If you are searching for a great mystery or horror anime, go watch another series, but if you are looking for absurd story and comedy, you found it.
This show has a really good premise that could be developed to a great story,however, creators decided to make a piece of crap out of it, instead.
Let's start with mystery part of the show.The most important thing in mystery is "object of mystery" like a curse, monster or place, with its own logic, rules, and limitations.Show should reveal the secrets of this object little by little, it
must feel like an interesting puzzle, and create a desire in the viewer to solve it.Although in the case of Another, even authors probably don't know how this curse works;everything in the show is explained by "change of reality" bullshit.It is similar to asking your math teacher why the answer to the question is "7.89" and he says "change of reality" instead of giving a proper explanation.
As for the horror part, despite the fact that I was watching it alone and in complete darkness, instead of scaring me,Another made me laugh(I am totally serious, no irony or whatsoever).I laughed at almost every death in this show, it is really absurd and hilarious.This show reminded me of a ultra-violent cartoon called "Happy tree friends", which is about cute creatures dying in most stupid and bloody way possible.
But the main problem of the show is characters.First of all, everyone in this show is a total idiot, doing lots of illogical things through out of the series.Especially last 2 episodes; I was nonstop facepalming(and laughing) at characters' ridiculous decisions.Second of all, the only interesting character in Another is Misaki Mei, she looks mysterious and creepy, especially without her eyepatch, however, all my interest in Misaki comes from her appearance, which leads us to the thing that is actually good about Another: art and animation.
The animation in Another is BEAUTIFUL, it is one of the best among everything I have watched.Artstyle consists of dull colors and looks depressing.Character design is realistic and very detailed.But the animation is especially beautiful in bloody death scenes; they look gorgeous.
Opening and ending mucic was mediocre, and I skipped it the majority of the time.The main theme was good.
In addition, Another had a really good atmosphere established by animation and music, but storyline completely spoiled it.
As a verdict, I can only recommend this to people who likes "Happy Tree Friend" style humor.And remember: umbrellas are really dangerous, please be careful while using them.
