Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

[Ryllharu]

(We Still Don`t Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day)



Description: Once, there was a group of close childhood friends. Something happened between them one day, and before they entered high school, they had grown apart from each other. One of them shows up before to the leader of their group, asking him to fulfill her wish. She doesn't remember the details of it, but somehow knows that all of them must be together to grant it.

Genres: Drama, Coming of Age, Tragedy, Angst, Nostalgia
Links: AniDB, ANN, Official Page

[UTW] Ano Hana - 01 [720p]
[gg] Ano Hi Mita Hana... - 01 [720p]
[Doki] Ano Hi Mita Hana... - 01v2 [720p]
[Ayako-Delight]Ano Hi Mita Hana... - 01 [720p]

Stick with UTW, they seem to be the best of the lot.

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If you're looking for a strong drama this season, this appears to be one to definitely pick up.

I really liked the character design of this series for some reason. The three guys gave off a look of "realistic normal" for some reason. One got fat and scruffy, one is a slacker, and the other looks clean cut. It's kind of hard to describe, but it added some additional depth to their personalities in support/contrast to what glimpses we got of them.

The girls are similar in that way too. One of them is very clean cut and responsible too, but from how little they showed, she's hiding something underneath that. The red-head reminds me of character designs from Umetsu Yasuomi, which is awesome. The third is a bit generic, but slightly immature appearance matches her personality perfectly.

What really surprised me about this show is how much subtle character development they crammed into it. The first episode alone had love polygons (Anaru -> Jin-tan -> <- Menma <- Yukiatsu <- Tsuruko : by my estimates), major plot and character development, and plenty of unconfirmed things to speculate and guess about. Of course it was totally obvious that Menma was dead from the first scene, but they didn't really try to pretend it was a surprise to anyone (she knew it from the start too), which I thought was a nice touch.

Strong first episode, strong cast, good animation, excellent plot/character development. This is one I'm sticking with for sure.

[Inazuma]

That shit shook me up. Call me a pussy if you want but this show really works.

[shinta|hikari]

You're a pussy.



And apparently, I am too.

[David75]

I did not tune to that episode. So I didn't feel anything particular.
I do admit the setting, the way things flow and even the characters are all well executed.
So I'll see what ep 2 tells me.

[RyougaZell]

You're a pussy.



And apparently, I am too.

Count me third.

[shinta|hikari]

No one cares for a third pussy.


Unless of course, you're a guy. But we only have pussies so far.

[Ryllharu]

[UTW] Ano Hana - 02 [720p]

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I really like characters like Naruko. Not just because she's hot and for whatever reason I find her bouncy pigtails extremely attractive. I always have a fondness (maybe sympathy) for characters who got burned emotionally, then try to kill their feelings off but are still the same no matter what they project. It's more than something so easy to classify as tsundere or kuudere, it's about the reason they became that way.

Naruko effects that rather well. She tried to see if Jinta liked Menma in that way, and got burned twice over for it. His reaction all but confirmed her fears, and then Menma's uncharacteristic reaction to his words somehow lead to her death. So she blames herself for Menma's death, and out of guilt or whatever, distanced herself from the rest of her friends, and tried to kill off her feelings for Jinta. Of course that doesn't really work, as we saw in the game store, when she visited him in the first episode, laying on her bed, and when he and Poppo came over to play PokeNokemon. Deep down, she still likes Jinta a great deal, and she hasn't really changed at all, no matter what kind of "sluts" she hangs out with or what person she pretends to be.

The other things I enjoyed greatly about this episode were the awards on the wall at Jinta's and Menma's reaction to Naruko. I might be interpreting those wrong, but it looks like Jinta was pretty smart, and would probably be a quick learner if he went back to school like Naruko wants. It sounds like he was also a shoe-in to get into the elite academy that Yukiatsu and Tsuruko attend, but failed and went to the reject school...and so did Naruko. Hmm...

Menma's reaction to Naruko was interesting as well. Usually in these ghost kind of series, they remain oblivious. Menma knows quite well that her presence (or mention since only Jinta can see her) causes Naruko to get sad. I think she knew back when they were kids as much as she knows now that Naruko loved Jinta, perhaps even more than Menma did. They were rivals, and I'm pretty sure both of them knew it. Menma is not nearly as air-headed, childish and dumb as she comes off. I think she was more mature than many of the others even when she was alive. Definitely a surprise for this kind of series.

Lastly...Yukiatsu, totally a creeper. I wonder exactly how much he knows about Menma's death.

[RyougaZell]

I beleive Naruko must have purposely failed the exam of the school Yukiatsu and Tsuruko attend... in order to follow Jinta. Heck... after seeing how she organized all her things from her childhood... I don't quite beleive she wasn't smart enough for the 'elite academy' as the others.

[Buffalobiian]

I beleive Naruko must have purposely failed the exam of the school Yukiatsu and Tsuruko attend... in order to follow Jinta. Heck... after seeing how she organized all her things from her childhood... I don't quite beleive she wasn't smart enough for the 'elite academy' as the others.

I don't think space organisation and intelligence come hand in hand. I know of too many cases where that's failed and plenty of the opposites too for it to be any sort of general rule.

Lastly...Yukiatsu, totally a creeper.

Came right out of the left, that one, even if the guy was a bit uptight about things.

[MFauli]

im dling first ep right now, but kinda ot-question: is that proper, legitimate Japanese? The title, I mean. Ive never seen the subject and sub-words like "mada" being put in-between the "o" and the verb. Should be "Bokutachi wa mada ano hi mita hana o shiranai". At keast imo :P

[RyougaZell]

UTW Ep 03 720p
UTW Ep 03 480
UTW Ep 04v0

WTF!

[shinta|hikari]

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

I hope he gets shamed forever and never gets a chance to redeem himself.

[Buffalobiian]

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

I hope he gets shamed forever and never gets a chance to redeem himself.

I'm not that hateful towards him yet. I hated him before, yeah, but if this is the peak of his douchebaggery at 4 episodes in, he's still got 8 episodes to (try to) fix it all up. Never redeeming himself would be bad since staying together is Menma's wish (or at least one of them).

I always thought Yukiatsu had the small chibi-dress from when Menma was little, but if he's got the adult one (too?)...does he have a collection or something?!

[shinta|hikari]

I hate him. The only character I hate as much as him is Suzaku, and I didn't hate Suzaku as much in the end. I guess this means he has his chance of redemption even for me, but that can only take him so far as moderately hated character.

I really hate people who pick on others (in this case insult and disparage) for things they themselves do (even worse in fact). Hypocrites.

[Idealistic]

Blah, can't say I like the way things turned out in ep 4, mainly because of Yukiatsu. I was expecting it to be really true that he can also see Menma, but yeah..... I also hate him as well. Not because he picks on Jin, but the fact that he dresses up like Menma and runs around to fool people. Who the hell does that?! lol.

I like the interactions with Jin and Naruko in this ep. I'm also starting to like Tsuruko as well.

[RyougaZell]

Blah, can't say I like the way things turned out in ep 4, mainly because of Yukiatsu. I was expecting it to be really true that he can also see Menma, but yeah..... .

From the start it was obvious he was lying. Not sure why you expected HIM to be able to see her first. While I hope everybody eventually sees her... he hasn't done anything significant to guarantee he can see her already.

[Ryllharu]

At least we know that Jinta isn't completely insane. Even if Yukiatsu was faking it, Poppo also experienced a more typical manifestation of a ghost, just like Naruko did. Menma jumps on them, and they feel something for sure, they just don't want to believe it's a ghost. She can poltergeist too though, but that behavior only shows up when Jinta is alone...so maybe he's not 100% sane either. Otherwise she could just do it around the others to prove that she's still around and Jinta hasn't been lying.

I might dislike Yukiatsu for being a vindictive ass to Jinta (it must have been obvious to him then that Menma liked Jinta instead of him), but I don't know if I can hate him just yet. He's got a lot of explaining to do to everyone (though Tsuruko seems to known already).

They focused on the ribbon of her dress a number of times in this episode, but when Tsuruko was sketching her memory of Menma, why was the ribbon red instead of blue?

[shinta|hikari]

I think Menma can move objects even when in the presence of other people. She made those pastries when Jinta was out of the house, so it can't be that Jinta made them himself in his insanity, unless the show is really trying to fool viewers by twisting even the reality that is displayed onscreen.

I think there is a condition for her to manifest. It might just be that she cannot do it as efficiently if those present reject her existence.

[David75]

I guess that mani of you know that the ED song is from ZONE.
Here's the original one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPYdIHiVNWg

I also like the SCANDAL cover version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Metbl5XNUQ

Somehow, the anime version does not work so well with me, too short and probably lacks a bit of nostalgia/sadness to it.

[Buffalobiian]

Of the three versions, SCANDAL would have to be my least favourite because the vocalist sings this in a way that sounds "hard". It becomes the most apparent when they end their phrases...

Might just be personal preference, since I always thought SCANDAL's vocalist was better for fast songs anyway.