Another

Story -7-
The basic story of Another is that a new student moves in, only to befriend a girl that no one else seems to see. When he meets her and starts to seek her out to try and become friends with her, bad things start to happen. There isn’t much more that can be said about the story since that would give away far too many twists. Overall, the story was rather interesting, as it was not something I had seen before in a mystery horror manga. Many of the mystery horror mangas tend to follow the same story line of a lot of people dying from a mysterious cause and everyone has to figure it out, however, this took a different spin.

Art -7-
The art within the manga was also on par on what it should be, as the characters were distinctive and the art got the point across. This series was not supposed to make any artistic stretches, so the artist, Hiro Kiyohara, kept the details to a minimum. Since this was in the horror genre, there was some gore, and that is always hard to do correctly. They tended to stay away on drawing some of the more detailed aspects, such as skin being sliced and broken bones, but what they did do, they did well.

Character -8-
The characters in the manga all had a reason to their actions and it was clear to see why. The main character, Kouichi, was a more passive main character, which was different from many other horror mangas, where the main character is much more active and more of a leader. The other main character, Mei, also did not really develop through the series; rather she stayed the same as when she is first introduced in the first book. This wasn’t a series where the characters were supposed to develop however, so that cannot be counted against them. The only characters that deserved a bit more detail to be revealed about them was Izumi and Yuuya. Izumi was shown to have a rather destructive home life and not much was known about Yuuya, and these were two of the more interesting characters that were not really focused on.

Enjoyment -9-
Overall, the enjoyment of the manga was high, as it was interesting to try and figure everything out with the main character Kouichi. Since this manga is classified as horror, there is a lot of gore, which could take away some of the appeal toward those who are not a fan of the genre. However, as I am a very big fan of this genre, it was very enjoyable for me. The only real turn off was that it was so short and so many other avenues could have been explored through the other characters. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery and doesn’t mind a little bit of blood along the way.

Overall -7.75-
This manga only had a few flat points, being the somewhat common storyline within its genre and the art was average. If the story had been expanded upon more, making it a bit more complex than it was, the story would have felt a bit more original. The art also needed to go beyond drawing the characters well, but also needed to put more details into the gore and backgrounds. These two things however do not stop me from recommending the series, as it was rather well done for what it was and it is a quick and easy read once you get settled down.

"Another" by Yukito Ayatsuki was a short manga series that consisted of only four volumes. Before starting this series, I'd watched the anime and completely loved the creepy vibe I got from it and everything that happened, so after watching it I thought: "why not give the manga a try?" And yes, I gave it a try and ended up loving it way more than the anime. Why? Well, keep reading and you'll see. . .

Plot: The story around this series, evolves around Kouichi Sakakibara, or aka, Sakakibara-kun, a transfer student from Tokyo that arrives at a new school on the third class on the third year, where people act a little strange. At first, he doesn't get what's the weird fuzz around him, or why the other students ignore this girl from his class called Misaki Mei. But as the story goes on, we see how Sakakibara-kun starts wondering and investigating what's wrong with his class and if Misaki Mei does exist or if she's just a figment of his imagination. The funny thing is that with Misaki's help, he manages to discover the truth behind everyone's weird conduct: the class is cursed, and things might start getting a little ugly soon.

And yes, by "a little ugly", I mean really ugly. Around the internet, I saw someone say that this series was the Japanese final destination and well, they were kind of right! One of the dead lives among them after the accident that happened 26 years ago, and thanks to him/her, death is following the class around one way or another.

What I really loved about this story was that besides the fact that it was creepy and people died now and then, the characters managed to get together and try to stop the curse that was finishing them off one by one. Also, the way everything was paced and connected was so well done by the author that not even once I got bored or felt lost as I made my way through the chapters and connected with the characters as they looked for a way to stop this beep curse!

Characters: All the characters from this series were very well done, enjoyable and hate-able. My favorites were our two main characters: Sakakibara-kun and Misaki Mei, since I liked how they both met and how they stayed together from beginning to end, trying to stop the curse and decipher which one of them was the dead one. But besides them, we also got to meet other characters that played important parts on the story. Some of these were: Tomohiko Kazami (one of the class officers, and Teshiwara's best friend), Izumi Akazawa (head of countermeasures from class 3-3), Naoya Teshiwara (you could say that this one is one of the few friends Sakakibara-kun made, also from class 3-3), Tatsuyi Chibiki (librarian and former homeroom teacher of the 3-3 class from 26 years ago), Sanae Mizuno (Sakakibara-kun's friend and nurse from the hospital he was in after having problems with his lungs), Reiko (Kouichi's aunt), Mikami Sensei and more! More? Yes, there are more, but, if you read the series, you'll meet them all, but these shall be your top-priorities. . .heh.

In the end, I really enjoyed this series even though it was short! It was a perfect mixture between creepy-stuff, mystery, suspense, horror, and even a little bit of humor! So yeah, if you guys are looking for a short and creepy read or for something that reminds you somehow of final destination, you should definitely check Sakakibara-kun's story and see if they manage to find out who the dead one between them is!

Another was something new for me. I've never read or watched any horror manga or anime before, so... well, I was prepared to be terrified. I switched to the manga as the safer option--after nearly wetting myself watching the first two episodes of the anime--and it definitely lived up to that. Another wasn't scary. At all.

It started out quite interesting. I was curious to know what was going on, and it did keep me guessing all the way through--whether this was in a good way or not, I'm not entirely sure. In volume two a lot is explained... but badly. Conversations are disjointed and hard to follow, with topics being changed suddenly and points apparently missed out. Bizarrely, all the characters seem to understand these conversations. Different terms for the same thing were used in a way that made me think they were different, before later realising that they were all synonymous. (To save you a lot of confusion later: "the extra one", "the other one" and "the dead one" all seem to be the same thing. No problem.) It might just have been that I was reading a bad translation, but the tenses were also pretty weird. Even after reading this explanation three times, and finishing the series, I'm still not one hundred percent on what the problem actually was, or their apparent solution for it.

Because of that, volume two was a low for me--however, volume one and four were a high. There is a massive plot twist around the end that I can guarantee you will not see coming. (It scared me, anyway.) It was a mystery that I wanted to see the end of, but I'm not sure if the confusion around the middle is worth it. There are also a few mysteries or points that were never explained by the end, which might not bother you unless you're picky about this sort of thing, but really gets at me. (What was their problem with Kouichi's name? And why was all this actually happening? Eh?)

The characters weren't anything particularly special. The only thing that's surprising is that there's no romance, which is somewhat refreshing--we've all seen romance between characters like this before, but in Another there's only friendship. If you were expecting a romance to develop, well, tough luck. Kouichi is likeable, but nothing really interesting and especially nothing new, and Mei's your stereotypical mysterious female. She might have a backstory, but that doesn't really fix the fact that her personality is a cardboard cut out. The secondary characters aren't memorable at all, which means the deaths don't really result in much emotional response. I couldn't remember half of their names (they all sound really similar to me), and then they die. "Oh. Who was that person again?" That's what it was like. There's only one, maybe two, deaths that I cared about in this, and a lot more people die.

One other thing that keeps grating at me is how everyone seems to keep unnecessary secrets from Kouichi. It did create suspense (and pure irritation), but when it's over you can't help thinking that half their issues could have been solved if they just told him about them in the first place. When I look at it like that, it only seems like they were secretive so the story would exist, which is a pretty poor excuse.

Putting all that aside, I'll admit that it was pretty good, and it built up right to a climax. There are some pretty hardcore moments of psychological messing in this (if that makes any sense) which were very enjoyable, at least for me. The best thing about this series would be the art: I love it. It's just really pretty--the character design, at least.

Overall, if you don't mind a bit of confusion or lack of explanations, and are looking for a supernatural mystery story: go for it. However, if you want to be terrified by serious darkness and gore, I'd go somewhere else. Another isn't scary. Having finished the anime now, I can confirm that it's about a billion times better. Unlike the manga, the intricacies of the plot are well explained and it's actually terrifying. (The amazing soundtrack and the creepy shots of dolls that pop up everywhere probably contribute.) Aside from a bizarre beach scene that was added for no reason that I can see, even when new scenes are added that weren't in the manga, they just add to it and make it better. If you're coming from the anime and wondering if this is worth the read... I guess it depends how much you liked Another for the plot. If it was for the gore and horror elements, then you'll probably be disappointed.

Another is a strange thing to try and describe. So, I'll start with my initial reaction to the series. The first chapter is really interesting, it immediately makes you interested in Mei and gets at least a little attached to Kouichi and makes you wonder about the town and the school.
Sadly, this is the high point. As the series goes on they just talk about the mystery surrounding the incident of the town and all the deaths, they never reveal anything about it. And the deaths, oh the deaths. If you've watched any of the Final Destination movies you are familiar with these deaths. Ridiculous things, like accidentally falling down stairs and impaling yourself on an umbrella. Which is a little more than jarring in a series that had taken itself seriously before that and continues to take itself seriously after that. The deaths aren't only ridiculous, they're almost boring, the characters that die are characters you don't care about and that have barely been introduced.
The characters are another down point. Mei starts out very interesting and seems to have a lot of story worth unraveling but as the story progresses Mei will sometimes just act like a normal girl then bounce back to being 'mysterious' and 'creepy.' It undermines any effect the first few chapters had. Kouichi is...bland. There's not much to say about him, besides his mother and his heart condition (which is quickly forgotten after the first chapter or two) he's just an average high school student.
The thing is, I really want to like this series, the first couple chapters were ominous and intriguing but everything afterwards is more of a let-down.

The only reason that I read this is because people have been saying that this is very different from the anime version. After reading it, I have to agree with it. Now I'll try not to get into too much spoilers of both the anime and manga versions, but I'll mention the ones that I felt stood out the most in the difference between the two.

Story 8/10: The story in this is very good and very original (to my knowledge at this time). It is about a curse that has occurred 26 years before the main story takes place. It being a curse it doesn't give misfortune in a person’s life (by misfortune I mean a terribly life), it just kills them. The author, Yukito Ayatsuji, does a fantastic job on giving suspense and great plot twists. However, since I saw and read “Another” I would have to prefer the anime. Only until the summer camp trip arc, it is at the very end of both. Only that arc, why isn't because it is somewhat happier but it makes a lot more sense. And by happier I mean better closure for most of the characters.

Art 7/10: This I had a little bit of a hard time because the character designs seem a bit off, but I didn't know if I should put that under the character category or this. I decide to go with character. The reason I gave this a 7 was because the some of the scenes didn't seem right. There is this one picture that says "slow movement" it doesn't need to spell it out for us, if it has no action or tragically is happening it would seem unnecessary to me. It was just explaining the curse; it doesn't need hand moving slowly.

Character 6/10: This is where the difference between the anime and manga is seen. Aside from the two main characters, Mei Misaki and Kouich Sakaibara, every character is different. They act different; they have different roles, and have a different look. An example of this is Tatsuji Chibiki the school librarian (There are a lot of others, but with him I felt like it was less of a spoiler). In the anime he is an old man with long hair and has a lot of wrinkles on his face. He is also a very serious man about the curse and other than that little is known about him. In the manga version he is an old man with short hair and has a few more wrinkles. He is also very serious about the curse but also has a passion for cooking. There isn't as much character development done here as in the anime but I do like the endings a bit better than the anime's version, expect for Tomohiko Kazami. Only cause I liked him in the anime version a bit better and his ending.

Enjoyment 9/10: Despite the difference it is still a good read. It'll keep you guessing till the end. It is 20 chapters long, some really vary in number of pages, but a quick read.

Overall 8/10: I do like how this ends better than the anime, but the lead up to the ending that is where the anime really shines. Which to start off with first, that is a coin flip question. But I would recommend this to anyone that would want a good short suspenseful story.

The human mind is an amazing thing.

The premise of this curse in this class is that there was a kid, 26 year prior to the story, who was well loved, athletic, smart, and all that wonderful stuff. However, he met an untimely end – but because of how shocking it was and how much they didn’t want to believe it, the class refused to believe his death. So much so, they believed that he was part of the class still. And yet, when the graduation photo was taken and developed, the kid, Misaki, showed up on the picture.

Ever since then, there is an “extra” person in the class that doesn’t belong. Then the disasters started.

Now, I will say that I have seen the anime version of this when it came out. I have less than savory views of the anime but I decided to pick up the manga now that I had forgotten the plot points and the major parts. There were plenty of questions I had about the series as a whole and I managed to pick up the manga for it finally.

The manga really is a lot better than the anime version. From what I understand, this series was originally a novel that just got adapted into anime and manga for a wider audience. I vastly prefer the manga to the anime, for sure.

The manga answers my question about how the deaths occur and when it does. It’s important to say that because, at first, Mei is purposefully ignored (something that everyone did in order to prevent the disasters from starting) and Sakakibara was not told about it when they should have. The kids dropped the ball on this one. It’s also important to note that the hints on who the another (or “casualty” to avoid grammar issues, I’m assuming) are way more subtle and the deaths that are shown are not as gruesome, or ridiculous, as it was in the anime.

Now, for the actual content – I really do like the concept. I really do like that they were not purposefully ignoring Mei because they were bullies – they did it because it was a tactic to avoid more deaths. However, because they dropped the ball in not telling Sakakibara about what’s going on – they start blaming him for it. I like that one of the characters survived while she tragically, and stupidly, died in the anime because it wouldn’t have made sense – especially in the grand scheme of things. There also weren’t as many deaths as I thought there was going to be.

Each death was treated with respect and with the appropriate shock that it deserves, especially in a series about death and how much it can affect not just one class, but possibly a whole town.

The manga version answers a lot more questions and goes into a lot more detail into the curse, its doing, and some ways to prevent the disasters from happening. Everything is much more laid out and it’s a lot easier to follow.

It doesn’t help that Kiyohara Hiro has finally put his skills into something really good – I was actually not surprised he did this story’s art because this seems to be something right up his alley in terms of horror and psychological. His art really drove home how horrifying the situation is.

And yeah, it’s still kind of stupid to bring in the fact that Mei could see “the color of death” when it was almost finished. I guess there wouldn’t be any better time to do it, especially since she also explained the connection between the girl who died and herself. It’s something I won’t hold it against the series since there are other things to be concerned about.

I really liked that there were characters who were human and not just anime characters who are either completely perfect or so flawed that nothing good could be said. They made mistakes, they fucked up badly, sometimes they do stupid things and sometimes they make really good decisions with their lives. With Akazawa, I can understand why she felt the way she did. She didn’t really seem to be a main character anyway like the anime made her out to be. However, she’s still a really powerful character. Her best friend was the second casualty. Her brother committed suicide. These are horrible, horrible things that she’s willing to try to fix before someone else she loves and cares about dies.

That is a real human being right there. They didn’t glorify nor damn it and I want to believe that Mei forgave her for trying to kill her, or at least, for poking her eye out.

If I had to pick a favorite character, it would have to be Mei. I understand her on so many levels. She’s not trying to be gloomy – she’s just trying to deal with what the world offers her. She came from, not really a broken home, but something that wasn’t right. Her mother does care for her, but Mei feels that it’s only because she’s her “doll”, since her mother actually makes ball jointed dolls in the series.

As for the anime version, it makes me even angrier that they took something as mysterious and as good as this and turned into yet another gore fest. This had a lot more charm and a lot more sadness than what the anime showed. There were a lot of funny moments in the manga sure (after all, while it’s understandable it’d be hard to cope in that situation, you really gotta try to at least live a little) but it didn’t derail the story as some others tend to.

I do have to say it’s really bittersweet and interesting to note that while Reiko was the casualty, she must have known that Sakakibara was coming back. Maybe not intentionally to see her but… for the fact she died before she saw him and for him to keep his memories, maybe she came back just to see him one last time. It’s understandable that, in the end, he still had to re-kill her in order to prevent any more disasters from happening that year. It’s understandable he feels incredible guilt for doing so. However, if he hadn’t, he probably wouldn’t be able to let go of his mother – who had died 15 years ago.

It’s frustrating for me that I saw the wretched anime first before I read this. I wish I had read this first. Instead, though, I’ll read it with better understanding and hope that one day, the casualty of class 3 will eventually rest.

"Another" had a great story, that evolved around Mei Misaki, and the secret that she keeps hidden away from her classmates. I enjoyed the way that the story developed, as you progress through, and the way that it reveals her secret eventually. Also the fact that all the characters get involved in the story, is quite good as well, because you don't see only the point of view from Misaki, but also the reaction that is given from her fellow classmates. This is the first I have read this genre of manga, but I am quite please with how the story has been presented. Overall, if you enjoy a mystery/horror stories such as this, then you need to give Another a try,

"Another" is that kind of work that has several of the most different adaptations, so you probably already heard of the anime, the manga or the live action.
Here I'll talk a little bit about the work that originated all these different versions of the story: the original novel written by Yukito Ayatsuji.

The story starts with a series of events leading our main character to be transferred to a school in the countryside. Because of some complications he had to start the classes a month after their beginning, and that's how things will start to go downhill not only for Koichi, but for all the members of the class 3-3.
To begin with, his school is surrounded by many horror stories, but they're all just stories, and no one really believes in it. The only one that everyone feels a shiver down the spine is the story about the class 3-3: a frightening ghost story with his roots in the past, exactly 26 years ago, where a picture of the group was taken, and "someone", the ghost of a dead classmate, that shouldn't be in the picture, was there; followed by a lot of strange deaths involving the class 3-3 in the next years, leading everyone to believe a curse had fallen upon the group after the death of this classmate.
Some years after the phenomenon started, they discovered that the "curse" can be avoided if someone "don't exist", or at least if they pretend someone of the class don't exist. Around this we still have a very important question, the question that can end with this phenomenon, but the hardest to be answered, "who is the another?", "who is the dead?", the extra classmate, the one that came back from death and is infiltrated between the other students.
With all those mysteries, the important figure of Mei Misaki enters in the scene, she was already someone that had a very strange meeting with Koichi in the beginning of our story, and he meets her again in class 3-3. Mei is a very interesting character, mostly in the first part of the story, she is an existence that you don't really know what it is. It intrigued me the whole first part who and what Mei was, but only in the second part and in the last chapters we start discover who this girl really is. A thing we can say for sure is, Mei is probably the only one Koichi can trust, and she will play a very important role in the story together with our main character.
In the beginning we might feel very confused because the story show us lot of content, it feels like there is a lot of mysteries and you might caught yourself trying to associate every information that is given. This is very important actually, because lot of things will only make sense in the last part of the story, so all the details matter.

As for the story, what you need to know is that it's divided in two parts besides the chapters; these parts have important questions that will be solved during it. The first one is "What?....Why?" and the second one is "How?....Who?". Well, only saying it you can almost imagine about what which part is about. The first one is mostly regarding the doubts of Koichi about what's happening in the class, why these things happen and why his classmates act the way they act. As for the second part, it has relation with how to break the events of the phenomenon, and who is the dead.
What really called my attention, talking about the narration of the story, is that it's told in the first person, with Koichi being the one telling all the events. I personally thought it was a very interesting way of writing because like this we can see HIS point of view of the story, and not by an external narrator, it also feels a little bit more like a "horror" story, like, sometimes you see Koichi is really nervous when his hearing about something and you start feeling his nervousness too.

The characters are mostly very interesting, there are some I would like to know more, like Izumi, which, for me, had a very short role in the story, but mostly the side characters are very interesting and we get to know more about the ones that are close to Koichi, which is a good amount of characters. Of course Mei and Koichi get the special treatment, Mei being the highlight, as I said before, she's a very enigmatic character and you get yourself questioning her existence a lot in the first part of the novel. Koichi feels kinda like the our everyday main character, but I got to see a little bit of me in him, especially the "bookworm" personality, and we get to see his true emotions in many parts of the novel, so it feels like a very realist portrayal.
A thing that can be noted too is that all characters are important. You might think "it's just a side character", but he or she will definitely do something important in the story, so pay attention to every single character while reading.
Another thing about the characters is that we get to see MANY deaths in this novel, some of them (ok, most of them) are very crazy, so crazy that it feels kinda unreal. Well, I guess one of the things about this story is that all the events are already unimagined, so even the deaths need to be unimaginable coincidences or accidents, but the only thing I know is that while I was reading, I started questioning myself: could this weird death really happen in the real world?

Overall, I think "Another" was a very good reading; I really liked the mysteries and the way they were shown, as well as the narrativ., The characters have interesting roles during the story and they fit the atmosphere created by the author. All the questions he makes in the beginning and the way he starts answering them during the story, everything leading to an unimaginable ending. It's the kind of story that even if you start reading and don't like it, you'll at least finish because you just can't stop without knowing who is the culprit, or in this case, who is the dead.
I would totally recommend it for fans of mystery, not really horror fans, because I can't say this novel gets to the point of being classified as horror, but it's a very good mystery novel that will give you some shivers and make you question everything.
So, what are you waiting to start reading "Another" and discover who the dead is? But better read now, or will forget about everything when the phenomenon ends.

I'll keep this review short, do not fear.

The first thing I would like to say is that this novel is very clever, absolutely perfectly planned out, and its story is told very well.

Story: 10/10

This novel is one with a dark atmosphere, as it is about a chain of deaths which occur once Kouichi Sakakibara transfers into the school.

I became hooked as soon as I started reading it. Sure, the beginning may be slow at first, but as you progress deeper into the story, all of the pieces come to light and connect together beautifully. Everything is so well connected, as I said earlier, and the story is played out amazingly, with the mysterious, dark atmosphere drawing you in.

Art: ?

Well in this novel, there was no literal art, but the scenes described were beautiful and matched the story's mood, so I'll give it a 10/10. The deaths were particular and nearly unreal, adding to the atmosphere.

Character: 10/10

The characters were very interesting and unique. They have incredible memories, as they can remember just about everything they hear or witness. I think that their abilities add to the story's mystery, because they are trying to solve the mystery.

Enjoyment: 10/10

I enjoyed this story very much. It isn't very much of the "horror" genre, but it is a very good, dark, mystery novel.
I loved the way the story developed and becomes more intense as the story progresses.

Overall: 10/10

I recommend this story to anyone who likes reading dark mystery novels which are slightly "horrific" but focused more on the mystery, and are very well developed, well told, and have a great dark atmosphere.

I enjoyed it very much, and I hope others will enjoy this story as well.