For this review, I will refer to the anime as Ano Hana for short.

I'm not a fan of romance anime. I am a fan a fan of slice-of-life anime, though. This is a contradiction that I myself do not understand because most slice-of-life anime has romance to the extent that they are almost synonymous and is to be expected. Given this, I enjoyed Ano Hana despite that fact that the romance is central to the story. This is an anime that treats the topic of coping with the loss of a friend. The anime is well animated, the music is soothing and suits the mood of the series and the characters are well developed and memorable.

The voice actors delivered their lines with emotions that will tear at the viewer's heart. This anime is very sad and bordering on depressing. The end is, of course, as sad and depressing as the rest of the series. This is a series that is filled to the brim with characters who are close to breaking point, those that are trying desperately to cope with their loss, those that are unable to move on and those that have repressed their sadness. It is no wonder that throughout the series, there is a lot of crying.

What I LIKE about Ano Hana:
-Excellent performance by the voice actors
-Nice Animation
-Soothing and emotional music when appropriate
-Memorable characters that have been well developed and have depth

What I DISLIKE about Ano Hana:
-Over-emotional at times
-Too short

Summary
This is an excellent series for those viewers that like romance and shows with a melancholy mood that pervades throughout the entire series. I would also recommend that viewers who enjoy slice-of-life in general give this a try.

Overall, I rate this series a 9 out of 10 (show less)

Let me start by saying that I am a moderate anime watcher. I usually only watch action series like Naruto/One piece/Toaru Majutsu... BUT I thought I'd dip into a different category a bit.

This anime is a MUST to be seen! Its only 11 eps, but it will tug on your heartstrings! I'm not one to cry when watching anime, and I'm sure one will never make me cry, but this anime did pull at my heart and give me that sense of grieving, like when someone you love dies.. Its GREAT!

I may be a little biased, as I haven't seen much from this category, but this was heart stopping. The only thing that I didn't like was how strongly they felt over a friend's death, even though they were like 8 when it happened AND 10 years had passed since then. In real life, they would have been moved on. They also talked about love, which I don't think anyone could really experience if they're under 10.. But I really shouldn't be comparing anime to real life.

I also didn't like how much they cried over jealousy reasons and such. Also, they never made it 100% clear what had killed Menma in the first place. Either way, this anime is the 2nd closest anime that has ever pulled at my emotions, especially at the end of ep 10.. The series's ending left me feeling empty even though they fullfilled their friend's final wish, but that's always how these sad series are.

You MUST watch, even if you are a Narutard or only a shounen fan! As you wipe away your tears, you won't be worry! Also, if you liked this series, you really should watch Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica. Its just as sad. (show less)

Well, basically he told most of the points. This show is pretty good. I mean REAL good. But still it's not THE BEST OF THE BEST.
Drama series, i thought this is a show that pawns MOST of the Korean or Taiwanese normal (REAL) human drama series. But to be frank. It's just NOT the best fans. I was watching this from episode 1 until the end. I was quite touching and very emotion IN SOME OF THE TIMES. But there are also times where you gets annoyed pretty easily as well.

I know hardcore FANS cannot accept that this anime is NOT the best. But face the fact.... it ain't. And also i hate the part where they cry TOO much. I mean... wtf is with your life? Crying doesn't solve most of the things.... (show less)

I watched this Anime because of his excellent rating and so my expectations went really up for this one, but in the end there is no way I could give this anime 5 stars. It's still one of the better ones out there, though.

The story mainly deals with the death of a girl and how her 5 friends cope with it, but there are also themes like love, Growth and Self-Realization so the story is excellent in it's topics. But there were some details that really annoyed me and I didn't find the story as touching as other reviews say. And I am usually a real crybaby so I can't really understand those other reviews (I admit that the end was great).

Imo the Dialogue in this anime is what takes everything down. THEY usually cry.. and half of the time it's like the "oh? Why am I crying?" kind of crying. Also I recommend to NOT watch this in one go like I did.. As others say it's a meaningful anime with lots of thoughts and story behind it. If you, like me, watch it to fast their rapid change in emotions will just annoy you and you won't be able to enjoy this to its fullest.

Nothing to say against the animation..exspecially the last episode(s) were made really well. But that's standard today anyway.

So all in all it still is one of the better anime out there but for a drama to not be really touching takes most of it's entertainment. It still has it's meaningful side, though (show less)