This is a legacy article and was originally published December 7th, 2019.
It was somewhat shocking that during our Then and Now series for Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town there were a lot of responses about how folks didn’t know very much about the original Flower Bud Village incarnations of the characters! So, with SoS:FoMT having released in Japan and Harvest Moon 64′s 20th anniversary on the horizon, it seemed like a good time to do another article series. Presenting…
Denizens of Flower Bud: Ann!
Yes! This is the rough n’ tough spitfire Ann everyone knows! The daughter of Hall, sister of Gray, and granddaughter of the original SNES game’s Ann. She doesn’t inherit much of that inventor knack for machines though. Instead, she’s a rancher and overall animal enthusiast with a love of birds, bunnies, and particularly “beautiful and cool-looking” horses and does a lot of work around the ranch. She also relies on her brother a lot at times, though she’s saddened by how gruff and cold he’s become after getting in an accident and can recall a gentler version of him that used to help raise her after their mother passed away. They’re still a loving family though, and one of the only times Gray will break out a smile can be when teasing his little sister. Of course, animals aren’t the only thing she does, as she also knits as a hobby and will even give you a pair of hand-knit socks for your birthday if you’re friendly enough. Perhaps after spending some time with her in the mountains climbing (and falling out of) trees to look at birds, or watching endangered bunnies from a safe distance.
Ann has another, more unfortunate quality as well… in that Ann is pretty much the only character I can really think of in the series that seems to be prone to violence. Not only knocking the player down in one scene, but after being married to Cliff they get into fights with an alarming frequency; usually resulting in Cliff having a black eye the next day. It’s kind of hard to figure out what brings them together in the first place, since they seem to fight for most of their romantic events without ever reconciling. As a fan of Cliff’s Flower Bud iteration in particular, it always bothered me that this seems to be the only way things can go to keep him around as should you marry Ann yourself he’s liable to leave town brokenhearted and never be seen again. It’s a very stark difference from how their relationship would be portrayed in the Mineral Town games, which is pretty much only ever a kind and loving relationship. At least he’ll always have Kane, who flies over their wedding ceremony.
In spite of their glaring problems, it always seems that the togetherness of family holds Ann and Cliff together. Though they have their ups and downs and plenty of personal turmoil, Green Ranch will always thrive thanks to the large family that lives there. Potentially the largest in town featuring Gray, Popuri, Ann, Cliff, two babies, and Hall all together… and maybe more some day, considering Ann also occasionally mentions wanting her child to have their own brother or sister. I can only hope we see a sequel some day to see where all these kids end up.
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