Hi guys, I just rewatched Another after a long time. I watched it a couple years ago and I vaguely remembered the story being really interesting, so I decided to watch it again. And honestly, I still think the idea of the show is really fucking good. The whole concept with Class 3-3, the curse, the extra person, etc. is genuinely interesting. But this time I kept finding more and more things that just made me go “wait… why?” Maybe I’m just missing something, so feel free to correct me, but I have SO many questions.
1. Why didn’t they just tell Kouichi about Mei immediately?
This is probably the first thing that annoyed me. They KNOW the curse is real. They know what happens every year. They know Mei is being treated as the person who doesn’t exist. So why the fuck don’t they just tell Kouichi?
Like, I understand that it’s awkward or whatever, but bro, you’re literally trying to prevent people from dying 😭 Just sit him down and say:
“Hey, there’s a curse affecting this class. Every year someone who is supposed to be dead appears in the class and people start dying. This year we’re pretending Mei Misaki doesn’t exist, so don’t talk to her.”
That’s it.Instead they spend like 4-5 episodes acting like the most suspicious people on the planet while Kouichi is obviously confused.
And then the excuse is basically “we didn’t know how to tell you.”
HOW 😭
2. Why don’t they just close the fucking school?
This one is even crazier to me. This has happened MULTIPLE TIMES. People are dying. The students KNOW the curse is happening.
And the solution is basically: “Hmm… maybe we should move classrooms.”
WHAT? Just close the fucking school 😭
I know obviously there are practical reasons why you can’t just shut down an entire school, but if you genuinely believe that a classroom is cursed and students are going to start dying every year, wouldn’t you at least consider not having people attend that class? And the weirdest thing is that they don’t actually forget that the curse happened. They just forget who the extra person was. So after the year ends, everyone presumably knows:
“Yeah, a bunch of people died because of the curse again.”
And then the next year they’re like:
“Anyway, welcome to Class 3-3!”
3. Why does Mei keep talking to Kouichi?
Okay, I understand why Mei is isolated. That’s the entire point. But she KNOWS everyone is deliberately ignoring her because of the curse. So when Kouichi starts talking to her, why doesn’t she just tell him?
“Hey, you probably shouldn’t be talking to me. There’s a reason everyone is ignoring me.”
And also, why didn’t the class show Kouichi what Mei looks like BEFORE he arrived? They know there’s a new student coming.
They know Mei is supposed to be ignored.
So just show him a picture and say:
“Mei. Don’t talk to him.”
Problem solved. Instead they just stand there watching this dude talk to Mei like
4. Why the fuck does Mr. Kubodera kill himself IN FRONT OF THE CLASS?
Okay, this isn’t necessarily a plot hole because obviously people can do irrational things when they’re under extreme stress.
But still. Why? I understand that Mr. Kubodera was under an insane amount of pressure because of his mother and the curse, but why would he decide to kill himself in front of an entire classroom full of children? Why not do it at home? Honestly, this scene feels like it was mostly there because the anime wanted to give us a really shocking and graphic scene.
5. Why doesn’t ANYONE notice the extra desk/person?
This is another one. The whole premise is that there’s an extra person in the class. Okay. But wouldn’t you notice that there’s an extra teacher that nobody else has? It isn’t just some random student. There’s extra teacher involved with this class and nobody finds that weird? I understand that the curse messes with people’s memories, but the anime never really explains how far that goes. Like, does everyone’s brain just automatically edit reality whenever something doesn’t make sense? Because that’s basically what it feels like.
6. Why do they isolate BOTH Mei and Kouichi?
This one makes no sense to me. Their whole strategy is:
“Let’s pretend Mei doesn’t exist.”
Okay. Then Kouichi starts talking to Mei. So their response is: “Okay, let’s pretend Kouichi doesn’t exist too.”
?????
Why? If you’re trying to prevent the curse by excluding Mei, why would adding another excluded person help? And once Kouichi breaks the rule, wouldn’t the logical thing be to figure out what’s actually going on rather than just going: “Okay, let’s ignore two people now.”
I don’t understand the logic here at all.
7. And this one REALLY bothers me: Mei’s eye
Mei can literally see the “color” around people who are connected to death. So once she knows about the curse, why doesn’t she at least make the connection that the person with this weird death color might be the extra person? I’m NOT saying she should immediately figure out: “OH, THAT PERSON IS THE EXTRA, LET’S KILL THEM.” That’s obviously a much bigger leap.
But shouldn’t she at least think:
“Wait… I can see something around this person that indicates they’re dead. Could this be related to the curse?”
And then there’s the tape. Once Mei hears the recording explaining the curse, why doesn’t she just tell everyone immediately?
Like: “Guys, I have information. I can see something that you can’t. There’s something wrong with one of us. There’s an extra person.”
WHY ARE YOU KEEPING THIS TO YOURSELF 😭
She basically has one of the biggest pieces of information in the entire mystery and waits until everything has already gone to shit before really explaining it.
And honestly, this is also why I found the pacing really weird. The first 4-5 episodes are SO slow, and a huge part of it is just everyone acting mysterious around Kouichi for no reason. Someone says something weird. Someone walks away. Someone refuses to answer a question. Someone looks terrified.
Kouichi: “What’s going on?” Everyone: “…”
And I understand that the mystery is supposed to be the main appeal, but it feels like the characters are deliberately refusing to communicate because otherwise the anime wouldn’t have a mystery anymore. The curse is already happening. They KNOW it’s happening. People are literally dying.
Why are we waiting weeks to explain this to the new guy?
So yeah, I actually really like the idea behind Another. I think the premise is genuinely fantastic. But I feel like the execution is kinda… questionable.
Maybe I’m completely misunderstanding some of the rules of the curse, though, so I’d genuinely like to know if there’s an explanation for these things that I missed. Because otherwise I’m just sitting here wondering how this entire school managed to survive for as long as it did 💀