Kouichi’s attempts at learning more about what’s going on only serves to darker and already oppressive show.
What They Say:
The credibility of the “class 3 curse” rumor shoots higher with a student’s sudden, accidental death, and Kouichi can’t help thinking that Mei is somehow connected to the events of 26 years ago. Though Mei has noticed the change in the class, she still won’t give Kouichi further details on what’s going on. Class 3 seems terrified of something, putting Akazawa, the head of countermeasures, in a difficult spot…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Kouichi picked up a fair bit of information in the last episode and that definitely helped to flesh things out a bit, from the curse itself that is defining the series to the way his mother was at least present during it as a part of the class. With a bit more exploration of Mei as well, the cast is starting to feel a little more human in terms of characterization, but there’s still a strange sense about things with all of the basic interactions feeling like they’re disconnected from each other. There’s always walls between people, but the kids here feel so distant from each other, even the ones that seem like friends, that it’s all just a little too somber. The somber nature and the overall atmosphere is a selling point, but it feels like it needs a little more than just that in order to draw you in a bit more.
While Kouichi has gotten some information, there’s a lot of mysteries still to be had and the real curiosity about Mei since she’s so elusive on a number of levels. Thankfully, he just engages in casual conversation with people to try and find out more rather than just pinning them down and pressing them for information, giving it a more natural feeling. It doesn’t help his unease though as he has little new material to work with but he does keep getting that grown sense of unease, especially as it feels like there’s something just out of touch that’s going to bite him. And when one or two things do happen that seems like it’s out of the blue, it only reinforces that for him. And rightly so.
When things for his class do go terribly bad though in a surprising way, it’s interesting to see the toll it takes on all of them. The class hasn’t exactly been jumping around with joy to begin with, but the death of a student has them drawn even deeper into a dark mood that casts quite a pall over the place. But there’s also some reactive measures going into play as it deals with a small group of students who believe they know some things they can do to prevent further incidents from happening, a welcome little bit that hints more at what everybody knows about. The slow unfurling of who knows what and what’s really going on is definitely a big part of the appeal of the show, but getting those elements revealed is also definitely a big positive as it progresses since it changes the flow and feel of it.
In Summary:
Another continues to be a beautifully frustrating show in that it has a great sense of visual design and atmosphere but is frustrating in getting such short bursts of it overall each week. Of course, if it was a typical US TV live action show, we’d get forty minutes with a lot of padding, so it’s a tough trade off. What the show does here is to start to ramp things up a bit though as death comes calling and it shows that it’s going to take people easily and brutally. But it’s going to keep massaging the viewer with simple, soft and somber pieces first before trying to go for the shock. It’s a bit obvious just before it happens, but it doesn’t diminish it because there’s still that chance of “will they or won’t they” going through your head. After four episodes, I’m definitely enjoying Another, but it needs to start stepping things up just a bit more in order to make it really engaging. It’s showing now just how it’ll go and it’s definitely keeping me intrigued.
Grade: B
Readers Rating: [ratings]
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
