Monday 12 March 2012

Another - Episode 10

The body count is rising even before the prescribed class shrine visit - is there even going to be anybody left by the time it rolls around?

The answer is yes, there are still plenty of class members alive and kicking for said school trip, which the group celebrate with perhaps the most morose class photograph of all time.  Still, with everyone gathered, we do at least get a chance to hide away in a hotel room and listen to Matsunaga's tape in full as it details how the curse was lifted for his particular year - needless to say, the solution to the problem is a decidedly grisly one, and more importantly one that requires the identification of the "extra" student in the class.


As those involved in listening to the tape ponder the best way of discovering who the extra student is, an evening meal in the hotel used by the group becomes in turns embarrassing and then distressing, as first Akazawa forces a confession out of Misaki before generic student number 13 who has pretty much been screaming "I'm about to die from an asthma attack" all episode finally pops his clogs in noisy fashion.  As the rest of the class retire to their rooms to ponder, or perhaps even influence, their own fates, Misaki and Kouichi get together to discuss things, leading to some revelations about the former's abilities (courtesy of that false eye) that should make things a whole lot easier - let's just call it her "Mystic Eye of Death Perception", shall we?

Now, if only Misaki had imparted this information about her "cousin" and her ability earlier, we would have.... well, we wouldn't have had a series to make of Another at all as the issue would have been solved in two minutes flat, making her a hero forever more and providing her with a job for life as an overseer of class 3.  Instead, of course, she's waited until episode ten of this twelve week series to mention "hey, I can solve this right away", which is a rather flabbergasting oversight on her part.  Still, if you can suspend this almighty mass of disbelief from a suitably high building, this was another atmospheric episode of Another that made full use of its visuals and audio to ensure maximum creepiness, and even the occasional jump out of your seat moment, which continues to keep me sufficiently drawn to the show in its own right for all of its other foibles.  It certainly seems that we can expect a further bloodbath before this show is resolved - good job Misaki!

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