It feels really good when weeks of speculations and theory-crafting turn out to be right. Mostly right. I was mistaken on a few points. Reiko has been my prime suspect since episode 5-6, with Mikami being a close second, but I don't think I would have ever managed to figure out on my own that they were the same person. The first time somebody brought that up in a discussion thread, I found that idea quite far-fetched, if not preposterous. In retrospect, there
were hints scattered in the anime, but they were really hard to notice unless you know what you were looking for.
Incidentally I'm not sure that twist was really needed. There were ways to make it work without that. I liked my theory that Kouichi was her "proxy" in the class... However, in the end, it turns out it was pure coincidence his aunt was resurrected the same year he came to Yomiyama. Meh. Furthermore, as I've already said in the Reiko thread, I feel really cheated that not only Kouichi but the whole class was aware of that crucial information. The viewer should have access to the same clues as the "detective" (in this case, Kouichi). But it's not like Another is a pure mystery novel, so I guess I can let that slide...
The big reveal aside, the climax of the story has been quite disappointing, and is what will keep me from giving this series 10/10. The amount of ridiculous deaths eventually killed the tension... they unfortunately crossed the fine line between horror and comedy. It didn't bother me all that much last week since I thought it was "fluke", but they did it again in the final episode. The explanation for the killer grandma was pretty bad too. Didn't it ever cross Chibiki's mind that it might a bad idea to let everybody stay with the emotionally unstable grandparents of a deceased student from class 3-3? It doesn't make sense for her to go on a murder frenzy either, but I guess we can input that to the phenomenon.
I'm also a bit disappointed by the lack of resolution. They stopped the phenomenon for this year, but it will still happen in the future. Nothing was solved. I suppose it will be dealt with in Another 2. An epilogue would have been sweet too... here's hoping Kouichi and Mei will show up in the sequel.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hakuromatsu
I like the parallel between Misaki's relationship with her sister (raised as cousins) and Akazawa's relationship with her cousin (raised as siblings). The two characters were markedly different throughout the series, and that reveal was a clever touch. Was that included in the novel? I remember some novel readers here saying that Akazawa's character wasn't that significant in the novel.
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Another reason it was clever is that Mei and Izumi's siblings were major red herrings. Believing Misaki was Mei's cousin led us to think she was not a victim of the calamity, and believing Izumi had a brother in class 3 two years made her a suspect. Speaking of which, I wish they had cleared up whether her brother (err, cousin) was the ignored student who gave up his job or not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheEroKing
Had 2 questions at the back of my mind.
- Who was the guy who killed Reiko and why? Just a random crazy guy?
- @17:35: Kouichi says "Goodbye Mother". For what reason?
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- He looked young, so it might have been one of her students. Wouldn't it be ironic if she had been originally killed on suspicion of being the Other?
- I assume that's because Reiko was the person closest to a mother to him.