Another
アナザー
- Horror
- Mystery
- Gore
- School
- Episodes
- 12
- Duration
- 24 min per ep
- Aired
- Jan 10, 2012 to Mar 27, 2012
- Status
- Finished Airing
Synopsis
Returning to Yomiyama North Junior High after missing the first month due to illness, transfer student Kouichi Sakakibara joins Class 3-3 and quickly finds himself fixated on Mei Misaki—a quiet girl with an eyepatch he previously encountered in the hospital. Yet in the classroom, Mei is treated as if she isn’t there at all, and Kouichi is warned to keep his distance from “things that don’t exist.” Ignoring the unease around him, he reaches out to her anyway, only to sense that something far darker is being concealed.
Whispers in Class 3-3 point to a grim incident involving a former student, but no one will explain it outright. As Kouichi digs deeper into the class’s unsettling secret and its link to Mei, a chain of tragedies begins to unfold. With fear tightening its grip on their everyday school life, Kouichi, Mei, and their classmates are forced to confront an eerie mystery—knowing that uncovering the truth may demand a steep cost.
Otaku Consensus
Another remains a modern gateway horror: a tightly paced, twist-forward school mystery elevated by P.A. Works’ polished direction and an oppressive soundscape that keeps dread simmering even in quiet scenes. Fans consistently praise its bingeable suspense and gruesome set pieces, while detractors argue the cast can feel generic and that the late-game payoff doesn’t fully match the early intrigue. Overall reception lands as “highly watchable, unevenly resolved”—a stylish curse-thriller that prioritizes atmosphere and momentum over deep character evolution.
Why You Should Watch
Watch Another if you want horror that weaponizes routine—hallways, classrooms, and idle chatter—until everyday school life feels unsafe. Director Tsutomu Mizushima and P.A. Works lean into clean visuals and precise staging, letting tension build through silence, glances, and ominous sound design before the series pivots into full-on tragedy and gore. The appeal isn’t just “who dies,” but how the show drip-feeds clues like a puzzle box, keeping you in the same anxious headspace as its leads. If you enjoy curse stories, survival-tinged mysteries, and urban-fantasy dread with body-horror edge, Another delivers a compact 12-episode descent that’s easy to devour and hard to shake.
Key Characters
- MMisaki, Mei(VA: Takamori, Natsumi)
A quiet, unreadable classmate marked by an eyepatch and a chilling calm, Mei becomes the story’s gravitational center precisely because everyone else insists she isn’t there.
- SSakakibara, Kouichi(VA: Abe, Atsushi)
A transfer student returning from illness, Kouichi’s refusal to accept the class’s “rules” makes him both the audience’s investigator and a catalyst for escalating dread.
What Makes It Stand Out
- 1
Relentless mystery-box pacing: the narrative rations information in small, unsettling fragments, keeping viewers aligned with Kouichi’s confusion and urgency.
- 2
A genuinely oppressive audio identity: sound direction by Yoshikazu Iwanami and effects by Yasumasa Koyama amplify mundane noises into warning signals, sustaining tension between shocks.
- 3
P.A. Works’ crisp production values: clean character acting and controlled visual composition make the school setting feel deceptively normal—until it isn’t.
- 4
Horror that commits to consequences: the series leans hard into tragedy and gore, using body-horror imagery and sudden turns to maintain a constant sense of risk.
- 5
A distinct blend of school drama and urban-fantasy curse logic: the show’s “rules” and taboos create a social horror layer where fear spreads through group behavior as much as supernatural threat.
Fun Facts & Trivia
- Fun fact 1
- Another is based on a work by Yukito Ayatsuji, with original character design credited to Noizi Itou—an art pairing that helped define the anime’s stark, iconic look.
- Fun fact 2
- The TV series ran for 12 episodes from January 10, 2012 to March 27, 2012 and is completed (Finished Airing).
- Fun fact 3
- The production’s audio team is a major draw: Yoshikazu Iwanami served as Sound Director, with Yasumasa Koyama handling Sound Effects—often cited by viewers as key to the show’s spooky atmosphere.
- Fun fact 4
- On MyAnimeList, Another is a long-running mainstream hit in visibility (Popularity #63) with a large vote base (1,048,465 votes) and a 7.46/10 score, reflecting broad reach even amid divisive opinions.
Studios
- P.A. Works
