Another

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Synopsis

In the spring of 1998, Koichi Sakakibara transfers into Class 3-3 at Yomiyama North Middle School. But little does he know...his new class has a horrible secret. When he takes his seat in class for the first day of school, Koichi is unsettled by his fearful classmates. Despite this atmosphere and warnings from fellow students, Koichi is drawn to the beautiful, distant Mei Misaki, another classmate. But the closer he tries to get to her, the more mysterious she and their class become. And when a fellow student dies a disturbing death - the first of a long chain of deaths - Koichi seeks to learn the truth behind the curse of Class 3-3. But can he get answers before the curse kills him?

Volumes

Review

Jan 30, 2015

20 of 20 chapters read

Overall Rating: 8

chubar (All reviews)

45 people found this review helpful

The human mind is an amazing thing.

The premise of this curse in this class is that there was a kid, 26 year prior to the story, who was well loved, athletic, smart, and all that wonderful stuff. However, he met an untimely end – but because of how shocking it was and how much they didn’t want to believe it, the class refused to believe his death. So much so, they believed that he was part of the class still. And yet, when the graduation photo was taken and developed, the kid, Misaki, showed up on the picture.

Ever since then, there is an “extra” person read more

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Apr 8, 2012

20 of 20 chapters read

Overall Rating: 7

vaguehope (All reviews)

33 people found this review helpful

Another was something new for me. I've never read or watched any horror manga or anime before, so... well, I was prepared to be terrified. I switched to the manga as the safer option--after nearly wetting myself watching the first two episodes of the anime--and it definitely lived up to that. Another wasn't scary. At all.

It started out quite interesting. I was curious to know what was going on, and it did keep me guessing all the way through--whether this was in a good way or not, I'm not entirely sure. In volume two a lot is explained... but badly. Conversations are disjointed and hard to follow, with topics being changed suddenly and points apparently missed out. Bizarrely, all the characters seem to understand these conversations. Different terms for the same thing were used in a way that made me think they were different, before later realising that they were all synonymous. (To save you a lot of confusion later: "the extra one", "the other one" and "the dead one" all seem to be the same thing. No problem.) It might just have been that I was reading a bad translation, but the tenses were also pretty weird. Even after reading this explanation three times, and finishing the series, I'm still not one hundred percent on what the problem actually was, or their apparent solution for it.

Because of that, volume two was a low for me--however, volume one and four were a high. There is a massive plot twist around the end that I can guarantee you will not see coming. (It scared me, anyway.) It was a mystery that I wanted to see the end of, but I'm not sure if the confusion around the middle is worth it. There are also a few mysteries or points that were never explained by the end, which might not bother you unless you're picky about this sort of thing, but really gets at me. (What was their problem with Kouichi's name? And why was all this actually happening? Eh?)

The characters weren't anything particularly special. The only thing that's surprising is that there's no romance, which is somewhat refreshing--we've all seen romance between characters like this before, but in Another there's only friendship. If you were expecting a romance to develop, well, tough luck. Kouichi is likeable, but nothing really interesting and especially nothing new, and Mei's your stereotypical mysterious female. She might have a backstory, but that doesn't really fix the fact that her personality is a cardboard cut out. The secondary characters aren't memorable at all, which means the deaths don't really result in much emotional response. I couldn't remember half of their names (they all sound really similar to me), and then they die. "Oh. Who was that person again?" That's what it was like. There's only one, maybe two, deaths that I cared about in this, and a lot more people die.

One other thing that keeps grating at me is how everyone seems to keep unnecessary secrets from Kouichi. It did create suspense (and pure irritation), but when it's over you can't help thinking that half their issues could have been solved if they just told him about them in the first place. When I look at it like that, it only seems like they were secretive so the story would exist, which is a pretty poor excuse.

Putting all that aside, I'll admit that it was pretty good, and it built up right to a climax. There are some pretty hardcore moments of psychological messing in this (if that makes any sense) which were very enjoyable, at least for me. The best thing about this series would be the art: I love it. It's just really pretty--the character design, at least.

Overall, if you don't mind a bit of confusion or lack of explanations, and are looking for a supernatural mystery story: go for it. However, if you want to be terrified by serious darkness and gore, I'd go somewhere else. Another isn't scary. Having finished the anime now, I can confirm that it's about a billion times better. Unlike the manga, the intricacies of the plot are well explained and it's actually terrifying. (The amazing soundtrack and the creepy shots of dolls that pop up everywhere probably contribute.) Aside from a bizarre beach scene that was added for no reason that I can see, even when new scenes are added that weren't in the manga, they just add to it and make it better. If you're coming from the anime and wondering if this is worth the read... I guess it depends how much you liked Another for the plot. If it was for the gore and horror elements, then you'll probably be disappointed.

Helpful

Overall	8
Story	8
Art	9
Character	7
Enjoyment	8

Overall	7
Story	7
Art	10
Character	5
Enjoyment	7

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