Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

(Spoilers etc.)

I could make a proper review and all that about the characters and plot and etc (Anaru was the best, ending was pretty good, etc.) But there was one thing in particular I seemed bothered about.

As of watching the entire show, I still can't figure out why they used that long title. As it was in my past to think of symbolism in anime (such as AIR), I couldn't really let this pass.

So, I came up with a few theories.

1. There was no meaning to the title at all. It might have been an insignificant event that Menma and the group encountered in the past, but that's it. This would mean there's no real symbolism in the title and that the title was kind of random. This would be a stupid theory to believe (IMO) but probably what most people would think of and just brush it aside.

2. The flower represents Menma's wish, and the fact that they couldn't name it relates to how they couldn't identify the wish Menma was looking for. This is a plot-related theory. It seems to fit quite well, but seems a bit bland. The fact that they were doing so much work (such as "researching" and "studying" fireworks, etc.) sort of relates to how people may want to do lots of work (as adults) to identify a flower. When you were a child you just pointed and asked, "what's the name of this flower?" and people might say "I dunno" and give it up at that. But then as an adult people gain more resources and are able to look things up, online or in the library, to find the actual answer. I think this is similar in a way, in the plot, where they find a viable solution to Menma's wish, even though they don't know what it is.

3. The flower represents the past/tragedy, and the fact that they couldn't name it is because they could never identify the truth behind it. Menma then comes back to help them unravel or uncover the truth, thereby "revealing the flower's name". This eventually reveals things and leads to the ending as we see now.

4. With help from a fellow watcher, I figure out that the flower is actually named "forget-me-not". Of course with that tipoff a whole more plethora of ideas. This can coincide with the third theory mention earlier; since the flower is a forget-me-not, it can mean that the past which everyone tried so hard to forget cannot be forgetten so easily. In a similar case, if you have something on your mind (ie, you see a flower and you want to know its name), even if you distract yourself with things to do, "silly" worries tend to linger and you eventually devote yourself to figuring things out.
...Like why I'm trying to type this post up figuring out what the title means in the first place...
Anyway that's probably what happens with the characters inside the anime. They want to leave the past as is, but since the "problem" was never fully resolved it lingered in their minds. Turns out their "flower" is a forget-me-not, meaning that which they wanted to not deal with anymore, is not something they can throw away so easily... that they should keep the memories in their mind, proceed with life but not ignore that past, but learn from it and embrace it. That their friendship shouldn't be forgotten, that the tragedy should not cloud the true beauty of the joy they had in the past.

Or something like that.