Anime: Another

Year: 2012
Director: Mizushima Tsutomu
Writer: Ayatsuji Yukito
Genre: Horror: Thriller

Another is a 12 episode anime series which I decided to watch due to someone noting that the first death scene was horrendous. Without knowing a thing about the show I dove in and found it to be a horror anime, yes, but nothing much beyond average.

The basic premise is that this new kid comes into school and tries to befriend a classmate. However, everyone else in the class doesn't even acknowledge her presence. It's not bullying. It's almost as if she's a ghost. From then on, people start dying and a mystery as to why this all is happening is slowly unraveled.

As far as plot goes, I was a little annoyed that it was focused on ghost stories. For whatever reason, the few horror anime series' that I have seen are all ghost stories. Of course, the same is often true of Japanese film. The culture seems to have a huge interest in ghosts and ghost stories. I was looking for something a bit different. Perhaps it was because I came into it hoping for a slasher.... In a way it even is a slasher because a lot of deaths occur but the overall setup is different.

Anyway, again, the story didn't really attempt to do anything new. The visuals of death may have been "sickening" but that doesn't make the story itself incredible. For the most part the deaths weren't all that notable either, minus a few that were quite implausibly set up but neat all the same. It felt more like your average mystery but with some gore dumped on to make it feel more mature.

A lot of people enjoy Another but for me it's just another average horror show.