by Jayden Leggett, Editor

Does the idea of witnessing a classroom full of terrified Japanese students desperately trying to survive a deadly curse sound like fun to you? If the answer is “yes”, you’re probably a deranged sicko who needs to be locked away from the rest of society. Unless of course, you are referring to the plot of the creepy anime series Another, in which case it is definitely acceptable to enjoy the misery of the Ninth Grade’s Class 3 at Yomiyama North Middle School, as the list for attendance gets smaller and smaller with each passing day. Intrigued? Read on!

The series begins with Kouichi Sakakibara being greeted in a hospital bed by some of his soon-to-be fellow classmates. School has already begun and Kouichi will be starting classes late. His feelings that something isn’t quite right about his new school start to be affirmed when he meets a strange eye-patched girl named Mei Misaki, who apparently nobody else in the class is even aware exists. Kouichi learns about the curse on his new classroom, in which one of the classmates is apparently an extra, “another”, and whenever the class has one more student than it is meant to, the curse is already in effect…

At first I was worried that this series was just a “boy from another city begins school in a strange new town” kind of story, like a high school drama with very mild supernatural overtones. A couple of episodes in to this series and I was thinking “OK, it’s not boring but it’s definitely not exciting either, I guess this is average”. That way of thinking kept up until the second or third episode, and them BAM! A student runs at the sight of Mei and falls down a staircase, her neck being impaled by her pointed umbrella in the process, with the ultimate result being a shower of blood and an example of the grim fate that is potentially in store for the rest of the class. From this point onward, I became fully immersed in this show.

As soon as the story became gory (heh, rhyme) and all sorts of hell breaks loose, I knew that I had made a wise choice in watching this series. Students and staff begin to get slaughtered in all sorts of gruesome ways (think Final Destination and you will have the right idea of the sort of twisted “death vs man” fatalities), and I loved how the beginning of the series leads you to initially believe that the creepy Mei must be the ghost, before making you question that assumption with each new revelation by the students and alumni who have previously survived the curse. Who is the ghost? Is it Kouichi? Is it Mei? It really could be anyone.

The idea of not knowing who was going to die next (and more importantly, exactly how they were going to snuff it) was a great plot device that kept me glued to the screen, and the slower “calm before the storm” segments were well paced to ensue that I was lulled into a false sense of security before witnessing a horrendous death. Another dramatically ramps up the intensity by the final few episodes when the remaining students begin to murder one another in the hopes that they will destroy the ghost and ultimately end the curse. Messed up stuff… and I loved every second of it!

My only gripe with the story is that when the identity of the ghost is revealed in the final episode, and flashbacks as to the “evidence” of why she was actually a ghost occur, I felt that there was a lack of sound reasoning as to why these things should have alluded to her being the ghost. I personally would have preferred the sorts of clues that give you that “Oh yeah, of course!” revelation at the very end, like in Saw.

Production-wise, Another delivers across the board. The superbly eerie sound design goes hand-in-hand with the creepy but flawless cinematography and unique “camera angles” used throughout, and the art itself is also of a fantastic quality. A special mention should also go to the voice acting, which was thoroughly enjoyable thanks to a very capable cast (I watched Another in English, but I would be very surprised if the original Japanese performances were not also top-notch).

The DVD special features don’t really contain anything exciting, including just some opening and closing title sequences without text or credits, an animated song with stills images of Mei, and a bunch of trailers.

Despite a slightly slow beginning and a mildly disappointed revelation at the climax, Another is an anime series that is perfect for horror fans and/or anime fans. And if you happen to enjoy both anime and horror, then it would seem that this series has been tailor made just for you!

ComicsOnline recommends Australian residents purchase their copy of Another directly from the Hanabee website by following this link.

 Rating:

ComicsOnline gives Another 4.5 out of 5 ghost-detecting glass eyes.

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