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「惨劇」 (Sangeki)
“Makeup”
After blogging the latest episodes of Mirai Nikki and Another back to back, I may need to take in this week’s Natsume Yuujinchou Shi and Ano Natsu eps directly via IV drip, stat.
Man, I never thought Another would make last night’s grisly Mirai Nikki look like the feel-good story of the year, but – wow. I know the fan love will pour in hard for this – lots of action, incredibly gruesome deaths, fire, explosions… But I’m going to dissent a little and say this was one of my least-favorite eps of the series. Mind you, I’m still talking 9/10 territory here, as Another has set its bar incredibly high, and this ep pulled off the cluster-bomb impact with military precision and a huge amount of style. I loved the ep – it was thrilling, frightening, sickening and exhausting. But it also felt like everything descended into complete madness a little too quickly and completely for me. We had a slow, surgical build of stylish terror for 10 episodes – and this feels like it somewhat went for sheer volume (of both sound and carnage) rather than artistry.
If the mystery aspect was back-burner this week, it’s because the story went exactly where I thought it was going to go based on the buildup and the preview – this was the “Lord of the Flies” chapter. To briefly harken back to Sanae-san’s mention of John Saul, he’s a guy who writes horror where the real horror is man’s inhumanity to man. That doesn’t rule out a supernatural component and I’m still pretty certain we have one here, but the cause of the devastation this week was almost strictly human paranoia and stupidity. In fact, it’s forced me to reconsider the possibility – could the entire thing be explainable by mundane causes? Could this be a coincidence that led to a chain of paranoia that’s claimed victims for 26 years? In the end, I think there’s still too much evidence to the contrary – the class photo, the class records, the memory irregularities, the sheer number of “Final Destination” style deaths. No, I still think there is a phenomenon at work here, and an “Another” – but I’m not going to blame this week’s madness on such a force. This was sheer human cruelty.
The big mistake was obviously Mochizuki’s, for letting the tape go public by playing it for Akazawa and the Countermeasures Committee. His intentions were good (see “Hell, road to is paved with”) but once that went viral the dogs of war were let loose and societal order crashed quickly. Teshigawara was indeed stupid for running with his idea about Kazami being the Another, but I see no reason to disbelieve his story that he never intended to kill Kazami (as indeed he didn’t). As for Kazami, his role in all this is still unclear, as he obviously didn’t die from his fall but hasn’t been seen since. I’m not totally clear on how the manager couple found out about the tape or who killed the husband and set fire to the dining hall (and why Kouchi decided it would be better to walk around slowly and tell people individually that the hotel was on fire rather than scream “FIRE!!!” very loudly) but now we have a crazy old lady trying to kill Teshi (wounded in the leg) and Mochi.
As for the students, the body count was certainly bolstered in a big way, and in creative fashion. We have red-shirt ensigns, like Ouji, the boy roasted by the explosion. As for notable characters we have Sugiura and Ogura, both of whom have become convinced that Mei is the another because they’re unaware of something we know – that she has a twin sister. Thus, they remember a girl who looked like Mei and everyone called “Misaki” but had two good eyes – whereas Mei says she lost hers at four years old. That ties in Mei’s past rather elegantly to the practical side of the story, and sets up one of the fundamental dramas of this last arc, as Ogura announces her conclusions to the entire class (what’s left of it) and the hunt begins. It also ends for Ogura and Sugiura, in horrific fashion, though it’s hard not to see poetic justice intended in the way it came down.
Goodness, what a mess we have now. Kouichi certainly proved his toughness after managing to fend off Ogura from killing Mei despite getting racked rather viciously, but now Mei has gone off on her own to take matters into her own hands – presumably to kill the Another herself. I see a fundamental problem here in that even assuming the Another phenomenon is real and she kills it, the rest of the class will still think she’s the Another and keep trying to kill her. In fact, now that the myth of her being dead is out, I see no reason why the carnage should end soon even if Mei is successful. Akazawa certainly still thinks Mei’s the Another, and while Chibiki no doubt would defend her, he’s conveniently still absent driving asthma-boy to the hospital. Mikami-sensei tries to defend Mei, but gets a mop blow to the head as thanks. Will Kouichi be able to protect Mei from the combined wrath of the entire remaining class, whether the real Another is gone or not?
And then there’s the mystery of the Another’s identity – which almost seems secondary after the madness of this episode – which Mizushima-sensei has decided to leave for the finale. If we take the basic premise of the Another and Mei’s eye to be true, the field has narrowed somewhat. Mei and Kouichi are out, seemingly. Akazawa seems to be out, if we assume Mei resolved to go kill the extra herself, because Akazawa was standing right in front of her at the time. We can assume none of the characters we’ve seen die is the one. Teshi and Mochi are still candidates, though I don’t see either as likely. Kazami denied it when accused, but so what? He wouldn’t know he was even if he was the Another so it’s still possible, though he’s been absent from the story for so long that would feel like a bit of an asspull. And then there’s Mikami-sensei, who probably isn’t dead from that blunt trauma – and there was that long close-up of her near the beginning of the episode, which seemed totally extraneous yet lingered forever. And I can’t believe after all the hinting – the mynah bird, the grandfather’s “My poor Rei too!”, the bit with Matsunaga remembering seeing her – that Aunt Reiko will be completely irrelevant to the solution, or at least the conclusion.
Indeed, there’s a lot left to clean up in one episode. One of the reasons I’ve always preferred two-cour series is that you’re much more likely to see time left for a “coda” in the finale, a chance for the characters to reflect and move on. My sincere hope is that the next ep is not like this one – a wall-to-wall action, fighting for survival gore-fest. I’m much more interested in seeing the solution, and how Mei and Kouichi (if they survive) react to it, and how events move on. There are also major mysteries surrounding Mei and her family, Kouichi’s mother and the workings of the phenomenon that I’d really like to see get some attention. As exciting as the thrill-ride stuff like this week is, this is a show that really needs – and deserves – an epilogue.
Preview
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I lol’d pretty hard this episode at how irrational people where. I got a real Blood C + Final destination feel from this episode
Yeah but Blood C + was funny in that we wanted to see the character suffer. “Lord of the Flies” level of human mob mentality is what made be shudder through this episode.
I agree. I did get a Blood-C vibe to it.
I am starting to think the Another is the student who got asthma. I don’t know why they still haven’t killed him yet… seems odd.
The most irrational of all is still Misaki Mei. Throughout the series, she demonstrated little concern for her own as well as others’ well being. Even in this episode, she was mostly aloof, even though she could have explained her way out of all the troubles she is in.
Did she not bother to defend herself because she thinks no one will believe her (like what happened in Episode 10)? Or is it because she is the Another?
Don’t blame her she’s a social outcast. It can be quite difficult to talk to the other students in the class when they’ve been ignoring for the past year. Well thankfully I graduated and finally made friends in the new school which I can spend time with.
This episode was hilarious. I almost wonder if the author who wrote the Light Novel was aiming for a satire. Either way it was incredibly entertaining which is all I ask for.
Whelp, I do believe the following meme described my reaction throughout the episode:
http://i.imgur.com/abw6I.jpg
I will say it was somewhat frustrating to have neither Mei reveal who the another was, or Kouchi tell anyone that Mei knew who it was. Might have avoided some of this rather than having Mei going rambo to do it alone.
No one would’ve believed them if even one person was still shouting to kill Mei, especially with how Ogura was freaking out. Seeing death’s color sounds pretty weird to begin with, and telling them about a sister is way too convenient for everyone to buy it.
Gotta love mob mentality.
Well I figure there would have been some chance before the proverbial shit hit the fan, but not after everyone wants Mei’s head.
True but before Sugiura broadcasted her little speech there really wasn’t a desperate need to prove Mei wasn’t the Another. Sure things were a little tense, but no one besides her had really started swinging yet, at least that Kouichi knew about. Akazawa was even listening to him and might’ve come around once they started really talking, but then sh*t got really real >.<
Progress so far
http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l522/cybersteelex/1445197170_5b9c7b8496_o.jpg
http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l522/cybersteelex/brain.jpg
I dunno what i did…
We know that shouting “She has a twin sister!” wouldn’t work because we’re looking at this from an objective perspective. If I were Koichi, I’d be shouting anything and everything to get them to stop trying to kill Mei (and subsequently me). “She has a twin sister!” “She can see Dead People!” “She knows who the Dead Person really is. If you kill her, this will never stop.” “Do you really think Santa Claus would keep you on the NIce list if you keep this up?” “Now, before you kill us, I want you all to ask yourselves… what would Jesus do?”
I miss you US :P.
Also, I’m leaving my money on Reiko, since my other suspect (Akazawa) is seemingly out of the running now. My problem with it is that the show seems to be pushing Reiko way too hard, assumingly to mess with us and make us seem like its her. But then, who knows?
Mei said the Another is with them on the trip though, and I don’t recall seeing Reiko there. She’s been my pick for a while but unless I’m wrong and she’s on the trip with them it looks like she is well out of the running (thankfully, <3 you Reiko, sorry for suspecting you!)
That’s really plausible it could be her, but I’m sure they will explain it all in an epilogue of some sort. 1 more episode to explain so many concerns and questions is a tad bit…drastic yet totally possible.
My thoughts:
– Talk about mass hysteria. Or Lord of the Flies. Or Battle Royale. Wow! Everyone is the ‘Another’ in this episode!
Show Spoiler ▼
I love this show so much and to me, this is one of the major contestants for Anime of the Year 2012.
Huh, so Mochizuki was actually the one to set things off, not Teshigawra. That was indeed unexpected, but like Enzo said, road to hell… Of course Ogura just had to go nuts and set all the desperate kids on poor Mei even when Ogura didn’t know what she was talking about. Was really great to see Kouichi man up and pound some face though. I still smiled when he and Mei held hands just cause I’m goofy like that XD
You pose an interesting question, Enzo. How will this mob get calmed down? Doesn’t seem to be an obvious way of doing it at all now that they’re in such a frenzy. Maybe killing the real Another in front of everyone? I’ve really go nothing.
So umm… call me dumb, but why was the old lady freaking out with the butch knife anyway?
I assume the old lady found her husband’s mutilated corpse. That of course brings up the question of what exactly happened there, because it was before stuff got really crazy.
And of course by Ogura I meant Sugiura >.< Fail at keeping my crazy girls straight.
I’m curios about the role of the innkeepers. The couple has no connection to the curse, at least non that I can remember to be mentioned in the previous episode. So why did the wife go crazy and why was the husband killed even before the content of the tape had been released and everybody went nuts?
Too bad until now I had my money on Izumi but it looks like I was wrong :/
this what i call: anime of the year!
The way I see it, the only way to stop everyone from coming after Misaki is to kill them. The house is on fire anyway. How many of the class would survive the fire? If even one of those irrational people refuse to come to their senses after the Another is dead, then the show would only end in tragedy.
I just realised that with the number of people dead, this year must be the worst year ever in the school’s past 26 years history. In fact, they were screwed from the beginning. The class thought that the first death was in May, but in actual fact it was in April. And that was because the first death was Mei’s relative, and Mei couldn’t tell the class since they were ignoring her according to the rule. Although, what could they have done differently if they had known earlier?
They weren’t ignoring Mei yet when Misaki died, since Mei became non-existent on May 1 and Misaki died in April. It was more Mei not wanting to believe her closest friend and sister died because of something as stupid as a class-curse, which I really can’t fault her for.
But yeah, by the time she figured it might be a good idea to tell them, Kouichi had come and the class had made her non-existent, so she probably didn’t see the point anymore. Poor Mei 🙁
Well I have a really bad theory about the managers but since episode 10 the old lady looked a little like Sugiura. I thought it could be family and that would explains how Sugiura got the same kind of knifes as the old lady. If they were family then the old lady would have heard the story of Sugiura and obviously wanted to protect her and also herself. I think that the managers were actually the grandparents of Sugiura and that the old lady killed her husband because he didn’t wanted to help her with killing the another.
(This is just a bad theory of my side)
Anyway I think that Sugiura and Ogura deserved to die and for Mikami sensei, a way better teacher then Kubodera, protecting their students in that kind of situation. Ouji didn’t deserved to die at all because he was only one of the few who was not after Misaki to kill her. I still don’t know or Maejima is dead or not since Kouchi mention his name but I didn’t understand or he meant that Maejima was dead or not. The same goes for Mikami sensei, is she dead or not and also Wakui. He didn’t looked to well and he didn’t moved anymore. In ep 10 you did saw him breading but this ep you saw him not even moving.
I am wondering how Chibiki will react if he finds out that everything is going to hell in the mansion. Also the 7 students who didn’t got onto the summer trip are pretty lucky I guess or they would die offscreen but I think those 7 will survive the calamity.
Come on Akazawa, you can pull through and survive this slaughterfest. (Well you really can’t with how many deathflags you have.) But I am still rooting for ya, just one episode left to survive and im sure its a doozy.
Beside from all the killing I couldn’t help but gushed at how incredibly cute Mei was *o* something must be wrong with me
She was trying to act brave/level headed in the face of probably her own overwhelming fear. She gets points for that.
Another possibility is that Sugiura heard the tape of Mochizuki and wanted to kill Mei in the first place. A school girl is not able to kill someone with her bare hands so she killed the old man and took his knives. The old lady found out that her husband was killed and went after Sugiura and that is why she screamed and so the old lady ended up following Teshigawara and Mochizuki. I only still don’t know how the fire was caused.
(A second and less worse theory of my side)
I got the feeling that the older woman was after Sugiura as well. As Sugiura spoke about her after hearing about the fire.
The calamity can make u go insane also…
Or am I wrong?
another episode that warns people what not to do: lesson for today: if your going to reveal something drastic make sure you are not near the area where people are most likely going to go on a killing spree. another lesson… dont go with a class on a trip, if so make sure you have precautions
Teshigawra is too quick with his assumptions before consulting the rest and I couldn’t blame Mochizuki since he assumed that everyone else in Countermeasures was “mentally stable” enough to take in the situation (we now know otherwise)
Akazawa always had resented Mei for some time and those reasons seem more about Kouichi always seeking out Mei than the blame of the countermeasures failing as a cover excuse (did you notice how she reacted when Kouichi defended Mei last episode?)
Kouichi really surprised me when he punched that guy but really his feelings for her are pretty damn obvious and I think Mei already knows this and he took the kick to the family jewels far better than I would that’s for sure!
Sugiura attacked Akazawa because she was smothering her (emotionally?) and not because she wasn’t the another? that initial attack definitely LOOK fatal if it did hit but she was more than willing to let Kouichi live because he wasn’t the ‘another’ and only waned to kill Mei so why the unnecessary violence towards Akazawa?
The Landlady going off the deep end was the shock and what caused HER to crack? (did the curse cause a self-destructive case of delirium? and set off more deaths?) and who’s blood that we saw trailing all over the place since the Landlord was the ONLY confirmed death by the Landlady (seen sharping knives last episode) or did she bathe herself in the landlord’s blood an was trailing it everywhere she went but didn’t there seem to be anyone else injured and since he KNEW ware the rooms are was she targeting a specific person? did someone kill the Landlord that made her go nuts first?
Teshigawra, the fit sports centric student got crippled from a single (it doesn’t look THAT deep) scratch while Mochizuki who have a actual health issue is the one saving his ass, its sorta pathetic (I sometimes wonder if HE is the another)
I guess the point of the episode was to “shuffle” the ‘another’ amongst the remaining students who are now out to kill Mei and then I wonder if the ‘another’ found out about the tape and wanted the only person that can see ‘it’ (Mei) dead and this chaos was its doing all along
In my own opinion I actually do think that either Mei or Kouchi is the Another I mean, just because Mei said neither of them are does that make her right? the eye scene from her point of view, well the creator has been trolling us for the entire series why not some more?
Simple rule in this matter, “People lie and always will lie”. Mei knows that if Kouchi is the Another and told him he’s the kind of person who would have killed himself for everyone else without caring for how she felt whereas if she’s the Another it will still be the same, she may not exactly want to die and leave a hearbroken Kouchi behind.
Heh, “House” rules, eh? Well he’s right, everyone lies – and you could be right about Mei or Kouichi. But I’ve never liked that idea, as it just felt too obvious.
If that were true then we basically couldn’t take anything anyone says in this show to be true and everything would just be speculation based off something that might be a lie. In which case there would be no possible way for the audience to guess who the Another is before the reveal and all the deduction and speculation would’ve been a fantastic waste of time. There’s a depressing thought… I choose to believe this is a mystery/horror show where the audience can participate XD
I guess it’s also entirely possible that the Another is already dead, but because people are too busy trying to lynch Mei they haven’t bothered to take roll call on who’s still alive, then when you take in the special circumstances that is Mei being able to see the Another and Kouchi apparantly having some form of deluded mind they may not have been affected by the amnesia.
This case could also imply that Mei is not really going to kill the Another but rather find the one body in the building that no one will recognise to prove that the calamity has already been stopped.
I believe that Kouchi can’t be the Another, simply because his father talks to him via phone from all the way in India (or wherever his father is). Sure whatshisface died in the beach, which was outside Yomiyama, but the autopsy did show that he was suffering from a hemorrhage while they were still in the town which means that the curse is still contained within Yomiyama.
This episode also lays the final proof that Mei can’t be the Another else she would have just stabbed herself. I believe in Mei when she says that she can see who the Another is (even though that’s an extremely convenient skill she has; she should have told everyone who the Another was from the very beginning!) because Mei has no reason to lie. She’s been shown to be rather detached regarding the lives of others’ and her own (until that very last scene with Sugiura, anyways), so I don’t see why she would lie about being able to ‘see the color of death’.
Part of me wants Teshi to be the Another just so they can kill him off, though my gut instinct tells me neither he nor Mochizuka are it. Akazawa too, for that matter. That Kazami reacted the way he did is quite suspicious, but I guess even I would be offended if my childhood friend is convinced that I’m a dead guy and that I should die just because of a baseless hunch. People forget the past, or memories can be remembered differently. That Teshi was adamant that Kazami was the Another simply because he couldn’t remember certain memories speaks for Teshi’s character. Akazawa’s right; Teshi’s an idiot.
I hope this episode isn’t a death flag for Akazawa though. People are dying left and right. While it’s mostly been nameless (well, not exactly but you get what I mean) side characters taking the plunge, it’s about time for our main cast to be included…
Especially given Teshi and Mochi’s precarious situation. What I don’t get is that Teshi should still be able to move and yet he’s not. Limping’s slow, yeah, but I’m sure it’s heck of a lot faster than being bodily dragged.
Also, curiosity killed the
studentcat.Most people don’t know about back drafts (Students most definitely) as soon as Kouichi closed the door again … I was waiting for that to go off. O_o
Good thing those documentary shows taught me something. When a flame is enclosed on a room it is oxygen-starved so when an opening appears an explosion occurs due to the sudden amount of oxygen available.
If it was me, I would have left the door wide open so to let the fire spread and burn down the mansion. No need to scream Fire! Fire!
LOL! Everybody Turned into Yandere Characters
I see the yan, but where is my dere? D:::
Everybody Turned into Yangire Characters
*fixed* 😀
GE was right on the money. I had the same feeling while watching this episode. It was a mess. So many convulouted “why didn’t they do this” moments all in one episode. All Mei had to do was take her eye patch off and show everyone. Of course she could have told everyone who the another was. Of course they could have announced over the loadspeaker there was a fire and GTFO of the place when they first discovered there was a fire of that magnitude.
I’m gonna guess its Mikami thats the another.
I just want Mei to live.
Me, too. But in those last like 10 seconds, I thought she was going to kill herself or something, and my heart sank. Boy, was I relieved.
So, despite knowing Sugiura was mentally unstable since the beach incident, Akazawa still had her sit in and listen to the tape. The desperation in the cast is unbelievably irritating to watch, and all the while I just wanted Mei to spit out who the Another was, and for Kouichi to explain to everyone Misaki’s innocence (though I guess nobody would believe him anyway).
Still, I’m annoyed with Mochizuka’s choice and Teshigawara’s panic attack. And Ogura sure is a vicious bitch when provoked. I felt that blow through the screen.
But yeah, on the whole, it was a great episode but I was just annoyed at the decisions everybody made.
Well, in Akazawa’s defense she surely didn’t know Mochizuki’s tape was going to contain anything that inflammatory when she let Sugiura listen to it. And in Mochi’s defense, he didn’t know Akazawa was (IMO) jealous of Mei’s closeness to Kouichi and Sugiura was unstable when he decided to play it for them.
But yes, poor decisions by multiple characters are one of the more believability-stretching parts of the episode.
Oddly enough, I thought Akazawa was rather impartial when she and Sugiura were discussing about Mei at the beginning of the episode; deducing that Mei was the Another was mostly because they didn’t know Mei actually was the twin of Sugiura’s classmate. On the other hand, Mochizuka already knew what the tape contained, so he should have warned Akazawa beforehand or taken better precautionary measures; the tape contained extremely sensitive information which, as this episode proved, would set off their sanity’s bomb.
While Akazawa is head of countermeasures, Sugiura’s, as far as I can recall, just a friend.
A rather close friend, if her “we can’t live without each other” is any indication.
Anyway, Mei’s poker face throughout the entire episode irked me a lot (she was just standing there waiting for Ogura to take a swipe at her before Kouichi physically dragged her away), so I was quite happy when she finally showed emotion in the end, even though it took Kouichi getting stabbed in the deltoid.
I do have to wonder though about how that ‘crazy old lady’ (you’ve got a typo there, Enzo :’D) fits in all of this; are they related to Sugiura or any of the kids? Do you have anything on this, Enzo?
On an unrelated note, anybody else jumped in this scene? It was barely a second but dayum did my heart stop!
Nope, as I said in the article, I’m a bit baffled about how the old lady found out about the tape (if that’s why she went on her rampage) and who killed the husband and why. Did she do it herself?
You said yourself Enzo, “Hell, road to is paved with good intentions”, there no other way to describe this episode besides: Oh my God, someone left Hell´s Door open!.
Maybe there is a reason why Mei and Kouichi cannot say who is the Another?
I actually think the kind batshit crazy old lady is irrelevant to the tape. How could she have heard it? How would she know about the myth? Even if she did know she isnt especially related to the class or within two degrees of separation. Also it seems likely that it was her that stabbed her husband and the boy outside the dinning table and set the place on fire and that doesn’t have anything to do with the tapes ‘solution’
My guess…
Show Spoiler ▼
it’s all kicking off. Throughout this entire i was making jokes about how the mansion resembled the one from resident evil, the open door to the fire room clearly the work of a master of unlocking things, annoying puzzles[who the another is god knows] and a mindless group of killers[“watch out jill hes insane!”] still great ep and def looking forward to last ep now
Don´t make me start with that, I´m 23 years old and I´m still scare the hell out of my mind of the Resident Evil mansion, the remake version for gamecube and wii of course.
i know what u mean man, and even though its nowhere near as scary as the earlier titles, im just glad the old lady isn’t running aroung with a sack on her head weilding a chainsaw
Damn the theme of today’s episode was “A Study in Human Stupidity”. Stupidity on both the side characters and the main ones. Like seriously, the side characters acted out of blind fear so that is justifiable but I will go on a bang saying that the only character that did not acted like an irrational idiot was Kouichi and Mei. He kept the cool for most of the part but I will go ahead and say one thing that maybe would have made him smarter: Why he did not just ask Mei who was the “Another” in private the moment that everything started to rot? They are going to kill the “Another” anyway so why do not hurry the hell up then? But that leaves an interesting question. If they manage to kill the “Another”, Would that stop the paranoia, or will we have Battle Royal upon this bitch until last man standing? In that case I will change the theme of the episode to : “Human Stupidity: The fuel for the hate machine.” Azure out.
I personally don’t think simply killing the Another will stop the paranoia. They’ll forget about who the Another was, but that won’t stop them from thinking Mei’s still the Another. In Matsunaga’s case, everyone forgot who the extra was, but they all did still look really somber as if expecting the curse to kick in at any moment.
That’s what I think, anyways. Though the most likely conclusion would be that yes, the massacre will stop, if only to end the series.
They are acting based purely in their most primal fears, I don´t think there is a force in the planet that´d make them stop at this point, not until they kill Mei that is and problably Koichi for defending her the whole time.
This episode should be titled as “Episode 11: FUCKUP”.
Enzo I agree this is actually my least favorite episode of Another. For reasons you listed and a few more that would be major spoilers.
Death! Deaths everywhere! *insert mad laugh here* I love it when a series goes straight downhill. I love how the people acted irrationally over fear and unleash hell onto themselves and onto others, the poor souls. Very realistic. And the death scenes!
My 3rd most fave anime this season…
Amazing what a little paranoia can do. So much stuff going on in this episode. A manager lady turned murderous for…unknown reasons (maybe phenomena related?), a fire is slowly building up, Kazami is still missing, Mikami-sensei is still probably alive just unconscious, and Akazawa has just about lost her mind.
Will just have to wait next week to find out.
Troll moment when Mochizuki opened that door XD
OH MY GOD. This episode was insane!!
I still feel that even if they find out who the another is and kill them, theres going to be a troll at the end. Im still trying to figure out what is going to happen to everyone especially when there all on killing sprees at the moment. Are they going to go back to their lives or be in that state and kill one another?
A serious problem is that what if the Another was already killed in all this commotion? No one would remember him and the hunt would continue indefinitely until everyone is dead or until at least Misaki is killed.
Also, word of fire safety: never open a warm door during a fire, or else you’ll get caught in the backdraft like that stupid crispy bacon student.
This episode was quite comical through and through. Kouchi telling people of the fire slowly as possible, not taking much shock when seeing the manager impaled multiple times, Mei just not surprised about anything (besides Takako’s death?), the crazy manager with the cleaver, Kouichi getting kicked in the balls! Come on! Although the sound direction was still great, as always.
I hope next episode comes up with a legit resolution, and not just a “Final Destination” kind of resolution.
A very gruesome episode that is very reminiscent of Final Destination. The scene when the landlady first appeared with the knife scared me quite a bit; I had goosebumps throughout my whole body. I still haven’t learned to turn down the volume when watching this.
Looking at the screen-caps, this one caught my eye
https://randomc.net/image/Another/Another%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2037.jpg
I may be wrong, but I think this is the first time Misaki has shown any overt expression
The one thing that irked me were people’s reactions to certain events. No one seemed very concerned about classmates being injured. I mean, if someone told you a person fell off a balcony, wouldn’t the first thing to do is to find that person, rather than having a discussion about it? Second, if a badly injured classmate fell in front of you, wouldn’t the first thing to do is to give him some first aid, not go check out the dinning hall.
Definitely a good lead in to the final episode, although I agree that Another really needs an epilogue beyond the last episode. There are still quite a few questions that need to be answered.
To add onto your second point, Kouichi’s lack of shock and urgency throughout that whole scene was pretty weird. Throughout the whole episode, until he finally did start to run, I kept thinking “for the love of god, Kouichi, why are you walking. RUN.” For example, when they were looking for Kazami and kept seeing blood on the floor. Shouldn’t you, I don’t know, start hurrying or something? Especially considering what they just saw downstairs. Also, if you think your classmate is passed out outside after falling two stories and when you hear your friends scream (Mochizuki and Teshigawara, in this case), isn’t your first instinct to run and see if you can help them? Etc, etc. The slow and/or misplaced reactions were the biggest fault of this episode.
And I agree with an above comment that the seemingly athletic Teshi is downed by a little cut? As much as I love Teshi, I hope they’ll show that it was deeper next episode.
Still a good, scary episode (at least to me haha), but I’m not sure they can successfully resolve everything in the next and final one. Guess we’ll just have to trust the magnificent writing we’ve seen thus far, perhaps putting aside this episode.
Two words for Kouichi: lung problems. If he started panicking, he’d die in a heartbeat.
Judging by the amount of blood he was leaving behind and the cleaver’s…cleaverness, Teshigawara probably had some muscles severed.
I think i just watched the greatest episode this season.
WOW GORE SPLOSION BOOOSTOH!!! whoo stabbbed MAEJIMA then? the old lady? or Sugiura ?
Kouchi didnt want mass panic and people running around like crazy but it happened anyway… but with killing intenttts what a craaaazy episodeeee indeeeeed!
Nothing spreads faster than fear, once it begins nothing can stop it.
Pretty ridiculous, haha
About the grandfather’s “My poor Rei too”, the bird in the cage repeats and repeats “rei-chan, why?” as if it had been hearing that forever. Did aunt Reiko die and the grandfather was always yelling that?
I vote this for comedy of the year! The characters are just pretty idiotic.. XD
“Rei-chan, doushite? Rei-chan…”
It’s human nature Rei, people do dumb stuff out of fear MOST of the time…
See.. the community supports it’s comedy.. XD
I love how fast your posts are Enzo-sama, most of the writers here in RC do not post right away after the episode’s release, keep up the GREAT work!
Comedy at its finest.
Another have just gone INSANE!
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wow next week is the finale?! so many series that i’m watching right now are ending in the next two weeks..
anyway, great poast enzo. did i mention that you’re lyke, my favourite blogger?
Very deleted. ~GE
BTW, is it me or somehow, characters in this series die very easily falling from eh, 2nd floor. Okay only died so far, but it doesn’t even look that high if you look at the last picture. At best 15-20 feet from that balcony. But if you listen to the sound of that girl falling you would think she fell from at least 5 story building or something.
She broke her neck. That’s enough to kill her. And look how weird her head is in that pic as her body arcs. Shit.
I say she should’ve drank some milk. Then maybe she wouldn’t have suffered with calcium deficiency and broken her neck falling from the 2nd floor balcony.
Milk + Ryouzanpaku style training and a fall like that would nothing~
tell me about it … Mikami-sensei when splat from a mop swipe… from a scrawny lookin boy. and why couldnt Kouchi subdue Sugiura sure she went bonkers but shes still a girl i guess hes isnt that strong either lol…
Remember that Kouichi had a collapsed lung recently… Can’t really expect him to be in the best of shape.
I can speak from experience on both falling off a three story building and breaking my neck (two unrelated occasions though, actually) that you can do both and live- but the line is but a blades’ edge. The human body is extraordinarily resilient, but all it takes is a small strike at the right angle-
Kouchi and Mei are so extremely calm/stiff in the face of danger, even when people are dying around them and getting chased by classmates wanting to kill them. xP
Still an enjoyable series though, cant wait to see the conclusion.
I think Kouichi and Mei should explain things faster. All they do is just stutter and deny things (ie. Mei is not the extra, Mei didn’t kill Takako…etc). They should get to the point quick, and not create any room for misunderstandings. Well, I guess it can’t be helped. It’s one of those factors that keep the story going.
Anyways, can’t wait for the finale.
I think this may have been one of my favorite episodes in the series.
Mei and Kouichi do run REAAAALLY slowly….
But anyways, I was waiting for Mei to quickly tell who’s the dead one, because then a TON of deaths are being fired off. As someone said earlier, it’s like Blood-C.
What the…
Great, just when I finally got Lord of the Flies out of my head, this episode happens. Everything just kept piling up until there was just a giant cluster-insanity-murder-explosion… I guess poor communication really does kill in this case. Or just decisions that weren’t well thought out. (Mochizuki & Akazawa…)
On another note…WHO WAS THIS?! https://randomc.net/image/Another/Another%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2034.jpg
teh old lady
Man, and people think Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s Deathstreaks are bad…*shot*
“Another” phenomenon leads to some vicious PVP… one aspect of the thing is, assuming all we have been fed is true, theoretically only solution to guarantee 100% personal safety for one individual is to kill everyone else in the class (unless you happen to have Mei on your side, that is). And the countermeasures committee evidently sounds suspisiously like Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheka)
I was screaming all the time: “Mei, tell him who is the damn Another!” and “NO, NOT TESHIWARA!”. Even when he’s an idiot, he’s my favorite character and I’d hate to see him die but he has many dead flags already :C. Only an episode left? I thought there would be 13, 12 seems way to short to end this mess. There are lots of questions that could go without answer.
As someone who can’t stand horror to a point where it makes me feel sick, this story is creeping me out just looking at the screencap you took. But I have to admit that the main mystery of the anime is making me curious. That’s probably the only reason why I read those wonderful summary 🙂
Keep up the good work.
Thanks, Maddoki. Your avatar and mine sure do look good together!
Woah, shit got just real. I couldn’t keep count of number of the victims we had, easily most intense episode so far.
About the extra: The Dead One is with a high probability someone of the main cast, so going with that logic we can narrow the list of the suspects to only Izumi, Teshigawara, Mochizuki, Mizaki and Sakakibara (and most other people with face just died lol, though I suppose the blue-haired classes dude can also be the extra).
Now, from these we can be pretty sure that Sakakibara and Misaki aren’t the extra, as both have already proved that some way (and would’ve be too obvious choices). Before this episode I actually though that it would be Izumi (there was that strange flashback where we saw her crying and stuff, made me think that there was something more sinister behind her past). But at the end of this episode we see Misaki going to search for the dead one (probably to kill), but as Izumi was in the same room as she, it would’ve been easy just to expose her if she was the one. Same with Teshigawara – when he told Sakakibara and Misake that he though that blue-haired dude was the extra, Izumi could have easily corrected him by stating it was him who was extra.
So, we only have Mochizuki left. Personally, I’ve always found him suspicious. I remember when he was first time properly introduced during the art class, and he said something along the lines “I’m for some reason only capable of painting dead things”. While that doesn’t prove anything, I doubt that whole moment was just randomly added there for no reason. He also has a connection with Misaki by being in the same art club as she – that would explain why she was hesitant in first place to expose him. It’s also funny how Mochizuki was most of the time close by when deaths happened – for example, when that dude with heart-attack tried to tell the stuff about Misaki to Sakakibara and died, Mochizuki was also present. His presence seems always trigger some kind of bad event – in this episode it was revealed that it was exactly him who told those girls about the tape (though, as the bad events seem to follow the whole main cast, this can’t probably be counted as real argument). His friendship with the rest of the main cast could be seen as suspicious – after all, it would be kinda bummer for extra one to be someone without anykind of relationship with heroes.
Well, yeah, that’s my personal analysis about the extra one. It can be that blue-haired guy also, though I serious doubt that considering his nonexistent screentime. After watching this show for 11 episodes, I’m going to bet my money to Mochizuki and wait for the reveal in the final episode. Whoever the extra one is, show has been one of the best I have watched – every episode has had a great cliffhanger (read: dead scene) which have slowly builded up for the last episodes grand finale. Definitely going to recommend this to my friends 🙂
So, I went and spoiler myself, and all I have to say is Show Spoiler ▼
Your information of Mochizuki is off. He never said anything about “only being able to paint dead things.” He was just heavily inspired by Edvard Munch and as such, the lemon he painted ended up looking like “The Scream”. Being connected through the art club doesn’t really mean much, especially when they never interacted at all due to her being non-existent at that time.
Mikami-sense tries to defend Mei,
i noticed this error guardian enzo
BOOO HES THE ONLY ONE KEEPING UP TO DATE WITH BLOGS CUT HIM SUM SLACK GUY!
It’s pretty obvious at this point who the Another is….just saying.
MeiXKouichi couple of the year
I think the deaths are going to stop now because I believe Show Spoiler ▼
My predictions earlier in the course of this series…
1. Reiko is the Other – didn’t make the trip, so no go.
2 .Teshi blurts out the “kill the Other” info to the rest of the group – Shot down.
3. Mikami is the Other – looks grim.
At least Sugiura didn’t disappoint, but I never thought that the whole lodge would go BSC.
Wow, insanely intense feeling while watching and then the pondering came up. First off, if there was a fire, would you not shout/yell so others would be warned? Why go room by room? Second, I am sure fear can/will alter the minds of many but wow, most students just went along? Mob mentality at its finest.
I think the reason why Mei showed some expression is probably because this time, death had occurred right in front of her? The other times were different? Also, talk about being there at the wrong time and the wrong place for both Asakawa and Mei.
With everyone else either running ape-sh#t toward Mei, it’ll probably come down with most of them dead. Unless some powerful revelation clears out the students’ fear induced insanity.
It would be interesting to see how it all ends next episode.
Why is it that during fire drills, students are told to form lines and walk to the designated area?
panic => stampede => death.
Indeed. +1 for reminding me.
Still thinking about this episode… Just mixed face palming and insane/tense moments.
Coffee kicked in…You are right about the drill but somehow, it seemed off? The drill is normally coordinated by teachers or reps. I also understand the fire would have caused panic but a stampede wouldn’t really happened in this case, there’s only a few students after all. So Kouichi should have made the decision to rush to the comm and warn everyone. Adapting to the situation in a way, no?
Then again, they are all still kids. Can’t be smart and composed all the time (especially with all the events around them).
No worries 🙂 The part about the fire that I didn’t get was, surely there’d be smoke filtering through the gaps in the door, or the fire would have spread already given all that time they spent running.
When my house burned down when I was a kid, closing the door did not seem to help :/
Anyways, I’m bringing up the fire-thing because surely, with that as the more immediate threat, the students should have realized which is the immediate threat and left the building instead of going Misaki-hunting, thus buying time for Misaki to actually tell Kouichi who the Another is…but I guess the story wouldn’t be as interesting if that happened XD
I think those doors must have been pretty tight, no? But some students did smell something burning. The doubt and the situation they were in just took over until curiosity killed the cat.
…and they took the route i didnt want them to take.
things like lord of the flies scenario is just too cliched for me.
also agree with this ep being my least favorite, but still, it’s decent. I mean, the sounds were still amazing 😀
sugiura, watta mental bitch 🙂
well good luck to mei, hope she doesnt die and live to the dream of kouichi x mei
I THINK I have an idea of who might be the another and what might be going on…
I just think it might actually be right, so I’ll put it in spoiler tags. But I assure I don’t know the story and I’m just guessing on the second to last episode, so feel free to read my thing and reply…
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I think they have gone slightly over the top in this episode. It’s a lil bit silly.
This episode was total fucking madness. Brings me back to the time I was watching Battle Royale.
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…and shit, THIS IS MUCH MORE ENTERTAINING THAN HUNGER GAMES! xD
The only logical explanation for me now is that Mikami is the another… and her and Reiko are the same person.
And if that is true, I am curious whether kouichi knows that they are the same person all this time or not.
A very crazy episode, that is. The death scenes take creepiness to a whole new level, although admittedly I’m kind of “relieved” when Ogura and Sugiura die. I’ve never been in a situation as desperate as this (and Jesus, I hope i’ll NEVER get into one) but the way they go on killing spree is just way too… inhuman. Rationally, there should be at least some other people (beside Kouichi and others) who question whether Mei really is the another or not. And isn’t that way too weird? I mean, Mei and her twin sister were in the same class, together with them. How come all this time no one wonders that they look so alike??
Although after all hell break loose like this, there really is no point for Mei to explain anything as they wouldn’t believe her either. That is a smart plot device there!
Right now I am really curious as to who killed the landlord, set the mansion on fire, and why!!
Were the twins really in the same class? I don’t remember Mei mentionning this. Also, did Kouichi ever acknowledged Reiko being the same as Mikami?
The twin thing was about the ‘two degrees of separation’. What’s interesting to note is that, since Misaki’s twin died even though they had the ‘ignore one student’ countermeasure up, means that the strategy never really worked for that year in the first place (a point Misaki brought up also). xD
Didn’t she become the “dead one” after her sister’s death?
I might have to rewatch the previous episode but I’m sure Misaki was already the dead one before her twin died. 😮
…You’re right. I was under assumption that the twin was also in the cursed class all this time. sorry, my bad 🙂
Now I am not even sure whether she also attended the same school with Misaki… but if my memory serves me right, and she did attend the same school, some students should be bound to at least notice how much they look alike right?
Misaki died in April, Mei became non-existent on May 1. Don’t think they said when but Mei did say she died in April.
Confusion is easy for the characters. 2 twins who were separated at birth or in early childhood. Mix this with the curse and you got suspicion, doubt and even paranoia. In this episode, Sugiura said she knew the other Mei from another school, right?
I heard there were spoilers around from people who read the novel or something, and right now, just after watching the episode, I SO want to spoil myself…but I shall hang on till next week…one whole week dammit!! *banging head on wall*
Honestly, I was quite annoyed with Mei in the episode. I feel like she should have disclosed who the other was right after Teshigawara confessed about “killing” Kazuma. Teshigawara’s action already demonstrates that yes, the students are desperate enough to kill a classmate in order to end the curse. By withholding the information about who the other is, Mei was essentially asking for the crazy bloodshed, and eventual mob that went after her (I’m sure she could have predicted that if any student was going to be pegged as the other, it would be her), that followed. Simultaneously, I think that Kouchi should have pushed Mei harder into revealing who the other was. If I was him, I would try to find out immediately given the circumstances–for the safety of not only the other students, but especially Mei. After Kouichi dragged Mei into the secluded area (before Sugiura appeared,and tried to kill Mei again), that should have been the first question to ask. Although I understand that the other students may not believe Mei even if she revealed who the other is, it may at least plant some sort of doubt in their minds, and delay the witch hunt.
That was a heart-attack inducing episode. A lot of people have commented on the reason why it all went to hell so I’m gonna offer up a possible solution to the mass hysteria thing.
1)Escape – The one thing that I’ve learnt from Stephen King’s The Mist is that it is perfectly logical to escape from a group of crazy mobbers in a supermarket to the outside misty environment where monsters reside. Face it, other human beings are way scarier than some brainless monster.
2)Love – Well fear is definitely one of the most powerful emotions man have. Heck even tyrant uses it to control a whole country. The only thing that is more powerful than fear is THE POWER OF LOVE. It’s super effective. Kouchi and Mei should kiss in front of the others.
This episode made my head hurt in so many ways. The shear lack of common sense, almost had me yelling at my screen.
I forgive the series of bad judgements and somewhat unrealistic and abrupt change in everyone’s psych but seriously…when you see an old wooden mansion when the ENTIRE DINNING IS ON FIRE with a KNIFE PORCUPINED MURDER VICTIM how is your first thought NOT PA system or screaming/getting the hell of the mountain like the class of 15 years ago when prayer didnt work 🙁
Well, for some reason, I think Mei didn’t tell who the Another is to Kouichi yet because of the following reasons:
1) That extra one is probably important and dear to Kouichi
2) All the shit happening around them is causing a shock to her
3) She just can’t talk while everyone’s trying to witch hunt her.
And for now, they really can’t explain things especially to Akazawa since she was provoked by Suguira’s death, which she thought Mei killed (and she had always disliked her). Explaining to the others now is definitely not a good choice. I also am questioning the show on how they’ll stop everyone’s paranoia when the Another is killed. I mean, They forget about that person anyway and their minds are still onset on killing Mei.
It was a great episode, though not my fave. It kinda showed how useless some of the main characters were.
Now this is what you call Hysteria…
everyone panicked in an instant after hearing the tape…
i know that the feeling in a verge of death situation is not easy….
~but hunting my beloved Mei is a different story!
I dun even….. what the…. who the hell is…..
Mikami sensei got hurt…who the freaking hell do that!!!!!!!!! He must die I will send him in hell!!
Episode 7 seem to foretell the destruction of the whole class, ultimately by fire:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh48D2q4H7w
This episode felt pretty bad to me.
1) Calmly and silently walking around telling people there’s a fire and not telling them them that there’s a murderer on the loose is just downright stupid and unrealistic. I suppose the writers kept things quiet so contrasting, loud, harsh sounds retain their effect when they want to give us a scare.
2) Walking into the room unarmed after seeing bloodstains everywhere. Yeah, that’s a great idea. Did they ever consider what would happen if they actually met a lunatic brandishing a knife? Oh wait, Teshi and Moshi can probably explain the outcomes of that.
3) After seeing the irrationality of their fellow classmates, Kouichi and Mei decided to run THROUGH the mob and lock themselves in a room on the second floor rather than running down the stairs next to them. I don’t care if it’s raining and dark outside. It’s still better than a rushing into a horde of mindless idiots who immediately believed one sentence from a dubious tape with no supporting context.
4) Mei keeping the identity of the “dead” to herself and deciding to go off and settle things by herself. Another well thought out idea. Takes too much time and effort to utter out a name and she’ll be fine by herself. It’ll be another case of hunters becoming the hunted right?
Boy, these types of developments reminded me of Guilty Crown. On the bright side, I thought the backdraft was amusing and Sugiura’s death made me cheer “Take that, stupid b*tch” in the inside.
Kouchi running through the halls, “FIRE FIRE FIRE”. Sugiwara comes up, “What’s wrong Kouchi”. Kouchi, “There’s a fire in the Cafeteria.” Sugiwara, “Oh you don’t have to worry about that, cause there’s a knife in your stomach:)”
STAY AWAY from EVERYONE, and GTFO as soon as possible.
Oh, ya sweet kids. It’s just too good how virtually everyone’s actions have credit for creating that magnificent piece of Battle Royale here.
Teshi – for being a retard.
Mochizuki – for letting the content of the tape out.
Akazawa – for directing class’ unfriendly moods toward Mei first, in the previous episode (fair, her thinking was perfectly logical, but she just set the aggression, what wasn’t what anyone would need).
Mei – for not talking about her twin sister, the hell. Sure, her reasons were noble, but at the end she just left the whole class in the dark about nature of this year’s calamity.
Kouichi – for being the standard horror protagonist who instead of acting sensible/letting people know when something’s happening (fire, a murderer in the building, a classmate who might be dying outside because of lack of help) takes walks around and tries to find everything out by himself. Slowly.
if I was Kouichi, I would definitely tell everyone about the whole mansion in great chaos etc. But when an angry mob of psycho-students trying to kill your friend, how would you explain everything?
Worse, almost everyone — save for those two lovebirds — are in various states of hysteria and fear that it would be near impossible to talk them out of their madness.
So it’s too late, the fat lady is now singing, and that ol’ standby, the Grim Reaper, has a bumper crop tonight.
It’s easy to sit here rationally say “well why don’t so and so do this.” Most people would react in exactly the same way. And note, the kid didn’t know there was a fire in the cafeteria, so even if he knew about backdrafts, it wouldn’t prevent him from opening the door. He was unlucky. And a word to the wise, don’t tell people “I know who the murderer is….” that’s the first step to dieing. Just like how mochizuki decided to be the good samaritan and tell the committee how to stop the phenomenon… how did that turn out? It’s not “what you know”, it’s “what you can do about it”. I guarantee even now that Mei has decided to go kill the Another, something unforseeably bad is going to happen.
“And note, the kid didn’t know there was a fire in the cafeteria,”
He actually was told that there was, but didn’t believe it and so opened the door out of curiosity XD
But yeah, the really poor decision I found was in Mochizuki’s sharing the info without consulting the ones in-the-know. Then there’s also Mochi apparently telling Kazami, though I still wonder how that came about. The guy is walking around bleeding on the carpets, right? And Mochi just allowed him to leave the room?
Unless…Mochi told Kazami before things turned sour, and that’s why the guy reacted the way he did.
Anyways, these kids don’t watch enough horror movies!
This is set in the early 90’s where kids are prim and proper and sleep early.
i still believe that its a series of unfortunate events. from what we see thus far, it stems from accidents and irrationality
i already think another is mochizuki… and now he go and stir everything up… its almost like i want him to be another now.
I know what you mean lol
Mochi didn’t do it on purpose though but what a bad decision…
Probably, Mei didn’t tell Kouichi who’s the dead one and simply went to kill it herself because she knows that the Another is someone Kouichi could never kill and would probably be best if he never remembered that person dying in front of him. That’s my theory, it’s just a hunch.
This episode is a dead end flag for most character. I hope Akazawa won’t die, even though it seems her dead end flag were also raised in this episode…
Any ideas what’s the machete old hag’s problem?
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CRAZY BAT SHIT. ahm. I needed to get that out of my system.
Three thoughts about this episode:
1. Is the production trolling us or is it just me? The mirror in Misaki’s room reflected only Kouichi but not Misaki. From the angle of the “camera” it seemed that Misaki should be reflected – or was she just conveniently obscured by Kouichi?
2. A silly speculation: Mochizuki somehow discovered Mikami-sensei is the Another and is refraining from telling anyone or doing something about it because he loves her(….?) I know it’s far fetched but I feel that there’s something going on between the two (not in that way you pervs =___=”).
3. No matter how you look at it – someone is lying, maybe even more than one person. That blue-haired dude that
was pushedfell from the balcony? How come he was lying still, faced down and bleeding according to Teshigawara and a few minuted later walking around covered in mud (do you feel the lack of blood?) and only being a bit pissed he fell two stories high according to Mochizuki? Someone lied. And I know Misaki telling kouichi about her twin sister and her past is really sweet – but what if it’s a lie?! What if her crazy mom plucked out her eye or something and killed her?!Crazy Bat Shit.
I’ve been enjoying this series so far but this episode turned to be pretty mediocre. I dunno if the direction is off or just a mistake by the writer himself but the way Kouichi and Mei acted in this episode is too unnatural / stupid. They were acting like there was no problem. It’s like PA Works is making them creep all around the place just to achieve some false suspense. Seriously where’s the sense of emergency?
In any case I’m still eagerly waiting for the finale… I just hope it’s not like this episode.
^
This is the same director who drove Blargh-C to ketchup-filled destruction.
I’m going to have to agree with a lot of the comments here.
A lot of the events that transpired in this episode were very illogical and implausible. All of the episodes up until now I thought were brilliant. Yes, some of them had moments where the characters were behaving in a stupid manner, but what show doesn’t have that? Comparatively speaking, the characters in this show are much more pleasing to watch than in most anime I know of. The cast have so far reponded in a believable manner to events as they have happened.
Now, all of a sudden, it’s like so many of them have suddenly gone mad. The idea that Sugiura has suddenly snapped, for instant, feels forced. I’m not saying it can’t happened, but the show hasn’t done enough to show her being angry enough to sink to the depths she sinks into this episode. It would have been enough to show brief shots of her after the beach episode looking depressed and anxious, and getting steadily more so with each episode. But the show doesn’t do that. Now they expect us to believe that she’s gone mad?
A lot of the cast in general also behaved out of character. I can understand the parts where Akazawa and Teshigawara misjudge, respectively, Misaki and Kazaki. In the former case, it’s an example of grand irony. The latter, though understandable, feels like a plot device, although it arguably is one of the better plot devices I’ve seen of recent years.
Finally, like Guardian, I am also wary as to whether this show can resolve all the plot points in the final episode. Remember, the show only has 20 minutes to solve the mysteries of:
1. The identity of “Another” and the various mysteries surrounding why that person is the “Another”
2. Sakakibara’s family: Reiko, Ritsuko and the dad
3. Chibiki’s role in all of this. Just how much does he know? He’s always been somewhat of a mysterious figure. Plus, the mention of how he’s an actor a couple of episodes just adds to the suspicion.
4. Who the hell killed husband and why? Does that have anything to do with the manager going psycho?
5. What happened with Kazaki? Why doesn’t he remember his childhood memories? Is it just forgetfulness, or is there a deeper meaning to this?
6. How will Misaki and Sakakibara deal with the still-ongoing student onslaught? Will they have a happy ending?
7. Is there any way to end the curse permanently? Sure, they might stop this cycle. But is there a way to end it once and for all?
As you can see, this is A WHOLE LOT OF THINGS to cover in 20 minutes, which is why I’m worried about the last episode. I care about this show. I really hope that it pulls off a miracle next week.
unless they plan on dragging this series to a season 2 for sure they will reveal who the another is … his family will probably be explained too main character gets finale reveal… hmm creepy old dude might remain creepy old dude… someone gonna fess up on old mans death… who the hell remembers all their childhood memories hes just a trap!… MAIN main characters like mei and kouichi dont die the environment will save them as they run! just like how Sugiura and Ogura died… of course the curse wont end its a horror story and theres supposed to be sequel novel in the works so certainly the calamity continues!
Off topic but, Enzo, where’s your Bakuman 24 post on LiA?
OK, rant mode on… I blogged 3 shows yesterday, how much time do you think I have? LOL! I’m used to Bakuman being later (sub just came out yesterday AM) so it has no chance of fitting into my Monday schedule this season. It’ll be up there in the day couple of days.
Rant mode off.
I know that you’re busy blogging, working, and such, but isn’t Bakuman fansub was out before Another and Ano Natsu? Yet you blogged both of them first.
Okay, I’ll be patiently waiting for your post.
Well, I appreciate the interest, and the Bakuman post is up… But is isn’t just about blogging a show as soon as it’s released. When I have multiple commitments (and I’m just talking blogging commitments here, never mind RL) I have to make choices. If I have an RC post due, I prioritize that – because that’s a commitment I’ve made to another site, not just mine. And there’s the matter of routine – mine, and the readers. If I’m used to doing certain shows with a regular release schedule, I’ll tend to do those first. And those with irregular schedules like Bakuman might get fit in around those.
Trust me, this is a lot of work. I’m working as fast as reality allows, and I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy it. But it can be exhausting too.
Yeah, I’m sorry if I sounds like annoying person who can’t wait a couple of days just to seeing his favorite shows are blogged. I know that blogging even only one show can takes a lot of your free time, yet I see that you’re like a machine when it comes to blogging.
Okay, thanks for responding my rude comments above. Keep up the great work, Enzo!
No problem, you’re welcome. I used to wonder why subbers got all pissy whenever someone asked when a release was due, but now that I blog I totally get it!
I’m surprised the anime took the “Lord of the Flies” route.
The originally novel did not go down that situation for precisely that reason – it’s just too messy to resolve how they’re gonna deal with the remaining classmates still convinced Mei is the Another when the real Another gets vanquished.
Then again, there would have been not much horror action if it followed the novel to the word. So I guess I can’t complain too much.
(Given that you say you’ve read the novel, I can only assume the remainder of this comment was spoilers. – GE)
Change is good. Imagine how bland it would be if they did everything straight out of the book. For those who have seen it already, they might just watch it only for the visual effects. But Another totally does the opposite with surprises at every corner. I hope they throw the audience off on the live-action movie as well. Changing things, whether major or minor, in the anime, manga, feature film, and/or visual novel give reason to actually go through ALL of them.
With all due respect, how is all that speculating supposed to be spoilers, Enzo? How?
I’m speculating as to what CHANGES are going to happen without even revealing anything from the novel! And I am not privy of knowing what changes PA Works would make.
Seriously!
Is this suppose to be the Blood-C of 2012?
I laugh hard near the end of this episode….
This episode feels like Battle Royale 😛
I suppose this will be the highlight of the coming live-action movie.
With the time limit of a movie, would they somehow whisk past the front stuff and focus on the ‘Battle Royale’ suspense and action of this episode?
Wonder how will they condense the story to a movie?
They will probably have to cram far too much into one episode. Especially considering there are some big reveals to do apart from who the Another is…
Just like Enzo I sure hope this gets an epilogue.
Wow reading this discussion is fun! I googled another online and I was really surprised who the “Another” is. Doubly surprised when I see someone actually pieced all the information together and figured out who “Another” is cos I would never figure that out.
Wait is there 1 or 2 episodes left?
Only one episode left plus some OVA in the future, I think.
“Misaki is so cute”
is all i could think about throughout the entire episode
Wow – reminds me of my school days. Thank God I made it into Junior High.
This episode was excellent! The explosion in the dining hall is just how those things happen –
never open a warm door in a fire. The in-rush of oxygen can cause an explosion.
I feel terrible for Misaki being hunted. Too, Kouchi’s behaviour was shocking; rather I can
see that he was in shock – this is pretty much how a person acts under conditions completely
outside their understanding – dazed.
Misaki seems the only composed one in the group. At the end, finally, it seems that she’s
propelled to find Another – what she intends to do is, I’m sure, the meat of the next episode.
Maybe we’ll learn more about why she is the way she is. I’m convinced that she knows that
she could have identified Another much earlier – to me this is a greater mystery than the
identity of Another – why didn’t she do so earlier?
IMHO, this episode was perfect (or at least 99/100). When khaos breaks, it’s rapid, rabid, and
random. There’s no flow to its madness, and this episode did an excellent portrayal in that.
I hate to say, but I skip’d everyone’s comments – sorry. I just would not be happy if ruined by a spoiler…
“I hate to say, but I skip’d everyone’s comments – sorry. I just would not be happy if ruined by a spoiler…”
I like your statement, not like stupid comments such as https://randomc.net/2012/03/17/high-school-dxd-11/comment-page-1/#comment-797027.
The teacher seemed to know who the dead prson is. Perhaps it was somene who died wen she was in Class 3 (can’t rememebr if shwas ever in class 3). So far Moichizuki and Teshigawara seems the most likely suspects and hopefully both get killed for their idiotic actions. They are after all the main culprits why it devolved into such a situation regardless of whether it was intended.
Still most of the students seem incredibly stupid even if you factor in fear. First Misaki should have just said who was the dead person early on, then if there is a fire or someone fell off a balcony, you don’t walk slowly. After that, you don’t just believe in something critical just because one person says so and the other one has no chance to defend themselves.
Damn my money is on everyone is going to die except Kouichi next episode title is stand by oneself of course I could be completely wrong and everybody dies.
So the show actually went with the Battle Royale route but with a specific target, Mei.
This is 1 reason why some people hate the ‘by-the-books’ type, Mochizuki should had thought of what the worst case would be if a lot of already terrified people knew on how to stop the calamity before following protocol and having the Countermeasures committee hear the tape. And it somehow bothers me that he does not seem to be bothered that the worst case scenario is happening because of what he did.
On another note, Mei seems to be pretty calm, composed and confident like she can easily bump off the Another, though she has the advantage of knowing who the that is, but will she convince that person that he/she is the Another and to die peacefully or will she just launch a surprise attack from somewhere?
Desperate people are desperate like that. How was Mochi supposed to know that Sugi would go all batshit crazy on them? I mean, even Izumi snapped like a twig when she thought Mei killed Sugi, and she’s been more or less calm and collected for the whole show, not to mention most of this episode.
HOLY SHIT! I really freaked out when Takako came out of nowhere and stabbed Kouichi in the arm! This episode was crazy! I even screamed a bit when that boy grabbed Kouichi in the hall! DAMN! I hope the final episode to be more incredible than this one! YAY! I love Another <3
Gotta say watching Mirai Nikki and Another back to back is a little too hardcore for me. Gotta space em out next week……..
Most horrifying episode ever, of any anime I’ve seen.
Hair standing on end, check; goosebumps, check; heart rate racing like a mad dog, double check; nail-biting, triple-check. Pretty much every reaction I’ve had to terror, I’ve had during this episode. And damn, has the shit hit the fan.
I don’t agree about poetic justice coming to Ogura and Sugiura, not when they actually gained character traits (and screen time) in the span of one episode. Sure, they wanted to kill Mei, but they were desperate more than anything else; it was desperation and not malevolence that drove them to want to kill Mei, and Sugi didn’t know about Mei’s sister.
On a side note, I think the stairfall scene with Mei and Izumi shown in the preview has some potential to become a meme, or at the very least a popular animated gif. I had to laugh out loud, seeing them bounce down those stairs was so hilarious and out of place after all the horror.
Doubt Mikami-sensei as the other since if the the theory of the another being present gets people killed, she wasn’t on that beach trip. This applies to Reiko since she isn’t on the excursion. Bets on Teshigawara, the ‘joker’ of the series.
It’s my sincerest hope that the “Why, Rei, why?” sub-plot(?) gets a proper resolution as well as the main plot of the Another.
I really hope neither Teshi nor Mochizuki turns out to be the titular extra student, but even this late in the game I can’t wear anyone off with any kind of certainty.