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| Only point of criticism for this episode: the fireworks looked lame |
I'm amazed. What more can I say? This episode was overflowing with drama which kept me at the edge of my seat at all times. The 20 minutes felt like 5 minutes to me as everything seemed to fly by so quickly. The relationships of the characters have been cleared up even more with Jinta liking Menma and Tsuruko liking Yukiatsu now confirmed. In terms of the story, the fireworks launching scene was extremely dramatic as Jinta struggled to fight against his selfish desire to not let Menma go to heaven. At the end of the launch, when Menma's voice could still be heard, I knew that, the next episode will be that I don't want to miss.
On the morning before the scheduled launching of the fireworks, Jinta gets up early to deliver what looked to be a letter to the Honma family. Later in the day, Anaru, who's room looks like a mess by the way, gets a call from Yukiatsu who tells her that the Poppo had arranged yet another meeting for the group tonight. After hearing that she wasn't sure if she would go or not, Yukiatsu starts suggesting that they meet up at the station before going but, before finishing, his attention gets shifted to the three girls bickering near him, with Tsuruko being part of it. It turns out that two of them are verbally attacking Tsuruko, saying that they are disgusted with how she acts like she knows everything about Yukiatsu. In response, Tsuruko stated Yukiatsu's height, weight and favorite food before revealing his hobby of crossdressing and walking away, leaving the other two dumbfounded. Yukiatsu follows her after he sees her walking away from the two girls. Once he catches up with her, he grabs a hold of her arm and tells her not to spread around the fact taht he crossdressed like that. However, instead of a calm and witty response, she starts crying and saying that it hurts (I doubt that she is referring to the physical pain of him grabbing her arm). When he sees a tear roll down her face, Yukiatsu immediately lets go and stares at her as she runs away. Meanwhile, back at Jinta's place, he, Menma and Poppo are starting to prepare the decorations for Menma's farewell party tonight. While Menma and Poppo seem extremely excited about this party (aside from the fact that Poppo looked a depressed when he thought of something from the past), Jinta didn't seem too comfortable with it.
Remember the letter that Jinta delivered to the Honma family? Well it turns out that letter is actually an invitation to the fireworks launching set for tomorrow. As Menma's mother reads it, she is furious, demanding to know how much more Jinta and co. would continue to mock her. However, her son walks in shortly after and, much to her dismay, tells her that he is thinking of going. Even when she gets down on her knees and asks him why, the only response he gives her is that he has grown a lot this year, before walking away. At that moment, Menma's mother breaks down and starts sobbing uncontrollably before her husband starts comforting her, telling her that, because it is impossible for them to forget Menma, they should grieve together and not alone. When evening hit, Yukiatsu and Anaru have already met up at a fast food restaurant. As they talk, Anaru admits that she had thought that she would get closer to Jinta because Menma had died but realizes that this wasn't the case. After Menma had died, she only got more distant from him and the only reason why she is closer to him now is because Menma has come back. Suddenly, Yukiatsu's phone rings and, after picking it up, finds out that Tsuruko is calling him. After confirming that he is indeed with Anaru, Tsuruko starts insulting him, calling him a weakling because he is scared of Menma going to heaven which subconsciously caused him to want hang out with Anaru so he won't feel so pathetic. To end her rant, Tsuruko tells him about what Menma told her "that day"; about how Menma told her to do something for Jinta. At that, Yukiatsu suddenly gets up and tells Anaru that he needs her to do something that only she can do. When it came time for the party, for a while it seemed like no one would show up. Fortunately, right before Poppo wanted to call them, Tsuruko walks through the door followed by Yukiatsu and Anaru. With everyone now here, Poppo, as the host, directs their attention to Menma. While she communicates with them through written messages, the troubled look on everyone's faces meant that they still regret something that they did on "that day". As the group start eating the snacks, Yukiatsu had to ruin the peaceful atmosphere by suggesting the worst possible thing: reenacting the day where Jinta accidentally called Menma ugly. With that suggestion, everything starts going downhill. Firstly, Tsuruko doesn't seem to be thrilled with the idea while Jinta is absolutely furious. Before he could say anything about it, Yukiatsu shifts everyone's attention to Anaru when he beckons her to do her job. After some hesitating, the words that Jinta never wanted to hear again came out of her mouth. To make things worse, Poppo starts repeating "say it" while looking like he is being possessed. With the pressure to answer the question now building up, Tsuruko realizes the danger of the situation and tries to stop it but to no avail. In the end, Jinta has no choice but to say how he truly feels; the fact that he likes Menma. As he tries to run away from the embarrassment, Poppo stops him by reminding him that the same thing will happen if he runs away. After calming down a bit, he looks back and is shocked to see that Menma is not saying anything but, instead, tears are streaming down her cheeks.
After that whole fiasco, Anaru and Tsuruko end up walking home together. Throughout their whole walk, Anaru continues to cry since she finally knows for sure that Jinta likes Menma more than her. On the other hand, Tsuruko, who obviously feels the same pain as her since she likes Yukiatsu who also likes Menma, doesn't shed a tear. Despite their differences, the girls share their struggles with each other and agree that, once they help Menma get to heaven, their chances of getting with the guy they want will increase. Meanwhile, Jinta is walking home with Menma who acted like nothing had happened. However, she suddenly asks Jinta if he meant what he said and, after confirming that he did, asks him if he would marry her if she had not died. When she says this, Jinta realizes that he wouldn't have to worry about all this if she just stays here and not go to heaven. However, Menma is determined to go to heaven so she could be reborn and talk to everyone again. As for Yukiatsu, he, at 1:19 in the morning, decides to be a creeper again by talking to the Menma wig he has while stroking it. Extremely creepy...
With the day of the finally here, Menma dreams about what Jinta's mom had told her before the both of them had died. In the dream, Menma, who was still a child back then, becomes fascinated with the idea of rebirth. However, the dream ends with Jinta's mother saying that there's "just one problem", leaving the audience with a cliffhanger. Once everyone gathered at the launch site, the group begins to start the preparations. Midway through, a late Tsuruko, who now has a haircut similar to back when they were children, joins them. A short while later, Menma's brother, Satoshi, shows up and upon seeing him, Menma rushes towards him, with tears in her eyes. After thanking Jinta for calling him, Menma starts rubbing her face against her brother's, showing how much she cares about him. The preparations are finally complete right when the sun starts to set. Now all that is left is to carry the fireworks up to the launching frame and launch it. As the group start to carry the fireworks, everyone begins having thoughts about how this is all going to turn out. While everyone, whether the feeling is strong or weak, Menma to go to heaven, Jinta is contemplating the decision of stopping all this so he can keep Menma here. After everything has been set up, only the launch is left. And with that, the tension rises. Will Jinta stop the launch? Or will he accept the fact that Menma wants to go to heaven? Even at the last moments, Jinta is still not sure whether to let this happen or not. But when the fireworks maker finally lights the fuse, it's officially too late for Jinta to make his decision, even though he screams for the fireworks maker to stop everything. After watching in horror as the fireworks burst in the air, Jinta is at his breaking point. However, a familiar voice rang out behind him. And that voice was none other than Menma's. When he suddenly turns back and sees that Menma is still there, he can't help but be relieved. However, Yukiatsu feels totally different as he demands to know why Menma is still there. To end this excellent episode off, Menma gives hits herself lightly in the head while her face basically said "Oops! Can't be helped". With this, the next episode is given the opportunity to wrap this series up nicely. There have been many times where the ending of a supposedly good anime failed to deliver and I hope Ano Hana won't fall into that category. My expectations are high for the next episode so I'm looking forward to it.
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