Anohana Ending Rant

DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN ANOHANA!

Okay, so now that those who don’t mind spoilers or who have already seen the show are the only ones present, let’s talk about Anohana’s ending. I’m going to be perfectly honest; the ending started off perfectly. You know that scene where Menma left the notes for all of her friends, and they all started crying? That was absolutely fine! It was emotional, didn’t feel contrived or manipulative, and it did have me crying as well.

Then, suddenly, out of the blue, everyone could see Menma and all continually shouted about how much they cared about her. This is where my reaction turned from pure sadness to this:

They ruined it! I’m sorry, but this felt so contrived and out of left field to me! I know that a lot of people view this scene as the pinnacle of sorrow, an ending that pulls at your heartstrings and won’t ever let go. Well, the first part did! Menma should’ve just disappeared after everyone read the notes! It would’ve been a fantastic ending! The fact that everyone could suddenly see Menma right before she disappeared…it didn’t feel natural, it’s clichéd, contrived, and tried so very hard to manipulate your emotions that I felt like smashing my computer’s screen in. Now, normally, this wouldn’t bother me too much, but the reason why it angers me in this case is because it is the ending to a series that consistently dodged clichés, contrived moments, and made everything feel genuine. There were moments in the series where I felt like crying because of the hardships of these characters that I came to care for, and seeing them break down after all this emotional stress did cause me to shed a tear on multiple occasions. This ending, however, didn’t feel natural; it felt like the creators were trying to make the ending as happy as possible, which ironically misses the point of the show entirely.One of the show’s main themes is to accept the deaths of those you love and eventually move on, and forgive yourself for all the mistakes that you’ve made. The entire reason Menma came back in the first place was to help everyone move on by causing him or her to relive those harsh memories and get the group back together to help each other heal. If Menma had left without having everyone see her, then this would’ve made the theme appear a lot stronger and more relevant to the overall story. But, noooooooooooooooo; the show actually decided to take the easy route, which, might I remind you, it never did until now, and sugar coated the entire thing. It also caused the entire anime, which I was going to review as one of my new all-time favorites, to not make it into my top ten because of its unsatisfying ending. Call me a heartless and terrible person, but I just feel like the ending contradicted the entire show.