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Honestly, I don't even know why I thought reading this would be a good idea. No, wait, I actually do! This manga randomly appeared on my goodreads recommendations and I was like: "this looks interesting" and I clicked it, and I saw the summary, and then I read someone say something about gore, horror and creepy stuff and well, that's pretty much why I decided to give it a try. Because you know, I have a thing for gore-y manga, but guess what. . .it didn't work for me. The only thing I liked about it was the mystery solved around the end. Nothing else. ... Why? Because it didn't make sense for me, it didn’t felt believable, and most of the time I was asking myself: “really?” Maybe, if it had been a few chapters longer I would’ve enjoyed it more, but oh well. Now, if you're wondering about the gore well, it wasn't that "horrifying”. I mean, it does have “ugly” stuff, but I expected worse. . .I’ve seen worse.

In the end, I can summarize my thoughts about this in three words: I EXPECTED WORSE.

"Another" by Yukito Ayatsuki was a short manga series that consisted of only four volumes. Before starting this series, I'd watched the anime and completely loved the creepy vibe I got from it and everything that happened, so after watching it I thought: "why not give the manga a try?" And yes, I gave it a try and ended up loving it way more than the anime. Why? Well, keep reading and you'll see. . .

Plot: The story around this series, evolves around Kouichi Sakakibara, or aka, Sakakibara-kun, a transfer student from Tokyo that arrives at a new school on the third class on the ... third year, where people act a little strange. At first, he doesn't get what's the weird fuzz around him, or why the other students ignore this girl from his class called Misaki Mei. But as the story goes on, we see how Sakakibara-kun starts wondering and investigating what's wrong with his class and if Misaki Mei does exist or if she's just a figment of his imagination. The funny thing is that with Misaki's help, he manages to discover the truth behind everyone's weird conduct: the class is cursed, and things might start getting a little ugly soon.

And yes, by "a little ugly", I mean really ugly. Around the internet, I saw someone say that this series was the Japanese final destination and well, they were kind of right! One of the dead lives among them after the accident that happened 26 years ago, and thanks to him/her, death is following the class around one way or another.

What I really loved about this story was that besides the fact that it was creepy and people died now and then, the characters managed to get together and try to stop the curse that was finishing them off one by one. Also, the way everything was paced and connected was so well done by the author that not even once I got bored or felt lost as I made my way through the chapters and connected with the characters as they looked for a way to stop this beep curse!

Characters: All the characters from this series were very well done, enjoyable and hate-able. My favorites were our two main characters: Sakakibara-kun and Misaki Mei, since I liked how they both met and how they stayed together from beginning to end, trying to stop the curse and decipher which one of them was the dead one. But besides them, we also got to meet other characters that played important parts on the story. Some of these were: Tomohiko Kazami (one of the class officers, and Teshiwara's best friend), Izumi Akazawa (head of countermeasures from class 3-3), Naoya Teshiwara (you could say that this one is one of the few friends Sakakibara-kun made, also from class 3-3), Tatsuyi Chibiki (librarian and former homeroom teacher of the 3-3 class from 26 years ago), Sanae Mizuno (Sakakibara-kun's friend and nurse from the hospital he was in after having problems with his lungs), Reiko (Kouichi's aunt), Mikami Sensei and more! More? Yes, there are more, but, if you read the series, you'll meet them all, but these shall be your top-priorities. . .heh.

In the end, I really enjoyed this series even though it was short! It was a perfect mixture between creepy-stuff, mystery, suspense, horror, and even a little bit of humor! So yeah, if you guys are looking for a short and creepy read or for something that reminds you somehow of final destination, you should definitely check Sakakibara-kun's story and see if they manage to find out who the dead one between them is!

On this manga series, Matsuri Hino introduces us to Yuki Cross, who has no memory of her past, before she was saved from a vampire attack by a pure-blood vampire named: Kaname Kuran. Ten years later, we find Yuki studying and working as a guard on Cross Academy, which is attended by normal humans at daytime and vampires lead by Kaname Kuran at night. But that's not all, around this series. we get to see how Yuki goes through different types of challenges while protecting the Academy's secret, trying her hardest to uncover the secrets beyond the wall that's blocking her memories and hoping that ... the peace between vampires and humans works out the right way and doesn't cease to exist.

I have to admit Matsuri's imagination is wonderful, but scary at the same time. The way she got to create and develop such an amazing series like Vampire Knight it's pretty amazing and original! I don't even know how to express the way this series made me want more and be scared to get more. The series was so spectacularly good that I'm still not over it and still unable to express myself about it! If you have watched the anime based on this series, I welcome you all "omfg, hi!", but do not think you've seen it all, because you haven't. The manga volumes go beyond what was turned into the anime and far more deep into it. Give it a try and see for yourself, you'll probably end up complaining like, "WHY WASN'T THIS IN THE ANIME??! WHYYY!?" Just like I did after finishing it while being on my manga hangover/book hangover (however you wanna call it). Ehm. . .uh. . .anyways, going back to the review. . .

The plot of this series is so good and unique that it made me fell in love with it immediately. The way it develops through the volumes is so well done that I don't think it's possible for someone to get lost around it! Why? Because one way or another, everything or at least almost everything is connected. Even though the story is about Yuki and her life, we don't only get to see what happened or what is happening to her. Matsuri made sure we got a deep look around and through every important or principal character's past, also making sure not to bore us with just one character with the same problem over and over again, which was great!

Oh God, what else? Oh, right! C H A R A C T E R S! We meet a lot of different characters in this series, but even though they're different, they've got one thing in common: development. Yes, development! The way the characters grow was amazing because every single one of them changes and outgrows themselves after facing so many challenges!

On this series that consists of 14 volumes, Ishida introduces us to Kaneki Ken, a 19y/o college student who is the main character and "accidentally" ends up becoming a half-ghoul. Through the pages of these wonderful volumes, we get to see and understand the physical and psychological challenges Kaneki Ken has to go through as his life changes and as he accepts that he has no ordinary human life anymore after becoming a half-ghoul. But that's not all, we also get to meet the dark ghoul world that lives around Tokyo (and maybe the world), feeding from humans, fighting between them, or trying to have ... a normal life pretending to be humans, and running from the CCG (also known as Doves or the Commission of Counter Ghoul), who are the people specialized in hunting them down if they cause any big troubles.

I have to admit that it wasn't so easy to get into like half of the first volume since you're being introduced to everything, but after that I actually couldn't stop reading it! The way Tokyo Ghoul was constructed and developed seriously is...ah, amazing. This series makes you want more and more and more and thank God there's more because I need it and I just. . .ok, I'll calm down. . .

Anyways, here on this series, we get to meet lots of characters and see their struggles as most of them just want "a normal life". And besides meeting the dark ghoul side of Tokyo, through some of the characters, we also get to meet and know how the CCG works and the struggles their workers face everyday risking their lives trying to protect humanity from troublesome ghouls. At the end, on this series, Ishida made sure to not only entertain us or mind fuck us, he made sure to open at least one of our eyes to make us see and understand how many challenges a person can face no matter who he is or what he has done, and also a lot of serious "things" that have to deal with our inner selves, just like with Kaneki.

We also get to see how easy it is to go through the pages of each volume and perfectly understand what the heck is happening because Ishida's way of writing and developing the plot was just great! Maybe, like I said before, you might be a little lost at the beginning, but once you understand and once you're inside. . .believe me, there's no going back unless you don't like it, obviously. But anyways, the point here is that this series is pretty amazing and it needs to get out there for more people!

If you've watched the first season of the anime or heard about it, Jesus! What are you waiting for? Take my example and give it a try after being stalked by people about it! I am completely sure you won't regret it and that Ishida's writing will easily help you get his messages as you see everything Kaneki and his fellow companions have to go through on their daily life; finding and accepting themselves and so on!