Hard?
The fireworks launch at the end of the episode should have been such a crucial moment — will Menma stay or go? It had the ED song and even the slow-motion! The anime is hitting you over the head with a mallet in case you don’t realize just how important this scene is! But I didn’t care. I stopped caring as soon as Jinta admitted his love for Menma. Once that happened, the story jumped the shark.
I actually like the execution of the scene in which Jinta confessed his love. It’s a nice call-back and, finally, anime characters communicate. It has always been a pet peeve of mine in bad dramas that conflicts result from a lack of any communication whatsoever, i.e. character A has a problem with character B but won’t tell character B so bad juju builds up between them. After beating around the bush for nearly an entire season, Yukiatsu (with Anaru’s help) is like “Okay, lay some real talk on me — do you love Menma or not?”
*snort*
I just hated Jinta’s answer. Look, if they had spent nine episodes building up Menma as an interesting and complex character who just happens to look rather young compared to everyone else, I’d still have an emotional stake in the show. But she’s paper-thin; she has no depth whatsoever. This was fine as long as she served as nothing more than the linchpin behind the drama surrounding the group of friends, but as one of the main characters of the series — someone who Jinta falls in love with — it’s absolutely ridiculous to the point that it took me out of the show entirely.
*snort* squared
I just don’t care anymore. And this is a shame ’cause this episode had a lot of good bits. Tsurumi calling Yukiatsu a coward on the phone, Tsurumi’s talk with Anjou on the walk home from the secret base, Poppo’s slow “Say it…” chant, the short but bittersweet scene in Menma’s household (her dad doesn’t seem like such a bad guy), etc. I just can’t enjoy any of these developments because the story chose to focus on the two most immature and least interesting characters on the show.
Anyway, in case you missed it…
Moe Sucks 
It would be a shame to overlook this episode’s strong points because of an emotional investment in what the characters should be like. I happen to think that if it weren’t for Menma and her carefree nature, this show would just be another angst carousel like Honey and Clover. At least she doesn’t seem as bogged down as her peers, and the story has finally led everyone to confront their feelings.
Of course, this is all just tying loose ends before the big finale, which I already expected to be about something other than fireworks — that would have been too simple. I imagine Menma’s true wish had something to do with Yadomi and his mother, and is the reason she called everyone to the secret base that day. However, I’m not liking this new “resurrection” angle they have introduced… I hope it doesn’t lead up to much.
By having the personality of a puppy.
This is a peculiar stance to take. This was probably a good episode (I neither said it was good nor bad in the post above) but what does it matter once I’ve lost all interest in the story? You can draw a great painting of a horse, but seeing as how I don’t care about horses whatsoever, I obviously would have no interest in your painting.
I’m pretty sure there would be more to that painting than just the horse. Perhaps a scenery behind it? Either way, if you don’t like someone, there’s no way around that. But what I was trying to get at is that a difference of opinion with the characters shouldn’t be such a distraction if you do like the show. It may be a point of contention, but I wouldn’t call it something that makes or breaks this anime.
It’s not a question of whether or not this should make or break the anime for me — it already has. How do I know? The firework scene did nothing for me. What should have been a pivotal moment in the episode just bored me.
Seeing as how Menma’s at the center of the anime, I think she’s pretty hard to tip toe around. If only her character was just slightly distracting — the focus on her and Jinta takes away from all the other characters. Yes, the side characters did get some nice moments in this anime, but this only serves to remind me how much more focus the side characters would have if we didn’t have to deal with the flaccid relationship at the center of the story.
I guess you would be disappointed if you came in looking for something wildly different as far as characterization goes. Maybe the noitaminA block does create that kind of expectation, though I have been pleasantly surprised at several points by this series. And sure it could be better, but even as it is so far, I would say it stands up quite nicely to a bunch of anime in recent memory.
I’ve written quite extensively on this series, blogging every single episode. I too have praised it — effusively, at times. This makes the recent turn of events all the more disappointing in my eyes. Don’t take my latest post as a declarative statement that Ano Hana is either a good or bad anime — I’ve certainly gotten more out of the series than “a bunch of anime in recent memory;” the post merely says that I no longer have an emotional stake in what happens in the anime from this point on. Are there still positive things to take away from Ano Hana? Sure, and in my opinion, most of the positives are from early on in the series, but none of this changes how I currently feel about the anime.
I thought this was a very strong episode that was hindered largely by the lack of fully fleshed-out characters. Menma in particular is more of a symbol than a character, so it’s really hard to sympathize with Jintan, who loves her because she’s a dead childhood friend and probably the last girl he’s seen in three years. In turn, it’s hard to sympathize with Anaru because Jintan is such a loser, and so on and so forth.
I really liked how Menma’s brother confronted his mother. It was subtle, yet strong. Like most of this episode!
Also Yukiatsu caressing the wig… I don’t know what to say. Even though Yukiatsu’s creepiness has been emphasized and drilled into the audience’s brains every episode, I still found the scene disturbing. Maybe I don’t watch enough anime with cross-dressers.
I feel like so much potential is pushed to the wayside because of the show’s length and focus. Since you mentioned Yukiatsu’s creepiness, I just think it’s one example of where the anime really dropped the ball. This guy is halfway to really being an interesting character, what’s with all his latent anger and wig stroking, but the anime pulls its punches. As a result, Yukiatsu is just ineffectively grumpy most of the time instead of coming to life as a character.
What I’d really like to know is how Yadomi would have reacted had it been any other person in the group who had died.
I think the best solution would be for the gang to split up completely, because despite how bittersweet that moment will be, it might be an eye opener for some of the other characters and might give them a chance to breath.
No one is doing that atm, they are constantly surrounded by each other/or the memory of one thing and another and I don’t think it’s going to help any of the characters grow in the long run. Take for example Tsu/Yukiatsu and the development in this episode, one character is always playing or will always play second fiddle to another. If it takes a long discussion or a chance for them to sit and evaluate their friendship, so be it.
They aren’t friends anymore, just a group of people who happen to be thrust in a group due to a situation that they have all repressed and is taking it’s toll. They know nothing about each other, except for the shallow tidbits of information they’d managed to scrounger up as kids.
In this instance I’m going to take a look at Anjou’s development in the story because I feel it has been lackadaisical. Anjou, in her part, has had her efforts to communicate with Yadomi in the past hindered by one thing or another and like she has made note of, it’s always been due to Menma. Let’s not forget this was the girl who still attempted to keep in touch with Yadomi, who has tried, albeit not in a way that warrants an applause, to reach out to him and it has been thrown back in her face, for lack of better words.
Yadomi, in his wanting Menma to stay, is being selfish to the problems that this so called “group” face and the fact he has yet to actually have a heart to heart with Yukiatsu is a disturbing concept.
I don’t think this touches the tip of the iceberg looming over my feelings towards this anime.
I think you touched on something that bothers me most about Jinta: he has no damn clue just how fractured his group really is. So while he’s running around earning money from his part-time jobs and getting the firework put together, he has no clue just how much Yukiatsu despises him or how much anguish Anjou is in. For all the talk about how he was their leader and how he’s such a stand-up guy (defending Anjou against the rumors about her, etc), he really has no sense of how his friends are feeling. His single-minded callousness is destroying his friends and neither he nor Menma are aware of what’s going behind their backs. All he cares about is someone who, for all intents and purposes, is dead. Finito. Caput. Like I’ve said to ‘a bystander’ above, the anime is so strong in many areas, but Jinta (and Menma) bothers me so damn much. I’m just too annoyed by his pathetic character to really appreciate anything else the anime has to offer. The guy is a terrible friend.
I feel as though I should be soft in my approach to his feelings, as he is still a child and is dealing with something that he still doesn’t understand and would be be hard for an older and more mature character to understand, but I won’t.
I don’t think that warrants/explains his behaviour in any way.
I’ll say it clean here, I wasn’t really attached to Menma from the get go. There was something about her childishness and naivety that was off putting. I don’t understand how anyone can be so blind (and I’m referring to Yadomi here) to the tension between “friends”.
Like you said “I’m not sure Jinta knows anyone else exists but Menma”. That hit the nail right on the head. I honestly believe the rest of the group are as good as dead to him, as harsh as it sounds.
He’s in high school already. Teenagers can make dumb mistakes, but they’re not supposed to be this pathetic. The saddest thing is that we’re supposed to empathize with him. I just don’t see how this is possible.
Oh god, Menma’s still here? I guess so, but it wasn’t that much of a surprise since this wasn’t the last episode of the series yet. And how many shows present a “solution” that looks likes it’s going to work and then turn around and say, “Nope”. A lot, so there was that to consider.
Anyways, I feel bad for Anjou being so infatuated with Jinta, especially given that he’s obsessed with a girl who’s been dead for years. He really needs to move on and lose the emotional baggage.
At this point, I’m not sure Jinta knows anyone else exists but Menma, which is ironic considering nobody else can see her but him.
No huge disagreement, and I’ll save anything detailed for after the finale but I’d argue the underlying issue here is that objectively Jinta’s increasingly looking like a backsliding loser, but the narrative tone is inconsistent and ambiguous as to whether or not that’s what the viewer is supposed to think is happening. Hard to stay invested with a backsliding loser this late in the show, but hard to believe marrying ghost Menma fits with a growing Jinta, either.
That said: the finale’s set up to be an amazing melodramatic jumble though: now that the Honmas have shown up and little Saa-kun’s been clued-in. Imagine trying to explain “Well, you see, your daughter’s been hanging with Jinta for the past 3-4 months, and we did the fireworks thing to try to send her to heaven, but it seems it didn’t work…sorry we never told you Menma’s ghost has been hanging around.” Seems a reasonable setup to get any lingering skeletons to come out of the closet somewhat naturally, though lord knows predicting this show is foolish.
Oh, don’t get me wrong — everything you said about Jinta is everything I want to say as well, but with the series so close to the end, I, too, don’t want to say much until everything’s wrapped up. Nevertheless, it’s hard to see any scenario in which Jinta doesn’t complete his path down to loserdom at this stage in the season. There’s just too little time left.
Regarding the tone of the anime, I think we’ve moved beyond a coming-of-age tale (to name just one example, the story seems to have conveniently dropped the plot thread that Jinta won’t go to school) into some sick love story, but I could only feel disgust when he wanted to stop the lighting of the firework. I get the feeling that I should root for Jinta, that I should understand his desire to keep Menma around, but I just can’t. If it wasn’t so clear that Menma is a real ghost, the whole thing would be a sick psychosis.
Though I will say I’m very skeptical if the Honmas find out that their daughter is walking about as a ghost. Just doesn’t seem like something the anime will pull — the anime feels very conservative.
The school plot thread is something I’ve been waiting until the finale to see what (if anything) will wind up happening with it, b/c we now have Jinta *and* Anjou as de-facto dropouts (and without the kind of positive spin that Poppo gets due to his seemingly happy and interesting life). It’s a weird oversight in something that’s otherwise taking great pains to keep everything at least generally realistic / plausible and ultimately conservative.
I’ll take the bet that the Honmas will find out about Menma but I doubt it’ll be a drama-rama (as entertaining as that would be). If it happens it’ll be something like Saa-kun gets clued-in by the peacebusters and he and Menma then bring the diary back home, giving us a brief final scene with the Honmas before resuming focus on the peace busters. Oh well, one more week.
Yukiatsu = Buffalo Bill? That’s a bit harsh. But I liked how you included the shot of the moth dying. That was a nice touch.
I am dead serious… moths are disgusting.
I’m rather disappointed with what this show decided to do. I have an inkling that the made some changes to a better storyline so they could ‘appeal’ a bit more, thinking this was what the audience wanted. This isn’t what I wanted though and I’m not exactly jumping in my seat, excited to see the finale. The whole fireworks scene was downright ridiculous, as if I didn’t know that wasn’t Menma’s wish. Geez. And all of a sudden, a reincarnation angle to the story? Okay, cool story bro.
I have to agree, so many great bits (I really,really like the younger brother’s more subtle development. At least he doesn’t go as an all out drama queen like Yukiatsu, but Yukiatsu is just annoying) and Tsuruko having her hair cut. But you tend to overlook them because they aren’t great enough to save this episode.
Remember how you guys astutely noticed the Tsuruko thing? The one where she seemed to study in two different rooms and how this might foreshadow a story about her coming from a broken home? Yeah… the anime really went places with that…. Gotta have more “marry loli ghost” development instead.
I hate how everyone should just be in love with everyone. All of a sudden, Tsuruko’s character revolved around Yukiatsu. (I hope the haircut means she moves on completely) And Jinta and Menma are *~in love~*. I don’t understand how a show can just be so good at the beginning and give up near the end, Especially when it’s so popular and is ONLY 11 episodes. /ends rant
Yeah, the way Menma got Jinta off by just squirming in his lap back in the first episode really did say it all.