You know, this series reminds me a lot of Ookamikakushi, but well executed. This series pretty much is what I hoped that series to be. And within four episodes, it also has pretty much surpassed Ookamikakushi in every aspect. In particular the cast of characters is a lot better here.
The lead character… he actually doesn’t just passively do nothing, or act stupid like a wimp. He’s actually trying to find out what is going on, while at the same time he’s not the other side of the spectrum of being way too damn impulsive. What mostly sets this one apart is the dialogue, though. You can definitely see that this is coming from something other than a manga adaptation. It actually feels pretty natural here.
Also, I wonder how it must be marathoning this series in one go. It’s probably a completely different experience. The cliff-hangers in this series don’t give me the feeling of “must… know… what… happens next…”, but the shock factor nevertheless works really well. It will be pretty hard to eventually explain (aside from that the ghost wants to make the lead character’s life completely miserable), but I like the direction so far nonetheless.
Rating: * (Good)
And I kept thinking to myself “Don’t. Enter. That. ELEVATOR” … Yet again, pretty disturbing last scene. I’m curious in how exactly all these events are triggered …
So I was on the right sort of lines last week when I asked whether this show would turn into something similar to Final Destination.
Wow, This is awesome, I dont know or remember a anime similar to Final Destination, meaby some people dont like it, but for me is so awesome. Go for it “another”.
Honestly, I feel annoyed by the main character(MC) because he seems to snoop around without taking everyone’s feelings into account. His concern for Misaki Mei is one thing, but the lack of regard for the class is strange. He mentions that they seem to be afraid of her.
So he knows they fear something related to the existence of Misaki Mei. Of course he doesn’t know why, so he tries to find out what’s going on. However, he’s warned several times, both implicitly and explicitly. On all occasions, he seems to just nod or completely ignore them. Perhaps they’re just ‘superstition’, but what if this was a warning indirectly sent by a perpetrator? You would think that he would be a bit more discreet in his snooping as a precaution. These people seem scared of something and try hard to keep him away from it; if you aren’t scared, at least be concerned for those that you bring in. (specifically referring to that nurse)
The classmates aren’t telling him anything, so he has to turn to other sources to figure out what in the world’s going on (namely Mei herself, but even she’s reluctant to say too much). The fact people are dying is only making Kouichi more concerned, and want to solve the mystery even more. And the nurse was the one encouraging him all along the way, since she’s found the situation exciting (as a horror fan at least).
I kinda feel the same way about him. I can understand that he wants to solve these mysteries and all, but still … He just pokes around his nose more and more, and now we have 3 victims already (classmate, classmate’s mom, nurse).
On the other hand I think it’s nice that he’s so actively trying to solve the mystery, at least something’s happening then!
You really shouldn’t blame the main character for that. I mean the class is just being plain stupid. First of all every time he brings it up everyone just avoids the subject and acts suspiciously. So of course he’s going to get interested in it. Even now they mention “The rules” so they only have themselves to blame because they didn’t tell him the rules. Nobody did.
But to be fair it seems that Misaki mei has the Freddy Krueger effect. So it seems that only those who know of her are effected by the curse. Making it a logical to try and save him from being effected by it.
Great Episode !!! it was kinda symbolic though when the doll in the scene where mei disappeared, fell into the ground face first like the nurse !!! BTW i can’t read japanese that well but what was written on that piece of paper at back of the elevator ???
It’s a request asking everyone to save electricity by using the lift as little as possible. Since the earthquake last year those kinds of signs have been popping up in a lot of anime and drama.
Thank you 😀 i thought it was a broken elevator sign XD hahahaha i’m still trying to figure out though if every death is link to the curse or not XD
I really wanted to like Ookamikakushi, but the one thing about it I liked most was the ED, which also happened to be the best-executed thing about it. It had a stirring piece of music and an exciting POV camera that flew past the cast, writing checks the episode that preceded it could never quite cash 🙁
That Another has already surpassed Ookami (despite not breaking any new ground horror-wise) is a testament to P.A. Works. We think Hanasaku Iroha was their best work, and while we don’t like Another as much, we can’t deny it gets the fundamentals right. ‘Solid’ really is the best adjective to describe it so far.
Another successful ending scene. I love the setting and the art style. This week I picked up on some of the oldschool resident evil like fixed camera angels. Take the scene at the restaurant, something completely normal but made strange by showing us a oddball point of view. My explanation is changing, it seemes if you believe in the existence or acknowledge the existence of Mei outloud you are on the kill list. Anybody pick up on the glass falling scene? That was actually in a Final Destination movie.
ohh and lulz, I called the final destination thing before you (pulls down eyelid)
Yes, this is an adaptation of a manga. The manga’s mystery is actually on par with Shiki. Except that Shiki uses a classic vampire plot and mass murder while this relies on supernatural plot with mysterious deaths. Don’t worry, I won’t talk about spoilers.
What I dislike from the anime is the art design. They changed the Gothic and beautiful art of the manga to this typical moe design.
Some examples of the manga art:
http://www.batoto.net/read/_/75839/another_ch10_by_kawaii-corner
http://www.batoto.net/read/_/10255/another_ch2_by_kawaii-corner/24
The glasses girl supposed to be like this:
http://www.batoto.net/read/_/10257/another_ch4_by_kawaii-corner/3
They also took away the main character’s monologues, suspicions and deductions which is a big minus. But since the manga has completed, I expect this to have a decent conclusions at the very least.
It’s actually an adaptation from a single novel. The manga came later.
First is novel (2009), then manga (2010-2012) and now anime, and soon live-action. The anime follows the manga sequences more than the novel though. But the manga has better execution than the anime while the novel is just superb. The novel’s art is creepier (a bit disturbing too, imo) but pretty.
Yeah, they made some changes with the character designs, personalities, and some events (Kouichi wasn’t stalking Mei, he was just wandering around the town and found the doll studio. Akazawa wasn’t present when Kouichi was hospitalized in the first day and she is somewhat emotionally unstable and hates the main character, especially after Sakuragi’s death).
They tried too hard to make the characters look cute instead of realistic like in the manga and the novel.
While I also don’t really like Ito’s character designs for a setting like this, I like some of the manga’s and now anime’s additions; like the more present role of Akazawa. I cannot say I don’t like the novel but personally I don’t think it’s as superb as you seem to be feeling about it. Certain minor aspects like more interaction between the characters as seen in the manga and anime could have spiced up the novel a little. It’s not like it’s THAT atmospheric, at least not compared to other novels I’ve read by Ayatsuji Yukito, so some changes would not necessarily destroy anything, but I would also agree on the system the plot is based on being quite dense so it’s not as easy to change some parts as it might seem at first.
Honestly, I have no idea why, but whenever somebody dies in a mystery horror anime, I always think “YES! serves you die for being all mysterious.”
I’m a stickler for pretty artworks, and Another certainly meets my standards. There are many close up eye drawings, given the plot and the flow, and I love the way the eyes are drawn. Deep, dark, mysterious.
Not only are the humans drawn really well, the scenery as well as the background are pretty good to boot. The anime’s artworks are alright, I suppose. I like the manga better. The gore is better in animation though, the blood splatters and the sound effects of the anime.. Thumbs up