aka “Ano hana”; “We still don’t know the name of the flower we saw that day”
Genre: Drama
Score: Good
Jinta and his friends are haunted by the memory of Menma, a girl he was once in love with but who died when he was young. Unfortunately Jinta is also now haunted by the girl herself, and she doesn’t seem to be taking her death very seriously.
This little drama is about a group of friends who had been driven apart coming to terms with their loss. Each of them had settled into a role – honour student, traveller, bitch – except for Jinta who’se just become a loser. Their old memories are brought to the surface by Jinta’s distraction by Menma – or hallucination, as his friends can’t see her at all.
It’s all quite low key, with lots of flashbacks and talky bits, and skirts the boundary between emotive and cheesy. Which you think it settles on probably depends on your attitude going in.