Another (novel)

Another is a Japanese mystery horror novel by Yukito Ayatsuji, published on October 29, 2009, by Kadokawa Shoten. The series, set in the fictionalized version of Toyama Prefecture between 1972 and 1998, focuses on a boy named Kōichi Sakakibara who, upon transferring into Yomiyama Middle School and meeting a mysterious girl named Mei Misaki, finds himself in a mystery revolving around students and people related to his class falling victim to gruesome, senseless deaths.

A manga adaptation by Hiro Kiyohara was serialized between May 2010 and January 2012 in the issues of Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace. Both the novel and the manga have been licensed in North America by Yen Press. A 12-episode anime television series produced by P.A. Works aired in Japan between January 10 and March 27, 2012, with an original video animation episode released on May 26, 2012, and a live-action film of the same name was released in Japanese theaters on August 4, 2012.

Plot

In 1972, Misaki, a popular student of Yomiyama North Middle School's class 3-3, suddenly died partway through the school year. Devastated by the loss, the students and teacher of class 3-3 continued to behave as though Misaki was still alive, leading to a strange presence shown within the graduation photo. In Spring 1998, Kōichi Sakakibara transfers into Yomiyama's class 3-3, where he meets Mei Misaki, a quiet student whom their classmates as well as the teacher seemingly ignore. The class is soon caught up in a strange phenomenon, in which students and their relatives begin to die in often peculiarly gruesome ways. Realizing that these deaths are related to the long deceased "Misaki of 1972", a yearly calamity that has struck most every class 3-3 since 1972, Kōichi and Mei seek to figure out how to stop it before it kills anymore of their classmates or them.