The story deals with five high school students who have grown distant since elementary school following the tragic death of a sixth member of their group 10 years previously. Jinta, the leader of the group, is now a hikikomori who has cut off contact with everyone aside from his widower father. Naruko, who was only able to get into a low quality school, has started to hang out with delinquent girls from class. Tsuruko and Yukiatsu were both able to get into a prestigious high school, but are each driven to success and remain distant in all other respects. Poppo has given up school to work part time and travel the world. During the summer Jinta all of a sudden starts to see the dead friend, Menma. Menma drowned accidentally following an incident that instigated the break up of the group. Each member went their own ways after her death and have had to deal with the tragedy alone. The ghost of Menma, while aware of her death and ghost status, takes her opportunity to relive the past she remembered and wants all of her friends to fulfill a forgotten promise that requires everyone to get together. Jinta must figure out how to convince everyone that he is really seeing their dead friend and if the distances between them can really be gaped in order to send their lost friend to the afterlife.
This wasn't a bad series, its saving grace is the length. I was pleased with its maturity and the only character that brought any kind of goofiness was Menma. Menma's personality and her dialog are actually quite grating. The character design also looks like something you would find in some game. The anime though was an original story that has since been translated to a variety of mediums. The concept and the story is nothing new, but the way the plot unfolds and the way the characters interact with each other are what keep you watching through out. Even though the series is short it feels like it would have been better suited as a movie. It seemed to take quite a while to get going, but the last few episodes flowed well. In that respect they did release a movie in 2013 that is an alternate telling. In all ways this series really does fell like it should have been a video game first. The end of the series is pretty depressing and dramatic so make sure you have some tissues at hand. If you enjoyed Boys Be... or Kimi ga Nozomu Eien you should watch this show.
The TV series has been licensed and released in North America and is available for streaming on Crunchyroll.
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