I know that it's sappy, that it's whole intent to make you cry and to tug at heart strings and all that, and it manages it. I can't quite agree with an 8/10 rating though, simply because I watched the anime when it came out which was a few years ago and I thought that like most anime, it was just something I'd think about from time to time, where all my emotions would just kind of come back for a minute, and then I'd move on. With Anohana though, this has not been the case. I have looked back at it and still remember it very well, and even watching a trailer for the movie of it, got me to reconnect with it on a level that I think only the original Full Metal Alchemist has been able to do. I actually cried again just watching that trailer because of how much this anime impacted me. Perhaps it's something that people who only watched it recently can't understand, I don't know, maybe in a year or two's time you'll do the same, but for an anime to make that kind of impact on me, it has to be one of the best. If I were to rate Anohana, it would be nothing short of a 9.5/10. The only I could complain about it a little of animation quality drops for brief moments, but overall, it's simply an amazing show.