Ano Hana follows a group of childhood friends who have gone their separate ways but appear headed to come back together, due to the reapparance of their friend who died as a ghost. This one is definitely looking promising, mainly due to the strong characters. Jinta, the male lead, has become a hikkomori and is afraid to talk to people, while other members of the group have become arrogant or dishonest. At the end of the episode, Jinta reunites with one of his old friends in their secret base which has been revamped.
This episode reminded me a lot of 20th Century Boys, except without the evil cults, conspiracies, giant robots and aliens. Ok, well it isn’t that similar, but the part where they both have a secret childhood base and they reunite
to save the world does. It’s also reminiscent of the Yotsunoha OVA (which, by the way, I don’t think anyone has heard of but I highly recommend). All in all, we’re in for a heavy does of nostalgia and remembering. I’m not sure why, but I really enjoy that kind of thing. I’ll definitely be blogging this one.