Anime Discussion Thread - Page 1748

On January 05 2012 19:50 Zergneedsfood wrote:
Ok, so I didn't think Anohana was the best thing ever omfg so good, but I think people in this thread are dissing the show for all the wrongs reasons. Screw you guys for making me give up my 3K post, but I thought the show is good enough for me to defend it properly. And since I think a lot of people's unfounded arguments are going unnoticed (WHEN THIS IS ACTUALLY A GOOD DISCUSSION IN THIS THREAD FOR ONCE OMG WTF?), here we go.

NOTE: It's probably not safe to read the following parts without getting spoiled. I think it's appropriate that I don't put "spoilers" for certain things because since this is a huge refutation on everyone whose just been disliking on Anohana, anyone who hasn't watched the show probably shouldn't be reading anyway unless they've actually watched the show.



Honestly, I don't even know why I agreed to this premise when Sentenal told this same thing to me, and now I realize how wrong I was to simplify Anohana down like that.

Anohana, above anything else, is a close look at characters and their relationships with friends that have been tainted with death. You're right, most kids don't go through their lives thinking they killed their best friends, but that's exactly how Anohana paints the picture. None of these characters exhibit behavior that indicates that their present day lives are still being affected by Menma's death, with perhaps the exception of one or two (Jinta, who is only affected because of Menma's reappearance, and Anjou, who has to deal with Jinta the most). Have their lives been changed? Of course. What little kid wouldn't be traumatized or changed significantly by the death of a friend?

Still, each member of the group has moved on or stayed the same in some way or another, with perhaps the exception of Jinta, but I don't see anything wrong with Jinta having lingering problems after Menma's death. On the other hand, people like Anjou, Matsuyuki, and Tsurumi have been wrapped up in either their new social lives, jobs, or school work. Anjou herself is described as having never changed. She still enjoys anime/manga/games. Matsuyuki and Tsurumi have buried themselves in school work. These characters have moved on or forgotten, they've started new activities, and while they may not be genuine, they've started new friendships too.

So the idea of everyone being consciously guilty over Menma's death to the extent that they show it all day long in the episodes is such utter garbage that I don't understand why people are characterizing the show as such. Let's realize that everyone's feelings over Menma only reoccur after everybody starts seeing each other again, and that's the most natural thing in the world. Who wouldn't be reminded of bad memories when the same people that are related to said memories are standing right in your face?

And these memories are horrible memories. Everyone in the group loved Menma. She was a great friend who had deep connections with everyone in the group, especially Jinta, who helped him out when he lost his mother. So what do you expect from young children (and by the way, they are probably not six years old) who each think that the death of their beloved friend was his or her own fault and his or her own fault alone? I think people in this thread highly underestimate just how everyone felt about Menma, be it romantic or purely platonic. The emotions in the show are so powerful only because the audience is exposed to just how rooted Menma was in their lives.

That's why the show is called "We Still Don't Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day". It's because the show revolves around a lingering childhood guilt that has never been removed. Everything that is done in this show, the games, the food, the fireworks. They're all done as a throwback to their childhoods, a hope that reliving the fun times in their childhood will somehow remove this terrible memory and allow these children to move on and become adults that have overcome death.

And that's where people just start blasting the show for having an unrealistic dramatic atmosphere. Why are they being dumb? Why are they playing these retarded games? Of course Menma's wish wasn't the rocket, durrrr. Why are you crying about this now?

At that point, you've missed Anohana's point entirely. The point is to demonstrate the futility of these actions, the uselessness of trying to run away from confronting your guilt. Ending your friendships, burying yourself in study, blaming others for that day in the woods, turning to the world and travelling. All of these things are the actions of children in teenage bodies trying to push their issues aside without confronting the real problem. These people each think that they've moved on, they think that they no longer feel any problems, and the reality that it isn't true at all. Menma's reappearance and Jinta's efforts to rebuild his friendships with everyone becomes the trigger that helps reveal how in fact, most of these activities that everyone has indulged themselves in are all facades and cover ups for the real problem.

So in the end, no. I don't think that these children are always thinking that they've killed Menma. They haven't been thinking about that day for years. But that's all off screen.

But we do see in the show is the breaking of the equilibrium, the ending to the peaceful shells that everyone has enclosed themselves in, and the forceful realization that guilt, pain, sadness, and regret are all still bottled up in five childhood friends who don't know where to throw it at but themselves.

So who else wants in on this? This is my 3K post, so I'm going to type as long as I want. Oh I see someone.



Are you serious? THAT'S what you critique the show on? Do I have to spell it out for you? Ok fine, because clearly you won't get it if I don't.

Jinta's love for Menma was real. Even as a child, his love was pure, innocent, and strong. Their relationship is stressed often, and the flashbacks seen in the show underline the foundations that base most of Jinta's affections. So the thought of Jinta having returned feelings when Menma returns as someone who hasn't even aged, someone who still talks to Jinta like she used, and someone who cares and is just as nice to Jinta as the young Menma was, is something I don't find odd at all.

His feelings for Anjou are mostly ones of confusion and reluctance. If you even watched closely for a moment, you'd know that Jinta feels way too much guilt and regret to really return her feelings. And I hope you do notice, that the feelings are clearly there. Jinta has some feeling towards Anjou. You can argue that it's not romantic, but then I'd advise you to actually sit back and watch the show carefully instead of laughing at the idea of someone loving a ghost.

Next?



Not this. And I'll explain why.



No growth? I think you're watching the wrong show here, and I think that you're falsely implying that "character growth" = good show.

I hope people realize that YEARS have passed between Menma's death and the present day. In the period in between, the characters have changed. You don't need a timeline to witness that there is a noticeable change in attitude between the children back then and the teenagers standing in the show.

But like I said before, everyone has enclosed themselves, forgetting their guilty consciousness and running away from their problems. The show, as a result, is demonstrating what happens when one disrupts that equilibrium where one thinks he or she is in control of all the rage and sadness behind that guilt.

THAT is the growth that we're witnessing. It's a nostalgic return to roots, where everyone confronts their original problem and learns how to accept death and move on. It's a way to bring out everyone's true selves, and to bring out the pain that was never properly released.

So sure, call the characters pricks. I don't think they were. I think they were teenagers whose only reactions to changing their peaceful way of life was stubbornness and arrogance. They dodged their problems, blamed others, and even hated others to avoid themselves from getting hurt. The end of the show was a testament to how each and every one of the characters was forced to drop that act, and that was how their growth was represented.

So stop talking about no growth. The very fact that the characters learned to accept what had happened to Menma is testament to the fact that they did grow.



You actually give no examples, so I'm not even going to argue about anything but that bolded line.

Okay, so you don't like slow moving pieces. Fine. You think they could've solved some issues in one episode. Fine.In that case, you might as well throw most of Anohana's meaning out of the window.

The way it took forever to solve issues was symbolic for how a group of friends who so easily chose to do things in the past had now fallen apart and could no longer agree on anything. Every other issue that seemed to just hide the real problems and prolong the inevitable were done exactly because it was to show what the characters were doing: hiding their real problems and prolonging the inevitable.

Maybe you didn't like how it was done, that's perfectly fine. Maybe you didn't like how problems could've easily been solved fine. But in that case, don't blatantly disregard why they did it. Otherwise, it could just be that you overlooked these issues and didn't even bother giving Anohana's meaning a chance.

Is there anyone else? I'm sure there's ONE melodramatic part that EVERYBODY just remembers and hated. Oh yeah.



Maybe it was out of place. It was also probably exaggerated. It probably didn't need to happen, to be honest.

But then, maybe you could give them a break and let them cry their hearts out.

Seriously, since when was crying over a dead loved one abnormal? Like...what the hell? I am honestly baffled as to why people don't see the last scene as release, a final cry for someone truly loved.

People cry over sad and happy things all the time. A team being disbanded. A relationship being broken. Qualifying to nationals in some kind of academic activity.

So, given that, I'm beginning to get really irked when people say "yeah it was out of place and way too dramatic". I understand their concern, and I understand why people think that way...

But in all honestly, crying loudly with a group of your friends over the same person is not that unnatural. Sure they didn't need to play hide and seek, but the crying seemed real enough.

To be honest, the one thing I did like about Anohana is that whenever they cry, it was done realistically. The ending part did seem exaggerated, but if anything else, I forgave them because Menma was so close to them.

But if you can't relate, I guess it's pointless.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

tl;dr I understand a variety of dislikes about Anohana, but some of the stuff I read in the thread just made me annoyed because it seemed most of you guys missed the point of Anohana and just focused on unimportant and sidelined topics that really didn't make up the bulk of the show.

Screw you guys for making me waste my 3K post like this, but I when I woke up and saw all these responses, I really couldn't do anything but post a response since it irked me so much.

So there, happy 3K, you guys are all wrong.