Another - Speculation & Theories (for first time viewers)

[Sheba]

Yeah, TinyRedLeaf's comparison to The Others tipped me off. It also reminded me of myself joking in IRC while watching the two first episodes, something like "lol guys, it might be a classroom of dead all along guys."

[TinyRedLeaf]

Multiple threads in a sub-forum make organising related posts so very difficult.

Originally Posted by Jimmy C

Let's give class 3-3 a hand. How would you go about finding out who's the dead one?

Originally Posted by Kanon

At the same time I realized that most of the characters only have either their first or last name listed but rarely both, so this may not be important at all after all.

I trust people won't find it too difficult to connect the dots...

Originally Posted by Sheba

Yeah, TinyRedLeaf's comparison to The Others tipped me off. It also reminded me of myself joking in IRC while watching the two first episodes, something like "lol guys, it might be a classroom of dead all along guys."

Heh, I was just shooting in the dark. By the way, you may want to dwell on that joke a bit more, given the above hint.

[Lord of Fire]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Yeah, TinyRedLeaf's comparison to The Others tipped me off. It also reminded me of myself joking in IRC while watching the two first episodes, something like "lol guys, it might be a classroom of dead all along guys."

Other than in The Others, though, we never saw any of the dead people dying again. If the students are dead, how can they be dying once more?

And before anyone mentions it, I do not believe this is like Angel Beats, where they're all trapped in some kind of purgatory and can die over and over again. Not until I see the dead students returning to class again, or something that would suggest they didn't truly die.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Well, of course, just as there is nothing to preclude the possibility that Sakakibara is the "extra". In fact, everyone is a suspect. I've even come across a comment on MAL saying that we, the viewers, are the "extras".

That's true, but my point is that Mei could actually have been the Another all along.

[DesuX2]

I see that a lot of "I see dead people, they are everywhere", "Angel Beats Purgatory" theories popping up, on a personal level, I hope that's not the case since that would be really lousy writing to recycle a theme that has been used since time memorial. I wouldn't be surprised if this was true of course.

Some new information that I realized after watching Another Episode 5, and a little rewind of earlier episodes.

Spoiler for My updated Insane Crackpot Theory (WITHOUT LOVE IT CANNOT BE SEEN KIHIHIHIHIHIHI):

Misaki Mei exists. She and Sakakibara are descendants of relevant people in Class 3-3 26 years ago. Misaki and Sakakibara of 26 years ago had a romance. This is "continued" in the present by Mei and Kouichi. Misaki died 26 years ago. This led to Sakakibara having a mental breakdown due to heartbreak and declaring "Misaki Mei" exists.

Everything went well until people started dying left and right. A certain serial killer from 26 years ago is hell-bent on making people believe that "Misaki" exists. Therefore, old librarian man is the killer! Most of the deaths were accidents, but some were perpetrated by old librarian man to keep alive the memory of "Misaki"!

1. The Misaki who died 26 years ago cannot be male!

Spoiler for Totally not a guy:

Episode 1 clearly states with a feminine pronoun "she" that the Misaki who died is female, so sadly, all the crackpot theories that Misaki is male or my personal one that someone named Misaki Sakakibara killed someone called Misaki go out of the window.

Empty male slot in right corner is probably just due to the class having an uneven number of people. Which would kinda make sense, since if Misaki was in the picture, then she would truly be there, but without us (the viewer) realizing it.

The hermaphrodite solution exists, but OH COME ON.

2. We now know the nature of the curse.

Spoiler for Which everyone already guessed -_-:

As explained by Misaki Mei, "The Curse" is the occurrence of someone from Class 3-3 or their relative/ close one dying a not-so-coincidental death. The curse is triggered by the addition of one extra person in the class. That certain person is dead, and nobody knows who it is. To add to the confusion, memories/ photos have been altered so that nobody knows who the hell that person is.

To solve this problem, the class (countermeasures division) decides "about ten years ago" to socially isolate a person in the class so as to artificially "reduce" the number of students.

Great, this is turning out to be like Umineko without a nonsensical answer.


After watching Episode 5, I can safely declare that "There is no supernatural element involved, the mystery can be solved in a perfectly rational way." Ala Umineko style. First four episodes allowed the viewer to see things through the "supernatural" side.

Now that Misaki Mei is beginning to be a little cute, and God forbid, more human-like, at least we can see that there is a rational solution to this mystery without resorting to explanations that "Witches Exist".

Stuff we know, and everyone kinda already guessed before Episode 5.

Spoiler for Stuff:

Misaki Mei exists.
Misaki Mei lives above the doll shop.
Misaki Mei is a weird, social recluse.
Misaki Mei is being socially isolated from Class 3-3.
The nature of the "curse" is supernatural and stems from Misaki's death 26 years ago.

What we don't know yet.

HOW did Misaki die 26 years ago?

Spoiler for Important!:

The thing that we keep being kept in the dark about is exactly HOW Misaki died 26 years ago. I mean, that's pretty important. If she died of murder, suicide or accident, it could drastically change theories on whether she is this malevolent spirit bent on seeking revenge on everyone in Class 3-3.

Or maybe she's just lonely and wants a boyfriend.

And I hope that "dead" 26 years ago does not mean "social isolation" as it does now. I hope she died, blood spilling and all that, or else the entire show is really just a low blow.

What happened 15 years ago when Kouichi's aunt was at the school?

Spoiler for something about her doesn't make sense:

Something important happened then, like Umineko, there are important dates. 1998, present, 1983, Aunt attends school, Kouichi is born, 1972, start of "curse". What exactly happened then aside from Countermeasures being formed around this 1983? Could it be that something happened while Aunt was at school leading to Countermeasures being formed?

The Aunt is central to the mystery, and is not the simple alcoholic that she pretends to be.

What is Mei and Kouichi's true connection to the incident 26 years ago?

Spoiler for besides the shipping part:

Ditto, there is some deep connection that the two of them, hell, even the seven main characters in the OP and ED that connects them to the past. I stick with the idea that they are the children of the original "Misaki exists, she's right there" couple since Misaki Mei seems to know an AWFUL lot about Sakakibara, how the system works, and has a really weird surname/name to be coincidental.

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

There is another me
who loves someone so much that it hurts

Well, which one of us
is a figment of imagination?

THIS. This is an awesome find. Because it explains "the other" that Misaki Mei is talking about. "The other me" refers to the Misaki 26 years ago, and leaves it ambiguous enough that we don't know whether either of them are "dead" or ghosts.

Who is the creepy custodian of the auxiliary library and what is his connection to the incident 26 years ago?

No clues yet, I really want to know. But he is hinted to be some exorcist of some kind (panning shot in Episode 5).

What is the use of the "doll" motif in the show?

Spoiler for VERY VERY IMPORANT:

Something that everyone has so far ignored in the show. I think the doll motif is very important to the mystery, and since I argue for a human explanation, I cannot accept

I'd guess that it's not that people are actually dolls/dead/controlled by someone, but that these dolls somehow attract/are a cause of death (to 'fill their emptiness' with others' souls, possibly). Also, I expect more about that dollmaker Kirika (?) in the next episodes.

as an explanation. I have an idea, but it's really too far out to be bothered with. I'll write it out when I have time.

Questions:

HOW did Misaki die 26 years ago?
What happened 15 years ago when Kouichi's aunt was at the school?
What is Mei and Kouichi's true connection to the incident 26 years ago?
What is the use of the "doll" motif in the show?
Who is the creepy custodian of the auxiliary library and what is his connection to the incident 26 years ago?
Is Twin Tail the most gigantic biatch or what?

[Ray]

Originally Posted by DesuX2

1. The Misaki who died 26 years ago cannot be male!

Spoiler for Totally not a guy:

Episode 1 clearly states with a feminine pronoun "she" that the Misaki who died is female, so sadly, all the crackpot theories that Misaki is male or my personal one that someone named Misaki Sakakibara killed someone called Misaki go out of the window.

Empty male slot in right corner is probably just due to the class having an uneven number of people. Which would kinda make sense, since if Misaki was in the picture, then she would truly be there, but without us (the viewer) realizing it.

The hermaphrodite solution exists, but OH COME ON.

That's a very detailed theory. I quite like where you're going with this. I'd just like to point one thing out.

Spoiler for That thing:

According to the L/N readers, CR subs are incorrect in the sense that the prologue in the light novel did not use a gender specific pronoun to refer to Misaki who died 26 years ago. The people responsible for the CR subs either assumed that she was female, or they know something we don't.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by DesuX2

1. The Misaki who died 26 years ago cannot be male!

Spoiler for Totally not a guy:

Episode 1 clearly states with a feminine pronoun "she" that the Misaki who died is female, so sadly, all the crackpot theories that Misaki is male or my personal one that someone named Misaki Sakakibara killed someone called Misaki go out of the window.

Spoiler for yeah but...:

You're getting that from the english translation,the original japanese uses a genderless pronoun,so if you were japanese you'd right now have no clue on if Misaki is male or female,but you'd be leaning towards male because of the empty space in the picture.
This could be a case of a translation spoiling a plotwist.

edit: beaten to it by Aphrah , oh well.

[ThereminVox]

Originally Posted by DesuX2

1. The Misaki who died 26 years ago cannot be male!

Spoiler for Totally not a guy:

Episode 1 clearly states with a feminine pronoun "she" that the Misaki who died is female, so sadly, all the crackpot theories that Misaki is male or my personal one that someone named Misaki Sakakibara killed someone called Misaki go out of the window.

Perfectly rational, but your other speculation actually made me think about other possible implications of this uncertainty.

Spoiler for brainstorming, and other droolings:

If Sakakibara's name is associated with death, and his mother was in the class that "invited" the dead back, then there's a possibility that a male Misaki could have been linked to her romantically, making the apparent growing relationship between the two un-persons a gender-flipped image of the class from 26 years ago.

That's assuming a lot, of course, and her name probably wasn't Sakakibara at the time. It also doesn't get us any closer to making sense of nature of the curse. But it would link his mother to its origin, and she clearly has some link to it, unless whatever Reika did or was involved in is the reason his name troubles the class.

A couple of other thoughts on throwaway comments I noticed in re-watching episode 1. When discussing Kouichi's father in the hospital room, his grandmother muses that he's been "such a dutiful man" in the years since Ritsuko died. Maybe she means he's never dated since then, but we don't know the details, because Reika quickly changes the subject.

We're also treated to numerous shots of the Yomiyama River, and it is referenced as a landmark throughout the episode. It has yet to feature prominently since then, but its early introduction suggests it might be important later.

[DesuX2]

Good point, I don't know how to speak Japanese so my assumptions are based on the little kanji I can read and phrases I heard from other anime. Perhaps it's true then that Misaki is male.

Spoiler for Weird thoughts:

But how would one then logically explain Misaki Mei's remark that all references to the Misaki of 26 year ago are erased from memory, history, etc? If there really was a genderbent (actually it makes sense Sakakibara's mother is female after all) romance 26 years ago compared to the present of 1998, what real difference would it make? I would ask who, and why would somebody try to destroy something as beautiful as love, then portray it as a "curse"?

I fear that everyone has read too much into the "mystery" side of things, and left out all the little clues that the anime scatters in everyday events. I think that the key to solving the central mystery of the "curse" lies in the main theme. So I went back to analyze every philosophical tidbit the anime offered and looked closely at Mei and Kouichi's conversations again.

The key is this:

Misaki Mei is a weird girl who likes to speak in metaphors.

So my updated theory after such a long post is this:

Spoiler for Updated Theory on Crack and Love (WITHOUT LOVE IT CANNOT BE SEEN! KIHIHIHIHIHIHI):

Misaki Mei exists. She and Sakakibara are descendants of relevant people in Class 3-3 26 years ago. Misaki and Sakakibara of 26 years ago had a romance. It was a lesbian relationship. This is "continued" in the present by Mei and Kouichi. Misaki died 26 years ago. This led to Sakakibara having a mental breakdown due to heartbreak and declaring "Misaki" exists. Mysterious Culprit X is attempting to avenge/cherish the memory of Misaki of 26 years ago through the "curse", by both coincidence and murders prepertrated by Mysterious Culprit X himself. Mysterious Culprit X may be Creepy Library Custodian.

Main Theme: Social Isolation as a metaphor for death

I only realized this when watching Episode 5. In Episode 5, the homeroom teacher is giving a lesson on "Figures of Speech, Simile, Metaphor, Personification". So I thought: What if death itself was a metaphor for social isolation?

Spoiler for Main Theme: Social Isolation as a metaphor for death:

If you apply it to Misaki Mei, it all fits. Her classmates treat her as if she didn't exist, so she was really no better off than being "dead". It would also fit in with everything that she has said and done so far. It also fits in with the concept of countermeasures for a curse, ignoring, metaphorically "killing" a classmate so that everyone else can avoid the curse.

I did an episode by episode analysis of Kouichi and Mei's conversation lines with each other. Because I forgot where I put my headphones, I actually viewed them without any sound. Then I realized that if you put eroge game music instead of scary music in their dialog they look like scenes out of a romance novel.

Epi 1

Spoiler for Boiler Room Scene:

When Misaki Mei meets Kouichi, she claims to be meeting her "second half". What this means is that she is paying her last respects to her dead cousin, Fujiwara Misaki.

The reason for her emotional distance from Kouichi is because well, if someone very close to you died, you would be depressed too. Furthermore, from Episode 5, we can guess that her class had already started socially isolating her already. So she doesn't quite trust anyone yet.

Explains her cold and distant initial attitude towards Kouichi.

Spoiler for Rooftop Scene:

The first time Mei encounters Kouichi on the rooftop, she is surprised by someone from her class speaking to her, since by rule, everyone is supposed to shun her. This is also where the line

"They associate your name with death. But not just any death, a cruel, irrational death that took place at this school."

takes place. Hints that Misaki Mei knows much much much much more than she is letting on, even after Episode 5.

This line only makes sense if you take the entire sentence in context. She knows Sakakibara and her own connection to the death of Misaki 26 years ago. She knows something crucial to solving the mystery and is not letting Kouichi know.

"close to death"

The phrase "close to death" is just a metaphor for "lotsa deaths occur in this school". Whether is is because of the curse is debatable. Mei is weird, yes.

"Goodbye, Sa-ka-ki-ba-ra-kun,"

That seems rather flirtatious.

Episode 2

Spoiler for What was Mei looking at from the roof?:

For the second time, we see Mei looking out off a roof. What exactly was she doing? I have two theories. One, she is stalking Kouichi because she likes how he's the only one who reaches out to her. Two, she's attempting to commit suicide. Recall the art room scene when she is drawing a doll, and she says

"I'm going to give her wings."

Knowing that she likes to speak in metaphor, and that the drawing eerily ressembles herself, "giving herself wings" might mean to fly, and to fly would probably be a metaphor to commit suicide by jumping off a rooftop.

"not the lemon, but the world that is screaming"

Spoiler for ORLY:

Artist boy gives this comment, after Episode 5, we all know it is a metaphor in reference to how everyone is ignoring Misaki Mei, pretending not to see her.

"You don't dislike..."

Spoiler for Where have I heard that...:

Is just Misaki Mei's weird way of saying "like". See Tsundere.

"I wasn't hiding because I wanted to surprise you, you just happened to come while I was here."

Spoiler for phrase again...:

Ok, there it is again. Obscuring the truth through words. Can you get any more flirtatious than that already? We can see that Misaki Mei is starting to like Kouichi.

"Do you want me to show you what's under this eyepatch?"

Spoiler for Dum dee dum da:

Codephrase for "I trust you well enough that you will not freak out when you see my glass eye."

Flirting aside, I think that this conversation is key to solving the mystery:

"only half... maybe less than that."

"It's strange that they can look so peaceful, even though they are attached (in reference to two female dolls joined at the shoulder)"

"Impossible, it would make more sense to be calm if they were separated."

Spoiler for Spoiler for Central Mystery:

Ok, I'm still going by my personal crack theory that

Misaki Mei exists. She and Sakakibara are descendants of relevant people in Class 3-3 26 years ago. Misaki and Sakakibara of 26 years ago had a romance. This is "continued" in the present by Mei and Kouichi. Misaki died 26 years ago. This led to Sakakibara having a mental breakdown due to heartbreak and declaring "Misaki Mei" exists.

The only difference is that I don't think that the person on the Misaki side of the family is a guy. I think it's a girl. Reason? The two dolls joined together.

I think that's a really amazing piece of symbolism right there, and may be hinting at the relationship between the Sakakibara and Misaki family 26 years ago.

It was a lesbian relationship. Shoujo love. The only kind of love I can approve of if you listen to Stephen Colbert. It explains Mei's metaphorical way of saying that "I don't think a lesbian couple can be together and still face the world, Kouichi-kun. How can you say that they can ease their minds if their secret gets out?"

For some currently unexplained reason, Misaki 26 years ago dies, Sakakibara is heartbroken, and pretends that she still is alive. Everyone plays along. Then along comes Mysterious Culprit X, who continues/keeps alive the rumor of a curse through coincidence and his own murders in order to avenge/honor Misaki's memory.

Right now, the prime suspects would be Kouichi (unlikely), Twin Tail Girl (likely to be descendant of Class 3-3), and creepy library custodian (VERY likely because he has been around the longest).

Episode 3

"It can see things that remain unseen, so I keep it covered."

Spoiler for Seriously:

Wakairimasen lol. But there must be something significant in it.

"This might not be a good place for you, since you are not used to it. The dolls... dolls are hollow you see. Completely hollow in body and soul. That void connects them with death. But hollow things seek to fill their emptiness."

Spoiler for Human Misaki Mei Translator:

Translation: Unlike me, you have never been socially isolated before. Have you Kouichi? It is a most dreadful feeling, it makes one feel empty inside, nobody will speak to you, nobody will even acknowledge you exist. Your very existence is a hollow and empty one. I so dearly wish that someone could talk to me, and fill my heart with love.

Very, very very flirtatious.

"I know things about you that even you don't know. That's how we're stuck with each other."

Spoiler for Hmmmm:

Jock and Geekboy lampshading Misaki Mei and Kouichi's relationship with each other. Misaki Mei knows something that happened 26 years ago between the two families.

Possibility of serial killer

Spoiler for Mysterious Culprit X may or may not exist:

AND YES I NOW KNOW HOW TWIN RED TAILS WILL DIE. It's hinted in the OP. I look forward to seeing that mean bullying psycho getting whacked off.

Spoiler for Possible Foreshadowing:

Questions:

HOW did Misaki die 26 years ago?
What happened 15 years ago when Kouichi's aunt was at the school?
What is Mei and Kouichi's true connection to the incident 26 years ago?
What is the use of the "doll" motif in the show?
Who is the creepy custodian of the auxiliary library and what is his connection to the incident 26 years ago?
Is Twin Tail the most gigantic biatch or what?
Who are Kirika and Fujiwara Misaki?

[Jimmy C]

Originally Posted by Aphrah

Spoiler for That thing:

CR subs are incorrect in the sense that the prologue in the light novel did not use a gender specific pronoun to refer to Misaki who died 26 years ago.

Spoiler:

I checked back to the voiceover in ep1, trying to see if I could spot any clues to the gender, despite knowing virtually no Japanese. Although I couldn't find anything immediately obvious, a thought did occur to me. The Japanese have a number of words that are more often used for one gender than the other. Are any of these used in the ep1 voiceover, and which gender are those words more commonly associated with?

[Extremesonic101]

The gender aspect is really tricky when you watch with English Subs :P

In Episode 3 (I believe) when Mei tells the story to Kouichi in the English subs I believe she says it was a boy who said that Misaki was still alive, so can anyone check if she uses male clarification or is it also non-gender specific?

[haguruma]

Originally Posted by Jimmy C

Spoiler:

I checked back to the voiceover in ep1, trying to see if I could spot any clues to the gender, despite knowing virtually no Japanese. Although I couldn't find anything immediately obvious, a thought did occur to me. The Japanese have a number of words that are more often used for one gender than the other. Are any of these used in the ep1 voiceover, and which gender are those words more commonly associated with?

Originally Posted by Extremesonic101

The gender aspect is really tricky when you watch with English Subs :P

In Episode 3 (I believe) when Mei tells the story to Kouichi in the English subs I believe she says it was a boy who said that Misaki was still alive, so can anyone check if she uses male clarification or is it also non-gender specific?

There was never any indication whether Misaki was a boy or a girl. The words they used when not refering to Misaki in name were "that person", "that student" or "that one". Japanese has this tendency that unless you clearly say HIM or HER, which is very unlikely to be used in a normal sentence, you never know the exact gender if it is not contextualized.

Additionally the novel (it is NOT a light novel) opened with the same discussion we had in episode 1 but was exceptionally longer also having among other things during the first few lines that:

Spoiler for beginning of the novel:

The students who talk about the rumor admit that it's unknown whether Misaki was the family name or personal name of that person or whether it was a boy or a girl.

[orion]

I think that if Misaki's gender is that much of a mystery then it prob doesn't matter for this round of killings. It prob matters to getting down to basis of the start of the curse as it prob was a murder cover up imo.

We have a timeline for the deaths in the episode 5 thread.

The only newbies to the class were the 2 homeroom teachers before Fujioka died. If both were assigned to Class 3-3, then they count also as part of the class. I think that the desk thing is a red herring.

[DesuX2]

But the writing on the desk "Just who, is the dead one?" should be very relevant and connected to the central mystery, after all it is plastered over the main website. I hardly doubt that the author, when writing this in novel format would leave something as inauspicious as that as a dangling thread.

[orion]

Originally Posted by DesuX2

But the writing on the desk "Just who, is the dead one?" should be very relevant and connected to the central mystery, after all it is plastered over the main website. I hardly doubt that the author, when writing this in novel format would leave something as inauspicious as that as a dangling thread.

It could have been written by one of the students in a previous cursed class. It doesn't mean that a student is the current dead one.

In fact, the deaths supposedly started after the 1972 class had left which would imply that it's not Misaki that is fueling this but another ghost. While the class had Misaki's ghost, no one died in theory.

[Extremesonic101]

Originally Posted by haguruma

There was never any indication whether Misaki was a boy or a girl. The words they used when not refering to Misaki in name were "that person", "that student" or "that one". Japanese has this tendency that unless you clearly say HIM or HER, which is very unlikely to be used in a normal sentence, you never know the exact gender if it is not contextualized.

Fair enough, my question however was regarding "The Student" who claims Misaki is still alive no Misaki itself, but its most likely the same thing given what you said about it being common Japanese speach patern.

EDIT: After hearing about Kirika's relation to Mei in episode 5 it made me wonder did she appear in an episode and I missed it because I have no idea what she looks like :P if anyone has a picture of her or can just let me know when she appeared (if she has) I would greatly appreciate it ^^

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by Extremesonic101

EDIT: After hearing about Kirika's relation to Mei in episode 5 it made me wonder did she appear in an episode and I missed it because I have no idea what she looks like if anyone has a picture of her or can just let me know when she appeared (if she has) I would greatly appreciate it

She appeared briefly in Episode 4, at around 10:50. Sakakibara went to Studio M after the glass panel crashed. As he stood in front of the doll shop, a woman walked past him, giving him a dark look as she climbed up the stairs. That was Kirika.

[Extremesonic101]

Thank you very much, not sure how I missed that (Kirika is cute :P deffinetly see the resemblance and I love her hair style), I need to go back and watch the other episodes and start focusing on everything, in stories like these every little detail is important.

[Oyashiro]

Originally Posted by DesuX2

I was reading the other speculation/general thread when I came across two facts that could be very significant: (well, they destroy my personal crack theory entirely but hey, it's interesting)

Spoiler for Two Facts on weed:

1. There is a real life murderer called Sakakibara.

Sakakibara Seito to be exact. It seems as if his profile on wikipedia was tailor made to fit right into Another's central mystery. He is a schoolboy who lived in a small town and he murdered a girl. This would make kinda sense and reveals a possibility that the "curse" refers to the murder of a girl from the Misaki family by someone from the Sakakibara family. Also explains the "your name means death" remark.

Spoiler for About that first fact,:

Apparently the media nicknamed him "Boy A"... if there's some plot-tie between "Boy A" and Another!Sakakibara, maybe it's the reason why the OP writes the "A" in "Another" with the missing horizontal line? The way they write it adds a weird emphasis to just that letter, so I think it's supposed to grab attention.





Another meaning to the title could be that Sakakibara (whether it's 1998 Sakakibara, or one of his parents) is another "Boy A".

And pssst, has anyone else noticed the shadow of a person in the OP when the elevator opens? The elevator is obviously empty, but if you look at the floor in front of the elevator, you can see the shadow of someone standing there...

[Alucard24]

Well, why not trying to cut everyone to see if they bleed or not ? If the "another" student is really immortal, then he will heal in no time.