REVIEW - Another (Anime, 2012)

Good horror in anime is hard to come by, and I don't mean the Mirai Nikki kind of horror where it tries to scare you with explicit gore and crazy characters but more along the lines of the infamous Higurashi no Naku Koro ni series where you're slowly being terrified by haunting and tense music and the mystery slowly begins to show itself. Sure, Higurashi is very gory, but not to the level of today's anime.

P.A Works adaptation of the novel Another.

Another takes place in the Japanese town of Yomiyama in the year 1998. New to the town is Kouichi Sakakibara, someone who's prone to illness (like Nagisa from Clannad but nowhere near as bad) and misses the first few days of school due to a collapsed lung. One day exploring the hospital, he meets a girl who's wearing an eyepatch who's carrying a strange doll in her hand. Later, Kouichi arrives in the school, Yomi North, a school with a haunted past. 26 years ago, a student by the name of Misaki was killed in a plane crash. Either out of coping of grief or plain insanity, one student pointed to Misaki's desk and exclaimed "She's still here!!". The rest of class 9-3 followed suit, and every year from then on a calamity would occur in Yomiyama starting in May. A student, or someone close to them, would die in some of the most gruesome ways possible. The calamity is set to strike again in 1998, and Sakakibara and the girl with the eyepatch - Mei Misaki - must find the root of the problem and end it all for once. It's actually a really interesting Final Destination-esque set up. The plot takes time to kick in and in all fairness it's over a bit too quickly, but I have no real problems with it.

The characters are kinda interesting, but they're just that. Kinda. Nobody really stands out to me minus Sakakibara and Misaki. As said in my review of Shingeki no Kyojin, I hope you don't like being attached to fictional characters. Another may as well be called Redshirts: The Anime. Nearly everybody dies in this show minus 5 people, and people you don't expect to die just suddenly die via some fucking estranged way (i.e being chopped up by a boat propeller). Another  is one of the few animes I recall being heavily censored in Japan for it's high gore content, and this show is the show hat has death via umbrella in it, so no surprises there. Characters are kinda bland and forgettable minus the mains, so I'm not even going to bother with them this time considering it would just be a waste of time.

Another was animated by P.A Works, known for their amazing animation on the wonderfully flawed Angel Beats! anime. All the backgrounds are fitting and go well with the shows dreary and dark tone. The lighting is great and there's so much detail in minor things, such as a sugar cube absorbing tea and slowly breaking down into the tea. It's one of the better animated animes in my opinion and it's wonderful to look at and it's visceral opening animation is absolutely scary as hell.

Musically, it's full of well done atmospheric pieces and some really well placed chilling tunes. The opening theme is - in my opinion - one of the catchier openings in anime and it goes so well with the animation and editing and it's just amazing to the ears. The soundtrack as a whole is pretty damn impressive if you ask me, but it's not perfect since there are one or two really bad songs. The Ending is nice, and the sound effects are brilliant.

Overall, Another is worth a shot. Sure, it may not be the best anime in the world, but it's pretty good regardless. Bland characters aside, Another is well worth a watch for the gore, plot, mystery and the scares. It's a well animated series with a high production value.

Story: 9

Characters: 6

Animation: 10
Music: 8.5
Personal Enjoyment: 9

FINAL SCORE FOR ANOTHER (ANIME): 8.5/10