Another

Number of Episodes: 12 + OVA Prequel

What Wikipedia says: "In 1972, popular honors student Misaki died partway through the school year in Yomiyama North Middle School’s class 3-3. The rest of the students and teachers, devastated by the unexpected loss, decided to carry on as if Misaki were still alive, going so far as to keep the desk in the classroom and bringing it to the graduation ceremony. Yet no one could explain why Misaki was present on the graduation photo, deathly pale yet smiling with the rest.

In spring 1998, 15-year-old Kōichi Sakakibara arrives in Yomiyama from Tokyo, to stay with his grandparents while his father works in India. He transfers into Class 3-3, but misses the first few weeks by a pneumothorax of his left lung. While in the hospital, he receives a visit from some of his new classmates. Later, he meets a mysterious girl wearing the school uniform and an eyepatch, named Mei Misaki, who seems to be visiting the morgue.

Once recovered, Kōichi goes to school and tries to adapt. His aunt Reiko, a teacher at Yomiyama North, gives him a few pointers, but, like his peers, remains evasive when it comes to their behavior towards Mei, whom they treat as if she doesn't exist. Kōichi is further confounded by the air of mystery around Class 3-3 and its isolation from other classes, even practicing P.E. separately.

Tensions suddenly rise when one of Kōichi's classmates, Yukari Sakuragi, slips while running down the stairs and dies, impaled on the sharp end of her umbrella. This is one of many deaths related to Class 3-3 which have Kōichi and his friends Mei, Naoya Teshigawara, Tomohiko Kazami, and Yūya Mochizuki, trying to unravel the mystery of 1972’s Misaki and the senseless "Curse of Class 3-3"."

What tTPO says: This series is horror done (mostly) right. The heavy atmosphere and sense of suspense and forboding (think "The Others") dominate the majority of the episodes (even the beach episode which was an achievement in itself) and I mean this in a good way. It opens with several anime and horror genre cliche's that left me wondering about the substance of what was to follow but fortunately most of these were quickly subverted. What did then follow was a well paced unfolding of events and characters with deliciously gradual reveals that slowly built up the fairly detailed plot that had me looking forward to the next episode. The mechanics of the curse I found generally consistent and understandable (though this blog is handy if there are any bits you miss) though I can't say this was always the case with repect to how it affected human behaviour. Some things apparently you just have to go with the flow. You'll see what I mean starting the end of episode 6.

How About the Music? If I close my eyes and listen to the OP (Kyoumu Densen by Ali Project) I can just imagine I am listening to the ED1 of Code Geass (Hero Youth Song, strangely enough also by Ali Project). This is not really a good thing. Ali Project should learn to write another song. Or maybe not since they have probably got some good pocket money from having done the themes to two different animes.

The ED ("anamnesis" by Annabel, though I am unsure of what a medical history has to do with the series) on the other hand is a perfect choice and captures the sadness of the series perfectly. Win. 

So how does it end? (Spoiler Free. Mostly. You are warned.): And now to the Achilles heel of the series. I have read some other reviews that thought that the ending of the manga was not as good as the anime. I have to disagree. That is not to say the ending is bad because the plot is pretty well resolved (with a recap on the clues in case you missed), but the feeling of the series goes from atmospheric horror, to slasher. Some characters die that really don't have to, and at least one characters death which is left pleasantly ambiguous in the manga is clarified in the anime, but ironically this just lead to more confusion (to me at least). And for a series that is so dependent on its tone and had executed the tone so well it is all a bit jarring for a series that was near perfect to that point.   :(

Overall Grade: Grade A-. If they just got the tone of the ending right this would have gone an A. So very close. Watch it anyway. Then read the last few episodes of the manga. 

(Addendum: Watch the OVA prequel. While this does not fix the ending issues it does flesh out very nicely where this all started. More of the good stuff and worth watching afterwards.)

What KoanMan says: It has been a while since KoanMan indulged in a good ghost story and "Another" is just that. The plot is a little light-on and moves slowly, although the body-count certainly helps distract from that. There is blood - and regularly.

However, the stand-out feature of this series is the mood. The director has used every trick in the "spooky" book to generate a great atmosphere, which continues throughout every episode. The music is great, and with exceptional sound effects, adds to the experience. The whole team has put in some serious effort here and it shows.

The characters could have done with more development, and with more clues could have been a mystery as well. The clues are there, although they were easily missed. Even in retrospect, they are sparse.... It would have added another dimension (pardon the pun).

The story is cohesive and finished well. A good watch without going overboard on the ghost theme - this type of story can be overdone though this was not the case here.

"Another" came very close to full marks, and with more plot and character development it could have been there. KoanMan gives this a solid B.