Sunday, March 25, 2012

Another

Another is a horror/mystery anime that really is creepy. It keeps the viewer guessing. I recently finished episode 11, and episode 12 is not yet out. So, here is the review for this anime.
Another
Plot: [From Animefreak.tv]
26 years ago, in a third-year classroom of a middle school, there was a student named Misaki. As an honors student who was also good at sports, the charming girl was popular with her classmates. When she suddenly died, her classmates decided to carry on as if she was still alive until graduation. Then, in the spring of 1998, a boy named Sakakibara Kouichi transfers to that classroom, and he grows suspicious of the fearful atmosphere in that classroom. In particular, there is a beautiful, aloof girl named Mei Misaki who wears an eyepatch and is always alone drawing pictures.

This anime is not for those that dislike blood or have weak stomachs. My stomach is not really weak when it comes to blood and I had problems stomaching some of what was shown. [Just so you have an example of how strong my stomach is, I enjoy spending my time playing Gears of War, which features you chainsawing living things. Not humans usually, but locusts] Even so, I forced myself to watch this non-stop. Why? Well, I wanted to know who the extra was! Have I learned yet? NOPE! Episode 12 is not yet out so I must wait!

With the ending episodes, I think that the creator really threw whatever chaos they could into it(I say they because I don't know whether they're male or female). Fire, crazy old woman trying to kill everyone for some reason, asthma attack making Chibiki have to take the kid to the hospital, insane girl trying to get everyone to kill Mei. Really, it's like what my English teacher says about the last scene of Romeo and Juliet, "Everything was thrown in but the kitchen sink." Chaotic!

Now, it can be hard to keep track of who is who and who dies when. So, I highly suggest this page:
http://another.wikia.com/wiki/Yomiyama_North_Middle_School
That features a list of students in Class 3. I'm using pictures for character reviews in this as well as a guide for each review.

Kouichi Sakakibara
Kouichi is the main character of the story. He is friendly and wants to help stop the calamity. I don't see anything wrong with his character. I don't blame him for trying to talk to Mei. No one would tell him anything. I like how he's called "Mr. Horror Lover" by the nurse. It fits with this anime.

Another78.png
Mei Misaki
Mei is mysterious and doesn't really explain much. It's not until around episode 11 or 10 that she explains why she knows Kouichi is not the dead one. She seems to know who the dead person is, but she was unable to tell. She got interrupted. I have a feeling that I'll know in episode 12 since she ran off to kill the person who is the extra(she wants to stop people dying). She seems to be the only one that openly says that calamity started in April, not May, when her sister died.

Kazami look.jpg
Tomohiko Kazami
Tomohiko is the childhood friend of Teshigawara. He is obviously concerned with keeping Kouichi unable to tell who Misaki Mei is at the beginning of the anime. As it progresses, he's friendly and all but there isn't as much that's shown of him. He does come in play during episode 11 when Teshigawara pushes him off the balcony and freaks out thinking he's dead. He doesn't die and, in fact, they can't find him. So, that's another "Everything but the kitchen sink" thing.

Yukari Sakuragi
Everyone thinks Yukari to be the first victim, though the first one was Misaki(not Mei Misaki. Her twin sister Misaki Fujioka). She was impaled by her umbrella. It was the first death shown and really made me feel really bad. I didn't feel well and was tempted to quit watching, but by then it was too late. It was too interesting! Really, she was the first person to reveal that Mei is, in fact, not a ghost and really does exist. Her look of horror made it clear.

Izumi Akazawa
Akazawa is straight-forward and had an extremely strong personality. She is the head of countermeasures, meaning it's her job to stop the calamity from happening. Since it started, she sees it as important that she helps to stop it. It's only complicated when her friend Takako Sugiura dies. She blames Mei because of a misunderstanding and declares that she will kill her. Does she kill her? No clue because episode 12 isn't out yet.

Naoya Teshigawara
Teshigawara is the friendly guy. He's not a bad person, but he freaks out in episode 10(I think that was it) and actually tries to kill someone. Don't let this make you see him as a bad person. He was worried and afraid. He thought his childhood friend was the extra, so he panicked. He's actually one of my favorite characters.

Yuuya Mochizuki
Mochiuzuki is a member of the art club. He's a nice guy and works hard to help Teshigawara when the old lady tries to kill them while they're on the trip. He wants to prevent people from getting mixed up in the calamity, and he tries to make everyone in the art club ignore Mei as well(not that they do).

Ikuo Takabayashi
It's his death that comes before everyone in the class decides to ignore Kouichi. It's a bit sad that he dies when he's about to explain Mei Misaki's roll to Kouichi. He's the only person that agreed to.

Takako Sugiura
Takako is not put into much detail. She seems like there's nothing wrong with her, but she ends up emotionally unstable. Because of that, she becomes desperate and tries to kill Mei when she learns how to stop the calamity.

Aya Ayano
Ayano is an anime-only character with an extremely cheerful personality. She seems to fear death a lot. When their homeroom teacher commits suicide in the class, she gets extremely freaked out. She's also freaked out when she's almost crushed by glass. Of course, it's logical. I felt sad when she died. Especially since she was going to leave Yomiyama.

Yumi Ogura
Ogura has no problems, really. And then her brother gets killed on the same day as Ayano. Her brother is crushed. When Takako announces that the calamity will end if they kill Mei, she goes to kill her saying she'll avenge her brother. Everyone wants to kill her, but she's the main one shown. And then she dies when she slips in an effort to kill Mei.

Junta Nakao
Junta's death was the one that made Takako unstable. He was chopped up by a motorboat. It happened outside Yomiyama, seaming to say that leaving Yomiyama will not save you. Evens so, it is actually revealed that he was dead before the boat hit him. He hit his head the morning they left for the beach, resulting in an aneurysm.

Another 126.jpg
Tatsuji Chibiki
Chibiki was the homeroom teacher for class 3 in the year with Misaki Yomiyama. He knows a bit about the calamity and shares his knowledge with Kouichi and Mei. Many people may see him as creepy, but many people reveal him to be a good person. He takes charge and helps to prevent ultimate chaos. He instructed everyone to leave the room when their homeroom teacher killed himself, and he was the one who drove the guy who has the asthma attack to the hospital.
 

Mr. Kubodera
He was the homeroom teacher for class 3 at first. Because of the stress of caring for his mother and taking care of class 3, he kills his mother and commits suicide. He chooses to commit suicide in front of the class, and he looks directly at Kouichi after first stabbing himself. He seems calm and like he has no trouble, but that all goes away the day he takes the knife to his throat. As usual, it is not the best scene for those with weak stomach since blood goes everywhere.

Mikami-sensei
Mikami-sensei gets freaked out by each and every death. She tends to hesitate when bad things happen, like asthma attacks and the like. Even though I'm not really the biggest fan of her, I felt upset when she was killed when she blocked the attack aimed towards Mei


Sanae Mizuno
Mizuno died when she tried to help Kouichi learn more about class 3's mystery.She works as a nurse and became friends with Kouichi when she learned he likes horror books. She was crushed when the elevator she was in fell from the roof to the bottom floor.


-Zeki

Saturday, January 14, 2012

BLACK★ROCK SHOOTER

Black Rock Shooter cover.jpg
[Plot: From Wikipedia]
The OVA focuses on Mato Kuroi (黒衣 マト Kuroi Mato?Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa), who makes friends with a girl named Yomi Takanashi(小鳥遊 ヨミ Takanashi Yomi?Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro) who recently moved to the town. Mato quickly joins the basketball club, which incites Yomi to join the volleyball club since both clubs practice at the same time in the gymnasium. The two spend much time together over the following year, and during one outing Mato gives Yomi the same cellphone charm she has. In their second year of junior high, they end up in different classes, reducing the amount of time they can spend together. Furthermore, Yomi starts to become jealous of Mato hanging around her basketball club manager and classmate, Yuu (ユウ?Voiced by: Kana Asumi). When Yomi seemingly disappears, Mato becomes concerned when she does not show up at school the next day or respond to her text messages. Mato becomes further depressed when she receives word that Yomi has been reported missing and is asked about her whereabouts by two detectives. One day, Mato receives a blank text message from Yomi and goes to her favorite spot in town where she finds the phone charm she gave her. The charm starts to glow and transports her to a strange world where she meets a mysterious girl named Black Rock Shooter (ブラック★ロックシューター Burakku Rokku Shūtā?), who has a blazing blue left eye and a rock cannon which can fire 20 shots per second. As Mato tries to find Yomi, she merges with Black Rock Shooter and duels Yomi, who was possessed by an evil being called Dead Master (デッドマスター Deddo Masutā?), who wields a large scythe. As the possessed Yomi is about to fall to her death, Black Rock Shooter saves Yomi from falling, and embraces her, causing Yomi's body to be free from Dead Master. The events of their lengthy battle are dispersed throughout the anime. Yomi and Mato return to their normal lives, but Yuu begins to act strangely.

Now, this OVA was extremely confusing. I didn't understand it all. And then there's that mysterious white haired girl that shows up. That is WAY confusing! Especially since she doesn't seem to have any special significance(she never really shows up anywhere else). Also, the pattern the story takes is confusing. I figured out pretty early on that Yomi was Death master and Mato was Black Rock Shooter.
Considering the fact that the beginning started off with Black Rock Shooter getting stabbed and then followed her fighting as if nothing had happened, I was really confused. Then I realized that she hadn't been killed by the stab wound after Mato and her merge. If you look on her left side(your right) then you see a scar. That's where the stab was.
The good thing about this anime was that it left me trying to figure out how the two worlds were connected. It took me until Yomi went missing to figure it out. I already hypothesized that it was the goal of Black Rock Shooter to bring out the original Yomi.

Now, for characters:

BLACK★ROCK SHOOTER
Now, BLACK★ROCK SHOOTER is more of a silent character. She doesn't talk until Mato discovers the cell phone strap. How she manages to carry the large weapon with her, I don't know. Her character is O.K. even though she barely has any lines.

Dead Master

Dead Master was a silent character. She never said a single line. The fact that she exchanges no lines with BLACK★ROCK SHOOTER makes it harder to follow along. This complicates the ideas of the viewer but also adds to the questions he/she will be asking.

BRS01-004
Mato
Mato is very energetic. She seems to contrast Black Rock Shooter. Even so, she is a good character. As she drifts away from Yomi, it seems as if I start to feel sad for her. I knew she should check the hill that she showed Yomi once she discovered Yomi was missing. It's one of those moments that are similar to Dramatic Irony(but not dramatic irony because it's not set in stone that it's where she'll find Yomi)

BRS01-022
Yomi
Yomi is a quiet character. She doesn't strike me as the kind that will make a lot of friends. That's probably why she was so close to Mato and drifted off after Mato started to become friendlier with Yuu. I like her and she seemed to have a story that I was interested in learning.

BRS01-029
Mato introducing Yuu
Yuu is a VERY short girl in charge of being the "Super Manager" of the Basketball team. She is nice enough, but she seems to fall into the third-wheel position that Yomi was in previously(watch after the anime's credits if you want to understand)


BRS01-024
I have NO idea who this is...
Okay, is anyone other than me confused as to what the role of this person is? They never come in and their position just confuses the viewer more than needed. It's frustrating.

Overall: I dislike this OVA. Please don't be upset, this is my own opinion. I just don't like it. It's confusing. However, I have heard that there's a T.V. show for it.

-Zeki