I try to keep anime off this blog, but I still wanted to bring this series up.
There isn’t really that much interesting anime this season, actually there is only one series that I’m looking forward to and that is “Another”. It is a horror series which started airing this month and the fourth episode is to air the 31st.
I’m not really a horror fan, mainly because they usually are too predictable and therefore not really that scary, and I do not expect this series to be much different in that regard.
Plot
The plot isn’t really that unique at this point. A young boy moves to his grandparents because of family reasons and therefore transfers into class 9-3 at the local school. However that class happens to have a dark history… 26 years ago one of the students died in an accident but as she was popular and loved by the class they started denying her death and pretended that she was still alive. However their actions prevented her to rest in peace and at the time of graduation she shows up in the group photo.
Returning to the present this particular boy tries to fit into his new class only to learn that they are holding something hidden from him which appears to be the cause of the uneasiness that spreads throughout the class. In addition there is this girl in the class that just feels out of place which catches his interests.
That is pretty much the main point of the plot without spoiling too much. The outline is set by the end of episode 3 and I suspect that “accidents” will play a major role in the story.
Animation
The main reason for my interest in this because how well it is executed. The visuals are in my opinion on a level rarely seen in weekly series. Not only is it well drawn, it manages to create a mood which matches the series well. This is where many other animations fells short, however Another still manages to excel in this area.
The series director have also made a decent job on this which combined together with the level of the visuals really creates something special.
If the animation wasn’t good enough, the soundtrack is well done too. The soundtrack have some of the qualities as Ga-Rei Zero, the actual music isn’t great by itself but when used together with the video and sound effects manages to bring out emotions that it can’t do by itself. While it is not on the same level as in Ga-Rei Zero, it is still fairly good.
Conclusion
The plot doesn’t appear to be anything special but it has potential to be interesting if it does not spoil too much too soon. The main strength of this series so far is the execution of the plot. The direction is decent, the visuals are great and the sound is decent too which when combined really makes this an experience to watch.