Quote:
Originally Posted by Flower
For me my fave genres ARE slice of life and coming of age, though, so it's prolly not a surprise that I have enjoyed this and Hanasaku as much as I have. To answer something Deconstructor mentioned, this kind of show is exactly the sort of thing I DO seek out, and I was delighted to find two offerings of the "type" in one season.
As the Russian saying goes "Every frog praises his own swamp."  |
I'm more of a shonen viewer myself (mainly because all they ever showed on Toonami was fighting) and I guess I am a little biased there.
Mmm... I find Anohana to have a more compelling effect. I feel Hanairo tries too hard in creating special stories, and sometimes the excess effort pays off. But with Anohana, there's a relaxed atmosphere in the flow of plot events. Whereas Hanairo is focused on creating a more mature, confident Ohana through her experiences at the inn, Anohana has no foreseeable path the characters must take. I didn't think Jinta, the lazy, anti-social shut-in, would be working multiple part-time jobs to build fireworks. He goes back to school briefly, but then accepts school isn't really for him (at least, for now). There isn't a coercive environment in Anohana - no pressure on the main characters to become better citizens. Most of all, there are no lessons the characters must learn by the ending. Instead, Jinta and his friends are simply living out their childhood dreams once more, making different choices from typical people. Strangely the lack of structure is what I like the most.
Now I know some people are going to say Tsuruko gets indirectly pressured by Yukiatsu to do well in school, who in turn is pressured by his past with Jinta and Menma. We only see a little bit of their suffering, however. With Anaru, she says she gets scolded by her mother, but we don't actually see the scolding take place. Most of the time, Anohana is rather chill. And I bet people really like something relaxing to watch. Indeed, as I look back on my rating spreadsheet (I keep records, don't look at me like that...) all of the lowest rated episodes seem to force the emotional issues onto me, as Hanairo does. Naturally, my favorite Hanairo episode is the one where Tomoe goes crazy on the survivalist gamers.
So I'm concluding by throwing out an idea of what people might like - easygoing, unpretentious stories that still manage to retain significance and meaning. I don't necessarily mean anime has to be simple, but it's easier to draw the general population of viewers in with casual events like playing video games or riding the train. And then, are the characters riding the train simply because they need to get from point A to B quickly, or are they just lying on the seats discussing some interesting things? Eh.