AnimeSuki Forum - View Single Post - AnoHana

Kaioshin Sama · 2011-06-04, 14:55

Based on a hunch that sprung from my watching about 5 minutes of this show at Anime North a week ago and not being immediately put off I decided to give this show a whirl. It was a bit of a rough start, but my goodness did this get good fast. It's finally happened, I've finally found a Slice of Life TV series I actually like again. The first since Welcome To The NHK. I've gone over in my head why this must be the case and come up with several reasons as of finishing this current episode 08 which I feel it's important for myself to lay out somewhere:

1. AnoHana has a strong emphasis on good drama and character development as opposed to wacky high school antics forming the backbone of the series appeal. I can't help but feel that if this show weren't a noitaminA and/or were done by a different studio/team like say Kyoto Animation or Shaft that this series would have instead been about the group as children doing their Super Peace Busters thing and that the emphasis would be on cute kids doing cute things instead as they go about their childhood. Also probably all of them but Jintan would have been female if that.

Now while a popular medium and perfectly valid way of drawing interest from others, that sort of formula I listed above does little to nothing for me personally, and I've come to feel that it has come to define the Slice of Life genre a little too much over the past several years. As such I've been aching for some good drama and to get both Colorful and this show in the same year is something I consider a blessing. No idea if I'm seeing a return to form for the Slice of Life genre as I knew it (drama being the emphasis over comedy), but it gives me hope and if not I'm grateful to get at least 2 hits to go with all the misses I've been experiencing. I was about to give up on the whole idea of a Slice of Life genre that could do anything for me, but here we are with reason number 1 this show has been a hit with me.

2. Likeable and interesting and in some cases very complex characters. What's this? High schoolers who actually behave like high schoolers instead of elementary schoolers? You mean I'm going to be able to relate to these characters in some way other than how I relate to my kid cousin who is 10 and already more mature than your average anime high schooler? Is this a joke?

Thankfully it's not and it's also nice to see characters that grow not only from past to present (as we see how different everybody is in both eras as a result of Menma's death) but in the present as well. I'm kinding of liking the role reversal of Jintan and Anaru over the last couple episodes for example. I also dig Yukiatsu's character and how he's been unveiled and want to see where he's going because he seems so conflicted and lost right now for someone who on the surface you'd think has it all going for him. Interesting characters are absolutely critical to good Slice of Life in my eyes and it's also imperative that they be defined by a clear personality yet still have some room for development. I find a lot of modern SOL series tend to try and define their characters through the gags they participate in and how those gags play off of other characters and I don't see that as valid character development or something that is going to get me interested in the cast. Thankfully AnoHana avoids that pitfall and that's reason number 2 why I find it to have been a hit with me so far.

3. Good pacing, writing, dialogue. Usually an 11 episode anime is a warning sign for me telling me to stay away because there is nothing to be seen and whatever does transpire will not amount to much because by the time you get into the show it'll all by over. Somehow AnoHana manages to make such good use of it's limited runtime that I was completely invested in it by episode 3. This I owe to the strong writing and mature dialogue and not wasting any time with any sort of unnecessary antics or wacky comedy that as I said above I feel plagues the SOL genre these days. When you maximize your time you have the greatest chance of generating and maintaining interest. Too short and you fail to get an audience before it's all over. Too long and you give the feeling of a show being drawn out and lose your audiences interest over time. So far this show gets it just right, and that's reason number 3 why this show has been a hit for me.

4. A strong opening and ending theme. Nothing gets me into a show faster than a show with a strong opening and ending to set the right tone. Thankfully the person in charge of OP/ED directing is someone who realizes that you don't need dancing in your opening and wacky visuals in your ending to draw in an audience, you just need a good song that ties into your theme, and looking at the lyrics of AnoHana's opening and ending they really couldn't have done much better. Both themes are pretty chill yet pensive in their own way and neither too loud nor too earshredding as some of them tend to be. You don't need to have gimmicks in your intro/outros, you just need visuals that give you a sense of what the show is about and what the characters are like and you need to set tone, and AnoHana handles this simple notiong very well and that's the final reason why I believe this show has been a hit for me while so many others have missed before it.

As for the most recent episode, the fact that they established early on that people were recognizing weird stuff happening around Jinta and objects moving on their own was adequate preparation for the fact that there really is a ghost in this case. How they handle it from here will obviously make a big difference, but given how things have gone so far I don't see much reason to worry about something like Menma getting magicked back to life coming along and ruining the otherwise grounded nature of the series. I can allow for magical elements in my show as long as they are pre-established and foreshadowed to an acceptable degree from the get go, and I feel that AnoHana has already long since taken care of doing just that.

Also the fact that there's a brother in the equation now who feels neglected by his mom who only pays attention to Menma's altar adds an interesting new layer into the series. I can already see him playing a big part in all this and have to wonder if Menma's wish is not for him to cease being neglected and for her mother and friends to get past her death. That seems to be the only logical conclusion at this point. Lastly knowing exactly how Yukiatsu was going to handle the whole cold call thing and Jintan's answers to it with the threat of violence means that I've come to understand his pretty complex character to a startling degree. I love it when that happens. Another strong episode and I'm anticipating the next. Though if I had one complaint it's that there was a little too much crying in this episode and again it's centered around Anaru. Maybe her character is a little more melodramatic then I would have liked.

2011-06-04, 14:55	Link #135
Kaioshin Sama Banned Join Date: May 2004 Location: Neither Here nor There Age: 39	Based on a hunch that sprung from my watching about 5 minutes of this show at Anime North a week ago and not being immediately put off I decided to give this show a whirl. It was a bit of a rough start, but my goodness did this get good fast. It's finally happened, I've finally found a Slice of Life TV series I actually like again. The first since Welcome To The NHK. I've gone over in my head why this must be the case and come up with several reasons as of finishing this current episode 08 which I feel it's important for myself to lay out somewhere: 1. AnoHana has a strong emphasis on good drama and character development as opposed to wacky high school antics forming the backbone of the series appeal. I can't help but feel that if this show weren't a noitaminA and/or were done by a different studio/team like say Kyoto Animation or Shaft that this series would have instead been about the group as children doing their Super Peace Busters thing and that the emphasis would be on cute kids doing cute things instead as they go about their childhood. Also probably all of them but Jintan would have been female if that. Now while a popular medium and perfectly valid way of drawing interest from others, that sort of formula I listed above does little to nothing for me personally, and I've come to feel that it has come to define the Slice of Life genre a little too much over the past several years. As such I've been aching for some good drama and to get both Colorful and this show in the same year is something I consider a blessing. No idea if I'm seeing a return to form for the Slice of Life genre as I knew it (drama being the emphasis over comedy), but it gives me hope and if not I'm grateful to get at least 2 hits to go with all the misses I've been experiencing. I was about to give up on the whole idea of a Slice of Life genre that could do anything for me, but here we are with reason number 1 this show has been a hit with me. 2. Likeable and interesting and in some cases very complex characters. What's this? High schoolers who actually behave like high schoolers instead of elementary schoolers? You mean I'm going to be able to relate to these characters in some way other than how I relate to my kid cousin who is 10 and already more mature than your average anime high schooler? Is this a joke? Thankfully it's not and it's also nice to see characters that grow not only from past to present (as we see how different everybody is in both eras as a result of Menma's death) but in the present as well. I'm kinding of liking the role reversal of Jintan and Anaru over the last couple episodes for example. I also dig Yukiatsu's character and how he's been unveiled and want to see where he's going because he seems so conflicted and lost right now for someone who on the surface you'd think has it all going for him. Interesting characters are absolutely critical to good Slice of Life in my eyes and it's also imperative that they be defined by a clear personality yet still have some room for development. I find a lot of modern SOL series tend to try and define their characters through the gags they participate in and how those gags play off of other characters and I don't see that as valid character development or something that is going to get me interested in the cast. Thankfully AnoHana avoids that pitfall and that's reason number 2 why I find it to have been a hit with me so far. 3. Good pacing, writing, dialogue. Usually an 11 episode anime is a warning sign for me telling me to stay away because there is nothing to be seen and whatever does transpire will not amount to much because by the time you get into the show it'll all by over. Somehow AnoHana manages to make such good use of it's limited runtime that I was completely invested in it by episode 3. This I owe to the strong writing and mature dialogue and not wasting any time with any sort of unnecessary antics or wacky comedy that as I said above I feel plagues the SOL genre these days. When you maximize your time you have the greatest chance of generating and maintaining interest. Too short and you fail to get an audience before it's all over. Too long and you give the feeling of a show being drawn out and lose your audiences interest over time. So far this show gets it just right, and that's reason number 3 why this show has been a hit for me. 4. A strong opening and ending theme. Nothing gets me into a show faster than a show with a strong opening and ending to set the right tone. Thankfully the person in charge of OP/ED directing is someone who realizes that you don't need dancing in your opening and wacky visuals in your ending to draw in an audience, you just need a good song that ties into your theme, and looking at the lyrics of AnoHana's opening and ending they really couldn't have done much better. Both themes are pretty chill yet pensive in their own way and neither too loud nor too earshredding as some of them tend to be. You don't need to have gimmicks in your intro/outros, you just need visuals that give you a sense of what the show is about and what the characters are like and you need to set tone, and AnoHana handles this simple notiong very well and that's the final reason why I believe this show has been a hit for me while so many others have missed before it. As for the most recent episode, the fact that they established early on that people were recognizing weird stuff happening around Jinta and objects moving on their own was adequate preparation for the fact that there really is a ghost in this case. How they handle it from here will obviously make a big difference, but given how things have gone so far I don't see much reason to worry about something like Menma getting magicked back to life coming along and ruining the otherwise grounded nature of the series. I can allow for magical elements in my show as long as they are pre-established and foreshadowed to an acceptable degree from the get go, and I feel that AnoHana has already long since taken care of doing just that. Also the fact that there's a brother in the equation now who feels neglected by his mom who only pays attention to Menma's altar adds an interesting new layer into the series. I can already see him playing a big part in all this and have to wonder if Menma's wish is not for him to cease being neglected and for her mother and friends to get past her death. That seems to be the only logical conclusion at this point. Lastly knowing exactly how Yukiatsu was going to handle the whole cold call thing and Jintan's answers to it with the threat of violence means that I've come to understand his pretty complex character to a startling degree. I love it when that happens. Another strong episode and I'm anticipating the next. Though if I had one complaint it's that there was a little too much crying in this episode and again it's centered around Anaru. Maybe her character is a little more melodramatic then I would have liked.