- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: Japanese LPCM 2.0 Stereo (48kHz/16-bit)
- Subtitles: English
- Subtitles Color: White
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Rating:
- Run Time: 255 Mins.
- Discs: 4 (2 x Blu-ray + 2 x DVD)
- Studio: NIS America
- Blu-ray Release Date: July 3, 2012
- List Price: $69.99
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Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Series
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Series
[Rating:4/5]
Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day (あの日見た花の名前を僕達はまだ知らない。,Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai) is an 11-episode anime series A-1 Pictures and director Tatsuyuki Nagai. It follows the lives if six former childhood friends who have now grown apart and moved on with their after one of their friends, Menma, drowned tragically. It is now 10-years later and Jintan, who was the once leader of the group of friends who referred to themselves as “The Super Peace Busters,” has become a recluse, staying home from school, hardly venturing out of his house, and playing video games. Menma has also begun appearing to him again, now grownup, and urging him to help her fulfill a wish she had before she died but cannot remember. Jintan must reform the old group of friends in order to help Menma, but their personal conflicts and suppressed emotions get in the way of their efforts to restart their friendships and to help the ghost of Menma. Anru has kept her feelings for Jinta and jealousy of Menma bottled up for all these years. Yukiatsu was also in love with Menma and jealous of Jinta and is now angry that she will only appear to Jinta and not him. Tsuruko, the steady-headed one in the group, has kept her feelings for Yukiatsu locked up inside for years and, since the two of them now go to the same elite college prep school together, is bothered by all the girls who bug her for information about Yukiatsu. Poppo was always the runt of the group and is now the biggest of them all. He has spent the last few years traveling around the world, struggling to forget the tragedy he witnessed on that day, but he still holds Jintan in high esteem.
The overall arc of Anohana is really more about personal growth and the usual struggles of teenagers in high school with the added burden of having to deal with death – the death of a close friend, the death of a parent, or the death of a friendship in general. It’s a touching story that is nicely animated, short and concise.
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Apart from the occasional frame or scene that looks just a little bit soft, Anohana‘s AVC/MPEG-4 1080p/24 transfer from NIS America is pretty solid with little video noise, no evidence of aliasing, and no issues with color banding. Colors are vibrant, especially the occasional splash of red from Jintan’s T-shirt or the light brown of Anaru’s hair.
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
A simple Japanese LPCM 2.0 Stereo (48kHz/16-bit) audio track is included with English subtitles. It provides clear dialogue with no clipping, a full, natural sounding midrange and effective stereo imaging.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
The set is housed in a glossy cardboard slipcover and includes a hardcover collectible art book entitled The Super Peace Buster Chronicle . The book is filled with character bios, scrapbook-style photo selections, an episode guide, rough sketches, illustrations, a Menma “scrapbook,” Jintan T-Shirt collection, and more. On-disc extras are limited to a clean opening animation for Episode 1 and promo materials such as episode previews and TV spots.
The supplements:
- Ep. 1 Clean ED (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:01:36)
- Online EP. Previews (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:03:30)
- Teasers & Commercials (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:07:47)
- Trailers:
- kimi ni todoke Vol. 3
- Zakuro
- Occult Academy
- Hardcover Collectible Book
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:4/5]
A touching, sweet, and short anime series, Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day leaves a lasting impact after watching it. It’s not your typical teen high school anime series, mixing things up with a deeper level of content and a slightly more serious tone, but it is still wholly accessible.
Additional Screen Captures
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Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Series
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
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