Another (Reason My Therapist Needs a Raise)

Before I give my short version of the review I will say this:  This show will get graphic and violent.  If you're faint of heart go ahead and give it a pass.  If you've watched any Game of Thrones or anything like it you're probably already cold on the inside like I am so just go ahead and jump in.  The water's fine, its just got some blood in it from one thing that happened or another.

The short:

Another is a mystery horror Anime that follows transfer student Koichi Sakakibara who transfers to a new school and is introduced a curious girl named Mei Misaki.  The class he's transferred to has a mystery currently going on that could mean life or death for all the students and you'll follow along with Koichi as he tries to figure out what the heck is going on.

It has a great atmosphere, due a large part to amazing audio and very good animation.  It isn't a work of art, but I definitely enjoyed it and its worth giving a shot if you're looking for something to watch.  You can find it streaming here on Crunchyroll.  You can go straight to Episode 1 here.  Happy viewing!

The long:

If it wasn't going for such a serious tone, Another should add a subtitle.  Another One Bites the Dust.  Then again, making a halfway decent horror Anime has to be hard enough as it is without Queen's lawyers coming at you for a lawsuit.

Either that or Another Reason Not to Sleep.  Yeah that one could work.

As I mentioned before Another is a horror Anime. Well it's specifically a mystery horror Anime based on a Japanese mytery horror novel by Yukito Ayatsuji published on October 29, 2009.  The novel is about a boy named Kōichi Sakakibara who transfers to a new school and meets Mei Misaki who, along with the rest of his new classmates, are knee deep in a murder mystery that you could tell me Stephen King wrote the premise of and I'd believe.

The front cover of the Another novel.  Image from Wikipedia

I bring up King because this Anime gives me the same vibe his horror books give off, which is a heavy as hell atmosphere that just keeps you on edge.  The dark visuals and just how dirty everything looks is only what starts to create this atmosphere.  What really puts on the nice "I'm getting three hours of nightmares tonight" touch is the audio.  The music is always foreboding and the sound design can make you jump.  I watched this in a dark room with a stereo headset on and... why did I do that?

As for the plot, it has enough twists and turns in it to keep you guessing and engaged through the entire 12 episode run leading up to a pretty bloody finale.  Following the trope of having a transfer student introduced to a new school, town and basically a new world allows us to be introduced to things as the main character is.  While I'm getting kind of bored of that trope, it works very well for a mystery plot.

Lack of information is actually a key part of the plot, I found myself getting upset every time someone was about to explain what the heck was going on to Koichi but then would stop because "reasons."  While its kind of a cheap tactic I started feeling the desperate need for answers that he was looking for and it really immersed me in the world.

This show's pie meme game is on point, another plus.

Any mystery story is going to have its share of plot twists and attempts at keeping you guessing.  A lot of the twists I was able to call beforehand, and to be fair the signs of something about to happen weren't usually sudden.  That did make the twists you weren't able to see all that more jarring though and overall it made the experience better.

Broaching the horror tropes of this show, this story definitely has its fair share of people being stupid for the purpose of making things worse.  However, I could see a group of kids in middle school making a lot of these mistakes, especially in the extreme situations they were put in.  There is a supernatural element to the story, but unlike other Anime it isn't really shoved down your throat.  Think of this story taking place in our reality, with our reality's rules, but some weird mumbo jumbo goes on in one classroom.

Unlike a lot of my reviews I'm not going to spoil anything.  A key part to enjoying this show is trying to figure out what is going on and guessing what's going to happen next.  If you're wanting to discuss it feel free to hit me up on Twitter.

Like most of my reviews this show is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll.  The first few episodes may be annoying as not much is explained, however they do give you enough to go into to want to watch more and you will get answers.  You can watch it here!

This scene, which I saw out of context, is why I was interested in the show.

Well that's all for now, at least until another anime compels me enough to mention it on my modest little blog.

Stay tuned for the next episode of "I'm Writing This to Avoid Sleeping." Sweet dreams everyone.

P̶l̶a̶s̶t̶i̶c̶ Painful Memories - How to Feel Sadhappy

Image from Hulu.com

The short:

After finishing Plastic Memories I'm emotionally exhausted.  It may be the resonance with personal events from last week, but while this show made me cry like a baby I had a smile on my face the whole time.  It suffers from a lot of Anime stereotypes, but refuses to ever give in fully to them.  The setting is really interesting, something I actually wish they touched a bit more on, but the characters themselves are interesting enough it doesn't bother you as much as it could.

My final verdict: Watch it, but be wary of the feels.  If you don't have tissues or someone to give you a hug afterwards be warned.

You can find the series on Crunchyroll here.  You can go straight to episode 1 here.

The long:

I had to put my dog Lucky down a week and a day ago.  He was a beloved childhood friend to me and helped me get through a lot of rough patches while I was growing up.  He was either 13 or 14, we aren't 100% sure which, and was really showing it at the end.  Still, I don't think I've ever met a creature more loyal in my life and honestly wonder if I ever will again.  The decision to put him down was the hardest decision I've had to make in my life and I'm still haunted by the scene at the vets when he passed on.  Some things you can never really prepare for.

I know this is a heavy pretext, but there's a reason I'm bringing this up.  Last week I sunk back into a depression I had been climbing out of for a while.  Not all the way back into it thankfully, but it was more steps backwards then I liked.  As one does when you get this depressed you look for an escape, and nothing is better for a depressed escapist than binge watching some shows.

I had exhausted my Netflix list and decided to give Crunchyroll a whirl again.  For those who don't know, Crunchyroll is an anime streaming service that has a pretty amazing collection with a lot of quality shows.  You can watch all but the most recently aired episodes of anime for free in standard quality with ads or you can pay around $6 a month for a premium membership to watch new anime as it comes out in Japan and in high quality.  I had a two week free premium since I had last used Crunchyroll and decided I would take those two weeks and watch as much anime as I could.

In about a week I think I've watched around 7 full series of Anime.  Some good ones off the top of my head were Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, PUNCH LINE! and GATE.  GATE is still airing at the time of this writing.  I hit a point where I had watched most of the anime I had found on my own and went online to find suggestions.  One I had found was a little anime called Plastic Memories.

The non spoiler summary that I found on Kotaku's "Five Must-Watch Anime for Spring 2015" states "In the future, Androids with human thoughts and emotions are commonplace and are largely indistinguishable from humans. Yet, there is one major difference between humans and Androids: Androids break down and lose their memories after a mere nine years.  Plastic Memories is the story of the people tasked with recovering the Androids in their final days and facilitating some sort of closure between the Androids and their human loved ones."

I skimmed a few lines from it and quickly put Plastic Memories in my Crunchyroll que to watch later.  I missed some important lines.  The biggest one I missed was "Androids break down and lose their memories after a mere nine years."  It was kind of ridiculous to miss such an important part, but I was really looking at the recommended anime and deciding to just take a look if people thought it was good enough.

There will be spoilers starting below!  I won't go overboard, but if you want nothing too big given away and are interested in the show click this warning to watch episode one.  You have been warned!

The first episode holds no punches.  I don't think I've ever cried on the first episode of anything ever.  I can't say that anymore.  You're introduced with our main character, Tsukasa Mizugaki who has failed out of school due to appendicitis (trust me, that's rough) and gets a job through his father's connections at the SAI Corporation.  The SAI Corporation is the makers of the basically human androids know as Giftia and Tsukasa's joins the SAI Corporation's terminal department.  The job of the terminal department is to go and pick up Giftia's that have reached the end of their 9 year life spans.

 

The terminal service picking up a Giftia.  Image from Kotaku.

Imagine knowing exactly when you're going to die.  It isn't a secret to Giftias and the terminal department, while never really portrayed this way, is basically the reaper knocking at the door.  It isn't an easy job and the show knocks it out of the park just how hard this is on the members of the terminal department, as well as the Giftias and their owner.  

Now you may also see why I brought up having to put Lucky down a week ago.  To lose a Giftia is a few steps up from losing a pet.  Its a similar process in that you know you'll outlive them and you have a rough idea of when the date is.

But wait, there's more.  In the terminal department members are broken up into teams.  One human and one giftia, a spotter and a marksman.  Tsukasa's job in the terminal department was a rushed deal, so they haven't made full preparations for him and he is teamed up with a Giftia named Isla who had been serving tea at the office before this, even though she is known as a veteran. 

Tsukasa and Isla on the job.  Image from Commie Subs.

Holy mother of spoillers coming up, I'm just gonna lay it all on the line!  DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN WATCHING THE SHOW!

You read the warning, right?  Seriously?  You did.  All right.

Tsukasa actually meets Isla a little before he joins the terminal department while he's riding an elevator.  He immediately says that it was "Love at first sight."   Things happen, a lot of things and Tsukasa and Isla become close.  At they start getting closer and warming up to each other we find out that Isla only has a month and some change left before her expiration date. 

There's a lot of dealing with mortality in this anime, but it does it in a way that I was really ready for.  Instead of wallowing in  Isla's condition Tsukasa focuses on making as many good memories as he can with her.  So they do, and honestly the two are so cute together that it makes a grown ass man question why he finds it so cute.  Still, it was a reason why an anime with such a sad premise had me smiling like a goofball for most of its episodes.

I won't spoil too much about the ending, but you already know what's going to happen.  You already know that its going to hurt.  I'll be honest, I was tempted to just not watch the last episode.  When I did watch it I had another first for anime.  I sat and cried with a big ass smile on my face.

All things come to an end, that is just the way of the world.  To rage and ask why doesn't help us after the fact.  The only thing we can do now is enjoy things while we have them and remember them fondly.  I never thought it would, but this anime really did help with me dealing with losing Lucky.  It isn't fair to those we have lost to lose ourselves because of them, because if you really felt anything for them and they really felt anything for you they wouldn't want that.  So live and make more memories.

We're all stories in the end.  Let's make it a good one, ay?