It’s pretty inevitable that if you write a young adult novel in Japan it will be made into a manga and then an anime. Thus is the case with Yukito Ayatsuji’s Another. Hell, there’s even a live action movie version of it. This time we’ll be looking at the manga since I already touched upon the novel here.
As with any adaptation the adapter needs to know what to keep and what to leave out/change. Artist Hiro Kiyohara actually manages to keep 95% of the original story. Since this is a manga that’s fine. A smart thing he did was to not include the many pages of narration from the book since manga and novel are two different mediums (something some comic writers fail to take into account.)
The changes that were made in the manga version are the inclusion of Izumi Akazawa’s story. While Akazawa was a side character in the novel, here we delve deeper into the character and how she feels. This is actually pretty interesting in that we get to see the emotions and reactions from other characters. Since the novel is written in the first person this tactic would not make sense (even though the interludes in the book were third person which I felt were pretty weak.)
Here’s a good question, though: Why Akazawa? For starters she does eventually become the class leader for the girls and two people she was close to do die. Also, the personality we’re shown is different than what she’s really like. If there is to be a spinoff of Another then she would be one of the likely candidates (Mei being the first.)
Another thing that changed (though slightly) is the ending. Two characters are omitted entirely in order to continue developing Akazawa’s arc. In a way this does not make much sense, but in another it’s probably for the best since these two characters seemed like Ayatsuji came up with them at the last second.
The art is pretty phenomenal. This manga shows that manga art can be subtle, nuanced and break boundaries. The characters are drawn pretty well and the background art is nice to look at. One thing that may go unnoticed to some is the symbolism in certain scenes. Hell, Mei’s eye patch is symbolic the characters only seeing half of what’s really there. The only time we find out who the casualty is is when Mei takes off the thing. Wrap your brains around that.
So as not to write another post about this title, I’ll come out with my feelings on the anime. It’s OK all around.The acting, the art even the added scenes (the beach episode) were nice. It was what drew me to read the novel so that’s a start. While it is a good place to start, I don’t really think it holds a candle to the novel or manga. For starters the death scenes are pretty drawn out and overly dramatic. The final episode writes a brand new ending where the characters flip out and attack each other. Again, the novel/manga versions did it much better. This is because this is just way too over the top and the deaths that happen just don’t make any sense.
So, if you’re a fan of the anime or the novel the manga version will not disappoint. It’s the closest thing to the novel, the added scenes with Akazawa are pretty nice and the art is phenomenal.
Categories: Comics
Tags: Another (manga), Another (manga) Review, comics, manga
Sanrock Reviews 