I started watching this anime having pretty high expectations, hearing that is emotionally touching and that by the end I'll be crying. And here I am having felt nothing...
The premise seemed interesting enough to give it a shot, but gradually the anime was becoming a giant mess with no characterization for the people in it. I didn't even felt i knew these characters by the end of the anime. But the biggest problem was Menma herself for me and the lack of backstory for her. She was 9 episodes out of all the 11 of the anime only annoying and while I was midway through the series I was constantly asking myself, what's the point of this anime? Why am I even watching it anymore? There was absolutely no backstory involving her death or why the other guys felt so guilty about it. It was just like another season prior was missing. I was constantly asking myself this too: Why am I supposed to care about the story? There was zero effort in showing the reason she died, the reason they felt guilty altough there was enough time for flashbacks with the characters as they were younger. And don't even get me started on the whole ghost-Menma-thing who made absolutely no sense. I could go on and on about why it didn't made any sense, but I'll summarize in a few words: if you want to have a ghost that act differently (than how ghosts were presentented în other mediums) in an otherwise pretty normal world you need to at least explain some basic rules about it, instead of just throwing stuff around at the viewer hoping that melodrama would cover up for it.
In conclusion, I'm only giving this show a 7 because it had some fairly entertaining episodes with some moderately character moments, pretty good music and a good enough ending (although too melodramatic), but aside from that this anime is a complete mess all over the place. 7/10
The premise seemed interesting enough to give it a shot, but gradually the anime was becoming a giant mess with no characterization for the people in it. I didn't even felt i knew these characters by the end of the anime. But the biggest problem was Menma herself for me and the lack of backstory for her. She was 9 episodes out of all the 11 of the anime only annoying and while I was midway through the series I was constantly asking myself, what's the point of this anime? Why am I even watching it anymore? There was absolutely no backstory involving her death or why the other guys felt so guilty about it. It was just like another season prior was missing. I was constantly asking myself this too: Why am I supposed to care about the story? There was zero effort in showing the reason she died, the reason they felt guilty altough there was enough time for flashbacks with the characters as they were younger. And don't even get me started on the whole ghost-Menma-thing who made absolutely no sense. I could go on and on about why it didn't made any sense, but I'll summarize in a few words: if you want to have a ghost that act differently (than how ghosts were presentented în other mediums) in an otherwise pretty normal world you need to at least explain some basic rules about it, instead of just throwing stuff around at the viewer hoping that melodrama would cover up for it.
In conclusion, I'm only giving this show a 7 because it had some fairly entertaining episodes with some moderately character moments, pretty good music and a good enough ending (although too melodramatic), but aside from that this anime is a complete mess all over the place. 7/10