⚠️ Spoilers ahead—don’t read on if you haven’t seen the series!
The first four to five episodes are honestly just irritating. The dialogue feels like a broken record:
“Welcome, new kid. You need to follow the rules or else...”
“Okay, cool—what are the rules?”
“Can’t tell you.”
“Wait, what? Why not?”
“Just... no.”
*someone dies*
“Look what you did! It’s your fault!”
“What? How?”
“You didn’t follow the rules.”
“Alright, I’ll follow them now. Can you tell me what they are?”
“Nope. Too late.”
*more people die*
“AAARGH, YOU IDIOT! …Still not gonna tell you anything though.”
Yeah… not exactly gripping. The first half leans heavily on vague mystery and tension-building, but the way it unfolds is so clumsy that it becomes laughable. Every time we're on the verge of learning something important—RING RING—a phone call interrupts everything. And somehow, the protagonist immediately forgets the conversation and rushes off to wherever the plot demands. And don’t even get me started with all the phone calls suddenly dropping due to poor connection just when some important information was about to be shared. I’m not even kidding—the phones in this anime might as well be the main antagonist in the first few episodes.
Then, finally, we get some answers. The deaths get weirder, the stakes get higher, and the last two episodes go completely off the rails. Suddenly, it’s Lord of the Flies, anime edition. Everyone loses their minds. People start killing each other without rhyme or reason. Chaos erupts. And nothing makes sense.
Why do the hotel managers suddenly turn violent? Why did the hotel catch fire? Why does everyone descend into a murder frenzy? Why does Misaki keep hiding the truth while bodies literally pile up in front of her? And why are the death scenes so bizarrely hilarious?
Seriously, these deaths are so over-the-top and outlandish that it's impossible to take them seriously. The anime plays out like a visual novel called 100 Ridiculous Ways to Die. Characters don't even have to do something stupid. They literally just exist, and out of nowhere, they are wiped out by the most random, improbable accidents. I get that it’s supposed to be supernatural and unnatural, but these deaths are so staged that you can't help but laugh or roll your eyes.
What makes it worse is that I might’ve cared if the characters had any meaningful development. Or if they had any personality or *character*. But the first five episodes waste so much time setting the mood and teasing secrets that we never get to know anyone enough to be emotionally affected by their deaths.
And what is with these poker face people? Why everyone keeps acting normal and lead their lives as if nothing happened even though so many people die in so shockingly gruesome ways? There are fun and games, laughs, even a beach episode. Why doesn’t the school close, why do they all keep having their classes? How does that even work? All the deaths don’t really have much emotional impact on the viewer (aside from the fact that children die) but it seems they have no impact on the other characters at all.
In the end, Another isn’t the worst anime out there. There are some genuinely interesting plot threads, and a few characters face real moral crises. The premise had potential. But instead of exploring it meaningfully, the show devolves into an over-the-top bloodbath with a rushed psychological-thriller twist at the end that barely connects with what the rest of the story promised.
It could have been great. Instead, it’s a stylish disaster.
