Another: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Another: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Truth in advertising.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 28, 2013

It’s not exactly a secret that many anime tend to follow the same basic structures, with similarities in story line, character and even design style at times. That of course has given rise to all sorts of designators for anime subgenres like shōnen or “slice of life” or any number of other little niches that various anime fill. But what exactly is up with several animes’ focus on dead high school students? It would seem that at least one major demographic to whom anime largely appeals would be teenagers, an age group which is notoriously blasé with regard to issues of mortality. So maybe this odd trend is meant as a kind of subliminal wake up call for these otherwise overly sanguine youths. While Another might have a bit more in common with, say, Angel Beats!: Complete Collection, Colorful: The Motion Picture or Dusk Maiden of Amnesia: Complete Collection than with High School of the Dead: Complete Collection, but some of the basic elements that all of these entries share are in evidence here as well.

Another proclaims itself to be a horror anime, but in its early going it’s much more of a mystery enterprise. We meet sickly Kouichi, recovering from a collapsed lung in the hospital of the small country town of Yomiyama. Kouichi is a recent transplant to this burg, having moved from the big city of Tokyo because his father had to go work in India. Kouichi has not been able to start school yet due to his sickness, but his Aunt Reiko, who is visiting him in his hospital room, points out the school building off in the distance and tells Kouichi that not only did she attend that school, so did her sister, Kouichi’s late mother. Later, three odd students from Kouichi’s new class come to welcome him, though Kouichi is confused by their conspiratorial tone, especially when one of them mentions she is part of a “countermeasures” team.

Once Kouichi is ensconced in his junior high school class, things only get more bizarre. While in the hospital he had met a strange girl named Mei, who seemed to appear out of nowhere in the hospital elevator and who was on the way to the morgue for some unexplained business. It turns out Mei is in Kouichi’s class, but no one else seems to be able to see her. Meanwhile, several of Kouichi’s classmates seem eager to share some salient information with him about what’s really going on, but their efforts are repeatedly interrupted. This in fact turns out to be one of the most consistently annoying things about Another. Over and over again as the series progresses, every attempt at explication, at clarification, is repeatedly hampered by interruptions. These include everything from people walking in on conversations, stopping them cold, to more contrived instances where a cassette tape (which contains a valuable clue) is unexpectedly broken. Good mystery writing should not depend this often on delaying tactics. A few up front are okay—they may pique the viewer’s interest. But when these same sorts of things are still happening as the series is wending toward its endgame, it just becomes frustrating to the point that some will want to give up on the series.

While it probably doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out there’s more than a bit of misdirection going on, leading the viewer to probably believe that Mei is a ghost, the truth turns out to be somewhat more convoluted, if ultimately just as incredible. But even this revelation takes an awfully long time to get to, with a number of red herrings sprinkled liberally into the proceedings. In the meantime, Kouichi is trying to put together clues about a long ago death (a death we’re obviously meant to believe was Mei’s), as well as what his classmates believe is a curse that has existed since that death. This is where Another actually finds a little traction, for while the curse itself may or may not be “real” (the series finally comes down on one side of this equation, but that won’t be spoiled here), the reactions of the kids are understandable one way or the other, especially as one gruesome death after another start piling up.

The deaths of various school kids is where Another wants to really exploit a more traditional horror genre, and some of the deaths are quite graphic and gory. The series is not especially artful in leaving the viewer in doubt as to who might die next, and in fact some may question why some of these characters are not wearing the infamous "red shirts" of Star Trek fame. But after so many delaying tactics, it’s actually notable that this aspect of Another ends up working surprisingly well. One after, well, another kid drops in a variety of ways, and Kouichi finds himself trying to navigate not just some newfound information about why all of this carnage is happening, but also his sneaking suspicion that he may be responsible, at least tangentially if not directly. But things tend to devolve into sheer ludicrousness as the series reaches its endgame. The last couple of episodes of Another become an almost hysterical battle that includes a supposedly shocking reveal that simply does not make sense if it’s considered for even a moment. Another is a series that starts out rather tantalizingly, with some excellently done spookiness and a rather mysterious air surrounding Kouichi and Mei. Unfortunately, the more things get explained, the less sense things make.

Another: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Another is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Sentai Filmworks with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This series comes from the P.A. Works production house, which has done some very evocative work in the past. One of the coolest things about Another's animation style is how foreground objects—typically the human characters—are done in a nicely sharp manner, while the backgrounds tend to be slightly more impressionistic and "soft focus" (see screenshot 11 of Mei in the garden for a good example of this quality). This aspect pops really nicely in this high definition presentation. Colors are nicely saturated, though intentionally a bit on the dour side quite a bit of the time. The series is notable for quick cutaways to some lovely natural items, like gorgeous yellow roses whose petals float away in the breeze. Line detail is also reasonably sharp. The biggest issue with this release is some really noticeable banding that is prevalent throughout almost the entire series. Otherwise, though, things look quite good.

Another: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Another features lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mixes in English and Japanese. There's an noticeably brighter quality to the English mix which makes the high end quite a bit more punchy and clear sounding than the Japanese. Otherwise, though, both tracks offer really good fidelity which renders both dialogue and the series' rather bizarre score (including one of the most crazy-manic theme songs ever) very well. Dynamic range is surprisingly muted for a horror outing like this one.

Another: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Another Special (1080p; 4:59) is kind of like an extended music video with a chibi version of Mei.


• Clean Opening Animation (1080p; 1:32)


• Clean Closing Animation (1080p; 1:32)


• Trailers for other Sentai Filmworks Releases

Another: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Another does in fact live up to its title—it's kind of an assembly line show built from much the same cloth as several of the other anime mentioned above. It actually starts out with some flair and interest, but as things trundle along, it tends to lose quite a bit of steam, until by the end of the show, things have reached a baseline of silliness that tends to subvert everything that has gone before. The resolution of the mystery is not only unsatisfying, it defies logic (and admittedly a series like this typically only has a tenuous link to logic to begin with). Some viewers may find this compelling enough to stick with it, but my hunch is they will experience the law of diminishing returns as Kouichi delves more and more into his past and the secret of class 3-3. This Blu-ray does have generally nice looking video and excellent audio.