We Still Don't Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day

 あの日見た花の名前を僕達はまだ知らない。

P L O T

At first I thought it would be all sad and tears and chest pains, but surprisingly—and fortunately—it's not. Ano Hana is more of nostalgia and melancholia. Well, I guess that makes it quite saddening too. But in a sense, or a different angle, it's not. It is a different kind of sadness.

I love how realistic this anime is. [Well, save for the Menma’s ghost part. But I guess, that’s a possibility as well.] The characters seem truly alive to me; and if events like these happened in real life, I guess people would react exactly—or almost like—the same. Others might find some of the characters annoying, but to me no one is. How they turned out and how they act is a product of the past that they just cannot escape from.

I think it's an honest show. Dramatic, but not overboard that it's irritating and you're at the point of not wanting to watch it anymore. The bitterness. The sadness and loneliness. The selfishness. But hey, everyone becomes selfish at one point or another. And frankly I kind of believe that selfishness is next to happiness. After all how can you be happy if you do not run after what you want? If you’re always thinking about others or how you’re happiness might ruin theirs then would you really be okay with the kind and amount of happiness you can get in consideration of them? What if they turn out to not appreciate your efforts at all? Or think of your actions as a sign of cowardice? Of selfishness? So in a way, it runs all back to it. Oh, the irony.  

Anyways, going back to the anime...

I did not bawl or burst into tears. But, I did become all teary-eyed with matching shivers down my spine with the last episode.

In the end, with all of them in tears and finally being freed from being eaten up by their guilt and inner ghosts, the characters got to understand each other’s pain. They were all being haunted by Menma’s death. Jin-tan. Anaru. Poppo. Yukiatsu. Tsuriko. They were all suffering one way or another.

I liked the ending. Menma is amazing for maintain her child-like innocence and holding no grudges with everyone. But I guess, in a way, it is nobody’s fault and though Menma did grow, she died young. So, I guess her spirit retained and preserved how she was.

Anyways, the important thing is that she managed to have her wish fulfilled and so much more—restoring and strengthening the bond and friendship of the Super Peace Busters.

It’s the “I want to marry you” type of I LOVE YOU.

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Super Peace Busters are friends forever.