Another Episode 0

Yeesh…this episode was so sad…which is actually pretty different from the original series, which started out being tragic and eventually became slightly comical with the number of deaths. I thought the Ferris Wheel incident was a nice touch (especially since I noticed the screw go loose) and the portrayal of the sisters together was good, but my biggest complaint would probably have to be Misaki’s death. I just wish she wasn’t shown in so much anguish at the end…that face she made really ruined it for me.

Other than that, I have the usual complaint about the music, which is fairly minor in comparison. As before in the beach scene, the music that they play for the light parts of the show just doesn’t fit. All in all, it’s a nice episode to see everything before the story, but it lacks the suspense that the series had (although in its defense, probably fewer doll shots). One last question: anyone else think the very first scene was like something out of Kurokami?

Anime Review: Another

Another

This is a show that I’ve enjoyed following as it aired. Basically, Sakakibara Kouichi transfers into a class that seems strange for some reason. There’s a story in this class about a class years ago where a student named Misaki died. However, the class chose to pretend that Misaki was still alive, even up to graduation. Kouichi meets a girl named Misaki Mei, and starts to take an interest in her. The story follows him as he tries to solve the mystery behind his classmates and their strange behavior. When he finds out, he is thrust into a race to solve everything to prevent the deaths of his classmates.

This show presents itself as a horror series, and it certainly tries to uphold that with the death and ridiculous amounts of blood. However, I saw this show more to be a mystery, giving out hints and clues for the viewers to solve it with the characters. I had a ton of fun coming up with theories every single week. Still, there are cliffhangers galore, which can be a bit frustrating when following an airing show, but definitely effective in keeping interest. Also, I have to give props to the show in the end. While it’s true that they get a little excessive with the killing to the point of being a bit comic, I have to say that their decision to use mob psychology was very well done and incredibly interesting to watch. Also, the ending that they use is very appropriate. I thought it was well done.

Story: Score 92/100

The characters in this show tend to be fairly bland. Kouichi isn’t that stellar of a protagonist, but he gets things moving. Mei was a pretty cool character, mysterious and quiet. Akazawa Izumi, the tsundere, was a nice character too, but doesn’t really make all too many appearances early on. Teshigawara Naoya takes the role of comedic support (which is awkward in a horror story, but it wasn’t that bad). Mochizuka Yuuya, the frail art kid, finishes up the really major characters. There are plenty of supporting characters in the class, but most of them are really just there to die. Sometimes, they made it pretty obvious who was going to be killed when they throw in random background characters in an important scene.

Characters: Score 86/100

The animation in this show didn’t really stand out to me in any way, but it wasn’t exactly bad. Everything had an eerie look to it, but the random scenes of dolls may have been a bit much. The music was a bit disappointing for me. The main theme is super mysterious and sets a great mood for a horror story. However, they try to alter that main theme to sound lighter in the more cheerful scenes, and it doesn’t really work out that well. It just seemed very out of place to me. The opening theme wasn’t too impressive…sounded like a normal song from ALI PROJECT if you like their music. The ending theme was a lighter song…a bit better, but still not that impressive.

Animation: 85/100

Music: 80/100

If you think you can handle the blood and gore, I thought this was a very nice mystery-esque show to keep you guessing. It’s easy to get spoiled, though, so be careful (I learned that the hard way). I could have spent hours talking about my theories for the show…there were tiny clues everywhere. Eventually, it came down to process of elimination with so few characters remaining. Not the strongest show in the world, but I found it pretty entertaining. I don’t usually watch horror shows, but I didn’t mind this one so much…maybe because I classify it as mystery and the deaths didn’t really bother me. Man am I glad the cliffhangers are over…they were bad for my heart.

Final Score: 85/100

Another Final Episode

Picking up from last week, the inn is falling apart because of the fire, killing students left and right. The librarian returns to save Teshigawara and Yuuya from the owner’s wife. Akazawa tries to kill Mei, but Kouichi saves her. Akazawa is killed by the curse, but not before she regains her memory of meeting Kouichi.

Mei then continues with her plan to kill the dead person, warning Kouichi not to follow her. He follows anyway, and she finally reveals that the teacher Mikami is the extra. Kouichi refuses to believe her at first, but he realizes that she is telling the truth and kills Reiko himself.

Alright, so that part about Reiko actually being Mikami…how did I miss that? Was that scene actually there? I know the scenes with the grandparents were there, but I can’t remember that scene with Reiko telling Kouichi to always call her Mikami at school. Personally, I think this show is exponentially better if that scene wasn’t there. I know that if it was there, I would have probably figured it out a while ago. I know that a lot of people were suspecting, but I always put her aside because she wasn’t involved with Class 3.

I really like how they ended the series, with Class 3 leaving a recording similar to Matsunaga’s to warn later classes. I like that they didn’t try to erase the curse in some way and that the curse persists. I think that’s how a show like this should end. It was definitely fun to watch and a lot of fun to theorycraft in my posts. I’ll review the show as a whole later. Probably need to rewatch the first few episodes first to find that scene…

Edit: Okay, so I checked the first episode and that bit where Reiko says “the fourth thing” is interrupted. She continues on in this episode telling Kouichi not to call her Reiko. I haven’t checked any other episodes, but I feel like that’s proof enough for me that she never tells him this before this week. If someone wants to tell me otherwise, please let me know…I really want to know this.

Another Episode 11

So Teshigawara pushed Kazami off a balcony thinking that he was the dead student, but soon finds out that he was wrong. Koiuchi, Mei, and Teshigawara go to see if Kazami is still alive, but Kouichi is interrupted by a stabbed Maejima. Kouichi finds the dining hall ablaze and the manager dead. Yuuya reveals that Kazami is alive, and everyone goes around to find him as well as evacuate everyone. Yuuya and Teshigawara try to find Mikami, but instead find the manager’s wife with a cleaver.

Takako also attacks Mei, but Kouichi saves her. However, Takako then plays the tape on the intercom and identifies Mei as the dead student. The students try to kill Mei, but Mikami takes the hit. Kouichi tries to help Mei escape, and several students die in their attempt to kill Mei. The episode ends with Mei running off to kill the extra and stop the deaths.

A witch hunt for Mei. I think this is a good direction for the show for several reasons. First off, it calls into play the sort of desperate mass hysteria that is intrinsic to humans. And not only that, each time a student dies trying to kill Mei, she looks more and more suspicious, as the curse is almost seeming to protect her. Also, it used Mei’s sister for suspicion…I thought that was pretty interesting. When Mei said that thing about killing the dead person to stop the other deaths, I was almost afraid that she would stab herself, but it doesn’t look like it will happen.

At this point, our list of suspects has basically been exhausted. It can’t be Akazawa, as she was right in front of Mei when she had her revelation. It can’t be Teshigawara because I can’t feel it being him after he tried to kill Kazami. Also can’t be Kazami since he’s been basically AWOL the entire series. Next week, it looks like Kouichi will maybe try to defend the true culprit from Mei. I’m guessing some conflict of morals and whatnot will take place. At the moment, I don’t foresee either Mei or Kouichi dying…or maybe that’s just a desperate hope?

Another Episode 10

After the recap of the deaths from last week, Izumi has a weird dream of “meeting” Kouichi. With that, the class trip starts. The gang finally listens to the rest of Matsunaga’s tape. Matsunaga talks about how he got into a fight with another student and killed him accidentally. This student turns out to be the dead student, and everyone forgets about him except Matsunaga. Later, Izumi blames Mei for the class’s hardships for not being ignored properly, but they are interrupted when Wazui has an asthmatic attack.

Kouichi goes to meet with Mei in her room that night, and Mei tells him that her cousin was actually her twin sister, suggesting that she was the true first victim. She also tells him that her doll eye sees how close people are to death. Kouichi asks Mei who the dead student is, but they are interrupted when Teshigawara barges into the room saying he’s done something terrible.

So after that much buildup, the tape ended up being pretty boring in the end. Oh well…pretty predictable. You have to kill the dead student. The stuff at the end was much more interesting. For the whole episode, I was thinking that Izumi was the dead student because of the discrepancy between her and Kouichi’s memories. That would suggest that something is wrong with one of the two, and Kouichi doesn’t seem dead (this is confirmed by Mei this week). While it’s still possible that Izumi is the dead student, it looks like Teshigawara is our prime suspect at the moment. It would definitely be an interesting way to end the series. Teshigawara realizes that he is dead and desperately wishes to end the deaths and stop hurting others, while Kouichi is conflicted about killing his friend. Or…maybe I’m nuts and Izumi’s the dead one and everyone has to stop her >.> Only one way to find out.

Another Episode 9

In the aftermath of the incident last week, the librarian reveals that Nakao may be been dead before being hit by the boat. Essentially, he took a blow in the head before leaving Yomiyama, so the cause of his death occurred while still in the town. Kouichi talks with Teshigawara and Yuuya they conclude that Matsunaga must be talking about the class 3 homeroom in the old school building and agree to investigate it together.

They run into Mei, who goes along with them. They eventually find a tape recorded by Matsunaga. He talks about the class trip to the shrine and how praying there had been ineffective, but Teshigawara damages the tape before he can say how he saved everyone. While this is happening, more people are falling victim to the curse.

These cliffhangers are killing me inside. But still, with three episodes left to go, I suppose it’s still too early to find out how to solve everything. My guess is that Yuuya will die, but will be able to fix the tape first. Also, Matsunaga mentioned a sin, so I’m guessing he had to kill someone to lift the curse. Maybe kill more than just one someone? Massacre, maybe? Another interesting fact is that the librarian is the drama club adviser. A talented actor like that…maybe he’s hiding something. Also, I’m glad Sakuragi was just another one of Kouichi’s crazy dreams. The last thing we need is zombie people. It’s interesting that they chose to explain Nakao’s death the way they did. Rather than have the curse grow stronger or make people question the validity of the curse’s restrictions, they allow the curse to remain a constant, unbending force. I wonder how significant that is. I’m still enjoying everything, and I’m looking forward to see how everything concludes. Mostly because I GOTTA KNOW!

Another Episode 8

The beach episode! First off, though, Kouichi asks Reiko about Matsunaga and the school trip, but gets no answers as she has forgotten most of it. Everyone then gets together and heads off to the resort hotel where Matsunaga works. When they arrive, they find that he has been called off, so they spend some time at the beach, running into Mei in the process.

Teshigawara proposes a competition to find food on the beach, but both teams end up failing miserably. Matsunaga then arrives, talking a bit with Reiko. After a lot of questions, Matsunaga finally remembers leaving something at the school. Unfortunately, this is interrupted by another death, as Nakao dies out at sea.

Well, that death was a bit expected. We don’t really see much of Nakao before this episode and he suddenly goes with the main characters on a trip? He had to die. This also puts a damper on an earlier theory about being safe from the curse when outside of Yomiyama, which makes things interesting. Reiko seems a bit more suspicious this week…Matsunaga mentions seeing her somewhere and she can’t recall it. Is there a double? Or maybe she’s dead, like some people seem to think?

Also, I get that they were trying to make the music sound lighter this week with some softer tones and such, but it still kept the theme in all of the dark music of the show, so it really didn’t feel right to me. Fun scenes like the ones in this episode need songs with energy, and the main theme of this show just doesn’t do that. Next week, it looks like Kouichi will find that thing that Matsunaga left behind in the school (it looks like some sort of recording or something). Also, were those glasses on a girl with the umbrella? Is Sakuragi coming back? Or is this another one of Kouichi’s crazy dreams? I’ll end with this: WHY DIDN’T THEY EXPLAIN THE END OF LAST WEEK’S EPISODE???

Another Episode 7

So as I predicted, the teacher stabs himself at the start of this week’s episode (that’s a retarded amount of blood). Class 3 starts to acknowledge Kouichi and Mei again, realizing that ignoring two people hasn’t worked. Kouichi and Mei go to ask the librarian about the year when the deaths stopped, and find out that it is linked to a class trip, one that Mikami, the replacement teacher, plans for the current Class 3.

Kouichi meets up with Izumi, Yuuya, and Teshigawara in a cafe. Yuuya’s sister, Tomoka tells them about a man named Matsunaga who claimed to save everyone in Class 3. The episode ends with Kouichi once again talking with Mei and her telling him that he is not the dead student.

Well played, Kouichi

So Kouichi dreaming about being the dead student makes me think that he isn’t the dead student. I feel like they wouldn’t bring it up so much if he really were the dead student. But still, the stuff Izumi was saying made sense. Still, even though I didn’t think Mei was the dead student, why was she so confident that Kouichi wasn’t? These cliffhangers are bad for my sanity. One last thing I want to note. The librarian really took the front line in the incident at the beginning of the episode. He’s starting to become more and more prominent in the show, which makes me suspicious. Is he in the queue for death? Anyway, next week looks to be the class trip. I can’t think of any other reason for them all to be at the beach.

Another Episode 6

So the conversation from last week is interrupted by Mei’s mother, who is introduced to Kouichi. Kouichi asks the big question everyone seems to have, which is why they chose to ignore two people. Mei responds that they probably thought it wouldn’t work to tell him to start ignoring her since he’d already met her. Mei also tells Kouichi the story of her left eye, which she lost to a tumor when she was four. Back at school, Misaki and Kouichi start to hang out more and talk.

They go to talk with the librarian, who tells them that the school records and student memories change, so they can’t be used to find the dead student. Kouichi asks about his mother, and the librarian tells him that she died during a year when the curse was occurring. He asks Reiko about it, but she is unable to remember. The next day, the homeroom teacher for class 3 pulls out a knife in front of the class as the episode ends.

So Mei and Kouichi talking so much about the things they’ll do together someday makes me think one of them will die. Kouichi seems to be telling the story to someone in flashback in the first episode, so I think maybe it will be Mei (sad as it is for me to say). Also, I wouldn’t surprised if alternatively, Kouichi is the dead student (a little boring of a prediction, but still possible).

I’m glad it’s not so simple as checking the roster. Supernatural or not, good to know it’s intelligent. I also wonder just how involved Kouichi’s mother is in the whole incident. Maybe she’s even the dead student. The librarian seems to have cleared my suspicion radar for now. Based on what the teacher was saying, I’m thinking he’s going to kill himself next week. Should make things weird. I’ll end with a question: is that the first time Mei’s smiled in this show? O.o

Another Episode 5

So after the tragic death of Mizuno last week, this week’s episode starts off with Mei strangely coming to class. Kouichi is questioned about Mizuno’s death by the police, but they don’t really suspect him of anything. He walks home with a couple of his classmates, and one of them decides that he will ignore Akazawa and tell Kouichi what he wants to know, but dies from a heart attack when he tries to tell Kouichi about Mei.

Back at school, everyone starts to ignore Kouichi. Kouichi goes back to the doll store to talk with Mei, realizing that he is now the same as her. Mei takes Kouichi to her home above the doll store and tells him that the strange deaths each month start occurring whenever the class size increases by one. She then reveals that the class found that by treating one member of the class as though they don’t exist, they can avoid the deaths.

Hah!! Mei is normal! I knew it! So I’m gonna try to summarize everything to see if I understand correctly. Basically, each year, there’s always an extra student in Class 3 because a dead student has rejoined the class. Because of this extra student, people start to die every month for a year. In order to stop this, the students must pretend one student in the class doesn’t exist to return the number of students to normal. Mei is chosen as the student, but if one of the students acknowledges her existence, they will die.

Also, Kouichi’s arrival increased the class size once again, so he has been chosen to be ignored as well to keep the class size the same again. That’s some twisted stuff, but I figured it was something going on in the class and not Mei doing all of the evil stuff. Now, it looks like Kouichi and Mei must work together to find the dead student and save Class 3…how interesting! I really enjoy this show a lot and I look forward to watching it every week. It’s just so much fun!