Another

Blood and gore aren’t really my cups of tea. But after watching Higurashi and Blood C, I was prepped up well enough to try out Another.

The storyline follows two protagonists – Misaki Mei and Sakakibara Koichi who attend Yomiyama North Middle School. They have the misfortune to end up in the most creepy class of the century, class 3-3. Koichi being a transfer student has no idea about the “rules” of the class, one of which includes treating Mei as non-existent, and tries befriending her. This reveals a chain of events which had been triggered before Koichi transferred into class 3-3. These “events” specifically refer to gruesome deaths of the people closely related to class 3-3.

Koichi and Mei set out to uncover the truth behind the curse of “death” and try to find a way to stop it mid way.

Somehow the gruesome freak accident deaths in Another didn’t creep me out so much. I probably got used to scenes like that after watching Higurashi (which, by the way, is quite a few levels above Another in many aspects). The shock and suspense factor in Another is hammered down to nothing as they reveal the curse and its history a little prematurely. Even though it just lasts 12 episodes, I suppose the shocker should have been saved up for the end.

The story turned a bit bland at the end, as Koichi didn’t undergo any character progression and the last couple of episodes comprised of a saved up gore fest reminiscent of Blood C.

If you do have plenty of time on your hands and haven’t caught up with Another yet, you can safely give it a try. But there are lots of other more deserving series out there~