A childhood trauma has stretched a bond for all its worth and now it must heal.
What They Say:
“Jintan? I have a wish I want you to grant for me!”
The critically acclaimed drama series anohana returns with a brand new English dub written and directed by Patrick Seitz, now on Blu-ray for the first time!
Jinta Yadomi and his group of childhood friends had become estranged after a tragic incident split them apart. Now in their high school years, an unexpected surprise forces each of them to confront their guilt over what happened that day. They must overcome the burdens of their past, and come to terms with years of shame, hard feelings, and heartaches.
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release comes with its original Japanese language track in stereo as well as a first-time English language dub also in stereo, both of which are done up in the uncompressed PCM format. It’s a solid track that captures the design of the show very well since it’s mostly dialogue based with some cute music cues and a few acting out moments to give it a bit of fun and life. The opening and closing sequences are the strongest parts of it simply because of the larger, full sound that comes from the design of it, but the show itself is no slouch either, especially with some great incidental music and all sorts of background sound effects to make it a lived in world at key times. I bounced back and forth between the two mixes here and there and both sound good, though the English track is like many others in that it just seems louder because of the tonal difference and how our perception reacts to it. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout and we had no problems with dropouts or distortions during regular playback.
Video:
Originally airing in 2001, the transfer for this eleven episode series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. The series is spread across two discs with six on the first and five on the second where the bulk of the extras also reside. The show is one that is full of bright and appealing colors and some very fluid animation throughout, making for a smooth and engaging experience. The transfer captures this very well with some very rich colors along the way and hardly anything noticeable in the way of background noise. Colors are solid and very strong throughout and the detail in the backgrounds comes out in a very appealing manner. Line noise is essentially non-existent and the overall look here showcases a striking piece of animation work and gives it the quality look it deserves.
Packaging:
The packaging for this release is one that’s certainly tighter and more compact than the last time I saw this series as we get a standard sized Blu-ray case with a heavy chipboard box to hold it. The box has a beautiful sideways image of the main cast together set against the blue sky that because of the materials really stands out in a big way that’s just engaging to take in. The back of the box goes for a white background with a couple of colorful flower petals across it. It’s minimal but we get a decent summary of the premise in black text on it while below has a breakdown of all the extras and materials inside as well as a technical grid. Within the box we get a clear Blu-ray case that has a cute kids-like illustration of the main cast as the Super Peace Busters with the back going plain with the tagline for the show. There are no inserts in the case but the reverse side has a nice soft blue background with more flower petals across it that looks great underneath the discs. The big get here is one that does come across weaker than what we had in the previous edition as the 60-page booklet provides a lot of great artwork and design material, but it’s not that big hardcover book that we had before that was so much fun to pore over. The production quality is strong and it’s a great piece to have once again in this form as it could have easily been skipped instead.
Menu:
The menus for this release are nicely done with the static image that uses a good range of images through the flower petals. The main look is through some really nice greens and blues scattered around with the flower design while placing the logo in the middle using purple and black to give it a little more weight while within some of the larger flower pieces we get some great artwork with strong color design. The thing is a whole is definitely very busy but it works to draw you into the different quadrants. I was less thrilled with the white text on the the soft blue that makes it all very hard to read, especially on larger sets where you sit more at a distance. Overall the navigation itself works well and moving to submenus and accessing things is quick and easy so it’s a good piece in terms of actual function both as the main menu and as the pop-up menu during playback.
Extras:
Unlike the minimal extras we got in the previous release of this, this one brings out the various web previews for each episode as well as the clean opening and closings. Add in the usual array of teasers and promos and commercials and it’s pretty busy just from that alone. But we get a bit more as well with a trailer for the dub, a very cute section of outtakes for it and a commentary track from the team as well for an episode. Definitely a good bit better than before and some very solid love for the dub fans.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Originally titled Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai, Anohana is an eleven episode series that was part of the noitaminA block when it aired in 2011 from A-1 Pictures. We saw this previously as a release from NIS America as a combo set back in 2012 but it fell out of print, which just wasn’t right, and Aniplex USA handled the recent movie so it certainly made sense to get this back out there. The big plus is that got a brand new dub for it which wasn’t expected simply because shows like this don’t get dubbed all that often anymore, even more since it’s an ensemble cast for the most part and that requires a good bit of work. The end result is strong though and fans get something really good here in a pretty slick package.
Coming alongside a pair of novels, it later spawned a new ongoing manga series, a game and the aforementioned feature film. Like a lot of the shows in the block that play with a slightly tighter number of episodes, Anohana works to tell a distinct story with a beginning, middle and end, though they may be cut short at times to advance things. It may feel a little odd, especially the beginning of this series, but in the end you know you’re getting an engaging tale of characters in interesting situations that will come to a resolution. It’s not just part of an ongoing work overall. And Anohana has the added distinction of being one of those series that should leave you crying at the end of it too.
The series revolves around a small clique of childhood friends several years after a tragedy visited them. While they were all quite different kids, they were also all good friends that used to play in an abandoned shack in the woods where they came up with the Super Peace Busters, a fun bit they came up with to do good and just have fun. Through some of the flashbacks, we see how fun this group of elementary school students were together and the silliness that bonded them together, as well as stronger feelings. Jintan came across as a natural leader even if he wasn’t the smartest or most athletic and Meiko, aka Menma, was the most innocent and playful who really drew things together. Add in the goofy Poppo, the introspective Tsurumi, the well to do and aloof Yukiatsu and the girl next door in Anaru and you have a very good mix of kids.
What broke this fun group though was the tragic accidental death of Menma, an event that everyone felt guilty about for various reasons and caused them to split and change for the next several years. With all of them in high school now, most are doing alright, but Jintan has become a total recluse and has disconnected from everyone. To make matters worse for him, he also lost his mother to illness after Menma died and now it’s just him and his father. For Menma’s family, we get some very good material interspersed over the set showing how they dealt with it, particularly her mother who hasn’t made any forward progress at all and has kept her son and husband at a distance because of it. Her son, Menma’s younger brother, is a really great little addition here that gets brought in a few times and just brings some really good resonance to the show.
While we might have an interesting show just giving us a look at how this group deals with the after effects of her death years later, it wants to give us a different challenge. While it’s an awkward start as we’re just kind of dropped into it, the gist of it is that Menma has come back and is only visible to Jintan. He’s pretty much accepted it right out of the gate with the series, not giving us much time seeing how she first appeared before him, and she begins to nudge and push him. She appears the same age as him and the rest, but her presence starts a cycle of events that brings everyone back together bit by bit and exposes their guilt over her death, their mild trust in that he really does see her and that they have to work together to figure out what it is that she’s come back for. It’s somewhat predictable in the approach and some of the stories, but it’s well told as it invests us in the characters and the connections from the past that comes into play in the present. There’s a lot of real love there that we see explored from when they were kids and how that loss of Menma has affected them. Watching that play out is the bulk of the show, and it hits some very good emotional notes, but it also gets playful often as well since Menma’s child-like personality provides that aspect.
In Summary:
Anohana is a strong character driven series with a mild supernatural angle to it. Well, okay, maybe it isn’t mild, but it’s not something that’s done in a way that makes it feel completely cliched. With a good cast of characters, it takes some solid turns as we see how those childhood relationships have fractured yet still existed and grew over the years since Menma’s accident. There’s a lot of connections here and they all unfold well and not without emotion, making it natural and honest. Everyone is dealing with a lot of issues here and within eleven episodes it covers it well, providing some closure but also making it feel like real life. The loss of a child affects family and friends in a significant way and Anohana explores it well, creatively and with some great honest emotions.
Features:
Japanese PCM 2.0 Language, English PCM 2.0 Language, English Subtitles, Textless Opening & Ending, Textless Opening (Special Version), Web Previews, Trailers and Commercials, English Dub Teaser, English Dub Trailer, English Dub Bloopers, English Dub Commentary
Content Grade: B+
Audio Grade: A-
Video Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Menu Grade: B+
Extras Grade: B+
Released By: Aniplex USA
Release Date: October 31st, 2017
MSRP: $149.99
Running Time: 256 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
