Another - Novel Discussion

[haguruma]

Originally Posted by Marina2

Thank for the answer.

Spoiler for About Izumi fate in anime compare to manga&novel:

Now, I hope Izumi will survive in anime because I am really like her now >.< The whole personality change and her additional and orginal scene must have some meaning right? At least, there must be the ep. where she remember when did she meet MC before.

I'm glad to be able to help by providing some answers...though I'm always a little anxious about revealing too much to people who don't really want to know that much

Well there is reason behind her featuring in a lot more scenes in the anime compared to both other media.

Spoiler for whole plot-difference concerning Akazawa:

She takes over Kazami's character almost completely and is basically absent from the whole plot during the novel and merely features as an obvious antagonist in the manga (probably because they felt the story was missing one). Not only that she also takes over parts of Teshigawara's and Mochizuki's scenes.
This could prove problematic during a later scene where we have to start doubting everybody in the class, because the oly characters Kouichi REALLY associates with lately are the girls...

I agree that the novel wasn't without it's fair share of problems because we ever actually got to learn anything about those classmates besides their individual weakness when they became fodder for the calamity...except the 4 boys and Mei.
The anime doesn't really fix that but turns it around and focuses so much more on the girls that...while the boys are technically there, they are nothing more than staffage.

In the end her new scenes are merely building upon what is there in the source material as well, they only play it out differently. In the end it comes down to marketing to a largely male audience group who needs their fix of girls...or that's just me being mean.

EDIT:
Though most people won't go to this thread until the anime is over I made a list of what is different between the anime and the original novel so far. I found some of the changes good, some bad...I'm still pretty excited to see how they will pull off the very end. If anybody who has read the novel noticed any further differences I'd be interested if I missed some (I have that feeling I did)...or maybe anybody has an opinion about the changes XD

Spoiler for differences novel to anime:

1. The two neighbouring areas Yūmigaoka and Asamidai are mentioned, explaining that the names seem to refer to the beauty of the places in different times of the day. Asami (朝見) Yūmi (夕見) and Yomi (夜見) being morning-view, evening-view and night-view respectively.
   
2. Kōichi drinks coffee from the very beginning (but remarks that Reiko drinks it black)
   
3. Reiko tells one of the 7 ghost stories of Yomi North:
   “Well then I tell you this one, which was by the way the first I heard back then.“
   And so Reiko began to narrate that one ghost story sorrounding the animal stable behind the gym.
   One morning all the bunnies and guinea pigs had vanished from their stable. The door had been destroyed and inside were huge ammounts of blood. The police was called for investigation and it became a huge fuss, but not one of the animals was everr found and they never found out who did it. The stables were torn down after that, but apparently there were reports of seeing the blood-smeared bunnies and guinea pigs (maybe their ghosts?) on that site.
   “But that story has a strange addition to it.“, continued Reiko with a serious face.
   “When the police tested the blood samples they had found at the scene, it turned out not to be bunny or guinea pig blood at all. It was human blood. It was bloodtype AB negative*...“
   
   *AB negative (or all negative bloodtypes) are thought to be very rare in Japan and it therefore hints toward a strange and peculiar person.
   
4. Ritsuko explains more about the class rules:

   rule #1: If you go out onto the roof and you hear the crows cry out, you have to reenter with your left foot first.
   rule #2: After entering the 3rd grade of middle school, you may never fall down on the hill road outside of the back gate.
   rule #3: You must always follow the decisions of your class.

5. Akazawa Izumi is not part of the welcoming committee visiting Kōichi in the hospital. She is absent during those days and was thus unable to perform her duties as head of countermeassures.
   
6. Kōichi's reason for wanting to protect Mei against ostracism and bullying is explained further when the two talk about him being bullied after the 1997 case in Kōbe where 14 year old Sakakibara Seito was arrested as a child murderer.
   
7. Kōichi spends more time with Teshigawara Naoya and Kazami Tomohiko.
   
8. Teshigawara and Kazami show him around the school, including the old school building.
   
9. Akazawa Izumi does not become a part of the group of friends (in the anime she takes the role of Kazami, while he is completely removed from the gang). She is practically absent from every scene in which she features in the anime.
   
10. Along the way Kōichi visits Mochizuki Yuuya and Kazami at home.
    
11. Inose Tomoka (Anime version: Mochizuki Tomoka) is further explained to be Mochizuki's half sister by a different mother and therefore far enough removed not to be targeted as a victim.
    
12. The group never gets to meet Matsunaga Katsumi, they are merely being told about the hint towards the hidden cassette tape by Inose Tomoka who works at the café Inoya which he frequents.
    
13. The group does not take a trip outside of town. The only person leaving town for a few days is Misaki Mei who goes on a trip with her parents on her fathers boat.
    
14. Nakao Junta does not die in an accident at sea because of a cerebral concussion. He is stabbed to death by Takabayashi Ikuo's maternal grandmother Numata Mineko on her rampage at the lodge.
    
15. Ayano Aya and her parents have no actual role in the original plot and do not die at all.
    
16. Takabayashi Ikuo does not attempt to tell Kōichi about Misaki Mei and dies from a heart attack at home. Kōichi learns about this when Mochizuki is informed about it via phone by Akazawa.
    
17. Chibiki Tatsuji's lecture about the workings of the phenomenon and the ensuing calamity is much more elaborate. He tells Kōichi and Mei about the phenomena of previous years, the gradual progress of forgetting and also about the growing countermeassures
    
18. The tape they found in the old 3-3 classroom got damaged when they were to eager in removing the adhesive tape. They also don't use any school property to play it back but have to repair it first. Mei is not present during their search either.
    
19. Reiko seems a lot more distraught about her sister's death
    
20. Steadily we are told about several of the 7 school ghost stories:

    #1 bloody animal stables
    #2 bloody hand rising from the basins
    #3 secret library

21. Several death are explained in further detail to make them more of an accident that happened due to a heightened chance of death occuring:

    Sakuragi Yukari: Her death is happening unobserved, we are merely told through Koichi's perspective that she apparently opened her umbrella while storming down the stairs and then slipped and fell on it.
    
    Mizuno Sanae: She does not die from being crushed, but suffers a severe head trauma when the elevator hits ground. She is unresponsive afterwards and dies while the hospital staff tries to reanimate her. Also, the policemen say that the elevator was apparently in bad shape and was already rumored to be a death trap. Out of so far unresolved circumstances the emergency breaks activated but broke down immediatly.
    
    Takabayashi Ikuo: He dies of a heart attack while at his home, unobserved by anybody.
    
    Mr. Kubodera: His and his mother's background are elaborated upon. He has to care for his mother after the stroke made her practically unable to care for herself as well as making her grow more and more senile over the years. He silently started resenting his mother with whom he shared a very small appartment. The description when commiting suicide is also more focused on his speech, hinting at him already having crossed the border into insanity.

22. Koichi talks to the detective researching the cases sorrounding the calamity. The detective admits that he has heard about that infamous curse and has a personal interest, but because there is no perpetrator there is nothing he can do about it.
    
23. The detective mentions that he has a 12 year old daughter about to advance to Yomi North and that this is the reason why he has a personal interest in the curse. He tries to belief that the curse will be lifted until his daughter gets into the 3-3 by any chance.
    
24. After hearing about it from Teshigawara at the lodge Kōichi rushes out to look whether Kazami is dead. Kazami has only a minor injury that makes him unable to walk on his own.
    
25. The main proof that Kōichi's contact with Mei brought disaster upon the class, used by Akazawa at the lodge when she is accusing Mei is, that Sugiura Takako saw how Sakuragi reacted when she saw Kōichi talking to Mei on the corridor which made her run in the opposite direction.
    
26. Sugiura Takako does not go insane and also does not spearhead any witch-hunt against Misaki Mei at the lodge. She is simply stabbed by Numata Mineko when she surprises her and Akazawa in their room.
    
27. Akazawa Izumi is stabbed by Numata Mineko and then falls from the balcony where Kōichi finds her dead.
    
28. Ogura Yumi has no role in the original plot apart from her brother dying. She does not die at the lodge.
    
29. Ouji Makoto does not die at the lodge.
    
30. When Kōichi finds Maejima Manabu in the lodge after he has been stabbed by Numata Mineko, he immediatly tries to carry him outside to safety. Maejima still dies of bloodloss immediatly after.
    
31. Yonemura Shigeki goes along on the schooltrip where he is stabbed by Numata Mineko and dies of bloodloss. His body is only later found by the police.
    
32. Numata Kensaku is killed in the kitchen which is then set on fire by Numata Mineko. The fire causes a gas-tank to explode, spreading the fire through the lodge and causing the students to escape in panic.
    
33. Kōichi is chased by Numata Mineko and then saved by Chibiki who returned to the lodge.
    
34. All students immediatly head outside as the fire in the lodge starts. There are no random deaths except those killed by Numata Mineko
    
35. There is no lightningstorm that hits the lodge.
    
36. There is no past meeting between Akazawa and Kôichi
    
37. After Kôichi leaves the lodge to save Maejima and is in turn rescued by Chibiki he gets the call from Mei telling him that she is save but that he should stay where he is or he'll regret it.
    
38. Mei did not witness Mikami Reiko getting killed. This is only revealed later in the Outroduction chapter.
    
39. The last scene is set in Kôichi's hospital room.
    
40. It is not made clear what actions the 3-3 of 1998 will take after the events of the novel.
    
41. Kôichi and Mei are talking about going to Tôkyô together.
    
42. Reiko's biggest regret is being unable to see Kôichi at least once after his birth; as he has spent all his life in Tôkyô with his father
    
43. It's strongly hinted at that it was Reiko's wish for Kôichi, Kôichi's wish for a mother and their grandparents denial of Reiko's death which triggered her return as the one person more.
    
44. Reiko is filling the void of Kôichi's dead mother, which makes his act of killing her also in a mirror-matricide -> He was the reason his mother came to Yomiyama in 1983 and died and now he has to kill Reiko - his surrogate mother - to end the calamity.

[mei misaki fan]

can anyone who has read the book or manga tell me if mochizuki gets killed?

[Rememblaire]

Originally Posted by haguruma

EDIT:

Spoiler for differences novel to anime:

1. Akazawa Izumi does not become a part of the group of friends (in the anime she takes the role of Kazami, while he is completely removed from the gang). She is practically absent from every scene in which she features in the anime.

Spoiler for ...:

I feel bad for Kazami, even I can't remember the last time he appeared in the anime...

Originally Posted by mei misaki fan

can anyone who has read the book or manga tell me if mochizuki gets killed?

Spoiler for Mochizuki:

IIRC Mochizuki do not die in the manga.

Dunno about novel Mochizuki...

[AC-Phoenix]

After EP 10 it seems that

Spoiler for Novel death:

Someone else has taken over Izumi's death of falling down and breaking her neck...

[sa547]

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

After EP 10 it seems that

Spoiler for Novel death:

Someone else has taken over Izumi's death of falling down and breaking her neck...

Spoiler for Well...:

Seems that Kazami, after having so few lines for himself throughout the story, has finally bought the farm. By examining the screenshots closely, and matching the hair color on the roster, that's him.

Izumi has a good save this time, but even then there are too many death flags right over her.

[Morisato]

Spoiler for Novel ending:

The reveal that Mikami-sensei is Reiko seems pretty stupid... I wouldn't have minded if Reiko intentionally tried to disguise herself as another person (with magic or science) but she didn't. Her role as the homeroom teacher wasn't meant to be a secret. It's just that certain (basic) information was intentionally hidden from the readers/viewers.

Like Mikami-sensei's name was never mentioned or Reiko's last name was never mentioned. Kouichi making no mention of his aunt being the teacher. Their personalities seemed quite different. Since both of them are in class 3, why didn't they discuss the recent deaths or the curse at home? It was just Kouichi asking Reiko about her past 15 years ago in class 3 and she responds as if it had nothing to do with her at the present even though she's the homeroom teacher. Or if Reiko could talk to Kouichi at home but not at school (during his non-existent period), why didn't she tell him about it?

[haguruma]

Originally Posted by Morisato

Spoiler for Novel ending:

The reveal that Mikami-sensei is Reiko seems pretty stupid... I wouldn't have minded if Reiko intentionally tried to disguise herself as another person (with magic or science) but she didn't. Her role as the homeroom teacher wasn't meant to be a secret. It's just that certain (basic) information was intentionally hidden from the readers/viewers.

Like Mikami-sensei's name was never mentioned or Reiko's last name was never mentioned. Kouichi making no mention of his aunt being the teacher. Their personalities seemed quite different. Since both of them are in class 3, why didn't they discuss the recent deaths or the curse at home? It was just Kouichi asking Reiko about her past 15 years ago in class 3 and she responds as if it had nothing to do with her at the present even though she's the homeroom teacher. Or if Reiko could talk to Kouichi at home but not at school (during his non-existent period), why didn't she tell him about it?

Spoiler for Mystery solution:

Like I already said earlier in the thread, it was actually quite strongly hinted at. I went over the novel again while the anime aired and it's actually pretty obvious, especially if you know a little bit about 叙述トリック (description tricks) in Japanese mystery novels.

Mikami Reiko is the only solution you can arrive at if you count everything together that you learn throughout the novel.

• Mikami was homeroom teacher in 1998 (homeroom teachers can also become victims)
• The arts club closed down even though there seems to be no proper reason when Mikami is still there
• The calamity began in April even though there was no additional student
• Kouichi's hazy memory of having been in Yomiyama 1 1/2 years ago
• Mikami and Kouichi seem very close even though she appears as just a teacher

We don't know whether they talked about school at home. At least they talked about the phenomenon and the calamity. Also Reiko's apology makes a lot more sense if she's actually still involved in the whole story.
And there is still rule no.4 about which we learn in the end "At school I'm Mikami-sensei, at home I am aunt Reiko."...she wanted to be treated as two different people so that no rumors of favourism would arise.

It's actually not that farfetched. I'm staying by my opinion that it's the length of the novel that makes it hard to keep track of all that.

[Thousand Mistress]

Originally Posted by sa547

Spoiler for Well...:

Seems that Kazami, after having so few lines for himself throughout the story, has finally bought the farm. By examining the screenshots closely, and matching the hair color on the roster, that's him.

Izumi has a good save this time, but even then there are too many death flags right over her.

Hah. I knew it. Although some confusions are still arising...

Spoiler for Hmmm..:

But for some reason I know he's not dead. It hasn't been stated anywhere that Kazami died in the novel, maybe Kazami just fell down the balcony and broke an arm or leg.

And because I can also feel that it was Kazami who grabbed Akazawa's leg at the preview for the anime version's ep 11.

Also, I've read the manga version just now, the current chapter reveals that Teshigawara could have had an argument with Kazami and pushed him down by accident.

To be honest, there really are a lot of things altered in the anime. From the preview for the next episode, there's a bloodied bed...it could be Mochizuki's or that other girl close to Akazawa.

Reiko being the dead one was particularly obvious from all that mental blocks she's having and headaches. Because she can't remember her existence back then.

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by haguruma

Spoiler for Mystery solution:

Like I already said earlier in the thread, it was actually quite strongly hinted at. I went over the novel again while the anime aired and it's actually pretty obvious, especially if you know a little bit about 叙述トリック (description tricks) in Japanese mystery novels.

Mikami Reiko is the only solution you can arrive at if you count everything together that you learn throughout the novel.

• Mikami was homeroom teacher in 1998 (homeroom teachers can also become victims)
• The arts club closed down even though there seems to be no proper reason when Mikami is still there
• The calamity began in April even though there was no additional student
• Kouichi's hazy memory of having been in Yomiyama 1 1/2 years ago
• Mikami and Kouichi seem very close even though she appears as just a teacher

We don't know whether they talked about school at home. At least they talked about the phenomenon and the calamity. Also Reiko's apology makes a lot more sense if she's actually still involved in the whole story.
And there is still rule no.4 about which we learn in the end "At school I'm Mikami-sensei, at home I am aunt Reiko."...she wanted to be treated as two different people so that no rumors of favourism would arise.

It's actually not that farfetched. I'm staying by my opinion that it's the length of the novel that makes it hard to keep track of all that.

Spoiler:

The thing about them seeming pretty close is actually what I meant when talking about essential clue.
I have to admit that I actually subconciously dismissed it as izumi was pretty suspecious to me in the anime. (Also a subconcious thing, resulting from taking Kazami's role in the hospital), but yes it really connects well.

People don't just go to their teachers and say 'oh you are here early today'. The anime made the whole thing a bit more obvious, when both continuously smiled at each other.(for example EP 1) - The only thing speaking against it was that Reiko ignored him ar school though.

If you can read japanese, the part about her being Ms mikami will be even easier once the BD releases - as Ristuko's full name is written on the class picture. (hardly readable though)

Too bad I got spoiled by bad culprit placement on the Wikipedia page - I would have been thrilled to see if I would have connected it in the end.

[Diveman]

Im puzzled:

Spoiler for About the manga ending:

Someone said Izumi dies at the end in the manga, but I read ch 20 and she is alive in the hospital (with shorter hair) and she's visited by Mochizuki and friends...is there something im missing here?

[haguruma]

Originally Posted by Diveman

Im puzzled:

Spoiler for About the manga ending:

Someone said Izumi dies at the end in the manga, but I read ch 20 and she is alive in the hospital (with shorter hair) and she's visited by Mochizuki and friends...is there something im missing here?

No you got it the wrong way around.

Spoiler for manga vs. novel:

Akazawa dies in the original where she wasn't a huge character to begin with. She survives in the manga, as do all central characters, because certain events on the school trip do not occur.

[NoirX]

So much differences in each media's ending, maybe too much O.O

[DezoPenguin]

True, though if you think about it, it's a good way to maintain suspense for a group of readers who are probably going to consume all 3 media. While maintaining the same basic plot and the identity of the Another, the changes in how the story plays out makes for variation and interest.

Of course, it also immediately makes an open invitation for every person who experiences them to say, "The novel explained the clues better" or "Izumi was a better character in the anime" or whatever their particular take on things was.

[Kanon]

While there were apparently more clues in the novels, it appears the reveal that Reiko = Mikami was just as frustrating for the readers, if not more since the novel is written from Kouichi's point of view and the reader was privy to this thoughts. It really feels like a huge cheat. That reminds of a certain game... whose conclusion I hated for the same reason. This is not how you write a good mystery, imo.

I like what the anime did with Izumi's character. Her previous meeting with Kouichi and her brother having been in class 3 two years ago were decent red herrings. Izumi's character made for a nice "distraction" (I'm not talking about her boobs) from the truth.

[haguruma]

Originally Posted by Kanon

While there were apparently more clues in the novels, it appears the reveal that Reiko = Mikami was just as frustrating for the readers, if not more since the novel is written from Kouichi's point of view and the reader was privy to this thoughts. It really feels like a huge cheat. That reminds of a certain game... whose conclusion I hated for the same reason. This is not how you write a good mystery, imo.

Actually it's exactly how you write certain kinds of mysteries. Especially when it comes to description tricks, which are huge in Japan's mystery fiction genre, you are expected to doubt what is given to you as much as what is kept from you. Only because you are witnessing a story as a first person narrative it's not at all given that you will gain every information concerning the solution. Just think of a certain Agatha Christie story where the whole reveal centered around the narrative mode being unreliable.

I agree that it stands on the boundary of a fair mystery, but the question is whether this was meant to be just that. The genre is, even by the author himself, categorized as horror and is clearly seperated from his pure mystery novels. But I admit that Ayatsuji Yukito tends to be a little bit too experimental with narrative unreliability and description tricks. Half of the time it works (e.g. Murder in the Waterwheel Mansion, Murder in the Labyrinth Mansion) and at other times it simply does not work out for me (e.g. Murder in the Decagon Mansion).

Yet I would rather group another with similar novels he wrote which tend more into the horror direction. Like Scarlet Whispering which is clearly inspired by Dario Argento's 70's movies. Those in turn were inspired by detective mystery fiction as well and some of them actually were quite clever mysteries (e.g. Profondo Rosso - Deep Red) but they are still grouped as horror or slasher films first.

[justsomeguy]

Originally Posted by haguruma

Actually it's exactly how you write certain kinds of mysteries. Especially when it comes to description tricks, which are huge in Japan's mystery fiction genre, you are expected to doubt what is given to you as much as what is kept from you. Only because you are witnessing a story as a first person narrative it's not at all given that you will gain every information concerning the solution. Just think of a certain Agatha Christie story where the whole reveal centered around the narrative mode being unreliable.

That might be how certain mysteries are written, but was it really necessary in this case? Dr. Sheppard had a compelling reason not to reveal that he killed Roger Ackroyd, since he's actually writing the narrative (and it's being read by Poirot) within the story. Koichi, on the other hand, did not have anything to hide unless he knew that Reiko was the dead person, which he didn't.

If the novel had come right out and said Reiko was Ms. Mikami right in the beginning, how obvious would it be that she was the Another, or are the clues only able to be put together at the end? I would think that focusing on the brainbug that the Another has to be a student would be sufficient distraction for 600 pages.

[DezoPenguin]

Originally Posted by haguruma

Actually it's exactly how you write certain kinds of mysteries. Especially when it comes to description tricks, which are huge in Japan's mystery fiction genre, you are expected to doubt what is given to you as much as what is kept from you. Only because you are witnessing a story as a first person narrative it's not at all given that you will gain every information concerning the solution. Just think of a certain Agatha Christie story where the whole reveal centered around the narrative mode being unreliable.

*nod* Having read as much John Dickson Carr* as I have, I'm quite used to those kind of tricks and tropes. Honestly, I thought the reveal of Reiko as being Ms. Mikami was one of the better parts of the ending (especially since the fact that she was the Another wasn't based on her being Sakakibara's aunt--that was just an extra emotional punch to add to the main character and a source of additional clues).

*The Nine Wrong Answers is almost as over-the-top at that as the Christie mystery you're citing (which, IMHO, was the only decent part of that particular Christie mystery, but I digress), where the clue was...

Spoiler for Carr spoilers:

In an author's footnote where we're assured that a character really was, in fact, poisoned with X grains of poison. The fact that this was not a fatal dose of poison was conveniently withheld.

...but yes, I think your more cogent point is that Another is a horror story with mystery elements. It's not necessarily supposed to be a fair-play mystery at all, and the fact that there are enough clues to leave me thinking "I should have noticed that!" at the end of the story is, to me, a bonus. I have to say, I'd love to see the novel picked up for an English-language release.

[haguruma]

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

*nod* Having read as much John Dickson Carr* as I have, I'm quite used to those kind of tricks and tropes. Honestly, I thought the reveal of Reiko as being Ms. Mikami was one of the better parts of the ending (especially since the fact that she was the Another wasn't based on her being Sakakibara's aunt--that was just an extra emotional punch to add to the main character and a source of additional clues).[/spoiler]
Pretty much this. The only problem I actually have with the trick is that the author uses it to death in his novels. This goes so far that I assume I was actually kind of influenced into a certain direction from the very beginning. I'm not going into his stories with the mindset "what might his trick be" anymore, but thinking "where is the description trick this time".
I really loved it how in his Murder in the Labyrinth Mansion he used the fact that it was a novel within a novel fictionalizing a murder case in the world of the novel and was thus able to conceal the identity of the culprit
[spoiler=Meirokan no satsujin]by making us overlook that there is in fact one woman more besides those that are actually refered to as women, thus making us exclude said character when the hint of menstrual blood is actually given to us by the detective.

In his very first novel Murder in the Decagon Mansion on the other hand I found it just a little bit too much, mostly because the culprits way of creating an alibi was so overly complicated.

Spoiler for Jukkakukan no satsujin:

Him having two aliases, one on the island where the murders occur and one within the other plot taking place on the main land. Him leaving and going to the island by conveniently hidden boat in just a matter of some hours to create an alibi with people who didn't even know him and actually helping them in figuring out a murder case that had to do with the island he was staying on.
It all seemed so convoluted...that was a story where I actually felt a little cheated. Granted the witty plot did it's best to convince me to continue reading his works.

Another's trick was pretty well played I think. It was possible to deduce it, even more so in the novel because Kôichi had so much more slip-up moments where he would talk to Mikami like she wasn't his teacher. Like in one scene where she asks him if he thought of bringing an umbrella to school and he tells her along the lines of "grandma promised to pick me up, so no biggy" only to correct himself hastily one second later.
Granted the anime couldn't do as much because it was much more compact than the novel and too many hints would have blown the covers too early. In a real detective mystery it is still fun once you think you got it right and you watch the characters guess along, but it's pretty hard to keep up tension and suspense in a horror story once you know the boundaries of said horror.

...but yes, I think your more cogent point is that Another is a horror story with mystery elements. It's not necessarily supposed to be a fair-play mystery at all, and the fact that there are enough clues to leave me thinking "I should have noticed that!" at the end of the story is, to me, a bonus. I have to say, I'd love to see the novel picked up for an English-language release.

I would actually do a translation of Another with the help of a competent editor, but it'd be pretty hard to sell the idea to a publisher with current problems on the book market anyway....and handling the communication with the Japanese publisher on my own, no way

And yes, I think many people expected too much when this was announced because of the author's reputation. He's much better known for his mystery than for his suspense thrillers; it's pretty much as if a Stephen King series was announced and turning out to be a drama or pure fantasy setting, most people would be expecting horror.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by haguruma

Actually it's exactly how you write certain kinds of mysteries. Especially when it comes to description tricks, which are huge in Japan's mystery fiction genre, you are expected to doubt what is given to you as much as what is kept from you. Only because you are witnessing a story as a first person narrative it's not at all given that you will gain every information concerning the solution. Just think of a certain Agatha Christie story where the whole reveal centered around the narrative mode being unreliable.

I don't think the two are comparable. As justsomeguy pointed out, the narrator had a valid reason to omit these clues (they were more than clues, in fact) in that Agatha Christie book. I thought that was a really clever trick because it made sense within the story for these pieces of informations to be absent from the book.

Originally Posted by haguruma

I agree that it stands on the boundary of a fair mystery, but the question is whether this was meant to be just that. The genre is, even by the author himself, categorized as horror and is clearly seperated from his pure mystery novels. But I admit that Ayatsuji Yukito tends to be a little bit too experimental with narrative unreliability and description tricks. Half of the time it works (e.g. Murder in the Waterwheel Mansion, Murder in the Labyrinth Mansion) and at other times it simply does not work out for me (e.g. Murder in the Decagon Mansion).

Yet I would rather group another with similar novels he wrote which tend more into the horror direction. Like Scarlet Whispering which is clearly inspired by Dario Argento's 70's movies. Those in turn were inspired by detective mystery fiction as well and some of them actually were quite clever mysteries (e.g. Profondo Rosso - Deep Red) but they are still grouped as horror or slasher films first.

I agree with you. I'm actually not that mad about that twist. I already stated yesterday in the episode thread that Another was not a pure mystery and that I could therefore overlook this. Nevertheless, I still can't help but feel a bit cheated~

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by haguruma

Actually it's exactly how you write certain kinds of mysteries. Especially when it comes to description tricks, which are huge in Japan's mystery fiction genre, you are expected to doubt what is given to you as much as what is kept from you. Only because you are witnessing a story as a first person narrative it's not at all given that you will gain every information concerning the solution. Just think of a certain Agatha Christie story where the whole reveal centered around the narrative mode being unreliable.

I agree that it stands on the boundary of a fair mystery, but the question is whether this was meant to be just that. The genre is, even by the author himself, categorized as horror and is clearly seperated from his pure mystery novels. But I admit that Ayatsuji Yukito tends to be a little bit too experimental with narrative unreliability and description tricks. Half of the time it works (e.g. Murder in the Waterwheel Mansion, Murder in the Labyrinth Mansion) and at other times it simply does not work out for me (e.g. Murder in the Decagon Mansion).

Yet I would rather group another with similar novels he wrote which tend more into the horror direction. Like Scarlet Whispering which is clearly inspired by Dario Argento's 70's movies. Those in turn were inspired by detective mystery fiction as well and some of them actually were quite clever mysteries (e.g. Profondo Rosso - Deep Red) but they are still grouped as horror or slasher films first.

If the Agatha Christie Novel you have in mind here is S******* Mu****, then I can just agree. The difference between said Novels is that Kouichi hs both the narrative as well as the detective role, while Mrs Marpe does not have the former in mentioned Novel.
It is still a very good example for a few things that were bothereing me in this Novel too, actually even led me to the question whether Chibaki/original Misaki might be faking the pehnomenon. Namely the fact that S******* Mu**** is imho a very good example that both witnesses and culprits are allowed to twist the truth to their bidding as long as there are clues to the contrary.

Its just too bad that there is no official english translation for Another... Well hopefully once will come with Another 2....