Another - Speculation & Theories (for first time viewers)

[Random32]

Originally Posted by totoum

That part makes no sense to me

If the extra was there at the start of the year the class should be short a desk at the start of the year because the school wouldn't have planned a desk for the extra

Admin planned for X students. The extra makes it X+1 students, more than the number of desks. But this year, the transfer student not being there subtracts 1 student, so they are back at the number of desks.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Random32

Admin planned for X students. The extra makes it X+1 students, more than the number of desks. But this year, the transfer student not being there subtracts 1 student, so they are back at the number of desks.

I get that.

I was making more of a general statement about how things work in general rather than the particular case the class is facing this year.Just to be sure I understand Forsaken_Infinity.

To get back to the particular case,it still baffles me they forgot about Kouichi.His name was on the roster sent to people before the term began.
So on the first day if they did a rollcall they'd realise he was absent and yet the number of desks was right.
Unless of course he's the extra and the documents have been altered to put his name there when it wasn't before.

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by totoum

In episode 5 we can see the full roster when Kouichi hands over his copy to Mei.
There's his name at the bottom.

So either he's the Another and his name has been put in there as part of the documents being altered.

Or he's not the Another and his transfer was known in advance (the roster is dated March 3rd) and they indeed forgot about him at the entrance ceremony.
Talk about a big mistake

While I subscribe to the theory that the extra was already there and the class just didn't realize it due to lack of knowledge of Sakakibara's transfer I have to play devils advocate here and point out that the curse alters documents (which means we can't take the dates in them as proof that they weren't doctored).

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Dextro

While I subscribe to the theory that the extra was already there and the class just didn't realize it due to lack of knowledge of Sakakibara's transfer I have to play devils advocate here and point out that the curse alters documents (which means we can't take the dates in them as proof that they weren't doctored).

But if they were altered to add his name in then wouldn't that mean he's the Another?

So either he's the Another or the class didn't notice his name on the roster in the first day of school.

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by totoum

But if they were altered to add his name in then wouldn't that mean he's the Another?

So either he's the Another or the class didn't notice his name on the roster in the first day of school.

If he was transferred in then he would obviously not be on the roster on the first day of school.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Dextro

If he was transferred in then he would obviously not be on the roster on the first day of school.

So then his name being on a roster dated march 3rd (the one he showed to Mei in episode 5) is quite suspicious.

If it's on a roster made back in March,why wouldn't it be on the first day of school?

Or he was supposed to transfer in late april but maybe that was known well in advance.

[Forsaken_Infinity]

Originally Posted by totoum

So then his name being on a roster dated march 3rd (the one he showed to Mei in episode 5) is quite suspicious.

If it's on a roster made back in March,why wouldn't it be on the first day of school?

Or he was supposed to transfer in late april but maybe that was known well in advance.

Spoiler for Apparently:

In Keichi's particular case, his dad contacted school well in advance so they knew about his transferring in. They just forgot to account for it. Not sure if this was mentioned in the anime though. Either that or if you are a proponent of Keichi is the another theory then you can take it as modification of records by the phenomenon I guess lulz.

[Sheba]

Putting aside Kouichi, I would like to speculate on the one guy who averted the curse for his comrades.

I think that

Spoiler:

It comes at a cost, and he may be living on borrowed time, living in a paranoid state while looking for anything that might kill him, such as the surviving protagonists of the first Final destination movie.
Which explain why he was such a nervous wreck. Yeah, he get to live, but what kind of life it is if you seem to be living in a state of constant fear.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Putting aside Kouichi, I would like to speculate on the one guy who averted the curse for his comrades.

I think that

Spoiler:

It comes at a cost, and he may be living on borrowed time, living in a paranoid state while looking for anything that might kill him, such as the surviving protagonists of the first Final destination movie.
Which explain why he was such a nervous wreck. Yeah, he get to live, but what kind of life it is if you seem to be living in a state of constant fear.

I suspect he was only acting that way because he was forced to talk about that event.

[Voxxen]

Spoiler for Speculations:

Lets take a step back and ask ourselves, "What powers does this curse have and what has it done?"

1: There is said to be an extra person in the class, which can manipulate/change not only physical evidence, but also the memories of anyone associated as well. (Though from what I can tell, it cannot change pictures)

2: It can cause seemingly pure inexcusable accidents, such as the umbrella incidents, the car accident, the elevator, and the heart attack (Which the only people that knew about her giving him information was that small group that could easily have noticed the conversation and seconds later, cable snap). Then again the heart attack incident was cased with none of the same people around, so maybe it can change form? (Yet, that doesn't make sense) I'm not quite convinced with the teachers suicide and murder of his mother, they seem very uncharacteristic of this "Another". I am still debating on the glass incident as well, I mean that was a huge clue right there. No incident up to date has been avoided and here comes Kouichi with the tackle, save. I mean that cannot be coincidental, he survives his lungs collapsing (If that is related) and now he saves someone else's fate? (If in fact that glass was only meant for her?) Maybe his presence in the town is something uncalculated by this "Another"? The "Another" tries to get rid of him and he escapes due to his already close encounter with death? (I really don't think his mother's death has anything to do with the curse being 11 years late.) Something doesn't add up.

3: I'm interested in that doll house, i read a theory about the dolls trying to steal souls for themselves and in the anime it says that an empty hollow being wants to be whole (In short). Something is very odd with the grandmother working the counter, she doesn't even recognize the customer she had served just yesterday repeating almost the exact same lines previous. Then the mother, (>.>) Idk about you guys, but that doll theory has some merit behind it, they act like they are hypnotized or something.

4: Something I find interesting is the Cell Phone Static, it is in most ghost story's electronic equipment goes funny when ghosts are near or using their abilities. The biggest show of this is the elevator death and another instance where there be a lot of static was in Kouichi's house hold at the beginning of the anime. (Coincidence?)

5: Another thing I just noticed is, Mei states Kouichi is not the dead person, which implies there IS a dead person. So we ARE dealing with a dead person.

6:I just realized that maybe this "Quality" that makes you apart of this C-3 Class is your relation to death. I can think of a few people within the class that have had near death experiences. Maybe it's close to the Final Destination theory.

Kouichi: The main heroin of the anime and with the most suspicion of being the "Another". Yet, Mei states in episode 7 he is not and hints at it earlier. He almost died earlier from a collapsed lung and his father states he had the same issue (twice). It may also be he died earlier in the episodes and has been taken over by the "Another" he is the root cause of all these deaths and we know this "Force" can re-write almost anything. A simple memory insert of that glass incident maybe?

Mei's: She says her eye can see things other's cannot. Does this mean she can see the Another, but she is trying to conceal the fact that she can, therefore covering it? And does that mean taking it off for Kouichi gives him a clean slate? Or it could just be she does not like to show it off, she asks Kouichi if he is repulsed by it.

Reiko Kouichi's aunt): She has had headaches lately, maybe the sign of a brain tumor? She was there during the start of the countermeasure's position taking place.

Izumi: In charge of the countermeasures (Officer in the class to update newcomers and oversee class safety.) Idk about her, she seems like a shady nice character. Just trying to do the best for the class, yet having a girl like side. I've seen slight hints of her attraction to Kouichi and she seems to genuinely want to leave the town. Which makes her a very likely suspect, I mean if you couldn't leave the town how would you feel. Not to mention she "feels" like she has seen him before? Maybe she loved him in the past and he died, now she can't help "feel" this happiness that he is alive?

Let's take this back a little bit. Ok, 26 years ago a girl with good grades, popular and good looks dies. Now this does not mean she is the "Another", but I think that was the first murder that this "Another" did to gain a body. (I thought about the girl being the "Another", but that just doesn't fit the picture, at least i don't think it does) Then she is continued to exist that year and everyone acknowledges it, she then gains her continued existence off the fear of the class? When that fear is beginning to subside another death happens to remind them?

Something I just remembered that peeked my interest, 10 years ago the killings stopped on a field trip. Now I think it has less to do with the shrine and more with the methods they used. Only one person is supposed to die each month, but if we take into account that the glass incident was caused by the "Another" and the rule excludes the person in questions family members then this is a much as bull. If we assume that that rule is true, then that meant there was a death that was not supposed to be and in episode 7 one of the students at the scene was frantic about the trip. Which of course will put the first question into your mind, what happened? it sounds like they might have killed a student there, not the "Another", but the students themselves murdered a student. Though is this too obvious? He left something there so maybe we can clarify this later.

[Xaturas]

Voxxen
Nice theory but the Librarian already stated, that Mei was a boy and his surname was same as the town name. Unless he lies that is.

[Ledgem]

Originally Posted by Xaturas

Voxxen
Nice theory but the Librarian already stated, that Mei was a boy and his surname was same as the town name. Unless he lies that is.

I'm sure this was a mental blip, but just to correct your post, you meant Misaki instead of Mei.

FWIW Japanese doesn't usually specify gender when talking about people. Because of the name "Misaki" and the fact that they mentioned physical attributes, the translators probably figured it safe to assume that it was a girl. What the characters were saying in the earlier episodes would literally translate to be things like "that child" when referring to the Misaki from 26 years ago. All the same, Japanese speakers would probably assume that Misaki was a girl, too, although I don't recall anyone definitively making the claim that Misaki was a girl (but I may have missed it). It's a limitation of the fansubs that they initially referred to Misaki as "she," which made it seem as if the gender was fully determined as a fact. The translators probably weren't aware of what lay ahead in the series; now we'll probably see Misaki referred to as a "he."

[Voxxen]

Originally Posted by Xaturas

Voxxen
Nice theory but the Librarian already stated, that Mei was a boy and his surname was same as the town name. Unless he lies that is.

Sorry about that, after re-reading my post I found quite a few errors in my sentences. I also take back the Misaki (Girl) statement, I did read the post by Aphrah.

"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."

So, until we get some proof from the writers we will have to wait on that deduction.

On another note, the guy in the bar that went on the school trip and stopped the killings. He stated:
"The curse that year wasn't..."
"It wasn't my fault."
"I saved them all."
"I saved them!"
"I knew I had to tell them! So that's why..."
"I left it there."

Make's me wonder... He couldn't remember what he left there, even though it was that important that he remembered all these years and will be a life altering experience for the rest of his life. So, I stop to think... If this "Another" has no idea "It" is dead, then there has to be some "Force" that is pulling the strings. What "If" this "Force" changed/manipulated this guys memory to make them go to this shrine for some (obscure) reason?

[Dengar]

Originally Posted by Voxxen

Spoiler for Speculations:

2: It can cause seemingly pure inexcusable accidents, such as the umbrella incidents, the car accident, the elevator, and the heart attack (Which the only people that knew about her giving him information was that small group that could easily have noticed the conversation and seconds later, cable snap). Then again the heart attack incident was cased with none of the same people around, so maybe it can change form? (Yet, that doesn't make sense) I'm not quite convinced with the teachers suicide and murder of his mother, they seem very uncharacteristic of this "Another". I am still debating on the glass incident as well, I mean that was a huge clue right there. No incident up to date has been avoided and here comes Kouichi with the tackle, save. I mean that cannot be coincidental, he survives his lungs collapsing (If that is related) and now he saves someone else's fate? (If in fact that glass was only meant for her?) Maybe his presence in the town is something uncalculated by this "Another"? The "Another" tries to get rid of him and he escapes due to his already close encounter with death? (I really don't think his mother's death has anything to do with the curse being 11 years late.) Something doesn't add up.

I'm convinced that the Another isn't doing anything apart from existing. I'm also going with the librarian guy's theory that there is no malicious entity at work here. It's more like, the mere existence of something that shouldn't be is causing kind of a strain on reality that people start dying "coincidentally" (note that none of the deaths, however unlikely, are impossible).

At least that's what I believe for now.

[Voxxen]

Originally Posted by Dengar

I'm convinced that the Another isn't doing anything apart from existing. I'm also going with the librarian guy's theory that there is no malicious entity at work here. It's more like, the mere existence of something that shouldn't be is causing kind of a strain on reality that people start dying "coincidentally" (note that none of the deaths, however unlikely, are impossible).

At least that's what I believe for now.

I'll say it now:

1: "Another" behind the murders? (NOT likely) As I've started, thinking about the events leading to the seventh episode. From what we have been told, "It", Itself does not know its dead. So how can someone who goes about their normal lives have anything to do with these killings?(Not to mention the pure coincidental accidents they seem to be.) I retract my statements about the "Another" changing form, cause there is no evidence. (Idk where i even drew that idea)

Which draws me to the question, "If" the "Another" is not (causing/apart/or even knows the reason) of the murders.

A: Does "It" come back every year a new person?

B: If you kill "It", can you tell if "It's" the real "Another"?

C: On the field trip one of the classes stopped it. Did they find the root cause of the "Force" behind the murders? (Still, not convinced on the teacher incident) If they did, what could they have left behind that seems to be so terrifying? (If it is not a trap of some kind, a lot can go wrong on a bus up a mountain)

D: What if the "Another" finds out it IS the "Another"?

E: Is "It" a victim in this object as well?

F: Could the "Another" be a person given identify's or traits of the killed victims?

I have some more, but I don't want to go overboard on these random questions that probably won't get answered until later episodes. (Though, it is fun to speculate)

2: I do agree that the only person that seems to have extended knowledge about the incidents seems to be the librarian... He also has that... I wouldn't say guilty, but misleading kind of feel to him as well. Like he has an ulterior motive? Anyone with me?

3: I still think that glass incident is big... Somehow, BIG... No other murder has had even a close chance of survival.

4: Kouichi... Oh, Kouichi... Earlier in the series the students stated, The classroom is "more closer to death", than any other classrooms. Maybe with how close Kouichi and the reaper have been in the past, he has some weight on this "Force"?

5: It's almost like a fork in the road, this "Force" builds up some kind of trigger and sets fate on its way, there seems to always be a trigger in these killings. Not always from an external force, but from some very strong emotion that grips the character as well, kind of like the flight or fight instinct, but there is of course more to it. It's almost like a game of shogi (chess), where this "Force" plays against that persons "Fate" and there are times in these killings where they might be avoided. The girl that got skewed through the throat for instance, she could have swallowed her panic finding the twin duo together and suppressed her fear for her mother (though it seemed as if her panic out weighed her fear), walking down the closer stairs and possibly avoiding her "Fate". (Granted, when we humans feel that emotional it is a seemingly impossible thing to do... Much less on our minds... Why did i write this?)

Tell me your thoughts.

[AuraTwilight]

A: Does "It" come back every year a new person?

Yes, it's a new person every year, and is apparently a former victim of the phenomenon.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by AuraTwilight

Yes, it's a new person every year, and is apparently a former victim of the phenomenon.

It's not every year,for exemple there was no Another in the previous year,no countermeasures were needed.

[AuraTwilight]

I know, I meant, 'every year the phenomena happens'. I was just countering the concept of a Singular 'Other' across the years the person was suggesting.

[Hakuromatsu]

Originally Posted by totoum

It's not every year,for exemple there was no Another in the previous year,no countermeasures were needed.

When was that said? I was under the impression that there was an Another every year; did I miss something?

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Hakuromatsu

When was that said? I was under the impression that there was an Another every year; did I miss something?

A the begining of episode 4

-Does that mean it's going to happen again this year?
-Maybe.Nothing happened last year.

There's also the fact that at first the students of class 3 thought it wasn't happening this year (episode 4 , about 17:15)

I honestly thought it wouldn't happen this year

They didn't bother ignoring anyone at first (Mei wasn't being ignored at the start of the schoolyear,she only started on May 1st),if it happens every year they never would have considered the possibility of it not happening this year.