[Anime] Ano Hana

Great ending to a fantastic anime.

However, the part where everyone cried and confessed their secrets seemed...really rushed. When Popo was bawling like crazy, I was kinda like O___O. Caught me by surprise, was a little overwhelming.

And yes, some parts of this episode were pretty cheesy. Still loved it anyway. <3

Like ZeroOBK said, AnoHana ended up missing its potential. It started off strong, but it lost the force alongside the way, and kept stumbling down. The problems primarily lay with the last three episodes, as you can see from my previous posts here. A combination of misaligned character motivations and actions, bad pacing, and far too much melodrama hurt the show really badly. It's really disappointing, as I was expecting a great show. I got a great melodrama, but only ended up with an above-average show.


And yes, I did cry.

Farewell, AnoHana. You will be remembered as "The Anime I Wish I Had Never Started Watching That Day". Not even I expected that the attempted rape scene was just the tip of the badly written iceberg that this show crashed into.

Best part of the episode: Getting trolled by thinking that Naruko's fake eyelashes were an actual animation mistake.

Worst part: Everything else, but particularly the simultaneous crying after Poppo gave his "Why I am sad" speech. It's like someone turned on the "Applause sign" for crying.

It's not a matter of "of course it's not going to." It's a matter of it should. A story must come to a close without dropping what it has decided to pick up. A show that doesn't cover its own bases is one that is incomplete and lacking.



I wish, honestly, that I could say the same. My expectations for this show were so incredibly high - I thought it might even be another Honey and Clover. However, in the end, it only ends up doing one aspect of what it "does" well: the melodrama. Character interactions, done weakly. Character motivations, done contradictory to themselves. If you consider what AnoHana "does" to be its melodrama (making you emphatic towards the characters), I can agree with you.


In fact, this is one of the shows that I do consider "short and sweet". Hell, the show was a damn well emotional rollercoaster for the most part. This does not, however, put me beyond criticizing it. Faults should be recognized where they are present, and despite being enjoyable, AnoHana has many of them.



In a story, a motivation for a character's action (or, the largest offender for me in this show, lack thereof) must be able to be clearly identified as a result of an event. It is for this reason that nothing in a story past the very first influencing actions should cause contradiction between established character and progressing character. Characters in and of themselves can be self-contradictory, yes. The great majority of people, by nature, carry contradictions - it is natural. However, there is a reason for our own contradictions. In the case of a story, we watch for resolution. Reason must be present on all accounts. By the end of a story, everything regarding plot and character must be crystal clear to the attentive viewer. This includes the grand questions like "why did ______ do ______?" or "what was the point of this scene?" Unfortunately, there are several fronts upon which these questions cannot be answered (Menma's holding off revealing her presence is the largest offender). The only things that can be justified to be left up to debate belong to the thematic and philosophical realm.



Not to mention it ruined the emotional impact the scene had for me, pushing from melodrama to hardcore melodrama.

Like [C], this show feels rushed, trying to cram in this whole story into 11 episodes. I also feel this show is way too melodramatic in certain scenes. What is with all the characters starting to cry their hearts out at the exact same time, and then cheer up 10 seconds later? That kind of killed the mood (and the ending) for me. I still think it's a good series, just a bit rushed with too much forced drama.

EDIT3: Okay finally into 10 minutes of episode 10 and I see the quick group sadness (that kinda ruined the scene for me) and then them being all happy and laugh the next moment. Yeah, I can't help but smile uncomfortably in a way.

EDIT4: I don't think in the history of things I've watched I've actually started crying because a scene was sad in a movie or tv show. This anime gets my recommendation to my friends.

EDIT5: Christ, at the rate I keep coming back to do these edits I best put them in a spoiler tag just to save space on the page.

I can't get over the Angel Beats-like ending.
I loved how the characters cried, laughed when only Jinta made a joke, and then started to cry again.