unable to compete with Ano Hana. Ano hana is actionless, yet it has supernatural factors. That puts it in a class of its own. There is honestly no anime that can compare to Ano Hana because Ano Hana is extremely unique in its story line. Cross game has this action theme to it, which obviously makes it a longer anime. You can't compare action to non action. Both have their own pros and cons. If you just LOVE action and can't get enough of it, try to be more open minded. Just because guns and knives don't go flying, doesn't mean you have to go " HUR DUR, HATE, HATE, HATE HATE *goes into Zero Chant beat*. "
"UNORIGINAL DESIGNS BLAH BLAH BLAH" HATERS HERE.
Hey, yeah. What colour is YOUR hair? You stay home all the time? Do you have a friend you were in love with die? Didn't fking think so. This characters are definitely original. If you just focus on the art, then i have to say how horrible your sense of...anything is. The characters are kind of soft looking, but remember- this anime is an INNOCENT romance. Every char with hourglass figures and bulked up builds- not as innocent... Show me an anime like Ano Hana, and ill show you my foot up your ass after i prove that your anime is almost NOTHING like Ano Hana. Take a second note- I'll be showing the foot-ass motion so you're gunna be in a HORRIBLE position, therefore, i suggest you think a bit before trying prove me wrong. Action is NOT comparable to nonaction like Ano Hana. Saved about 80% of you haters now didnt i? Better yet, just don't compare anime. They all have unique storylines and different characters. I just saved around 10% more now didnt i?
Obviously the remaining 10% are gunna be stupid. Hopefully you read my review on haters BELOW before you try to be even dumber.
Character Haters Here!
I have to say, when looking around at the hate, most is character centered. You all realize that she DIED while they were CHILDREN, right? If you remember the episode in which they were talking about how they felt it was their fault), and popo, who WATCHED HER DIE you would realize how heavy a burden it was on them. They all went through years thinking it was them that inadvertently caused the death of one of their most loved friends. You'd have to have a heart of stone to not carry that around with you. "Oh shit, i killed her D: *2 seconds later* Oh well, let's eat some candy :D." Awesome. Let me know when that type of story is out and ill jump off the CN Tower (yeah im Canadian, deal with it) and fly. Now, before some people say, "Yeah, EXACTLY. CHILDREN. They wouldn't be too sad for very long." Can i ask why the hell not? According to Freud and several other psychologists, childhood is the PRIMARY stages of psyche development. LEARN A BIT ABOUT HUMAN DEVELOPMENT BEFORE TALKING ABOUT HOW UNREALISTIC SOMETHING IS. One argument " Instead of focusing on them, the show focuses on them and their relation to Menma, downplaying all of their own personal character in favor of them revolving around Menma." directly relates to this. I have to point out, their personal character was developed BECAUSE OF their relation to Menma. They wouldn't have developed the way they did if they were all friends and happy now would they? None of these characters remain the same. They all have a dark depressing side that effected them severely in their lives. If you watched this anime, and i mean really watched it instead of look for flaws the entire time just because you don't like lolis or something, you wouldn't be able to come up with any decent arguments in character development.
"TOO UNREALISTIC" HATERS HERE!
Ano Hana had realistic elements to it. The treatment of Jintan, and how the other friends drifted away and developed was very realistic in my point of view. Jintan was in love with her but he never told her. This resulted in him shutting him self off from the world in the supposed mind set of "I won't let the world tell me or effect me in anyway since i didn't get a chance to effect Menma".Anaru and Tsurumi suffered from a kind of inferiority complex. Both the objects of their affections like Menma better. They both developed in their own ways through there on interpretation of how to get closer to their loved ones. Popo SAW her DIE. He dropped out because of that! One of his best friends DIED right in front of him and he got screwed up because of that. I'd have to say thats pretty realistic. And Atsumu- well, typical 'cool' guy with a secret right? He loved his childhood friend, and she didn't like him, even though a lot of other girls would kill to be with him. Of course hes going to be obsessed with the one girl he couldn't get and wanted. Also please note- WHO LIKES COMPLETELY REALISTIC ANIME? Honestly. Thats like watching a BORING JERSEY SHORE; AND JS IS BAD ENOUGH. Can you imagine the horrors a BORING one will bring?! Anime is for watching unrealistic and uncommon events in our mundane lives. Which Ano Hana portays. Ano hana was good and still is good because it combined both the realistic and unrealistic, implying even our own lives could be as...EPIC... as these ones. *Super cheesy music HERE* All you have to do is put your all into life.
P.S. Get some tissues.
P.P.S. Not that i cried. It doesn't count if the tears don't hit your face.
P.P.P.S. What the hell does ps stand for anyways...
P.P.P.P.S. lol, pp. And if you rate this lower than 10, then you're a.... you're a filthy justin bieb**.
