Ahhhh, it feels good to get back to episodic blogging. Since the only show I felt passionately about last season was claimed by comrade Mystlord I decided to try and do editorials every week. Didn’t really work out. My true calling when it comes to writing blog posts lies with episodics and happily the noitaminA slot has delivered a great show. I was quick to claim this one for myself. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shirani, or AnoHana for short, had for me by far the strongest first episode of anything this season. The premise is this: six friends who used to spend their time together years ago have split up after the apparent death of one of their groupo, drifting apart and changing over the years. Now in high school one of them, Yadomi ‘Jintan’ Jinta has stopped going to school and seems to have had some sort of nervous breakdown. As the story opens this summer he starts seeing either a stress-induced delusion or a ghost of the girl who died, Honma ‘Menma’ Meiko. She isn’t making him seem any less troubled to those around him but Menma seems to be here for a purpose: to fulfill a wish she had during the summer she died, one that can only be granted by gathering all of the old friend together again. Even with only one episode, this is already a touching drama that I’d describe as having touches of Honey and Clover and even a bit of Welcome to the NHK.
From left to right: Hisakawa ‘Poppo’ Tetsudou, Anjyou ‘Anaru’ Naruko, Yadomi ‘Jintan’ Jinta, Honma ‘Menma’ Meiko, Matsuyuki ‘Yukiatsu’ Atsumu, and Tsurumi ‘Tsuruko’ Chiriko.
The show opens almost like it’s a completely different kind of show, more reminiscent of other shows A1 Pictures has done, with Jinta playing video games, cooking, and eating while Menma clings to him like some sort of VN adaptation-typical imouto character. That is until we figure out after a few moments that only Jinta can see her. His dad is oblivious to Menma, and then when Anjyou ‘Anaru’ Naruko shows up to drop off Jinta’s homework in an annoyed fashion it’s shown again. (A note: from here on out I will not be referring to her by her childhood nickname. It’s…um… rather ecchi and I don’t know how the author really could have thought to use that as a character name. Google it in katakana if you haven’t connected the dots to the English word already.) This visit is another key point since we find out that Jinta has stopped going to school and that relations between the two former friends are rather strained anymore. Naruko tells him he should be ashamed of how he’s living now but then seems to regret her words.
She’s like a ghostly, white-haired Hagu!
Naruko: owner of that unfortunate nickname and DAT SHIKI HAIR.
Begin SPECULAH on exactly what sort of apparition Menma is.
Some pretty shots of the down in both landscape and object focus. Though Hanasaku Iroha by far has the most beautiful animation this season (and was the other show I considered blogging.)
Menma convinces Jinta to go talk to Naruko again even when he says that she’s changed into a different person from who she used to be. He’s clearly not comfortable going outside and tries to disguise himself , and you can see how strange he looks to his neighbors when he greats them and then yells “shut up!” at the girl only he can see. Jinta’s situation and hallucinations are what has been giving me the Welcome to the NHK vibe, the way he walks around outside avoiding people and their gaze like Satou did in that series. Eventually he ducks away from the main street and people he might have known and ends up talking with Menma near some train tracks. He’s already had one flashback that shook him when Menma yelled out his name at home. Here there’s another, slightly more detailed one when she falls off the post she was balancing on and we get a clearer picture of what might have happened to her. He dives to catch her and its then that Matsuyuki ‘Yukiatsu’ Atsumu and Tsurumi ‘Tsuruko’ Kiriko come by. They’re dressed in the academic-prep high school uniforms from the school Jinta would’ve gone to if he hadn’t abandoned his studies. Yukiatsu seems to treat Jinta with contempt now, speaking of Jinta failing his entrance exams and going to a low-tier school with disgust. Tsuruko seems to try and restrain him but obviously seems to be close to him now despite his arrogant airs. But when Jinta accidentally mentions Menma’s name in explaining why he’s there there is definitely a reaction from Yukiatsu.
Quite a nice shot when Jinta reaches out to the flowers Menma had picked after his flashback, panic, and dive to catch her. I like how she is just there but not quite within his reach while her flowers also scatter from his hand as a metaphor for his memories and her reappearance to him.
Another touch I liked was this billboard. It’s not clear whether this is for some sort of counseling service or perhaps just a marketing slogan but it seems to fit his mental state, strained relations with his old friends, and how he won’t talk to anyone about it.
After his two old friends leave, Jinta talks to Menma about how how everyone has changed but that he’s changed the most. And it’s a sad moment when he tells her that he doesn’t want to talk to her because she brings back memories that he wishes he could forget.
Menma seems to disappear from Jinta’s side but he does recall the memories of her last summer. Jinta seemed to lead his group of friends when they played on a mountainside and hung out in a disused shack together. They seemed like the idyllic days of being young grade school students, and even had a make-believe group called the Super Peace Busters, kind of like some sort of sentai TV show. Things were good until Naruko pointedly asked Jinta if he liked Menma, with a look of embarassment and jealousy. He blushes and is taken aback when Yukiatsu presses the point with a tone and look that seems to challenge and mock the group’s ‘leader’, presaging some of the dynamic we saw between them years later. Jinta is so embarrassed he blurts out that there’s no way he’d like an ugly girl like her but quickly regrets this even though Menma only smiles. He then bolts out of the shack with Menma calling after him and then we return to the present. Menma has returned to her family’s home and is noting how her father and brother have grown. Her mother offers a bowl of curry to a shrine to her memory even as her brother says that she should stop. It sounds cruel coming from her brother but she doesn’t seem to mind. When she nudges against the table a glass of water falls over, which adds another factor to the question of what exactly she is now. Jinta meanwhile regrets his words to her and starts running to find her, wishing to have the ‘tomorrow that never came’ to apologize for what he blurted out years ago. During and after the credits we then briefly see Yukiatsu sighing and uttering Menma’s name, followed by Jinta going to the old clubhouse/shack and finding Hisakawa ‘Poppo’ Testudou perhaps living there…and with a stack of porn laid out on a table too.
Her mother still remembers and remains dedicated to Menma’s memory even while her father says nothing and her brother almost seems to resent remembering his sister.
Menma visits her old home independently of Jinta, so I guess it’s safe to assume that she’s an actual ghost. Unless she’s a literary device and is serving as a narrator of some sort.
Another nice shot, the cinematography is not bad in this show, if a bit more conventional than I would like for this kind of story. This one also reminded me of a shot in Honey and Clover when Takemoto is standing on a bridge looking out at the copper works in his hometown.
Final Thoughts: - The OP song and sequence was great. Just from watching that I knew that this show would be something special. It really captures the mood of the show succinctly and with some nice visuals as well. Nice use of blank backgrounds for several shots, some cool transitions, and a few moving or wobbly ‘camera’ perspectives too.
- A note on fansubs: As of my writing this post there are two groups subbing AnoHana, [gg] and UTW. While I (deservedly) criticize most of [gg]s subs over the past 2-3 years or so, they do have one good team that doesn’t seem to be part of their outright changes to jokes to ‘localize’ them, poor word choices in selecting English equivalents for Japanese words, and outright trolling or inaccuracies. Sorry, but changing the contents of the original text isn’t translation. The AnoHana group seems to be the group that did seasons one and two of Kimi ni Todoke, so you can go with them. I watched their version first since it was the first one I saw on TokyoTosho. I can definitely say that their version of AnoHana is fine, but I like the UTW subs a bit more. There were a few very minor mistakes in the [gg] version that UTW doesn’t have, I like UTW’s word choices better, there are more subs for things written in the background, and they have original Japanese/romanji/English TL karaoke for the OP and ED. Both groups released good, accurate subs though, so it’s mostly a matter of what sort of details you like in your subs.
- I’m really looking forward to more of this show. The feeling of the show, and Jinta’s situation in particular, is a wonderful mix of sorrow and nostalgia, opportunities and loss. It feels very genuine in the emotions it conveys and how they’re conveyed by the characters and it has a decently sized cast to present things from various perspectives. I’m also quite interested in the Naruko-Jinta-Menma-Yukiatsu love-polygon that seemed apparent from the characters’ past and present actions. Should be a great show.
47 Comments
A glorious return to episodics! Oh, the glamor.
I’m going to lay my cards down firmly on the table and say this show will be better than C in the Noitamina slots this season. And BOTH better be better than Fractale…
Good to see you back to episodics.
Haha, “the glamor!” Episodics seem to be more the gruntwork of the anime blogosphere than the stuff that gets the attention (They don’t get no respect! No respect I say!) but I enjoy writing them a lot more than I do editorials. I just feel more energetic and enthusiastic about them.
I have that feeling too. C could end up being really great but I have the feeling that even in a best case scenario I’ll end up liking this show more.
Good to be back, thanks for the welcome.
My overwhelming feeling with this show (in relation to others) was Honey and Clover, perhaps because there was the overtone of drama that became apparent very quickly. It doesn’t really feel much like an A-1 show to me, because the animation was pretty amazing and I had to hold back manly tears towards the end because the show was that connecting.
I assume that Menma is an actual ghost and that she is independent of Jinta, but I doubt it’ll matter much because when they reconcile she’ll be jumping onto him and screaming “Jintan” a couple dozen times every episode. Not that it’s a bad thing, because she is meant to have the same mindset as when she was a child.
The main two questions I have I fear may not be answered soon. The first is the obvious “how did she die”, the second is more general and related to her family, and why exactly her father is so uncaring and her brother so… dickish.
Here’s hoping for a great show!
It doesn’t feel like A1 at all, but then again Honey and Clover was made by J.C. Staff which doesn’t have much of a track record for artistic series either. From the start I felt that it hit all the right notes to really connect emotionally which goes to the strength of the writing and the director.
I’m guessing that since it was shown that she seemed to have fallen and drowned in a river that as she chased Jinta when he ran from the shack that she slipped down an embankment and Jinta couldn’t save her. As to the family, that’s a tougher question. I can only guess that their reaction is some sort of coping mechanism.
Some people have pegged this as being too melodramatic, but I for one thought that it was done pretty well. Some aspects may have been caked on a bit too much, but as a whole I really loved the overall effect it gave on the show.
I love the setting, really grew to like the characters and their predicaments, and as someone who went through the exact same thing (albeit a few years ago), it really hit home for me.
It’s awesome how I really love the two slice-of-life shows this season, and the fact that the two focus on totally different themes (coming-of-age vs fleeting friendships) makes it even better. Hanasaku’s appeal lies in the brilliance of the main lead Ohana but Ano Hana seems to be putting their faith into developing the group as a collective.
It doesn’t get much better than that. Hopefully this doesn’t wither off in the end, but with an 11 ep window, I think each episode will have enough punch in them to stand on its own.
For me, it’s kind of hard for a series to hit on dramatic emotional themes too hard. The only shows I’ve seen thus far that I’ve felt laid it on too thick were Key works, Kannon and portions of Angel Beats. So I ate it all up, hehe.
While I’m fortunate enough not to have all of the story resonate with me personally, I think something that everyone who watches it will be able to identify with is the way that friends change over time and can be lost (and perhaps found again.)
I have to take issue with the ‘slice of life’ label getting thrown around though. Not to just pick on you, but it seems to get stuck on any show that features a story set in the real world without fantasy or sci-fi elements, or with very minimal amounts of this. Slice of life describes a show like K-ON or Hidamari Sketch which doesn’t concentrate on narrative and is more about the goings on of an average day. A “slice” of the characters’ lives as a snapshot of life. Baka Raptor did a good baseline definition and elaboration on the topic in the post a while back. I definitely don’t think that this or Hanasaku Iroha qualify as slice of life because the progression of the narrative is the central focus of the shows. But feel free to debate that.
Ah cheers for that link. I’ve always wondered myself why shows like this are categorized as slice-of-life. Seems more fitting for it to be placed into the “drama” genre first and foremost.
SOL: I tend to agree with you about Slice Of Life. I think SOL should be used to describe a show that de-emphasizes plot (and, I would add, character), in favor of setting, but I have been involved in this particular debate too many times to really care any more.
AnoHana: So far, so good. I think this is a nice show for Noitamina: high quality art, mature theme (lost friends regathering), and emotional punch.
i classify slice of life as events that the character goes through. more often than not, slice of life shows are character driven and not plot driven. there’s an overbearing story that keeps things moving, but it often takes the back seat to character development. in slice of life shows, you can watch any episode (with the exception of the initial and final eps) in any order and the story will still make sense. Aria and K-On are examples of this.
Good to see u back on the solo episodic blogging sphere
missed u for quite a while there.
I feel like Menma serves as some kind of metaphore or something towards what’s going on. As Jintan said before, she is of the same mindset as she is from back then, but still grew somehow. I interpreted this as her state of mind serves as a representation of the times past, and the body change serves as a symbol of the change that they went through. I might be reading too much into this and/or is using tentative info but that though occurred to me as I saw the ep.
I also noticed that the same flowers in the jar right before the op is the same as the ones that were in your screenshot albeit a bit withered. Just throwing it out there.
btw, where do u find UTW’s fansubs? i saw a version with romaji at the top and english on the bottom with no sub credits on animeseason.com and i dunno who’s is it :/
Also I nominate you for blogging Hanasaku Iroha just cuz it’s been 2 eps without any pip out of here and you seem to have the most vocal preference to blog this :/ plz blog it? :3
Winter season wasn’t kind to me since the only show I cared for enough to write about was Madoka Magica, though I did end up liking Hourou Musuko after a while. So I’m happy to have a series to cover on my own again. I didn’t try to claim Kimi ni Todoke S2 as primary since I knew both Hana and Crusader would both be into it and I didn’t want to concentrate all three of us on one show. But it turned out that way anyway, heh.
I did notice the similar flowers too, though I’m not sure if it means anything more at this point or if it’s just a way of linking the summer when they were little kids to the present summer.
UTW’s subs were listed on AnimeSuki. I wouldn’t have noticed if 8dayswithoutme hadn’t told me on Twitter since they still haven’t shown up on TokyoTosho or Nyaa.eu, the two sites I typically use. And as I look at TT today I’m seeing two other groups with releases, Ayako-Delight and Doki. No idea why UTW’s aren’t on TT, someone must’ve dropped the ball in submitting them or something. Hopefully they’ll be listed at that more convenient site next week, I’m not really a fan of AnimeSuki’s file organization.
As to Hanasaku Iroha, as much as I liked the first two episodes I just don’t have time to blog two shows at present. I’ve stopped doing a retroblogging series along with an airing one because I’m currently in the Great Post-Graduation Job Hunt and need the extra time to devote to that. But once I’m professionally employed I may return to two series at a time. We’ll see. Hopefully for HanaIro maybe one of my comrades will be interested in covering it.
I went through similar experience when I was a child and it does hurts you to bits. I’m just lucky that my personality helps me get through the hard time though. This show reminds me why I still watch anime despite most of the crap. The last time I was this excited was when I first saw Honey and Clover. How many years have that been?
Awesome shit is awesome. Those who disagree are morons.
Honey and Clover is my all time favorite series so I kind of hesitate to say that something really reminds me of it, but I have to say that the first episode of this did recall all kinds of things that I liked about H&C. It’s been far too long since there’s been something in this vein, a serious drama set in a real world setting that handles the emotions at the center of the story with such sincerity. Well, a fairly real world setting, since there is a touch of fantasy with a ghost being there and all. Hourou Musuko kind of came close last season but for all the hype I didn’t feel like it dug very deep into its central issues, nor communicated them especially effectively except for the Romeo and Juliet play scriptwriting.
The more I think about this series (and go back to watch the OP again and again) the more excited I’m getting about it. It’s not often that I’ll pick up a show for blogging based on one episode but this one had me from the opening credits.
So this get the EO seal of approval? well since you have such good taste ill have to watch this one.
Certainly. While there’s always the potential for a show to get bogged down or go off track, I’m very confident based on this first episode and the staff involved that this will be great. Hehe, I’m glad you hold my opinion in such regard
just watched the first episode. WOW!! this could be the best show this season by far. i was at first worried with the bit of pandering to loli-cons in the beginning but wow did this episode deliver in the end! I don’t quite see the any resemblance to welcome to the – NHK, though i do see how the show resembles Honey and clover 2. the whole bit with the childhood friend kinda makes me think more of Bokura Ga Ita. Very good pick, i look forward to more of your episodic posts
The very beginning gave me that fear but then once it showed Jinta’s reflection and Menma not being there it started to hit the right tone, followed by the OP. From that point on I’d fallen for the show. I mention some similarities with Welcome to the NHK mostly because of Jinta’s effectively hikkikomori state, his delusions, and the way he’s estranged from his old friends but still tries to reconnect in some way with them. Specifically it reminded me of Satou finding Hitomi and their strange relationship.
Glad you enjoyed it and the post, I’ll be looking forward to writing more on it!
Well this show is directed by someone who worded on Honey and Clover and directed the second season.And it’s the first time he does anything for A1.
About the nickname,to me it’s kind of a “plotpoint”,when Enma calls Naruko by her nickname in front of 16 year old Jinta,he asks her to not call her that,she doesn’t understand why and you can see Jinta is embarassed.
It drives home the point that Enma really hasn’t grown up mentaly despite looking older,the elementary school student she still is mentally has no problem calling her that.
Naruko’s nickname could be something like that. Jinta never called her that in her presence so maybe Naruka would’ve reacted had she been able to hear Menma. Good point.
I’d usually reserve good soapy melodrama like this for adult characters, but this is really nice. Senior year in high school, is just as filled with the archetypal/cliche rites of passage; but to me what is interesting is unfinished business that can fuck you up as an adult if not addressed. Basically the shit that turns kids into Myungs, Isamus, and yes Gulds.
The Macross Plus comparison isn’t something I’d thought of but it makes a great point now that you bring it up. I guess that if things go well for Jinta in reuniting everyone and putting things to rest it might avoid the kind of situation that played out years later for Myung, Isamu, and Guld. Nice comparison.
It was enjoyable reading your thoughts about it.
After watching the third episode of Hanasaku Iroha, my impression of it being a somewhat serious drama anime bursted like a bubble.
Haven’t gotten to episode three of Hanasaku Iroha but I’ve been hearing some less-than-encouraging things about it on Twitter today. Sorry to hear those things confirmed, though I’ll keep watching it and hope that it’s just one episode that went off track.
I really really enjoyed the first episode, especially seeing that the OP song is by Galileo Galilei. I havent heard an op that resonated so much with me since Kare Kano. Totally give me inspiration for forcing
myself to keep working on this story of mine.
but yeah, other than Hanasaku Iroha, this is my other fav show of the season!
The OP song is wonderful. I hadn’t heard of the artist before but the song reminded me of some favorites from Spitz and Suneohair, which is always a good thing. I don’t quite have the words yet for how great that song is for the atmosphere of the show and the emotions it conveys but the comparison to Kare Kano‘s OP and ED is very apt. I’ve gone back and listened to it more than any other OP in recent memory.
Wow, that’s a really comprehensive summary of the episode, lots of great info here. Good to know about Naruko’s nickname. I had no idea. xD
I really liked this episode; I think it’s one of the best-done first episodes of the season even if it’s not my favorite. Noitamina should do well this season; I think they’ve reached just the right mixture of mainstream and artsy here and with C.
Also, thanks for the slice of life vs drama explanation you told Bass earlier. I’ve used “drama” and “slice-of-life” interchangeably with anime (I haven’t been into anime all that long), but this is a great distinction. Learn something new everyday.
Which show is your favorite of the season, btw? Is it C since you mentioned that? For me this was far and away my favorite first episode, setting in motion characters, a story, and themes more in one episode than the series I’ve seen two episodes of.
Glad you liked the explanation. I’m not as strict as some when it comes to the overuse of the slice-of-life term but I do think that now and then it needs to be spoken on lest its incorrect usage continue. With so many people throwing the term around it’s easy for people to get mislead about it, heh.
Tiger & Bunny. :3 I can’t kick fanboy tendencies even if Ano Hana had better animation, script, and more promise in the long-run. I liked C, too, but not as much as Ano Hana.
I think it’s easy to mix them up because a lot of anime dramas have slice-of-life-esque elements/scenes at least in comparison to Western (or maybe just American) dramas. Still, I’m definitely sticking with it because otherwise I’ll just throw the slice-of-life term at half the anime I watch. ^^
I am looking forward to the rest of this series. I teared up while watching this episode. I’m not one for much crying, either.
It has some seriously sad parts in just this first episode. Not even Honey and Clover had such a punch this early on.
I also believe that AnoHana has the best first episode. However, I think HanaIro is giving AnoHana some stiff competition because of its nice animation and of course melodramatic plot as well.
Hanasaku Iroha is certainly looking to be a good show. I was on the verge of claiming that series to blog but I’m glad I waited since AnoHana really blew me away with how much I loved it.
Anyone getting Toradora vibes from the character design?? I think it’s the same guy =]
Well it does have the same director as Toradora and he also directed season 2 of Honey and Clover.
She’s like a ghostly, white-haired Hagu! Grr…
Well, you know how I felt about this, but I agree that the latter half was much better than the opening. I like the set-up and the art and I’m a sucker for drama, so, as long as that picks up in a way that makes me warm up to the characters pretty soon, then I’m prepared to revise my prejudices. And, yes, defo good to see you epi-blogging again – senpai!
Yeah, I know how much you disliked Hagu. She was definitely the least favorite main character in the show for me, but she had her moments and otherwise I just felt sort of indifferent to her instead of taking an active dislike to her as you did.
The opening was a little worrying even for me until it got to that serious moment where you realize Menma isn’t actually there. And from then on it just took off. I hope you’ll continue watching it and enjoy it, and thanks for the encouragement, comrade
any thoughts on noitamina show The Money of Soul and Possibility Control, Im finding it very interesting for a few reason but the more interesting reason is because of the contrast between the main character of Money and soul and AnoHana. They are very similar looking character with two very different outlooks on life AnoHana you have a Hikimori and in Money in soul you have a Kid working 2 jobs studying economics. Any thoughts on that EO sempai?
p.s. DOWN WITH HAGU !!!
On C, I’m interested at this point but can’t yet say if it will turn out well or not. It certainly has interesting elements to it and I think/hope it will be using its story to reflect primarily on ethical issues regarding money and greed. It may also produce an interesting mystery about how the Financial District’s money is working in the real world. That said, I’m intensely wary of any anime that tries to talk big about economic or political issues since the vast majority are done with such a shallow understanding and plain ignorance of the topics that they end up making me RAEG! (Gundam 00, I’m looking at you!)
Having the main character in C work two jobs and scrape to get by is kind of interesting since most shows don’t focus on too much on how characters support themselves. Bringing the hikkikormori issue into it, though Jinta doesn’t count as much since he’s still in high school, is like two sides of the same coin. People, not just young ones like in C, having to work multiple part-time jobs in Japan and some people becoming hikkikomori both reflect the deterioration of the labor market and social contract in Japan over the past two to three decades. The old ‘employment for life’ social contract has broken down when the big companies took major hits at the start of the 1990′s and a lot switched to hiring temp workers and generally finding ways to avoid providing for employees like they used to. So some people are stuck working multiple jobs while others despair of being able to make a respectable living for themselves and retreat into hikkikomori-ism (though there are also social pressures in that phenomenon as well as economic.)
P.S. Hagu wasn’t my favorite but she had her moments and played a part in THE BEST ANIME EVER.
“I’m intensely wary of any anime that tries to talk big about economic or political issues since the vast majority are done with such a shallow understanding and plain ignorance of the topics that they end up making me RAEG! (Gundam 00, I’m looking at you!)” – well Gundam 00 was horrible but i have faith in noitaminA, mostly because of Shiki and the bouts of conversation between the medical staff and other portions on human anatomy and various illness. It showed they did a good bit or research before writing those conversations. or had a good consultant, hopefully they do that here…
This really sounds similar to Cross Game. At least this is what Cross Game was underneath the surface. Considering that 1/2 of the main seiyuu are from Cross game it’s no surprise that the characters in Ano Hana are portrayed very well. It’s starting to walk a familiar path which concerns me slightly since i don’t want to compare the two. However, I loved how the first episode introduced the characters and it’s always the quiet ones that get my attention. I plan to see where this goes.
Again. Soft spot for Megane characters. @_@
At some point I have to try Cross Game. The whole baseball thing has made me drag my feet on it despite lots of people telling me that it’s barely about baseball and more about friendships and relationships.
I’ve never really had a huge problem with gg’s “localization” subbing philosophy; in fact I somewhat prefer it.
I have to say though, this show looks really gorgeous and there’s a superb attention to even the smallest details in motion. The colours choices are all really well thought through; everything looks vibrant and just pops out at you.
Eh, I just can’t get over changing the meaning of the original text. For me it’s just plain inaccurate and thus wrong. I’d never have gotten away with translating like that in class and I hold that standard to others’ work as well.
The animation is definitely well done. You’re right about the colors and how vibrant it feels. While I’d like the ‘camera’ angles and shots to be a little more unconventional and abstract there is a bit of that in here, enough to give the show a little flavor throughout the episode.
This first episode gives me high hopes for this series. For once we’ve got well established characters who don’t fit into tropes, an interesting storyline, fluid animation and great voice actors. I don’t see AnoHana as being overdramatic as a few people said, on the contrary it’s quite understated, aided by it’s really relaxed setting. Slice of Life is one of my favorite genres, but rarely is it done to my liking in anime, but this first episode was great.
I’m thinking that the show is going to be much more heavily weighted to drama than to slice of life, especially given it’s one season run. But while it’s not so much slice of life it does feel very true to life in the characters’ emotions and how they are conveyed. Understated is a good way to put it though the feelings it conveys are ones I can feel very intensely when I watch it.
Fun show really dramatic in spots think I will end up following this series, and those character designs so good and cute XD
The drama is great thus far, it’s made me really excited for the show. Glad you’ll be likely to keep with it.