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Directors: William Hanna & Joseph Barbera
Airing date: December 21, 1962
Stars: The Flintstones
Rating: ★★★
Review:
The boys are having their vacation at home, and the episode starts with a long and superfluous slapstick routine of Fred trying to get Dino to the vet for a shot. Then another long scene at a store leads to the main story in which Fred and Barney take up photography.
The result is another slapstick episode with a story that never satisfies the story ideas to their full potential. The stone age gags are all in the beginning with one of those numerous mammoths functioning as a tap, a porcupine, and a little bird inside Fred and Barney’s camera.
The designs on Fred and Barney are erratic from one scene to the next and the background art is particularly dull in this episode, with its faint shades of gray and blue. Harvey Milstone and his wife look like stone age versions of George and Judy from The Jetsons, a series that had just started in September.
Watch an excerpt from ‘Flashgun Freddie’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is The Flintstones Season Three episode 15
To the previous The Flintstones episode: Dial “S” for Suspicion
To the next Flintstones episode: The Kissing Burglar
‘Flashgun Freddie’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘The Flintstones – The Complete Series’ and the DVD-box ‘The Flintstones Season 3’
Directors: William Hanna & Joseph Barbera
Airing date: December 14, 1962
Stars: The Flintstones
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
‘Dial “S” for Suspicion’ starts with Fred having applied for a job at the exclusive Stone Valley Inn. As Fred has lied about his degrees and his ability to speak Spanish, one can guess where the episode will head to, but the story takes a surprise turn, in which Fred gets suspicious about his wife to downright paranoid.
It’s almost unbelievable that this sophisticated comedy of errors comes from the same writers as the silly slapstick from ‘Nuthin’ but the Tooth’. When the different characters are played against each other, the Flintstones episodes are so much finer. Fred’s paranoia is enhanced by the score, which features some eerie organ music in several scenes.
The stone age gags are less inspired and consist of a monkey and a mammoth functioning as a shower, a long-billed bird as a can opener, and a particularly silly checkerboard turtle. The designs, too, are erratic, and in some scenes, Fred’s design is downright poor.
Watch an excerpt from ‘Dial “S” for Suspicion’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is The Flintstones Season Three episode 14
To the previous The Flintstones episode: High School Fred
To the next Flintstones episode: Flashgun Freddie
‘Dial “S” for Suspicion’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘The Flintstones – The Complete Series’ and the DVD-box ‘The Flintstones Season 3’
Directors: William Hanna & Joseph Barbera
Airing date: December 7, 1962
Stars: The Flintstones
Rating: ★★½
Review:
In ‘High School Fred’ Fred’s employer calls in an efficiency expert who tells Fred that he will be ‘terminated’ because he hasn’t got a high school diploma. But Fred’s boss lets Fred finish his missed last two weeks in high school, so he can stay. When Fred tries to tell Wilma all this, she misunderstands and thinks Fred goes to an executive school to get promoted.
Unfortunately, the writers do little with the high school premise and mostly show Fred excelling at sports. The whole episode is low on gags, the most bizarre being a throwaway gag of a roast bird preparing itself, while Barney and Betty are talking. There’s also a mini-mammoth used as a spray gun, and the occasional bird acting like a record player needle.
Watch an excerpt from ‘High School Fred’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is The Flintstones Season Three episode 13
To the previous The Flintstones episode: Nuthin’ but the Tooth
To the next Flintstones episode: Dial “S” for Suspicion
‘High School Fred’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘The Flintstones – The Complete Series’ and the DVD-box ‘The Flintstones Season 3’
Directors: William Hanna & Joseph Barbera
Airing date: November 30, 1962
Stars: The Flintstones
Rating: ★★★
Review:
This episode starts with some mysterious wailing in the night, which turns out to be Barney with a toothache. The next day Fred takes Barney to the dentist, but when Fred wants to save the necessary $10 to see a fight, he changes plans.
‘Nuthin’ but the Tooth’ is one of the silliest Flintstones episodes, full of nonsensical cartoon humor and slapstick scenes. Unfortunately, the writers milk the gas gag way too long, and there’s nothing of the more subtle character comedy of other episodes.
The best stone age gag is the parrot who functions as the dentist’s intercom. Notice the rare appearance of the sabretooth cat, so frequently seen during the titles, within an episode itself.
Watch an excerpt from ‘Nuthin’ but the Tooth’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is The Flintstones Season Three episode 12
To the previous The Flintstones episode: Ladies’ Day
To the next Flintstones episode: High School Fred
‘Nuthin’ but the Tooth’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘The Flintstones – The Complete Series’ and the DVD-box ‘The Flintstones Season 3’
Directors: William Hanna & Joseph Barbera
Airing date: November 23, 1962
Stars: The Flintstones
Rating: ★★★★½
Review:
Until this point in the third season the Flintstones episodes were only mildly funny at best, and frankly more often than not dragged a little, but ‘Ladies Day’ is over before you know it.
The story starts rolling when Fred wants to go to the ball game, but he’s both flat broke and he has to work. When he learns from Barney it’s “ladies’ day” at the ball game he gets an idea. What follows is a comedy of errors that involves the wives, the police and Fred’s boss and the boss’s South American customer, who appears to be a ladies man.
For once the story stays surprising throughout and the writers play nicely around with the four main characters. Naturally, there’s less room for stone age gags, and we have to do with a single crocodile acting as Betty’s laundry machine. But it doesn’t matter, for ‘Ladies’Day’ is one of the best written Flintstones episodes of all.
Watch an excerpt from ‘Ladies’ Day’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is The Flintstones Season Three episode 11
To the previous The Flintstones episode: Hawaiian Escapade
To the next Flintstones episode: Nuthin’ but the Tooth
‘Ladies’ Day’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘The Flintstones – The Complete Series’ and the DVD-box ‘The Flintstones Season 3’
Directors: William Hanna & Joseph Barbera
Airing date: November 16, 1962
Stars: The Flintstones
Rating: ★★★
Review:
Surprisingly many Flintstones episodes deal with the average viewer’s dream to become an actor. In the third season ‘Hawaiian Escapade’ is the second after ‘Dino Goes Hollyrock‘.
This episode feels mostly like a remake from ‘The Monster from the Tarpits‘ from the first series. In both episodes Fred ends up as a stunt double, and even the Hollywood star, Larry Lava, is a faint echo of the Gary Granite of the former episode. There’s also an echo from ‘Hollyrock, Here I Come‘, another episode from the first season, as in both episodes, fame goes to Fred’s head.
The rehash of earlier tried tropes make ‘Hawaiian Escapade’ rather dull and uninspired. Even the stone age gags fall flat. Much more interesting is the running gag of Wilma burning Fred’s steak, and the cute finale.
Watch an excerpt from ‘Hawaiian Escapade’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is The Flintstones Season Three episode 10
To the previous The Flintstones episode: Baby Barney
To the next Flintstones episode: Ladies’ Day
‘Hawaiian Escapade’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘The Flintstones – The Complete Series’ and the DVD-box ‘The Flintstones Season 3’
Directors: William Hanna & Joseph Barbera
Airing date: November 9, 1962
Stars: The Flintstones
Rating: ★★★
Review:
After ‘The Little Stranger’ ‘Baby Barney’ is the second Flintstones episode trying out Fred’s attitude to fatherhood, anticipating the great continuity later in the series.
This time Fred’s fatherhood is triggered by the coming of a rich uncle Tex, whom he promised a ‘little Tex’. It’s the unfortunate Barney who has to pose as the improbable baby. This accounts for a lot of slapstick, but in the end it’s Fred acting like a father for the first time that stays most. Stone age gags, meanwhile, are rare, as I can only mention a lawnmower dinosaur.
Watch an excerpt from ‘Baby Barney’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is The Flintstones Season Three episode 9
To the previous The Flintstones episode: The Little Stranger
To the next Flintstones episode: Hawaiian Escapade
‘Baby Barney’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘The Flintstones – The Complete Series’ and the DVD-box ‘The Flintstones Season 3’
Directors: William Hanna & Joseph Barbera
Airing date: November 2, 1962
Stars: The Flintstones
Rating: ★★★
Review:
‘The Little Stranger’ starts with a Fred so grumpy Wilma sends him to a doctor to get examined. On the way Fred and Barney repeatedly meet a paper delivering little boy called Arnold, who gets the better of Fred each time. However, we have to wait until the 11th minute before the story really begins.
As with some of the best Flintstones episodes ‘The Little Stranger’ is a comedy of errors, and it is a delight to watch Fred’s sweet side, as well as him running back and forth when he thinks Wilma is expecting a little baby any minute. The best sight gag however, is when the doctor makes Fred inhale and exhale, a breath so powerful it moves Barney, who’s reading on a chair, through the office.
‘The Little Stranger’ feels like a prequel to the continuous story of the Flintstones getting a baby, which makes the third season so unique. It’s the first episode in which the baby idea comes up, and Fred’s reaction indeed is inviting to make the character deal with the real thing.
The stone age gags, meanwhile, are modest, and include a dish washing pelican, the now almost regular mammoth vacuum cleaner, and a bizarre bag-crocodile. Notice that for once, one of the windows is glass-covered, to get a gag with Arnold along.
Watch an excerpt from ‘The Little Stranger’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is The Flintstones Season Three episode 8
To the previous The Flintstones episode: The Buffalo Convention
To the next Flintstones episode: Baby Barney
‘The Little Stranger’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘The Flintstones – The Complete Series’ and the DVD-box ‘The Flintstones Season 3’
Directors: William Hanna & Joseph Barbera
Airing date: October 26, 1962
Stars: The Flintstones
Rating: ★★
Review:
It’s Wilma’s birthday and Fred buys her a doozy dodo, a talking bird, from a seedy street vendor. At home it first seems the bird doesn’t talk after all, but when Fred and Barney are conspiring to go a three days convention of the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes in ‘Frantic City’, the bird reveals all to their wives.
This episode follows all familiar tropes existing since the Laurel and Hardy feature ‘Sons of the Desert’ (1933) and is utterly predictable from start to end. The stone age gags bring some light into this listless episode, and involve a sneezing mini mammoth as a malfunctioning vacuum cleaner, a dinosaur bus, and best of all, a monkey-operated traffic light.
Watch an excerpt from ‘The Buffalo Convention’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is The Flintstones Season Three episode 7
To the previous The Flintstones episode: Here’s Snow in Your Eyes
To the next Flintstones episode: The Little Stranger
‘The Buffalo Convention’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘The Flintstones – The Complete Series’ and the DVD-box ‘The Flintstones Season 3’
Directors: William Hanna & Joseph Barbera
Airing date: October 19, 1962
Stars: The Flintstones
Rating: ★★★½
Review:
Here’s Snow in Your Eyes’ starts with Wilma grouching over housework. Then she hears that Fred and Barney are invited to a state convention of the Royal Order of Water Buffaloes in Stone Mountain, a luxurious ski resort, and naturally she assumes she and Betty can go, too.
Unfortunately, Fred has to talk her out of that idea, as there wasn’t enough money for the wives, so the girls stay home. But when Betty and Wilma discover there’s a beauty contest at the very place, they change their minds, and go anyway to keep an eye on their husbands.
‘Here’s Snow in Your Eyes’ knows a quite complicated plot, which also involves a diamond theft, but for once the guys have nothing to hide, and the episode is one of two happily married couples. Unfortunately the beauty contest subplot ends abruptly, and one gets the feeling there’s was more to the story material than what finally materialized in this episode. Nevertheless, this is one of the more enjoyable Flintstones episodes from the third season, with fun little scenes, some nice takes on all four main characters, and an enjoyable final scene.
Watch an excerpt from ‘Here’s Snow in Your Eyes’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is The Flintstones Season Three episode 6
To the previous The Flintstones episode: The Twitch
To the next Flintstones episode: The Buffalo Convention
‘Here’s Snow in Your Eyes’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘The Flintstones – The Complete Series’ and the DVD-box ‘The Flintstones Season 3’
Directors: William Hanna & Joseph Barbera
Airing date: October 12, 1962
Stars: The Flintstones
Rating: ★★★
Review:
‘The Twitch’ is the Flintstones’ answer to Chubby Checker’s huge success with ‘The Twist’ (1960).
In this episode Fred promises Wilma to get ‘Rock Roll’ (voiced by Hal Smith) to play for free at her auxilliary show. Rock Roll’s big hit is ‘The Twitch’, a catchy parody song, which is accompanied by the familiar twist gestures, as well as Chuck Berry’s duckwalk.
The fun is further enhanced by the final scene (a twist in itself), a series of terrible vaudeville acts and several stone age gags, like a horned crocodile-like potato peeler, a nail-polishing bird and a weird massage device. Also note the caricature of Fred Sullivan. All these aspects make ‘The Twitch’ one of the more enjoyable episodes of the Flintstones’ third season.
Watch an excerpt from ‘The Twitch’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is The Flintstones Season Three episode 5
To the previous The Flintstones episode: Bowling Ballet
To the next Flintstones episode: Here’s Snow in Your Eyes
‘The Twitch’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘The Flintstones – The Complete Series’ and the DVD-box ‘The Flintstones Season 3’
5
Directors: William Hanna & Joseph Barbera
Airing date: October 5, 1962
Stars: The Flintstones
Rating: ★★
Review:
In this appallingly unfunny episode Fred secretly takes ballet lessons to restore his bowling skills.
This episode starts with a long morning routine in which Wilma tries to wake up Fred. This part contains two stone age gags: Fred shaving himself with a clam containing a bumble bee, and Wilma frying a humongous dinosaur egg. Later we watch Wilma and Betty trying to swap a giant fly, and Wilma’s gigantic Brontosaur ribs dinner for Fred.
These gags are fair, at best, but much better than the main story, which drags on, despite the deadline of a big game Fred hopes to win and its stakes being high. Why Fred doesn’t tell anyone he is taking ballet lessons in the first place is never explained, and this secrecy is as puzzling as discomforting, given the fact that Fred and Wilma are supposed to have a happy marriage.
Watch an excerpt from ‘Bowling Ballet’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is The Flintstones Season Three episode 4
To the previous The Flintstones episode: Barney the Invisible
To the next Flintstones episode: The Twitch
‘Bowling Ballet’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘The Flintstones – The Complete Series’ and the DVD-box ‘The Flintstones Season 3’
Directors: William Hanna & Joseph Barbera
Airing date: September 28, 1962
Stars: The Flintstones
Rating: ★★
Review:
This Flintstones episode starts with Barney having the hiccups, while Fred Flintstone is trying to invent a new soda drink in his garage. When Barney drops by, Fred tries to cure Barney’s hiccups with his potion no. 412, which does the trick and renders Barney invisible.
The rest of the episode fails to cash in on this premise, with all invisibility routines being rather lazy and uninspired. Fred even wins a bowling contest using Barney’s invisibility, without any repercussions.
There are a few prehistoric gear gags, like a mammoth and a seal acting like a washing machine, and birds functioning as clothes pins, but for the most part this is a lackluster affair.
‘Barney the Invisible’ is noteworthy, however, for being the first episode starting and ending with the new title song ‘meet the Flintstones’, which is a great improvement on the earlier intro. The accompanying images, too, are much more fun, luckily dumping the rather questionable images of Fred eating dinner for the television without Wilma, which accompanied the original intro.
Watch ‘Barney the Invisible’ yourself and tell me what you think:
https://www.topcartoons.tv/cartoons/barney-the-invisible
This is The Flintstones Season Three episode 3
To the previous The Flintstones episode: Fred’s New Boss
To the next Flintstones episode: Bowling Ballet
‘Barney the Invisible’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘The Flintstones – The Complete Series’ and the DVD-box ‘The Flintstones Season 3’
Directors: William Hanna & Joseph Barbera
Airing date: September 21, 1962
Stars: The Flintstones
Rating: ★★★
Review:
Although this episode starts with Wilma and Betty watching an add on television and going to the barbers to get a new haircut, it is really centered on the friendship of Barney and Fred.
When Barney is laid off, Wilma forces Fred to ask his boss to get his friend a job. Fred fails, but does not to dare tell Barney. But when Barney reports himself at Fred’s Boss, Mr. Slate, he turns out to be the director’s nephew, and is promptly promoted to executive vice president. Unfortunately, this means he has become Fred’s boss, and this puts a strain on their relationship.
The best scene may be Wilma joining Fred in bowling to make up for Barney’s absence, even though this feels like a missed opportunity for more gags. Meanwhile Barney tries to blend in with other executives, in an all too short scene, which also fails to deliver on its potential.
In fact, the whole episode is low on gags, and the few prehistoric creatures that act as garbage bins and parking meters get some really lame lines. The animation, too, is sometime ridiculously poor. Watch for example the reaction of Barney, Betty and Wilma when Fred returns from his boss’s house. The trio looks more like a mechanical device than as human beings.
This is The Flintstones Season Three episode 2
To the previous The Flintstones episode: Dino Goes Hollyrock
To the next Flintstones episode: Barney the Invisible
‘Fred’s New Boss’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘The Flintstones – The Complete Series’ and the DVD-box ‘The Flintstones Season 3’
Directors: William Hanna & Joseph Barbera
Airing date: September 14, 1962
Stars: The Flintstones
Rating: ★★★
Review:
The third season of The Flintstones kicks off with an episode devoted to Dino, Fred and Wilma’s purple pet dinosaur. The dog-like dinosaur appears to have a favorite television program called Sassie, starring a female dinosaur with a wig.
When Fred discovers that the show looks for a new star, he goes on an audition with Dino. Dino, however, only shows to be a great performer after discovering he will be in a love scene with Sassie. After one scene, Dino is hired, and Fred paid off and sent home, much to his own regret, but then Dino discovers something…
This episode has a rather slow start and is surprisingly low on gags, but its finale has a nice emotional touch. The cheap and old-fashioned melodrama of the tv show is fun, but the highlight of the episode is Dino’s reaction to his manager’s and director’s plans with him.
Watch an excerpt from ‘Dino Goes Hollyrock’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is The Flintstones Season Three episode 1
To the previous The Flintstones episode: Take Me Out to the Ball Game
To the next Flintstones episode: Fred’s New Boss
‘Dino Goes Hollyrock’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘The Flintstones – The Complete Series’ and the DVD-box ‘The Flintstones Season 3’
Directors: Bill Melendez & Phil Roman
Airing date: November 20, 1973
Stars: Charlie Brown, Franklin, Linus, Lucy, Marcie, Peppermint Patty, Sally, Snoopy, Woodstock
Rating: ★★★
Review:
‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving’, the tenth of the Peanuts television specials, is the third of the Charlie Brown holiday specials, this time devoted to Thanksgiving. As such it’s a little preachy, especially through Linus’s lines.
The episode’s main problem is caused by Peppermint Patty when she invites herself, Marcie and Franklin over to Charlie Brown’s house, when he’s not even supposed to be home. Luckily, Linus, Snoopy and Woodstock help out.
The episode’s highlight is the silent comedy of Snoopy and Woodstock setting up a dinner table in the yard. This part is accompanied by a charming soul song devoted to the little yellow bird. Actually, the background music is very charming throughout most of the episode, with Vince Guaraldi lively piano trio music, joined by Tom Harrell on trumpet and Chuck Bennett on trombone. Only when Snoopy and Woodstock are putting on Thanksgiving costumes, this is exchanged for some ugly electronic music.
As always with the Peanuts films, the pace is relaxed. The animation is fair, if not outstanding, and the characters charming, and faithful to Schulz’s original comic strip.
Watch an excerpt from ‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Peanuts 1970’s Collection Vol. 1’
Director: Bill Melendez
Airing date: March 11, 1973
Stars: Charlie Brown, Franklin, Linus, Lucy, Margie, Peppermint Patty, Sally, Snoopy
Rating: ★★★
Review:
‘There’s No Time for Love, Charlie Brown ‘is the ninth Peanuts television special. This instalment is a nice, quiet little affair, with a rather stream-of-consciousness-like quality to it.
The special starts with several comic-based loose gags on school, most of them starring Sally and Peppermint Party. After seven minutes the main story kicks in, in which the kids have to go on a field trip to a museum and write a report on it. Unfortunately, Charlie Brown, Sally, Peppermint Patty and Marcie end up in a supermarket. What’s worse, Peppermint Patty hurts Charlie Brown’s feelings there, too.
Marcie, who makes her screen debut here, has a particularly young sounding voice (by one Jimmy Ahrens). It’s nice to watch her interaction with Peppermint Patty on screen, as is the interplay between Peppermint Patty and Charlie ‘Chuck’ Brown.
Halfway the supermarket scenes there’s a short song on Snoopy’s Joe Cool character, while the accompanying images show Snoopy imagining himself as a world famous grocery clerk. The rest of the episode features a very attractive jazz score by Vince Guaraldi. Throughout, both the animation and the facial expressions are fair, and the whole episode is a pleasant, if rather understated affair.
Watch ‘There’s No Time for Love, Charlie Brown’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘There’s No Time for Love, Charlie Brown’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Peanuts 1970’s Collection Vol. 1’
Director: Jeroen Jaspaert
Airing date: December 25, 2017
Rating: ★★★½
Review:
‘The Highway Rat’ is the sixth animated Christmas special by Magic Light Pictures. Like all the others (save ‘Revolting Rhymes’ from 2016) the film is based on a children’s book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, and like all, narrated in rhyme.
The film boasts the same charming stop-motion-like computer animation and elaborate real sets as the others, and features excellent music by René Aubry, but frankly, the film’s source material is less engrossing than for example ‘The Gruffalo’ (2009) or ‘Room on the Broom‘ (2012). The first half consists of the highway rat taking away food from passing animals only, and the creature’s punishment and reform feel rather obligate and uninspired.
Nevertheless, the film remains a wonderful thing to look at, as neither the animation nor the visuals cease to charm. Especially entertaining is the silent comedy, mostly provided by the Highway Rat’s horse. Done with great subtlety and excellent use of eye expressions this is animation at its very best.
Watch an excerpt from ‘The Highway Rat’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘The Highway Rat’ is available on DVD
Director: Joel Crawford
Airing date: November 24, 2017
Rating: ★★★
Review:
I bought this DVD by mistake, mistaking it for ‘Trolls World Tour‘. Oh, well, I might as well watch and review it. ‘Trolls Holiday’ is a television special that features the characters from ‘Trolls’ (2016). The 30 minute short is a holiday special that, refreshingly, is not about Christmas.
The story is extraordinarily simple and straightforward: when Poppy discovers that the Bergens have no holiday left since the abolition of Trollstice, she decides to give them one of the trolls’ own numerous holidays. Unfortunately she gets so carried away she doesn’t realize she distresses her Bergen best friend Bridget during the show. Bridget asks Poppy to leave. Luckily soon Poppy realizes what she has done, while Bridget realizes what Poppy was trying to do. So in the end she invents a holiday of her own, ‘Troll-A-Bration’, celebrating their friendship.
‘Trolls Holiday’ is a nice if unnecessary addendum to the Trolls movie. Both Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake reprise their roles, and there’s a lot of singing, especially during Poppy’s presentation. The special ends with both Bergens and Trolls singing Madonna’s ‘Holiday’.
However, the most entertaining parts are the digital cut-out animation sequences telling the background story and Poppy’s plan. During the caterpillar bus ride the trolls shortly change into their real life versions, which is pretty distressing, as this only shows how infinitely more ugly the original toys were when compared to the fluffy versions of the film.
Watch the first four minutes of ‘Trolls Holiday’ and tell me what you think:
‘Trolls Holiday’ is available on DVD
Director: Tatsuyuki Nagai
Airing of first episode: April 14, 2011
Rating: ★★★½
Review:
After ‘Erased‘ this is only the second Japanese anime series I’ve seen. The two series are from the same A-1 Pictures studio, and they are about of the same quality, so how they compare to others I wouldn’t know. Like ‘Erased’ ‘Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day’ deals with friendship and loss, this time featuring on a group of six high school friends.
In the first of eleven episodes we learn that Teenager boy Jintan, who has dropped out of school, is troubled by a childish blonde girl called Menma, but it turns out he’s the only one seeing her. Soon we learn that Menma is dead, and that she was part of a group of friends led by Jintan when they were kids. After her death the group fell apart, but Menma is back to fulfill her wish. Unfortunately, she herself doesn’t know anymore what her wish was…
Menma’s unknown wish is the motor of the series, as the friends slowly and partly reluctantly regroup as they are all needed to fullfil Menma’s wish. On the way we learn that each of them had a particular relationship to either Jintan or Menma, and they all have their own view on the day of Menma’s fatal death. And what’s more, there are more traumas to overcome.
‘Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day’ is surprisingly similar to the later ‘Erased’: there’s a jumping from the now to the past (although in Anohana these are flashbacks, not real jumps through time), there’s a supernatural element, there’s a group of friends, and one important mysterious girl who’s dead.
The first episode contains enough mystery to set the series in motion, but the show progresses painfully slowly, and at times I got the feeling Mari Okada’s screenplay was stretched over too many episodes. Especially episode five and six are of a frustratingly static character. In these episodes Jintan, the main character, is particularly and annoyingly passive, hardly taking any action to help Menma or himself, while Menma’s continuous cooing sounds get on the nerve.
The mystery surely unravels stunningly slowly in this series, and only episode seven ends with a real cliffhanger. Even worse, there are some serious plot holes, hampering the suspension of disbelief. Most satisfying are episode eight and ten, which are both emotional, painful, and moving. In contrast, the final episode is rather overblowing, with tears flowing like waterfalls. In fact, the episode barely balances on the verge of pathos. To be sure, such pathos occurs regularly throughout the series. In addition, there are a lot of unfinished sentences, startled faces, strange expressions, often unexplained, and all these become some sort of mannerisms.
The show is animated quite well, with intricate, if unassuming background art. Masayoshi Tanaka’s character designs, however, are very generic, with Menma being a walking wide-eyed, long-haired anime cliché. Weirdly, one of Anaru’s friends looks genuinely Asian, with small black eyes, while all main protagonists, with the possible exception for Tsuruko are depicted with different eye and hair colors, making them strangely European despite the obvious Japanese setting. For example, Menma has blue eyes and white hair, while Anaru has hazel eyes and red hair.
In all, if you like an emotional ride, and you have patience enough to watch a stretched story, ‘Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day’ may be something for you. The series certainly has its merits, but an undisputed classic it is not.
Watch the trailer for ‘Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day’ and tell me what you think:
‘Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day’ is available on DVD
Dr. Grob's Animation Review 