Another

In class 3-3 of Yomiyama North Junior High, transfer student Kouichi Sakakibara makes his return after taking a sick leave for the first month of school. Among his new classmates, he is inexplicably drawn toward Mei Misaki—a reserved girl with an eyepatch whom he met in the hospital during his absence. But none of his classmates acknowledge her existence; they warn him not to acquaint himself with things that do not exist. Against their words of caution, Kouichi befriends Mei—soon learning of the sinister truth behind his friends' apprehension.

The ominous rumors revolve around a former student of the class 3-3. However, no one will share the full details of the grim event with Kouichi. Engrossed in the curse that plagues his class, Kouichi sets out to discover its connection to his new friend. As a series of tragedies arise around them, it is now up to Kouichi, Mei, and their classmates to unravel the eerie mystery—but doing so will come at a hefty price.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Adaptation:	Another
Prequel:	Another: The Other - Inga
Other:	Another: Misaki Mei - Shizukani

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Characters & Voice Actors

Misaki, Mei

Main

Takamori, Natsumi
Japanese

Sakakibara, Kouichi

Main

Abe, Atsushi
Japanese

Akazawa, Izumi

Supporting

Yonezawa, Madoka
Japanese

Teshigawara, Naoya

Supporting

Maeno, Tomoaki
Japanese

Mochizuki, Yuuya

Supporting

Yamamoto, Kazutomi
Japanese

Chibiki, Tatsuji

Supporting

Hirata, Hiroaki
Japanese

Fujioka, Misaki

Supporting

Sakuragi, Yukari

Supporting

Nonaka, Ai
Japanese

Mikami, Reiko

Supporting

Sakakibara, Naoko
Japanese

Kazami, Tomohiko

Supporting

Ichiki, Mitsuhiro
Japanese

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Staff

Horikawa, Kenji

Producer, Planning

Saitou, Shigeru

Producer

Itou, Yoshiyuki

Producer

Shinozaki, Fumihiko

Producer

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Opening Theme

"Kyoumu Densen (凶夢伝染)" by ALI PROJECT

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Ending Theme

"anamnesis" by Annabel

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Reviews

Jan 11, 2012

Myrmidon83

Recommended

Another was one of those series which had me waiting eagerly for Mondays to arrive and wishing that the weekend would end sooner. For twelve weeks, it was my priority above all else to watch this amazing series, and to be honest, I'm already awaiting the release of the OVA in May. If I had to say what makes it so incredible, I would cite the short series length, the clever plot with a brilliant resolution, and outstanding animation as the main contributing factors, although the promise of blood will probably be enough for most people to decide whether this show is for them or ... not. Although the violence means that this is not for the faint of heart (or weak of stomach), I would nevertheless wholeheartedly recommend watching it, as it is well worth your time.

Story- 9/10

Have you heard of Tantalus? (No, a knowledge of Greek mythology is not essential to watch Another, I am simply at my wits' end with trying to describe the story without giving anything away). Tantalus was a man condemned by the gods to eternity in the underworld, immersed to the neck in a pool of water which he could not drink from, and underneath a tree laden with fruit which he could not reach, no matter how hard he tried. Now, if this is not too swift and broad a leap, this is how the storyline of Another will make you feel; every time you seem to be tantalisingly close to the answer, a new development occurs, and you have to start all over again. This series never goes where you expect it to, but it manages this without being a particularly complicated story, which is quite an achievement. I've read and watched many mystery stories, and I have found that nothing ruins the story more than confusion caused by an overloaded storyline and a huge ensemble of characters. Here, it is simple: one tightly-written, carefully thought out storyline involving a relatively small number of characters, which proves surprisingly durable as a twelve episode series, having avoided the trap of the same cliff-hanger ending every time; they always manage to throw in a new and interesting variation. The resolution of the storyline was amazing; it managed to bring all the strands of information which we had gleaned and wrap everything up in a style which was paced exactly right; fast, but not hurried or rushed. I certainly didn't see the final twist coming- not many people did- but it was masterful. It was also the most emotional moment of the series; even those of you who have laughed like maniacs throughout the entire series will suddenly become sombre during the final five minutes. Being mindful of the strict limits on what I can actually say about its specifics, I shall merely say that it was a perfect ending to a brilliant series.

Art- 10/10

The art is simply beautiful. This might actually be quite near the top in terms of the best series I have ever seen art-wise. The characters aren't that different from any other series, but the backgrounds are amazingly well defined; they really are just bliss to watch. The art mostly depicts death, lots and lots of death, with some dismemberment and impending doom thrown in. In almost every scene, there's a sense of decay, everything looks decrepit and rusty, the buildings look deserted, and there's gratuitous use of deep, dark reds wherever possible. If it's outdoors, there are crows perched on the roofs, looking hungry. If it's indoors, like the hospital, then the lights are dim and flickering occasionally (and for the provision of information to those who have watched the hospital scenes and noticed the missing fourth floor, it's because four in Japanese is either 'shi' or 'yon', depending on the context, and 'shi' can also mean 'death', so they tend to avoid using four when numbering things, like we do with thirteen. Right, fun fact session over). The use of dolls, often missing limbs, is prevalent (whether they're scary or hilarious just depends on the viewer) and appears to have more significance to the storyline than I originally thought. And every so often, in case you haven't got the message, there's a split-second image of a blood-stained knife which is lying on the floor. I mean, what could possibly happen next? (This was intentionally ironic. For those of you who don't get irony, just assume that this means it was hilarious). To sum up, the art sets up the atmosphere perfectly.

Sound- 10/10

Of course, we can't leave out the sound, as this is key (bad musical pun; I apologise) to the aforementioned atmosphere. From the start, the music creates a sense of eeriness, from simple melodies to electronic effects and string sections. As difficult as it is to describe, I would like you to imagine a full orchestra having a psychedelic freakout (think of that section of A Day in the Life) with a hair-raising selection of electronic hums and whines added, and then multiply that by about ten. That's about what it's like (or as best as I can put it into words). The music never quite goes away, unlike in other, lighter series; it drops right down to a few notes on a piano, but still gives you the sense that something's always just about to happen. The opening has some weird and unsettling vocal melodies going on, creating tension, stress, and suspense. But after a few episodes, I'll express a preference for the ending theme; it proves that strong vocals and a few chords on a piano are more effective than the aural blitzkrieg which we are usually subjected to, and it brings a sense of peace and serenity to the end of the episode. Basically, the soundtrack works perfectly with what's on screen.

Characters- 8/10

Now, the characters; obviously, we know very little about any of them right up until the end, otherwise it wouldn't be a mystery, would it? They're all quite weird and unusual, and they're all either ruthlessly blunt or very obviously trying to avoid certain topics of conversation. As you can imagine, this makes the dialogue quite awkward. Kouichi Sakakibara, our horror story loving main character, seems to have more than half a clue what's going on, which makes a nice change from the average clueless/in denial character in the horror genre. Although it cannot be denied that he is of that genus most favoured by scriptwriters lacking inspiration, the transfer student, he does actually get some background to why he transferred. Mei Misaki develops a bit from the 'weird loner' presented in the first episode to someone who is frustrated by their situation and yet cannot change it. While near-silent and emotionless girls seem to be very common at the moment, I can promise that there is more to Mei than being a mere tribute to consumer demand. If you have watched only a few episodes, she might seem a bizarre person, but she becomes more understandable as the series progresses. Izumi Akazawa, the class representative, is blunt to the point of being rude, but is quite the deceiver and manipulator behind the scenes, as it later turns out. Reiko, who was at first glance a stereotypical 'ridiculously youthful, kind and caring female relative', turns out to have quite a temper, and appears to have a few secrets. In a sentence: don't judge them too soon.

Overall- 9/10

If you are still with me (and it's quite likely if you are indeed reading this sentence), I recommend you go and watch Another now. It's only a few hours out of your spare time and you really have nothing to lose except a night's sleep if you are easily scared. If you are going to watch it, I can recommend watching it at midnight, it's surprisingly good fun (if your idea of 'fun' is the same as mine, that is). Personally, I reckon that from a fairly dull season, Another will come to shine as easily the best new release this season, and possibly one of the better of the year.

(Author's note: I started writing reviews because decently written reviews with no spelling or grammatical errors are almost non-existent on MAL, as very few people can be bothered with such trivialities these days, and this desperately needs redressing. While many people aren't with me on this, I believe that a review is not worth reading unless it is well written, and so I have put quite a lot of effort into writing this without making it too formal or verbose, whilst avoiding flippancy, in order to inform and entertain the people in the audience who are on my wavelength. My apologies if you are not one of those people. If you do have some constructive criticism to make, PM me or just post a comment, I'm quite happy to take it under consideration when editing this. And on that note, good night!).

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Sep 15, 2012

Starisu

Not Recommended

--- Warning: Contains spoilers ---

When it comes to anime, the horror genre is a tricky one. A fatal flaw arises right from the beginning, as each person has their own definition of horror depending on how imaginative they might be. While some may immediately think of a bunch of gruesome killings, others may think of more eerie supernatural events, and the list goes on, but because of this, the genre has a high chance of failure depending on each person's perception of horror.

Unfortunately, Another just happens to fall way outside my definition of horror, and seems to fit very nicely within comedy.

But hold on a ...

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Feb 3, 2014

Seeyounextweek

Not Recommended

Notice: some spoilers will be present in this review, despite my best efforts; I've made them as vague as possible, but sorry about that anyway.

Another advertises itself as a mystery horror anime; its premise is definitely interesting and right off the bat the production values look promising. Unfortunately, the show starts to fall apart halfway through, the mystery leaves you with many, MANY questions of the wrong kind and is so serious yet so over-the-top that the "horror" tag might as well be read as "comedy".

This show is a prime example of a promising story being told in the worst manner imaginable. The beginning is ... strong, then it starts going downhill in the middle, with the last stretch being just a mess. This is mostly because of how the mystery is handled: at first, Another does a good job at being mysterious and creepy. You know something's up, yet you don't get many clues or even get thrown off the path to the truth. You (may) feel on edge, yet you have no idea why. Obviously, those are the signs of a good mystery. Unfortunately, it doesn't last - pretty much everything about the mysterious curse is revealed and explained long before the final stretch. The only detail that wasn't exposed was the curse's catalyst for that year. This is quite possibly one of the most disastrous moves I've ever seen in an anime, since from that point onwards the characters get almost nothing accomplished and are just swept along by the flow. They don't even TRY to figure out the last, most important piece of the puzzle, making a considerable part of the show very boring... at least, that's what it would've been if the death scenes weren't taken up to eleven.

Let me stop talking about the plot here for a moment to comment about the death scenes, which are probably the reason why you've heard about Another. Some are creative. Some are nasty. All of them are over-the-top, to the point where they can be hilarious. Sure, many of them serve as cheap shock value to keep the viewer interested, but I'll be damned if they didn't do their twisted, morbid little job well. As soon as the first person dies, a (maybe hidden) part of you wants to keep watching to see if there'll be an even more exaggerated and ridiculous death in the series; hell, the laws of physics seem to be altered every other moment just so this can be done.

Anyway, back to the plot. Perhaps one of the show's biggest flaws is that the supernatural elements are never properly explained. Okay, so many years ago someone popular from the class died, and ever since then that very class has been subject to a devastating curse. Why does that happen? Aside from the curse's annual catalyst, nothing is ever explained about it. It just happens. There's also an issue with dead people and memories (can't talk more about it without giving a big spoiler). Again, why does that happen and how? Never explained. Your guess is as good as mine, really, and if you want to know, mine is that the Grim Reaper has enough spare time to screw around with middle school students every year. Finally, Another also commits two writing sins that really annoy me: the first one is that, in multiple occasions, cell phones will malfunction for no reason whatsoever while characters are holding important conversations. This is a blatant diabolus ex machina and only serves to cheapen the writing. Second, at one point a character we've never seen before goes nuts. The problem is that the reason for that is lazily handwaved, making it seem like a poor excuse just to up the chaos even more. Speaking of chaos, let me ask one very simple question: why is the school still open? Over half a dozen people die there almost every year, yet the authorities never did something about it? And if that's the (really illogical) case, then why in the world are people still enrolling their kids there? This isn't a question that stems from deep thought, IT'S COMMON SENSE.

The sound department is hit-or-miss. The BGM itself is not bad; while it's sometimes effectively used to create a good, tense atmosphere, it's also misused some other times, and it's not very memorable. The OP, however, is just bad. The imagery fits, but the song feels incredibly out of place and is nothing special either. Same goes for the ED. As for the voice acting, it's... OK. Nothing amazing, yet nothing particularly bad either.

Another's greatest weakness is its characters. I don't think they even deserve to be called that - "amoebas" is more fitting, as they display the intelligence and personality of a single-celled being, and that's IF the characters in question have any "relevance" to the plot; if not, "death fodder" fits the bill quite nicely. For starters, we have the protagonist, Kouichi. When the body count starts to rise and his classmates desperately tell him to lay low before someone else dies, what does he do? Keep trying to find out what's going on. Hell, at one point he thought a doll was a REAL PERSON. And guess what? Aside from his stupidity and some stalker tendencies, there is nothing remarkable about him. Even worse is Mei, who is proof that Rei Ayanami expies get carte blanche from the anime fandom no matter what they do. Not only does she have no personality to speak of, in the last few episodes she reveals that she knew the answer to the mystery all along AND withheld a piece of very important info from everyone else. Because of some stupid, never-explained power she has. So basically, everything that happened, all the chaos, bodies and paranoia, almost all of the show, ALL OF IT probably wouldn't have happened if she OPENED HER MOUTH IN THE BEGINNING. Her reason for not revealing the truth doesn't make it any less aggravating.

The supporting cast is just as bad. Even the named ones, some of which have quite a bit of screen time, are so forgettable I don't even remember their names. The only memorable thing about them is, as usual, their lack of brains: one guy - who looks like a girl - likely has NO common sense, as he shows very delicate evidence to emotionally unstable girls; this, surprise surprise, makes them go berserk. Then there's a girl with twintails who wants to stop the calamity; there is almost always a character like this in horror/mystery movies, and she is so loyal to that common, predictable archetype that a savvy viewer will easily know everything that she will do/will happen to her before half of the anime has gone by. But worst of all is the blonde guy. While he arguably has the most "personality" out of the cast, this jackass is the group's idiot, and he EARNS the title. No, seriously, you heard me right, he accomplishes such a DIFFICULT GODDAMN FEAT with ease. His crowning moment of stupidity? Forcibly removing a tape AS IT'S PLAYING from the player to make it stop. Remember: this anime takes place in 1998, when tapes weren't the ancient forgotten technology they are today. Ladies and gentlemen, this is something else.

To make things worse, the blonde had some TOUGH competition for the title of "most brain-dead character" in this anime. You see, a little over halfway through we learn that one of the old students discovered something very important about the curse. He even made a "copy" of that knowledge for future generations. Only one problem: HE HIDES THE DAMNED THING IN AN ABANDONED SCHOOL BUILDING. The thought of handing it over to the school's staff or the police never crossed his mind? Brilliant, just brilliant. There are plenty of more characters, but really, you're not gonna care or even remember about any of them because they're pretty much just going along for the ride to the slaughterhouse.

If there's something that nobody can deny about Another, is that it looks good. The animation is very nice and fluid, with some obvious bumps in quality during the death scenes. The backgrounds have a great amount of detail, being sometimes nothing short of gorgeous. The lighting is good as well, which is great for creating the ideal atmosphere for each situation, something crucial for horror works. It's a shame, really; the anime didn't deserve this quality.

In conclusion, Another is a mess. It may be pretty, morbidly entertaining and have a strong, interesting beginning, but it is unfortunately plagued with bad, forgettable characters, a terribly mishandled mystery, half-hearted or straight up missing explanations and many other writing flaws. It serves as a great example for what not to do in the mystery horror genre, and I wouldn't recommend it - unless you like tearing apart bad works of fiction as you're watching them or find over-the-top deaths to be hilarious.

Thank you for reading this review.

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Spin-off Novel of 'Another' Announced

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Sentai Filmworks Licenses Another

According to their official press release, Sentai Filmworks has licensed the 12 episode TV anime Another. Another is being simulcasted on Crunchyroll as it airs. Sen...read more

Jan 16, 2012 4:43 PM by Naruleach | Discuss (29 comments)

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