[Skyfall]

Originally Posted by warita

Sounds interesting..... but in that case Reikos death was unrelated to the curse, because the family didnt have any family member in the 3rd class at that point.

Indeed, if we assume Reiko in fact died, that death probably would have been unrelated to the curse. But the manner of her would-be death isn't really the important factor here, it's that Koichi had some reason to be in the town 1.5 years ago, which he doesn't recall.

This both highlights the fact Koichi's memories have been tampered with (and thus we can't necessarily trust his perspective), and raises the question: what reason did he have to be in this backwater town 1.5 years ago? (To which the answer would be Reiko's funeral, since I'm working under the suspicion that she is the "another").

But if we asume, that the extra dead person can appear outside the cursed classroom, why would they be short on one desk? This part doesnt make sense, because obviously there is one extra student in the classroom. Not an aunt who sits at home all the time and complains about headaches.

They weren't short one desk initially, but they became one desk short after Koichi started to attend school - he transferred in after the school year had already started. This is what the characters said specifically - "We had enough desks at the opening ceremony, but became one short after the transfer student arrived". To which the second student replied "So it can start a month later as well...".

If we go by the theory that Reiko is "Another", the number of seats in the class would have been correct indeed - she isn't a member of said class, and thus doesn't need one. The numbers in the class were in balance. Then came Koichi, and threw said number off balance - becoming an 'extra' desk and addition to the register. Since those seem to be the conditions to trigger the phenomenon (number of expected students+1), the ball started rolling at that point (The "it started a month late" remark).

Originally Posted by Kirarakim

Also I think I misunderstood what the father said to Kouichi, I thought he meant Kouichi had been there 18 months ago not that he was away from the town for only 18 months. Can someone confirm? If it was he was away for only 18 months that is doubly eerie.

"Been there 18 months ago" and "has been away from the town for 18 months" pretty much mean the same anyway in this context - that the last time Koichi visited Yomiyama was 18 months ago. We know Koichi normally lives in Tokyo and went to school there as well. Hence we have the question: what reason did he have to find himself in Yomiyama 1.5 years ago?