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「わすれてわすれないで」 (Wasurete Wasurenaide)
“Forget It, Don’t Forget”
When I was still going from K-12, after a summer break, the weeks before school started would make me feel like a man. I would think, “this year’s going to be different,” because I was somehow much cooler than I was three months ago. Then first day arrives, and I go through exactly what Jinta does. I’m in control, nobody can faze me, and I strut across school feeling like a boss. Year after year, the results are the same. The feelings go away after a couple days, maybe even hours, and I’m back to lamenting my lack of awesome. So, rather than Jinta getting any attention, he’s met with Anjou’s new-found rumors of being your local japanese highschool prostitute, presumably spread by her so-called friends. I did not see this coming (though I probably should have). However, the “friends” seem to show utter sympathy for her, and there the highschool evils are left hanging for another time I suppose. Adrenaline was definitely coursing through my veins wanting to yell out in front of the class myself if I were there, but Jinta’s the man in succeeding my wishes and doing it anyway. He just… kind of fumbled a bit too much there. I figured there’d be some major love love points raised for the tsundere, but it turned out to be short lived. Will their love ever kindle before the series is over?
It must have been years since anyone visited Menma’s house, and although they were short scenes, it said something about Menma’s mother. Other than unintentionally becoming the reason for Menma to cry again, her melancholic expression towards Jinta was a reminder that even though everyone feels they are at some fault for Menma’s death, the public somehow pins it all on Jinta. For Menma’s mother, I don’t think it’s hate, but more of lingering doubt. She wants to believe that he didn’t do it, but can’t help but scratch at the belief that it just may be possible Jinta’s the “killer.” Or maybe that was just a sad face in general. Bah. While the show mainly focuses on the group, I hope Menma’s parents eventually get the peace they need.
Incidentally, while there are tons of ideas for what Menma’s wish is, I kind of want to be ignorant and keep it somewhat a surprise, even though the important thing is for it to have an ultimate meaning. It’s a weird thought having Menma as a kid come up with a wish that has some deep truths to it several years later, but I guess she wouldn’t have come back as a ghost if it weren’t meaningful. Obtaining the diary is definitely a step closer to the truth, but if she was as lazy as I was in committing to diaries, there might not be an entry on that day. Then again, Tsuruko realizing that the meeting at the hut was all Menma’s idea surely increases the possibility. Also, I’m still not sure if Tsuruko likes Yukiatsu or not. How she came off to those two girls could be interpreted both ways. But lol at Yukiatsu making a casual joke about himself in public. Perverts running around. Hah. Dude’s got an awesome sense of humor.
I’ve noticed Jinta’s having a bit of trouble with what he thinks and what he does. What he narrates seems perfectly clear, and it’s obvious he’s avoiding the pain that still resides within, but his emotions still get the better of him, stagnating the development between himself and Menma. It’s getting a bit old by now, but it fits his NEET-like nature, reverting back to what’s comfortable whenever he finds trouble. Even so, the episode ends on a bright note. The nosebleed confusion was a clever take on the classical joke of getting them as a metaphor for a turn on. I found it particularly funny because nosebleeds don’t typically have a place in “serious” anime nor are they considered realistic, yet Anjou believes it as if it were an every day occurence. I believe there are even editorial articles written on the possibility of such a thing. Answer’s no by the way.
First spread of Anohana!
Preview
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BEST ANIME THIS SEASON!!
Yeah, this show it’s on a whole new tier by itself. It’s not even fair.
More like most overrated show this season or really most overreated since DBZ.
And for the record I’ve watched every episode except this one. Each episode was pretty bad except episode 5 which I have to admit was pretty awesome and made all the 4 bad episodes worth it.
But really, half the cast are just written really horrible for a show that tries to be realistic, and it’s not helping that two of those flawed characters are the most important (Jinta and Menma).
I simply disagree on both your points. DBZ was not overrated, it was awesome.
@ Richard: I’ve no idea s to what the hell you’re talking about! the story is great, & they DEVELOP every characters in every episode.
Anohana will problably just one of those typical animes — like what you’re used to — if they ONLY focused on 2 characters: Menma & Jinta.
Why the hatin’, man? just simply drop it if it doesn’t suit your taste
sorry I meant that for See-Key, not you Richard… My bad.
Now, if there’s only some way to delete my 2nd post -_-
Yeah, I’m with Richard on both. This is Probably the best anime this season… and DBZ was awesome. Of course I started watching anime in the 90s when DBZ was still new to Westerners… so maybe just nostalgia lingering.
@ See Key
This show’s flaw is the same as Toradora!’s flaw (unsurprising, because it’s done by the same people): I really don’t give a shit about the two main characters. The rest are really awesome, but the main two… they’re a step up from Taiga and Ryuuichi, but that is currently not saying very much.
Even so, I still stamp this show with best of the season because it’s really well-executed.
DBZ was only overrated AFTER they brought it to the States and dubbed it and cut out a bunch of stuff. DBZ is a classic awesomeness like the One Piece of the past.
@See-Key: If you don’t consider the cast of AnoHana to be realistic, then what would you consider realistic. EVERY other anime has horribly unrealistic characters as compared to AnoHana. Humans are chaotic and contradictory and emotional and horribly stupid at times, and I think AnoHana portrays that in a very raw style.
Wow… This is hilarious.
Here I was talking about how this show is overrated, and not even half a day since then you guys nearly filled the page trying to defend it.
Seriously, you know something’s overrated when people are so edgey about protecting it’s “greatness”.
I never said that this anime is horrible BTW, just that it’s (in my opinion of course) far less as great as people make it and that it definately has some major flaws.
As for what I don’t like about it, honestly there are lots of reasons really. Too much in fact for someone lazy like me to write, so I’ll just summerize;
I think everything about Popo and Jinta’s character is written horribley. Menma, while basically realistic for her position as a child-like ghost is just annoying I guess. Also technically her mere existence because it kind of upsets me they need to make it into a ghost story for it to seem serious. I mean isn’t dealing with a friend’s death sad enough without her making you do some ghost side-quest? Tsuruko… Im not quite sure yet. She has her times when she seems to be really written well and times I just don’t get where the writers are going with her, it’s too early to have an opinion on her.
So basically, Anal and Yukiatsu are the two characters that make the show for me (and occasionally Tsuruko I guess), but when the others show up I just find myself repeatedly facepalming.
Also some silly stuff pop up every now and then. Just going by EP5: Yukiatsu says he’s weak even though we saw he has a habit of jogging, was able to choke Jinta, and generally look buff???
Also, when scarring that rapist guy, his walking through an open alley… When he pretends others are coming he dosen’t even shout and the rapist still buys it?! I mean come on, you can SEE there’s no one beside him…
You gotta chuckle through some of these moments. They are ignorable though.
But there are some less ignoreble stuff like, you know, for childhood friends who haven’t seen each other for years, the group acts like Menma died last week when they first gether up in the early episodes.
I don’t hate the show which is why I can also see it’s good parts and keep following it, but it’s far from the “emotional master-piece” people seem to reffer to so easily.
Alec: Realistic is EXACTLY what you think it is. No need to act like I just divided by zero because you don’t get it. I’ll just say this, this year I’ve been into quite a number of funerals and slightly know people in similar situations. This and general expirience makes me go “in real life it wouldn’t be like this”, and stuff every now and then through an episode.
A CHALLENGER APPROACHES.
I shall deconstruct some of your arguments. While I may agree that the show is overrated (but by no means bad- people seem to assume that these terms are synonymous all too often), I believe that you may have overlooked a few things.
When it comes to whether or not a character is realistically written, it simply boils down to one’s own personal perception of them based upon the viewers personal experience; if we can somewhat relate, the characters will seem more believable to us.
I personally find most everyone in the show to be pretty damned solid, with Yukiatsu’s crossdressing habit being somewhat of a stretch. Entirely possible- yes- but ya gotta give your suspension of disbelief quite some slack for that.
Menma’s ghost element to the story is pretty much the driving force behind this tale, and serves much more than just a simple plot device; her “existence” is a major point of contention within the characters, and helps flesh out the others quite nicely.
When Yukiatsu said that he’s weak, has it never occurred to you that he was speaking of psychological/inner strength?
If you were the rapist, would you be willing to gamble on his bluff? When the consequence is a trip to the slammer, you’d want to think twice.
As for how strongly Menma’s death is affecting the group; seems to me rather obvious that this is an issue that they have largely tried to shut out until recently. None of them have visited her family since, and each of them have tried to cope with it in their own ways; either by running/hiding from it, like Poppo, Jinta, and Anaru; ignoring it, like Tsuruko; or deluding oneself, like Yukiatsu.
Only when they started hanging out again have they really begun to acknowledge the fact out in the open.
Also- just having been to a few funerals does not validate your opinion upon the matter in any way (having been to several myself). You have to treat these thing case-by-case, and in this case- we’re dealing with a group of teens who have had a precious friend of theirs stolen away from them at a very young age- and each and every one of them holds themselves somewhat responsible for the accident. You have to view this from a child’s perspective; an age where things have a very large and lasting impact. Trauma.
So, yes- while the show may be perhaps overrated- these where just a few things I wanted to point out.
Also- people have a tendency to overrate almost anything; How many times have you seen the words “epic” or “best thing ever” thrown around for what are really, rather mundane things?
“When he pretends others are coming he dosen’t even shout and the rapist still buys it?! I mean come on, you can SEE there’s no one beside him…” What do you expect? it’s an anime!
what would you rather Yukiatsu do? call the cops?
“More like most overrated show this season or really most overreated SINCE DBZ”
How bout Gundam Seed & Code Geass? has it ever occurred to you that both of those animes are overrated. I agree Anohana is somewhat overrated… Buy why do you bring up a crappy overrated anime like DBZ? The scales of their overrated-ness are completely different
“When it comes to whether or not a character is realistically written, it simply boils down to one’s own personal perception of them based upon the viewers personal experience; if we can somewhat relate, the characters will seem more believable to us.
I personally find most everyone in the show to be pretty damned solid, with Yukiatsu’s crossdressing habit being somewhat of a stretch. Entirely possible- yes- but ya gotta give your suspension of disbelief quite some slack for that.”
Thank you captain obvious.
My point was that for me, from my POV based on my expirience, some of the characters were pretty unrealistic.
“Menma’s ghost element to the story is pretty much the driving force behind this tale, and serves much more than just a simple plot device; her “existence” is a major point of contention within the characters, and helps flesh out the others quite nicely.”
Why are you going about telling me random facts?
My point was that I was upset BECAUSE Menma’s existence as a ghost was the force behined the tale.
“When Yukiatsu said that he’s weak, has it never occurred to you that he was speaking of psychological/inner strength?”
WHY should it occur to me?! He is OBVIOUSLY talking about physical strength!! This argument is just silly…
“If you were the rapist, would you be willing to gamble on his bluff? When the consequence is a trip to the slammer, you’d want to think twice.”
Gamble on what again? YOU COULD SEE THAT THERE WAS NO ONE BEHINED HIM!!! PLAINLY!!! HE WASN’T EVEN SHOUTING!!!
And honestly he hasn’t actually done any raping and I doubt what he did would actually get him to court, he just touched her butt!! so so much for this far-fetched “slummer” excuse.
Seriously, most of my points are subjective, but these last two? They’re bad writing no matter how you look at it.
Now, the mature thing to do would be to look at these, go “lol” for a second and then move on. There’s hardly any anime that dosen’t do small screw ups every now and then. Giving over-analytic far-fetched excuses just proves what kind of no-brainer fan you are.
Youre attitude basically stands for “Im gonna turn off my brain if it means I’d have to accept my golden show has a flaw”.
“As for how strongly Menma’s death is affecting the group; seems to me rather obvious that this is an issue that they have largely tried to shut out until recently. None of them have visited her family since, and each of them have tried to cope with it in their own ways; either by running/hiding from it, like Poppo, Jinta, and Anaru; ignoring it, like Tsuruko; or deluding oneself, like Yukiatsu.
Only when they started hanging out again have they really begun to acknowledge the fact out in the open.”
Again… What’s your point?
Why are you telling me this stuff like I haven’t watched the show?
Did you even understand what I ranted about?
I didn’t rant about the kids avoiding thier problems. I rant that them talking so naturally with each other after YEARS of not talking BECAUSE of this running\hiding was silly. Would you speak so naturally with someone you haven’t talked since kindergarten?
“Also- just having been to a few funerals does not validate your opinion upon the matter in any way (having been to several myself). You have to treat these thing case-by-case, and in this case- we’re dealing with a group of teens who have had a precious friend of theirs stolen away from them at a very young age- and each and every one of them holds themselves somewhat responsible for the accident. You have to view this from a child’s perspective; an age where things have a very large and lasting impact. Trauma.”
Are you purposely trying to paint me as some over-confident snob?
I didn’t try to validate my argument, all I meant to say is these expiriences in my personal life is what makes me think the show’s unrealistic at times.
But you know since we’re on the subject anyway; this argument also dosen’t make much sense. If a tale is set in the same situation you yourself expirienced, then by all means you’d know to tell if it’s realistic or not.
Im not saying this about myself because my sort of expirience is hardly first hand as I thankfully never lost anyone but I watched people close to me lose someone, but someone who did would definatly be able tell what is or isn’t realistic.
Also death causes trauma at any age.
““When he pretends others are coming he dosen’t even shout and the rapist still buys it?! I mean come on, you can SEE there’s no one beside him…” What do you expect? it’s an anime!
what would you rather Yukiatsu do? call the cops?”
Um, yes?
You too have a “turn off my brain for the show’s glory mentality”.
“How bout Gundam Seed & Code Geass? has it ever occurred to you that both of those animes are overrated. I agree Anohana is somewhat overrated… Buy why do you bring up a crappy overrated anime like DBZ? The scales of their overrated-ness are completely different”
That’s just my view of it. Don’t take it too hard.
“Why are you so anal about the small stuffs? You pick on every minor detail. Just enjoy it like the rest of the people here.”
Because Im too lazy to say more about the big stuff. Hence I summerize.
And I already said I overlook the small stuff and enjoy the series.
And again overrated=\=bad.
@See Key
I see you’d rather watch your lovely moe animes rather than this one, which is slice of life. Good luck to you sir, and grow up. Obviously you don’t know reality. And I believe you don’t even have many friends, because I bet my ass you’d find at least one funny and carefree person like Poppo in every state, probably even in your school.
SliceOfLife is A-Channel, Nichijou and Iroha (up to now). Ano Hana NOT Slice of Life, it’s Seinen Drama.
Stating that Ano Hana is badly written is like saying that Super Mario 64 has bad controls. When the writing (or whatever) is the best part of a show, saying otherwise will make you look stupid.
Ano Hana NOT realistic, you have a ghost fooling around. So what?
Let’s see some “best anime ever” tier shows: FMA:B, Evangelion movies, Summer Wars, Gurren Lagann, etc. Anyone of those are realistic? Fuck no. Realism does not mean quality, it’s stupid to think like that. Very few anime shows try to be realistic, fewer turn out to be good (5cm/second, Nodame Cantabile, ¿MONSTER?). Realism is boring because Reality is BORING.
Well, I don’t really like to argue point per point because it leads to terri-bad tl;dr wall texts discussions like the up here. I’ll just try to clarify one point: The Anaru-LoveHotel situation development was a pretty smooth. The pedophile (not rapist) realized that Yukiatsu knew his intentions and was kinda mocking him. Pedophile LEFT as he could no longer go unnoticed when entering the love hotel with a minor, who was already reluctant to go with him. Bad writing? No.
It’s perfectly fine if you don’t like the show.
Correcting a posting mistake:
“AnoHana is NOT realistic, So What?”
Relevant link to Ano Hana’s potential: http://tinyurl.com/ofavd3
“Stating that Ano Hana is badly written is like saying that Super Mario 64 has bad controls. When the writing (or whatever) is the best part of a show, saying otherwise will make you look stupid.”
So what youre saying boils down to “if you don’t think my golden show is good, youre stupid”?
Wow.. You sure showed me. What spot-on remarks~ What insight~
What a rabbid dumb fanboy…
“Let’s see some “best anime ever” tier shows: FMA:B, Evangelion movies, Summer Wars, Gurren Lagann, etc. Anyone of those are realistic? Fuck no. Realism does not mean quality, it’s stupid to think like that. Very few anime shows try to be realistic, fewer turn out to be good (5cm/second, Nodame Cantabile, ¿MONSTER?). Realism is boring because Reality is BORING.”
Read your first few animes then the second. THESE ANIMES ARN’T MEANT TO BE REALISTIC!!
They come from genres that don’t try to be, which is why it’s silly to judge them by realism!!! But AnoHana and youre other list of animes are different, they are drama anime that YEARN to be as realistic as possible!!! Saying it’s stu[id to look at realism as quality when that’s exactly what the show’s going for is just silly and ludicurous.
“Well, I don’t really like to argue point per point because it leads to terri-bad tl;dr wall texts discussions like the up here. I’ll just try to clarify one point: The Anaru-LoveHotel situation development was a pretty smooth. The pedophile (not rapist) realized that Yukiatsu knew his intentions and was kinda mocking him. Pedophile LEFT as he could no longer go unnoticed when entering the love hotel with a minor, who was already reluctant to go with him. Bad writing? No.”
Oh sure, say that and open a scapegoat for yourself because you can’t really argue.
Pedophile? He doesn’t seem that much older then her…
And that argument is just over-analyzing. The anime clearly made it seem like Yukiatsu’s bluff scared him.
Seriously I started this whole argument saying this show is overrated, and guess what? All of you proved my point by being so bent on purifying it’s name, even though some of my remarks were really small ignorable stuff.
And for the record, I mentioned a number of times I like the show, Im just not so devoted is to shut off my brain whenever the story becomes quirky.
@See Key Not going to argue whether this show is overrated or not since there’s no standard anyway to decide whether a show is overrated or not.
“Gamble on what again? YOU COULD SEE THAT THERE WAS NO ONE BEHINED HIM!!! PLAINLY!!! HE WASN’T EVEN SHOUTING!!!
And honestly he hasn’t actually done any raping and I doubt what he did would actually get him to court, he just touched her butt!! so so much for this far-fetched “slummer” excuse.
Seriously, most of my points are subjective, but these last two? They’re bad writing no matter how you look at it.
Now, the mature thing to do would be to look at these, go “lol” for a second and then move on. There’s hardly any anime that dosen’t do small screw ups every now and then. Giving over-analytic far-fetched excuses just proves what kind of no-brainer fan you are.
Youre attitude basically stands for “Im gonna turn off my brain if it means I’d have to accept my golden show has a flaw”.”
I’m not sure if you know about Japanese social value or not, but in Japan, just accidental touch to a girl against their wish can be considered “chikan” or pervert and you can get locked up because of that. The man, which from his outfit definitely not a delinquent who’s used to dealing with cops, might be panicking inside when Yukiatsu do that and unable to think clearly that he thinks the best thing to do is just bail, not to mention he might be not sure if he can face Yukiatsu alone.
“WHY should it occur to me?! He is OBVIOUSLY talking about physical strength!! This argument is just silly…”
He could also be being sarcastic when he says this. After all, we do see his tendencies to comment sarcastically with Tsuruko. Maybe he does that calling friend act because he thinks it’s the best way to solve the problem without anyone getting hurt, after all, he’s an honor student from a good school(even if it’s just a front), and a fight will surely get him expelled and lose his bright future.
Anyway, apart from your sound argument, do you need to sound so snobbish when responding to Stranger’s argument? It’s not like he(or she) attacked you personally, he/she just tried to giving argument.Is being polite when arguing such a hard think to do?
Your are claiming that the show is overrated by putting that show’s best aspect as a card to uphold your point. The whole argument is just silly.
I see you as an angry kid whose favorite shows aren’t as popular as you wished for. The “DBZ is overrated” statement reveals your ignorance about anime in general.
Then again, the only one who gave a fuck about you was “Stranger”.
PD: Last post about this, don’t really want RandomC to transform into another of the many flaming-kids forum.
See Key, I can accept your reasons, even though I don’t think the characters are poorly written, you made it clear and reasonable why you don’t like it. However, there are two things about Yukiatsu, that I don’t accept with you: he was able to scare the bully – or whatever he is – because the bully was drunk and didn’t want to take the risk being caught. As about his strength: he said, that he is smart and cool, yet not particularly strong. You said, that this is not possible, because he is jogging and he also choked Jintan. Well, jogging won’t make you stronger, it just increases your stamina. I’m jogging too, for a couple of years now and I’m riding bicycle too, yet I’m not a bodybuilder and Jintan is not one either, that’s why he was able to choke him.
I hope I made sense. 🙂
Why are people even responding to this bait?
I could say that i know over a thousand cases of 6 year olds that had the same experiences as the characters in AnoHana and the reacted in exactly the same way as that in the anime. Its totally like 1000%(LOL) realistic dude!
So does that make me an expert (LOL)? Am i even telling the truth (obviously not) or trying to pull the “expert opinon” aka appeal to authority fallacy (obviously)?
What i can say though is this: http://www.family-focus.org/talkback/The%20Post.htm
@Aiueo: “I’m not sure if you know about Japanese social value or not, but in Japan, just accidental touch to a girl against their wish can be considered “chikan” or pervert and you can get locked up because of that. ”
Let me just ask, have you been to japan?
Either way Im not gonna reply to those two small flaws argument. My opinions not gonna change and it dosen’t really matter much anyway. From the begining I already said these flaws are ignorable, it’s just sad how many people tried to argue with me over these stuff. So desperate to paint this show as perfect.
“Anyway, apart from your sound argument, do you need to sound so snobbish when responding to Stranger’s argument? It’s not like he(or she) attacked you personally, he/she just tried to giving argument.Is being polite when arguing such a hard think to do?”
Yes, yes it is hard when some 10 posters bash me for merely stating my opinion, after which some guy (stranger) that didn’t even get half of what I said trys to argue with me and explains in detail the most obvious stuff like I haven’t watched the show myself.
While not rude his post was infuriating all the same and I ain’t a saint, my paitence are not too long, so call me a bad person but I got annoyed.
“Your are claiming that the show is overrated by putting that show’s best aspect as a card to uphold your point. The whole argument is just silly.”
Youre repeating yourself. And making just as much sense as the erliar post.
Your ignorance in believing that whoever dosen’t like that aspect as much as you is stupid is immature and sad.
“I see you as an angry kid whose favorite shows aren’t as popular as you wished for. The “DBZ is overrated” statement reveals your ignorance about anime in general.”
Oh sure, go twist reality when someone says bad things about you.
Because it’s impossible for me to dislike certin parts about the show or DBZ and not be a stereotyped case of “ignorant kid who hates all and is hated by all” huh?
Seriously this sort of childish attitude isn’t much less pathetic then the actual type of kids you try to put me as so easily.
@See Key Yes I have, albeit only for around a month or so, and my Japanese is good enough to converse casually with a native Japanese person. And I also have a native Japanese friend who I still keep in contact with. It’s from him that I got the info about even an accidental touch on a crowded bus or train can be considered a “chikan” action and get caught by a police when the woman who feel victimized report it(it’s rare, because usually the woman will politely tell the suspect first, but there’s been such cases reported in the newspaper according to said friends), and in such cases, usually the woman’s version of the story is considered more by the police rather than defense of the accidental perpetrator.
I’m not challenging your other argument beside these 2 because you already clearly said that the other arguments is subjective, but on this matter, I’m just trying to point out that in such situation, the man could be panicking when Yukiatsu do that sloppy act and end up buying the bluff because of how the Japanese society works.
BTW, I’m not saying that the series is without flaw, but for me the flaw is minor enough that it doesn’t deduct any enjoyment from me when watching it(except about the ghost things I guess)
@SeeKey: Dude, I was agreeing with you. I was just providing alternative input. You can’t simply take these things at surface value.
By throwing insults around with such airs,I’m not- as you say “purposely trying to paint me as some over-confident snob?”- but rather you have exposed yourself to be exactly that.
What SeyKey is basically trying to say is… Anohana is not as perfect as what we or most people claim it to be.
SeeKey makes sense.
its a bit overrated but its still a really good anime. better than most of the series but still not quite as awesome as some people say.
I agree a bit on some of his statements.
some of the drama gets to me a bit but not really as much as oretachi has done(I count oretachi as really good drama when it comes to it despite it being mostly comedy and ecchi).
and better stop here or Divine or Kiiragi cuts off these comments.
“@SeeKey: Dude, I was agreeing with you. I was just providing alternative input. You can’t simply take these things at surface value.
By throwing insults around with such airs,I’m not- as you say “purposely trying to paint me as some over-confident snob?”- but rather you have exposed yourself to be exactly that.”
…
Yeah, your more or less right, I won’t deny I was being kind of a prick.
But like, when you state things that seem obvious so much all while giving the impression you didn’t even get what I was saying, I just get the feeling like youre mocking me. (basically not your fault but yeah…)
Im a man of short temperment, therefore I have a bad habit of exploding over small stuff…
Let’s just say it was a misunderstanding and call it a day?
Aiueo: I see.
I won’t doubt you then.
Some people tend to say they know some crazy stuff about japan based on far-fetched internet rumors, so it’s hard to take statements like yours for real before getting to know you.
Also I didn’t ignore youre ponts regarding the argument because they were bad, I just realized that the argument was both silly and overdone so it just seemed better to leave it as it is.
“What SeyKey is basically trying to say is… Anohana is not as perfect as what we or most people claim it to be.”
Hallelujaaaah-haa~
I never said the show was bad, Im still watching and enjoying it.
+1!
Actually I consider it a tie for BEST series this season between this show and Hanasaku Iroha. Both series are excellent. They are different but at the same time very similar. Both are character driven, have a great story, and memorable characters that are beautifully drawn, both also have a minimum of fan service and both are unpredictable about where the story is going. We want to tune in each week to see whats going to happen and how
its going to play out.
Though I haven’t watched Hanasaku Iroha yet because I though the first episode was too boring to finish, I agree on your point that great anime does not need fanservice. In fact, some terrible series rely on it.
This anime has proven the point that fanservice is lipstick on a pig… to borrow a phrase. No need for it when you are dealing with a pretty girl!
Makes sense, as they are both written by the same genius.
I think Anohana edges Hanasaku Iroha. I think Iroha would be better as a 1 cour anime. That way, things wont be dragging
Ohh… they’re from the same guy. Nice to know.
I think Iroha has yet to deliver something apart from slice-of-life comedy and (VERY) cute screencaps. AnoHana did more than Iroha so far but that isn’t really the interesting part of the situation with these two shows.
What’s really floating around my mind is while Iroha can get a whole lot better in the remaining episodes, It’s almost frightening how bad AnoHana can turn out to be in what’s left of it. It has extremely high levels of potential to become an “instant classic” words drama anime (think Clannad, Air, Kanon06).
I picture it as an underdog climber trying to get to the top of a crazy high mountain. It’s easy to make a mistake and fall to oblivion (think School Days).
PD: Not that Clannad/Air/Kanon/SD are similar to AnoHana…. oh well, there are not that many options to throw a few examples.
PD: This site needs a 5minute margin to edit your grammar/orthography failures 🙁
I should say the few weeks I have been here I’ve noticed most people don’t badger over spelling or grammar like in other places *stares at youtube*. A nice side perk to the awesome blogs. I think most native speakers of English can generally derive the gist of what people are saying and can notice errors for what they are… since none of us is perfect.
To that point, yes a little time to fix things wouldn’t hurt. I suppose we just have to be extra careful before we hit [Submit Comment].
Firefox has an awesome spellchecker built in. 😉
@Richard…
The series you mentioned are all some of my favorites. Air, Kanon, and Clannad (as well as Afterstory) are amazing. Add to that list Wolf’s Rain, Ergo Proxy, and Haruhi Suzumiya as great animes that had little to no fan service.
@ Karmafan – my feelings exactly, this season is blessed to have 2 exceptional shows, and though they are not earth-shattering in the way of Madoka, they deliver very good entertainment with solid story and characters in situations that dont involve demons, robots,vampires, zombies, ninjas, mages, espers… you name it! and single ghost is already stretching universe’s reality.
@See Key: Define realistic?
@ See Key: Why are you so anal about the small stuffs? You pick on every minor detail. Just enjoy it like the rest of the people here. Though, I got to agree with SOME of what you said — just some. I agree it’s somewhat overrated — but by no means bleach-like overrated. And yes! Anaru & the Yukiatsu makes the show interesting
“Best *whatever thing* ever!” is not an objective point. You hear that in Iroha, in Denpa, in C… TV shows, Music, Books and a large etcetera. I would avoid it.
I cant even take pictures of monkey pen1ses without people thinking im a weirdo.
is that spread really the first one for this series?
on a related note, that scene of everyone being together from back in their childhood will probably continue to get fleshed out until the final episode, the only people left to share what happened from their perspective is poppo and tsuruko
First one I made, yes. First one in the show? I don’t know.
Do you use a special program for full spreads or take two screencaps and merge them manually?
I take multiple caps of the pan, then use Photoshop to merge it.
That is a bit of extra work, but thanks for it. It’s always interesting see that full shot in a picture.
Menma is a boring character just crying and saying jintan … I know she is dead but cant she behave more humanly or half interesting -_-
Losing both Menma and his mother, Jinta’s wounds must be the deepest of the whole cast. Imagine yourself losing the two people you love the most at such a young age. Of course his life will be messed up as we can already see.
I really admire his strength.
The nosebleeds are probably the reason why Menma is back. Jinta probably has a brain disease and it’s going to die at the end of the anime.
[spoiler]I’m not watching this anime, I’m just following what Kiiragi-chan writes (note the “chan”) [/spoiler]
Why note the chan? Also, you have to use <> not [ ]
Jintan has an aneurism!!! It explains it all!!
Interesting theory… but it wouldn’t explain the plethora of real world interactions Menma has had. Her visit to her parents, people feeling her touching them, Jinta’s noting of the hair clip, and various other objects she seems to be able to touch…. unless those are all just red herrings to lead us off course.
If your theory is right, that would be one hell sad of an ending!
interesting.
But i still wonder if having to much stress makes nosebleed. i somehow had the same experience. Though i doubt that was only coincidence.
anyone noticed occult academy being renamed something like “revenge of the dead mother in law”???
Yeah, they were by the same studio. Just having some fun self-referencing.
i did a proper double take during that first bit of episode
Hmm, I don’t think her two friends are the one who spread the rumors. Their attitudes in this episode show that they’re a bit surprised themselves and actually feel sorry for Anjou. She must have been seen by someone (the PTA or sth as mentioned in the episode) and that’s where the rumor starts.
that pisses me off too, those who saw did not help anjou at all!!!
Maybe its the mope from last episode that thought she was gonna hit the roach motel with him? Or he told friends who are still in school?
I think that Irene (which is a FINE lady, I must say) was gazing at Jinta because he was her daughter’s “special one”, not because she suspected of him as a murderer. Hers was a look of curiosity and/or compassion, not spite.
That’s what I thought as well.
Pity coul also be behind that gaze. Can’t be certain though. Too hard to read that facial expression.
I thought something similar as well.
+1
But I can see why it seems ambigious until more information has been surfaced later on… perhaps on the next ep. 😉
I thought so too, Kiigari might just be looking for plot holes lol. That scene reminded me of other shows where the parents of the dead are in a state of unrest until the ghost is put to rest.
Yes, I believe this as well. She looked at him with curiosity, then when she noticed him looking at her she looked away, almost embarrassed. I feel sorry for her, though. She is still living with the memories which must both make her sad she lost her daughter and somewhat happy she still has memories of her.
I must note, though my knowledge of Japanese is limited to high school classes a decade ago, ([i]basically reading hirigana and katakana and a few dozen words[/i]) I am very gleeful that facial expressions and body language seem to be somewhat universal!
Amazing. Simply amazing. When Menma starts crying about making her mother sad, I just teared up. Having children myself, I could not help but think that those thoughts would be going through the mind of my daughter if she were to pass and what I would say to her.
This is seriously giving Clannad a run for the money in being my favorite tear jerker anime.
Nobody’s died yet in the current storyline. I honestly can’t see another death happening since that would probably void Menma’s wish.
Well, other than Menma.
Not in the current timeline. She died in the past, before our story began.
Would this show be classifiable under the genre of:
Complete Awesomeness?
Most likely. What other shows would you put in there?
Madoka definitely deserves a spot on there, amirite?
Probably a lot there’s never enough great shows that grab you and just keep you along for the ride
The first nosebleed didn’t happen when he was horny, but agitated. In a show like this I don’t really think that’s a good sign and maybe the tumor theory might be true.
I certainly hope not.
I hope not as well. I had chronic nose-bleeding when I was a child. That is to say, I would have one once ever few months or so. As an adult is has been reduced to once a year or less. My guess is he was stressed out.
But, I may be proven wrong.
I don’t know if Ano Hana is overrated or not but, wasn’t Clannad like that as well back in when it was airing?? I mean, any good series that starts off with good impression will surely get overrated.
Other than that, I hope that Menma’s “wish” turn out to be a surprise and not something dull… though, so far it looks like we’re going to get a BIG surprise/plot twist 😛
I don’t know if you’re only talking about the first season, but ~after story portrayed drama so damn well it deserved the attention it got imo. I’m glad it was overrated if only to get more people to experience the second season.
I find this episode with less tension than others. I’m glad for that, I couldn’t take another heartrending moment! Still, Can’t wait for the next episode!
I won’t bother to add fuel to the fire of speculations upon the other issues, but something that I found amusing was how casually Anjou picked up Poppo’s wank material- crumpled tissues included.
Especially with her sex scandal rumor floating about, it’s rather strange that she doesn’t seem at all weirded out nor disgusted handling items which are (presumably) soiled with the man juices of a childhood friend whom she hasn’t seen until recently.
Minor detail- but I thought it kinda strange.
Dude, I busted out laughing when she did that. I was actually surprised the writers pulled it off, that the studio got it out and that the censors didn’t make a big mess of things. With as much stuff being censored lately, talk of manspunk…
At least we know Anaru isn’t afraid of the man juice.
Stranger thought it was strange? Tehehe.
My guess is she was more fascinated than anything… just a guess.
I chuckled when Poppo said, “These aren’t just tears and sweat!”
any one think that those nose bleed is important to the story plot like he got brain damage or something
lol, I hope not, that would mean Jintan is just hallucinating like he has been saying in earlier episodes. Maybe by saying that the series was foreshadowing that he actually does have a sickness. That would be a logical reason his entire group of friends would come together in mutual agreement. Anyway I just hope it’s nothing like that.
Lol the opening scene reminded me of light’s potato chip eating scene.
I’ll take a potato chip… and EAT IT!! AHH A GHOST.
Something about Menma reminds me of the idea of a “fleeting dream”. For example, if Jintan really wanted to prove Menma’s semi existence, than wouldn’t he find a way to prove it to the others, unless doing so would make her vanish. The worst ending to this anime I can possibly think of is if Menma vanishes and takes the memories of her time with the others as a ghost with her. This happend in one or two anime’s, and it really was sad. Basically I just find it a little unnerving that Menma may vanish at any time.
Hmm, good point. I best not get my expectations up in case the ending sucks. Jinta being sick, as I have seen postulated here, might be true. I hope it isn’t an “erase memory” ending. Those have been done to death. In fact it kind of ruined Madoka for me, an otherwise spectacular anime.
I wouldn’t be so sad if Menma “passed on to the other side”. Jinta dying would be rather tragic, but if they pulled it off right it might be epic. I can’t really think of many other endings aside from happy endings. Happy endings are somewhat taboo for anime, though. This isn’t Disney, I suppose. So if it was a happy ending, I would actually be surprised.
I love anime’s with happy endings. Rather than being artsy and trying to leave a lasting impression by killing off an important character in the end, I would love it, if the authors gave me a ending that I am already expecting. Give the people what they want right. The more rememberable the characters are the sadder the ending is if they are left feeling unfulfilled. I find this rather strange since I really don’t remember sad moments like this from live non-anime shows. Something about anime’s makes us grow more attached to their characters. I mean I still remember Clannads, Nagisa’s daughter dieing, while I can’t even remember a moment like that from a non anime show or movie.
Yeah, I agree with you. Some people hate happy endings for some reason. They like the dark, sad, melancholy stuff. I’m not opposed to those kinds of finales, but I am also not opposed to a “good end”.
Like I said, Disney is full of happy endings, just like anime is full of sad endings. If Disney were ballsy enough to have a sad, tragic ending in one of their feature length animated movies I would give them huge props. The same can be said for anime. Whenever I see a happy ending in an anime it is very unexpected. In fact, one of my favorite animes of all time, which I will put into spoilers in case someone hasn’t seen it, Show Spoiler ▼
has a very unexpected happy ending. It made the whole experience of watching the show that much more awesome.
The third tier of endings… OPEN… I hate more than the other two. SOOO many series end with open holes. I can understand if a second season is expected. But, when it is standalone… and open ending just kills it. So, I would rather have a sad ending than an open, but the best, and most unexpected, ending would be happy.
I got the feeling this episode, that he didn’t want to prove Menma was there because with her around him all the time it feels like she’s still alive, proving she’s there (with only him seeing her and no one else) makes him face that she is dead and a ghost. He also hesitates with solving her problem because he doesn’t want to lose her again, especially since he just got her back.
Maybe Menma’s wish is to know the name of the flower which “we still don’t know the name of the flower we saw that day”?
Would be funny but a massive anticlimax too haha XD
Actually… I interpreted the flower as Menma, and the name as Menma’s wish. So they still don’t know the wish that Menma had.
Well, the titular flower seems to be a forget-me-not, so I believe that Menma’s wish may have something to do with never forgetting her. Of course though, I may be completely wrong =X
I actually thought Yukiatsu was joking about the guy he saved Anaru from, but it is funnier thinking that he joked about himself.
Did anyone else want to punch the person who got Anaru in trouble? He/She saw what was happening to Anaru, reported her to the school, and worst of all, decided not to help her. Seriously, what the hell?
@Ren
Exactly what I was thinking. I was wondering the same when he had said it. I had figured it was the guy trying to rape (he was trying to right?) Anaru (awful nickname) but also leaned towards Yukiatsu making fun of himself.
I guess we’re allowed to interpret it anyway we want.
What the hell are you on about?
Anaru is an awesome nickname- I’d bolly well believe the creators decided that on purpose, forseeing the results of what her name would garner.
I like the show, but Menma’s voice acting is friggin annoying and whiny -.-
(Comment with no substance but…) this is the best episode thus far. It was just funny.
For all you peoples worried about nose-bleeds. Just having a high heart-rate combined with hot, dry weather, can lead to some serious nose-bleeds. I had hyper-thyroidism one year, and my resting heart-rate jumped up to 2x the normal adult’s rate, and I’d have a serious nose-bleed practically once or twice a day for no reason at all.
So it might not necessarily be related to brain-damage at all.
Crowning Moment of Awesome for Jinta in his fumbling attempt to divert the gossiping classmates’ attention to himself and away from Naruko. He can be the Man when he wants to after all. I wish Jinta and Naruko do get together.
BTW, I know Menma’s a mixed kid, though is Menma’s mother Russian? As I noticed Cyrillic letters for her name Irene on their house’s nameplate.
Useless Trivia: Not only is Jinta awesome, like me, he’s left-handed as well. 🙂
https://randomc.net/image/Anohana/Anohana%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2027.jpg
Nott sure if anyone has watched the movie Ghost Town, but i get this similar feel that it’s the people who arent letting Menma go, and not the other wa around. In a sense, this anime makes you think about how it’s like to lose someone, be it death or their being being elsewhere. Great anime.
Jinta deifinitely scored some love points with Anaru though he said 1 thing too many.
Menma’s wish is probably to find out the name of the flower which they saw that day?
I’m still trying to figure out what treat it is that Menma’s holding in her little memorial photo.
Candy apples.
Hahaha kiiragi what you said in the first paragraph is so true.
Did anyone else think Menma’s tears looked a bit funny? They were drawn a little too unnaturally I guess…
What if that’s how a ghost cries? haha.
For some reason i guess her wish is to hear Jinta said I love you.
For a second I thought this too, especially after Menma interrupted Jinta when it sounded like he was going to say it. However, this would be so anticlimatic.
Haha, non-ecchi related nose bleeds are never good news in anime (or j-dramas for that matter). Jinta’s probably in danger of joining Menma soon.
There will probably be one part where Jinta thinks thast it may be it would be for the best, though his dad and his newly recovered friends would be sad. This would be followed by Menma slapping some sense into him.
What could be really Menma wish?
I don’t think that she wish to Ginta to go to school since at that time he was probably going to school. It can’t be that she wanted his friends to be to re-become friendly as they were still ‘good’ friends at that time.
Note that the wish that Menma made was at the time that they was still young and thus friendly with each other.Well, they could have been seperated from each other after that incident!
Speculation: Have you notice the title of the anime(We Still Don’t Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day)
“Adrenaline was definitely coursing through my veins wanting to yell out in front of the class myself if I were there, but Jinta’s the man in succeeding my wishes and doing it anyway. He just… kind of fumbled a bit too much there.”
Same here. Seeing her suffer like that was unbearable for me. I knew Jintan would say something and while I think he rather messed up and probably made it a little worse for her (she has that “love hotel look”…really?) I think the rumors will get altered and probably the school will match her and him as a pairing.
Overall I think he did alright, better than me at least in his place. I would have probably gone the typical route of anger (shut up!) , disbelief (how dare you think that about Anjou!) and disappointment (you all make me sick).
I also have to give it to Anjou for having some backbone. I thought the part when she was cleaning up the fort to be hilarious. Maybe she just didn’t get it…but picking up all those tissues and magazines…without gloves…a brave girl.
I wonder if anyone noticed a few shots of Occult Academy on the TV scene in the beginning.
i love this series. my current thoughts are on the nose bleed. Jintan stressing and arguing with himself if menma is just his stress… Wonder if there is something really wrong with jintan.
I just thought of something, perhaps even a prediction of how the rest of the episodes of the show will go down. First we get to see Jinta’s problem being a hikikomori (sry if i spelled it wrong) and then we get to see Yukiatsu and recently it was just solved (at least i think it is). Now we are presented with Anjou’s problem and perhaps this episode or the next one will solve it all. Then my guess is that we will get to see Popo’s or Tsurumi’s problem and we get to see how it gets resolved. This will probably be another 3-4 episodes. So I guess before we get to see Menma’s problem together with Jinta seeing as this two is most likely tied by the same predicament, I guess we will be seeing more of the others’ problems first. I guess also this means that they wont be proving Menma’s existence anytime soon, just as I guessed, they would probably do this like in the last 2-3 episodes of the series.
In re: Jinta is sick theory, when he passes out in ep1 is another example of something that looked like it was played for lols (like the nosebleeds here) but might’ve been actually serious. The causality might go like: Jinta’s father lets him be shut-in b/c he knows the kid will die soon anyways; Jinta’s father sees Jinta pass out randomly over lunch and has an “oh shit” moment; after that Jinta’s father is even nicer / easier on him than before.
Same with the “recessive genes” bit in the opening scene, could’ve been ha-ha only serious in hindsight.
I’m calling it right now, Menma’s wish is for everyone to be together ‘forever.’
I mean what else would a kid that age with for.
I thought it was a very enjoyable episode. It’s just too bad Jinta’s rant was interrupted by his nosebleed. Oh well.
Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin shots + “Ecchi sketchy one touch”.
Couldn’t get past episode 1. Weird teenage guy. Has a ghost girl who is stuck in elementary grade. Ugh.
The main character is a NEET which probably makes him seem weird to those who don’t know of the phenomena.
But, fair enough you have your own opinion, and it’s not likely any extra trivia will make you see him differently.
Wrong, the ghost grew up, the teenage guy mentions that. You’ll be missing an amazing show.
New sidebanners are awesome! Funny how I was sayin to myself weeks ago “this would make for a good sidebanners on RC”. XD
Best parts of the episode: whenever Anjou was onscreen.