As for the series I’m not going to blog:
– Brave10 is too much stupid action without a good storyline. I mean, I understand that it takes on its own version on history, but even then I at least expect to be convinced that these are the guys who helped to create an empire. Not random bishies who try to look cool. Oh, and I take it back what I said about the female lead. She really is annoying.
Another perhaps isn’t the best horror series out there. Its big flaw is that it tries too hard at times. Get rid of those random doll shots. Get rid of those scenes that just scream”find this scary!”. Trust your atmosphere; trust your pacing, and let things evolve naturally. That alone is good enough for this show, and it’ll lead to a much more natural pacing.
A good example for this is the beginning of this episode, in which that classmates drew The Scream of all things. The symbolism is a little too obvious here. The doll shots are also like the cats in Kimi to Boku: completely pointless, and a waste of a good budget that could have been used to animate the characters more fluidly, which is a bit of a problem with this show. The doll shop in this episode was plenty to create a creepy atmosphere.
Don’t get me wrong though, I like this show a lot. However, I’m a big horror fan, and I’ve been really spoiled with a ton of great horror series, so my standards for it are quite high, especially for the type of atmospheric horror that this series is trying to go for I really love it if a show can really build up an increasingly tight atmosphere using its own mystery and intrigue, combined with either a little gore, or some psychological games. Another probably won’t bring anything new to the table, but so far it has been quite solid. The atmosphere worked, and in particular the use of music is done well.
I unfortunately also have to give this show the “worst animated television series of PA works”-award, though. They usually are very careful with their cleanup and inbetween animation, but here they seem to go for the money shots, and don’t bother to fix awkward movement. Granted though: these dolls really look great.
Also, there was this one scene in this episode, in which the lead character suddenly broke off a conversation with his classmates, closing a door right in front of their faces, acting like they weren’t even there (also, main character can walk through chairs!?). I really wonder how those classmates felt after realizing that he wasn’t coming back out.
Rating: * (Good)
Well yeah, something it just screams “LOOK IM SO SCARY”, but I think the overall mood is great… And like you said the dolls look beautiful
First episode was better, but it has potential… too bad Im 100% sure the next ep wont solve the cliffhanger this one ended with… Ill be really surprised if we actually get to see her eye
Also wondering how they are gonna go about the fact that shes dead… I mean, will this turn into some fantasy stuff or maybe the main character is just delusional? Etc
I don’t think she’s dead. I think she’s a ‘scapegoat’, chosen to be ‘Mei Misaki’ to prevent the curse of the original Mei from hitting the class. The previous Mei was the one who died, and she’s the replacement Mei. Part of the whole curse countermeasures involves treating her as a non-person.
It’s the town conspiracy.
Now that is an interesting theory.
Also, psgels: What do you mean about the main character walking through chairs?
That would certainly explain why the title is “Another”…
Very interesting, but then her eye is probably normal, unless they intentionally stabbed her to mimic the dead Mei perfectly
Oh now that’s a nice theory. Didn’t think of that at all. It would make sense!
The scene with the library is even more weird in the anime than it was in the novel but there’s a reason for pretty much everything (apart from unfortunately chosen plot devices that unnecessarily drag the plot) as long as you can endure the first half of the content.
Walking through chairs? Do you mean the scene where Kouichi walks down the stairs to the basement? That certainly looked odd even knowing what happened beforehand.
Hey are you going to blog Recorder To Randoseru? Even though every episode seems to be geared toward 1 joke its not bad.
You really want me to blog that show? What is there to say about it to warrant a weekly post?
You do have a point there the episodes are insanely short. Will you do a final review on it once its finished? It will probably take 20 min to watch the whole series lol.
The atmosphere in this anime is really great, I think. And the horror of the secrets the main-character encounters would be great as well if the dialogues wouldn’t be so… insistent on telling you that this is a horror-story. The first scene with that boy drawing a screaming lemon was really good – but then they don’t stop talking about it. Instead of the pure weirdness of having a classmate draw a screaming lemon and deem it “appropriate under the circumstances”, they’re telling the audience everything one can possibly know just from seeing someone draw this picture. They simply explain it away with that dialogue. The horror comes from not knowing why this stuff happens at this point so yeah, I agree with you, psgels, it’s a little bit too obvious.
“Also, there was this one scene in this episode, in which the lead character suddenly broke off a conversation with his classmates, closing a door right in front of their faces, acting like they weren’t even there”
To me it seemed like the main-character is strangely obsessed with Mei. I mean, it wasn’t only this one conversation, he always ends up abruptly leaving when he catches a glimpse of her.
I fully agree with your progonosis regarding the principal flaw of Another. They are trying to hard, and each time the script becomes Anvilicious, each time I roll my eyes.
What are these other Horror anime you have seen / recommend? Higurashi / Shiki are onlys ones I can think of. I haven’t found many in anime but so far this seems like one of the better ones. Always interested in finding more!
I once wrote a top 10 of my favorite horror series. That’s a good place to start:
http://psgels.net/2009/10/30/my-top-10-horror-anime/
Horror seems to be a genre that anime is lacking. Pity really…
I think the most significant thing in this ep was what Mei said about the joined dolls (that she likes them best because of how calm they look but that surely they would be happier if they weren’t joined). This implies to me that Mei or someone close to her is joined to someone else in some way and that is what’s causing her problems. So things like the theory that the class has a scapegoat “Mei” at all times could explain that.