Why did Menma appear as a grown up?


In Ano Hana, Menma died when she was a kid, but then a few years later when
she appeared again, her ghost was a teenager. What exactly happened here?




Jintan still has romantic feelings toward her, as do the other male
characters. There are also some scenes (at least one, and I think more) where
Menma is sitting on Jintan's crotch and moving around, which naturally gives
him nosebleeds and at least once causes him to pass out. The implication is
that she has no clue what kind of effect this has on him because she died
before learning about such things.

It seems likely that the creators did not want to show that kind of scene with
Menma looking like a child. _Kodomo no Jikan_ ended up not being adapted for
the US market because of such content. The late-teen male characters having
romantic feelings toward such a young-looking character would also tend to
squick people out.

