Another/アナザー:
26 years ago, in a third-year classroom of a middle school, there
was a student named Misaki. As an honours student, also good at
sports, the charming guy was popular with his classmates. When he
suddenly died, his classmates decided to carry on as if he was still
alive until graduation. Then, in the spring of 1998, a boy named
Sakakibara Kouichi transfers to that class, and he grows suspicious
of the fearful atmosphere in that classroom. (Source: AniDB)
Spoilers
for all twelve episodes of the Another anime series.
I've seen people describe Another as the anime equivalent of the
Final Destination films, those teeny bopper horror films where young
people are routinely made the victims of horrific deaths made to look
like accidents, hunted by a mysterious and dark entity. It's an apt
comparison but it sells Another short.
Final Destination as a series became contrived and dragged on towards
its own eventual demise, and Death is a literal villain to be cheated
out of its rewards. Another is a perfectly contained story of
human-created horrors and the terror of death, not as an overbearing
spirit but as the inevitable fate we all fight to avoid on a regular
basis, some more violently than others.
A better comparison might be made between Another and the Higurashi
no Naku Koro ni series: both take place in small, near claustrophobic
villages; both deal with the regular, almost annual deaths of its
citizens and a local mythology that haunts those who survive; both
tackle human tragedy and drama as the characters of each series
stumble towards their inevitable fates while trying to solve the
mystery of their respective villages.
