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「Hair stand -紺碧-」 (Konpeki)
Any notion that this would be a laid-back “breather” episode was out the window for me in the first three minutes of Another this week.
Seriously – that has to be the tensest beach episode ever. I was on pins & needles through the entire thing – jumping at shadows and noises and seeing death in every corner. Are pufferfish poisonous? Are they going to forget Michizuki when the tide comes in? Is that a propane grill, and is propane explosive? As always much of the credit goes to Iwanami Yochikazu’s astonishing sound design and Otani Kou’s BGM. The stage was set with the utterly brilliant scene with the truck, which had me on edge from the get-go – the sound there was just incredible – and it set the mood of impending doom for the entire episode. Hilariously, the cast was just as much on-edge as I was, as witness their sigh of relief when they passed the city limits. I wonder if they were as queasy as I was when Reiko hit the accelerator.
As always I have reams of notes I took this week, but these long posts are killing me so I’m going to try and stick to what really jumps out. In simplest terms, we have Nakao’s death (neatly foreshadowed here) to consider, because (in addition to being incredibly gruesome) it forces us to reconsider our previously held assumptions. I see three basic possibilities:
1. Death was coincidental and unrelated to the phenomenon
2. Chibiki was wrong – the phenomenon can reach outside Yomiyama
3. The phenomenon is not centered around Yomiyama, but around wherever the Another is – and that means the Another was on this trip
Absent any compelling evidence to the contrary I always default to Occam’s Razor – the simplest explanation is most likely to be correct. For me, that’s #3 – but I don’t know how much that helps, since all the most widely-held suspects (except Mikami-Sensei and Kyuubey) were on that beach. What’s also interesting to me is that Nakao is such a minor character, I can’t even remember if he had a speaking role before this – for a moment I wondered if he was the Another, and had just appeared in the middle of the cast. Was his carsickness a distraction, or a clue?
Most of the other things that jumped out for me this week involved Reiko. First, the way she was framed in this shot – obscured behind the frosted glass while Kou-kun was visible, just after a close-up of a dissolving sugar cube. Then there was the moment when Matsunaga said “Have I seen you recently?” (this was after noting “how much you’ve changed”). Her mind immediately went to the memorial services of two classmates we can now give names to – Kentarou and Natsuko, perhaps the ones who died on the class trip. Matsu-san said no, he’d only been to the funeral. That whole sequence screams “clue”. I’d thought for a time that Reiko was preventing the others from talking to Matsunaga intentionally, as we never actually saw her try and contact him – but that appears not to be the case, unless she intentionally gave him her cell number knowing the battery was dead. We also have the fact that she seems to get headaches every time she thinks back to 15 years earlier – or “more like 14 since we graduated”, as she interestingly puts it. This ep definitely casts “My poor Reiko, too” in a suspicious light.
As always, there was lots of good stuff not directly connected to the mystery here. The watermelon troll was funny, if a bit obvious. We had absolute confirmation that Akazawa is crushing hard on Kouichi, and some nice interaction there. I loved the scene where she said “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover” (now that’s foreshadowing) and they had a cute little banter regarding how he saw her. But really, Mei is so kawaii that Akazawa just has no chance. Mei with the octopus, Mei offering up various inedible items for Kouichi’s approval, Mei in a school swimsuit – what an amazing transformation for her character, and it’s clear Kouichi only has eyes for her, and she him (for what it’s worth, we were also shown – not coincidentally I suspect – that both have a reflection). What’s up with her not knowing what her father does, and him being “rarely in Japan”? I don’t think it’s a clue, but it does give her something in common with Kou-kun. I also enjoyed the sequence where Mochizuki got buried in the sand, tickled and given boobs – it was borderline bullying and I felt for the poor kid, never mind worrying about him drowning if they forgot him – but it just fit him so well…
Somehow, we seem to have inched closer to the truth. Nakao’s death jolts Matsunaga into remembering that he left the clue in the classroom – and judging by the preview, it looks like a cassette. Speaking of which, it’s a pretty terrifying preview – either Kouichi is going to have another nightmare or some seriously bad crap is going to come down. Will the class trip – which I’d mistakenly assumed this beach visit was – still happen, now that Nakao has died? I think it must, because the matter of the shrine still seems intimately connected with Matsunaga’s “solution”, though we don’t know just how. I think we’re due to have some exposition on the doll angle, too, because that’s been largely ignored for weeks and its weight in the episode titles, OP and eyecatches strongly implies it’s a matter of some significance. Indeed, the images in the preview could be interpreted as hinting in that direction, if one looked at them from a certain angle…
Preview
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Mei smiling, calling things cute, flirting, wearing a swimsuit… Yeah, this episode wins! Although if I wasn’t so firmly attached to Mei, Akazawa would have my full support, since cute, assertive girls like her are totally my type!! But no, it’s too late, Mei has already won XD
Was nice to have a realxing episode, since there really haven’t been too many of those for this show. Not that that’s the point, but a little change is good every now and then. Now to search the school classroom, find this “something”, and further saving everyone’s skins…
That truck scene was so Final Destination 2… although it seemed way too obvious so I actually wasn’t nervous :/ I’m a little confused as to how exactly Nakao got knocked out before he got diced though… he was underwater for like two seconds… I’ll also agree with GE’s notion that the phenomenon’s “range” centers itself around Another, and if that’s true, our suspect pool just shrank ridiculously!
Just noticed, but isn’t that Nakao and Sakuragi in the preview screens? Looks like a really bad dream about the ones they lost…
It sure looks like them. Terrifying, as I said.
I am guessing Sakuragi is just part of Kuichi’s dream.
This whole series is starting to feel like Final Destination, imho.
Was cool for a while, but now it’s sorta wearing thin. The atmosphere that seemed to ooze out of our screens the first few episodes also seems to have taken a step back (or maybe I’ve just gone numb to it)….
Got to admire those kids’ ability to remain calm (relatively speaking) after witnessing so much carnage. If this were based in some warzone in Africa, they’d make fine child soldiers.
It actually grew. While we have three main suspects, if we choose #3 we significantly doubled the size.
Anyway the whole series felt like “And Then There Were None” poured with Final Destination syrup all over it. This episode just raised the level to 11.
Show Spoiler ▼
Damn where the edit function?
I think we can live without the Another page in Wikipedia. People have the manga and Novel scans.
There a novel scan? tht odd I can’t find it…. I okay with English or Chinese though.
I still absolutely distrust Mei. There is no way in hell she is simply what she seems. She seems cute and normal and mostly just a solitary and unusual girl now, and it seems to me they are going to great lengths to portray her as such.
Yet while they have explained that she’s a normal person just fine, they haven’t even tried to discuss why she was going to the hospital morgue, why she claimed not to recall doing so later on, or what the hell she was talking about when she said her left eye sees things it shouldn’t.
While I trust her and have no doubt she’s on Kouichi’s side, I do think she’s still holding back.
Definitely a hat tip to the Final Destination series, and not first one cinematic nod – remeber the Omen reference back earlier?
Good episode, hopes for the next week
If I choose between 1 to 3 would it be a spoiler? Still not knowing how the curse works and yet knowing who is the Another limits my post GE.
So I’ll just give you a hint: Show Spoiler ▼
Big clue huh? Well not everyone seems to have known already who is the Another anyway so I’ll leave it at that.
Spoilers. Damn irresistible spoilers. You, sir, are draining my will power!
I was just sarcastic on it, it’s not even a spoiler. Everyone here knows that “there is no such thing as a coincidence”.
Show Spoiler ▼
I can’t help but think that might be a doll in the 6th preview cap.
Loved this episode, also looked like at some point Mei was jealous. Though with this clue left in the classroom, it makes me wonder how nobody has happened to find it unless the Another’s death is fairly recent.
The 6th cap just seems to be Sakuragi and her umbrella that impaled her, blood splattered all over (probably a nightmare of Kouichi’s?). If it’s a doll then the Misakis like to make dolls of the recent deceased classmates with their death tool.
Was that Girly-kun who gets struck by a lightning in the preview? That’s hard. If this was an American series, he would probably explode and splatter his intestines all over the surrounding people.
Also, don’t they know any shame?
My guess is that the lightning strike clip is going to be part of a flashback to whatever is on the cassette they find from 15 years ago.
Although it’s raining in an earlier scene from the preview and in that scene the lightning strike seems to take place in a forest so it seems more likely its taking place in the mountains where the trip took place rather than somewhere in the city.
I’m not sure. If it’s now, it looks most like Mochizuki – but I’m still guessing flashback (no pun intended) as the scene looks “old” somehow.
Should be flashback. The next episode is going to be detective work trying to find the evidence Matsunaga left in school. The lightning scene looks to be in the mountain, I doubt they’ll be having their mountain trip already, which means it’s most likely to be flashback on what happened 15 years ago.
I think that PA Works was just flaunting its animation might this episode with all the realistic (best I’ve ever seen in anime) water effects.
It could be number 3, but we’ll see.
Just from the screen caps, I can’t imagine how this episode could be as tense as you describe it. I even lol’ed during the preview last episode because the music did not fit the light imagery at all. It’s all in the bgm. Gotta go watch it now.
I found the whole thing incredibly tense. I was seeing death looming everywhere.
Same here. This show makes the BEACH EPISODE one of the most anxiety-inducing episodes yet. I was just waiting for something to go down.
I’ve noticed that the last two or three episodes (moreso than the rest anyway) keep us on the edge of our seats for the entire episode and then deliver dramatically in the last two~three minutes. I mean, I know that’s the point of a horror/mystery series, but STILL! It’s driving my friends and myself crazy XD
They were definitely baiting with all the ways someone could die. The car ride, the swimming at a semi-deserted beach with no lifeguard, Mochizuki getting left behind with the tide not so inconspicuous nearby, the potential food they caught, then ultimately, that nice boat…
I’m surprised everyone is just chalking this episode up to fanservice. Sure, it could be seen that way, but I can’t deny that I couldn’t be nearly as relieved as the characters were.
Also, novel and fellow manga readers: Was Nakao anime original?
Just watched it. However, didn’t feel that tense. The tanker part was kind of forced tension too. Everything else I kind of just enjoyed as fan-service. Nakao was not even conscious most of the episode, and he just suddenly reappears at the end to die in a completely final destination like way.
seeing how G. Enzo was describing the atmosphere of this series so far, I think majority of the actual viewers were be a bit paranoid of all the death flags being called out through out of this episode…
Nakao almost looks like he was dead before he got slice and diced. That being said, the foreshadowing for his death was so heavy I thought he wasn’t going to die. I figured he’d be ok, everyone would turn around, and… one of them has a beach umbrella sticking out of his chest
That octopus got more of an emotional range out of Misaki than any of the deaths so far through the series.
I think that’s partly because she thinks she’s gonna die from whatever grabbed her at first. I guess nobody can put a straight face on when you’re the one who’s dying
She calls a fish ‘cute.’ I think that transcends even the octopus! HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG
As it SHOULD. Those cephalopods absolutely cannot be trusted. The fact that they cooked and ate it before it could launch it’s plans for world domination gave me a warm fuzzy.
Must be the tentacles.
The fact that it was at the beach had me nodding along with you on guessing randomly how someone would die on the trip. I actually thought Nakao had drowned already since he was just floating on the water until that boat came and BOOM…did the finishing blow. The scene kinda made me squeamish though there wasn’t much blood as compared to the previous deaths.
Show Spoiler ▼
On the other hand, the AkazawaxTeshigawara rivalry was fun to watch. Especially when her seiyuu went from a cute sounding “Ah!” when the sea cucumber dropped on her head to a masculine “Hey!” when she realised it was Teshi. Plus-point: Akazawa in a bikini!
I am a huge fan of Akazawa. [spoiler]I’ve heard she’s not portrayed like this at all in the source novel, so that leaves me with mixed feelings. Like, it’s pretty obvious if they stay true to the source, Akazawa ain’t gonna win Koiichi. Not that I’ve read the source or have any idea what happens there or later in the anime adaptation.[/spoiler]
Misaki Mei really had me distracted from all the potential horrors that could have occurred at the beach. It wasn’t until the sudden gust of wind (and change in BGM) that really brought me back into the mindset of a horror series.
That beach ball was so not worth it.
I thought we were going to get through this ep with no deaths. Damn!
Anyway, it doesn’t seem that they were protected by being outside the city. Someone
suggested that it’s the Another – a good theory. The show made a point of Mei and
Kouichi seeing each other’s reflection in the water (though no mention has been made
that Another can’t be seen in a reflection).
I though the truck was screwy, too and too obvious to be a threat. Nothing really bothered
me until the music kick’d in. At 1st I’m thinking cramps (they just finished eating) or
shark, then when I saw the boat – I knew.
Aside from the last minute horror, it was a cute episode. Interesting that Mei happened to
be at the same place, too. The octopus with Mei had me laughing. The Japanese seem to
enjoy injecting sexual humour at every opportunity, though it was only caressing her hand
she shrieked as though it were elsewhere (and that’s what made it really funny).
I try not to even think too hard about who Another is, if it were easy, then the writer’s would
not have done their job. A good series that has me wanting the next episode…
I agree
I just knew it was too good to be true.
The truck part had the effect of making me fear for the worst. Especially since Akazawa suddenly decided to switch vehicles. I thought to myself… The fancy car behind is a goner.
But once arrived at the beach the short scenes made me forget my worries, BOY WAS I WRONG
I thought to myself now why would anyone want to go that deep into sea.
And since I could not remember the Character, I pretty much figured that it was time to observe how Another would end up dying!
Mei was super cute, but I have begun having a liking for Akazawa.
Another Good Episode
The answer is more simple. They do not go outside the city in the novel. The reason they do so in the anime is the producers figured they can sell more DVD’s if there is a beach episode.
That’s something we could have not needed to know, at least put it in a spoiler tag please.
Anyhow, now I see why this episode was kinda off from what established so far. Well this is interesting in it’s own way, it’ll be fun to see where the producers go from here.
Misaki and Us- Umm I mean Misaki and Koichi is the greatest pairing even without pheromones
I already know how this series will end but that doesn’t make the anime less exciting. I still cringe in my couch while watching this.
And the mood in this show is so creepy even though it’s a “joyful” beach scene. Fantastic work from the producers!
I really love all the little details they put in. Like the cube of sugar melting, the wet sand flowing down the side of the sand mountain, and the wet sand on the beach drying as the water recedes.
Yes, they did a very excellent job at the small, fine details. I also especially liked the part where you see Mei and Kouichi’s reflections as well as their hands touching each other – it’s like their fates are intertwined. 🙂 Plus points for Mei x Kouichi this week!
By the way, for the dispute between whether Reiko is actually Mikami-sensei/2 different seiyuus voicing the women:
Show Spoiler ▼
^Would love to hear the opinions on this. 🙂
Okay I am gonna say this but I believe that this is a MAJOR spoiler…
Show Spoiler ▼
really thought the sea cucumber would squirt… wrong kind of anime i guess.
I was expecting the same!
too bad ehh?
Nice boat…
Too soon?
LOL, Teshi likes Akazawa (he blushed when he thought he’s gonna ride the same car as her), Akazawa is crushing on Kouichi, Koichi likes Mei, and Mei is too busy spacing out and being creepylicious. You just can’t win when you’re in high-school.
Also, Akazawa makes great macho&tsundere.
Girl A likes Boy B who likes Girl C. But Girl C is really an alie… Whoops! Wrong series! :p
No, no. It’s Boy A likes Girl B. Girl C alienates both but after Teacher A dies, Girl C makes moves on Boy A. Everyone is in danger of dying so it stops here.
Mei isn’t too busy doing anything to like Kouichi – she’s into him just as much as he’s into her, if you ask me.
It would be nice if they show they really dig each other, no?
Sometimes, even just holding hands would make me squee…
This series just loves to tease us.
Now we have a whole new angle to consider things: can the Another leave Yomiyama and if he/she can what happens to the curse?
It’s possible the death of eh…. what’s his name….the new guy is just completely coincidental, but I doubt anyone will buy that. But I don’t think our ever so responsible teacher from 15 years ago is wrong with being safe outside Yomiyama because he’s had 15 years of collecting data to draw his conclusion.
This raises the question though, can Another leave Yomiyama?
If the curse can’t take affect outside the town, then by that logic the Another shouldn’t be able to leave Yomiyama because whatever’s sustaining him/her isn’t strong enough outside to keep him/her in the land of the living. Then is this death just coincidence?
If Another can leave Yomiyama, then what happens to, well, everything? All the evidence, all the theories, all the countermeasures, don’t they all lose meaning if Another can pretty much go anywhere in the world and still bring death to class 3-3, or for that note, what happens if Another transfers school? Does this chain have an end?
Interesting development this episode, as much as I enjoy Mei’s cuteness, kawaiiiii……. seriously this is much better manner of showing mutual attraction than guy falling down randomly and groping a girl, I wish other shows can adapt this kind of romance……
back to topic,
I’m more than a biz puzzled by what this episode implies. Either the…. new guy’s death has nothing to do with anything, or we need to come up with some new random crazy theory to explain things. Well maybe next episode will shed some light as we finally finds out what happened 15 years ago, it’s the tape right, right? And wow did the guy who died 15 years ago got struck by lightning? Damn he should’ve bought lottery tickets too, can at least leave a fortune for his parents.
If Another can leave Yomiyama, then what happens to, well, everything? All the evidence, all the theories, all the countermeasures, don’t they all lose meaning if Another can pretty much go anywhere in the world and still bring death to class 3-3, or for that note, what happens if Another transfers school? Does this chain have an end?
Not really. If the curse is put on “a group of people” rather than “a place”, then all the things about the
cursephenomenon still apply anywhere the group might be.So you basically mean that it’s not “Another”, but “Another Group”? I won’t say it’s impossible, everything seems possible at this point, but seems a stretch.
While yes, the class as a whole is “cursed” but that does not necessarily mean that they are a group of Another. Tatsuji said back in episode 6 that in order for the curse to have an effect the person would have to live in Yomiyama but that may not entirely true. I’m betting on option #3 and saying that the curse follows the Another around and if anybody related to class 3-3 is around them then the phenomenon can kill them.
My theory about how the Another would be able to leave the boundaries of the city actually has something to do with Koichi and what Mei said earlier in the series about him being associated with death. Maybe his presence gives the Another the ability to leave the city and spread the curse. It’s all just a theory of course.
I didn’t say “a group of Another. :/
I said the group is cursed. The Another is a manifestation of that curse. As long as the curse stays, the Another stays. As long as the Another exists, no matter where you are, as long as you are a member of the group that is cursed, you will die/is cursed.
I was actually talking about the person who had responded before me. He (or she) is the one who mentioned the group of Another.
I was responding to Gungnir… >.>
A misunderstanding of a misunderstanding. Nicely done us.
My only complaint with this episode is I thought it was too obvious that Nakao would be the one to die, simply on the logic that only one of these kids isn’t in the ending credits. Poor guy might as well have been wearing a red shirt.
“Hair Stand” Indeed. I have goosebumps on the car scene and on the last part. The sound effects are just so good.
Awesome with a good set of cans. Creepy as all heck.
I can’t help but wonder if Mochizuki being buried is a hint that he’s the dead and buried one.
:O now that u mentioned it… he was in the “non-existence” team……………………..
I also can’t help but wonder since they had 2 nonexistent students this year could there perhaps be 2 anothers this year?
Is it just me or is Sakakibara-kun unusually pale during the car scene, more pale than Akazawa… I usually don’t notice these kinda things, but it’s probably just the animation going off right?
Mei-chan is conveniently around 🙂 Can’t end an episode without her appearing ^.^ lol.
I lol’d during the fishing competition. Mei looking for inedible items, the Seaweed hair and the sea cucumber, and a snail? Lol. >.< The "Inai-mono team" (Mochizuki being in that team for being not physically there… Lol.) should've won cause they had something edible — the octopus 🙂
The death this episode is also unusually gruesome, like last week's, but I guess it's not panned out like last episode's suicide, so it's much more bearable…last week's was like uber gross…
As expected, no one really remembers the key details… I hope we can get over this trolling death-of-the week soon and get to the core to as why is this happening… (which is explained as supernatural from 30 years ago but something tells me it's more than that, some human fault lying around) and how stopping 15 years ago fit into it… I'm glad we're getting some insights to what happened 15 years ago next episode.. ^.^ Don't get me wrong, the stalling & horror is great! I'm just being impatient 😛
Even with the horror brought back in, it was tricky to get back from Reiko and Akazawa in those swimsuits…lol…
nice boat
They creators could’ve just skipped the boat scene, and that episode would still be great. His death would’ve been much more believable. Is there really a need to shed more blood?
When that kid’s body was just floating arround, I thought. “nice, they can be subtle too” But when the boat came, I was really disappointed. But it is still a great episode nontheless
When I saw how far out he was going and going under and all, I thought he was just going to disappear and never be seen again.
Truth told, that would have been much more chilling.
why the hell nakao even bothers swimming to get the ball? That is so not worth it.
but i guess they really let their guards down because they think they are safe outside the town :/
I really have to control the urge to peek at the wikipedia page to find out who the another is!
I have a strong feeling Akazawa is going to die soon. I was actually surprised that it wasn’t in this episode as she had a decent amount of screen time; more than the other characters. But then I thought that it might not be her because it would be too obvious. But then I thought….[splat]. Oh gotcha.
This anime is great in that while it is Final Destination-esque it’s directed in such a way that all the deaths are more believable and the atmosphere is miles ahead of most thriller\horror movies you’ll see. Good stuff.
Just noticed Sakuragi here in the preview https://randomc.net/image/Another/Another%20-%2008%20-%20Large%20Preview%2006.jpg
CREEPY *shudders*
And more reason to fear elevators: Apparently the lift went up with the door open and trapped her. I don’t know if she was cut in two, but the elevator got stuck and the other two inside had to watch her die. Horrible for both parties…
“Are pufferfish poisonous? Are they going to forget Michizuki when the tide comes in? … is propane explosive?” OMG THE EXACT SAME THINGS I THOUGHT XD
yet i could just FEEL how relaxed and relieved the characters were after they were outside. And then BAM!
The wind starts blowing, I knew it was going to happen, except I didn’t expect the BOAT.
I thought about the fish being poisonous but figured Japanese people would know better.
The tide thing crossed my mind a couple times as a concern…
However, I was thinking nothing was going to happen since they were outside the city. As soon as the wind blew I was waiting to see who would die.
How much is a beach ball? $2?
Not only was that too far out for a stupid ball, but when you are operating a boat, you are usually looking where you are going. I don’t think it was very realistic, though maybe I’m just used to boating in areas that have lots of logs and if you don’t watch where you’re going you’re gonna be in trouble.
“Final destination: the animation” ruining your beach episodes. That is going to far!
Could also not help but think something horrendous was going to happen at any moment. After episode three with Sakuragi’s death by umbrella impalement, the deaths just don’t stop. A beach episode like this in Another could have a death, and I was totally expecting it the whole time. Nakao feeling carsick, the truck on the freeway, every time they swam out, anything pulling at the line when they were fishing, Mochizuki getting buried in the sand and being forgotten.
Great episode. Kept me on my toes the whole time, and it was worth it. Was not expecting a death in that way though. This anime is a keeper.
“some seriously bad crap is going to come down”, how in God´s is this going to get any worse, for the looks of it they are not safe anywhere, so my idea that Kouichi should just get the hell out of town first chance he got is useless. But I was relly surprise for the perfect mixture of fun day in the beach and a heavy tense atmophere, it was really well done and speaks a lot of the quality of the series.
I thought that they were going to forget that they buried him in the sand and I started having flash backs of the Creep Show. Plus I thought the phenomenon could be stopped outside the city. That’s why everyone was taking a breather. *sigh*
I feel bad for Nakao. When I first saw him, all I could think of was “Who the hell is this guy?” And “Welp, there’s our Red Shirt Ensign. Dude’s fskc’d.”
As to his death: this is why there are speed limits close to the shoreline <_______<;;.
Koh Ohtani is on the music?! heh, should've known, the guy is too good. Between Haibane, Outlaw Star, Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino-… (insert everything i'm forgetting) Just a pleasure to listen to. Another is no exception.
If 1, and the curse deaths can only happen in Yomiyama, that would mean the two deaths from 15 years ago weren’t the curse but something else. I’ve been thinking that the class figured out somehow who the Another was and killed them on the trip. Maybe the Another reacted badly to the shrine visit, attacked and killed one person before being killed themselves. That would certainly be an interesting development, and start moving the class in the direction of paranoia as they attempt to find and kill the Another before any more of them get killed in turn. I think the fact that it was never discovered who the Another was that year is the most significant part of that side of Another.
3 could certainly still be possible. Students not dying outside of Yomiyama in previous years could be explained because they split up to go with their own families, and were thus not with the Another for their time outside Yomiyama. The whole class was together on the beach trip 15 years ago, and had two students die, and the Another was presumably with them.
Of course, while we’re spending all this time wandering in the wilds of 15 years ago, we’re not finding out much about the doll shop and its owner. There’s definitely something off there, but it has been shuffled to the background lately.
Interesting maybe either Kentarou or Natsuko was the Another….
Another random thing, has anyone spent time looking over the OP for foreshadowing. I came up with the following images that may or may not be significant.
Dolls:
*Looking down, wearing crown
*On her back, neck at odd angle hanging over edge (broken neck)
*Sitting, falls forward
*Wing/arm falls off
*Detached leg falling
*Lying on back, jerking randomly
*Falling severed head
*Held by arm, jerking wildly like someone being electrocuted
Other images:
*Splash under bridge
*Speeding car
*Breaking glass pane
*Falling chandlier of eyeballs
Looking over them, only the glass pane falling has an immediately obvious parallel in the story so far. I suppose they could have been chosen to be unsettling, which they certainly are, but usually they are chosen more carefully than that. Wondering if anyone has seen parallels between the OP and previous deaths in the show?
That truck! Was expecting some logs to fall but no…
That was the most unique beach episode I’ve ever watched. When that wind came, I knew don’t go out to sea! but no the person who vomitted alot, fainted in the heat and was semi-dehydrated has to go and fetch the ball…
Anyway, Show Spoiler ▼
Not much gratituous panty shots nor oppai flashing…awww
Another – 08a
Another – 08b
LOLZ. B makes a good avatar….
The death at the end was somewhat less effective than others have been since this guy had no screen time before this episode and basically had no characterization at all. But the rest of the episode was great and seeing Reiko and Akazawa in their beach clothes made it alllllll worth it. Not a big fan of the school swimsuit thing so Misaki didn’t do much for me this ep, would have preferred seeing her in a nice two piece.
Akazawa is so hot!! my type<3
Your favorite scene?
https://randomc.net/image/Another/Another%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2025.jpg
HAHAHAHAHA
Would be nice if she was massaging it like it was in Daimaou.
Gotta say I thought this was the most adorable moment between the pair https://randomc.net/image/Another/Another%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2017.jpg though all their scenes were sweet and really nicely put together.
beach episode for scary movie?
OMG
hey guise i dropped this show awhile back because i can’t handle scary stuff but this looks like a nice beach/fanservice episode so maybe i should catch up with this sh
NOPE PEOPLE ARE STILL GETTING KILLED. SEE YOU GUYS AT THE FINALE.
What’s wrong with dead people? 😀
C’mon Da5id 🙂 People come back from the dead aaaaaaaall the tiiiiimeeee~
how come i completely misssed that boat foreshadow GRRR!>!
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On Guardian Enzo’s choices, I would choose 3. Mainly, because…
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I admit, this episode got me. After the truck passed by the group and they reached the city limits. I thought it was going to be a ‘beach episode.’ And it was for the most part. With character some character development and a love rivalry forming between Akazawa and Mei over Kouichi. Thought it’s pretty obvious that Mei has won. Even though, i doubt Mei knew she was playing. Even with out all her d’awww! moments. 9and there was a lot of them.) Up until the end, i (and i’m sure a lot of us) were about to chop this up a beach episode. However, once the wind suddenly blew and knocked the beach ball into the water. I knew some thing was going to happen….And i was right.
However, it also made my original theory all the more possible. (Pretty much #3)
Though one thing kinda bothered me…
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I’m not complaining, just saying there is a difference. Which is actually good, since i like the anime version better.
Seriously Guardian Enzo, I’m always so very impressed by the amount of detail you absorb each episode! I hope to one day have the same powers of observation as you.
I miss more than Dwight Howard at the free throw line, to be honest. But with Another, I take notes – everything that strikes me, I write it down. Only series I do that with.
Oh, and just a side note… the sand scene thingy… I can’t help but notice when Kouichi was helping her with the sand. And as their fingers almost touched, Mei’s hands backed away. Then, after a bit of talking to each other, Kou-kun “connected” they’re fingers, possibly meaning that he’s willing to form a connection with Mei, despite the fact that Mei is somehow “afraid” of that.
I’m of the opinion that the deaths aren’t a coincidence, so I’ll go with option 3. The deaths occur because the Another is present, so having a death ‘outside of Yomiyama’ means we’ve narrowed down our suspects.
Maybe, when the entire class went to the shrine, the Another was cleansed and that’s why the deaths were stopped. In other years, the Another wasn’t present, since it was stated that some of the students left Yomiyama instead of going to the trip; the Another could have been one of those that ‘went into hiding’.
Of course, if this was the case, then it’d mean the Another keeps coming back for… something.
Does the BRILLIANCE of this show know no end!?? To be honest I think this episode makes me believe that there is no ‘another’ that it was only a story other people made up to explain the unexplainable. Whatever crazy stuff is actually going down in Yomi it seems to be killing people whenever they come close to the truth, or maybe even just have a thought that might hint at the truth…I want to know so bad D:
I didn’t enjoy this beach episode the way I enjoy other beach episodes of other animes.. Yet I enjoyed it in a creepy way.. It was a really alerting show where I didn’t look for the fanservice but who will be the next one to die or were there be another dead person.. I guess this is the first anime that really gives me goosebumps.. ^^
Not sure if also signaled his doom, but wasn’t Nakao the only person not assigned to a team for the fishing contest?
I’m going with 1, it was all a coincidence, a combination of bad luck and stupidity, he should’ve just turned back when the ball got that far.
OMG, Mei is too kawaii~. HNNNNGGG
No further words are needed to elaborate, as everyone else has done so. 🙂
Not even poor Nakao’s death can distract me from the possibility that this episode was more “fanservicey” (quotations intended to avoid the ire of people who hate such stuff) than plot-centric, though PA Works still managed to pull off balancing both. It just feels funny seeing beaches and sunshine in a supposedly horror story.
Even Ayatsuji Yukito himself tweeted saying he was quite impressed with this original episode
https://twitter.com/#!/ayatsujiyukito/status/174066335528140800
Poor Nakao, his lack of appearance in the novels means PA Works has picked the unlucky guy to be the one to wave the Death Flag for this original episode.
This is in contrast to Show Spoiler ▼
As for the fishing contest:
On the one hand, the octopus is edible, though the fugu is also edible, a well-trained chef would be needed to remove its poison first.
The other team has kelp and sea cucumber. Kelp is common in Japanese cuisine, and if they can put their aversion of echinoderms aside, sea cucumber is actually quite tasty if cooked the right way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_cucumber_(food)
So strictly speaking, Countermeasures Team wins 2-1. 🙂
It was the sea cucumber Reiko was “I love that crunch – umai!” about, wasn’t it?
Seaweeds of all kinds are edible. On a side note, Japanese can digest seaweed better than Americans because they have bacteria in their guts that aid in digestion. Very cool.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2010/04/07/gut-bacteria-in-japanese-people-borrowed-sushi-digesting-genes-from-ocean-bacteria/
So, people don’t have to be in Yomiyama to die. But was that simply a coincidence?
…
Nah, those things never happen in horror.
Akazawa is definitely interested in Kouichi, seeing as she’d go out of her way to ride with Kouichi, what with the invitation to ride with her and kicking Teshigawara out of the other car. Whether it’s suspicion or affection, she does seem to want to be close to Kouichi when she can.
Mei, on the other hand, just raised her kawaii points a hundred-fold this time around. Her little smiles of triumph at finding the sea lettuce and the algae just added a new dimension to her otherwise mysterious character.
Since Enzo covered most of what I was thinking about the episode, what about that preview? It looks like somebody gets (or got, if it’s some sort of flashback) hit by lightning, which already unnerves me to no end.
Other than that, it looks like Chibiki and Mikami have attended some sort of funeral, and I see dead people.
I actually felt very at ease throughout much of the episode after the truck scene. Just like the characters, I felt a HEAVY BURDEN off my shoulder – not needing to worry about someone dying and just have some fun. The atmosphere and music was done to perfection and really gave me that safe, relaxing with friends feeling.
If 3 is true then that would mean Mei is not the another. As she was not near them when nurse lady diad. Also why did the boy in glasses with the dark blue hair go with them to the beach?
I was not expecting a beach scene in such a dark series..
Where was Teshi’s best friend?? (dude with the glasses)
He is probably spending his summer break with his parents and if he wasn’t them I think he was still in shock about kubodera-sensei killing himself. If you saw how he was sitting on his chair in episode 7 right after the teacher killed himself he looked really in shock.
Well it wasn’t exactly someone drowning, but I was pretty close. This episode was full of win with Mei being on ‘death by moe’ cute and the various death trolling. The truck was the main thing that freaked me out.
Hmm, someone seems to die whenever anyone gets closer to the truth, whether it be Kouichi wondering why everyone is ignoring Mei to trying to find out how to stop the curse. I’m not sure if I’m looking forward to the next episode or not.
Isn’t there some unwritten law in horror that the third-wheel dies?
lol im going for Answer 4
Nakao for being a absolute dumbass swimmin that far out for a Beachball seriously he was off to either New Zealand or somewhere a that speed lol. still a cool series 1 very dif for someone use to the more action packed shows or comedies
All the answers are in the first 1:30 of episode 1.
Wow, that’s a lot of foreshadowing.
Also, didn’t that look like Michizuki? Looking back there could be a strong case for him being the Another now, almost as strong as Reiko.
Well, this beach thing isn’t in the novel at all. Quite enjoyable, Akazawa in bikini WINS. And Mei in sukumizu WINS MORE.
About the theory, this goes off the line. A death outside Yomiyama, didn’t happen in the novel. But the rules aren’t absolute, they are as vague as Chibiki’s memory. So I also bet for #3, that the deaths are related to the Another and not the city.
This death obviously was new, not in the manga nor the novel. I think there is one death that they are changing in each adaptation. In the novel “one” death is completely random. In the manga “that” death is replaced to other close to Akazawa (so Sakuragi+that person drives her into a killing cholera xD), and I suspect that it was that death of the guy right now.
In the novel they never got contact with Matsunaga, they goy the clue of the “thing left in the school” right from Tomoka at Inoya’s.
And no need to mention that again, Akazawa has a completely different attitude.
By now, I would say that Akazawa is an anime-original character. She just borrowed the name of a “nobody” in the original work, but her character and actions are completely new.
I still die to see more boats for Akazawa x Kouichi. I don’t mind a sankaku kankei.
At this point I wonder how much more of Akazawa they’re going to change. Not that I’d mind, since she’s now my favorite character behind Mei and Kouichi! 😀
https://randomc.net/image/Another/Another%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2011.jpg
no human heart can stand that *__*
…Except Mei fans >.>
The Mei Misaki Navy will not falter to Akazawa.
Interesting arguments that Reiko could be the Another however I’ve always thought that Another is always someone in the present class 3 as the series has established that it always alters the school records and then correct itself showing Another at the end of the year. But I suppose not even the characters know how exactly the curse works so they could be wrong with that assumption.
It just dawned to me: could it be that
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Remember that the calamity doesn’t necessarily kills off the student in the class but can kill of the student relative instead so that theory is highly unlikely.
In addition to that, that remember that Reiko and the dude who left the clue were in the same class, and both of them are currently alive. This hypothesis is pretty much disproven by that alone, if only one person in each class were truly alive, then there should not be two people from Reiko’s class still hanging around.
Ok, spoiler ahead…
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By the way, PA Works is amazing with the backgrounds! Friggin’ amazing.
First, Hanasaka Iroha and now Another. The last time I’ve seen an anime worry about the details such as rust or sand or waves in the water were the Evangelion Reboot movies 1.1, 2.2 and later 3.0. Every other anime up to now showed perfections, but Another takes the cake for the little details. I think the closest runner up right now is Ano Natsu.
Who is the read ‘Another’ one?
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NO GUYS DON’T CLICK THAT I CLOSED THE SPOILER AS SOON AS I READ THE FIRST TWO WORDS.
I’m surprised GE’s all-powerful edit stick hasn’t descended yet O.o
Deleting those without reading them is harder than you think.
Next major spoiler from “Jack” goes in spam.
hi i’m new here and just love watching anime for the sake of it but really want to get all analytical but my gut feeling tells me that reiko is the another (that is if my understanding of the definition of the another is on par ) and i also do believe the hypothesis of number 3. she keeps acting as if she doesn’t know anything the the previous episodes and then the sudden personality switch as they were driving on the motorway and her mood throughout the beach trip just threw me off
I know what you mean about the tension. Seeing them so relaxed only made it worse since someone had already spoiled me that there would be a death this episode and I was expecting anything to suddenly cause a death :/
Also from seeing all these novel reader comments it appears this is an anime original so it’ll probably be ignored but am I the only who realizes the huge problem with this death? This was nearly murder, unlike all the “random” events, boat guy just killed a student so I hope it will be addressed somehow even if only by a few lines about how he’s been arrested or something.
Main character kinda looks like Suzaku.
I was honestly scared thinking they might actually just leave Mochizuki there. there was a lot of tension this episode. I guess BECAUSE its a beach episode that is usually meant to be fun and like a break from the events of the main story, I was even more on the edge of my seat, wondering how they would do it or if they would do it at all.
And when Nakao was swimming for the beach ball, that reminded me of a similar situation with my friends when I accidentally threw the ball into the ocean and my friends swam out really far to get it back. They never got it back, kind of physically impossible (unless you’re really tank) with the rate at which it floated away so I knew Nakao wouldn’t get it back either…
Though thankfully in my case..none of my friends got run over by a boat D:
I don’t know if many of you did like I just did, but I went and rewatch the first few episodes and there’s a TON of foreshadowing, even in the first episode.
The very first 2 mins of the show, you hear a boy and a girl talking about the “legend” of the first misaki that died; at the same time, the video sequence they show, I couldn’t help but notice almost all of the casues of deaths so far were presented!
And the cassette is there too! I think we need to analyse that 2 minute sequence thoroughly.
Some of us have already done that very thing, and yes, there’s a ton of foreshadowing in there – but I think most of it is subject to interpretation. Definitely a worthwhile thing for anyone to do, though.
Oh great, saw a “slasher” smile with the lower half of a teenager-like face… guess one of the students is gonna lose it before this is over >.< Wonder how many he/she will take with them… 🙁
Going by this theory though and next week's preview, that bonfire is a huge death flag…
I wonder if it’s possible that “Another” does not have to be someone in the current class 3. Maybe could be close family/relatives related to someone in the class and/or used to be in class 3.
Absolutely loved this episode. This show has really grown on me; normally I couldn’t be paid to watch a horror/suspence series, so the fact that I’m squirming and flinching over Another and STILL eagerly awaiting each new episode is testament to its all-around quality. Might even buy this series if it gets a DVD release stateside.
Did anyone else get ship tease vibes this week between Teshigawara and Akazawa? Because boy howdy did I ever. To my eyes, Akazawa is an interesting mix of the classic tsundere and the refined oujou-sama, so her bullying and violence on Teshi’s person all but scream “potential pair” to me, especially given how he blushed when he thought she’d invited – ordered? – him to be in the same car as her for the trip.
Mei’s emerging personality was positively infectious this week as well. I was so surprised by her freak-out at the octopus that I thought for a sec that something horrible would befall her. Add to that the scene whereupon Kouichi commented on their hands touching – metaphorically and literally – and as you said, Mei stealthily seeking his approval for the food hunt. All of it was wonderful.
Yuya has really grown on me too, particularly with the friendly-bullying treatment he received this time around. Sure hope he doesn’t die, but the red flag I got from him informing his sister – hell, even having a sister – is worrisome.
Lastly, the scene with the passing truck is nothing short of genius. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, and though I didn’t catch as many of the potential “killer” elements this round at the beach (and was thus caught off-guard by Nakao’s sudden and grissly demise), I still found so much to enjoy about this episode. As soon as Nakao hit the water to retrieve the ball I was yelling, “No, don’t!! You’ll be caught in a riptide and swept out to sea!!” Amazingly, even that tragic end was one-upped.
The best overall aspect of this show, in my opinion (which tops the characterization, nigh-perfect music score, and expert symbolism) is its ability to do the unexpected. In a genre that’s been so well-trodden, that is something that thrills me more than anything else.