Anohana is a show about overly cutesy, barely grown up looking Menma, who you learn rather early fucking died, and Jinta, the main character needs to fulfill a wish nobody will ever know about. As a premise, it stands amongst the laziest I have ever seen, and I didn't need to look at the original mangaka's bibliography to know that they're a complete beginner at storytelling. But who knows? Maybe I'm just cynical, 2011 was a different era, and a lazy premise can still make something enjoyable if executed properly.
How? This premise begs a slow burn, so no flashy drawing can improve on such a dull concept. And speaking of slow burn, there's no way you have enough content out of something this dull to last 11 episodes, so expect the middle section of the anime to be filled to the brim with nothing.
Are the characters lovable perhaps? Menma is a child in the body of a teen (or basically just a taller version of her child self) and as such is extremely annoying. Jinta has the all so relatable problem of being useless at the age of 15. The female cast's struggles are all about love (Oh boy! Early anime writing of female characters! I'm not a feminist and I find this annoying.), the Vegeta to Jinta's Goku is... unhinged? Overreacting? Eh... he was alright I guess. And Krillin had a grand total of 15 minutes (slightly exaggerated, it's probably even less) dedicated to his struggles, and yet he's standing a great chance at being the best written character in the show.
Then what does this show have? Honestly nothing, watch it if you have time to waste, or if you're easy to impress. Anohana is like, baby's first cryporn so if you've never experienced a negative feeling in your life, feel free to watch this and tell everyone about how Anohana is secretly a masterpiece.
