Anime Review : Ano hi Mita Hana no Namae wa Bokutachi ha Mada Shiranai
Hello, everyone! As the title says, this post would be a review on Ano hi Mita Hana no Namae wa Bokutachi ha Mada Shiranai! Yes. It’s too long isn’t it? It is simply called ‘Ano Hana’. By the way, the long title means ‘We still don’t know the name of that flower we saw that day’, and ‘Ano Hana’ just meant, ‘That Flower’. I borrowed it from a junior, which is in Form 1 (that’s 7th grade) since she had too much anime DVDs.
I don’t know much about this story. Plus, I’ve never even heard about it. It’s popular, but it’s unknown.. Got it? Ah, whatever. It just meant people don’t talk about it much in the Net. So, that’s how I don’t know about it. I asked my best friend’s sister about it, and she said the story was magnificent. Truly worth-watching, and all. And I was.. “Hmm.. I’ll give it a try.”
The anime consists of 13 episodes all in all. The character design is quite modest, too. They basically wore either school uniforms, or casual clothes. In this story, the characters changes clothes on a daily basis. So, it really looks normal-like. Plus, the scenes aren’t limited at one point – for example, only at school – but ranges to different places. Like, houses, building sites, shops, etc.
The story starts off to the life of Yadomi Jinta (Japanese order). A boy who is constantly skipping school, or should I say.. not going to school at all. However, the first episode was in summer. A girl was next to him, constantly talking to him while he was playing video games. “Jintan.. Is that Building Builder..?” was her first line. Next, we found out her name was Menma. Nobody could see her except Jintan, so I got curious. I guessed she was dead – and wow, she really is. She asked Jintan to fulfill her wish, but she couldn’t find out what it is.
Her name was Honma Meiko. Menma was her childhood name. It’s the same as Yadomi Jinta. Jintan is his childhood name. They were six of them, and they were all childhood friends. Three boys, and three girls. The boys, Jintan, Yukiatsu and Poppo. The girls, Menma, Tsuruko and Anaru. They made a secret base together, on a hill, near a river, close to a forest. However, all of them got separated after the death of Menma. The reason is because they all have their own hatred feelings. Jealousy, depression, desperation and etcetera.
At least, they managed to be friends once more. :3 Oh yeah, one more thing. Make sure to prepare yourself a box of tissue before actually watching this. The ending is really tragic. Well, I won’t say tragic. Nothing bad happened in the end, it’s just the ending was really sad.
Oh yes! I haven’t commented on the audio! You see, I really, really, really love the ending song of Ano Hana. It’s titled ‘Secret Base ~Kimi Ga Kureta Mono~ (10 years after ver.)’. ‘Kimi Ga Kureta Mono’ means ‘What You Gave Me.’ The original song is by ZONE (if I’m not mistaken.) but it was re-sung by the voice actress of Menma, Tsuruko and Anaru. At first, I thought it was just like normal songs. But when I listened to it over and over again, I was humming it the next day, and found out I basically fell in love with it.
Then, I saw this Ano Hana Festival video on YouTube, and when their voice echoed throughout the stage, there’s only one thing passing through my mind. “That was gorgeous.” The vocals, the music, everything. And Menma’s voice actor is soo cute! XD She’s a little shorter than Tsuruko’s and Anaru’s voice actress too, just like in the anime!
After googling for the English Translation of the song, I winded up in animelyrics.com and found the song. And how I was touched, reading them. The song tells the story of two friends, who got separated because of the change of schools. This one friend is singing about her other friend, who said goodbye to her “while holding back smile and tears”. And, the one who “shouted goodbye from the bottom of her heart till the very end”. And, remember the title? “What You Gave Me”, right? Well, in the song, one important line is always being repeated at the end of every chorus.
“Kimi Ga Kureta Mono”
“What You Gave Me”
“Saikou no omoide wo”
“…the best memories.”
“You have given me.. The best memories..”
Okay.. that’s that~ Bye! :’)
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