Loner-Turned-Friend: Mei is forced into complete isolation at school because everyone at her class ignores her presence as a countermeasure against the Calamity. Kouichi befriends her despite it being against the rules of the class. All of the Other Reindeer: Her role as ignored student makes her an enforced version of this, but even after her Unperson status is revoked, she’s treated with significant suspicion and disdain by most of the class as the perceived cause of the Calamity. The climatic witch hunt is ultimately the culmination of the class’ inability to trust or befriend a girl they’ve already decided to blame for their pain. More than thirty years ago, Misaki and Mei's mother, Mitsuyo Fujioka, was born with a twin sister named Yukiyo . They both became married and Mitsuyo became pregnant with twins. These twins were Misaki and Mei. Yukiyo also became pregnant, but she lost her baby, leaving her devastated. At that time, the Fujioka family was experiencing financial problems. Because of this and the fact that Yukiyo was still trying to cope with the loss, Misaki and Mei were separated at their birth, Mei was given to Yukiyo. Even though Kirika didn't allow Mei to see her sister and mother, Misaki and Mei were meeting each other secretly. After this, Misaki needed a kidney transplant. In the manga, Mei said that she wanted to donate one of her kidneys to Misaki, but she could not do so because the rules said that children below 15 years of age were not allowed to. In the end, the donor was their mother, Mitsuyo. The transplant was a success. This information is never revealed in the anime, since in the adaptation, Misaki had leukemia and died instead of needing a kidney transplant. Secret Secret-Keeper: She figures out who the "Extra" is sometime before the class trip, but doesn't want to say anything because revealing Reiko is actually dead would make Kouichi sad. She only reveals the secret when she decides she must kill Reiko before more students die.

Another (下)" (in Japanese). Kadokawa Shoten. Archived from the original on June 3, 2016 . Retrieved August 18, 2023. Cruel and Unusual Death: Strangling oneself to death due to some cables is not a nice way to go. Her death is notable for being the only one in the anime to get a Gory Discretion Shot. Quiet and more than a little mysterious, Mei is the strange girl that Kouichi meets one late night at the hospital. This encounter, as well as the strange circumstances surrounding her while at school, prompts Kouichi to try to get to know her. In the process, this gets him involved in uncovering the truth behind class 3-3's dark secret. Nephewism: She was adopted by her aunt Yukiyo's family due to the Fujioka family experiencing financial problems. Kazuma Akazawa - Akazawa's older brother. He was mentally unstable and committed suicide in the manga. He never appeared in the anime, he is just mentioned.Adapted Out: She doesn't appear in the manga, and the hikikomori brother is Izumi Akazawa's brother instead. Replacement Goldfish: Yukiyo made a doll which resembles Mei to create a duplicate of the child Yukiyo lost during her pregnancy. Berserk Button: Not following the rules is enough to earn Izumi's unending ire, although this is justified since the rules are her job and not following them gets people killed. Hurt someone she cares about ( like Takako or Kouichi), and she will very coldly beat you to death.

Another: Episode S/0" (in Japanese). Kadokawa Shoten. Archived from the original on June 16, 2016 . Retrieved July 20, 2013. Hate at First Sight: She has hated Mei since they first met, claiming to be annoyed by Mei's aloof attitude towards everything. The Gadfly: Mei's a Nice Girl, but she has her moments. During Kouichi's first meeting with her, she inadvertently makes him think she was a talking doll. When Teshigawara accuses her of being the extra student, she decides to mess with him and say that he could be the extra. When they look for the tape and talk about The Seven Mysteries, she jokingly confirms one. Adaptational Hairstyle Change: In the anime, her hair is tied in a ponytail at home and loose at school. In the manga, it's the reverse. Adaptational Villainy: Strange though it may seem for someone most closely the series' antagonist, but Izumi at least has standards in every depiction of her...except the film. When Tomohiko plays the tape explaining how to end the Calamity for her and Takako at the Inn, Takako finally stands up to Izumi (who has bullied her for most of the film) and refuses to kill anyone. Izumi's response is to stab her in the throat. Not because she might be the Extra; just because her best friend wouldn't help her instigate a witch hunt against their classmates.Ikuo Takabayashi never appeared in the manga, he is only mentioned. Also, Aya Ayano and Makoto Ouji are anime-only characters. They never appeared in the manga. Berserk Button: While never shown onscreen, she does not like Mei spending time with her cousin /twin sister Misaki or her aunt /biological mother Mitsuyo, in fear of Mei one day running away to her biological family. The manga really is a lot better than the anime version. From what I understand, this series was originally a novel that just got adapted into anime and manga for a wider audience. I vastly prefer the manga to the anime, for sure. tells Kouichi the truth about her and her cousin, Misaki Fujioka, who is actually her twin, and Kirika, who is actually her aunt, not mother. She tells Kouichi about how she can see things that should remain unseen, stating that she can distinguish the color of death by uncovering her left eye and determine whether something is alive or dead. She also says that the color of death is different from any color that she has ever seen, stating that it does not belong with colors such as red or blue. Kouichi asks who the dead one is. But when Mei is about to tell him who the dead person is, Teshigawara bursts into the room, interrupting, them, saying that he has done something terrible. Disney Villain Death: In the anime, as she tries to stab Mei with a knife, she slips off a window ledge and falls to her death.

In the manga continuity, Izumi is much more actively hostile toward Mei from the outset, jealous of her stoic acceptance of her role as the shunned student. Izumi was jealous of Mei's calm mien, especially given her own troubled home life and her inability to cope with it. She attempted to kill Mei in the kitchen at the inn, stabbing her in her glass eye. Mei, of course, survived this because of her artificial eye, but didn't retaliate, instead warning Izumi she'd better run, or risk being caught in the burning kitchen and killed. She dies in Episode 1 from the 9th gradC class 3-3 curse, being "the death of April", the first one who died because of the curse. Mei was delivering a present at the Yomiyama Hospital's morgue, a doll, Mei referred to her as "her other half" during her first meeting with Kouichi Sakakibara and later as her twin sister.She can be seen wearing the standard female uniform, but throughout the series she has been seen wearing various outfits, especially during her times with her twin sister. Another (上)" (in Japanese). Kadokawa Shoten. Archived from the original on June 3, 2016 . Retrieved August 18, 2023. Adoption Angst: Implied in the anime, but it's elaborated more in the manga. At two years old, Mei was adopted by her aunt Yukiyo after the latter had a stillbirth. While it's not that they don't get along, Mei knows Yukiyo never moved on from her stillbirth. Mei tells Kouichi that she's just another "doll" or "replacement" to her aunt since she cannot ever fill the void in her heart caused by the loss of her true child. This is going to be short and sweet. While I am a huge fan of Noizi Itou's artwork and character design in general, I must admit the end of this series was a huge let down. I was, naturally, captivated by the visceral and beautifully displayed fates with which the characters met and was immediately entranced by the lure of a ghost story. However, there were many plot "twists" hinted at through out the story, most of which seemed lazily unfinished. It almost made me feel that the authors had really no concrete plot line to begin with, and hoped the masses would be entranced Am I the only one who sees a problem here? There was no actual deducting or piecing together of the puzzle. All Mei had to do was convince Kouichi that his aunt was the Another (which went over far too easily by the way), and it was over. I'm not saying that all the deaths could've been avoided, but I'll be damned if Mei isn't partially to blame for sitting around doing all of nothing for the previous eleven episodes. This is in no way a mystery. The beginning of the series could be considered an infinitely better mystery than the latter half, as you really have no idea who or what Mei is and what role she actually plays in the story until half way through the fifth episode.

In the live action film, the two are much closer (as Kouichi isn't friends with Naoya, Yuuya, Tomohiko, or Izumi in this adaption). It is only Mei and Kouichi who find Matsunaga's tape, and later the two go speak to him directly to learn about the curse. When the class starts ignoring both of them, they often cut class together, running through the halls or wandering around town. Kouichi defends Mei at the inn from Izumi and Takako, which causes his bad lung to flare again, though Mei takes care of him. That night, Mei got a call from Kirika, who'd already discouraged her from hanging around "that boy" as she didn't need anyone else. Kirika insisted she was the only person who could protect Mei, but her daughter refused to accept this, telling her she'd met someone else who cared for her and neither needed nor particularly wanted Kirika's protection anymore. Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Her Witch Hunt against Mei just gets more people killed while ignoring more major problems and results in her own death. Ms. Mikami] (in Japanese). P.A. Works. Archived from the original on April 11, 2015 . Retrieved August 11, 2015.

Alternative Titles

He also manages to nearly kill Yuuya in the film. Bizarrely, Tomohiko takes a break from trying to help Takako not bleed to death to call him out for this when Naoya is not especially okay with Izumi trying to kill her.