So i just watched Another(name of the anime) (Impressions)(Spoilers)

[mrhateful]

Before I start I want to say that i made a first impression of anime, with comments on animes i actually love, it also uses a tier system. Thus if you want to know how I rate animes relative to each other, go to here:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.820721-First-impressions-of-anime-With-a-list-of-anime-i-recommend

I wanted to wait until I had seen some more animes before i posted a more extensive post on how I felt about all of them. However I am completely bored with most animes I've been watching lately so while i crave for a really good one I have a hard time watching new ones that wastes your time in the beginning.

I tried watching FLCL, Clannad(Only got to reading the summary, and I instantly get turned down, I want to watch it since the sequel After life should be great), Baccano(First episode, I see mafia story and I am turned down), Gunslinger Girl(Read Baccano), Mushi-shi(4 episodes, while the quality of the stories are great its just very repetitive, which goes like this Some problem->Find out its mushi->remove mushi).

Also I watched D. Gray-Man(like 14 episodes) which is probably the stupidest anime I have yet to see, this is because the universe wants robots and a 1900 setting at the same time, which makes no sense if you think about it. It also goes between facepalmingly bad comedy to very good dramatic pieces. Which makes it hard to watch because; just when you think its getting good, you get an episode, where a coffee drinking robot runs around chasing the main character; did i say this was all done in a comedy style?(not that it was comedic), which is only there to show the audience that there is nothing at stake and they are just wasting our time with this crap.. Thus I ultimately stopped watching D. Gray-Man as the show got worse and worse until i feared I would lose to many brain-cells from continuing to watch it.

Anyhow..
I finally managed to sit through an anime called Another.
I personally love horror games and movies, so I was originally excited at the prospect of a horror anime.

When i first looked at Another I was put off by the drawing of the characters, they made the eyes wayyyy too big making them look creepy, like they were dolls rather than people. Now after watching the entire thing I am not so sure if this wasn't done on purpose(as supposed to being bad drawings) since the anime is very doll themed.
Next thing we are introduced to the main character.. Oh god another Shõnen anime, w/e as long as the story is good I don't mind. The next couple of episodes introduces the characters and shares some insight into their personalities which I liked. Problem was that this was also the time that the plot showed its ugly face, which came in the form of a mystery; weird deaths and a girl which only the main character could see, is all pretty standard in stories like these. However at about episode 6-7 the plot twist(about everything including the girl) is revieled and while I won't spoil it lets just say it was unexpected. This was sadly also the point where the quality nose dived. The problem is since it is all out in the open there was no suspense or horror feeling left, and nothing new is introduced. This is like the scooby doo crew revealing the ghost and then the guy dressed as a ghost just continues to pretend he is a ghost. This awfulness reaches its peak with what I would describe as a fan service episode, basically they go to the beach(So we can see the girls in bikini Yayyyyyy........ meh ) and have fun, it would have been fine if it was used for connecting characters but it is not. Instead we get dumb attempts at "comedy", what is it with anime and dumb comedy?? I mean this is supposed to be horror..
Now while the middle was probably the worst thing ever the ending at least makes a spirited attempt at some psycological drama, going all joker on us, since all the students are told they can save themselves if they kill one of their class mates. Now this could have been truly great but it utterly fails, as we are simply shown the students being slaughtered in a meaningless fashion, most of them we don't even know or care about; thus making it rather boring. The few characters we actually "should" care about has not been given any screen time for us to connect. Only Izumi Akazawa was introduced enough to the point of me caring just a little, only problem is her motivations are based on a lie that could be rectified, if only the main character would say something; which of course he doesn't as it would instantly halt the entire scene, instead she randomly dies and we are given no time to care about it, as the scene just rushes on.
The person that actually is supposed to die is a twist so pointless you'd think m . night shyamalan was the writer, furthermore we barely know the character as she has had very little to do with the story so far mostly she just kinda been there. So when the main character kills her while she is lying down helpless you feel nothing and are mostly just bored waiting for this charade to be over.
If instead the middle was used for us to know her then maybe this ending would have had meaning instead its flat and stupid.

Okay that was a lot about the really awful plot, however I want to end on positive note, and the things are thought was very well done. Generally I liked all the characters, they are all very believable, even the main character that is just another Shõnen shows to be a lot more, and often you find him take a stance once he understand the consequnces; however most of the time he is just confused which is understandable given the story, but kinda meh for the viewer. I also really liked the Mei misaki(So many misakis in animes) character, she was overall very interresting and likable, her plights and reactions to them gave her depth, and made her seeme more believable. Problem with her was, she were a plot device in story and not a character, so all the time spent on her, in the end was rather pointless as none of it was used. I mean imagine if reiko was given the same treatment maybe I would have cared more for the ending.

So this was how I felt about Another, another anime(no pun intended) that wastes all its potential on a mediocre story and tries to cover it up with excessive violence.
In terms of my own rating system I put it as Tier 4(watch my other thread to see how it performs relative to other animes)

Also on a side note I really love the theme song!(Only Monster/Madoka Magica has better) Going straight into my play list of songs I like to listen to.

 

[krazykidd]

Correct me if i'm wrong ( i watched this when it first came out ). But

Spoiler

didn't the girl with the eyepatch say she could see who was the extra? Doesn't that make the entire thing pointless AND her fault? She could have ended this thing way before it started . Also the schoolmates telling the new kid not to talk to her AND why , would have avoided the whole thing .

It wasn't bad , and i saw what they were going for , but they missed the mark . Not by a lot , but they missed it . A lot of potential .

 

[DragonLordSerge]

Correct me if i'm wrong ( i watched this when it first came out ). But

Spoiler

didn't the girl with the eyepatch say she could see who was the extra? Doesn't that make the entire thing pointless AND her fault? She could have ended this thing way before it started . Also the schoolmates telling the new kid not to talk to her AND why , would have avoided the whole thing .

It wasn't bad , and i saw what they were going for , but they missed the mark . Not by a lot , but they missed it . A lot of potential .

She could see it but since she was the other before she was basically safe and since no one in her class liked her she was ok with them dying at least thats how i took it i liked this show it kind of remided me of when they cry

 

[KOMega]

I liked it. I thought it was good at creating some suspense every episode.
But ya the story isn't any grand adventure, nor is it much of a mystery as well.
Still, I think it was doing ok until the last few episodes when people are sorta dying left and right almost comically.

Correct me if i'm wrong ( i watched this when it first came out ). But

Spoiler

didn't the girl with the eyepatch say she could see who was the extra? Doesn't that make the entire thing pointless AND her fault? She could have ended this thing way before it started . Also the schoolmates telling the new kid not to talk to her AND why , would have avoided the whole thing .

It wasn't bad , and i saw what they were going for , but they missed the mark . Not by a lot , but they missed it . A lot of potential .

Spoiler: gonna reveal some spoilers in response.

At the beginning, I believe her power could not be used because:
1: they didn't know that they had to kill the "dead" person to end (or temporarily end) the curse, and
2: no one was allowed to acknowledge her or else they would ruin their "curse charm" (which was later revealed to have already been broken in secret anyways, so it didn't matter if no one payed attention to her.)
3: Because she wears the eyepatch, she did not see who the "dead" person was until somewhere in the middle of the series I think. And even then no one had any reason to believe her, especially when she was accused of being the "dead" one.

 

[Rinshan Kaihou]

I personally loved Another, (Misaki Mei is MINE, btw. <3 you can't have her! grrrrrrr....) I thought it was brilliant. I was kind of... thrown off a bit at the graphic deaths. Wasn't quite expecting it the first time at least. It, and Tasogare otome x amnesia are both good examples of how the color palette used can really help set the tone and mood of the anime.

 

[mrhateful]

It wasn't bad , and i saw what they were going for , but they missed the mark . Not by a lot , but they missed it . A lot of potential .

^QFT

I completely agree, problem is; it is frustrating to watch an entire show only to find out its meh. good thing it was only 12 episodes

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

I liked it alright. It was a fun little horror title, and violent as fuck. Yeah, there's some holes, but I had a good time.

I tried watching FLCL, Clannad(Only got to reading the summary, and I instantly get turned down, I want to watch it since the sequel After life should be great), Baccano(First episode, I see mafia story and I am turned down), Gunslinger Girl(Read Baccano), Mushi-shi(4 episodes, while the quality of the stories are great its just very repetitive, which goes like this Some problem->Find out its mushi->remove mushi).

I can see why FLCL could turn you down. Same with Clannad. I'm guessing you're not a fan of mafia stories, though, but I gotta admit that it took me a while to fully get into Baccano! I can see where you're coming from with Mushi-shi, but while they all have the same setup I still find them very interesting, and I love the atmosphere. You just have to relax and let the show play out.

Also, I suggest at least trying to watch a show all the way through rather than just the first few episodes, even if it turns you off at first. Maybe a show that you didn't like at first might win you over by the end. I mean, look at Madoka.

 

[mrhateful]

]
A;so, I suggest at least trying to watch a show all the way through rather than just the first few episodes, even if it turns you off at first. Maybe a show that you didn't like at first might win you over by the end. I mean, look at Madoka.

I guess you are right, its just if I don't like the setting then I have a hard time watching multiple episodes that bore me, I know that if I actually watched Baccano! I would most likely love it.. Its just so tough to get through the beginning, I remember feeling like I had watched it for an hour then i checked the time and I was only 17 min into episode one...

D. Gray-man was easier since I love magic and wizardry in general so a show like that was easier to watch, even though it was just as bad.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I started watching Evangelion for the first time in my life just a few days ago. I've only watched the first two eps so far. I like how surreal and creepy it gets sometimes (the first angel's design looks lovely and deadly. I also liked how he sprouts a second bloody face after the nuke's dropped on him, and in the second ep the weird eye thing that makes Shinji scream. Still not sure I got that last bit though). I'm a little disappointed by the series format though - the episodes aren't very well rounded, they just seem to throw in a bunch of events to be continued some other time without there being a very clear narrative structure.

 

[Mid Boss]

I started watching Evangelion for the first time in my life just a few days ago. I've only watched the first two eps so far. I like how surreal and creepy it gets sometimes (the first angel's design looks lovely and deadly. I also liked how he sprouts a second bloody face after the nuke's dropped on him, and in the second ep the weird eye thing that makes Shinji scream. Still not sure I got that last bit though). I'm a little disappointed by the series format though - the episodes aren't very well rounded, they just seem to throw in a bunch of events to be continued some other time without there being a very clear narrative structure.

You should try Attack On Titan. It's about the last city of humanity and its struggle to stay alive against the Titans, a race of giants that look like deformed, genderless, humans. They are always smiling, completely mindless, don't need to eat but chase down and devour all humans in sight for what seems to be the pleasure of it. Since they don't have digestive organs, once they're full they throw the people up and then go looking for more. A great feature about it is how interesting and different the secondary characters are and that the women are capable and aren't crouched in a corner crying about how useless they are which is an extremely annoying anime status quo.

A warning though, it's extremely gory. Since only a few humans have the skill and power to kill a Titan, most battles with them end with a LOT of less gifted soldiers being maimed and killed.

 

[Angie7F]

snip

i agree that if you liked eva you should watch Attack on Titans.

It is just that both anime ran out of time and struggled to meet the deadline for the airing so the episode become weirder and not well structured as the first few episodes.
I think the 13th episode of titans even has a few cuts where the animators couldnt finish off coloring the backdrop and some of the rocks are still purple and green.
Also in some areas of japan the 6th episode was pretty much all still shots. lol

Also Aku no Hana is really creepy too.

 

[KOMega]

]Mushi-shi(4 episodes, while the quality of the stories are great its just very repetitive, which goes like this Some problem->Find out its mushi->remove mushi).

I think mushishi was designed so that you could watch any episode by itself without having watched any other episode.
Or so I've been told. I haven't watched it myself, but it's on my list.

Someone told me it was really similar to Kino's Journey, which is also pretty good imo
But if you really didn't like the way mushishi works, then Kino's Journey might not work for you either.

Kino's Journey by the way is just about a girl and her talking motorcycle traveling from country to country. Countries in this context are basically a form of "planet of hats" (as defined by TvTropes) but each episode is a nice story on it's own.

 

[mrhateful]

I think mushishi was designed so that you could watch any episode by itself without having watched any other episode.
Or so I've been told. I haven't watched it myself, but it's on my list.

Someone told me it was really similar to Kino's Journey, which is also pretty good imo
But if you really didn't like the way mushishi works, then Kino's Journey might not work for you either.

Kino's Journey by the way is just about a girl and her talking motorcycle traveling from country to country. Countries in this context are basically a form of "planet of hats" (as defined by TvTropes) but each episode is a nice story on it's own.

It would make sense given what I have seen but, it also means that you get nothing about of watching multiple episodes as all character growth is either non-existent or reset.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I liked Another. The characters were pretty cool and the deaths were not super "oh my god, what are you doing you retard?" levels of obviousness (at least early on) and were fun to watch.

I don't think I can ever use an umbrella again though, and i've always been a bit wary of lifts before...

Oh and I think Mei described why I always disliked dolls rather well.

They themselves are hollow so they try to take some soul out of people nearby. She explains it nicely and it fit the scene quite well.

I liked it mainly because it reminded me of Higurashi No Naku Kuro Ni. Watch that shit, it's great. It's about a group of highschool kids having a perfectly nice life in a rural town then one goes batshit crazy and kills everyone. 'S great.

Try the first four episodes, two or three if you really aren't sold.

Also Code Geass. I know it's like the first thing you watch once you get into anime after like Naruto and shit but I freaking ADORE Code Geass. It has yet to be beaten in terms of sheer melodramatic nonsense. Lelouch especially. Anything he could say normally he would instead say it with overdramatic hand movements and a huge booming voice.

Basically, a forgotten prince of an evil empire comes out of nowhere with plans to destroy it with his newly found power where he can command people to do anything he says. There are also mechas.

I assume everyone has already watched it but if you have not just watch the first episode. If you're not immediately wanting more you can leave it entirely cuz it's probably not your sort of thing.

 

[Dr. Cakey]

I really liked Another when I saw, and I liked it again when I rewatched it. But then I watched Arkada's review of it, where he goes down the line: plot sucks, characters suck, art is great, sound is average. He liked the show, too (not as much as I did), but objectively there's very little of value to it.

Maybe I just like to watch Mei being broody and melancholy and inexplicably sexy. Mei is just one letter away from Rei, after all. Speaking of Rei...

I started watching Evangelion for the first time in my life just a few days ago. I've only watched the first two eps so far. I like how surreal and creepy it gets sometimes (the first angel's design looks lovely and deadly. I also liked how he sprouts a second bloody face after the nuke's dropped on him, and in the second ep the weird eye thing that makes Shinji scream. Still not sure I got that last bit though). I'm a little disappointed by the series format though - the episodes aren't very well rounded, they just seem to throw in a bunch of events to be continued some other time without there being a very clear narrative structure.

Not sure what this has to do with the topic at hand, but um...yes. NGE is three parts monster of the week to one part continuing narrative. Gainax, the studio responsible for Eva, is also not very good at the whole "planning" thing. They made FLCL for Christ's sake, rationality is not in their dictionary.

I also like how you were able to accurately describe 75+% of Evangelion despite having only watched two episodes.

snip

You should try Attack On Titan. It's about the last city of humanity and its struggle to stay alive against the Titans, a race of giants that look like deformed, genderless, humans. They are always smiling, completely mindless, don't need to eat but chase down and devour all humans in sight for what seems to be the pleasure of it. Since they don't have digestive organs, once they're full they throw the people up and then go looking for more. A great feature about it is how interesting and different the secondary characters are and that the women are capable and aren't crouched in a corner crying about how useless they are which is an extremely annoying anime status quo.

A warning though, it's extremely gory. Since only a few humans have the skill and power to kill a Titan, most battles with them end with a LOT of less gifted soldiers being maimed and killed.

Is this the topic of non sequiturs or something? I mean, um...yes. Attack on Titan is good. Attack on Titan is very good. Attack on Titan's visuals are sex. Attack on Titan's resistance to many common anime plot contrivances is impressive. But what does that have to do with anything?

You should try Bakemonogatari, by the way.

I think mushishi was designed so that you could watch any episode by itself without having watched any other episode.
Or so I've been told. I haven't watched it myself, but it's on my list.

Someone told me it was really similar to Kino's Journey, which is also pretty good imo
But if you really didn't like the way mushishi works, then Kino's Journey might not work for you either.

Kino's Journey by the way is just about a girl and her talking motorcycle traveling from country to country. Countries in this context are basically a form of "planet of hats" (as defined by TvTropes) but each episode is a nice story on it's own.

It would make sense given what I have seen but, it also means that you get nothing about of watching multiple episodes as all character growth is either non-existent or reset.

I saw a bit of Mushi-shi and dropped it as well, because at the time I was looking for Code Geass and Mushi-shi, um...wasn't Code Geass. It might in fact be the polar opposite of Code Geass. More recently, though, I saw the first episode of Kino's Journey and thought it was fantastic.

To address your comment, I'd disagree to a certain extent. You're not watching to see character growth, you're watching to see what happens. You know? In non-anime-land, most TV was episodic until pretty recently.

Now go watch Baccano. It's about fucking gangsters who are fucking immortal and fucking fighting during the fucking Great Depression. Fuck. How can you not like that?

 

[mrhateful]

Also Code Geass. I know it's like the first thing you watch once you get into anime after like Naruto and shit but I freaking ADORE Code Geass. It has yet to be beaten in terms of sheer melodramatic nonsense. Lelouch especially. Anything he could say normally he would instead say it with overdramatic hand movements and a huge booming voice.

Well I didn't want to repeat my love for code geass in this thread so i just linked to my other thread
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.820721-First-impressions-of-anime-With-a-list-of-anime-i-recommend

To address your comment, I'd disagree to a certain extent. You're not watching to see character growth, you're watching to see what happens. You know? In non-anime-land, most TV was episodic until pretty recently.

Yeah I know.. WHY have I been fooled into accepting this crap for years???. Anime opened my eyes, so it is pretty hard to close them again :S

 

[sextus the crazy]

Clannad(Only got to reading the summary, and I instantly get turned down, I want to watch it since the sequel After life should be great)

It's definitely worth it. While Clannad (first season) is a rather predicable, but well executed, VN romance story, After Story is a great family/life story that more romance anime series should learn from. Totally worth watching. Also, they tie together perfectly because Clannd & After Story were both in the original Visual Novel, so the stories link together.

(Only Monster/Madoka Magica has better)

QFT. love both of those themes.

 

[Mid Boss]

snip

You should try Attack On Titan. It's about the last city of humanity and its struggle to stay alive against the Titans, a race of giants that look like deformed, genderless, humans. They are always smiling, completely mindless, don't need to eat but chase down and devour all humans in sight for what seems to be the pleasure of it. Since they don't have digestive organs, once they're full they throw the people up and then go looking for more. A great feature about it is how interesting and different the secondary characters are and that the women are capable and aren't crouched in a corner crying about how useless they are which is an extremely annoying anime status quo.

A warning though, it's extremely gory. Since only a few humans have the skill and power to kill a Titan, most battles with them end with a LOT of less gifted soldiers being maimed and killed.

Is this the topic of non sequiturs or something? I mean, um...yes. Attack on Titan is good. Attack on Titan is very good. Attack on Titan's visuals are sex. Attack on Titan's resistance to many common anime plot contrivances is impressive. But what does that have to do with anything?

I really like FLCL. Has the best sound track of any anime I've seen.

 

[Chasing-The-Light]

I watched Attack on Titan recently. Now, I feel like the ONLY person alive right now that feels this way, but I REALLY wasn't that impressed by it...

I mean, sure, the story line was interesting and a new concept, but the deliverance of it just felt... off. I don't really feel any connection to any other character other than Armin because he's so... well... helpless, and Levi because he's kinda a badass. The other characters just feel dead to me. Seriously, you can't just say, "Oh Eren is just like that because of his past. He's gone psycho now!" That's not good character development to just lead in with that for currently 13 episodes. There should be some development from him by now, at least!

Same with all the extra characters. I don't even know half their names nor do I know any reason to care about them, and by the time I go, "Oh, maybe they'll be a reoccurring character from now on!" Nope, they die too!

Some people have told me that you get a lot more attached to these people in the manga than the anime but honestly that's not a very good excuse. If it's that good in the manga then it should have been able to translate over in the anime.

So yeah.... sorry if this forum isn't for getting our impressions on animes out, but that's how I felt. So there you go.

 

[Talaris]

Funnily enough I had the opposite opinion for Another, in that I liked the anime, but really hated the opening and closer.

The plot itself kind of reminded me of a Hitchcockian thriller, in that each episode will present a small revelation that perpetuates the story forward, and I enjoyed slowly understanding what was causing the curse, and the backstory of Mei. I did feel the ending was somewhat rushed, and the final scenes/dialogue did have a B horror movie feel to it, but overall I would recommend it. The high levels or violence/gore are expected with this kind of anime, you either like it or you don't, and personally I find the juxtaposition of cute and/or passive characters with short but intense violence (see Higurashi and Shiki for good examples) highly watchable.