Anohana is the quintessential "cry anime" that became the template for 2010s emotional drama.

Childhood friends drift apart after a girl drowns, her ghost comes back to make them reunite, everyone cries at the end.

That said, Mari Okada's script does differentiate the five characters' grief responses well enough that they don't feel completely interchangeable, the summer nostalgia aesthetic (fireworks, cicadas, rivers) hits the right notes, and the emotional payoff actually lands despite the shortcuts.

There is no denying it, it's one of the best in the genre regardless.