Another Images

Original character design by Ito Noizi
Manga character design by Kiyohara Hiro
Anime character design by Ishii Yuriko



Another (アノザーAnaza) was originally a Japanese mystery and horror novel written by Yukito Ayatsuji that was published on October 29th, 2009 by Kadokawa Shoten. A manga adaptation was eventually made by Hiro Kiyohara which was initially serialized and run from May 2010 to January 2012. It had 5 volumes and then a 12 episode anime adaptation was later grin-lit with the first episode running on the 10th of January and with the series ending on the 12th of March. The anime was directed by Tsutomu Mizushima and written by Ryou Higaki while P.A.Works did the animation.

Opening:

Plot:
In the year 1972, a popular student of Yomiyama North Middle School class 3-3 named Misaki suddenly died half-way through the school year. Because of this unexpected turn of events, the whole class got devastated and because they are unable to accept what happened, the students and teachers decided to continue through the year behaving as if Misaki still existed.

Fast forward in the present time, particularly in spring 1988, a 15-year old Sakakibara Kouichi transfers to Yomimaya North Middle School’s class 3-3 where he befriends a certain girl having “Misaki” as her last name. What is stranger is that the class seems to ignore her existence. Though Kouichi was warned not to interact with Misaki, he disregards the advice and soon, the people and those associated with the people in class 3-3 suffers mysterious gruesome deaths.

Having a strong feeling that these deaths may have something to do with the “Misaki of 1972”, Kouichi and Misaki Mei decides to investigate the matter.

Characters:
Sakakibara Kouichi (榊原 恒- Sakakibara Kōichi) – He is the main protagonist of the story and is a 15 year old young boy who transferred to Yomiyama North’s middle class 3-3 from Tokyo in the year 1998 but was hospitalized due to pneumothorax before the school year started. Despite his classmates’ warnings in getting close with his classmate Misaki Mei, he decided to get to know Misaki Mei. He is currently staying with his grandparents and aunt Reiko while his father was in India conducting a research.

Misaki Mei (見崎 鳴 Misaki Mei)- Misaki Mei is a mysterious girl and Kouichi’s classmate in class 3-3. She wears a white eye-patch over her left eye because instead of a real eye, she has a doll eye crafted by her mother for her. She is ignored by the whole class except for Kouichi who decided to reach out to her and get to know her. She can be cryptic on occasion and claims to have the ability to see “the color of death” through her doll eyes.

Similar Series:
There are a number of mystery and horror manga or anime series and Another can be compared to Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni in terms of the mysterious atmosphere and abundance of gruesome deaths in both series.

Source: Zerochan; written by l_i_z