Another : Anime Review

Anime Title : Another

Episodes : 12

Director : Tsutomu Mizushima

Released date:
January 10, 2012 – March 27, 2012

Synopsis :The anime starts out with an
unidentified male voice explaining to a girl the
incident that happened at a school in 1972.
The boy tells about a girl named Misaki
who was in the 9th grade. She was liked
by everyone in the school, students and
teachers alike.

But shortly after starting the 9th grade
Misaki died. The death was supposed to
be an accident, so everyone were shocked.
Until one day, a boy pointed at Misaki's desk
and said"Misaki's not dead. She's sitting right
there." She wasn't really alive though it was an
act, but from that day onward the whole Class
continued to act as if Misaki was still alive, but
it didn't end there. The story revolves around
this class and the students present in classroom
who pretends as if Misaki is alive because if they
won't, someone will die from the class.

Note -> Spoilers ahead of 1st episode in Plot.

Plot : Our main protagonist Kouichi Sakakibara
who has just moved from Tokyo to a small

town where his grandparents live, because of his
father going to India for business. We are also
introduced to a women named Reiko. Reiko and
Ritsuko (kouichi's mother who is dead) used to
attend the same school which kouichi will be
attending but missing the first day prior to illness
and being admitted in a hospital. He is then
visited by his class representatives who
introduces themselves and asks him if he
had ever lived in this town before. After handing
him notes, Izumi Akazawa head of counter
measure of Class absolutely wants to make sure
that kouchi had not lived in this town
before leaving. Later Kouichi goes to the
basement to call his father and boards
an elevator. To his surprise there is another girl
present in the elevator wearing the same uniform
as that of the rep. She introduces herself as
Misaki Mei and wants to go to morgue to deliver
a doll to 'her poor other half'.

After being discharged from the hospital Reiko is
seen to be giving some kind of advice to him on
starting his new life at the school. After introducing
himself to the class he founds out that Misaki is
attending the same class as him looking rather
gloomy. During the break all the students
surrounds him, asking him about his life in tokyo
but he also notices how weird his classmates act
strangely around him. During the gym period while
Kouichi is sitting on the bench Yukari the class rep
comes over and asks if he has learned anything
about the class rules. When Koichi responded no
she sounded confused why they didn't tell him and

then goes off on how Akazawa will yell at them if
they are not careful. Now this is where the

real horror starts when kouichi questions her that

"Where is Misaki" ? Surprised but when facing Koichi she looks lost asking "Who?". He
goes on to explain that she has an eyepatch, but she continues to pretend not to know who
he is talking about. After randomly running to the school building he finds Misaki on the roof.
They begin to talk about their meeting at the hospital, but Misaki doesn't remember. When
Sakakibara keeps trying to get her to remember, Misaki reveals that the whole class
associates his name with death. This school is in a place close to death, especially the 9th
grade's class 3. Misaki then continues to go on telling Kouichi that he shouldn't try to get
close to her or talk to her anymore before leaving. On the way home he sees Misaki walking
in the rain, and then she disappears.

Now initial 2-3 episodes concentrates on Misaki. Suspense is build up around Misaki
whether she is a ghost or not? Is she responsible for tragic events of class 3? Can anyone
be trusted from entire class? Once the anime reaches to these conclusions, then it shifts its
attention to ‘How we can stop these tragic events happening to class 3?’

Initial 5-6 episodes builds up the characters and add a very decent mystery trait to  the
anime. It keeps a person on the edge of seat creating a lot of puzzle and thus making it an
addictive anime.

I really liked how the incident was portrayed by the voices speaking under their breath and
with the freaky soundtrack supporting the scene, it really sets the mood for the anime.

One Easter egg for the further story is during the elevator scene if you look closely, there is no 4th floor dial on the elevator.
The elevator scene was very well directed. The way they handled the introduction of Misaki
Mei and how the scene progresses , it really all adds up to the mystery element of the
anime.

But problem starts for the anime during the
second half. Things became quite messy and

unstructured. Anime’s pace was a real issue.
And finally the ending was too rushed.I personally
felt that proper time should have been given to
reveal the person responsible for tragic events
of class 3.

Animation : One of the showstopper of the
anime was animation. The studio has really
given much thought in the animation as can
be seen in the details in the landscapes
scenes of the countryside. Even scratches
and dents were visible in Kouichi' home.

Sound : Sound effects were upto the mark.The
soundtrack during the elevator scene, when
Misaki goes to the morgue with her doll,
can really give nightmares to even strong
hearted among us.

Final Verdict : Overall the real treat of the
episode was the beginning. Although, there
are a bunch of shortcomings during the
middle part but that can be compensated
by the beginning.

We really recommend giving Another a go,
especially those who are into the horror
and mystery genre.

Rating : 7/10

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