-----Story-----
This is the definite strongpoint of the series. Another delivered a top tier story which keeps you on edge the whole time you're watching it. The way the story is presented progressively, in chunks as teh main character himself learns of them makes the plot not only seem more personal, but adds to the mystery and suspense. Furthermore the author throws many red herrings and false hints at you to try and make you come to a wrong conclusion about the story.
Here's the premise: A boy named Kouchi moves to the town where his grandparents and aunt live, since his father is researching something in India. He spends his first month there in the hospital due to a condition, where he meets the mysterious and beautiful Misaki Mei. Once at school, he is well received, but everything begins to get weird when he asks the class who Misaki Mei is. - They all say she "doesn't exist", and the mere mention of her name brings fear to them. Mei herself warns Kouchi to stay away from her, lest bad things happen. I won't get much into it, as that's all part of the story, but basically there is a curse on the class which seems to be triggered by the number of students in the class. Shortly after all this, students in the class begin to die in freak accidents - Final destination style. One by one the students die and the remaining students begin to go insane in fear and paranoia. This fear against one another and the two students -Kouchi and Mei, whom began the catastrophe leads to a thriller that gives you the feeling of fearing for your life. Very effectively.
The ending will most likely surprise you, and some even say it has a number of plotholes. I thought it was very well done. Satisfying and freaky.
The anime seems to follow the source material closely, and the manga seems to provide even more insight and flesh to the story. I'd recommend reading those after finishing the anime for even more enjoyment.
-----Art-----
The character designs for the anime were done by Noizi Ito, famed artist who also did the designs for Haruhi Suzumiya novels, among others. I thought the characters were well drawn, unique, and had a sense of individuality to them. There were only one or two generic-looking characters, such as Izumi, with the generic tsundere class rep look and attitude. The backgrounds and settings were dark and at times upsetting. For example, the dolls in Mei’s home provide a very old-school horror feel, and places such as the hospital and woods resort also have a sense of dread and neglect to them, like the indoors of a resident evil game.
-----Sound-----
I admit I don’t pay much attention to the OP and ED of an anime, and sometimes not to the soundtrack either, so I will not comment on it. I will say the voices of the characters was what you’d expect from any other show, nothing special, but they did do a good job with making the characters sound desperate and psychotic at times, you can hear the fear in the voices of the characters clearly.
-----Character-----
One of the things I enjoyed about Another was the depth of not only the story but the characters, many shows we see airing nowadays have an abundance of shallow characters meant to appeal to the audience or two loosely hold the story up where it needs support, but have no sort of development or story themselves. Obviously not every student in the class was fleshed out, because they are minor characters, as for the main characters each one received a good deal of backstory, and an explanation on why they pertain to the main plot. Mei and Izumi get the most of this treatment, but even relatives of Kouchi such as his mother and her friends are an important part of the story. Overall great characters and development.
-----Enjoyment-----
Another was absolutely fun to watch. It was interesting, chilling, different, and even provides us with a little extra in the sweetness of Kouchi’s and Mei’s relationship. It was very well fleshed out and although some may disagree with the ending, it would be unfair for anyone to say it did not have an ingenious premise to it.
Definitely give this one a go.
