Once upon a time there were six kids who were close friends. They are Jintan (the leader), Anaru, Menma, Tsuruko, Yukiatsu and Poppo. On a tragic day, Menma died from an accident after spending time together with the others. And the remaining five grow apart from each other. Four of them continue their live (at least what it seems on the surface), and one of them is stuck in the past memory.

Yadomi Jinta (Jintan) choose not to attend school, decided to live an isolated live in his house. Until one day the ghost of Menma appears in front of him. She talks, she can touch things. But she can only be seen and can only interact with Jinta. There is a past wish Menwa want to achieve before she can go to Nirvana, but she does not even remember what her wish is.

A very touching story about friendship. Great story, vibrant characters, nice developments, it has anything I can expect from an anime. It's a bit sad to see how the death of one person caused a lot of people to stop from moving on with their life (and we see these happen in real life too).

The long title of this anime literally translates as "We still don't know the name of the flower we saw that day". If you want to read a little bit about the meaning behind this title (and how it relates to the anime story), you might want to read UTW's blog post about this. Warning : the blog post is full of spoiler.

I still play the ending song over and over again, even weeks after this anime ends. An enjoyable anime for those looking for a title with meaningful message rather than just a bunch of moe put together. Recommended for age 15+ (might confuse younger children about the concept of afterlife).

My rating : ★★★★★

Secret Base ~Kimi ga Kureta mono~ (10 years after ver)
Ano Hana Ending Theme
vocal : Kayano Ai, Tomatsu Haruka and Hayami Saori

kimi to natsu no owari shourai no yume
ookina kibou wasurenai
juunengo no hachigatsu
mata deaeru no shinjite
saikou no omoide o

deai wa futtoshita shunkan kaerimichi no kousaten de
koe o kaketekureta ne "issho ni kaerou"
boku wa terekusasou ni KABAN de kao o kakushinagara
hontou wa totemo totemo ureshikatta yo

aa hanabi ga yozora kirei ni saite chotto setsunaku
aa kaze ga jikan to tomo ni nagareru

ureshikutte tanoshikutte bouken mo iroiro shita ne
futari no himitsu no kichi no naka

kimi to natsu no owari shourai no yume ookina kibou wasurenai
juunengo no hachigatsu mata deaeru no shinjite
kimi ga saigo made kokoro kara arigatou sakendeita koto
shitteita yo
namida o koraete egao de sayonara setsunai yo ne
saikou no omoide o

aa natsuyasumi mo ato sukoshi de owacchau kara
aa taiyou to tsuki nakayoku shite

kanashikutte sabishikutte kenka mo iroiro shita ne
futari no himitsu no kichi no naka

kimi ga saigo made kokoro kara arigatou sakendeita koto
shitteita yo
namida o koraete egao de sayonara setsunai yo ne
saikou no omoide o

totsuzen no tenkou de doushiyou mo naku
tegami kaku yo denwa mo suru yo wasurenaide ne boku no koto o
itsumademo futari no kichi no naka

kimi to natsu no owari zutto hanashite
yuuhi o mitekara hoshi o nagame
kimi no hoho o nagareta namida wa zutto wasurenai
kimi ga saigo made ookiku te o futtekureta koto
kitto wasurenai
dakara koushite yume no naka de zutto eien ni

kimi to natsu no owari shourai no yume ookina kibou wasurenai
juunengo no hachigatsu mata deaeru no shinjite
kimi ga saigo made kokoro kara arigatou sakendeita koto
shitteita yo
namida o koraete egao de sayonara setsunai yo ne
saikou no omoide o

saikou no omoide o

Seiyuu

Irino Miyu	Yadomi Jinta (Jintan)
Kayano Ai	Honma Meiko (Menma)
Tomatsu Haruka	Anjou Naruko (Anaru)
Sakurai Takahiro	Matsuyuki Atsumu (Yukiatsu)
Hayami Saori	Tsurumi Chiriko (Tsuruko)
Kondou Takayuki	Hisakawa Tetsudou (Poppo)
Toyosaki Aki	Poppo (child)
Tamura Mutsumi	Jintan (child)
Seto Asami	Yukiatsu (child)
Ogata Mitsuru	Yadomi Atsushi