List of Another episodes
Another is a 2012 horror anime TV series produced by P.A.Works and directed by Tsutomu Mizushima, based on the novel of the same name written by Yukito Ayatsuji. The series focuses on a boy named Kōichi Sakakibara who, upon transferring into Yomiyama Middle School and meeting the curious Mei Misaki, finds himself in a mystery revolving around students and people related to his class facing gruesome and senseless deaths.
The series aired 12 episodes in Japan between January 10 and March 27, 2012. The screenplay was written by Ryō Higaki, and the chief animation director Yuriko Ishii based the character design used in the anime on Noizi Ito's original concept.[1][2] The music was produced by Kow Otani, and the sound director is Yoshikazu Iwanami.[2] The anime has two theme songs: the opening theme "Kyōmu Densen" (凶夢伝染 Nightmare Contagion) by the band Ali Project, and the ending theme "Anamnesis" by Annabel. Sentai Filmworks has licensed the anime series for digital and home video release in 2012.[3] An original video animation episode set before the beginning of the series was released on May 26, 2012 with a "0th" volume of the manga.[4]
Episode list
| No. | Title | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Rough Sketch" "Sobyō" (素描) | January 10, 2012[5] |
| Because of his father's work in India, Kōichi Sakakibara moves to his birth town of Yomiyama to live with his grandparents and aunt Reiko Mikami. Due to a pneumothorax, he spends his first month there hospitalized, thus missing his first day of school. Three student delegates from his class—Izumi Akazawa, Kazami Tomohiko, and Yukari Sakuragi—visit him, but they act strange and ask him personal questions, trying to find out whether he's lived in Yomiyama before. In a hospital elevator, Kōichi meets a girl with an eyepatch, named Mei Misaki. Once Kōichi recovers, he goes to school, where everyone is seemingly friendly with him; yet, when he asks Yukari where Mei is, she seems shocked, then pretends not to know who he is talking about. During a conversation with Mei on the roof, she tells him not to get too close to her, claiming that their class—Class 3-3—is "much closer to death" than other classes. On his way home, Kōichi sees Mei looking up at the rainy sky. | ||
| 2 | "Blueprint" "Omowaku" (思惑) | January 17, 2012[5] |
| While Kōichi is talking with classmates Naoya Teshigawara and Yūya Mochizuki, Naoya lets slip that Class 3-3 is cursed. Before Naoya can explain himself, Kōichi spots Mei drawing in the library annex and joins her against Naoya's and Yūya's protests. He asks about her eyepatch, but is interrupted when the school bell rings and the librarian, Mr. Chibiki, arrives and tells Kōichi to leave. Later, troubled by the subject of Mei, Kōichi goes to the hospital and asks a nurse he met during his stay there, Sanae Mizuno, about "a girl who may have died on the night of [his] discharge." Though Sanae doesn't know much about it at first, she later calls him back to say that a junior high school student did indeed die that night—"her name was something like Misaki or Masaki." Kōichi, who was standing in front of a mysterious puppet museum when he got the call, debating whether or not to go inside, is shocked by the revelation and decides to enter. In the museum basement, he finds Mei with a life-sized doll with her likeness. After a brief conversation, Mei decides to show Kōichi what is under her eyepatch. | ||
| 3 | "Bone work" "Honegumi" (骨組) | January 24, 2012[5] |
| Mei reveals that one of her eyes is a doll's eye, which can "see things that are not meant to be seen." She then tells Kōichi part of a story concerning a student also called Misaki from 1972, who died partway through the school year but still appeared on the class graduation photo. Much to his chagrin and confusion, Kōichi's fellow students continue to behave strangely when he brings up the story or Mei. In fact, when Kōichi goes to the roof again after seeing Mei there, Naoya calls him, telling him not to "hang out with something that doesn't exist," after which Mei is nowhere to be found on the roof. Sanae later contacts Kōichi, revealing that the girl who died in the hospital was named Misaki Fujioka, not Mei Misaki. In class the next day, Mei explains that Misaki Fujioka was her cousin. She then enigmatically claims she is "something that doesn't exist," and can apparently only be seen by Kōichi, which leaves him stunned. At that moment, Yukari receives bad news about her mother and rushes out of the classroom; shocked upon seeing Mei and Kōichi, she runs the other way, tripping down the stairs. Her umbrella lands point-up and impales her throat, killing her in seconds. | ||
| 4 | "Put flesh" "Rinkaku" (輪郭) | January 31, 2012[5] |
| Following Yukari's death, Kōichi goes to the hospital for a checkup, as the nature of the death had nearly caused a relapse. He later has lunch with Sanae to ask her thoughts on Mei and the story of Class 3-3 from '72. He later encounters classmate Aya Ayano, whom he manages to save when they are nearly crushed by a falling sheet of glass. She promptly breaks down in tears, screaming: "I don't want to die!" Kōichi later goes to the puppet store to see Mei, but she only tells him that "it may have already started." The next day, Kōichi confronts Naoya and Izumi, the former having been ordered to avoid Kōichi on the latter's direction. Kōichi recalls what Naoya had said last month (the previous episode), which gets Izumi angry. At that moment, Sanae contacts Kōichi, saying that when she asked her younger brother about Mei, he blurted out in a panic that no such person exists. Sanae then enters the elevator, which falls down the shaft and crushes her. Kōichi, Naoya, and Izumi hear the crash over Kōichi's cell phone. | ||
| 5 | "Build limbs" "Kakusan" (拡散) | February 7, 2012[5] |
| Kōichi looks at the Class 3-3 photo of 1972, finding his mother Ristuko. Izumi appears and, for no obvious reason, apologizes to him. While Kōichi is being interrogated by the police regarding Sanae's death, Class 3-3 has an emergency meeting. Upon his return, the classroom is empty. He runs into Yūya and Ikuo Takabayashi on his way home and asks them for answers, but Ikuo has a heart attack and dies before he can respond. The following day, Kōichi is completely ignored by his classmates. As he tries to understand what's going on, he receives a note from Yūya, telling him to ask Mei for details. Later on, he visits the doll shop once again, which is revealed to be Mei's house. Mei explains to Kōichi that she does exist as a living human being—she just doesn't exist to the members of Class 3-3. She explains that the actions of Class 3-3 in '72 made their class closer to death; starting in '73, the number of desks in the class decreased by one, meant for the "dead person" in the class. With both records and memories altered, no one could confirm who the "extra one" was. Then, in 1988, someone developed a solution to prevent the calamity from starting: "to treat one person as if they didn't exist." Mei explains that the class is now treating both Mei and Kōichi as nonexistent in a vain attempt to stop further deaths. | ||
| 6 | "Face to Face" "Futari" (二人) | February 14, 2012[5] |
| In the episode prologue, it is shown how Mei was chosen as the student to be ignored, as a charm to prevent the curse of Class 3-3. Mei and Kōichi's discussion continues until the arrival of Mei's mother Kirika, who makes the dolls in the museum. They seem to have a very distant relationship, which surprises Kōichi. The two begin hanging out and develop a good friendship. Later, while Kōichi is on the phone with his father, the latter asks his son how it feels to be back in Yomiyama after being gone for a 1½ year, to which Kōichi responds he's never been there before. His father appears to think it over, then claims it was a mistake, before the call cuts off. Sometime afterwards, Kōichi and Mei go to the library and discuss the curse with Chibiki, who kept records of the events over the past 26 years, and the death of the student Misaki Yomiyama (the "Misaki of 1972"), and shares his findings with them. Sometime later, Mr. Kubodera, homeroom teacher for Class 3-3, begins class by taking a knife out of his bag. | ||
| 7 | "Sphere joint" "Henchō" (変調) | February 21, 2012[5] |
| Picking up where the last episode left off, Mr. Kubodera runs the knife into his neck in front of the class, leaving most of the students traumatized. Kōichi and Mei learn from Chibiki that, before killing himself, Kubodera had also murdered his comatose mother. This proves that the countermeasures in effect so far have been unsuccessful, so Mei and Kōichi's existence are once again acknowledged by their classmates. Afterwards, Kōichi meets up with Yūya, Naoya, and Izumi in a cafe, where Yūya's older half-sister Tomoka tells them about Katsumi Matsunaga. A former Class 3-3 student, he managed to stop the phenomenon in 1983, leaving information on how he did it for future students to find. However, it seems as though he does not remember what or where this information may be. Kōichi explains the situation to Mei, including his fear of being the "extra one" behind this year's calamity (induced by a guilt-driven nightmare), to which she responds that: "Don't worry. You are not the one. You're not the 'extra one', Sakakibara." | ||
| 8 | "Hair stand" "Konpeki" (紺碧) | February 28, 2012[5] |
| Kōichi, Reiko, Naoya, Yūya, Izumi, Takako Sugiura, and Junta Nakao go to a nearby beach resort to meet Matsunaga. Although tense at first, they manage to relax when they successfully leave Yomiyama without incident, convinced that the curse is ineffective outside town. As Katsumi is busy, they decide to go to the beach, where Kōichi discovers Mei nearby. The group spends the afternoon having fun, even undergoing a fishing contest for food. Katsumi joins them later on, but still doesn't remember what or where the clue is, though he does mention that it wasn't paper. Suddenly, the weather acts up, and a gust of wind blows the group's beach ball far into the water. Nakao volunteers to bring it back, but drowns in the process. Shortly after, his body is torn up by a motorboat, prompting everyone to realize that the curse may not be limited in Yomiyama. Kōichi hears the shocked Katsumi mutter: "But I...I protected them... I left it for them...in the classroom." | ||
| 9 | "Body paint" "Rensa" (連鎖) | March 6, 2012[5] |
| Following Nakao's funeral, Chibiki reveals that Nakao's death stemmed from a head trauma he received while still in Yomiyama. After a discussion, Kōichi, Yūya, and Naoya decide to look for the item Katsumi mentioned in the old school building. The group runs into Mei, and the four of them search the old 3-3 classroom. There, Kōichi finds an audio tape by Katsumi, in which he explains what happened on the school trip to the shrine 15 years ago. Although praying at the shrine proved ineffective, as two students died on the way down from the shrine, something did happen that was very important; however, before it can be revealed, a teacher arrives, forcing the group to hide. Naoya accidentally breaks the cassette in the process, but Yūya offers to repair it. Meanwhile, Ayano and her family, who were moving out of town, are killed when their car is hit by a falling boulder and steers off a cliff; while Yumi Ogura returns home to discover her brother was killed when a truck carrying an excavator crashed into her house. | ||
| 10 | "Glass eye" "Shikkoku" (漆黒) | March 13, 2012[5] |
| As Class 3-3 goes on its trip to the Yomiyama mountains, Kōichi and the others listen to the repaired tape, in which Katsumi explains he accidentally killed one of the surviving students in a fistfight. When he couldn't find the body the next day, Katsumi discovered no one else remembered the dead student, leading him to the conclusion that he had killed the "extra one", believing that is what can stop the calamity. He recorded the tape as he realized the incident would also disappear from his memory, and the name of the student is obscured by noise on the tape, suggesting it became "altered" in the same way as the rosters are. During dinner that night, as Izumi starts blaming Mei for the deaths, Daisuke Watui suddenly suffers an asthma attack. Chibiki offers to drive him to the hospital. Later, Mei invites Kōichi to her room to show her the haunted Class 3-3 photo of 1972, showing Misaki Yomiyama; before revealing that her cousin, Misaki Fujioka, was actually her twin sister, as Mei herself was taken in by her aunt (Kirika) upon her stillbirth. This means that Fujioka's death in April was the first of this year's calamity, meaning the "extra one" was already in the class before Kōichi arrived. Mei then explains that her doll's eye lets her see the "color of death", her proof that Kōichi is not the "extra one". Before she can reveal who it is, though, Naoya bursts in, claiming he may have just done something terrible. | ||
| 11 | "Makeup" "Sangeki" (惨劇) | March 20, 2012[5] |
| Naoya explains that he'd pushed Kazami off the balcony, believing him to be the "extra one". As Kōichi and Mei go with Naoya to check if he is still alive, Kōichi finds that Manabu Maejima has been stabbed in the back; the dining hall is on fire; and the manager has been stabbed to death. Soon after, Kōichi, Naoya, and Yūya discover that the tape has gone missing. While looking for Ms. Mikami, Naoya and Yūya are attacked and chased after by the hotel mistress, Keiko Numata, who turns out to be behind the fire and stabbings. Meanwhile, Izumi's friend Takako, who believes Mei is the "extra one", as she is "different" from the Misaki (possibly Misaki Fujioka) she knew in elementary school by virtue of her missing eye, broadcasts the tape across the hotel, ordering everyone to kill Mei. Before things degenerate, Izumi reveals that Takako has been emotionally unstable since the trip to the beach. As Kōichi and Mei try to escape, Ms. Mikami is knocked unconscious while protecting Mei; while Yumi falls from a window chasing them, breaking her neck. After a backdraft from the dining hall kills Makoto Ouji and causes the fire to spread further, Takako appears behind Kōichi and Mei in the staircase. She stabs Kōichi in the arm (though she lets him live, as "Izumi seems fond of you.") and attacks Mei, but is unintentionally hanged when she gets caught in some wires. Izumi arrives soon after, and mistakes that Mei killed Takako. Mei runs off, leaving Kōichi behind. | ||
| 12 | "Stand by oneself" "Shisha" (死者) | March 27, 2012[5] |
| As more students die or are injured trying to escape the hotel, Chibiki arrives just in time to save Naoya and Yūya from Keiko. Meanwhile, Kōichi comes across Kazami, who has been randomly killing students in order to find the "extra one". He attacks Kōichi, but is killed by Izumi before he can inflict serious injury. Still searching for Mei, Kōichi returns to the hotel, only to find Izumi attempting to end the calamity by killing Mei. When he interferes, she becomes infuriated and tries to kill them both, only to be impaled by shattered glass caused by a lightning strike. As she passes away, Izumi remembers meeting Kōichi in Yomiyama a 1½ year ago and tells him about it. When Kōichi finally catches up to Mei, he learns that the "extra one" is Ms. Mikami — Reiko — who was killed in 1996. Recovering all of his memories, Kōichi reluctantly kills Reiko himself with a pickaxe, ending the calamity; the shock of his action causes Kōichi to pass out from relapse. His voice is heard, saying, "Goodbye...Mother." Sometime after these events, at a graveyard near Yomiyama, Chibiki explains to the recovered Kōichi and Mei that Keiko and her husband were Ikuo Takabayashi's grandparents, who had entered a poor emotional state after his death (which explains Keiko's insanity). Also, Izumi was desperate to stop the calamity because it took her cousin's life. After saying goodbye to Chibiki and leaving, Kōichi and Mei reflect on the memories they will likely soon forget. Kōichi later says aloud, "It's over, huh?" to which Mei makes a small smile. After the credits, Kōichi, Mei, and the other students of Class 3–3 record a new message for those who may face the calamity in the future. As Naoya and Yūya hide the message in the 3-3 classroom, the last lines of the message are heard: "That's how to stop the calamity. How you interpret this is up to you. Just make sure to carefully consider your actions. Think it through, and discuss it with your friends...so you'll have no regrets." | ||
OVA
| No. | Title | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 0 (OVA) | "The Other" "Inga" (因果) | May 26, 2012 |
| Fourteen-year-old Mei secretly meets with her twin sister, Misaki Fujioka. With her mother away, Mei invites Misaki to spend the night at her house. As Misaki sleeps that night, Mei starts to see the color of death on her through her doll's eye. As such, she starts to become very protective of her while going to an amusement park the next day. While riding a Ferris wheel, a bird causes Misaki to fall out of her carriage, but thankfully the carriage was low enough that she wasn't in danger. However, as they part ways, Misaki suddenly collapses, later being admitted into hospital and dying from leukemia. As Mei goes to give her final farewells to Misaki, she has her first meeting with Kōichi. | ||
References
- ↑ "Anime Another with Noizi Ito, P.A. Works Debuts in January". Anime News Network. August 27, 2011. Retrieved August 27, 2011.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Staff & Cast" (in Japanese). P.A.Works. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
- ↑ "Sentai Filmworks Licenses Horror TV Anime Another". Anime News Network. January 16, 2012. Retrieved January 16, 2012.
- ↑ "Promo for Episode 0 of Horror Anime 'Another' Streamed". Anime News Network. March 2, 2012. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 5.10 5.11 "番組表: Another" [Program Chart: Another] (in Japanese). WebNewtype. Retrieved January 16, 2012.
External links
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Wikiquote has quotations related to: Another (anime) |
- Official website (Japanese)