Mei Misaki

"Death is not kind. It's dark, black as far as you can see, and you're all alone."

- Mei Misaki

Mei Misaki is the female protagonist of Another and a student of Class 3-3 in 1998. She was labeled by her classmates as "the one that does not exist."

Appearance


Mei is a Japanese student girl in Yomiyama North Middle School's Class 3-3. She has short, black, chin-length hair with long bangs and a ghostly complexion. Mei wears the school's standard uniform. Her left eye is covered by an eye patch and her right eye is reddish brown in the anime, and black in the original novel. Although in the anime her left eye is shown as green, it was originally blue in the novel/manga.

The reason behind her mismatched irises is her left is prosthetic; a doll's eye which, as Mei describes it, can see things best left unseen. The eye was a gift from her mother, who, after Mei lost her real eye due to disease when she was four, made her the glass eye; the eyes are a different color because Kirika felt matching eyes were boring. Mei, however, dislikes the dual shade and hides it behind her eye patch.

Personality
Mei was nice and initially a non-sociable person with a very quiet and solitary personality, not wanting to be around the other students and telling Kouichi to stay away from her, but as time goes on, she becomes accustomed to his presence and doesn't seem to mind having him around, and soon befriends him. She might have been devastated after her twin sister, Misaki, died and that's why she was so solitary. She also tells him to be careful, since 'it' (the curse) may have started already, indicating concern. Her hobby is drawing, and she is a member of the art club. Mei also dislikes cell phones, saying it disturbs her to be connected to other people at all times by electromagnetic waves.

In contrast to her typically taciturn behavior, she also has a childish side; as seen in Episode 8 of the anime, she spends time building a sandcastle and gets scared when an octopus sticks to her hand, leading her to think that it was going to eat her. Another childish side of her is shown when she wore the flower headpiece she found in the box in the old Class 3-3 room and making a joke about hearing moaning in the auxiliary library. These traits of her personality only appear in the anime, not in the original novel.

Background
Mei was originally conceived by Mitsuyo along with her twin Misaki until one day Kirika, Mitsuyo's twin sister, also became pregnant but miscarried leaving her devastated. At the same time, Mei's Family were experiencing financial problems. Because of this along with the fact that Yukiyo was still trying to cope with the loss of her unborn child, Mitsuyo gave Mei to her sister to raise her as her own daughter.

At some point in her elementary school years Mei learns that Misaki was her twin after her grandmother accidentally slips it out resulting Kirika having another mental break down one night Mei when found her "mother" crying and wanted to know the reason, to which Kirika tells her on that night that she was not allowed to meet her biological family, originating where Mei had a cellphone prior before the story began. Despite this, Mei secretly meets her twin sister, and also becomes close friends.

At some point in one and the half year before the calamity began Mei witness an unknown assailant who kills a young woman which she still remembers prior to the story.

Another


Mei first meets Kouichi in the hospital's elevator and tells him that she's going to the morgue since her lesser "other half" is waiting for her. She is later seen on the school roof sketching. Kouichi asks many questions and Mei implies that she hates being questioned. She is seen talking with him many times.

In Episode 3, when Kouichi had finished his test he went outside after seeing Mei leave the classroom. She tells him that she doesn't exist and that Kouichi may be the only one who can see her, leaving him shocked. At that time, Sakuragi runs out of the classroom, grabs her umbrella and runs towards Kouichi's direction. However, after seeing Mei she becomes frightened and runs in the other direction. She trips down the stairs and her neck is skewered by the aforementioned spear-like umbrella.

Kouichi meets her again in the doll store, where she warns him to be careful since "it" has started and disappears mysteriously soon after.

But in Episode 5, it is revealed that Mei Misaki really exists when Kouichi finds the class roster along with a sheet of paper written "Ask Mei Misaki about it" in it. Kouichi visits the doll store once again and Mei takes him up to her apartment through an elevator hidden behind a curtain. She asked Kouichi if he suspected her of being a ghost. Mei assures him she is alive and is positive she has not died. Since, "it" has started again, Mei tells him everything about the class curse, unknown reasons of the deaths, and the prevention measures of the class. Kouichi and Mei's relationship continues to develop to the point that he frequently comes to Mei's apartment and on one such occasion, he meets Kirika, Mei's mom, who she says only treats her like the other dolls in her house. Later on, she tells Kouichi that she will be going on a vacation to her beach house with her parents, so she won't be back for a week. When the others go to find information on the curse from a worker at a hotel by the beach named Matsunaga, Kouichi meets Mei there and they talk about her family. Mei tells him that her father doesn't come to Japan often and that they aren't really close, despite them being a family. While they talk, their hands touch as they build a sand castle, this seemingly is an unimpotant part to the story, but this detail shows how Mei and Kouichi's relationship is progressing. After, it is decided there should be a contest to see who can catch the most ingredients to make lunch. Mei shows Kouichi a starfish and a pufferfish, but he tells her that they aren't edible until she finds an octopus, which latches onto her. This scares her and she tells Kouichi to get it off of her. They look at their findings and show them to Reiko, who, after a long deliberation, declares a draw. Matsunaga later finds them, but tells them that he can't remember anything except for someone possibly dying in the mountains on the class trip to the shrine. Suddenly, a strong breeze comes and blows a beachball out far into the ocean. Nakao says he will go get it, swimming out to retrieve the lost plastic item. But when the ball appears just to be within reach, he stops moving, just floating out in the ocean. Kouichi and Matsunaga swim out to save him, only to witness his body being sliced by an oncoming motorboat. Mei stands by Akazawa on the beach in shock. In Episode 9, Mei is walking along with Kouichi behind Chibiki who asks them about the behaviour of Nakao the day he died. Kouichi and the others mention tha he was suffereing from car sickness, and that he was unable to swim straight when retreiving the beach ball. After Chibiki clarifies them that the reason why Nakao died had originated in Yomiyama itself, they leave. Later on, when Kouichi along with Teshigawara enter the art club to search for a clue Matsunaga mentioned, they find Mei painting. Yuuya comes hurriedly into the club room which prompts her to ask them why they all were there. Finally, the trio answers her and she tags along with them. They reach the floor of the abandoned 9th grade class rooms. They reach the class 3 section of the hall and search for the clue Matsunaga had left during his class of 1983. While gossiping with each other, Mei tries to open a window to get fresh air.

A big fragment of glass starts to fall, but Kouichi grabs her before she is impaled by a shard of glass. Kouichi finds the tape, and the group goes to the AV room to find a tape recorder.

In Episode 10, Mei invites Kouichi into her room at the inn they are staying at during the school trip to the shrine in the mountains to see the graduation photo where Yomiyama Misaki appeared. Mei 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.



In Episode 11, Teshigawara admits to Kouichi and Mei that he thinks he might have killed Kazami by accidentally pushing him off the balcony while they were fighting. Kouichi tells Mei and Teshigawara to go check and see if he is still alive. When they reach the hall, Kouichi noticed the something odd about the dining room door and walks toward it. He finds Manabu, who was badly injured and discovers that the dining room is on fire with the manager dead inside. They hear Takako's scream and go up to her room to rescue her. Takako was gone and later appears with a knife, trying to kill Mei. Kouichi protects her and Takako flees the scene. She plays the tape over the intercom, and tells the students that Mei Misaki is the dead one. This prompts everyone into going on a manhunt to find Mei, forcing Kouichi to protect her. They are pursued by the class, and they tried to escape through the window when Yumi Ogura found them. Yumi follows Mei and Kouichi out the window. She slashes at Mei but Kouichi pulls her out of the way; Yumi slips and falls off of the window sill and falls to her death. In the last episode finale, Takako appears again with her knife, ready to kill Mei, believing she will free her remaining classmates from the curse. Takako stabs Kouichi and charges towards Mei, attempting to kill her. Mei dodges Takako's attack, causing her to become entangled in loose wiring connected to the ceiling. Takako's violent struggle to free herself causes the wires to pull on a loose support beam, which ripped through the wires and pulled Takako up, and strangling her to death. Mei is shocked when Takako is hung up in front of her. Izumi arrives, witnessing the scene and assumes that Misaki had killed her, since she was holding her knife in her hand. She then snaps, and says she's going to kill Mei, prompting Mei to run up the steps as more of the ceiling collapse, separating her from Kouichi and Izumi.



In Episode 12, Kouichi and a few other survivors run out of the burning building. However he runs back into the burning building to search for Mei once he realises she's missing. He runs up the stairs and discovers that Izumi has cornered Mei on the other side of the floor. As Izumi attempts to kill Mei, Kouichi manages to stop her in time. The entire platform collapses causing them to fall to the bottom floor.When Izumi finally gets a hold of Mei  she attempts to kill her but is stopped by Kouichi, but at that moment, lightning strikes. The lightning shatters the hall's giant window, and large glass shards are sent flying towards them. Izumi ends up being skewered against the wall by the glass shards. Kouichi is shocked, he runs and removes her from the wall. Mei disappears as Izumi tells Kouichi about her memory of their meeting before she dies. Kouichi then calls Mei's cell phone trying to locate her amongst the rubble of the decimated building. She tells him that she is in the backyard and that he shouldn't come saying that he'll regret it. Kouichi goes to her anyway, ignoring her warning. He finds her with a pickaxe next to a fallen tree and hears sounds coming from underneath. He tries to help the person underneath only for Mei to stop him. The

person struggles under the fallen pile of lumber and it is revealed to be Ms. Mikami, Kouichi's aunt Reiko. Mei then reveals that Ms. Mikami as the deceased person. Kouichi is in disbelief, but Mei explains that she remembers witnessing Ms. Mikami being assaulted and thrown in the river, resulting in her drowning, one and a half years ago. She also points out that their class was the only one to have an Assistant Homeroom teacher and that they actually had the correct amount of seats this year and the missing seat actually being in the faculty room. Mei's explanation causes him to finally believe her and he decides to send Reiko back to death himself. They are later seen at the Mikami family grave together on a sunny, warm day. The grave lists both Ritsuko, Kouichi's mother, and Reiko as deceased. Kouichi and Mei then talk about how they are the only ones to remember Mikami-sensei. They are also the only ones able to see her in the photo they took outside of the inn. Kouichi and Mei walk together, Kouichi asking why she doesn't answer her phone when he calls. Mei tells him that after the incident at the inn she threw her phone into the river because she hates those devices. She also mentions that her mother will without a doubt get her a new cell phone soon. Kouichi then asks if he may call her sometimes when she gets her new phone. She smiles and replies, "Sure." Then Kouchi asks if it is all over, with all the sensless death and Mei responds with a reassuring smile.

Another OVA
She appears in Episode 0 and meets Misaki in secret. They often talked about their family situation and did several activities together (i.e. changing clothes, eating ice cream, or showering) they even sleep in the same bed. Without her eye patch Mei sees the color of death on Misaki; wondering why, when they go to the amusement park she is overprotective. They ride the ferris wheel and talk. A bird suddenly crashes into the glass killing itself and shocking Misaki who stumbles towards the door which suddenly breaks open. Misaki falls but Mei catches her but cannot pull her back up. Mei is devastated and is forced to watch as her sister falls. However the drop wasn't far and Misaki landed on her feet surprising them both; she later explains that despite almost dying today was a good day. After doing some more activities the twins disband but upon leaving Mei watches Misaki collapse. They are later seen at a hospital and Misaki appears to be fine; she explains that she has leukemia and that it is treatable. Mei says that if she needs an organ donor that she is there for her, but later on Misaki unexpectedly dies. Mei is devasted and attempts to take out her artificial eye, but doesn't. She later goes to the hospital and meets Kouichi Sakakibara, leading to the events of Episode 1. Before Misaki died, she asked for her birthday a doll, explaining why Mei had a doll and was going to the morgue.

Gallery
Main article: Mei Misaki/Image Gallery

Kouichi Sakakibara
Early in the series, she tells Kouichi to stay away from her, but as time goes on she becomes more used to him, because he would always try to speak to her. She tells him to be careful of the curse, indicating concern. Their relationship evolved when Kouichi became a non-existent student like her. She invited him to her house and even offered to walk him home. They spent a lot of time together, walk home together, and often have lunch together. She grows to trust Kouichi to greater extent and confides in him about her family, acknowledging her disdain for her mother and admitting Misaki was her twin sister, as well as her devastation at Misaki's death. Later in the series, Mei is also shown to smile the most often when Kouichi is around, adding that she sees him as a close individual to her. At the end of the series, Kouichi asked if he could call Mei over the break, to which she replied yes, implying the two will remain friends. 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, 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 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.

Later on, she protects him from Mizuno, who blamed Kouichi for his sister's death. However, when Mei attempted to kill Reiko, Kouichi at first was unwilling to accept this as necessary, accusing Mei of lying. At the climax of the film, Mei saw Death leaching out of Reiko and onto Kouichi. Realizing her best friend was about to die, Mei begged Kouichi to let his aunt fall, as it was the only way to break the curse. Reiko concurred, and the two escaped the inn. However, the trauma of this caused Kouichi's lung to collapse a second time just as they got outside, and he fell to ground. Mei was horrified, kneeling beside her friend and screaming his name, fearing she'd been too late.

Kouichi, of course, survived, and Mei later went to see him at the hospital, explaining no one remembered Reiko anymore. She later came to see Kouichi off when he and his grandmother left Yomiyama. Their goodbye is much sadder in the film, as though Kouichi got permission from Mei to call her, the two said "Sayonara," which is usually reserved for permanent farewells. The last thing Kouichi saw was his friend standing in the road, waving good bye.

In the manga, Mei has a unique way of saying Kouichi's name, slowly and enunciating each syllable.

Misaki Fujioka
Mei and her twin sister were best friends. They met in secret and were often found together. They talked to each other a lot, told each other secrets, bathed together, dressed the same way, etc. Mei was very attached to Misaki, even if Yukiyo didn't allow Mei to see her. Mei was afraid of losing Misaki when she saw the color of death on her one night, and was overprotective of her until she died. After Misaki's death, Mei was angry, upset and devastated as she lost her best friend and twin sister.

Yukiyo Misaki
Mei and Yukiyo have a cold relationship, as seen and claimed by Kouichi. Mei claims Yukiyo doesn't care about her or what she does, allowing her to freely skip class and often forgetting even basic things such as packing her lunch. Mei felt Yukiyo treated her more like one of her dolls than her living daughter.

In the film, their relationship is considerably worse, as Kirika constantly discouraged Mei from socializing with her classmates, telling her she didn't need friends, and she shouldn't explain about her eye as people would judge her for it. During the climax at the Inn in the movie, Mei calls Kirika to finally tell her off and tell her she'd found someone else that cares about her.

Izumi Akazawa
Mei seemed indifferent to Akazawa and vice versa in the beginning. However throughout the series, whenever Misaki is around Kouichi, Izumi glares at her in a spiteful manner, especially after many of the death scenes. It all comes to a head in episode 10 when Izumi demands that Mei apologize for her percieved part of the calamity, despite Kouichi's, Teshigawara's, and Mochizuki's protests.

Though she wasn't one of the students who initially sought out Mei following Takako's broadcast, Izumi became actively hostile following Takako's death, as she thought Mei had deliberately killed her. Izumi became more bitter and violent following her friend's death, even attacking Kouichi when he attempted to protect Mei (something Takako had implied she wasn't capable of). However, Mei was still remorseful and surprised upon Izumi's death, watching sadly as her classmate bled out in front of her.

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.

In the live action film, Mei and Izumi don't have much screen time together (as Izumi is a minor character). Izumi knows where Mei lives, however, as she and Takako trail Kouichi to her mother's art studio, and are appalled when they realize where they are. Izumi singles Mei out for blame at the inn, demanding she apologize for all the deaths she's caused. Later on, Izumi learns how to break the curse from Tomohiko, which leads her to stab Takako in the throat, believing she was the extra. Mei and Naoya, who were trying to escape the inn, immediately find them, but are unable to help her as Izumi and Tomohiko confront them next. Tomohiko accuses Naoya of killing Yuuya, which causes him to panic and flee out a window, only to become entangled in a loose wire and electrocuted. Seeing this, Izumi decides Mei is the extra and attacks her next, forcing her to flee the inn. Chasing her through the forest outside, Izumi is decapitated when she runs into a taut mooring cable. Mei sees this, and even though her death was her own fault, is still visibly traumatized by it.

Takako Sugiura
Though the two didn't interact very often, Takako thought she remembered Mei from when she was younger, not realizing it was her twin sister Misaki she'd known. As more and more of her classmates (especially Junta) were killed by the curse, Takako became increasingly unstable, bordering on psychosis. Upon listening to the tape with Izumi, Takako drew the wrong conclusion: Mei was the "other" but had come back incomplete, not realizing Mei had lost her eye when she was four. Takako confronted Mei and Izumi in the main hall, but was disarmed by Kouichi and forced to retreat. This she did, broadcasting the tape to the other students and telling them killing Mei would break the curse.

Mei encountered Takako a second time in a partially collapsed stairwell. After stabbing Kouichi in the arm and immobilizing him, Takako, now completely over the edge, attempted to kill Mei a second time, only to become entangled in a spool of exposed electrical cables and strangle herself. Mei watched in shock as Takako gasped out her last breaths. Despite having nearly been killed less the five seconds before, Mei was horrified by the violence of her death.

Immediately thereafter, Izumi, who had been looking for Takako to try and calm her down, instead encountered Mei with her dead body. Misunderstanding the situation, Izumi vowed to kill Mei in revenge.

In the manga, Takako has a much smaller role, and vastly different personality. Though she ignored Mei with the rest of her class, once it became clear this hadn't worked, Takako was the first student to welcome Mei back into the fold, a fact which irritated Kouichi, who felt the class was pretending nothing had happened. When Izumi confronted Mei in front of the entire class at the inn, Takako was the only student who sided with her, though she was clearly embarrassed and stopped short of accusing Mei of being responsible for the deaths plaguing class 3-3 to this point. Although the two didn't speak much, this suggests they were on much more friendly terms in that adaption.

In the live action film, Takako was originally selected to be the extra, but immediately broke down as she couldn't handle it. Mei volunteered to take her place, as she didn't mind being ignored. Takako confronted Mei and Kouichi at the inn with Izumi, saying she felt it was all their fault (even though moments before she'd been trying to sit by them, only to be told not to be Izumi). However, once the girls learned how to break the curse, Takako was against killing anyone, including the people she held responsible. Unfortunately for her, this angered Izumi, who stabbed her in the throat and left her to bleed to death on the floor. Mei encountered her again when she and Naoya were trying to escape the inn, but was unable to help her as Izumi attacked her first.

Reiko Mikami
Mei hadn't known Reiko before the start of her tenure in Class 3-3, but had seen her death the previous year. While she forgot this due to the curse, it still probably severely impacted her own mental well being. Due to Reiko being the class's assistant homeroom teacher, she ignored Mei alongside the rest of the class, though because she kept her work and personal lives separate, she could acknowledge Mei outside of school, though the two only appeared together in this context in episode 8.

In "Makeup", Mikami attempted to protect Mei when Takako turned the rest of the class against her, getting knocked out in the process. Eventually, however, Mei realized Reiko was the extra and needed to be killed. Knowing this would devestate Kouichi, Mei abandoned him and a dying Izumi to do the deed herself, telling Kouichi not to follow her as it would only cause him more pain.

Kouichi ignored her and followed Mei outside, where they found Reiko pinned underneath some rubble. Mei explained the situation, but a confused and badly injured Reiko denied it, accusing Mei of lying. Heartbroken, Kouichi chose to believe Mei and, taking the pickaxe Mei had been carrying, performed the deed himself.

In the manga, the two meet at Kouichi's house, but don't talk much. Mei realized she was the dead person at the inn, but unlike in the anime hadn't seen her death. She was still able to persuade Kouichi to kill his aunt.

In the live action film, the two have a lot more screen time together. Reiko tried to talk Chibiki out of ignoring a student on the first day of school, seeing how much it had traumatized Takako, but Mei volunteered to take her place. After Kubdera's death, Reiko took over as head teacher, and brought her nephew and Mei back into class, publicly acknowledging them and explaining the countermeasures had failed. Later on, Mei commented to Kouichi that Mikami-sensei resembled him, in her determination and nature. Kouichi explained that she was his aunt, to which Mei replied she'd noticed he had a special way of looking at her, implying she realized he saw her as a surrogate mother.

Once Mei realized Reiko was the dead one, she attempted to kill her at the inn, only to be stopped by Chibiki, who wanted answers regarding the curse he believed he'd started. Mei saw Death leap from Reiko to Chibiki, causing him to fall off a ledge into the burning inn. She was horrified when it began to latch onto Kouichi, who was trying to save his aunt from falling, and begged him to trust her and let her fall. Reiko herself, at this point, had realized she was the extra, and concurred, telling Kouichi he'd have to let her go. Devastated, Kouichi did so, allowing his aunt to die and breaking the curse for 1998.

Quotes

 * "It doesn't matter how many relationships we seem to have. We're all alone."
 * "It's sad when people die."
 * "Goodbye, Sa-ka-ki-ba-ra-kun."
 *  I don't dislike rain. My favourite is the cold rain that falls in midwinter, just before it turns into snow."''
 * "How does it feel to not exist?"
 * "Good luck, Sakakibara."
 * "Trust me."
 * “Dolls are hollow, you see? Completely hollow in body and soul. That void connects them with death.   But hollow things seek to fill their emptiness.” 
 * "That's so cute! Did you think I was a ghost?"
 * "Move out of the way Sakakibara"
 * "Who is the dead one?"

Trivia

 * She is ranked S (Superior; highest ranking) in the Another character rankings. This ranking was only given to her, meaning the fanbase finds her the most good-looking character from the series.
 * Her first name, Mei, is written with the same character for "to cry","to sing", and "to scream." It is also the name of a Japanese ornamental tree with fragrant white or pink blossoms and small yellow fruits.
 * Her home address is 4-4 Misakicho Yomiyama City.
 * Her name, Misaki, is the same as Misaki. But the "Misaki" in "Mei Misaki" is a surname, and the "Misaki" in "Misaki Fujioka" is a given name. This confused Takako, who knew Misaki but misremembered and thought she'd known Mei.
 * Her birth name was "Mei Fujioka" before being adopted by Yukiyo. The reason Mei was given to Yukiyo is because of her name. If Misaki Fujioka was given to the Misakis, her name would be "Misaki Misaki."
 * Mei is the shortest person of class 3-3.
 * Mei and Misaki started to see each other in the fifth years of elementary school, when Mei finds out she's actually Mitsuyo's daughter.