Review of Ano Hana Anime

Written by VJO on January 23, 2012 at 12:56 AM

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