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.