Another

"Another" is a series that I really wanted to like. The initial premise whilst unoriginal was somewhat promising, but somehow it never quite managed to move away from that initial premise - to the point that it never actually went anywhere.

Here's the problem I have with "Another": the entire series is about unraveling a murder mystery but for the greatest part of the series no unraveling is done. Almost every conversation goes over the topic of mystery, but never is there anything developed. It's frustrating filler which has no right to be there.

The fact that conversations continuously retread the same subject matter ... also means that the characters are not given any development of their own - in 10 episodes there has only ever been scant development. It doesn't help that the characters are all cookie cutter clones from other series: the main character Kouichi Sakakibara is a sort of weak recreation of Keichi Maebara, but shorn of all personality; Mei Misaki is simply the typical Rei clone who mumbles something every now and then; none of the other characters are of any consequence whatsoever throughout the series - they are so mind numbingly dull and hastily introduced that you won't care when they die.

Speaking of the deaths in this series, they are all so ridiculous that they are hilarious. Accidentally self-impaling on an umbrella early on is the least silly death (I could go on but I don't want to spoil it for people who are genuinely interested in seeing them). The deaths are entirely gratuitous, so if you're looking for 'edgy' grimdark this may appeal to you.

The artwork for the series is excellent for the most part: backgrounds are lavishly drawn, characters are nicely detailed and animated. It's about the only saving grace this series has, though there were a few instances where NOPE necks were evident, and there is the broader problem that the visual style borrows liberally from Higurashi (which, incedentally I would recommend instead to anyone considering watching this).

The audio work for the series was... mixed. The OP theme by Ali Project is simply terrible, completely out of setting for such a series; the OST was very nicely composed, however it was extremely poorly inserted into the series itself - often score pieces seemed completely out of place, a prime example being when characters are sitting idly in a car whilst a suspense cue plays... but nothing happens. It's entirely out of keeping, however I would recommend people look up the OST when it gets released whereupon it may be better appreciated.

Overall I'd give this 5/10. It's a shame to do so, but ultimately the series is let down by an extremely weak story and a weak set of characters who undergo no development.

This is going to be short and sweet. While I am a huge fan of Noizi Itou's artwork and character design in general, I must admit the end of this series was a huge let down. I was, naturally, captivated by the visceral and beautifully displayed fates with which the characters met and was immediately entranced by the lure of a ghost story. However, there were many plot "twists" hinted at through out the story, most of which seemed lazily unfinished. It almost made me feel that the authors had really no concrete plot line to begin with, and hoped the masses would be entranced ... with the gore and yangire enough to not really remember the last plot point left unexplained. In my humble opinion, there was a huge chunk of the story left completely unresolved, and they tried to make Mei out to be a more bad-ass character than she wound up being at all. Ultimately, it left a very unsavory taste in my mouth and is not something I would recommend. This is a very unpleasant thing for me to have to write, as I am a huge fan of the character design artist as well as the horror genre. I can only hope for another media installment in the series that will perhaps answer my MANY burning questions.

What is considered a horror and what is considered a thriller? This is a subject that can confuse many, much like the difference between plot and story; the topic of whether or not something is a thriller or horror is a concept that most people have vague knowledge of, yet people often use incorrectly. The question to ask now is which does Another fall under?

Let's begin by discussing horror versus thriller. Horror, essentially, is based off of basic, scenic brutality; it is typically filled with blood, gore, and 'creative' methods in which people die gruesome deaths. Think of common horror flicks like Halloween, Nightmare ... on Elm Street, or in reference to anime, Corpse Party. What is considered a thriller then? Thrillers tend to tap into the audience psychologically and build suspense based on anticipation, often scaring viewers without resorting to blood and guts; think Paranormal Activity, Silence of the Lambs, or The Sixth Sense. While deaths (when they happen) can be fairly gruesome, most of the anime has a more slow-paced, suspenseful atmosphere; there is a certain lingering feeling of lurking malice that is presented through an eerie environment and the ambiguity surrounding the mystery of Class 3. While peoples' view on what they define as horror and thriller differ based on their tolerance of what is perceived as ‘scary’ to them, Another should be considered a thriller.

Story-wise, Another is pretty interesting in the sense of being mysterious. It delves into a very ambiguous semblance and piece by piece slightly becomes clearer. There aren't many good thriller anime out there, but Another did a great job at keeping a suspenseful mood. However, thriller elements aren't enough to carry a lacking plot direction and story. Like many plot twists in anime, if you watch closely and follow the dialogue events become predictable. The entirety of the series doesn't stay coherent and by the end of the series you’ll end up angered by how disrespectful the ending is to your intelligence.

The art/animation and overall scenery of Another positively adds to the creepy, mysterious atmosphere of the show. The art and animation look good and are consistent, which is really what matters most. What's exceptional about Another is the fact that everything is utilized to create the mood; whether it be the weather, objects, or the school/environment itself, each plays their own role in building suspense and spook factor. Sound-wise, Another is decent. I liked the OP and the ED was fair.

The characters of Another are a strange group of people as a whole. I don't think there is a single normal character in this whole entire show. However, the abnormality in these characters goes hand-in-hand with the abnormality of the show. Since Another is supposed to be of the Supernatural genre, it makes sense that many things don’t always fall into the realm of logical reasoning. This also applies to the attitudes, mental being, and personalities of the characters. Characters seemed fairly bland and lacking of genuine human qualities. People tragically die in front of the main male lead and he doesn’t seem to be bothered in the slightest. It begs to question whether or not the characters are actually humans or simply moving corpses. I suppose asking for realistic reactions in a fictitious thriller story are a bit far-fetched on my behalf, but there is definitely something more to be desired.

It's tough to say whether or not I enjoyed Another. While being a somewhat entertaining thriller for the majority of the series, Another also has a horrible ending. Essentially, it takes all the suspense and build up from the first ten episodes and throws it out the window. I’m not sure why the direction steered towards a ‘Final Desination’ type of ending or why it chose to disregard its thriller base and transition into horror, but it certainly left a sour aftertaste.

-No spoilers are contained within this review-

Story (6/10)
When I first got a grasp on the story in Another I was slightly surprised. I started to watch this show with expectations of a cliché storyline, where the “surprises” could be seen from a mile away. The story in fact is something very different than what I would expect. Another takes the form of a “slice of life” show at the very beginning and evolves from then on into a thriller. The whole of the story follows a character named Kouichi Sakakibara after he transfers to a new high school. As he begins adjusting to his new ... surroundings he notices a girl in his class named Mei Misaki. Mei (for reasons unknown) has been ostracized by the rest of the class so Kouichi, being a nice and friendly guy, starts talking to her and befriends her. Once strange accidents and calamities start befalling the classmates Kouichi takes it upon himself to find out what is going on. This story setting is something that I have never run into before, so, naturally, it caught my interest. Even though the storyline was unique it unfortunately seemed to be lacking. Exposition about the plot is very dry and sometimes hard to understand. The main character’s investigation pretty much consists of sitting in the school library and sifting through old yearbooks. Seriously? I had to take points off for that. Where the story really shines is the situations. Many characters will find themselves time and again in very strenuous or perilous circumstances, all of which come out of the blue and give the watcher a very strong sense of suspense. This was what kept me going, and honestly what saves the show in my opinion. I will not spoil anything but I have to say that these parts are extremely well done and had me on the edge of my seat.

Animation (5/10)
The one thing that makes a thriller movie good is the atmosphere and on this section I have mixed feelings. The characters are drawn well enough and the animation quality fits together, but there is one issue. The key to scaring the audience is getting them immersed into the story, making them more susceptible to fear, but there are parts where immersion is broken. For instance near the ending (no spoilers) there is a scene in which a fire breaks out. One huge immersion breaker for me is the animation of the flames. To be blunt it’s extremely bad. Honestly it looks like something out of an old Playstation game. To have something look so poor at the climax of the show is a huge mistake. To be honest I made the effort to try to ignore it so that the experience wouldn’t be ruined. Other than that the animation is fine. The atmosphere is done effectively enough to tell the story with little interruption.

Sound (8/10)
I’m sure people who watch thrillers know that sound plays a crucial role in completing the atmosphere. In the case of Another they pull it off very well. The music is downright creepy, silence is used correctly, and the OP sets the tone for the show. I found that when the atmosphere was lacking or part of the animation was “hiccuping” that the music and sounds would be enough to keep me involved.

Characters (5/10)
This one is hard for me to admit, but the characters aren’t really well done. They are very average, bland, and plain cookie cutter. That being said, they still fulfill their roles as characters. I never found myself attached to the two main characters, as I should have been. Let’s just leave it as this. There was nothing outstanding about them. There was enough to make me scared and interested but overall they leave something to be desired.

Enjoyment (8/10)
This show is like junk food. You know it’s bad, the ingredients are not up to par, but there’s just something about it that you like. Apart from all of the faults mentioned above I still really enjoyed this show. There were a few parts that tested my patience and/or bored me, but they were brief enough that I still continued I think it was worth sticking out. Nothing about this show will astound you, make you think, or leave you breathless, but regardless it can still scare you. Everything comes together just enough so that the ride is still a lot of fun, and for me that’s worth something.

Overall (6.4/10)
Like I said before. This show is junk food. Not to say that it’s total garbage. It is not all that well done but proved to be an entertaining and fun ride. Apart from its lackluster appearance and somewhat shaky atmosphere Another still freaked me out and gave me a good time. If you like thrillers that are gruesome and creepy, but you’re not looking for something to overanalyze or study, this is a good two-dimensional product that may be worth your while. Even though it was slightly forgettable I had a good time and, if you pick it up, I hope you do too.

Overview:

Since I have been on a horror anime binge lately, I may as well review the ever popular series "Another". This is a series that despite its popularity, is quite divisive in terms of critical rating. I will attempt to take a fair and objective look at it and separate the actual flaws from the popularity-backlash.

I'm going to get this out of the way early. The plot of Another isn't very good. Not only is it absurd in its premise and character actions, but it doesn't even feel creative or like it works within its own constructed world. The basic plot and mechanics that drive ... the show are VERY clearly borrowed from the shitty Final Destination movies. Another doesn't even try to cover this up. It is amazing to me that the Newline Cinema hasn't tried to sue Another for plagiarism. A curse causes character after character to die from wildly unlikely "Rube Goldberg" deaths in which object A bumps into object B, causing object C to fall down and spring object D into the air, ultimately concluding in a piano being dropped on a character's head and crushing them in gory fashion. In defense of Another, many horror classics don't actually have very good plots. Was "Nightmare on Elmstreet" a literary masterpiece? Hell No! Another can take refuge in the fact that it is clearly a horror series and horror is about generating scares regardless of logic or realism. A drama play like the works of Tennessee Williams should have a strong level of realism and complex characters, but a horror is unbound by such constraints and Another's shitty plot is therefore excusable.


Another has been criticized as one of those mystery series that "cheats" ,so not enough is revealed to the audience in order to give them a fair chance of solving the mystery in its entirety. I will say that this is a fair criticism, for Another does indeed cheat in that regard. However, that doesn't automatically make it bad. Many of the great mystery novels including the many short stories and novels of Sherlock Holmes refuse to play fair and withhold vital information from the audience. Yet the characters, prose, and enjoyability of the plot made that flaw forgivable. Keep in mind that I'm NOT trying to compare the quality of Another to Sherlock Holmes. I'm just saying that a mystery story refusing to play fair doesn't automatically make it bad and this criticism could be seen as a tad unfair towards Another.

One thing Another does well is that it actually DOES have a solid soundtrack that helps give it a creepy atmosphere. Unfortunately, the series often spoils this atmosphere with cheap jump scares, but unlike some other horror anime, Another does at times seem to sort of know what its doing. The art is also excellent! Both the character art, background art, and animation are the highlight of the series. I also love the sharp color contrast between the blood and everything else. Perhaps an homage to the cheesy, Hammer Horror films from the 1950s and 1960s? In summary, Another has a strong soundtrack, excellent animation, and at least SOMETIMES it tries to build appropriate horror atmosphere.

TLDR:

Another is a far cry from being a horror masterpiece that will scare the pants off you, but it isn't actually quite as bad as some critics make it out to be. Another actually DOES do some things right and although it has a weak plot and borrows far too much from Final Destination, it is a competently made series overall.

What do we have in Another? Leads in their early teens, small remote village, a mysterious curse caused by even more mysterious death; seemingly a perfect combination for a horror anime. Nothing can go wrong, right? Well, unless you overcomplicated stuff for no reason, make ridiculous and predictable deaths and in the end solve and explain nothing, it should work out right. I just wish someone told this to the staff.

Story: 6/10
A boy, Sakakibara Kouichi, comes into Hinamizawa… *cough* no… wait.. Yomiyama for the first time and right away he is greeted by a very mysterious group of his classmates, acting as if they were ... hiding a dead body in a closet, with one of them asking if he hadn’t been there before. Of course he didn’t… or did he? As if it wasn’t enough, on his first school day he meets a girl that is seemingly ignored by everyone… or is she unseen? He then learns about a curse that causes a mysterious and improbable (read: ridiculous) death every month and repeats every year. This is because there is one person in the class that shouldn’t be there and is already dead (memories of the said person and everyone around are modified so no one knows anything).
While this show had a LOT of promise and I genuinely loved it first few episodes, the plot slowly succumbed into a blood bath… by the end quite literally. Everything got messed up, the curse or how it started never got properly explained or, heaven forbid, permanently stopped, a certain character that could have ended it all within an episode pretended they knew nothing and let everyone die simply because. This is a perfect example of how NOT to do a mystery horror. One of the good points was that from the very beginning we were given hints about the dead person over and over.

Art: 8/10
There was very little wrong with the art or design. It was interesting, it was fluent, maybe slightly unfitting for this kind of anime but that’s about it.

Sound: 7/10
Opening was very good, although some people complain about it. Sound itself in anime managed to bring the atmosphere but it wasn’t anything worth listening to on its own.

Characters: 5/10
This is the second thing this anime could have done perfectly, yet it showed us how perfectly they could mess it up. Kouichi is a very good character, slightly boring but realistic. Misaki Mei turns from a mysterious plot drive to a moe fanservice into a spineless idiot (that is, of course, never addressed within the series). The rest of the cast is there just for filling empty space, no one really memorable or extremely well done and definitely no one with a character development (turning into an insane murderer doesn’t count). Actually, at the end even Kouichi acts as if nothing happened so I’m not even sure if there is ANY character development at all.

Enjoyment: 5/10
As much as I loved the plot and characters at the beginning I hated them at the end. Many character made unreasonable decisions that were only explained by “it’s the curse” including the leads. Charm of moe characters escapes me, so the fanservice was a waste of time for me. But it still had a very good start so it wasn’t completely horrible.

Overall: 6/10
This is a perfect example of series that gradually get worse and manage to completely float away from its genre. During the last few episodes, the only mystery there is, is that you didn’t know how people are going to die until about 3 minutes before their death. The curse was turned into a villainous deus ex machina that could control people’s mind. No kidding. Not to mention that the end is as conclusive as would packing stuff and running away be (if the curse doesn’t catch you, of course).

As an avid horror fan, I am a sucker for horror anime when done right.The world of anime has not really seen a good horror one since the Higurashi series.
So, when I first heard of Another getting an anime series, I had really high expectations from it.
So, quitting all the blahblah's, here goes my review~
Another starts with the male protagonist, Kouichi Sakahibara, coming to the dreaded class 3, in the summer of 1998. Soon he grows suspicious of the fearful atmosphere and the fact that his classmates are hiding something from him. Meanwhile, he ... finds a beautiful and lonely girl named Mei Misaki and learns the fact that she might have something to do with the mysterious deaths occuring to the students of class 3 each year.
Plot- 5/10...The story is somewhat unique, however flawed. A lot is left unexplained, like how does the dead one really come every year? How can Mei see death if her eye is just that of a doll? Also, towards the end, it basically becomes a boring survival bloodfest.

Characters- 4/10...arguably the weakest part of the show. Another has a large set of characters, and so no one gets the time to develop much over 12 episodes. A couple more episodes just to flesh out the side characters would have made it more enjoyable.The standout part was the budding relationship between the two main characters, which was nicely done. Misaki's backstory gives the character some depth, but Kouichi was really the weak link. Often stoic and bland, in the final episode he was basically talking in phone calmly being surrounded by fire, which doesn't make much sense.

Animation- 8.5/10....the strongest part of the show. Nicely drawn characters makes the gory scenes a tad easier to watch.

Soundtrack- 5/10....meh, nothing really to talk about this, was average at best.

Overall- 5/10....Another fails miserably as a horror series.At certain points, it tries too hard to scare the audience, by showing random images of dolls and using a scary soundtrack. The death scenes, though gory, are really laughable (not to mention most of the deaths are of piercing something through the neck).
However, it succeeds in the mystery part, and with a decent plot twist, keeps you right on the edge. Also, the side characters were interesting, a fact non existent in most other anime.The ending is decent enough and gives the series a proper closure.
So, despite its flaws, and the fact that it should have had more episodes, you will enjoy this anime if you like good,old fashioned mystery elements. However, if you go into this anime for the chills, you may feel disappointed to some extent.

Another（アナザー）is some kind of psychological/supernatural horror anime that has some scares here and there and a really, really, actually really bad OP. No, seriously, what the hell is that opening? It’s scarier than the whole concept of the anime. But anyway, let’s begin with the story concept. By the way, I’ll try my best to hinder spoilers.

Story Concept

Somewhere in Japan, we have a little town in the middle of nowhere called Yomiyama（夜見山）which is your plain, rural town. Then we have the protagonist, Sakakibara Kouichi（榊原恒一）, which is a guy with a disease called pneumothorax, which is why he goes to Yomiyama. Or maybe he went because ... his father was working in a research in India…? Well whatever it is, it’s not actually the focus of the series (I think). The thing is, he’s transferred to a Middle School in Yomiyama, and that’s where the story actually begins. The issue with the classroom that he gets transferred to is, it’s a cursed classroom. Meaning, real gruesome deaths of adolescents because of the curse. Anyway, we also have Misaki Mei（見崎鳴）, a heroine loli that has deep meaning in the story. And she has an eye-patch. There are also a whole cast of classmates, their relatives and the protagonists’ relatives, but of course I won’t name all of them. Specially because they are not that important anyway.

Now then, the concept of a cursed classroom would not be bad, until the moment you notice that it makes no sense to have a dozens of deaths of children (and their relatives) from the same classroom and nobody actually giving a crap. Well that’s what happens on Another. For some reason, every death goes unnoticed by everyone besides the characters of the story, as if it’s a given that, if you are in a cursed classroom and you might die, you have to keep on that classroom. Couldn’t the school just close down and the students go live in Another city? Noticed the lame pun?

What I’m trying to say is, the anime itself states that you the curse only affects those in the perimeter of the town, so yes it would be completely okay to blow up the whole school building. It can’t be that it’s the sole school in the whole town. But then, maybe I’m misunderstanding the concept of the curse, and it would actually pass on to the next classroom/next school building. Whatever is the “rules” of that game, it feels stupid anyway when you have a dozens of children and 3, 4 adults in a situation of life and death every god damned year and still no one in the rest of the city ever realizes or helps. It’s as if it’s a secret. Now that’s something I take my hat off for Shiki; even being the slightly rushed adaptation that it was, it had that awesome moment when the villagers finally realized and accepted the truth of what was happening, and reacted to it. In a gruesome manner. Anyway on to the next part.

Art Concept

It’s anime, so I believe it goes without saying how the characters’ art concept is. And yes, sometimes the art gets really bad, and you can easily spot deformed characters in the background. Or maybe it was intentional for the freaky effect?

The scenarios are okay, actually. I’m no art specialist and I actually don’t have much of an opinion, but I don’t remember backgrounds being bad.

On a fast note (since I’ll be talking about this on a special part), the deaths have no censoring as far as I recall, so yea lots of blood on your screen… Sometimes a bit too much. Not that this is a bad thing, of course.

Audio Concept

I am, once again, no specialist in this audio thingy, but I can tell you that, being death as the nature of the anime, it has really dull and unimpressive BGMs throughout the whole time, except when someone’s dying. Usually you get a really drastic change of music, which may or may not scare you (mostly for it’s 140% increase in volume), and that music is usually fitting for the death scene. Wait, I like the ring “Death Scene” has. From now on I’ll be referring to the deaths as Death Scenes.

Death Scene Concept

Let’s be frank out of the bat. Most of the Death Scenes are ridiculous, not to say obvious. I mean, the protagonist talks to a girl that has no name (or at least is not important at all, because I don’t remember it) beside a truck with a big window glass on it… Oh, don’t forget the glass was not fastened on anything. Yep, the moment you see it, you’ll immediately notice a Death Scene is coming― except it had no death! What a combo breaker, for a series that kills a character per episode.

Death Scenes, besides being quite weird and ridiculous, are also forcibly gruesome. In most Death Scenes, the dying character will agonize and agonize, and you don’t know if you should smirk at the silliness or be horrified at the fact the Death Scenes are actually well-looking (as in, good art) while the plain scenes are not. Well, I just generalized. Like I said in the Art Concept part, it’s not a bad-looking anime. It just suffers the same problem as every other anime: low budget. So they pay more in the Death Scenes, and less in the other scenes. Happens all the time. Anyway off to the next section.

Living Zombies in the (Burning) Cursed Inn!! (some spoilers here, you’ve been warned)

…Yea I just wanted to go for a weird name. Truth be told, most of Another was the horror of “dying at any time, being hopeless before death”, which might also be the sole redemption of the show itself. But then, because of story details I can’t spoil, you get a whole classroom of students walking like zombies (not in the literal sense) around the inn, trying to kill you with brooms and… whatever happens to be in their hands. Of course I understand the purpose was to show what a human being can do when facing imminent death but… please, could you walk like you actually want to kill? Felt really preposterous when dozens of students started to close in around the protagonists like zombies. Or maybe I’m just out of the loop and zombies are really fast? I haven’t really played any new zombie games after Resident Evil 4 (lol quite some time, I know).
And then, on the very last episode, we get the epitome of nonsensical happenings and a exploding inn. By the way does that inn have gasoline inside it's walls or something? I can't see Another way (Another pun!) to have it so explosive. Even the lightnings were overboard, and in the very end I expected more of a drama than what we get. To be honest, there's not much to say about the last episode; it's just weird. Well, I've seen worse, and I'm sure everyone did, too, but that doesn't mean I should just say it's fabulous. Because it wasn't.

Conclusion

This anime doesn’t deserve more than 6/10. It does have it’s ups and downs, but it quite lost it's way twisting around the mystical and the horror, and in the end I would've been happier if the protagonist went Chris Reddfield mode and shoot everyone in the head while running around the explosive mansion with his girl. Oh yea that would've been one awesome ending. Nothing like sarcasm to finish a review. :P

The word 'horror' has seemed to lose its former punch in modern media. Movies dubbed 'horror' barely get your heart pumping and video games use the same kind of technique, creating a 'been there, done that' kind of feel. Of course, anime is not free of this curse, as one of the most talked about shows in my anime community, Another, suffers from this ailment as well. This is a review about the horror anime of Another.

The story of Another is of standard horror quality. There's curse relating to the death of a girl a long time ago. Anyone who talks about will suffer ... the consequences and the curse is centered around a certain high-school class. The plot is divided up into what I like to call 'Flow' and 'Burst'.

Flow sequences involve Sakakibara, the protagonist, a girl named Misaki and their pals trying to discover the secret of the curse and how to stop it. These sequences are decent, with some scenes being noteworthy and others feeling like filler. These filler segments, such as the necessary swimsuit/beach scene, do not really add anything to the story in terms of quality and felt like a waste of space.

Burst scenes, on the other hand, occur after these Flow scenes. They use the tension created during the Flow to then shock the viewer with a gruesome event. However, while these scenes can be bloody, they are also quite predictable, taking out substantial shock value. Anyone paying attention can easily pick out who's going to get hit by the curse next and their demises, while creative, don't make my heart stop. Furthermore, as I will address later, the flimsy characters make their demises feel shallow. I must say though that the final episodes were able to successfully capture the chaos of people desperate to survive, much to my surprise, finally delivering on the pulse-pounding suspense the rest of the series promised. The very last scenes though, stop that moment in its tracks.
STORY: 6/10

The animations and art are quite high quality. The character designs are standard anime fare, with the red-haired girl with a dash of spunk, the black haired, eye-patch silent girl and the hapless new transfer student being the main characters. While the characters looked clean, with the exception of the Old Librarian, Chibiki, none of them had any defining features that make them unique from any other anime. The enviroments of the series were mixed as well. The hospital and doll shop are places horror fans have seen before, but the old mansion in the final episodes was great setting. Furthermore, there is so much action in the final episodes that, for a split second, it seems like a thriller, not just a normal horror anime. It marks a stark contrast in tone from the rest of series, with slow moving dialogue scenes with the occasional twist thrown in being the norm.
ART: 7/10

Another has a catchy opening, but it doesn't go with the anime. The ending is good and fits the mood. The BGM doesn't do anything special and the voice acting is standard. I only listened to the sub, so I can't judge the dub.
SOUND: 6/10

The characters of this series are one of the biggest pitfalls. Sakakibara is a very passive protagonist, not really instigating the typical chaos that comes from the new guy asking questions. He does not really develop, instead simply getting blown like a leaf from scene to scene. Misaki is probably the one who gets the most development, but she doesn't do much with it. At times it can be hard looking past the 'injured Ayanami' look that goes with most eye-patch silent girls. As the viewer learns more about her, they can piece together her past, but due to her cliche, distant personality, she never really makes her self unique for her archetype. Akazawa, the red-haired chief of countermeasures, does a decent job of keeping the class together, being one of the more well rounded of the classmates. However, most of other students are just foils for the other characters, very rarely going past their first impressions. The adults in the series also aren't very memorable, with the exception of Chibiki, the old librarian. He doesn't speak much, but he is a key player in discovering the secret to the curse. Whenever he was on screen, his sense of maturity was a breath of fresh air. As a whole, the characters don't do anything special, but a few decent exceptions bring so life to the cast.
CHARACTERS:6/10

Due to the unimaginative characters and the plot that relies on them, episodes proceeded at an uneven pace. Sometimes, an episode would end without going anywhere, while another would drag before ending with a Burst sequence, enticing me to watch more. Another can keep you coming back for more, but it got to the point where I just watched it to say I finished it. The ending was not worth the journey, but the last episodes that I keep mentioning are certainly ones to be remembered. It took a while to pick up steam, but when it delivered, it delivered nicely.
ENJOYMENT: 6/10

Overall, this anime was one with a decent plot weighed down by cliche characters, nice albeit somewhat boring art and an average soundtrack.

If this what's on the minds of horror fans nowadays, all I can say is that it'd be better to spend your time on another anime...

Ok, another anime that people will hate me for bashing on, Like my angel beats review, please don't be mad at me, this is just my personal opinion on the anime. If you need to post a comment, do so, I would be happy to explain further.

Story (8/10): The story of Another revolves around a boy by the name of Kouichi who gets transferred into a school far away from home. Upon attending the school, he notices a girl with an eyepatch that sits in the back, that no one seems to notice... From this, Another seems like one ... of those animes that people HAVE to watch. And, I'll agree. Another is a very strange mystery anime surrounding the idea that some sort of 'force' is affecting this very class. However, there are a few key points that make down the story from a 10/10. For starters, they reveal pretty much the whole mystery in episode 5, shifting the whole idea of the anime in a different direction which is pretty disappointing considering how hooked I was from the beginning. Because they spoil it so early on, the anime just felt really bland, but there was still a mystery aspect, so I'll give it that.

Characters (6/10): First is Kouichi. As the main protagonist of the story, he...has nothing going for him. He's pretty damn bland. In fact, I could go as far as to say that he has zero actual personality. Coupled with the fact that he doesn't take ANY initiative to solve the mystery, like all the other students, he is probably by far one of the worst characters I have seen in this anime. Next, is Mei Misaki. Mei is the complete opposite of Kouichi. Mei has an actual purpose in this anime and plays a very big part altogether. Though she basically has the same personality as pretty much every other character in this anime, it's supposed to be in her character. Which makes her the most fitting in this anime rather then anyone else and makes her the possible favorite of everyone. The rest of the cast deserves no special mention due to the fact that they're pretty much the same in terms of character and I see no point discussing characters in which they have a very minimal role in.

Art and Sound (7/10): For the art, the anime is very into the darker color scheme where everything is gloomy, and every ray of light is consumed and destroyed. Because of the "gloomy" atmosphere, it's supposed to make the anime darker then it really should be. I'm not saying it's bad, but, come on. At least shed some light on the situation. Although, not gonna lie, the art is great and very well detailed. For the sound, the voice acting is so expressionless and monotone for the most part, that it just seems so boring to watch. The only real emotion they show is when someone is dying, and well, I have to say the blood-curdling screams are pretty damn good. The OP and ED are good as the OP has a dramatic feel as well as a sort of sadistic one as well. Although, it did sound a bit strange to me though. The ED has a very somber and piano background which is actually pretty calming. As if they were trying to keep the audience sane by what they just watched. Though the music is good, it felt pretty out of place, seeing as how they don't really fit with the anime's feel in any way.

Personal Enjoyment (6/10): If you've watched South Park, then you'll know who Kenny is. Everyone in this anime is f***ing Kenny. The one thing that pissed me off the most in the anime, was the random deaths that were occurring at the end. Rather then feel sad, I laughed. They were so ridiculous and out of place, that I couldn't do anything else. Another thing (see what I did there?) was the fact that the anime felt really boring. Everyone was talking in a depressing tone, which resulted in a really monotone environment, and I felt really unmotivated to continue. Granted, I did finish the series and somehow inclined to continue watching to the next episode. The anime's ending also felt really dumb considering how anticlimactic it was and the fact that it just, ends, without a second word or anything. In all seriousness, Another was really ok, and not the best thing to watch. But, this is my personal opinion and, like I said at the beginning of this review, I would be happy to discuss more on my opinion on this anime if you feel as though it should get a higher rating then it does.

Don't read any further if you dont like minor spoilers.

Rating this a 6 instead of a 5 for the epic umbrella KO.

Have you seen the movie "Final Destination" ?
Well great, you've pretty much already seen this show.

I think the main character must have t mobile because his cell phone cuts out every fucking episode, conveniently at the most important times.

Also, these kids got balls of steel, they see people die all the time and dont give a single fuck, after someone gets brutally killed right in front of them they dont even bat an eye, not to mention they are like 14.

Horror, like any other genre, is rather subjective. While some are thrilled and excited by fear, others become truly frightened and even repulsed. Unfortunately, I was among those who were actually quite scared after watching Another, thus lowering my enjoyment considerably.

Therefore, it will be rather difficult for me to review this series fairly. I'd like to point out that, for me personally, the quality of the plot and story have little to do with the overall emotional impact.

So, with that in mind, let's get started.

A regular kid moves from the city to a small town to live with his aunt and grandparents. He meets ... a mysterious girl with an eye patch at the hospital, where he was recovering from a lung condition. The girl ends up at his new school, where a lot of strange things happen due to an accident involving a popular student's death many years ago. And from there, the story progresses through numerous horrific, gory twists and turns, finally arriving at a (rather anticlimactic) conclusion.

Honestly, Another starts out as very interesting mystery coupled with horror elements. The first few episodes, while slow, were actually very good. But I distinctly remember the exact point at which I became sorely disappointed with the direction of the plot. What could have been a thrilling supernatural mystery/horror simply became Final Destination with some loose semblance of a plot. And that plot became so riddled with holes by the end that I really thought the creators were trolling us in the last few episodes.

Yes, I know that Another is a light novel, and I'm sure the light novel was well written enough to even get an anime adaptation in the first place. However, I did not enjoy the way the anime version was directed. Another had a solid premise to build upon, but the creators simply did not deliver. Most of the deaths were extremely contrived and sometimes downright silly. If Another did not take itself as seriously as it did, then much of it would have been a whole lot less ridiculous.

One thing I will give to Another's storytelling is it's ability to freak people out. If you're used to gory horror elements, then this will be pretty tame to you. But for someone like me, who usually dislikes horror and is scared easily, the creepy and often horrifically shocking atmosphere of Another will surely keep you up at night.

I won't reveal too much about the plot, because in all honesty most people high enjoyed it. If you are intrigued by cheap mysteries and overly creative deaths, then you will have no problem enjoying Another's story. However, if you are looking for something more solid and meaningful, then you will dislike Another's story as I did.

The characters were a big part of the problem as well. Most of them lacked common sense, and although this is normal in the horror genre, I expected anime of all mediums to be more creative and get it right every once in a while. Unfortunately, this did not happen, and many of the characters ended up being shallow, creepy, and generally unlikable.

The art and music were all of top-notch quality, so there's not much to say there. The only problem I had was that all the characters looked bland and emotionless, but I suppose that was part of the creepy atmosphere Another was trying to create. I also thought the music sometimes gave away the scene before the scene could unfold, so it tended to lessen the mystery a little. But overall, Another's aesthetic qualities were all very good.

Overall, I can't say I enjoyed Another very much. I'll give it props for good music, great art, and the ability to give me nightmares, but there were simply too many plotholes and unsatisfying characters for me to fully enjoy this. If the plot had been more solid, and certain story elements changed, then Another would have gotten a much higher rating.

But as it is...6/10.

This is my first review so bare with me. No I don't average out the scores, its how I do things. :P

Another tried its hardest to be good, but it wasn't.

The Story.
I give it a 6. 5 for how well the plot was and 1 for effort. The story is about some curse that happens in class 3 and it starts up again with Sakakibara arrives in May. Now, this anime tries to be so suspensful, mysterious and horror-ish. This plot would of been a lot better if there was a deeper meaning to the curse, which there wasn't. They dragged the plot ... on for so long. No, 12 episodes isn't that long, but with the ending, it really is just a dragged on plointless story. I love Horror and Mystery as well, but this just did not seem to live up to the standards. The twists the anime tried to do, didn't really twist anything. I just think the story was poorly crafted and not well layed out.

Art.
I think the art was just amazing. 9. Probably the only good thing about the anime, besides sound.

Sound
7. I liked the sounds and music of the anime, but I generally don't pay attention to the sound a lot, so I could be off. :P

Character
3.
This. Had to be the worst. Sure. Its supposed to be mysterious not knowing about the characters, but the characters seemed bland, there was NO character development and you didn't learn anything about anyone except two characters, one not being relevant to the story at all, except them trying to confuse you, if that was the point. I could be sounding like a complete dumbass right now, but I just think its dumb that the characters were so poorly crafted and not fun. By not fun I mean not interactive, by that I mean not used in the story at all. All the other characters but 3 or 4 were just there to be there for Class 3.

Enjoyment
6.
I did enjoy this anime enough to finish it, which the fact that its overall is really low, is odd since I don't like to watch anime this bad. :/ I'm not going to go into full details why i enjoyed it this little or to much since its pointless since everyone enjoys different things.

Overall
5.
Nuff' said.

I know that this anime is pretty old already, with some years but i just watched it a couple of months ago.


So, i gave just a 5 to this anime because this show in my point of view get's se lost in the middle that it's no longer Another, we can call it anything else except Another.


Another was a nice show, with a nice story and the transitions between scenes were great (the dolls stuff) but, that just happens during the first part .. then it is totally forgotten.


There is no development at all .. we do have some in ... the two main characthers but that's not enough !

The story itself got so low when they explained what Misaki Mei really was. I think in the first 3 episodes, they made us belive that a great story with a great end was coming .. after this episode it just gets worst until the final episode wich for me doesn´t make any sense. In the first 6 episodes, we had a creepy and spooky show with a lot of interesting stuff to explain (Like Misaki's Mei green eye) or all the dolls of that store .. they fogot all of that and focused on a crappy gore style and action story .. so i don´t recomend whatch this anime .. i got really disapointed with this show.

Strong start - builds atmosphere, especially with the "mystery student"
Has many properly creepy moments - some of the disturbing scenes are well done and do not feel rushed.
Music has some pleasant moments

Characters are bland, uninteresting
Later on the series changes into Japanese version of "Final Destination"
Completed the series just to learn the identity of the "mystery student" and thats it.

The biggest issue ( mildly spoilerish - without revealing the "mystery student" )
The ending - the main plot, the big question is revealed without any impact, without any drama - Misaki apparently knew for a long time who it was but did not say anything to prolong ... the series.
Without spoiling I had a big issue even with the identity of the "mystery student"

Okay, let me start this review off by saying, I love horror. I live off of it. I really wanted to like Another. It just seemed like something that I would like, and I liked the doll aspect of it and the female main character’s design. I tried really hard to like this anime, but it just couldn’t happen. No can do, was not possible.
The story is very all over the place, and it never really is fully explained. The male main character’s father is off in a different place, and you hear about it several times, but he’s not visibly emotionally affected by it. ... His classmates are very mysterious, but not to the point where you’re curious as to what is going on. But rather to the point where it’s just straight up annoying. Why couldn’t they have just told him everything before this disaster happens? Obviously a new student is going to be very curious, so why would you keep this foundational secret from him? (Especially if things knowingly go wrong if it isn’t executed well, the main conflict of the series could have been very easily avoided, if everyone wasn’t a fuckwit and was educated about what was going on.) The pacing is slow, and suddenly you learn a lot of new information at once that’s never repeated again. The dolls that you see so much of in the transitions are practically useless except for the development of one character. They’re not important to the plot and they’re used as a weird scare tactic.
Then suddenly, characters start dying all at once. But for what? Why? Was there a pattern to these deaths? Even so, would I really care? The characters weren’t developed enough for me to care about their deaths. The pacing of these deaths/plots are very oddly placed. First people “slowly” start dying, then the setting changes and everyone is murdering each other? I don’t understand. Then, in the midst of everyone dying, everyone willingly changes the setting? Does no one know how to properly grieve for the death of someone? These characters show emotion in very odd, unrealistic ways. They’re either emotionless or a plethora of emotion, it doesn’t make any sense. The character development is just sloppy.
Personally, I like the art very much, but the “creepiness” is very forced to the point where it looks very obviously overdramatic. To some it might add to the “unsettling” events, but personally it’s just silly on a whole new level. This dramatic aspect becomes very prevalent when you watch it with someone else. As a horror lover, this was a try-hard.
The ending of the anime results in the murder of a character, which was supposed to be “surprising”. And it left the audience not so much in a disturbed or surprised state, but more like, “What the hell is going on?” It was a cheap death of a character. We knew very little about the person and the main characters had a very awkward, almost nonexistent relationship with them. (Then again, the main character doesn’t build up a relationship with really anyone, and if he does, it’s very.. awkward with little communication.)

(This has been adapted from my reddit thread)

For some people, myself included, death is a scary thing. It is both mysterious and closer to us than we may usually think. Some aspects in our life deal with death as well, such as superstitions and more commonly funerals. It is with death in-mind that Another takes to heart, and after watching the show, I walked away having enjoyed a pleasant experience.

STORY

The basic premise for Another is that our new transfer student Kouichi has transferred into a new middle school. However, when he enters, he slowly learns that there is something quite mysterious going on within the ... classroom.

To be clear, this show is not horror. It never goes out of its way to scare you or make you jump. What it does, however, is provide a very good creepy atmosphere that adds to the mysteriousness of the situation. Many questions early on are left unanswered, and there is always this lingering feeling that something out of Kouichi's control is guiding him and the class along. And this is what the show does well, especially with the other main character Mei Misaki.

The story is split mainly into two arcs, who is Mei Misaki and what can we do to solve the mystery. I greatly enjoyed the first half of the show simply because it provided the most mystery with Mei. Who is this girl? Why does she act this way? Where does she come from? I think it is generally regarded in the anime world that good mystery/horror is hard to come by, so I was surprised how nicely done the first half was executed.

The second half was not as enjoyable since the majority of the mystery gave way to "shock" value. Now, this show is gory; it is not afraid to kill off people and it happens early (and often). But I felt like the show started to prioritize the gore over the mystery as it went on, which was a huge letdown.

Lastly, there were way too many something-is-about-to-happen-but-is-interrupted moments for my liking. I don't really mind when it occurs every once in a while. But it felt as if the show was using that technique to drive the plot along and it was getting quite annoying when it happened at regular intervals. At the very least, I shouldn't be able to guess when they are going to cut away from some big reveal.

ANIMATION

This show was created by P.A. Works. As such, it may come as no surprise that the scenery and overall art for the show is beautiful. When it comes to thrillers and horror-esque shows, it is paramount that the general atmosphere be filled with unease and intrigue. And the show does this well. It uses a lot of reds, browns, grays, and blacks to give us a town filled with despair, dread, and death.

However, this show is quite similar to Glasslip in terms of actual animation, in that there really isn't any (credit to /u/tundranocaps, a reddit user, for pointing this out). Yes, the show is definitely pretty and perfectly gloomy. But there is actually very little character movement or anything in particular happening on-screen at any one time. This may be because they focus a lot of money/time/resources on the backgrounds and environments, but they really don't do anything spectacular with regard to actual movement.

Other than the gorgeous backdrops, I enjoyed the character designs as well. I am a fan of these types of characters (my favorite being what KyoAni draws), so I had no real complaints with the way they were designed.

CHARACTERS

For certain shows, certain aspects are more important than others. For example, a slice-of-life doesn't really rely on a strong story but requires its cast to be incredibly strong in order to have an enjoyable show. For Another, it is not about the characters but about the mystery and the story behind it. So I give them some slight bias in their favor when I say that their characters were fine.

No one in particular was engaging to me, except Mei (and again, only in the first half). Besides Mei, the rest of the cast were rather boring and plain. We never learn much about any of them, even Kouichi, and when we do, it is usually irrelevant information that doesn't add anything to situation. Again, I would fault the show more for this, but I understand that they are not the focus of the show, but when I don't care about 9/10 of the people I am watching in the show, then there is something wrong.

SOUND

I think one of the most important parts of horror/creepy shows or movies is definitely its sound, for sound adds to the atmosphere (which is arguably the most important part for these types of shows). The OP can be listened to here. I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, especially the visuals (the reds and dark colors give off a nice vibe that was perfect for the show). The ED was generic, but gave a sharp contrast to the rest of the show.

Most importantly, I found the rest of the soundtrack to be nicely composed. There were sharp tones and creepy repetitions. Most of the music is not something you would listen to on its own, which is good, because it was definitely designed to fit the aura that the show was giving off.

ENJOYMENT

When it comes to anime or any other medium, I tend to rate shows more highly if they have the "balls" to kill off very important characters to a story. However, I wouldn't put Another under this same category mainly because the characters themselves were not important enough (to me) to warrant any sort of emotional feedback. But that isn't to say I didn't enjoy the show. Frankly, I liked it a lot simply because it was different from most of the other cutesy/ecchi/dramatic/comedic shows that I had been watching recently. It wasn't perfect, but for at least the first half, the show did a nice job in the genre it was looking to represent.

SUMMARY

Story: Fine, good first-half but bad second-half

Animation: Good, beautiful art but actual animation is lacking

Characters: Fine, Mei Misaki is the only notable character, sadly

Sound: Good, sound and general ambiance add nicely to the atmosphere

Enjoyment: Good, not the typical genre for anime so in this case different was nice

Final score: 6/10

Very rarely do I watch horror/mystery anime shows. However, after longing for one that is of similar caliber to Higurashi, I managed to stumble upon a new series called 'Another'. Short story short, the story felt enticing enough for me to give the anime worth a try.

Story - The story is nothing really special as it's the typical boy leaves big city and goes to a creepy, small town area where people are hiding secrets from him and he wants to unravel the mystery only to find out there's a curse or 'calamity' going on in the particular class he's in. However, once the ... viewer learns that there is 'another' or 'extra' to be found and the rules of how the calamity works, the story plot unravels into something a little more interesting.

Art/Animation - The art and animation in this show is definitely one of its strongest points. There color palette and scenery really add to the whole mystery/horror atmosphere. The only annoying and cheap scares they made were the dolls, which is an old horror scare trick. Other than that the characters move fluidly and the use of black crows was a nice extra touch to add to the whole horror/mystery feel of the show.

Sound - I would have to say that sound is the strongest point of the anime. The music really brings forth tension when things are getting hectic or something bad or eerie is about to happen. There were times where I bit my lip in anticipation on what would happen to certain characters as the dreary music started rolling. The only complaint I have sound wise is that halfway through the anime, it becomes rather obvious when something bad is going to happen.

Character - This is where the anime starts to crumble apart. At the start of the series, the characters all have a mysterious side to them. All of them seem to be hiding something while some specific characters seem to have ulterior motives. After the first few episodes, the mysterious tension and alluring atmosphere between Kouichi and Misaki is lost and PA Works focuses a bit too much on accelerating the story plot instead of the characters. After watching through the whole series, I couldn't help but wanting more interaction between the characters and their relationships with one another. This way, when one of the characters died, one would really feel for the characters as 'human'. Higurashi and Steins;gate are good examples of really doing a great job of character interaction and development. 'Another' unfortunately falls flat in this.

I couldn't help but laughing at the stupidity of Kouichi several times in the anime. Yes, I understand that Kouichi along with class 3-3 have experienced great trauma via the calamity, but a lot of their actions later on in the anime, particulary the last arc, were just plain stupid. At one point, Kouichi, our main protagonist, is literally talking ON HIS CELL with Misaki....when there's a FIRE GOING ON!!!! The only two characters that were compelling were Misaki because of her mysterious and alluring looks in general and the counter-measures girl, Izumi (red-haired).

One last complaint I have is that they could have developed more interaction between Kouichi and his aunt.

Enjoyment - I have to admit for whatever reason, I always sat in anticipation for the next episode. The anime isn't particularly original in any aspect, but the sound and mysterious atmosphere of the anime was what made it so compelling I guess to me. The use of cliffhangers does get admittedly pretty old as it is a rather cheap trick to get viewers to want to watch the next episode in anticipation. The anime does so well at the start for the first 4 to 5 episodes, but afterwards starts to go on a slippery slope of identity crisis. As many have noted in forums, it is often compared to Final Destination because of the ridiculous death scenes that occur. After a while, I feel that PA Works started to focus a little too much on these deaths making them ridiculous as possible, and less emphasis was put forth on the great mysterious atmosphere that was put forth at the start of the series. Pretty soon, we see in the last arc, PA Works must have been inspired by 'Battle Royale'.

The last arc (Battle Royale shall I say) really put the series down for me. There was little to no mystery left and it was only a matter of time that they would finally reveal who the 'another' is, which was obvious to me by episode 8 or so.

Overall - What started out to be a fantastic horror/mystery anime came down to a rather disappointment due to what the anime could have been. The last arc brought down the series greatly that I started to not care anymore about the characters besides Misaki and perhaps Kouichi. PA Works no doubt excels in their execution art and sound department wise, but have continued their tradition of poor execution of the last arc or in other words, wrapping up an anime series. Again, the story plot became too much of the focus while the character development and interaction took a big backseat. If it were not for the terribly executed last arc, this anime would be upped to around a score of 8. As it stands, this anime receives a 'fair' rating. I would definitely give this anime series a go, but expect yourself to be severely disappointed by the ridiculous last arc of the anime.

If I need to name one caveat I have about this anime, it's this: you can't judge it by its first few episodes. In fact, after watching only the first four episodes, I would have named this one of my least favorite anime of all time without hesitation.

As such, I feel like I have to divide the show into two parts for the purpose of this review: the "boring-as-watching-paint-dry" part (episodes 1 though 4), and the "interesting" part (episodes 5 through 12). My issue with the first part is simple: almost nothing happens. I know that a slow pace is encouraged and preferable in ... suspense-driven horror, but there is such a thing as doing too little. Here's some advice to anyone who wants to write, draw, or film anything in the horror or mystery genres: suspense isn't as simple as waiting a long time before doing something scary. You need to keep the audience invested in the meantime. How do you do this? Establish the setting, make the audience invested in the characters by subtly introducing backstory, and (most importantly) give the audience information about the mystery at a moderate pace. Most, if not every, scene should serve a purpose to the plot or the setting.

I will give this anime credit and say that it does establish the setting very well. By the end of the first episode, I knew who the characters were and what the basic gist of class 3's history was, and I was sufficiently intrigued by the mysterious behavior of all of the characters. The problem is that the next three episodes (and a decent chunk of the first episode, for that matter) do nothing to advance the story beyond that point. Most scenes simply rehash what the audience already knows or consist of nothing more than students giving creepy stares or saying cryptic nonsense to the main character. There are some exceptions, of course, but they are few and far between. Not only would it be incredibly easy to cut those four episodes down to two episodes without removing any important information, character moments, or suspenseful scenes, but the repetitive nature of these episodes ends up ruining the impressive setting and interesting characters already established.

By the end of the fourth episode, I thought that every character (excluding the main character's nurse friend) was stupid, annoying or pretentious. This was due in large part to the fact that most of them seemed to be acting creepy or mysterious for no reason other than to act creepy and mysterious, even when outright explaining the situation would serve their own goals far better. The main character, Kouichi Sakakibara, does nothing to alleviate this situation, since he does nothing but stare blankly at the events going on around him. He seems almost unwilling to uncover the mystery behind class 3, frequently letting characters dodge his questions or walk away from him without so much as a word of protest, no matter how blatant it was that they knew more than they were telling. I cannot express how pissed off I was by this sorry excuse for a protagonist. The episodes also try to establish a relationship between him and Mei Misaki, but this attempt is utterly foiled by Misaki's tendency to do nothing other than, you guessed it, give creepy stares and cryptic nonsense.

However, everything changes after episode 4. Without giving too much away, I will say that many of the plot points that the characters have been needlessly holding off on are revealed by the end of episodes 5 and 6, and virtually all the problems that I had with the previous episodes are no longer present. Suddenly the characters begin acting like normal humans; they're friendly with one another, they legitimately try to uncover the mystery, and they develop their own unique, likeable characteristics. Misaki and Sakakibara talk with each other in a believable way. Almost every scene in these later episodes is relevant, even though the pace is still very slow, making the episodes both suspenseful and interesting.

Take for example episode 8, which is my favorite episode. While I won't give away too many specifics about the plot, I will say that the episode begins with several characters going to a hotel to meet someone who may have a hint regarding the central mystery of the series. During this sequence, they decide to spend the day at the beach while waiting for said person to show up. For most of the episode, there are no new elements of the mystery introduced, nothing bad happens to anyone, and the dark, overcast skies of the rest of the series are abandoned in favor of a sunny beach setting. The characters just spend a day at the beach. Why do I like this episode? Because it has the characters acting like friends. They make jokes, they feud with each other, they have fun. Suddenly the people who I took for one-note, cryptic morons felt like multifaceted, interesting and (most importantly) realistic people. After this episode, I cared about these characters and didn't want anything bad to happen to them. Who cares if the mystery narrative is ground to a halt when the scenes here still serve some purpose to the series? They make the audience develop an emotional connection with the characters that makes the eventual climax of the series far more impactful.

The pace does eventually increase as the series begins to reach its climax, making the last couple episodes feel a bit too fast-paced. However, I do appreciate that the show does still manage to tie up most of its loose ends by the conclusion, and that none of the series' events or twists were predictable or cheap. I do have a few complaints regarding the plot and the overall mystery, but mentioning those would get into spoiler territory.

Overall, I would recommend this series to anyone who wants a decent horror mystery, although there are definitely far better ones out there. I honestly feel like I would have enjoyed it much more if it were shorter or if there was more variety in the first few episodes, but as it stands I give this show a fairly good 6 creepy stares.....out of 10.

*This review doesn’t take the prequel OVA into account

Another was a series that I never thought I would actually watch. That is mostly because it’s a classified as horror anime, and I’m not really in to the horror genre. While I’d heard some negative things about the series, most of the reviews I saw were extremely positive, so I decided to sit down and watch it. And I have to say, Another was very underwhelming.

Story:

Another takes place in a stereotypical backwater horror town, where our main character has just moved. Shortly after his arrival, starts to attended a new school and starts to get the ... feeling that something isn’t quite right. This feeling is confirmed when he realize that he is the only person in his class that seems to notice this strange girl sitting in the back of the class room. I have four major issues with the story. Firstly, it’s a horror story that isn’t the least bit scary. I’m a person who hardly ever watches any sort of horror series, and this show didn’t frighten me. It does a decent job of setting up a creepy and somewhat mysterious atmosphere, but that’s it. Another’s way of scaring you reminds me a lot of commercials I saw for Final Destination. Instead of making the story thrilling by being mysterious, or making the audience feel anxious, it just throws us a bunch of gruesome death scenes. The second reason is the way the story’s mystery is told. It starts off my implying one thing, and then totally switches to something else. Some people might see that as the show keeping you on your toes, but it isn’t like that at all. The first few episodes are spent dealing with something that was never an issue to begin with. You are tricked into thinking is, not because the story was written really well, but because it was intentionally vague. Granted they did have a reason for why it was vague, but that is an issue I have with the characters (they’re all stupid), and I’ll get into that later on. Not only that, but the solution to the problems they are having in the story was literally the first thing I thought of when the entire situation was explained to me (I’m pretty sure it was somewhere between episodes 4 and 5). That leads me into my last two reasons that go hand in hand. Thirdly, you don’t care about the characters in this series, and, lastly, they all act like idiots. As stated earlier, I have issues with the characters in this series, and those issues affect my view of the story, but I’ll explain all of them in the Character section of this review. The series does come to a conclusion during it’s last episode, but it leaves you with another, no pun intended, horror cliché’ by teasing that the story isn’t really over. I don’t have a an big issue with the ending, other than the issues I have with the actions the characters took in it, but it wasn’t anything special.

Animation:

Another does have solid animation throughout the series. There is some nice background scenery, as well as decently defined characters. The death scenes are well animated, and provide several cringe worthy moments. There isn’t anything noteworthy here, but it does its job well.

Sound:

The sound is easily my favorite part of this series. All of the tracks have a dark and eerie sound that really helps to establish the shows creepy atmosphere. They definitely fit the tone of the series, and are really well done. There are definitely some songs that I could listen to all by themselves. The series’ opening and endings are also both really well done and entertaining to watch.

Characters:

The characters in this series are even more disappointing than the story. The story stars two main characters, Mei Misaki, and Kouichi Sakakibara. There are also several supporting characters in this series. My first issue with the characters is that were are given little to no backstory or development on any of the characters, including the protagonists. My second and main issue with the all of the characters in this series, is that they all incredibly stupid. They are worse than stereotypical horror movie stupid. At least in horror movies people can say they made stupid decisions out of ignorance, but in Another everybody knows what is happening. Everyone, from the students in the classroom down the hall to the school principle, and they make no logical attempts to end this problem. They do, unofficially, form a department for counter measures, but, the adult’s infinite wisdom, they decide that it would be best to allow a middle school student to be in charge of it. It’s things like that that really irritated me while I was watching the series. No one had any common sense. They would just act like their only option was to go to school and hope that they didn’t die. Needless to say, that didn’t work, because a lot of people die in this series. No need to worry though, because you won’t find yourself growing attached to any of the characters. So when they meet their brutal ends, you won’t even miss them the next episode. The reason for this is, like stated earlier, because they lack background information, development, and make choices so stupid that your not even surprised that any of them end up dead. The weak characters drastically affect the story of the series. Since the main tool Another uses to scare you are the death scenes, you’d think that they’d want you to actually care about the characters that they are slaying in front of you. You’d also think that they would have come up with characters that would be able to think rationally enough to come up with the most obvious solution to the problem they are facing. The characters aren’t totally unlikeable; they’re just not very fun or interesting to watch either.

Enjoyment:

I didn’t have a great time watching this series. I’ll admit that I was decently entertained, and I was interested in exactly what the real issue is the story was. But, this isn’t anything I’d really think about watching again.

Verdict & Breakdown:

Story: 2.7/5

Animation: 3.5/5

Sound: 4.1/5

Characters: 2.4/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Final Verdict: 3.1/5

Overall, Another isn’t a bad series, but I can’t recommend that you watch his series unless you are just really into horror and or gore.