If you want the elevator pitch for Another, a 12 episode anime series, it would be "Final Destination with a brain." In both series death itself is stalking the cast, rather than a standard serial killer. However, rather than focusing on inventive and gruesome deaths, as the Final Destination films do, Another is really more about the beleaguered cast trying to figure out what the hell is going on and peeling back the layers of the onion one by one until the truth is revealed. Which isn't to say that Another doesn't have some shocking deaths, just that they're not the point of the exercise.
No, the point of Another is in the details. The atmosphere of dread that builds from episode to episode is balanced by the revelations that clue you in to what the deal is. The two elements combine well into a mix that makes you want to watch the episodes one after another. Hell, I found out about the show on Sunday, and watched all 6 hours of it in a couple of days. It's really quite addictive.
Furthermore, the show has the guts to play it straight. Like most good mysteries, there are a number of twists in the tale, but they're set up well. The final twist in particular caught me off-guard, but looking back over the show, I realized that the clues had been there, I'd just misinterpreted them. Which is the hallmark of a fine mystery.
That said, I'm not sure I really need more of the show. I understand that there's a sequel planned, as well as a prequel episode, but I don't think either are really necessary. The show has a beginning, middle, and end, and while there are unanswered questions, I am content with the story as it exists. It's sort of like Babylon 5. I loved that show. Indeed, all five seasons of it are sitting a foot behind me in DVD format. But no effort to return to the universe of Babylon 5 has ever succeeded. That's because Babylon 5 has beginning, middle, and an end, and having ended, the story is best left concluded. Another feels the same way to me. They should leave well enough alone.
One other thing that I found was interesting about Another was the story's path through multiple media sources. Another began as a serial novel that was released in Japan from 2006 through 2009. A manga version appeared in 2010, followed by the anime version in early 2012. And now, thanks to the magic of Crunchyroll, there's a subtitled English version. You have to admire that kind of efficiency. Six years from first published chapter to international anime release? That's good work. Compare that to the way things were back in the day. To get even a hugely popular work like The Dirty Pair into the USA took something like six years and the work of bootleggers with dubious quality translations. Now, you can watch shows within days or even hours of its release in Japan in as high a resolution as you system can take done by professional translators. That kind of service would have been inconceivable back in the late '80s when I first got exposed to this stuff.
What a world we live in.
So, if you're a mystery or horror anime fan, I strongly recommend you take a few hours and watch Another. Sure, it's yet another anime set in a Japanese school, but like Puella Magi Madoka Magica, the show twists the genre conventions so far out of bounds that the familiar becomes horrible. It's not for everyone. There's blood and gore to be found throughout. But for the right kind of fan, this is the kind of show that challenges your brain, and for that, I salute it.
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