Rin & Yukio's birthday special: Must Watch (Anime) no. 2: Ano Hana

This is "Must Watch (Anime)" no. 2:

Other anime:

>>No. 1: Ao No Exorcist
>>No. 3: Another
>>No. 4: *coming soon*

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Anime's Genre: Comedy, Drama, Seinen, Slice of Life, Tragedy
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( You guys can watch the anime here!

Click this to watch the anime)

The name of the anime is

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

which means, 

"We still don't know the name of the flower we saw that day".

In short," Ano Hana "

I learned the anime from my No. 65

Otakuzine Issue (where the anime "Hidan No Aria"

is on the cover). I don't exactly remember when I started

watching this anime but, on the other hand, it made me

cry on the end :'( . I love its ending "Secret Base" , >.<.

>> First, the plot (from wikipedia):<<

A group of six childhood friends drift apart after one of them,

Meiko "Menma" Honma, dies in an accident. 10 years after

the incident, the leader of the group, Jinta Yadomi, has 

withdrawn from society and lives as a recluse. One summer day,

the ghost of an older looking Menma appears before him and

asks to have a wish granted, reasoning that she cannot pass on

into the afterlife until it is fulfilled. Since Menma does not remember

what her wish is, Jinta gathers his estranged friends together once again,

believing that they are the key to resolving this problem. However,

hidden feelings, internal conflicts, and lingering feelings of bitterness

from Menma's parents result in complication for the group as they

struggle to help not only Menma move on, but more importantly, 

themselves as well.

>>Second, the 2 main characters (from wikipedia)<<

Jinta "Jintan" Yadomi (宿海 仁太 Yadomi Jinta^?)

Voiced by: Miyu Irino / Mutsumi Tamura (Childhood)

As a child, Jinta was the de facto leader of the self-proclaimed Super Peace Busters. Jinta was energetic and outgoing during his childhood, but has become withdrawn and isolated due to the deaths of Meiko and his mother. After Meiko's death in an accident, the group of friends drifted apart, and Jinta eventually became a hikikomori, refusing to go to school and confining himself to his home. As a child, he was in love with Meiko but refused to admit it when asked. This started the chain of events that led to her accidental death. He believes that the Meiko that appears to him is not a ghost, but rather a manifestation of his stress, calling her "the beast of summer". He eventually becomes hesitant to grant her wish out of fear that she will vanish again. Nonetheless, Meiko's appearance encourages him to venture outside and reconnect with the members of the Super Peace Busters. He was in love with Menma and to this day still is. He is a natural leader with his friends always following him.

Meiko "Menma" Honma (本間 芽衣子 Honma Meiko^?)

Voiced by: Ai Kayano

Meiko died in an accident as a child, but appears before Jinta on a summer day. Although she is aware of her death, Meiko is talkative and lively. She greatly values the childhood memories and friendship she once shared with the others, and has very few memories other than recollections of her friends and family, including that she had once made a request to Jinta. When she appears to Jinta, she has aged somewhat, but still retains childlike speech patterns and tendencies. She is also clothed in the dress she was wearing the day that she died. Though only Jinta has the ability to see or hear her, Meiko appears to be able to interact with the world around her: opening doors, cooking food, eating, and even playing video games, with many of these activities shown in scenes without Jinta present. Characters that she embraces often feel that the air is heavier. She held Jinta in special regard when she was alive and still worries about his current state. The others call her by her childhood nickname 'Menma', and she similarly refers to the Super Peace Busters by their childhood nicknames. Jinta has stated that she is selfless, only crying when others are hurt. Meiko holds no grudges towards her friends for the accident. She hopes to pass on so that she can be reincarnated and once more be in the same world as her friends. She is of mixed Greek and Japanese ancestry.

>>Third, episodes 1 & 2 (from wikipedia):<<
Episode 1:
Title:"Super Peace Busters"
"Chō Heiwa Basutāzu" (超平和バスターズ) 
Airdate: April 15, 2011
Jinta "Jintan" Yadomi is being pestered by a girl named Meiko "Menma" Honma, who only he can see. Menma says she has a wish she wants him to fulfill, but she can't remember what it was. Soon, she recalls that the dream was to have their friends all together again. One of the former friends, Naruko "Anaru" Anjō, drops by Jinta's house to drop off some homework, but is on bad terms with him. It is revealed that Jintan has poor school attendance. As Menma pesters Jinta to go after Naruko and talk to her, they both go into the city where they run into two other former friends, Chiriko "Tsuruko" Tsurumi and Atsumu "Yukiatsu" Matsuyuki, the latter of which reacts harshly when Jinta accidentally drops Menma's name. Frustrated, Jintan runs off and leaves Menma behind. Jinta begins to recall the past when he, Menma, and their other friends were part of a group known as the Super Peace Busters that hung out together when they were children. One day, Jinta accidentally hurt Meiko's feelings when asked if he liked her. He decided to apologize, but she died in an accident before he could. Back in the present, Menma visits her family's house. Jinta decides to search for Menma so he could finally apologize and he checks out their old secret fort. Here, he runs into the last of the six old friends, Tetsudō "Poppo" Hisakawa. 

Watch this episode in animeseason.com:
[Ano Hana ep 1 (w/ english sub)] - HQ
(use the up2 player if you want)


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Episode 2:
Title: "Menma the Hero"
"Yūsha Menma" (ゆうしゃめんま) Airdate: April 22, 2011
When Jinta tells Tetsudō about his visions of Menma, he instantly believes him. Meanwhile, Anaru ends up encountering Chiriko, though she soon breaks into tears when Menma is mentioned. It is revealed that Naruko blames herself for the circumstances leading to Menma's death. Tetsudō suggests that the wish Menma might want granted was to have a rareNokémon video game, which Jinta buys from the game shop Anaru works at. He spends the night playing it before Menma comes back. The next day, Tetsudō runs into Atsumu and mentions what Jinta told him about Menma. He later goes around Jinta's house and mentions that they would have to trade with another Nokémon game to get the rare monster. As a result, they visit Anaru, who agrees to help them on the condition that Jinta starts attending school again. During this visit, Menma is happy to realize that Anaru still has an abundance of video games and manga, just like when they were kids. After spending the night gaming, they manage to get the rare monster, though it turns out not to be Menma's wish. Nevertheless, they are positive that somehow Menma's wish will be found out and fulfilled. Jinta, however, has found his own wish which is to apologize to Menma because of the incident. 

Watch this episode in animeseason.com:
[Ano Hana ep2 (w/ english sub)] -HQ
(Use the Up2 Player if you want)


>>Other episodes:<<

(Ano Hana- list of episodes)
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Hope you guys liked the anime ~ ! XD
Sorry if the Must Watch (Anime) category for
Rin & Yukio's birthday special isn't about Ao No Exorcist :(
I posted one already :)
[ Must Watch (Anime) no.1: Ao No Exorcist]