No one thought Anohana was good

"Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day," the acclaimed 2011 series produced by A-1 Pictures, is considered by many to be a masterpiece of supernatural anime. However, as revealed by her creative team, Anohana's story was originally seen as too "simple" to capture the attention of the mass public. In a recent interview with Mantan Web, screenwriter Mari Okada shared details about the beginnings of this series that marked her first collaboration with director Tatsuyuki Nagai.

The plot of Anohana follows Jinta Yadomi, a young man who is reunited with the spirit of his deceased childhood friend, Meiko "Menma" Honma. From Menma's request to fulfill her last wish, Jinta manages to reconnect with other friends from her childhood. According to Okada, from the early stages of the project, the focus of the series was to create a story of personal growth and contemporary drama, something that at the time didn't seem to have the appeal needed to be accepted by an independent animation studio.

"When we proposed Anohana, I thought it definitely wouldn't be approved. It didn't have enough appeal as an original work and some even considered it to be weak and too simple," Okada confessed. "But that's what is expected of us. To be able to tell a story that wouldn't be accepted anywhere else is actually a big challenge."

Despite Okada's misgivings, Anohana became both a commercial and critical success, leading the pair to work on other anime projects, including "Anthem of the Heart" (2015), "Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms" (2018), and "Her Blue Sky" (2019). Their most recent collaboration, "Fureru," was released in Japanese theaters on October 4, 2024. This film, produced by CloverWorks, takes up the emotional themes present in Anohana, focused on the importance of forming meaningful bonds with others.

The complexity of human relationships has been a recurring theme in anime in recent years, especially in cinema, with directors such as Makoto Shinkai (Your Name), Mamoru Hosoda (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time), and Naoko Yamada (A Silent Voice) gaining popularity. "I think a lot of people want to be honest with others and be understood... therefore, in places where there is anonymity, the feelings of those who want to be understood overflow and become excessive," Okada commented. "We live in an era where it's really hard to express our true feelings."

Source: Mantan Web