You know what? This is a season of very solid endings (save for Guilty Crown perhaps, but screw that show). I realized that when Another’s ending was the first ending that didn’t live up to my expectations. Oh, it was still good and i liked the closure it gave, but my expectations of this episode were high, and this episode pulled a few things that tugged on my suspense of disbelief.
The closure that was given was very solid though. To be honest, I did not consider Reiko being the ghost being a possibility. Technically she isn’t a student, But I can accept the logic of the ghost being a bit creative. This episode also didn’t really solve the calamity, it only delayed the killings for another year. I don’t mind that either. This is no story about exorcists, it’s about a bunch of teenagers trying to survive. I also liked the direction of this episode. The faces were a bit silly t times, but it nevertheless was good suspense, the action scenes were well directed and shot, and the scene with the revelation of the ghost was also quite creative.
Still, my knowledge about fire kept poking my suspense of disbelief whenever the characters were in the house: what happened to the smoke? I mean, a lot of victims of house fires don’t die because of fire, but because they inhale too much smoke. I can buy scenes with characters running through fire as fast as they can, but the characters in this episode casually walked around a burning building while feeling perfectly fine. In fact, acknowledging the fire could have lead to an interesting extra threat to this episode.
My big issue with this ending is its lack of meaning, though. I’m still not exactly sure what happened here, with the ghost breaking his own rules and suddenly deciding to try and eliminate every single member of the class with random lightning bolts, falling pillars, chandeliers and even trying to kill the dead student… for some strange reason. The people who went crazy were also nice and all, but they would have been even nicer if they actually had been fleshed out a bit. Because of that they also lacked the impact they could have had. And who on earth was that murdering maid?
And then Misaki suddenly revealed that she witnessed Meiko being killed. Of all the places she could have been. The creators could have done an epilogue that explained that: “we later found out that Meiko had been killed when.. blah blah et cetera”. Also, regarding the dolls of the first episode: what was their point again?
Overall, I think I liked Blood-C slightly more over Another (yes, I liked that show). It took much longer to get going, but in the end I liked how bold it was with its mystery, and how everything came together at the end. Another doesn’t necessarily have that ending where everything comes together, but instead it’s the journey that made it memorable, trying to figure out a way how to stop people dying the most bizarre deaths. It tried a bit too hard at times, but overall I’d rank this in the top five shows of the Winter 2012 season..
A review will be posted tomorrow, because it’s too late now (where I am anyway). Why on earth do four series decide to end all at the same bloody time?
Rating: *+ (Great)
This ending let me down. What’s the explanation for Misaki’s supernatural hability? There is no explanation, Misaki is just a – still – misterious girl and we just have to accept that. There should have been some explanation, she (or her mother) had to be connected to 3rd class mistery origin somehow. These two misteries have to be connected, otherwise this is way too convenient and deus machine-like. Also, I don’t buy that “the important is the journey, not the destination”, this show should have been about how a group of the 3rd class definitely stopped the calamity for ever, not a more or less random ocurrence of the loop. I enjoyed this series a lot anyway.
I think it explained somewhere that it is because her twin was dead, or something, she starts to see the color of death because she herself is “near to death” in that sense? A bit like Kara no kyoukai.
About the doll metaphor, psgel, I think it is for Mei character. She felt herself to be the replacement of something, and did not live for herself. That’s why she remained so passive after all abuse.
I don’t remember that. I remember that her twin was the first victim of the calamity. Misaki had that fake eye before that. But you’re probably right.
I thought that the doll metaphor was just a reference to Rozen Maiden, since there are two characters that have the exact eyes as Misaki in that series (can’t remember their names, but they were siblings) and they were dolls. The opening for Rozen Maiden was also by the same artist.
I think she can see death because she has a doll eye. This is a cautionary tale: Don’t replace your real eyes with doll eyes, or you will see dead people.
Major ball drop on the final scene in the graveyard.
The Manga had the two of them in casual clothes, Mei wearing a sun dress. They’ve been setting up that dress in the credits since the beginning and instead they have them in their school uniforms…
The build up to the climax was good but I agree that something just didn’t click. I still got a sense of closure from the ending but there were some ridiculous things that actually made me laugh, such as Kouichi wandering haplessly around the building without suffering smoke inhalation and the incredibly accurate lightning strikes which for some reason set off a series of chain explosions in the building. I know it is supposed to be supernatural but it just seems a tad over the top. Still, it was good suspense. I totally didn’t see the twist with Reiko Sensei coming.
Don’t care about the ending or anything. I can deal with it. What I CAN’T deal with is. WHO THE HELL KILLED REIKO 1.5 YEARS AGO?! Was it Sakakibara? His dad? He was supposedly there back then, according to both his dad and Akazawa.
In which case, that means Sakakibara is a murderer. A crazy one.
Also, I’m kind of curious why no one cares about the events of 1.5 years ago. Unless, I missed something.
I think it was just someone who somewhat resembled Sakakibara, not Sakakibara himself. When Akazawa first me Sakakibara, he was in the town for Reiko’s funeral. (Hence why he also mentions how he just lost someone important to him.) He knew Reiko had died, but his memories were erased of her death because of the calamity.
But yeah, it still felt a bit out of place to have someone completely random be Reiko’s murderer. This series connected all its bits and pieces pretty well, but it did both me a bit that the murderer was out of the blue.
Reiko was killed by a random psycho class 3 student, more than likely. Maybe she,as the assistant teacher (why would you assign an assistant teacher to a cursed class, anyway), spurned the poor sap’s crush on her or something.
Plenty of class 3 psychos to go around (could that be a meme?).
He could’ve even been the “Other” for that year, since they seem to be as susceptible to the calamity as the rest.
PA Works made this nearly impossible to “get” without that last episode. Reiko = Mikami sensei would have made too obvious, though.
I had predicted at separate times both Reiko and Mikami, but I had no idea that they were the same person. Nice troll, PA Works!
I enjoyed this show a lot, a bit over the top at times, put you have to put aside some amount of reason when watching a show with supernatural aspects.
Baron’s right about the smoke, as well, and not just with Kouichi. It seemed every student had somehow decided that it was perfectly normal to show no sense of urgency while moving through a burning building, unless some psychopath was chasing them.
THIS! I mean what the hell, the whole building is on fire and some students dont even notice! lol then Koichi GOES BACK INTO the burning building. . .wtf! I love this show to bits but those parts and the overkill-ing of all the students made me laugh a lot! ep 12 was definitely the weaker ending ep of the season 🙁
somethings that I wondered about: uh. . . so how are they gonna solve the calamity next year? I mean this class got kind of “lucky” that they had someone who could see dead people. . .but what about next year???
and how are they gonna solve the calamity for good!!!???
but yeah, people walking through a building like its nothing, was pretty stupid haha.
OH yeah, so. . .why did the guy say only 7 people had died. . .I clearly remember like only 5 or 6 people surviving. . .so ….yeah wth?
I don’t think they ever explained how or why the ghost was killing either. Supposedly the ghost didn’t realize she was dead, so why kill? Also, how do ghosts call down lightning?
The business about wandering around and standing and conversing in burning buildings happens A LOT in anime and it has always, always bothered me. Yes, in real life smoke inhalation would kill you and your own sense of self preservation would make you jump out of windows to escape fire, but not in the anime world. Something about the raging flames as backdrop seems to intrigue anime directors, I don’t know.
But I am reading this manga in scans on the on the web and hope they will better explain things. There are scenes where the young man has bad feelings in the house when talking to Reiko and is trying hard to recall “something” about a year ago so the foreshadowing is better. Hopefully it’ll explain her murder a little more clearly as well.
That statement about the burning buildings and jumping out is certainly correct.
Way back in the late 70’s (or early 80’s), I remember watching a live news feed on TV where a skyscraper was on fire.
There was a beauty salon on like the 40th floor, and the window to it was in full view of the camera. They even had a parabolic microphone pointed at the window, so you could hear what was taking place. One by one, the women in the salon chose to fall 40 stories rather than be burned to death.
On live national TV.
It was the most frightening thing I’d ever seen, as well as being both riveting and repulsive. I can picture that grainy video in my mind to this day.
It still freaks me out when I think about it.
Ah, a little research. It was only 8 stories, and WAAAY back in 1972.
It’s even on Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmHQjk6LzXA
I don’t recommend it.
“I’m still not exactly sure what happened here, with the ghost breaking his own rules and suddenly deciding to try and eliminate every single member of the class with random lightning bolts, falling pillars, chandeliers and even trying to kill the dead student… for some strange reason.”
It seems the calamity strikes hardest when students are trying to put an end to it. This was made clear when the whole class prayed at the shrine back in 1983, and suddenly two more of them were immediately killed off. The fact that nearly the entire class was all focused on trying to kill the dead extra shifted the calamity to All Hell Breaks Loose Mode.
Which apparently the dead extra herself was not 100% immune to, since there are still random variables at play. Plus, it was already made clear that it is possible for the dead extra to be killed.
“And who on earth was that murdering maid?”
They said in this episode that the lodge owners were the grandparents of Takabayashi (the freckled boy who had the sudden heart attack halfway through the series). Chibiki (the librarian) said they had suffered emotional trauma after the boy’s death, so I guess the lodge lady decided to have her revenge on all of class 3.
“Also, regarding the dolls of the first episode: what was their point again?”
It’s just symbolism for Mei’s situation at the start of the series. Like a doll, she could exist in the fact she was there, but she couldn’t live like an actual human being. The two dolls joined together were an allusion to Mei and her twin Misaki, and then you can glean meaning from the doll that looked like Mei as well (eg Mei’s not the real daughter–the stillborn child was). I don’t think they’re meant to be a huge plot element.
Another definitely had its share of unanswered questions though, as have been pointed out in other comments already. I really wished the series would end a bit more… thoroughly. The main mystery was solved, but I felt like we needed something more revealed for our main two characters, Kouichi and Mei. This may be largely stemming from my wish that they could have been developed more, though. =/
Overall it was an exciting, engaging series–enough that I’d call it an excellent horror mystery… But it’s not quite the groundbreaking series I was hoping it’d be.
I’d be interested in reading the book, if it’s ever translated into English. (If only light novels were more popular…)
I heard there will be an OVA for this series which will be aired in may 2012. Maybe you’ll get your answer there.
I guess I should read the novel. Acck. It’s probably got a TON of Kanji.
Some people seem to have the idea that the dead person is deliberately killing off people, but from what I understand the dead person is just a piece of the puzzle. They themselves don’t know that they are dead and has the same knowledge of everything everyone else does, except fake memories and stuff like that.
exatly at least in the manga it was explained plainly that it is simply a curse. The dead one does not know that he is dead, he does not do anythig, by his very exisstence in the living world where he does not belong he places whole of the class and it’s relatives in a state “closer to death” meaning that as long as he is there they are prone to die.
so apparently there is some source material, so I went on a difrerent forum and found some minor differences between the source material and anime: Though most people won’t go to this thread until the anime is over I made a list of what is different between the anime and the original novel so far. I found some of the changes good, some bad…I’m still pretty excited to see how they will pull off the very end. If anybody who has read the novel noticed any further differences I’d be interested if I missed some (I have that feeling I did)…or maybe anybody has an opinion about the changes XD
Spoiler for differences novel to anime:
The two neighbouring areas Yūmigaoka and Asamidai are mentioned, explaining that the names seem to refer to the beauty of the places in different times of the day. Asami (朝見) Yūmi (夕見) and Yomi (夜見) being morning-view, evening-view and night-view respectively.
Kōichi drinks coffee from the very beginning (but remarks that Reiko drinks it black)
Reiko tells one of the 7 ghost stories of Yomi North:
“Well then I tell you this one, which was by the way the first I heard back then.“
And so Reiko began to narrate that one ghost story sorrounding the animal stable behind the gym.
One morning all the bunnies and guinea pigs had vanished from their stable. The door had been destroyed and inside were huge ammounts of blood. The police was called for investigation and it became a huge fuss, but not one of the animals was everr found and they never found out who did it. The stables were torn down after that, but apparently there were reports of seeing the blood-smeared bunnies and guinea pigs (maybe their ghosts?) on that site.
“But that story has a strange addition to it.“, continued Reiko with a serious face.
“When the police tested the blood samples they had found at the scene, it turned out not to be bunny or guinea pig blood at all. It was human blood. It was bloodtype AB negative*…“
*AB negative (or all negative bloodtypes) are thought to be very rare in Japan and it therefore hints toward a strange and peculiar person.
Ritsuko explains more about the class rules:
rule #1: If you go out onto the roof and you hear the crows cry out, you have to reenter with your left foot first.
rule #2: After entering the 3rd grade of middle school, you may never fall down on the hill road outside of the back gate.
rule #3: You must always follow the decisions of your class.
Akazawa Izumi is not part of the welcoming committee visiting Kōichi in the hospital. She is absent during those days and was thus unable to perform her duties as head of countermeassures.
Kōichi’s reason for wanting to protect Mei against ostracism and bullying is explained further when the two talk about him being bullied after the 1997 case in Kōbe where 14 year old Sakakibara Seito was arrested as a child murderer.
Kōichi spends more time with Teshigawara Naoya and Kazami Tomohiko.
Teshigawara and Kazami show him around the school, including the old school building.
Akazawa Izumi does not become a part of the group of friends (in the anime she takes the role of Kazami, while he is completely removed from the gang). She is practically absent from every scene in which she features in the anime.
Along the way Kōichi visits Mochizuki Yuuya and Kazami at home.
Inose Tomoka (Anime version: Mochizuki Tomoka) is further explained to be Mochizuki’s half sister by a different mother and therefore far enough removed not to be targeted as a victim.
The group never gets to meet Matsunaga Katsumi, they are merely being told about the hint towards the hidden cassette tape by Inose Tomoka who works at the café Inoya which he frequents.
The group does not take a trip outside of town. The only person leaving town for a few days is Misaki Mei who goes on a trip with her parents on her fathers boat.
Nakao Junta does not die in an accident at sea because of a cerebral concussion. He is stabbed to death by Takabayashi Ikuo’s maternal grandmother Numata Mineko on her rampage at the lodge.
Ayano Aya and her parents have no actual role in the original plot and do not die at all.
Takabayashi Ikuo does not attempt to tell Kōichi about Misaki Mei and dies from a heart attack at home. Kōichi learns about this when Mochizuki is informed about it via phone by Akazawa.
Chibiki Tatsuji’s lecture about the workings of the phenomenon and the ensuing calamity is much more elaborate. He tells Kōichi and Mei about the phenomena of previous years, the gradual progress of forgetting and also about the growing countermeassures
The tape they found in the old 3-3 classroom got damaged when they were to eager in removing the adhesive tape. They also don’t use any school property to play it back but have to repair it first. Mei is not present during their search either.
Reiko seems a lot more distraught about her sister’s death
Steadily we are told about several of the 7 school ghost stories:
#1 bloody animal stables
#2 bloody hand rising from the basins
#3 secret library
Several death are explained in further detail to make them more of an accident that happened due to a heightened chance of death occuring:
Sakuragi Yukari: Her death is happening unobserved, we are merely told through Koichi’s perspective that she apparently opened her umbrella while storming down the stairs and then slipped and fell on it.
Mizuno Sanae: She does not die from being crushed, but suffers a severe head trauma when the elevator hits ground. She is unresponsive afterwards and dies while the hospital staff tries to reanimate her. Also, the policemen say that the elevator was apparently in bad shape and was already rumored to be a death trap. Out of so far unresolved circumstances the emergency breaks activated but broke down immediatly.
Takabayashi Ikuo: He dies of a heart attack while at his home, unobserved by anybody.
Mr. Kubodera: His and his mother’s background are elaborated upon. He has to care for his mother after the stroke made her practically unable to care for herself as well as making her grow more and more senile over the years. He silently started resenting his mother with whom he shared a very small appartment. The description when commiting suicide is also more focused on his speech, hinting at him already having crossed the border into insanity.
Koichi talks to the detective researching the cases sorrounding the calamity. The detective admits that he has heard about that infamous curse and has a personal interest, but because there is no perpetrator there is nothing he can do about it.
The detective mentions that he has a 12 year old daughter about to advance to Yomi North and that this is the reason why he has a personal interest in the curse. He tries to belief that the curse will be lifted until his daughter gets into the 3-3 by any chance.
After hearing about it from Teshigawara at the lodge Kōichi rushes out to look whether Kazami is dead. Kazami has only a minor injury that makes him unable to walk on his own.
The main proof that Kōichi’s contact with Mei brought disaster upon the class, used by Akazawa at the lodge when she is accusing Mei is, that Sugiura Takako saw how Sakuragi reacted when she saw Kōichi talking to Mei on the corridor which made her run in the opposite direction.
Sugiura Takako does not go insane and also does not spearhead any witch-hunt against Misaki Mei at the lodge. She is simply stabbed by Numata Mineko when she surprises her and Akazawa in their room.
Akazawa Izumi is stabbed by Numata Mineko and then falls from the balcony where Kōichi finds her dead.
Ogura Yumi has no role in the original plot apart from her brother dying. She does not die at the lodge.
Ouji Makoto does not die at the lodge.
When Kōichi finds Maejima Manabu in the lodge after he has been stabbed by Numata Mineko, he immediatly tries to carry him outside to safety. Maejima still dies of bloodloss immediatly after.
Yonemura Shigeki goes along on the schooltrip where he is stabbed by Numata Mineko and dies of bloodloss. His body is only later found by the police.
Numata Kensaku is killed in the kitchen which is then set on fire by Numata Mineko. The fire causes a gas-tank to explode, spreading the fire through the lodge and causing the students to escape in panic.
Kōichi is chased by Numata Mineko and then saved by Chibiki who returned to the lodge.
All students immediatly head outside as the fire in the lodge starts. There are no random deaths except those killed by Numata Mineko
There is no lightningstorm that hits the lodge.
There is no past meeting between Akazawa and Kôichi
After Kôichi leaves the lodge to save Maejima and is in turn rescued by Chibiki he gets the call from Mei telling him that she is save but that he should stay where he is or he’ll regret it.
Mei did not witness Mikami Reiko getting killed. This is only revealed later in the Outroduction chapter.
The last scene is set in Kôichi’s hospital room.
It is not made clear what actions the 3-3 of 1998 will take after the events of the novel.
Kôichi and Mei are talking about going to Tôkyô together.
Reiko’s biggest regret is being unable to see Kôichi at least once after his birth; as he has spent all his life in Tôkyô with his father
It’s strongly hinted at that it was Reiko’s wish for Kôichi, Kôichi’s wish for a mother and their grandparents denial of Reiko’s death which triggered her return as the one person more.
Reiko is filling the void of Kôichi’s dead mother, which makes his act of killing her also in a mirror-matricide -> He was the reason his mother came to Yomiyama in 1983 and died and now he has to kill Reiko – his surrogate mother – to end the calamity.
So the beach episode was anime filler and a good many of the logic inconsistencies were due to the blood C directors idiocy. Good to know. I sort of suspected it but now I know for sure.
yeah pretty much, the F**ups were the director’s fault. Still enjoyed the show but now I know why some stuff was just wtf worthy
All in all, good finale, and we appreciate the entire story unfolding and coming to a satisfying close in a tidy twelve episodes.
We also liked Misaki’s smirk at the end in response to Sakakibara’s question “Is it over?” It’s over for them, but unless future Class 3s have a girl with a dead twin sister and a supernatural glass eye, they’ll fall into the same traps as this Class 3. Especially if the ghost decides to get even trickier.
I am somewhat disappointed, they kill the ghost and so they survive but regarding the big picture, the whole curse, we never find out more. And the changed memories, then suddenly they remember… I felt cheated. Also, I for one did not find this last two episodes that intense, too many silly faces and even a laughable stance from Akazawa in this last episode, I could not take this too seriously.
The dolls were very overused throughout the entire series but, they had no meaning to the show at all. I wanted to know why the ghost kept coming back anyway. What was the point in all of it? Also why can Misaki even see dead people? It felt like the ending where the dead person was revealed just seemed really thrown together. I mean it was a twist and a surprise to everyone but, I couldn’t just accept that they just threw out all this useful info at the end about Mei seeing her die and the faculty room being short a desk.
They really never really said if the curse had stopped. I mean previously the dead person had been killed but, they came back year after year again. Does that mean another season? Or because Kouichi and Misaki are special the ghost just gives up?
actually I heard there is a sequel to the source material in the works. . . so no, nothing was solved for good. . .frustraging(made up a new word) I know >_<