Mei Misaki

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

- Mei Misaki

Mei Misaki is one of the main protagonists of Another. She was labeled by her classmates as "the one that does not exist." Mei has both a red right eye and a green left doll's eye. Also, she is a student of Class 3-3 in 1998.

Personality
Mei possesses a very quiet and solitary personality; at first, she tells 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.She also tells him to be careful, since 'it' (the curse) may have started already, indicating concern. Her hobbies include drawing, and Mei was a member of the art club.

In contrast to her typically taciturn behavior, she is the bearer of 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 the original novel.

Appearance
Mei is an isolated girl in Yomiyama North Middle School's Class 3-3. She has a short, chin-length haircut with long bangs and a ghostly complexion. Mei wears the school's standard uniform. In the manga, her hair is also black but her right eye is black. Her left eye is covered by an eye patch and her right eye is red. Although in the anime her left eye is shown as green, it was originally blue in the novel/manga. In episode 3, it is revealed that her left eye is actually an artificial eye, and she says that she keeps it hidden since she can see things with it that "aren't supposed to be seen." In episode 6, the mystery behind her green eye is finally revealed. She mentions to Kouichi that she had a disease when she was about 4 years old and it was so severe that she lost her left eye. Her mother made her a new eye of green color saying that the same shade would be boring. The reason she uses an eyepatch is that she dislikes that dual shade and hence decided to hide it.

History
More than thirty years ago, Mei's "mother", Yukiyo,

was born with her twin, named Mitsuyo. They both became married and her twin sister was soon pregnant with twins. This twins are Mei and Misaki. Kirika also became pregnant with twins, but she lost her pregnancy, leaving her devastated. At that time, the Fujioka family was experiencing financial problems. Because of this and the fact that Kirika was still trying to cope with the loss, Mei was given to her. Mei says that Kirika might have wanted to keep this a secret forever, but her great-aunt accidently made it slip. In the manga, Mei, when she was a child caught her "mother" crying, asking "why?". Her aunt didn't allow Mei to see her real mother. Yukiyo also got paranoid and bought Mei a telephone to be sure that she doesn't meet Mitsuyo. But Mei was secretly met with Misaki. After this, Misaki died in April because of the 9th grade class 3-3 curse. In manga, Mei said that she wanted to donate one of her kidney to Misaki, but she can't because the rules said that children below 15 years of age are not allowed to.

Another
Mei first meets Kouichi in the hospital's elevator and tells him that she's going to the morgue since her poor "other self" is waiting for her. She is later seen on the school roof sketching, Kouichi asked many questions and Mei implies that she hates being questioned. She is seen talking with him a variety of times. In Episode 3, when Kouichi was finished with his test he went outside and saw Mei there. 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 and grabs her umbrella and runs towards Kouichi's direction. However, she looks in fear and runs in the opposite direction. She ran down the stairs but she fell to death when the umbrella pierced her neck.

Kouichi meets her again in the doll store, where she tells him to be careful since "it" has started and disappears 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 studio and then Mei takes him up to her house through an elevator hidden behind the curtain. She asked Kouichi whether he suspected that if she was a ghost. Then assures him with saying that she is alive and is sure that she hasn't died. Since, "it" has started again, Mei tells everything about the class' curse, unknown reasons of the deaths & the prevention of the deaths of the students & their families. Kouichi and Mei's relationship continues to develop to the point that he frequently comes to Mei's house 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 with her parents, so she won't be back for a week. When the others go to find information on the curse, 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. After, everyone decides to get ingredients to eat and they split up into groups. Mei shows Kouichi different types of seafood, but Kouichi tells her that they aren't edible until she finds a squid, which latches onto her. She becomes scared and tells Kouichi to take it off. After they look at their findings and shows Reiko them, and she tells them it's a draw. They then find Matsunaga, who tells them that he can't remember anything, but he thinks someone died on the mountain when they went to the shrine. Suddenly, a strong breeze comes and blows the ball the others were playing volley ball with out far into the ocean.Nakao said he was going to get it, leaving everyone waiting nervously for him to return. However, he ends up drowning and Kouichi and Matsunaga out to save him, which proves to be futile as a boat comes and cuts Nakao's body up, turning the water red. Mei stands by Akazawa in shock.

In Episode 9, Mei is walking along with Kouichi behindChibiki who asks them about the behaviour of Nakao the day he died. First, Kouichi answered him then Mei mentioned that he wasn't walking straight. 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, they find Mei painting. She asks them what they were doing, just then, Yuuya comes hurriedly into the club room which prompts her to ask them why they all were there. Finally, the trio answers her & she tags along with them. They reach the floor where there are the abandoned 9th grade sections. She enters the barricated area first before which Teshigawara again comments that Misaki is really weird. They reach the class 3 section where they start searching for the clue Matsunaga had left during his session of 1983. While gossiping with each other, Mei tries to open a window to get fresh air.

Just then, a big fragment of glass pane starts to fall upon her. Luckily, she was saved by Kouichi who pulls her before the glass could hurt her. She joins the others in the AV Room where they listen to the tape they found.

In Episode 10, Mei invites Kouichi into her room to see the graduation photo where Yomiyama Misaki appeared. After that, Mei starts to tell Kouichi the truth about her and her cousin, Misaki Fujioka, who is actually her sister, and about Kirika, who is actually her aunt, not mother. Later Mei tells Kouichi about how she can see things that should remain unseen. She states that she can distinguish the color of death by looking out her left eye and determine whether something is alive or dead. She also states that the color is different from any color that she has ever seen. Then Kouichi asks her who's the dead one. When Mei was about to tell Kouichi who's the dead person, Teshigawara opens the door with a teriffied look, saying that he has done something horibble. In Episode 11, Teshigawara admits to Kouichi, and Mei, that he thinks he might have killed Kazami, by accidentally pushing him off the balcony. Kouichi tells Mei and Teshigawara to go check and see if Kazami is still alive. When they reached the hall, Kouichi noticed the dining room door and went to check it. He then found Manabu, who was badly injured. After a while, they heard Takako's scream and they went up the room to check it. Takako was gone and she later appeared with a blade and tried to kill Mei. Kouichi protected Mei and Takako fled the scene. Later, Takako plays the tape over the intercom, and tells everyone that Mei Misaki is the dead one. This prompts everyone into going on a manhunt to find Mei, and Kouichi into protecting her. They are pursued by the class, and they tried to escape through the window when Yumi Ogura found them. Yumi followed Mei and Kouichi out of the window and just as Yumi slashed at Mei, Kouichi quickly pulled Mei out of the way; Yumi slipped and fell off of the window sill due to Koichi's intervention, and slammed against the ground, breaking her neck. In the last part of the episode, Takako appears again with a blade, ready to kill her. Takako stabbed Kouichi and charged towards Mei, trying to kill her. Mei proved rather agile than her light constitution would suggest, and dodged Takako's onslaught --- this caused Takako to become entangled in loose wiring connected to the ceiling. Takako's violent struggle caused the wires to pull on a loose support beam, which ripped through the wires and pulled Takako up, and strangling her to death. She is shocked when Takako is hung in front of her. Izumi arrives, and witnesses the scene, assuming that Misaki had killed her; Izumi then snaps, and says she's going to kill Mei, prompting her to run up the steps during another 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 who is still inside. He runs up the stairs and discovers that Izumi has cornered Mei on the other side of the floor. Izumi attempts to kill Mei however Kouichi manages to stop her in time. She continues to try to kill Mei but Kouichi continues to protect her. The entire platform collapses causing them to fall with it to the bottom floor. They get up and the fighting continues with Izumi trying to kill both of them. When Izumi finally gets a hold of Mei and Kouichi, she attempts to kill them both, 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 and removes her from the wall. Izumi tells Kouichi about her memory of him before she dies while Mei disappears. Kouichi then calls Mei and asks where she is. She tells him that she is in the backyard and also that he should not come. Kouichi realizes Mei is trying to kill the dead one and goes to the backyard in search of her. He finds her with a pickaxe next to a pile of fallen rubble and hears sounds coming from underneath. He tries to help the person underneath only for Mei to stop him. The person manages to crawl out and it is revealed to be Mikami-Sensei, Kouichi's Aunt Reiko. Mei then reveals that Mikami-sensei is the deceased person. Kouichi is in disbelief, but Mei explains that she remembers witnessing Mikami-sensei 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. Her explanation causes him to finally believe her and decided to send Reiko back to the dead himself. Afterwards, they are seen at the Mikami family grave together on a fair and warm day. The grave lists both Ritsuko, Kouichi's mother, and Reiko as deceased. Kouichi and Mei then talk amongst themselves 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 then walk together, with Kouichi asking why she hasn't answered 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 doubt get her a new cell phone soon. Kouichi then asks if he may call her sometimes when she does get her new phone. She smiles and replies, "Sure."

Another OVA
She appears in Episode 0 and meet Misaki in secretly.

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 accustomed to his presence and doesn't seem to mind having him around. She also tells him to be careful, since 'it' (the curse) may have started already, indicating concern. Their relationship evoluted when Kouichi became a nonexistent sutdent. She invited him to her house and even offered herself to walk him on home. They also spent a lot of time together, like walking home together, having lunch together etc. Mei even told him her lifestory. In the end of the series, they were also seen together.

Misaki Fujioka
Mei and her twin sister were best friends. They were meeting in secret and spent a lot of time together. They talked a lot, telling each other secrets, bathing together, dressing the same way etc. Mei was very attached by Misaki, even if Yukiyo didn't allow Mei to see her. Mei was afraid of losing Misaki when she saw the color of death in her, and was overprotective with her until she died. After Misaki's death, Mei was angry, upset and devastated as she lost her only friend and also twin sister.

Yukiyo Misaki
Mei and Yukiyo have a cold relationship, as seen and claimed by Kouichi. They don't really talk and Mei claimed Yukiyo doesn't care about her or what she does and treats her like one of her puppets.

Quotes

 * "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."''
 * "It doesn't matter how many relationships we seem to have. We're all alone."
 * "How does it feel to not exist?"
 * "Good luck, Sakakibara."
 * "Are you okay with it?"

Trivia

 * She is ranked S (highest ranking) in the Another character rankings, meaning she is the only character who gets that ranking and 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".
 * Also, Mei is 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 same with Misaki. But, "Misaki" in "Mei Misaki" is a surname. And "Misaki" in "Misaki Fujioka" is a forename.
 * Her birth name was "Mei Fujioka" before being adopted by Kirika.
 * 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.
 * She is talented at drawing.