Another - Episode 9

Another one bit the dust (or rather, the sand) in last week's beach episode - does this mean that the curse of Class 3 can extend beyond the confines of Yomiyama?

It appears not, as it comes to light that latest victim Nakao actually suffered a head injury before even leaving for the beach, although this news may be too late to dissuade some of his classmates from cancelling their plans on attending the school trip.  Meanwhile, Kouichi has his hopes well and truly pinned on Matsunaga's claims that he left a hint as to how to stop the curse in Class 3's classroom during his time at the school.

Thus, much of this episode is spent hunting for said clue - a search which proves to be fruitful as they come across an old cassette tape squirreled away which contains some lost songs from the light music club... sorry, I mean an audio description from Matsunaga detailing his class' shrine visit as it went horribly awry, and perhaps more importantly the "sin" he committed to stop the curse.  Unfortunately, Kouichi and friends are interrupted just as the tape reaches this point, and their hurried attempt to hide the tape lead to it becoming unravelled - if only that had MP3 players back in the 1980s, huh?  Cassette tapes aren't the only things being unravelled either, as yet more disasters afflict Class 3 and the families of its students as the episode closes out.

It almost goes without saying that this week's Another was another exhibit of audio-visual glory - the episode's sound in particular was used to fantastic effect whether it's bringing a sense of unease to proceedings or just plain making you jump.  Unfortunately, the horror elements of the show are still a little lacking - the final accidents which end this instalment feel laughably contrived and play like some kind of old-school health and safety video ("Remember children... never use an umbrella outside during a thunderstorm") rather than anything truly shocking, and the hunt for Matsunaga's clue went on a little too long for my liking.  Still, the presentation of the show remains gorgeous enough to drop my jaw each week, even if its story is lacking, and maybe I'm just a bad person for giggling on a couple of occasions this week.  I blame the lack of Mirai Nikki for my absence of empathy with the impending doom within Yomiyama.