layla.herman - 2013-09-28 10:22:15

Warning: There will be lots of lame puns and no spoilers in this review.

Another was just another anime which I watched. Of course, it is horror, but some elements of comedy are there, overshadowed by the darkness. As the story begins, it gives the creeps to even the strongest people, but as we move through the episodes, deaths become somewhat common-place and it feels like "Oh damn. Another person died. Cool.", or something like "Not another one...". But the story itself is very gripping and enjoyable(?). The plot, at first seeming to be very supernatural, becomes more sensible and horrific. Certain scenes can literally send a shiver down your spine while inducing a small shrill yelp in your throat.

Story

The story follows with Kouichi as the protagonist, and an antagonist you will never actually be sure of. As in every horror story, the protagonist just has to mess with things that he shouldn't. And Another is no exception. The story develops wonderfully in the beginning, but loses the strength half-way through. Then again, it improves in he last few episodes. Misaki, the deuteragonist of this anime, becomes a really suspicious character, from the viewer's point-of-view. Appearing to be invisible to everyone else, it can give one the creeps.

The story feels to be very relaxed and slow-paced in the first half, but rushes very fast towards the end. Another thing I would like to mention is that the ending was one of the most unexpected endings ever, and was somewhat unsatisfying.

Animation

The animation was fine up until the end. In the end, there is a lot of darkness, and fire. And both of these are very poorly executed. It becomes very difficult to make things out in the darkness(in a bad way, that is) and the fire just appears very fake. Too fake.

Sound

While I didn't listen the ED even once, the OP was very good. Not wonderful, but just another good OP. The background OST was wonderful. The use of the static-like sounds to induce fear in the minds of the viewer is great. Also, the loud parts and silent parts are executed very nicely.

Character

The characters, while being good, are too many. Throughout the anime, I had to keep checking who was who. As with most small anime with many characters. Though I felt that remembering the names wasn't that important, after all, they were all going to die(No this in't a spoiler. I'm saying this figuratively.). All the characters, in the end, start acting weird, and I felt that it was over-doing things. Most of the characters are fun and I personally didn't dislike any character, exception being Sugiura, for reasons which will be obvious once you see the anime. The huge misunderstandings cause a lot of problem then,

Enjoyment

The anime was quite enjoyable. The first few deaths are very(...) enjoyable.I would suggest that you pay attention to all the little, seemingly trivial dialogues which are present. Or actually, don't. It will increase the surprise and the overall fun in the end, when you listen to those dialogues again after knowing the reality.

Overall

All in all, this is just another anime which seems to entertain you, while making you think. The plot is good, characters fun, animation flawed, and the sound great. This anime will not cease to entertain you till the end. I suggest you watch the anime in one go, as the feeling of creepiness will go quickly. Also, you will remember the characters and the continuation will increase the fun.

gaylord.kristy - 2013-09-22 23:31:05

rickie75 - 2013-08-26 00:33:56

-No spoilers are contained within this review-

Story (6/10)

When I first got a grasp on the story in Another I was slightly surprised. I started to watch this show with expectations of a cliché storyline, where the “surprises” could be seen from a mile away. The story in fact is something very different than what I would expect. Another takes the form of a “slice of life” show at the very beginning and evolves from then on into a thriller. The whole of the story follows a character named Kouichi Sakakibara after he transfers to a new high school. As he begins adjusting to his new surroundings he notices a girl in his class named Mei Misaki. Mei (for reasons unknown) has been ostracized by the rest of the class so Kouichi, being a nice and friendly guy, starts talking to her and befriends her. Once strange accidents and calamities start befalling the classmates Kouichi takes it upon himself to find out what is going on. This story setting is something that I have never run into before, so, naturally, it caught my interest. Even though the storyline was unique it unfortunately seemed to be lacking. Exposition about the plot is very dry and sometimes hard to understand. The main character’s investigation pretty much consists of sitting in the school library and sifting through old yearbooks. Seriously? I had to take points off for that. Where the story really shines is the situations. Many characters will find themselves time and again in very strenuous or perilous circumstances, all of which come out of the blue and give the watcher a very strong sense of suspense. This was what kept me going, and honestly what saves the show in my opinion. I will not spoil anything but I have to say that these parts are extremely well done and had me on the edge of my seat.

Animation (5/10)

The one thing that makes a thriller movie good is the atmosphere and on this section I have mixed feelings. The characters are drawn well enough and the animation quality fits together, but there is one issue. The key to scaring the audience is getting them immersed into the story, making them more susceptible to fear, but there are parts where immersion is broken. For instance near the ending (no spoilers) there is a scene in which a fire breaks out. One huge immersion breaker for me is the animation of the flames. To be blunt it’s extremely bad. Honestly it looks like something out of an old Playstation game. To have something look so poor at the climax of the show is a huge mistake. To be honest I made the effort to try to ignore it so that the experience wouldn’t be ruined. Other than that the animation is fine. The atmosphere is done effectively enough to tell the story with little interruption.

Sound (8/10)

I’m sure people who watch thrillers know that sound plays a crucial role in completing the atmosphere. In the case of Another they pull it off very well. The music is downright creepy, silence is used correctly, and the OP sets the tone for the show. I found that when the atmosphere was lacking or part of the animation was “hiccupping” that the music and sounds would be enough to keep me involved.

Characters (5/10)

This one is hard for me to admit, but the characters aren’t really well done. They are very average, bland, and plain cookie cutter. That being said, they still fulfill their roles as characters. I never found myself attached to the two main characters, as I should have been. Let’s just leave it as this. There was nothing outstanding about them. There was enough to make me scared and interested but overall they leave something to be desired.

Enjoyment (8/10)

This show is like junk food. You know it’s bad, the ingredients are not up to par, but there’s just something about it that you like. Apart from all of the faults mentioned above I still really enjoyed this show. There were a few parts that tested my patience and/or bored me, but they were brief enough that I still continued I think it was worth sticking out. Nothing about this show will astound you, make you think, or leave you breathless, but regardless it can still scare you. Everything comes together just enough so that the ride is still a lot of fun, and for me that’s worth something.

Overall (6.4/10)

Like I said before. This show is junk food. Not to say that it’s total garbage. It is not all that well done but proved to be an entertaining and fun ride. Apart from its lackluster appearance and somewhat shaky atmosphere Another still freaked me out and gave me a good time. If you like thrillers that are gruesome and creepy, but you’re not looking for something to overanalyze or study, this is a good two-dimensional product that may be worth your while. Even though it was slightly forgettable I had a good time and, if you pick it up, I hope you do too.

ilene.hane - 2013-08-06 13:52:45

another was written by Ryō Higaki and produces by PA work March 27, 2012.

PLOT

Misaki, a popular student of Yomiyama North Middle School's class 3-3, suddenly died partway through the school year. the students and teachers behaved like Misaki was still alive, leading to a strange presence on the graduation photo. In Spring 1998, 15-year-old Kōichi Sakakibara transfers into Yomiyama's class 3-3, where he meets Mei Misaki, a strange student who their classmates and teachers seemingly ignore. The class is soon caught up in a strange calamity, where its students and their relatives are caught up in mysterious deaths. Realizing that these deaths are related to the Misaki , it is up to Kōichi and Mei to discover the cause of these mysterious deaths and figure out how to stop it before it can kill them. Well more of witness it instead

CHARACTER

Mei Misaki : is a strange girl in class 3-3.or the werid love interest\ fucking dance partner of our main character Kōichi , who live in a fucking doll house, that everybody seems to not notices, and she the whole reason behind the murder.

Kōichi Sakakibara : is a 15-year-old boy that gets sick cause he has like cancer or something, who is our main character and a bad one at that, instead of being the main character that solves the mystery and brave the horror. which Kōichi just stand there and watches it.

MUSIC

the ost of another is compose Kow otani who has done work on outlaw star, Shana, and Gunslinger- girl, normally he is ok but for another the songs wasn't anything special

the ending was Anamnesis by Ali project which I thought was very good

Animation

the Animation is the best part of the show it dark and the color red shine the nothing more to that

ENJOYMENT

over all I could see where people like this show I can say when I was watching it I was excited to watch the next episode even thought the mystery is predicable and the character are boring but it is somewhat exciting I will give this anime 6/10 and I would say don't go out of the way to watch it but you should at least steam it cuase it is worth it

marley.schmidt - 2013-07-30 18:26:29

Another is a great take on the horror genre, although many will argue that it's critically flawed. Anime can be a fantastic medium for horror and it's a shame that's not taken advantage of enough. A lot of anime will be labeled as horror, but they aren't really horror. Take Dusk Maiden of Amnesia for example, which feels like a J.C. Staff romcom in disguise. One seemingly insignificant thing that makes Another stand out is that it's actually a horror show. It doesn't quite have the jump scares you find in a live action horror movie, but there's hardly a moment in the show that isn't chilling.

Another tells the story of Yomiyama North Junior High's 9th grade class 3 and the problems they face. It starts with Kouichi Sakakibara, a transfer student who starts off in Yomi North to find the quiet girl Mei Misaki in the back is seemingly invisible to the other students. But why? The answer lies with the Yomi North 9th grade class 3's past, a secret being kept from Kouichi. It's too late though. Once it's begun, it can't be stopped. Blood will be spilled.

If you came here looking to know if Another was worth your time or not, then you've come to the right place. Let me give you a quick answer: yes, I highly recommend it for a slew of reasons. As I mentioned last paragraph, what sets the show apart from the rest is that it really is horror and delivers on that. Very few shows really do give you straight up scares, the most notable being Higurashi no naku koro ni, but even that famous horror story doesn't provide the constantly chilling atmosphere that Another does - you won't find a half moe, half horror show here - it's all chills. It also keeps the story short and sweet at 12 episodes, so if you get pulled in you can finish it in a single night.

There's more a reason to watch besides the promising delivery on horror. If you want to start looking at anime critically and judge them for their flaws, Another is a good place to start. Although the show isn't by any means bad, it's great to try and identify the pitfalls the show hit in just about all areas, which I'll be going over later. Being able to tell where an anime went wrong is the first step to viewing it critically and the variety of flaws makes it good in that regard. I never thought I'd recommend a show based on it's flaws, this is definitely something else.

In the end I give Another my seal of approval.

There are lots of things I like about Another's story. But for everything I loved I find something that doesn't add up or something that can't be overlooked. Let's start from the beginning of the series up towards the grand finale. Feel free to skim through my summaries and read my criticism of the story in between - you'll never get through this review if you read through it all.

In the beginning, we're told the first half of class 3's secret. About the student, Misaki, a girl who was loved by everyone, suddenly dying in an accident, when the teacher and all the students pretend she's still there after her death, and she mysteriously appears in the class photo.

Right from the start, we're introduced to some of the different class members, and everything seems fine, but you can tell that everyone's acting off. I liked how this set us up with questions right from the start. Even before Kouichi began at school, when Akazawa, Kazami, and Yukari meet him at the hospital, their visit was just to probe about his history with Yomiyama and if he'd ever lived there before. Why were they so curious? Then in PE, Takabayashi pretends not to know of any Mei Misaki when Kouichi asks. When walking home with Yukari, she also pretends not to know of Mei Misaki. Why is everyone pretending she doesn't exist? He meets Mei on the roof, where she tells him that it's dangerous to get close to her. But why?

Keep all these questions in your mind for the whole ride, folks, because you won't find out the answer to any of these for 4 more episodes. I would imagine the people that watched as it aired thought that the show was absolutely infuriating, because all it did was add questions. Everything that really makes up the plot is kept hidden from the viewer all the way up until episode 5. But we'll get to that later.

Over the course of episodes 1 - 3, we get to know the vast cast of characters from class 3, a bit about the mysterious Mei Misaki, and we witness Kouichi and Sanae's hospital snooping to find out who died. Over these three episodes the show gets extremely misleading - you're set up to think that Mei is a ghost or something, especially with the student from 26 years ago being named Misaki, and then when Sanae called to tell Kouichi that the girl who died in the hospital in April was named Misaki - it's all very confusing. This is where the viewers tend to split - between those who are interested and keep watching out of curiosity, and those who get frustrated and drop the show. I found myself in the former group, but I don't blame you if you were in the latter. At this point nothing is really being revealed, only hinted at, and nothing very scary has happened - just creepy scenes of Mei and dolls and that chilling soundtrack echoing throughout.

Then it begins. In the end of episode 3, Yukari gets a call telling her that her mother got in a car accident, and rushes out of the room, grabs her umbrella, only to trip down the stairs and have it impale her in a bloody mess. Now someone's died, and in episode 4, the class behaves as though somebody's death was bound to happen. You think you'd get some answers by now, right? Nope. You're still kept in the dark.

The show's finally taken an interesting turn now, so if you held on this long, that's awesome.

In the end of episode 4 Sanae is crushed in the elevator, as apart of the curse, and following this the class begins to give Kouichi the Mei treatment. The day before, he meets with Yuuya and Ikuo after the class decided to ignore Kouichi. They disagreed strongly with that choice, and Ikuo couldn't hold it in and felt that Kouichi deserved to know what was going on. I know, you're probably so excited. We're finally going to get some answers, right? Haha, hell no you won't, over Ikuo's dead body - literally, he dies of a heart attack just as he tries to explain everything to Kouichi. After the Mei treatment begins, Yuuya gives him a note telling him to have Mei explain everything. Finally everything is revealed when Mei tells Kouichi the second half of the story: according to Mei, after the class 3 of 26 years ago pretended as if the dead student still existed, it invited death into the classroom, and some years the class will face a tragedy where students and family members will die. This invitation of death leads to having one of the students in the class as an extra, someone who already died, and the dead one doesn't even know that they're dead. After the year ends, so does the calamity, records and people's memories are altered, and the dead person disappears with those memories and records. With no way to tell the dead person apart, the only proven way to stop the calamity is to pretend that one student in the class doesn't exist. Mei was chosen as that person, and nobody told Kouichi. Now to strengthen this charm, Kouichi is being ignored too, which saves the students from explaining everything to him. Some of that is explained in episode 6, where not much happens besides more questions about the curse being answered and some interesting development on Mei.

The first half of the show was a confusing mess, and by episodes 5 and 6, that confusion is gone. We finally understand what's going on. At this point the plot moves forward with the the viewer finally understanding what's even happening. This is way too long to leave me in the dark. I don't want to spend half the show being extremely confused. The story's also packed a lot of things that aren't really important in just to confuse us more, like the whole deal with Mei's family and the girl who died at the hospital. In the end of the show we learn that Mei had a twin she was separated from and Kirika's not her real mom, but what is the point of this side-drama? It has almost no relevance whatsoever in the real story here, the class 3 calamity.

No matter how bothersome the confusion is and the addition of unimportant events, I won't lie and say that these things didn't add to my enjoyment to some extent, it's a little bit worse when reflecting on it and a little bit better when going through it. I did somewhat like trying to figure out the mystery, even if it left me further in the dark the more I thought about that. Is that a good thing? That's up to you to decide and depends on whether you liked that or not. If you're looking for a complex plot that comes together well, Another may not be the show for you, but if this distorted mess is enjoyable to you, then I'm sure you'll have liked the way it progressed up until this point. Either way, this curse deal was definitely a cool element to the story and I loved what it brought to the show.

In episode 7 Mr. Kubodera runs a knife through his neck after murdering his comatose mother, two more deaths caused by the curse that prove their charm of ignoring both Mei and Kouichi was ineffective. I don't understand how it was supposed to work in the first place, because if both of them acknowledged each other's existences, then the rest of the class ignoring the two of them would've been pointless. Just another minor plot hole that bothered me, but regardless, the class finally acknowledges Mei and Kouichi. Now the two of them are apart of the push to try and stop the calamity. Yuuya's older sister Tomoko tells a few of the class members about a regular at the bar named Matsunaga, who claimed that he'd stopped the curse once fifteen years ago. He was in the same class as Kouichi's aunt Reiko, who was friends with them, so the next episode they tracked him down to a beach resort outside Yomiyama where he worked. You know what this means, right kids? Beach time fun! Probably the happiest you'll see the show is when they wait for Matsunaga to come around and spend that time at the beach. The curse doesn't occur outside of Yomiyama, so they're totally safe, right? What's more, Mei just so happens to be there too, because her family was on vacation in the area! The whole crew is here. But nope, you're not even safe outside of Yomiyama. Nakao, one of the students who went with the group to speak with Matsunaga, goes to chase after a ball that went into the water, but he couldn't swim straight, drowned, and was ran over by a boat and shredded to pieces. The next episode it's revealed that it stemmed from head trauma that occurred in Yomiyama that morning, which is why he died outside of town. The only good thing that came out of this is that Matsunaga says "But I...I protected them...I left it for them...in the classroom," as he watches.

With that, progress is made! Kouichi, Teshigawara, and Yuuya agree to go and search for what Matsunaga left without telling anyone else because they didn't want more people involved than what was necessary. But, just like how she happened to be there at the beach, Mei happened to be in the art room when the three of them met up to investigate class 3's old classroom. How convenient? Really though, you can only pull the just-so-happened-to-be-there move so many times within two episodes before it starts to get annoying. When they find what Matsunaga left behind, a tape, they play it in the A/V room. As he tells a story about a Yomiyama shrine visit in which one student is struck by lightning and another falls off a cliff, it shows clips of Ayano's family attempting to escape Yomiyama when they accidentally steer off of a cliff and Yumi getting home to find her brother had been killed when a truck ran into their house and smashed him. I loved this episode for the interesting story telling, despite that Teshigawara accidentally breaks the tape before the important part is heard. Yuuya thinks it can be fixed though.

In time for their own Yomiyama shrine visit, Yuuya conveniently had the ripped up tape fixed, where they played it at the lodge and discovered that the only way to stop the curse was to "send the dead back to death," which was very anticlimactic because now they knew the only way to stop it was finding out who the dead one was, which they already knew they couldn't do. Come on, what good was the damn tape anyway? Not only that, but Mei reveals that she knows who's dead because her eye can see death. So for so long she'd already known, but just as Mei begins to tell Kouichi who was dead, Teshigawara busts in, all, "Guys, I think I fucked up!" and all hell breaks loose.

I'm not even going to begin to try and explain the clusterfuck of things that occured over the final two episodes. All you need to know is that word got around that returning the dead back to death would end the calamity, and as soon as they thought they themselves would die, all the students and even the lodge's manager and wife (later revealed to be Ikuo's grandparents) all go on a killing spree. The lodge lights on fire and everyone's going at it. Mei was targeted in particular as the unimportant side story about Mei's twin came to light when Takako remembers only Misaki Fujioka, Mei's twin, and thinks that Mei is Misaki Fujioka reborn incomplete. I don't really think that entire thing with Mei having a twin was necessary to get them all to target her, but regardless, all the students went after Mei, even Akazawa, who had a showdown with her in episode 12. After said showdown, Kouichi catches up with Mei, where the dead one is revealed.

Plot twist! It was actually the assistant homeroom teacher, Ms. Mikami, who, unbeknownst to us viewers and just about everyone except Kouichi, was also Kouichi's aunt Reiko. Now, this whole thing with Reiko and Ms. Mikami being the same didn't add up to me at all. Throughout the show we saw several scenes where Kouichi asked Reiko about how to stop the calamity, because she was also apart of class 3. Chibiki the librarian and original teacher of class 3 also said that Ms. Mikami had been the teacher during the calamity in '96 as well - but she was ultimately killed that same year as part of the calamity, only to come back as the dead person in '98. If that was true, how come Kouichi at home acted as if Reiko only knew of the calamity from when she was in school, and not from while she's been teaching class 3? Reiko ignored Kouichi as Ms. Mikami, but not at home as Reiko? Nothing adds up here.

In the end Kouichi sends Reiko back to death and the curse is done and over with, an epilogue showing class 3's students leaving a tape the same way Matsunaga did. With that I've pretty much summarized the entire show, bringing up points I thought were positive and added to the story and those that detracted from it. At its core, Another tells a really great story with a great concept and done fairly well, but in the end where everything was supposed to come together perfectly, not all the pieces fit as well as they should have. There were also a lot of points that made the show really difficult to wrap your head around. I give it a 5/10.

Another was animated by P.A. Works, the same people who brought you, for a well-known example, Angel Beats! - and I only cite that example because the rest of the shows they've done are lesser known (I haven't seen them at least) and poorly rated. That doesn't necessarily mean Another has to be another lesser known and poorly rated show though! Get it? Haha, I'm hilarious. Anyway, if their shows aren't being received well it's definitely not because of the visuals, because Another had fantastic art and animation that, as I always look for, matched the tone of the show. A lot of people rant that character designs were bland and generic and so was the setting. I disagree - I thought the style fit perfectly with the creepy mood. If they'd made everything over the top and stick out it wouldn't really fit for a creepy show like this one would it? I liked the character designs especially actually, contrary to popular opinion. (Fun fact: the character designer for Another is the same as for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.) I don't think they could've been done better any other way.

One thing I saw a little bit of that I wish they'd taken advantage more of is use of vivid colors and lighting to help set the tone. I'll pull some of the few examples I saw out of the show to tell you what I'm talking about.

The way the moonlight reflects off the water is gorgeous, their dark figures nearly silhouettes, a subtle glow on them. I love this. I noticed it a lot in Kouichi and Mei's late-night meetings. This is where the lighting and coloring is used to make the scenes just beautiful.

Where this really shined was when Kouichi was having his guilt-induced dreams. If you watched you'll know that those dreams were some of the more genuinely scary parts. Thank the lighting and coloring of those scenes, as they're apart of that - I would have liked to see this being taken advantage of during pivotal moments in the show, like during the finale and climax. Instead we see it in Kouichi's dreams and it's not real - why make the best freaky parts a dream? Rather than it being used to make it beautiful like in the above two, this harsh style makes it all the more frightening.

I never thought I'd say something good about Studio Deen's animation, but there was one thing that made Higurashi all the more scary that I hardly saw in Another. In certain scenes from Higurashi, there were some insanely scary poses and facial expressions, seen from perspectives that all together made you shit your pants. Here's what Kazumi looked like during his murderous rampage in the season finale of Another.

What the hell? It felt like the entire time all they did was cover the characters in blood and put fire in the background to make it seem scary. That's nothing. Now imagine if you had that beautiful Another style, but with this pose from Mion in Higurashi:

Now look and see this shot of Kouichi:

Is he supposed to look scared? This is what scared looks like:

Sure, it may not be as fancy looking because the latter is a few years older, and, well, it's the work of Studio Deen, that shot screams freaked out. Paranoid. Going crazy.

While as I said, the animation is gorgeous and the bland style matches the theme, better and more frequent use of that colorful lighting and more scary shots with skewed perspectives would've given this a perfect score, especially because I'm a sucker for visuals - so 7/10.

And just as much as I'm a sucker for visuals, I'm a sucker for great music and voice acting too. Go ahead and listen to this selection from the OST while I discuss that:

When you're making a horror show, naturally you have to have a creepy OST. Another delivers on this. I have few complaints with the soundtrack. It's creepy, it's scary, there are often times parts that give you mini heart attacks. I think my only problem was with the intense pieces playing during the finale that weren't quite as intense as I'd like. But if I have few complaints, why does the sound section get such an average score? The answer lies within the use of the soundtrack. For the most part, the music adds to that sense of horror and despair, but it's often times played in some of the most random parts. I loved it when it was foreshadowing the death of Nakao. That beach episode was so happy at first, and you think you're safe, but as soon as you hear the scary music play and Nakao goes out after the beach ball deep into the ocean, you know exactly what's going to happen. Other times, like when Ayano and Yumi walk away from the school after seeing Kouichi, Teshigawara, and Yuuya, and the scary music starts playing. Now we know that something bad's going to happen there, but it got way too harsh for it to just cut back to the guys entering the school, and then showing what happens to the two girls later while they listen to the tape. There were other times, numerous times during the last few episodes where I felt the music was so extremely out of place. If I remember correctly there was a scene in episode 12 where the music started out of the silence really unnaturally during an intense scene, and it matched fine as it progressed, but then stopped right at an intense scene with Teshigawara, Yuuya, and the maid, where it should've spiked.

Apart from the music, while I'm typically not one to judge the voice acting much, I didn't get that genuine feel of fear and despair in some characters during many parts. It wasn't too bad though, that along with the lack of scary shots made the horror a little lackluster at parts, but it was fine overall. While I'm on the topic of voice acting, I rewatched the show in the recently-released dub to find that it wasn't bad at all. I liked everyone's voice actors a ton save for Mei, and Kouichi was okay - the rest of the characters all had great voice actors though, so if you're feeling lazy some time the dub is okay. The sound gets a 5/10.

I think the most annoying part of the show for me was that I liked the supporting cast so much more than the main characters. Kouichi? Typical helpless protagonist. Mei? Hard to like at all. This made the supporting cast so much more appealing to me. I liked Teshigawara's attitude. I enjoyed Yuuya for being an honest friend. Akazawa was nice because she cared so strongly for the class. None of the characters are really fleshed out well, but the supporting cast is really likable, whereas we've seen plenty of Kouichi's in the past and Mei was just dull. I wasn't sure if they were trying to make her cute or creepy.

Something that butchered shows like Angel Beats was that you had to get to know an enormous cast within an extremely short amount of episodes. Well I'm sure you'll be excited to find out that you have even more characters to learn about in Another. But that's okay, lots of them will die. The cast size was seriously large, and a lot of characters you hardly heard their names more than once, but they all fit in somehow. I'm sure you forgot who Ayano and Yumi were when the three guys saw them at the school over summer break. I'm sure you'll probably have forgotten Yukari's name and just think of her as "umbrella girl" after she dies. And likewise, Sanae will end up "elevator girl" in your head. Did you remember who Ikuo was when Mr. Chibiki said that the manager and his wife were the grandparents to him and were upset over his death? That was the heart attack kid. A lot of side characters end up dying before you get to know their name. On the beach episode, did you even realize Nakao existed before he showed up with them? If they had such an enormous cast of characters, I wish an effort would've been made to get to know them a little more, or at least the ones that'd have some sort of relevance. It'd been a better way to spend the first few episodes than chasing after the boring Mei Misaki.

In a way I'm glad that they at least put some effort into showcasing all the different side characters, because it would've been ridiculous for all those students to die had we not met them - but for some of them, meeting them was all we got. Yukari (umbrella), Sanae (elevator), Ikuo (heart attack), and Nakao (head trauma/boat) we got to know a little bit before their deaths, but we hardly met Mr. Kubodera (teacher), Ayano (drove off cliff), and then Yumi's brother (truck in the house) was just another extra death for someone that we hadn't even seen prior to that. Some characters seemed pointless to know, like the introduction of Yuuya's sister Tomoko, who was just there to introduce them to Matsunaga, or the reference to Sanae's brother, who was just there as an excuse to let Sanae get killed.

The whole deal with Mei having a twin felt so pointless. Did we really need another Misaki in there to confuse the hell out of me? And the only relevance it had was when Takako remembered Misaki Fujioka which made her think Mei was dead, adding to the fustercluck of a grand finale.

Speaking of the fustercluck of a grand finale, there we once again saw multiple characters attempting to murder each other with many of them we've hardly seen, only in the background. But if I have to give the show some credit for the characters somewhere, it's their behavior in the grand finale. They could've made everyone a bunch of pussies trying to work together to get through the curse. But instead they chose to be driven by the fear of their own deaths and murder each other like psychopaths! We even saw the level headed Akazawa single out Mei and later go after her with a blade. That made for an awesome finale.

Another had a difficult-to-like set of main characters but a likable supporting cast, and I guess I'm unique in saying that I enjoyed the boat load of characters, but that's still undoubtedly a flaw. There's definitely some Durarara syndrome here, in which the show focuses on the two most boring characters. So, I feel confident in giving the characters a 4/10.

Earlier on I kept praising Another for being straight up horror without the cute stuff or the comedy or some romantic subplot. But I think I neglected to mention something: the horror isn't really...horrifying. I'll be honest in saying that you will be creeped out if you watch this with headphones in late at night, and the weak may get scared on occasion, but for the majority of viewers, you probably did't get too scared.

I wanted to give this a really high enjoyment rating because it's one of my favorite anime and naturally I loved every second of it, but challenging myself to stay objective here, something like Higurashi makes Another look like it's for children, and plenty of people didn't get scared watching Higurashi, so I'm sure even more didn't get scared watching Another.

"But Luxxy, how come it wasn't that scary?"

Good question, reader. Allow me to explain.

Had the show further experimented with things like scary visuals and a better use of the OST, and overall had less boring scenes with a scary soundtrack thrown on it and more parts that get the viewer emotionally involved and feeling despair themselves, we might've gotten a much scarier experience. I keep comparing Another to Higurashi because a lot of the points where Another fell short, Higurashi excelled.

"But Luxxy, why did you give enjoyment such a high score if it's not that scary?"

Another good question, reader. Here's my answer.

While how scary the show was does tie in with how much I enjoyed it, if that were the only thing I was basing the score off of, it'd have a 3/10. What I really enjoyed about the show was that it kept the creepy tone and mood constant, whereas something like Higurashi mixed in moe and lolis with light hearted slice-of-life scenes - and, that's nice and all, but the constant feeling of horror in Another trumps the half moe, half horror deal.

On top of the constant scary mood, the ending to the show, while definitely not being the best, was by far the most enjoyable out of anything I've watched so far. Seeing all those crazy psychopathic kids in fear for their lives going after each other in a bloody, fiery mess was one of the best experiences I've had with any anime ever. I don't think it's one to please everyone, plenty of people prefer the "everything is resolved and finishes satisfyingly" type of ending, but if you didn't at least get some bit of pleasure out of watching that murderous rampage, I'd think you were lying. And that brings the enjoyment up to 6/10.

Don't get me wrong - just because I went all out on calling out the flaws of this show, it doesn't mean it's not good. Hell, I like it for it's flaws. I mentioned earlier that I enjoyed the disproportionately large cast. But I truly believe that despite its flaws, Another is still a wonderful show that deserves the score I give it. There are a lot of things other shows could learn from it, and likewise, there's a lot of things it could learn from other shows. With a more coherent story, better use of visuals and sound, fleshed out characters with relevance in the plot, and overall more freaky parts, I would've called it a masterpiece. But it's definitely made worth your time in the end, even if you feel cheated of 24 minutes after every episode in the beginning. Another earns a 6/10.

If you made it through this entire lengthy review, I'm glad - you probably like reviews, or I just begged you to read this for your sweet, sweet praise and you gave in - either way, you should check out some of Cairus's and Cunt's reviews, they were a lot of inspiration.

Cairus: The devil is a part-timer! | True Tears

Cunt: Shinsekai Yori | Bakemonogatari

kailee.russel - 2013-07-15 11:44:30

Another is an anime which is probably the most famous for its genre, Horror. With a mysterious girl as the main character, Mei Misaki and a catchy quote: "Who is the dead one?", Another has been among the top Horror/Thriller animes for a long time.But since reviews must refer to what the reviewer thinks, I'll just go ahead.First of all, what totally left me speechless was that I had been wrong -almost- during the whole anime. And by that I mean: For example imagine a perfect crime scene and a bunch of people which you get to know more and more as time goes by. Soon, you will start to think that one of them commited the crime and time by time you'll be more and more sure about that person, so sure you would even risk your life. The thing is that when everything meets its end and the culprit is revealed, that person didn't even cross your mind. This tecnique is also applied on Another, as well. You will also meet and notice a plenty of creepy characters and events, and that will lead you to suspect everything, totally everything. Yet, the source of bad luck and negative energy may not be a person. What you should totally take into consideration is the incident from 26 years ago, the death of that girl in the class called Misaki. 'Nough said.Another's main theme is mysterious and dark. You won't see many facial expressions on the characters' faces. Nor many happent moments in the story either. You, as a viewer, just go along with the transfer student, Sakakibara Kouichi, who tries to figure out what exactly is wrong with his class. He could be characterized something like your guide in the anime. All these accompanied with excellent music (especially the opening song, which really suits the show) performed by Ali Project, giving Another an extra feeling of mystery.Overall: 8 Very GoodNo plot wholes, nice music, a praiseworthy storyline, exquisite characters and some "scary" scenes added in it, as well, make it a Very Good anime for those who want to try out something to give them the chills, not in a frightening, but in a decent and enjoyable way.If you haven't watched Another yet, I'd totally suggest you to do it, as you'll be left very pleased and satisfied by it.

eturner - 2013-06-29 16:02:33

This was a short series of only twelve episodes with a single overarching arc throughout the whole series. It was almost like watching a movie. They pulled it off really well. The pacing was well done. It started off strong and went deeper and faster up until the end. The soundtrack was pretty good and well suited to the show.

wtillman - 2013-06-29 02:36:39

Another is essentially a horror/mystery anime. The story revolves around a high school class that is under a curse where students in the class (and their relatives) have a very high chance of dying that year. Each year they take countermeasures to avoid the curse, some years with better results than others. There are two main characters, Misaki Mei and Sakakibara. They are the ONLY two characters that get any development in the series and the development they get is just about fully reliant on each other. Misaki does seem to open up a little as the show goes on, but also kind of reverts near the end. Sakaibara does tend to get a little braver, but that's really it.The side characters are not really worth mentioning. Only a couple of them have any real important input to the story, in fact, you can probably just think of them as potential victims of the curse. The atmosphere at first is great. It is really haunting and eerie feeling. Gets you into the mood for a horror anime. However, this does not erase the crawl like pacing of the show. It is part mystery, but the show takes a long time revealing any information. The reaction (or lack of reaction) of people outside the class is also odd. If there was a school with random kids dying all the time I'd think it would get some sort of attention. There are also other loop holes, especially one revealed near the end of the series. If you caught the major loophole in Madoka Magica and breathed a sigh of discontent over it, you'll rage over the loophole(s) in Another.There is a pretty neat resolution at the end, but it is semi-ruined by the fact (due to a loophole) none of it actually had to really happen. Also, while the last episode was by far the most entertaining, it was also by far the most ridiculous. Another really takes things a little too over the top at times to the point where it turns into a comedy. If you like movies like Final Destination, Another might be your cup of tea.While I don't often talk about the art quality in reviews. I do have to comment that Another looks great. The OP/ED are bad, there is no way around this. But if you're like me you listen do them once and that's it. The sound and music within the show are placed very well and add to the general haunting nature of the series (well until it wares off). To sum things up Another is a series full of plotholes, bland characters, and moments that will make you upset for the wrong reasons. It is kind of entertaining, but often not for the reasons that the creators intended. It is slightly saved by a neat ending, but as an overall package your probably better watching another show. 4/10

mosciski.filiberto - 2013-06-07 20:14:01

Another is a horror mystery that depicts the curse going on in class 3-3. Aside from the occasional disfigured humans that have been murdered, or the hatred between one another, this is one horrifying anime. This anime is one of few that invokes “fear” within us, as time goes on more horrific events occur which leave the viewer startled. This story takes place in classroom 3-3, where it has been a cursed classroom for 26 years. Each year there is that extra (another) student, whom is exiled from the class in order to try and prevent the calamity that is occurring. The issue is, this calamity does not have a “solution” to solving it, and therefore they try to piece together information in order to try and come up with a solution. In this anime there are many mysteries, and unanswered questions that will keep you thinking.The artwork in this anime is absolutely fascinating. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing, the darkness in the colors really brings out the true nature of this show. This show is a mystery horror, and lighting and colors is something that helps invoke fear to the viewers. This anime ‘s use of the dark colors, creepy buildings, and eerie setting, help this anime really come to life. In almost all horror, mystery, any type of dark anime, something that is important is the blood. How do they portray the blood? In this anime it is almost like black blood. In some of the scenes, the blood is a very dark dark red, but it is also sometimes portrayed as black, which really invokes the horror that you are seeing within this anime. The soundtrack in this anime is truly fascinating. The opening song is very energetic and contradicting to what to expect. I personally think this brings a nice touch, because instead of using a slow paced song, which could add to the atmosphere of what to expect in this anime, it uses a very upbeat song. Aside from being such an upbeat song, the meaning is what counts. This song talks about being alone and the darkness within our hearts. This songs words express destruction and really what this anime wants to show. The ending theme song is also beautiful. This is the more classical type of ending for this type of show, slow and a very touching song. This is the type of song that depresses the viewer, but it is also very fitting for this anime, because it is depressing, all the tragic deaths, alongside with the curse that is haunting this school.There are many characters in this anime, but only a few ones that actually have a significant role in this anime. Koichi Sakakibara is the transfer student who is going to be attending Yomiyama North Middle School class 3-3. Koichi is 15 years old, and has been hospitalized before coming here because he was sick. His goal after joining this school is to figure out the secret behind the mysterious deaths that are occurring. He is accompanied by a girl called Mei Misaki, whom was the girl exiled in response to trying to stop the calamity from occurring. Koichi befriends Mei unknowingly, that she is the student whom does not exist. Throughout this anime both Koichi and Mei become closer friends with each other, both with a common goal—to stop the calamity in class 3-3. A less important character, but one that deserves mentioning is Izumi Akazawa. She is in charge of the “countermeasures”, due to the curse within class 3-3. Her job is to try and prevent people from dying due to being part of the class of 3-3.This is an anime that I would highly recommend to watch, if you are interested in a mystery horror, alongside gruesome deaths. I personally really enjoyed this anime because of the suspense. This was an anime that not only kept me thinking in order to try and figure out the mystery of class 3-3, but in order to see the answer that they come forth with. Not only is the story unique, but it also keeps the viewer wanting to know more and more. Something that also made this anime very good, alongside the themes of horror and suspense, was the art. The use of the dark colors always helps make a point when watching a horror show. The lack of light and being able to see what is happening is something this anime prevents. Truly, both of these factors are what make this such a good anime. If one of these aspects was missing, this anime would not have been as nerve racking and scary.Just as a quick side note or whatever you want to call it, take notice of the titles of each episode, they have a significant meaning most of them. I wont expand on this due to the fact that it could spoil some of the episodes. I hope you enjoyed reading this review, if you have any suggestions of what i should add please feel free to message me. If you want to talk about any other animes or want me to do more review please feel free to message me or friend request me.

vdoyle - 2013-03-16 17:10:07

When it comes to anime, the horror genre is a tricky one. A fatal flaw arises right from the beginning, as each person has their own definition of horror depending on how imaginative they might be. While some may immediately think of a bunch of gruesome killings, others may think of more eerie supernatural events, and the list goes on, but because of this, the genre has a high chance of failure depending on each person's perception of horror.Unfortunately, Another just happens to fall way outside my definition of horror, and seems to fit very nicely within comedy.But hold on a second, this anime isn't just a horror, it's also supposed to be a mystery as well. Every year we're usually greeted with at least one mystery anime per season that I only consider mystery simply because that's what they are labeled. This is because, more often than not, anime that are supposed to be predominantly mystery, surprise, have no mystery to speak of in them, and Another is no different.Alright, well, saying there is absolutely no mystery might be a bit of an exaggeration, but can you really consider Another a mystery? When you get down to it, it was ultimately about finding out who the "Another" was so that they may be able to stop the curse that has been running rampant for 26 years. The problem with this is that for the first four episodes, it was all about Kouichi figuring out who Mei was, seeing as she had the same name as the girl who died 26 years ago, which is what people believe started the curse in the first place. So when we figure out that she is just a normal girl, everything up until this point felt like nothing more than another useless time sink.Here is where it gets into episodes that are completely wasted in favor of cheap shock value to try and keep the viewer hooked. Until episode 10, what did they actually learn about the Another? Nothing of any value. Where's the mystery in that? I don't find random deaths to be mysterious or horrifying in any way, and this is what the series focused on the entire time. One could argue that this narrowed down the possible suspects, but the characters did nothing with this. Even though they might have not been able to do anything to stop the curse, they could've at least devoted more time to actually trying to figure out who the Another is rather than waste time with other daily activities.Throughout the entire series, there were only two episodes that truly served any purpose, one of which was the beach episode. Now, where would any anime be without a beach episode? It's practically mandatory these days, however, it wouldn't be Another without a token death scene in almost every episode now would it? The only good thing this episode did was provide us with one of the bigger clues, which made it very easy to figure out who the Another might be, as it proved that deaths could happen outside of Yomiyama. Meaning that the Another had to be on the trip. The only problem is that the explanation they gave in the next episode made any speculation as to who the Another was entirely useless. It was said that the person who died actually had gotten a brain injury while still in Yomiyama, and would've died later that day regardless of him being run over and torn to shreds by a boat on the beach. With this, it was practically back to square one since you wouldn't know whether or not the information given could be trusted or not. Although, any good mystery relies on misdirection, and this is one thing I can credit Another for at times, as it did try to send you down a wrong path or two as the series progressed, but this small aspect alone doesn't make up for how horribly executed everything else was.The only other episode that had any purpose was episode 9, and regardless of it being the most frustrating one, it did provide some crucial information. As the events played out, Kouichi and his band of half-wits found a tape telling them how to stop the curse from continuing. Now, here comes the frustrating part, one of the geniuses amongst the group had the brilliant idea of ripping the tape out of the tape player to stop it from playing, instead of simply pressing the pause or stop button. You seriously have to invent an entirely new level of imbecile to describe something so moronic. Considering the current standards for incompetence in modern society have set the bar so ludicrously low, this newly discovered form of stupidity deserves some kind of fucking award. The author clearly was looking for an easy out so that they could extend the series just a bit longer, which resulted in the wonder that is the final two episodes.However, there was one thing that was the ultimate "Fuck you" to all of the viewers. More so than the whole tape fiasco in episode nine, and that's Misaki Mei. Not only did they try to make her seem far more important than she was for the first half of the series, but, in one of the worst reveals I've ever had the displeasure of witnessing, they confirm that she was able to tell who the Another was from the very beginning. So with this, anything of relevance that happened in all of the previous episodes was for naught, and that's just absurd. She could have at least tried to speak out and tell the other students that she knew who the Another was, and before you say they wouldn't believe her, take a second to think about this. All of these morons in Class 3 believed in a completely nonsensical curse that was nothing more than superstition until it was proven to be true in the final episode. Yes, nothing could've been done regardless if she told someone or not, but due to the fact that she actually knew the entire time, the mystery was already technically solved since the beginning. It was only a matter of figuring out how to get rid of the Another, which took seven episodes of cheap deaths, one episode to figure out how to stop the curse, one episode of half the class dying and/or killing each other, and half of the final episode to reveal and kill the Another.Am I the only one who sees a problem here? There was no actual deducting or piecing together of the puzzle. All Mei had to do was convince Kouichi that his aunt was the Another (which went over far too easily by the way), and it was over. I'm not saying that all the deaths could've been avoided, but I'll be damned if Mei isn't partially to blame for sitting around doing all of nothing for the previous eleven episodes. This is in no way a mystery. The beginning of the series could be considered an infinitely better mystery than the latter half, as you really have no idea who or what Mei is and what role she actually plays in the story until half way through the fifth episode. Not only was the "mystery" handled very haphazardly throughout, but the horror and supernatural aspects were as well. Even now, this series isn't listed under supernatural, most likely because horror usually blends with supernatural in some way, but knowing that this series has supernatural elements only makes everything far worse. From the beginning, we're introduced to the central plot point: the curse that started 26 years ago that still takes the lives of people today. The problem with this is that throughout the series, the curse felt like nothing more than superstition. Almost every single death throughout the bulk of the series, and especially the ones in episode eleven could be logically explained in some way rather than only explainable by taking supernatural elements into consideration. There was only one death that truly felt so farfetched that it could only seem like the work of the supernatural hand , and that was the elevator death in episode four. However, no matter how small the chance of it happening is, it was still within the realm of possibility. I understand that hospital elevator cables snapping may seem ridiculous, and it really is, but you can't rule out this having happened at least once in documented history. As for the rest of the deaths, they're all easily explained. The umbrella death in episode three? Dying by falling down a flight stairs is entirely possible on its own, but regardless of this being in the original source or something P.A. Works changed, Dead Girl #1 falling on the umbrella was purely done for trying to hook the audience, and there is no easier way of doing that than making some over-the-top death scene which all the mindless little sheep will endlessly ejaculate over. Episode five? Heart attack. If I honestly have to explain this one, I'll probably lose what little hope I have left in humanity. Episode seven? Simple suicide. The real question here is why did the teacher who commited suicide have to make such a spectacle of his death? Here's a hint: shock value.And they aren't don't yet, oh no. Not only were most of the deaths earlier on in the series blown way out of proportion, P.A. Works felt the need to try and make episode eleven able to rival the entirety of a series like Higurashi in terms of deaths and overblown character reactions. So here we have a bunch of teenagers scared for their life each and every day, wondering if they'll be the next ones to die, and through the magic that is the adolescent mind, one of the previously mentioned half-wits lets two unstable girls listen to the tape so that they may also learn the marvelous way of how to stop the curse. Queue a ridiculous amount of jumping around between scenes that would make even Shinbo jealous of their artistic direction. To say this episode was shizophrenic would be quite the compliment. Even though there may seem to be a lot going on in this episode, there is absolutely nothing to it in the end. It's just a meaningless massacre where everyone is dying from a series of random events like having a pillar falling on top of them, being incinerated by flames or simply being killed by one other in some twisted way due to mass hysteria, paranoia and/or plain idiocy. This all goes right back to Mei, as this entire thing could've been avoided if she had spoken up sooner about who the Another is, instead of letting the entirety of Class 3 believe it was her. Even once she revealed to Kouichi that she in fact knew who the Another was (we heard this twice), Kouichi never bothered to ask her who it was the entire time before or after they were being hunted by everyone else in the mansion and Mei never brought it up again. Not only was there no real mystery to begin with, withholding the information that could've easily solved this "mystery" a couple episodes ago puts her at fault for just about everything. Not the Another.Either way, no matter how you look at it, every single death in this series was very highly dramatized to the point of absurdity for the simple sake of selling Blu-Rays. People like nonsensical violence, that's just how it is. Many series have success through using shock value (Madoka, for example), so I can't necessarily blame P.A. Works for this, as they were just trying to make money like everyone else in the world, but that doesn't excuse the fact that it was all completely superficial with no deeper meaning other than people dying for the sake of dying. If I wanted to see that, I would just turn on the news.So, what exactly was Kouichi's role in all of this? Being the protagonist of the series, one would imagine that he would be the one solving the mystery by piecing together the puzzle; yet he's just as useless as the rest of the cast. His purpose was finished once he figured out the story of Mei and why she was being ignored by their class in the first place. After this, he, just like everyone else, was tagging along for the ride until the conclusion finally came around. Did he piece together evidence based on everything he's heard and encountered to come to the conclusion that the Another was his aunt? No, that was Mei. The only purpose he served in the end was providing us with irrefutable proof that his aunt was the Another by recalling memories that even he forgot until Mei spoke with him about it during the final episode. While this wasn't necessarily bad, as he does get points for not being a beta protagonist like you would imagine him to be, it certainly wasn't good.Now, assuming you're not counting the death fodders that people like to call characters, by simple process of elimination, Mei is the only character left to go over, and she is by far the worst character in this series. Random Dead Kid #92 was more memorable and even had better characterization and development than she ever had. There was no real depth to her character, and unlike Kouichi, she served no purpose other than actually causing more problems for everyone around her, making her more of an antagonizing force than the Another was. Add in the fact that if she didn't have something unique to her design, she's completely indicernable among the myriads of Ayanami Rei clones out there. So what, she has a sad past, but who hasn't gone through something like losing a loved one nowadays? It could've been much worse, and I actually expected it to be seeing as just about everything else was expanded upon so ridiculously in this series. The only ounce of development that actually she received was during the mid-point of the series, which is arguably the only decent portion of it, and that's just because you finally learn about her as more than "The bitch that no ones gives two fucks about."However, among the countless death fodders and pitiful excuses for characters, there is one who stands among the rest, simply for being one of the ones I hate to see the most in any given work: and that's the catalyst for an overdramatized event. In the case of Another, it would be the woman who owned the mansion that Class 3 went to on their trip. She had all of maybe 3 lines the entire time she was on screen, and was viewed as a side character of no importance, yet, out of nowhere, she decided to go on a random killing spree. This came on suddenly and was completely unwarranted, which just detracted from the main focus of the finale. During the final episode, they did decide to leave us with one terrible justification for her actions: she was said to be emotionally unstable due to the death of her grandson, but this should in no way trigger her actions seeing as his death happened earlier in the series, and by the fact that she went on the murdering spree BEFORE the news was leaked about Mei presumably being the Another. She merely served as a catalyst to help drive home the paranoia in the already unstable kids staying at the mansion, thus triggering a few of them going batshit insane after they found out that Mei was believed to be the Another. I don't even consider the old woman to be a character, but a horribly written plot device that was bad enough to actually be addressed.One of the biggest problems with this series is, of course, the ending. Stating the obvious, they need to kill the Another so that the curse will be stopped. The only problem with this is that, while the curse is stopped for this year, each person whose life was taken by the curse has a chance to be brought back to life the next year. So, in the end, killing the Another does nothing for anyone in the future, only for the present year. Not only is the curse absolutely ridiculous, it adds on yet another layer of absurdity to everything by giving a nonsensical reason for how it started and why it continues today. Said given explanation is that 26 years ago, the people of Class 3 decided to believe that their classmate who had recently died, wasn't actually dead. Due to this, the curse continued to run rampant each year simply because it could, and it can never be stopped. In the end, the supernatural aspect is nothing more than a terrible excuse to shovel garbage down the throats of the people who eat up pointless deaths. And that is not how horror should work.If there is any credit I can truly give to Another, it's the simple attention to detail that's present in things like the background, exemplary of almost every P.A. works anime. Sadly, this is quite easily the strongest point of this series. The atmosphere was great at times, yet seemingly over done at others. The main problem with this is that an anime can't be successful with only a few parts out of the many that make it up, especially not something like the atmosphere which requires other aspects of the series to be good in such a manner that it enhances the experience. More often than not, the atmosphere was ruined not because it was actually overdone, but because the scene taking place was horribly executed. In turn this made everything that took place work against any positive aspect the atmosphere might have provided. In combination with the overbearing OST that sounded like an angsty teenager turning their stereo up to over 9000 in some apparent misguided sense of rebellion against society; it more than kills any good mood that a scene might have been giving off in record time.At this point, I think it might be P.A. Works who is cursed. Every anime they've produced has had a strong beginning, a core that gets progressively weaker and ultimately yields a poor conclusion. This trend hasn't changed through any of their work, and Another is no different. It had the potential to be a good mystery, but started to focus on all the wrong aspects as it progressed, and became nothing more than another twelve weeks of my life wasted.