Another - Episode 5 Discussion / Poll

[Random32]

MeiXSakakibara ftw.

Originally Posted by Aphrah

Izumi is pretty stupid to not have let in Sakakibara in on the whole 'the class has to ignore a certain person or else will die' thing. I don't know, it might've helped save a few lives.

By letting him in on the ignoring thing, Izumi would be forced to acknowledge Misaki. It's a catch-22 situation. Either way will result in the activation of the curse.

Originally Posted by Taynis

And another dies. But...two persons died in June right? So it doesn't need to be ONE person per month...or I messing up things? It is like the minimum is one person per month.

Maybe they choose Misaki because of her name? The girl from 26 years is probably Misaki (by the rumors)

1. Yeah, I think that its a minimum of 1 person per month. 16 people can't die in 12 months and 10 + 6 is 16 dead.
2. I was under the impression that 26 years ago Misaki was a guy

Originally Posted by leeo268

That guy dying from Heart attack is too funny and ridiculous. Total Death Note moment there. Almost make me believe that a shinigami is trolling the class for 26 years. Where is L when you need him.

Anyway, Quite a few plot hole,
1. Since anyone that acknowledge the extra person die, how do they decide who to ignore in the first place? They have to acknowledge her before they can ignore her.
2. The "dead" change people memory of the class roster. ok.. well write it down or tell someone in Europe to record the roster or post it online for thousands of ppl to see. I bet this "dead' can't teleport around the world to change ppl memory and give thousand of ppl heart attack. hmmm.. maybe it can if it got a death note.
3. About the cursed number, why don't they scramble the class and not use "3" "C" "III" and just add a extra number to total number of class. Kinda like the buildings here in US that don't have floor 13#.
4. kinda offtopic but I got to say these student are seriously dedicated to their education. Back in highschool, I often find ways to ditch my class. But these guys, they go to their classes even though there is a 1/28 chance of dying each month. I am surprise if even one person go to class if this is true in real life. With that kind of odd, you can't even pay people to go to class. You probably have better chance of surviving fighting the Vietnam war.

Regardless of the plot hole, still a very interesting episode. I wonder how they will stop this curse permanently. I recommend burning down the school and never use the number 3 for classes for 100 year.

1. I'm pretty sure they choose to ignore ahead of time. So it balances out when the dead person is added.
2. The dead seem pretty powerful with their magical heart attacks.
3. They tried this. Explicity stated in the episode.
4. Asians are dedicated to their education. If we don't get ace everything and become a doctor, our parents ignore us like the students of 3-3 do to Misaki.

Since we are supposed to believe Mei's real, I am sure the twist is that she's really dead...

Let's say that the person they choose to ignore is chosen before the addition of the extra. I think that that is heavily implied, and that choosing who to ignore after would require acknowledgement of the person to be ignored, thus curse.

Assuming that is true, we know that Misaki must be alive since she was chosen out of a group of people that did not include the dead person.

[Sackett]

Originally Posted by Aphrah

Mei. Is. Real! Oh god, that revelation alone fills me with joy. Now I just need a happy end for Mei X Kouichi, after everything has been resolved, of course.

Oh god, Mei's room is pretty awesome. Excluding that creepy red-eyed doll, of course. She looks so adorrrable in her casual clothes; and well, more human I guess. The paleness is still a little off putting.

Izumi is pretty stupid to not have let in Sakakibara in on the whole 'the class has to ignore a certain person or else will die' thing. I don't know, it might've helped save a few lives.


Ew. I'm really hoping the extra person isn't our protagonist because that would be so damn boring.

I wonder if Mei's doll eye is able to see who the 'other' is.

My guess is that they were wondering if maybe an official transfer wouldn't cause a problem because it should bump up the official numbers as well.

So why did they pick Mei to shun?

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by totoum

Izumi,the head of countermesures,is the dead person,you hear it here first!

Evidence?Well,I've got none I admit,just my gut instinct,if I was the author it's something I would do.There's also the fact she's always the "3rd person" that appears in the promo art besides Kouichi and Mei.

No way! she wears knee-cocks, has twin-tails, and is a tsundere... no self-respecting horror/mystery writer would make a ghsot like that

Originally Posted by Goggen

I think it's more interesting that his aunt was in class 9-3 fifteen years ago.... ergo, she was in the class when his mother died. Seems she fell victim to the curse, plain and simple.

Wait a second here MC is 15 in 1998, so born in 1983

Mom was 15 in 1972, that's 11+ years alive before the curse claimed her

Did I miss something there? I mean if one dies from the curse per month that class needs 11x12=131 students

Another thing... why the hell didn't Mei say all these before? Showing off as the mysterious girl to gain his attention? considering the preview

[Sackett]

Originally Posted by Dop

So...
Mei isn't dead but had been chosen to be treated as though she didn't exist in order to stave off the curse. That's pretty much what I'd expected, although I wasn't expecting Kouichi to join Mei in the "Sent to Coventry" club.

As soon as Mr. HNNNNNGGGHHHH opened his mouth I knew he was going to die, but not quite right there and then!

Great episode, answered some questions, created some new ones. Was Kouichi's mother directly connected with the original Misaki's death?

I bet she's the one who started the whole thing by proclaiming that Misaki was still there.

[Guido]

Before Kouichi got his answers properly explained by Mei towards the end of the fifth episode, I felt like screaming in frustration and suffocated due to the whole Class-3 decision to ignore Kouichi.
At first, I thought, "You're kidding?", they're ignoring him without giving Kouichi any answers.

At that kind of circumstances, I would likely have felt trapped and desperate if I were in Kouichi's place.

Spoiler:

Now what relieved me the most were the things that a) the current Mei Misaki does exist, lives as a human, and interacted freely with Kouichi; and b) Mei Misaki understandable and thoroughly explains to Kouichi the chain of events behind the deaths of Class-3, and the countermeasures they adopted to prevent the deaths.

Without the explanations I really thought at first that the class was like performing ijime on Kouichi, however, I should have paid close attention to Akazawa's line: "Please, endure it for the sake of the class", and that's what she meant to Kouichi.
Now, he's non-existent to Class-3 like Mei is in order for them to prevent further deaths.

According to Mei, that countermeasure was adopted 10 years ago, but she never mentioned if the class ignoring the extra student actually worked all the way throughout the year with 100% success.

Pretty much, btw, Misakis' views about the dead coming to Class-3 as if were invited can make sense to explain the accidents and deaths happening each year.

I do recall in the second episode when Kouichi heard the full story of the accident that killed the Misaki of Class-3 from the year 1972, they also let out that certain student convinced the entire class to treat and go on with their lives as if that Misaki was still alive and there with all of them in the class.
Maybe, that proclamation could have created the trigger that invites the dead to stay with Class-3s' students every year, but at the cost that if there's an extra student alloted into the class, then he or she unawaredly would be taking the spot or place from one of the dead or even the Misaki who died.

Spoiler:

Speculations:

1. I don't overlook the potential twist that Kouichi's Misaki may turn out to be the the dead Misaki from 1972 after all, and the proclamation from that unknown student about 26 years ago invited her to remain forever in Class-3.

2. Now time for my theory. This is just a speculative theory, but what if the unknown student who persuaded the whole Class-3 to treat the late Misaki as if she were still alive and with them about 26 years ago, might turned out to be Ritsuko, Kouichi's mother.
He checked the class records from 1972, and she was in the same class-3 as he does at his age. She was likely 14 years-old at the time of the Misaki accident. So, it could be likely Ritsuko made the best of friends with that Misaki, and the latter's death affected the former too deeply for Ritsuko going to such lengths to ask her entire class to continue treating their late classmate as if she was there and existing.

[Endless Soul]

Well, I, for one, am glad that there wasn't a spectacular and highly imaginitive death this episode.

Endless "~whew!~" Soul

[Utsuro no Hako]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Anyway, it seems the key to stopping all this is to figure out who the "ghost" is. The most obvious candidate is Kouichi. The ghost is somebody connected to the class who has died. Both his mother and his aunt were in it, so he fits. The reason Izumi has the lingering feeling she has met him somewhere is because she knew him when he was alive. I bet she was even somebody close to him. She forgot about all about him once her memories were rewritten.

Or it could be the other way around -- Izumi knew Sakakibara when she was alive. There is, after all, one fairly obvious dead person connected to the class who knew him, however briefly.

Originally Posted by leeo268

2. The "dead" change people memory of the class roster. ok.. well write it down or tell someone in Europe to record the roster or post it online for thousands of ppl to see. I bet this "dead' can't teleport around the world to change ppl memory and give thousand of ppl heart attack. hmmm.. maybe it can if it got a death note.

Why not? Ghosts aren't bound by our puny mortal logic.

[Unknown Soldier]

I still think that it would be better that Mei is the ghost, if for no other reason than it sets up the dramatic ending where Mei disappears in a sobbing Kouichi's arms after he falls desperately in love with her.

However at this point we not only know that Mei is real, we also know that she can't be the ghost because her cousin died and Mei was visiting her dead body in the morgue in episode 1. Which is actually more creepy now that we know Mei is human, who the hell visits their dead cousin's body in the hospital morgue? You're cuter than is legally allowed Mei, but damn you're creepy!

So it's likely that Kouichi is in fact the ghost, and the scenario will be reversed and Kouichi will likely disappear in a sobbing Mei's arms! Poor Mei ;_;

[serenade_beta]

Who got their hands on the Death Note? is what I thought when the sickly guy died that way.

If they really tried everything, I'd personally suggest they just... umm... remove the room completely? If everyone knows about the curse, I'd think they would just not even go to the school. And the way the world is, I'm surprised it isn't known to the outside world.

Still, people dying every month because of the extra person? And then people die to even the number?
........? Outsiders dying and........?
.........................???
When Mei was describing the curse, I couldn't help but wonder if the setting really made complete sense...

Now that he is ignored, what he should do is sexually harass the girls or maybe come to school naked (same thing?). Do all kinds of things and see just how far it takes for them not to ignore him.

[Robotech Master]

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

If they really tried everything, I'd personally suggest they just... umm... remove the room completely?

They said they moved rooms and the curse followed them. It seems to be tied to the "concept" of class 3, as it even happened when they changed the name. There certainly isn't any evidence to suggest that whatever it is is tied to the existence of the room. Maybe the school, but not necessarily the room.

If everyone knows about the curse, I'd think they would just not even go to the school. And the way the world is, I'm surprised it isn't known to the outside world.

We have to consider the possibility that not going to school and/or removing the school has its own, perhaps worse, repercussions. The "anothers" might get pissed, and we've already seen evidence that their effects go beyond school grounds. While the countermeasures were up, they probably thought it was contained.

We also don't really have enough info to make assumptions regarding how many people outside of the school know about it. The conspiracy could always turn out to be much bigger, and his aunt is certainly involved in some suspicious way.

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

When Mei was describing the curse, I couldn't help but wonder if the setting really made complete sense...

It's not supposed to... being fictional and all

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

Now that he is ignored, what he should do is sexually harass the girls or maybe come to school naked (same thing?). Do all kinds of things and see just how far it takes for them not to ignore him.

LMAO, interesting methods to attract attention

[Unknown Soldier]

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

When Mei was describing the curse, I couldn't help but wonder if the setting really made complete sense...

I makes perfect sense in the context of the story, which is just about all you can hope for!

Now that he is ignored, what he should do is sexually harass the girls or maybe come to school naked (same thing?). Do all kinds of things and see just how far it takes for them not to ignore him.

If he starts trolling everyone, he might cause the other classmates to go crazy and end the series with a Children of the Corn scenario.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako

Why not? Ghosts aren't bound by our puny mortal logic.

You know, when you say it like that, I wonder why no one has got around to making stories about GAR ghosts. We have had a decade-plus love affair with reimagined vampires and werewolves, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Underworld, but why aren't ghosts getting any love? I mean, come on, just because they're ethereal doesn't mean they can't be macho. Think Patrick Swayze!

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

Still, people dying every month because of the extra person? And then people die to even the number?
........? Outsiders dying and........?

Not to "even" the number per se. Once the "extra person" is spotted and acknowledged, the deaths begin, with at least one fatality every month until the cycle starts over at the beginning of a new school year.

As I mulled over the premise of the curse, I couldn't help but be reminded of my army days, back when I was performing my national service. Soldiers invariably have plenty of ghost stories to share, such as one that involves performing roll call in the middle of a night operation.

I'm sure you're all familiar with variants of the story: A platoon of, say, 27 men counting up in pitch dark, "...twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight... wait, what???!!"

[Guardian Enzo]

I know you're j/k with the Children of the Corn thing, but it's funny how often I've thought of it while watching this show. You had an obvious supernatural element there, but most of the atrocities were perpetrated by humans. My gut tells me that's what's happening here, and I haven't forgotten that John Saul reference in the first ep - that kind of scenario is a classic element in his books even more than King's.

[Unknown Soldier]

A lot of the similarities between Another's scenario and Children of the Corn are pretty unmistakable. Higurashi was the same way, actually.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by Casshern

*Teacher is writing on the board with his back to the students*
Sakakibara: Sensei, I have a question!
Teacher: Yes, what is it? *teacher turns around*
Sakakibara: Got ya! *trollface*

Actually wouldn't that mean he could go around now beating people up, stealing their money etc etc

and get away with it? Perks of being the invisible class voodoo charm.

I'm sure you're all familiar with variants of the story: A platoon of, say, 27 men counting up in pitch dark, "...twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight... wait, what???!!"

That's not funny man, especially when it suposedly happens to your side...

[warita]

The thing I am wondering is..... that if ignoring a student from the class is the counter measure the class came up with...... then couldnt it be, that introducing an extra student in the form of an transfer student is a counter measure from the ghost side?? And Sakakibarakun could be dead....

[kimpleng]

Originally Posted by Cosmic Eagle

Actually wouldn't that mean he could go around now beating people up, stealing their money etc etc

and get away with it? Perks of being the invisible class voodoo charm.

Mei and Sakakibara only ignored in their class.

Even if they do that only in their class, there is probability after graduation they will get some payback/revenge.

Oh hey this is good h-doujin material. Sakakibara messed Akazawa. But Akazawa still ignore him.

[VDZ]

Originally Posted by Random32

2. I was under the impression that 26 years ago Misaki was a guy

At first I was going to respond with 'what the hell are you talking about', but when trying to look for a quote to back it up...

Misaki of 26 years ago is never confirmed to be a girl in the Japanese dialogue, even though subs consistently refer to the person as 'her'. He/she is always referred to as 'Misaki' or the gender-neutral terms 'アイツ' and 'その子'.

Originally Posted by orion

And why can't the dead one be a teacher? They are in the class picture also.

This is also a good point. An interesting quote from ep5:

Originally Posted by Art dude

You don't think Ms. Mikami has some serious, life-threatening illness, do you?

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Robotech Master

I don't think either Mei or Kou are the 'other.'

At this point I'm thinking that us thinking it's one of the students is a red herring, leading us astray, and the 'other' could really be a faculty member, perhaps a victim of one of the previous generations.

I think you might be onto something here. We've been told that anybody related to the class to the class can die, and that of course included teacher. That makes it possible for them to be the other. The lack of desk in Class 3 would just be one big troll/red herring from him then...

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

I know you're j/k with the Children of the Corn thing, but it's funny how often I've thought of it while watching this show. You had an obvious supernatural element there, but most of the atrocities were perpetrated by humans. My gut tells me that's what's happening here, and I haven't forgotten that John Saul reference in the first ep - that kind of scenario is a classic element in his books even more than King's.

That's what I thought until episode 3. However, some of the deaths/accidents are impossible to explain away with a human as the culprit.

Fujioka - cause of death unknown
Class rep's mother - car accident. Car accidents happen all the time, so it could have just been a coincidence it happened that year.
Class rep - falling on her umbrella. I suppose it is possible somebody pushed her down, but it's a bit unbelievable he managed to make her land right on her pointy end of her umbrella.
Mizuno - death by elevator. Even if we assume somebody managed to have access to the elevator and tampered with the cable, he had no way to know when exactly the cable would come off loose and that it would be Mizuno inside the elevator.
What's his name - Heart attack. It happened right when he was about to pronounce Mei's name. That's one BIG coincidence.

There is also the glass that was knocked off by the wind in episode three. Nobody would have done that. That means it would be yet another coincidence. That's a quite lot of them, don't you think?

If it's revealed that the murderer really is a normal human, there better be some solid explanation to all this or I'll just call shitty writing.