First Impressions: Another

Now we're slowly getting into the good series.

This one is good for watching at night.

Helps you fall asleep.

LOL

Now I'm being more productive since I finished off Softenni (such a bad series, but also so random lmao...just like Yuruyuri in that aspect. Why are all these all-girl/yuri comedy series so addicting), but that doesn't mean I like reviewing bad series. Time for me to go through more pain.

Personally, I think most types of scares/horrors fit neatly into one of the following categories:
a) The Depressing/Psychological: The realization of the fact that there are terrible people who do terrible things to others. The whole "Job" factor.
b) The Unpredictable/Unknown: The realization of the fact that there may be something very nasty or incomprehensible behind that door, underneath that painting, up in the ceiling, or IN YOUR FACE.

Lights on, lights off. Lights on, lights off. Blood on ceiling, not a good sign. 

c) The Inevitable/Pressure Induction: Something is off. Everyone knows it but they're averting their eyes. Some gloom is over the horizon and you simply can't shake off that feeling of tension. Either that or a monster is running after you for five minutes trying to eat your face off. Call of Duty chase scenes are usually this type of scare.

BOLT THE DOOR

d) The Overkill: Everything's nice and neat until you open that wooden door and find a sight that a grown man would faint over. Extreme amounts of gore/squick, often in quick succession. This and (b) are most often used, because they're more instinctive scares than cerebral ones. They also appeal more strongly to the senses than (c), although (c) usually ends up being more creative.

So which scare does Another hit off with?

Well...none of them.

Anyways, before I go into plot, I'll just do production values. The soundtrack is somewhat ok. It's designed by Kow Otani (who also composed the excellent soundtrack for the game Shadow of the Colossus), but I don't see much of that in Another. I guess I'll have to listen to it a bit more, but I don't have high hopes after the first two episodes. The OP (Kyoumu Densen by Ali Project) is actually pretty good if slightly repetitive (but aren't all anime songs?) The problem I have with it is how it keeps progressing from minor to major. It sounds like a happy piece half the time and an action-adventure piece the other half when the OP animation is horror all the time. It makes me laugh every time I turn on an episode. Poor match, I'd say, but good job with the OP. The ED (Anemnesis by Annabel) is just another piano + quiet vocals piece, nothing special. I personally like calm ballads so I'm partial to this piece, but this may not be the case for everybody. Both songs are nicely sung, so that's that I guess.

The graphics are good - shiny, nice proportions, done well. It's the modern style, nothing much more to say.

LMAO

The plot...well, it's a horror plot, meaning that obviously the protagonist has to solve yet another mystery by himself as to why everybody around him is pissing their pants. The supporting cast has yet to mention why they're all acting like jerks, and the main character hasn't bothered to ask them (how convenient). The girl who's supposed to be scary is...not scary, and so far nothing has really happened. Again, going by the four categories I mention above, nothing has been accomplished. This anime isn't Higurashi, so there's no overt violence or messy stuff; there's been no The Grudge-style surprise yet, the tension felt because everybody around the protagonist is pissing their pants seems rather artificial, and none of it's depressing because...it's not Heavy Rain, I guess? I mean, there's nothing deep about this series thus far. Overall, it's simply not scary.

Of course, horror series wouldn't be complete without some cheap scares. So what does Another do to transition from part A to part B of the episode?

Go on, guess.

If you guessed "flash a picture of an ugly porcelain doll for .2 seconds", you're correct.

To be quite honest, I didn't know whether to pity to studio or to laugh at the sudden cut the first time I saw it.

I think I ended up doing both.

ROFLCOPTER

The mystery is relatively vague, so I won't bother predicting the ending, but the ghost-girl heroine is interesting, the boy protagonist is tolerably stupid, and the graphics are good enough for me to watch. Count me in when I have enough time for eye candy.

Status: Watching the part of the episodes that are not silent zoom-ins of ugly dolls.

ExtraCareful: as both of them are falling down a staircase
nononono
This
she owned herself
she fell down a staircase
MorningLescue: watta noob
EC: and impaled herself against an umbrella
god  
This is like
fuckin terrible shit
ML: lololol
EC: "shit man it's raining"
"better sharpen our umbrellas"
ML: gotta sharpen umbrella
EC: LOL
ML: tip top shape
deflect that rain
EC: stab those raindrops
ML: yeahhhh