Another Episode 01: "Rough sketch"

So I know that we are reviewing Utena right now

But we decided we will also review an ongoing series!

Every Tuesday (or Wednesday...) we will do a review of Another

So that you can watch the series along with us!

Yeah!

Kouichi in the hospital.

~story~

This story's set-up is very similar to another anime (Kanon). Boy moves to a town he had visited in the past but doesn't remember anything but some of the people there remember him and he is going to discover his past while at the new school he is attending. Not very original as it was done in 1999 by Key. And that was done brilliantly so this has a lot to live up to. But this is a completely different genre of anime so hopefully it goes in a completely different direction and is perfect in a completely different way. Anyways, Kouichi (our main character) gets super sick right before he starts school and in the hospital he meets Mei (or Misaka - still don't know which name she is preferred to be called so for the time being it will be Mei since that's shorter and I'm a lazy child). Mei is a dark child who was revealed to have been super popular but died at that school 26 years ago but some of the people in that class can still see her and everyone knows about her and Kouichi can obviously see her so I guess that's bad or something. At the end of the episode she informs him that he was involved with death (murders perhaps?) in some way and that he shouldn't be around her any longer.

Representatives from the class come to visit him.

~art~

Some of the most beautiful art is done here in Another. The art is such great quality and everything looks beautiful. During the scene changes there are really weird dolls that show up for just a second or two and they're kind of strange and out of place but it is almost guaranteed that their purpose will be explained in one of the later episodes cause I doubt they were put there for no reason.

Kouichi and Mei in the elavator.

~sound~

The opening theme is a generic ALI PROJECT anime song. While it's good for a horror anime, it's nothing that one would put onto their iPod and listen to non-stop on repeat. The OST is pretty generic for a horror anime. The ending theme is truly one beautiful piece of work. It's a really nice soft piano song and is probably the brightest part of the whole episode.

Kouichi starts school.

~character~

As of this episode, Kouichi and Mei are the only two characters that stick out. There are some classmates who are more prominent (the ones who visit him in the hospital for example) but the only names that I can remember are Kouichi and Mei. Kouichi is obvlivious to his whole past in this town even though the whole school, his grandparents, and aunt all know about it (but won't tell him. Great relationship there). The prologue told us that Mei is dead so hopefully that isn't the big shock of the storyline and there better be something even more shocking and outrageous yet to be unfolded. All of the other students get all freaked out when Kouichi says he can see Mei (WHAT?! it's not normal to see and talk to people who died 26 years ago?? o_o I do everyday...)

The class meets Kouichi.

~overall~

This episode receives an A-. While it's not the most original storyline in the world, it seems very promising and probably one of the better Winter 2012 animes out there.

Kouichi talks to Mei on the roof.

~prediction diary~

-More information about Mei's death will be revealed

See you next week!!