A review by chelsloukelly
Another Episode S / 0 (Light Novel) by Yukito Ayatsuji

3.0

3.5/5 Stars: ‘Another Episode S / O’ is a Young Adult, Horror Light Novel by Yukito Ayatsuji and Hiro Kiyohara and translated by Karen McGillicuddy; ‘Another Episode S / O’ is a collection of two spin-off stories from the original horror novel, ‘Another’, which was written in 2009. The spin-offs include: 'Episode O' (Short Prequel Manga) and 'Episode S' (Novella) which focuses on a ghostly encounter that Misaki Mei had during the events of ‘Another’. For the novella, it is important that you read the original story to have any idea about what is taking place; although it is a spin-off story, it technically takes place after the events of ‘Another’, thus contains some rather massive spoilers. That being said, ‘Episode S’ is somewhat unusual as it really only tangentially connected to the main story. The only real problem with the story was the framing of the narrative. The interludes are, like the original story, told from Sakakibara’s perspective and reveal that the story of Mr Sakaki’s ghost is being told to him by Misaki. However, if this is the case, why is most of the story told in the first person from Sakaki? I just found this to be jarring as some of the details that Sakaki exposited – including his lengthy monologues – occurred when Misaki wasn’t present so she couldn’t possibly have known about them. Given that this is just a short collection; I don’t have much more to say. 'Episode O' was beautifully illustrated, but an ultimately pointless addition to the series. 'Episode S' was really rather enjoyable in its own right, but suffered a little in that it wasn’t a very good companion to the original novel.