Another ridiculously long title, but it's translated as We Still Don't Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day, but for the sake of space, we can also call it AnoHana. Now of all the anime I've seen and reviewed so far, I can honestly say something like this is a first for me, and to some it can also be a little bit of a tear-jerker.
The anime centers around 6 individuals who were in their childhood a group called the Super Peace Busters. The story starts off on present day, but back then, one of the members, Meiko Honma dies in an accident, which somewhat triggered the drifting of the group. Years later, the former group leader, Jinta Yadomi, has become a hikikimori, with a drastic change in outlook, appearance, and behavior than his energetic childhood self. Isolating himself from the world, it's on a certain summer day that the departed comes back to him, looking slightly matured from back then. For him, time has ceased, but after hearing so from Meiko, or Menma, Jinta, called Jintan, gathers his now estranged friends to help not only recall her wish, but also fulfill it. However, this doesn't come without conflicts, whether it's from them, or the Honma family. To Jinta, she is nothing more than the Summer's Beast, but his inward feelings say otherwise. To help her move on, he must fulfill her wish, but does he really want that to happen? And what of their friends? With each bearing different conflicts with one another, will they ever reconcile through all of this?
Another fairly young anime from last year, it concluded with only 11 episodes that aired between April and June. It was never dubbed in English, and to my understanding is still without a U.S. license, but as with most newcomers, it was streamed via Crunchyroll. Made in the A-1 Pictures studio, the subsidiary of Aniplex also brought out titles like Working!! and Birdy the Mighty: Decode. Jinta's voice is covered by sieyuu Miyu Irino, while Ai Kayano covers Meiko. A slice of life drama, it also has it's share of romance, as well as tragedy. Galileo Galilei provided the opening theme to this anime, who also did such for the ongoing Mobile Suit Gundam AGE anime.
As short as it is, there was nothing I disliked about it. AnoHana had me in from start to finish, though in all honestly, for a while I passed up on it until just recently. It didn't amaze me, but it had me focused, so I say a 7 of 10 here. Not great in my opinion, but it is a beauty of one, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if there was talk about it somewhere.
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