TheEvilHadrosaur said:Oof, this topic is giving me cancer; have any of you actually SEEN the anime? [long post incoming]
I personally consider AnoHana a masterpiece and the friggin' best emotional rollercoaster that I know of in the anime industry. I know opinions are opinions but I feel like some of you have the emotional capacity of a teaspoon and I feel thoroughly sorry for everyone who can't appreciate a masterpiece like AnoHana for what it is. Certainly, I would like to offer you an explanation why I believe your opinions are flawed.
To start it off, have you actually tried to insert yourself into Jintan's perspective or that of the other members of the Super Peace Busters before writing your posts? Have you actually tried to understand them? Maybe then you would be giving great characters like Jintan the credit they deserve?
Frankly, it can be a little tough trying to understand a character who's put through a situation you haven't yourself experienced. I don't think many of you have lost a dear friend at the tender age of a primary schooler, even less so after parting ways with them on an odd note, so of course you wouldn't understand immediately what it feels like to go through such a situation. I myself cannot quite say that I have experienced anything the like either. But does that keep me from understanding Jintan? Not necessarily.
But here you are, blaming Jintan for being a social reclusive who just wastes his time away. Granted, that's not exactly a life-style I can recommend but hardly anyone does what he/she does just for the heck of it and I would like to ask you to consider that before hating on his character and the series in general.
Losing people you care for and love is a lot harder than you think. Most of you are probably still young, maybe lost a grandparent or your beloved pet bunny. Jintan lost a lot more than that and at the time he was way too young to understand and successfully cope with the loss of not only his best friend (who he may or may not had a crush on, hard to say given how young they were at the time). And Jintan didn't just lose Menma; essentially he lost the entirety of his circle of friends as Menma's death also tore apart the Super Peace Busters, who could have given each other the support they needed if only they had decided to stick together regardless. But they were just kids and didn't know the importance of companionship during harsh times like these. They can hardly be blamed.
Moreover, the situations gets even more grave if you consider the way Menma slipped out of his reach. How would you feel if your friend suddenly disappeared/died after you called them "ugly" in the heat of the moment and then ran away like a coward? The regret man, I couldn't forgive myself if I were in his shoes. (And please don't say things like "the SPB were stupid for edging him on like that", well bruh they're kids and kids are stupid and don't have the emotional capacity to have enough foresight yet)
Imagine yourself for a moment back when you went to primary school. How would you feel if you lost your best friend in such a tragic and sudden way, then all of your friends and some time later your mother? "Of course this is just the average backstory of an anime protag" you'll say but most animes aren't drama, most animes aren't coming of age stories either. A shounen of a SoL/Comedy surely wouldn't focus on the emotional impact of terrible losses and merely use them for convenience, to drive the plot or maybe even only to fill the trope, I wouldn't know. Either way, bottom line is Ano Hana is a lot deeper than those above-mentioned categories. (If you check my MAL, you'll see I enjoy both of these genres btw)
On the surface, the characters may act stupid, selfish and annoying. I'm not even trying to deny that they do because as far as facts go, you can't really deny it. People who only look at the surface will only see those things and call it dipshit. Since when do characters have to do everything right? Since when are characters entitled to use the most logical and rational thinking ever in every situation life yeets at them? Are you guys perfect? Probably not. Neither am I.
Jintan is extremely imperfect. He's a loser, has no life, no real hobbies, no friends, no ambitions. Those are just observations and logical facts. The anime doesn't sugarcoat; it doesn't try to hide that he's that kind of person at the beginning of the series. No point arguing over it, but here comes the big BUT:
Why is Jintan such a person? Or, rather, why has he BECOME such a person? As a child, no one could have ever imagined him becoming a de facto hikkikomori. Why did such a cheerful kid become such a failure in life? To answer this question (and if you haven't by now figured it out, you can probably stop reading here), we need to return to my initial line of reasoning.
Jintan is traumatized; he even outright says it during the first episode although he tries to blame it on the heat of the summer or whatever. He hasn't been able to overcome his grief; he hasn't been able to move on from Menma's death and, probably to a lesser extent, that of his mother. Now before you come saying "what's ur problem, just get over it" think again. A trauma isn't something you can just wipe away like a fleeting tear in your eyes. You can't tell a victim of rape to just forget all about it and happily have sex with their partner and you can't just tell someone who went through a traumatic loss to act all genki and move on. That'd just be rude and ignorant. Getting over a loss works just the same.
Feelings and emotions are a lot more complicated than that. You can only pretend so much to be happy. Sooner or later, you'll have to face your true emotions. Now we have too little data about Jintan's character between his childhood years and him entering high school to accurately judge him but a lot of things hint at it that his hidden and repressed feeling suddenly start to resurface as he enters this utterly critical age. We don't know what kind of person he has been during these years, all we know is the starting point (energetic, happy and socially competent) and the end result (reclusive, irritable, socially awkward). He probably only spent a few months as a hikki, given that most schools start the school year during spring season in Japan and the point of him stopping to go to school is supposedly during the transition from middle school to high school. (The events of the anime are set at some point during summer season, probably leaning towards fall season as summer holidays are over).
I think we can safely assume that he hasn't been sociable ever since the Super Peace Busters went their separate ways but it took him several years to develop hikkikomori syndrome. It's pretty tough to understand this sudden transition but I think Jintan himself explains it quite well when he explains to Anaru what it feels like to skip a day of school. At some point, it becomes a habit. Jintan has no real ambitions and the reason for this is yet again his traumatic past.
Because you could argue that part of him is still stuck 10 years in the past. In fact, they all are. "Being stuck in the past", "unable to move on", it all reads so easily but what does it actually mean to be burdened with it?
Essentially, it is the deepest yearning to restore a state that can no longer be made possible. Death is something so absolute and unchanging that no amount of willpower can undo it. A mistake done is a mistake done. There's no save data, nothing. This leads to desperation. Lots. No amount of crying, screaming or begging can restore the person you lost back to life. You can't look into the future because time doesn't move on for you. Breaking out of this circle is hell and many need professional help to succeed.
This is literally what every member of the SPB had to go through at the tender age of (afaik) just 6-7 yrs. Even many grown-ups can't deal with this shit; some even choose the same fate as those they lost. Do you honestly expect little kids to just take the blow like a champ and continue as if nothing ever happened? Act perfectly rational as they face the possibility of their old friend returning as a ghost?
Unless you understand this crucial puzzle piece, you won't be able to grasp why they're acting so stupid, irrational, selfish even. You can explain it all if you take their individual conflicts and connections to Menma into account. Do so and a character initially deemed to be beyond help suddenly turns into an open book you can read easily.
If you can't get involved with a character enough to understand the way they act, then that's frankly your loss but calling them stupid without even providing a sufficient amount of reasoning is just poor etiquette and offensive. Without sufficient reasoning, an opinion is easily reduced to a mere statement and most of the stuff I read in here is no more than that.
Sadly.
This concludes my reaction to the core statement of this thread that Jintan is just annoying as hell. If you still think so after reading this, then you have my sincere condolences. I love anime because it evokes feelings in me no other medium can even remotely get close to. It's just a little sad that not everyone can feel with these characters as I do.
Just some more smaller reaction to things said in this thread that didn't fit into the main post:
"Why didn't he try to give clues to his friends about Menma's existence up until she prove it herself? Did he try to keep Menma for himself so that he is the only someone special who could see her? That's either he is so selfish or a really dumb person who never have thought like that."
Rationally thinking, he could have easily done that but then the anime would be over in a blink. I'm sure the writers and directors of this anime realized that keeping Menma's existence a bit of a mystery would create tension and conflict. Besides, the eventual reveal came just at the right moment to create a dramatic and emotional moment. The most logical solution isn't always the best for an anime or a story in general, keep that in mind.
Yes, he's a flawed character who after 10 years of suffering finally got what he wanted all these years: The girl he loves. A ghost, yes, but one he can touch and see in all her glory. Is that really a bad thing? It's a bit dick-ish, ngl, but can you blame him? Besides, he realizes very soon that his line of thinking is wrong. Menma herself opposes the thought and his heart is big enough to brush his selfishness away for Menma's sake who wants to be together with EVERYONE.
"Not to mention that he rejected Anaru's feeling coldly. Damn shithead, at least apologize to her, couldn't you?"
Have you ever loved someone romantically? Once your brain decides that this one person is THE one, anyone else is no longer considered for a romantic relationship. In a way it's like with sexuality. If you're straight, you're straight. No one can change that. And no one can make Jintan love someone else but Menma; his heart is taken. It's sad for Anaru but it's how it is.
I do admit he could have been more tactful though.
"No one in anohana had good development"
I respectfully disagree. If your statement would be even remotely true, then Jintan would still be Hikki with no friends. If that's not enough change for your liking, maybe he should have just become a generic shounen protag? lmao.
THANK YOU FOR THIS ANALYSIS! I REALLY NEEDED SOMEONE TO TELL THESE GUYS WHAT ANOHANA IS REALLY ABT LMFAO!
