Spoiler for 1:
That was pretty neat. I'd say story-wise I still prefer the first episode of Iroha, because Ohana was/is stealing the show there and she's easily one of the most likeable female characters in a good while for me. Here, we don't have anyone who left me with such an impression, but the overall set up was quite pleasant. Being someone who moved around a lot, I can sort of relate to Jinta, and I can only imagine how much of a burden it must be to get in touch with a group of friends who you haven't seen/talked to in forever. And that's even without Menma's (or anyone else's) death. People change far too much and it's hard to get back together a decade after and expect each other to get along perfectly.
Jinta himself seems to be in the pits, and for the most part he wasn't a very likeable character because of this, but it was nice seeing some growth already and how he seems to be bent on fulfilling Menma's wish, while, at the same time, trying to get out of what seems to be a pretty miserable lifestyle due to the trauma. I really liked that last scene, what with the ending playing and him running towards the shed. That's what youth is all about, anyway. Time where you can act like that and let stuff come out!
Menma herself was... well, I'm not sure how to talk about her. She's cute, but I also agree that she might have been a bit too hyperactive around Jinta and not realizing whatever he went through. In the end, though, it all worked out because she seems to have gotten to him, but it was a bit agonizing seeing how he struggled each time she acted like that in front of other people, in particular their old friends.
Everyone else, I don't know. We didn't get enough of them for me to have any opinion regarding those guys, aside from Anaru who... well, is acting like a teenager girl, I suppose. The way she acted seemed to imply she had feelings for Jinta, and all that rudeness towards the guy has to be the tsundere-ness getting through in her prime.
Overall, it was enjoyable and if the writing keeps up being good it could go pretty far. Nagai as a director is a good fit, too, if Honey and Clover 2 is any indicator he can deal with the more angsty moments in fantastic fashion. Another really good slice-of-life this season, or, rather, another really good show as a whole. Japan's off to kill me with the overload of interesting things popping up.
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And by the way, on the whole debate about which show looks the best, I personally find both to be very attractive. If we're only talking about actual animation, I think Ano Hana takes the cake. Iroha is well animated, but I just don't see the same amount of different mannerisms for each character, nor do they simply flow as well as they do here. It's... hard to put it into words, but the characters in Ano Hana overall feel a lot more "life like". I guess for an example of what I mean, the scene with Jinta and Menma near the railway is okay. See when she's jumping around, or smelling the flowers, there's a very "realistic" touch to those motions. They feel natural. Same can be said on how she behaved at Jinta's house while he's cooking and so on. There's really always some movement going on, it's hard to spot moments where the characters aren't doing something. Of course, these movements are all very well done too, and they flow well. On the other hand, this comes at the price of having simplified character designs, and that's where Iroha is better. It looks far more "polished", if you want to use that word, while still being considerably well animated. So yeah, they're both really good, each in its own way. (And man, it
really is hard to talk about animation. I never find myself able to express what I see into words properly, it's more about feeling than... well, I don't know!)
