Another - Reviews

This review contains a spoiler, so if you haven't watched up to episode 11, I would advise against reading the character section!

STORY:

I didn't expect much from the story, seeing as it was a tired cliche that had been done so many times already. Surprisingly enough, Another took the cliche and turned it into something that really grabbed my attention. A teenage boy moves to a new town/changes schools, scary things start to happen (death, in this case) because of some curse dating back to however long ago. These kinds of plots always have so much potential, but rarely do they actually reach it.
The story moved at a quick enough pace to keep my attention. Each episode added to the story, bit by bit and always found a way to surprise you or catch you off guard. That kind of thing is essential, unless you want your audience getting bored. 
Despite being part of the horror genre, not everything was dark or depressing. There were parts that would make you smile and might even cause you to ask questions like "Is this really a horror anime?" They would be answered soon enough, though. Nothing in Another drags off for longer than it needs to. It's surprise after surprise, with only just enough cooling off time in between each of them. It's amazing how unexpected they are when they come, given the pattern.


ANIMATION: 

PA Works never fails to please me when it comes to animation. It was clear that effort was put into it, but not so much that it was distracting. Everything, including backgrounds and scenery were done well and with detail. The character designs were fantastic, despite what a lot of other reviews have been saying. In a lot of animes it takes me three or four episodes before I can name off every character by looking at them, and that is when character designs  just aren't memorable. (Usually cliche designs that you see in several other anime, or characters that all look the same) Bloody/gory scenes I felt were sometimes a liiiittle bit over-exaggerated, but hey, whatever. This is anime, after all. 

SOUND:

While watching the anime, I found myself thinking about how well the sound choreographed with the scenery and what was going on. It really helped to forshadow things, too. The only thing that's stopping me from giving the sound full marks is how unmemorable it is. It's hasn't been that long since I finished the anime and I can't even remember the OP or ED, which I usually can. I'm not saying they weren't good, because they were great, just not catchy or something you hum on your way to school.

CHARACTERS:

I'm at a loss for words here. The characters in Another were brilliant, to put it simply. Though at first many of them may have seemed boring or cliche, by the end of the anime they were absolutely not. It's amazing just how much character development the anime managed to get in in only 12 episodes. They all had interesting but realistic personalities that viewers could relate to. They were the kind of characters that didn't feel like characters, but your friends.
At the end of the anime (WARNING: SPOILER!) during the whole massacare event, I was literaly squirming in my seat in fear of my favourite characters being killed off. (Only one of them was, thankfully!) Even now, I find myself thinking about some of them and smiling.

OVERALL: I love this anime. It is definitely a favourite, almos at the same level as Death Note. I would say I wish it was longer, but I feel that would take away from the quality somehow... 

Anything in the horror genre is always balancing on the precarious slope between being terrifying and boring, and this series walks it closer than most for the first half of the series. It's not boring, but it's very close. However, part way through it suddenly got very good, and in the end I could hardly stop watching.

The premise is pretty much a classic horror/ghost plot line, a person died years ago and now bad stuff is happening. Thankfully, the plot is far more in depth than that, but that's not revealed until later - which to me seems like a mistake. I was very tempted not to bother after a couple of episodes, but it was definitely worth it in the end.

Characters are never anything I'm particularly bothered with when it comes to horror. I've seen enough of this genre to know you should never get too attached to any of the characters, but they were more varied and interesting than they usually are in horror series, which is always good. Despite knowing it was a bad idea, I found myself quite attached to a couple of the characters.

This is a slow going series to start with, but stick at it - it's definitely worth it.

Urban legends in our lifetime can be popular. There are timesthat we believe in them while other times that we don't. And it is up to us whether we believe in it, or reject.

In this anime titled 'Another', it revolves around on an urban legend in 1972 in Yomiyama North High School about a popular student named Misaki, of class 3-3, who died. After the loss, the students and teachers of class acted as if Misaki was still aliveand concluded to a graduation photo in which appeared that he is there. Until then, the story of the dead lives on. Sixteen years later, a transfer student named Koichi Sakakibara studied at Yomi North and met Mei Misaki, a mysterious girl, who appears non-existent to the class. Then the class soon began encountering strange deaths, after Koichi knew about Mei's existence, that has something to do with the urban legend of 1972. It's up to the protagonist Koichi to put an end to the madness and the deaths of his fellow classmates.

'Another' is basically a thriller story, just like in the novel. That's basically it. It was pretty decent and it has a good flow to it. Full of suspence and mystery on a whole new level and was played excellently. It was pure intensity on every aspect and that makes it very interesting to watch. I like its concept. It revolves around a curse of a single classroom and eventually one person dies, one after another. Starts out on a non-existent person and ends with a bloodshed or a blood of violence. Not bad I say.

Although the show was good, the story of the show was rather complicated than I thought. The urban legend becomes a great deal in the first part of the series, then it fades out at the last. It starts out so good but fails in midway. I also noticed that the Misaki in the urban legend was not clearly involved and they just believed on the myth, not on the person. There is no correlation between the dead guy and the deaths itself. Kinda depressing for the story became a pile-up rather to be a great one. Here, the urban legend was a kind of style and I thought that there are ghost and jumpscares. I even thought that Mei Misaki was a spirit because of its strong start and the fact that her expressions were kinda creepy. I expect it to be a good one, but it seems it was turned.

The conclusion of the anime on one point seem to be a downfall. Not only my expectations were wrong, the whole show itself turned to be confusing as hell. I expect it to be great but turned out to be illogical with pure sense on the plot whatsoever. It wasn't bad nor good either. I don't want to spoil but it was not that of an impact. Regardless to say, it only confused me - a f*cking lot.

The animation on the other hand was pretty amazing and the main focus itself was the background designs. Every thing was detailed to the finest. From rust of metal bars, to the creepy dolls, to the scenarios of every episode, and to the dark atmosphere of the setting. All were fantastic. It makes you feel that the whole background is connected to the protagonist, for its black energy that is cloaked on the whole backdrop. The final episodes were the ones that shown the most progress in animation. The deaths were certainly detailed and the motion of the characters were outstanding. The violence was a great deal but without it, the show might be staggering downslide. The bloodshed and murderous killing spree might be the cause to watch 'Another'.

I also adored the sounds of this anime. Using scores from horror films was a good move and it intensifies the whole show. The voice acting was not bad and so were the sound effects. From the bloodbath, until to the arrogant death bullsh*t. From a crashing elevator, to the sounds of lightning. All were marvelous enough. I must say, they done it very well. The opening song on another point was a dark piece which was fine except the song looks like it was actually sung on an opera.

The characters at one point seem to be the same, especially the protagonist. He's just too predictable. He will befriend the mysterious, silent girl, develop strong feelings for her, starting hanging out with her and then he starts to protect her as if she was her girlfriend. It just the same cliche bullsh*t that revolves a boy/girl relationship on every anime on a daily basis but who am I to judge. Also, I really expect much more on Mei Misaki for its creepy and silent nature. I thought she can communicate with spirits, poltergeist or - plain basic - ghosts but sadly, just a normal girl who became a target on being a ghost that is alive. Never expect. Good point I found was when the characters have entered the state of fear when someone died. You can feel their presence and awe all the way. Their act of anxiety on the dead person seems reasonable enough to watch this.

I actually thought that 'Another' revolves a spiritual entity who seeks death among the students, but that expectation becomes a different one. The reason behind the deaths were actually because of a missing desk and chair in their classroom and because of an extra student who spoils the number in their class. It's really a disappointing loss on its behalf but I really quite enjoyed it. Despite the fact that this anime is not a gorgeous one.

In the end, 'Another' is an interesting anime to watch...

+ Detailed animation, great death scenarios
+ Good use of sound and scores
- Complicated story with a confusing ending
- Not much to expect

I have to say, 'Another' is a great anime. Even with a complicated story, I really enjoyed it. Though I must say, the suspence really gets me going to watch this anime.

Overall: 7.8 out of 10.

i am genuinely amazed this series is so highly rated. you might be thinking i'm just some salty overexaggerating c*** but i'm being as honest as i can be. right away, i'll say (spoiler alert!) because i can't explain what's so bad without giving the entire story a thorough breakdown. yes, i watched it all. not from the suspense, but because it crossed into "so bad it's funny" territory.

ok, first episode, i think it was. first death, anyway. a girl gets impailed by her own umbrella and dies on the spot. naturally, even if the context was retarded, it still made me feel disgust as intended because i imagined what it felt like (my fault). so, the reason why it's retarded. we just started learning about the "rules" of the curse and why this rikka takanashi knockoff was getting treated like a ghost. the main character who transferred and the "ghost" girl were chatting and just walked out of the classroom when one of their classmates (the girl who dies) sees them together. she let's out a hearty scream and breaks into a berserker sprint down the hallway. it has been raining. she seems to have come back inside because she forgot something, so she's dripping wet. her umbrella in hand. coincidentally a metal tipped, full sized umbrella much like what i have. may as well be a bayonet. anyway, she continues to run down the stairs (that's already pretty dumb) but she slips and drops her umbrella and it stabs her through the throat. as a bonus piece of info, if you have EVER walked on a tile floor with wet shoes, you would know you have 0 traction. it may sound cold of me, but that was 100% her fault but everyone instantly says omg, it's the curse, it has to be.

(sigh) this is where i died inside and my empathy died with it. i knew it was going to be a gongshow. from this point onward, i can't really say for sure if there's some random faceless mobs' deaths i'm forgetting, but i'll list the ones i remember.

the next death was a nurse working in a hospital nearby. her only relation to the curse is that she's the sister of one of the classmates. honestly, by that logic alone, i feel like they've already broken their own rules, but that's splitting hairs. the reason this death irks me is because it was an elevator malfunction crash. incidentally, even after i froze my heart, this death still had me feeling kinda gross. i mean, falling x amount of floors in a broken elevator sounds... horrific. it was also not her fault, so i felt extra bad for her. also, yes, i imagined what it'd be like if it happened to me. anyway, the reason i think "this" one is retarded is because the elevator was ancient. it's even shown to be using a hempen rope. even if it's an extra thick rope for this purpose, it was frayed and in obvious disrepair. it was disgustingly short of the maintenance i am 100% sure it needed by law. so THIS doesn't happen. easily explained by natural forces and deserves a lawsuit, not hiding from a curse.

you see, it was at this point that while it's true i was still dead inside and wanted to stop, but i was curious. what could possibly be worse than an elevator crash? and how could they make it even more nonsensical than they already have?

i think there "might" have been a death somewhere in between this one and the last one, but it was some random mob at best. but the next death is honestly where it became "so bad it's funny" because even after the death of at least 1 classmate and one other. while everyone was shaking in their boots because of a curse killing off everyone in class... they STILL have a ******* beach episode! if there was ever a worse time for a fun in the sun beach episode, i would cry. (sigh) anyway, the conclusion is that some guy they make friends with gets chopped up by a boat propeller. upon inspection it was discovered he actually died by drowning due to a concussion and fainted while swimming. the reason THIS is retarded is because right at the beginning, our marked for death bro tripped while running down stairs because he was late for the pick up time or something. he quite noticably tumbles down an entire flight of stairs and hits his head on the wall or something. his mom asks "are you ok?" he says, "yeah i'm fine, i gtg"... ... ... 100% his fault. he died by concussion because he hit his head (really hard) and didn't go to the hospital. pretty self explanitory, no?

i'm somewhat unmotivated to finish simply because at this point i fear even the most curious of readers will have said "too long didn't read"

but if you didn't, the conclusion/climax is a joke. like, the beach episode was easily worse, technically, but even after all of this, the school still has each class go on that end of the 3rd year vacation trip you always see in generic high school anime. this particular class gets to go to an old hotel in the boonies. common sense was never "really" a part of this series, but it's really apparent as i watched further. well, this time it's not just one death, but the entire rest of the class. they're all scared shitless thinking they'll be next, so the entire class except the main character and the ghost girl come to a unanimous decision to kill the ghost girl and "fix" the curse before it's too late. basically everybody dies. no joke, everybody escept the main character and the ghost girl dies. there's too much going on in this arc to give every detail, but the hotel somehow starts on fire, kids are trying to hunt down the plot armour pair, numerous kids die by fire, one girl strangles herself on rebar or pipes or something. the series ends with the 2 of them walking away from a complete classwide fatality and a burnt to the ground hotel and off into the sunset, just the 2 of them. one realizes, oh! it could've actually been the teacher that was the source of the curse all along! or something. as if it's some sort of amazing plot twist.

The story revolves around Kouichi Sakikabara, a transfer student from Tokyo into the 9th grade class 3 of Yomi North Junior High (In Japan it seems junior high lasts until 9th grade). He is forced to miss the first month of school, due to a collapsed lung, but when he arrives, he begins to befriend a mysterious girl who, it seems, that only he can see. The other students would act strangely when he began mentioning the girl in question, uttering strange sayings, like "You shouldn't mess with things that aren't real" and discouraging further contact with her. Sakikabara chooses not to heed these warnings, supposing that she is simply being bullied, however, the students soon begin experiencing a curse of sorts, leading to the death of classmates. The story beings here; uncovering what is causing these deaths and how it may be stopped.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This has to be one of my favorite anime of all time, the story is constantly evolving and your perspective on characters is changing just as fast. The story has a snowball effect, starting out relatively slow, but when it starts picking up, it advances pretty quickly. I have seen much criticism over the fact that the story is rather slow at first, only giving bits of information at a time, however, I found this to be one of the factors that helped to pull me into the series. My only qualm is that there are a large number of characters in the story (although out of necessity, as you cannot have a classroom with just a few people), that it may be difficult to keep track of who is who at first, however, you are able to see the children change mentally over time. 

The animation was of fantastic quality, just look at a couple pictures onine for an idea. There is little music apart from the opening and closing themes, however, there are ambiant noises that build in moments of anticipation, which I thought was very fitting for this type of anime and rather enjoyed it's inclusion.

After watching the OVA episode, I literally broke down and cried. I haven't sobbed that hard in many years. I don't want to say what caused this, as it would spoil part of the story, but I give this story the highest of reccommendations.