Before we start this review of Another, I must warn you that there will be spoilers here. If you don’t want to spoil any of the surprise then read this later. Also, Another is not for kids.
Another first appealed to me because of it’s interesting name. I wondered to myself, another of what? As the story goes along we get a fairly average story where random people die in strange ways. We have seen that type of story in every sort of culture, including the popular Final Destination movies. This does not detract from the appeal of the series for two major reasons.
I had a similar reaction after finding out who the extra was.
An undefinable feeling that something is “not right”
From the very beginning, the viewer is given a feeling that things are wrong. The students seem vaguely uneasy, and there is a weird girl with an eye patch. This feeling persists throughout the entire show. The fact is that something bad is going to happen, you just do not know when. This trait gives Another a unique appeal.
The appeal of the mystery
At it’s heart, Another is not a horror show but a mystery show. That is what kept me watching from episode to episode.The entire mystery centers around finding out who the extra student is. The mystery of Another thrilled me right up to the very end.
A great show with a mediocre ending
Early on in the series, the entire twist is revealed by a simple parrot. It speaks of Reiko, as does the grandfather of the main character. The whole thing wraps up with an obvious character being the cause of all the death. I had in fact dismissed the twist as being too obvious, which leaves me with a bad taste. The most obvious twist was the correct one.
This is the one major flaw in a very strong series. The show is also sprinkled with frustrating red herrings that make the choice even more strange. While these don’t detract heavily from the show, there are some big plot holes.
Huh? Oh yeah I can talk. I wasn't doing anything important, just burning to death.
Plot holes abound
It is too vague to simply say there are some holes in Another. Let’s go down several of them:
- The reason why Aikazawa forgot to tell the main character something that was a matter of life and death isn’t explained. Apparently she just forgot this vitally important manner. Whoops.
- Koichi is so dense that even when people die all around him he has to know the secret. Whoops, another person died in front of me, but I still need to know what is up. Koichi spends the entire series doing incredibly stupid things. That is him with the cell phone up top.
- Mei Misaki lets tons of people die because she wasn’t up to telling Koichi or handling it herself. She just lets people die instead.
- No one finds it strange that Reiko is the only assistant teacher. The viewers don’t really even get it explained well. And Mei has information we don’t get to find out until the end. This is a bit cheap.
- The dolls and Misaki’s family are never explained. They seem extraneous to the entire story.
Many of these likely come from the fact that Another is adapted from a good book. As usual, something is lost in translation from print to media. Events are also often changed and others are not explained well.
The final verdict
Another is a beautifully animated, straightforward series. While it does have some significant problems, the series is quite good right up until the end. Unfortunately the ending leaves the show with a mess of plot holes and things that don’t make sense. I absolutely loved it up until the disappointing ending. As a result of the aforementioned problems, Another falls from great to average. For those of you who still love the series, Another also has a manga. To the best of our knowledge it has not been licensed in most parts of the world, so it should be free to read.
Rating: 3/5
