Her death is not exactly shown, but it is indicated that it was an accident and she drowned in the river after she slipped and fell while chasing her friend, Jinta.
Who is Menma?
Menma, or her real name Meiko Honma, is a female character in Anohana who dies right at the beginning of the anime and appears in the rest of the plot portrayed as a ghost. Her nationality was half Russian and half Japanese.
How Old Was Menma When She Died?
Menma was 5 years when she died and during her portrayal as a ghost she is around 15 years old.
What Was Menma’s Appearance?
As a child, Menma was presented as a tiny little girl with straight long hair and wide blue eyes. She always wore a white dress with a blue ribbon and sandals.
As a ghost, she appears in the same dress, but barefoot, probably assuming the fact that she lost her shoes in the river at the moment of her death.
What Was Menma’s Personality?
Menma is a joyful vivid girl who keeps her positive spirit even after her death. She is described as a selfless and sensitive girl, who always worry about others and cries easily for others, but never for herself.
She was the one who managed to keep her friends united while she was alive, causing them to split and feel guilty after her death. Even if she was a ghost, her skills included eating, cooking, opening doors or playing video games.
Who Can See Menma as a Ghost?
Menma had 5 friends: Jinta, Anaru, Yukiatsu, Tsuruko, and Poppo, and they refer themselves as Super Peace Busters crew. But of all her friends, only Jinta could see her.
The reason why Jinta is the only one who could see her is because Menma has always had feelings for him and she was very close to him when she was little, and second of all, because she made a promise to Jinta’s mom before her death.
Menma never blamed Jinta for her death, even if in that day, Jinta called her ugly then ran away. Menma was rather amused about Jinta’s attitude and decided to run after him, further causing her to slip and fall into the river. Even as a ghost, she continues to have romantic feelings for him.
What Was Menma’s Wish and Goal?
At first, Menma’s wish was to teach Jinta to express his emotions and teach him how to cry, as promised to her mother, who thought that Jinta was repressing his emotions and was not healthy for him.
But later on, what she really wanted was to reunite her friends, who started to drift apart after her death and also wanted to say proper goodbye to each of them.
Even if at the beginning, Menma was talking only to Jinta as a ghost, further on, she started to communicate with her other friends using her notebook and Jinta would always tell them what she said.
She never told anyone about her real desire, so right before she disappeared as a ghost (after she made everyone cry), she told the Super Peace Busters she wants to play ‘hide & seek’. Her final words were “you found me”, but she could only be heard, not seen anymore.
What Does Menma’s Death Symbolize and What is Her Role as a Ghost?
Soon after her death, her friends had the unbearable feeling of guilt and started to fell apart. They started to realize that Menma was always thinking about others, but they were always so self-centered and none of them ever thought about what she really wanted.
Jinta has always had feelings for Menma, but he never told her and from all the characters, he was the one who suffered the most. This is why, when Jinta heard that Menma had a wish, he tried to make everything in order to help her accomplish it (even if he never knew what the wish was).
We can really say that Menma teaches her friends the value of real friendship and how to be selfless. She also teaches them how to be aware and express their emotions and cherish every moment in life, especially with your loved ones.
Menma’s vivid and energetic personality was really magnetic and contagious; this is why everyone really missed her when she was gone.
