Talk:Episode 1 - Rough Sketch/@comment-6052796-20141203013522/@comment-397235-20141203034020

It's an interesting way to look at it. Kind of assumes Takako had more influence over Kouichi than she did (I'll buy it for Izumi since they genuinely seem to get along and I suspect it's not one hundred percent one-sided between them; Kouichi obviously, on some level, cared about them both, since he's the first person to try to help Takako when she started screaming, and sounds like he's about to lose it after her death).

Doesn't really work for this scene, though:

http://another.wikia.com/wiki/File:Eat_watermelon.gif

Or this one (unless you make the argument Tomohiko is a murderer due to his fixation on Yukari; I tend to see him as a selfish individual who would've been doing this anyway and just used her as an excuse):

http://another.wikia.com/wiki/File:Visit.jpg

Or this:

http://another.wikia.com/wiki/File:Listening_to_the_tape.jpg

Quite a bit can be made of this one, though:

http://another.wikia.com/wiki/File:Vlcsnap-2012-03-08-13h11m46s7.png

Myself, I've never been a big fan of symbolism in my writing. I just want to tell a story, but if I'm going to use anything, it's feelings.

The thing I've always liked about Another (and, to a much lesser extent given its generally over the top nature, High School of the Dead) is the pervading sense of loss. Some absolutely horrible has happened, and is still going on (even after the series ends) and no matter what, in the end, there's no escaping it. Tragedy is occurring, and there's this overwhelming sense of despair and inevitability to it. The part of me which sees Death as a Lovecraftian horror says this was the writers (and it's present in both the anime and manga) trying to show how much bigger it is than you are, and in the end there is no escape.