anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day - The Movie

They were six friends as children. Menma died in an accident and the group broke apart. Years later Jinta is sitting in his room when Menma appears in front of him as a child and says she has a wish but cannot remember what it is. The group comes back together. This film follows the television series that told that story and rebuilds the events a year on, narrated by the characters themselves. Tatsuyuki Nagai directs. It was made at A-1 Pictures with the same crew as the series. It is not a sequel but a compilation. Most of the content is made of scenes from the series; the new material is in the framing passages and the finale. The subject of the series is not grief but guilt. Each of the six believes they had a part in what happened that day and none of them has said so to the others in years, and the tension of the narrative comes from there. What the film adds is distance. The characters describe the events in the past tense, which puts a layer of commentary over the emotional peak of the series. The location is real: the story is set in the town of Chichibu in Saitama and the backgrounds were drawn from it. After the series aired, the town became a place fans visit. Who it is for: those who have watched the series and viewers who like Japanese animation that plays directly on feeling. Who it is not for: it is useless without the series, most of the material is repetition, and the emotional pitch is too high for some.