""Honestly, you're terrible. You're supposed to say you remember, even if it isn't true.""

- Izumi Akazawa's last words to Kouichi & Mei before her death.

Izumi Akazawa (赤沢 泉美, Akazawa Izumi) was the head of countermeasures and later became the Class Officer of Class 3-3 of 1998 at Yomiyama North Middle School. She was in the drama club with Aya Ayano and Yumi Ogura.

Izumi is a beautiful, fair-skinned young woman of slightly above average height. She has very long reddish-brown hair that is usually tied into twin tails held up by two blue (sometimes white) ribbons. Her bangs are swept to the left, and there are two shoulder-length strands of hair hanging down in front of her ears. She has reddish-brown eyes.

She is typically seen wearing the standard female school uniform, though she has worn different outfits - a pink-and-white dress in Episode 6 and a red blouse with a white miniskirt in Episode 8.

In the manga, her hair maintains a certain resemblance to that of the anime, using it in the same style, except when she is at home, where she leaves her hair down; however, later it is cut to the height of the shoulders. Also, she has a slim waist with a large chest.

In the live-action film, she has dark hair, which she keeps cut short.

In the anime, Izumi is the straightforward, unabashed, and strong leader of the Countermeasures at Yomiyama Middle School's 3rd-year class. She is impulsive and irascible; even though she puts on a show of being tough, she is actually rather fragile and can be shown to have a tender side. While she doesn't hesitate to blame others when misfortune occurs, she is humble enough to admit responsibility herself if she makes mistakes.

Izumi has a self-confident nature, with a sense of responsibility, which is probably why she volunteered to be head of countermeasures in the first place. On several occasions, she can be seen trying to console her friends, most notably Aya Ayano after Shoji Kubodera's suicide, and Takako Sugiura after the latter became depressed following Junta Nakao's death. Despite her outwardly harsh personality, Izumi cares deeply for her friends, and her inability to protect them (especially Takako) leads to her repeated attempts to kill Mei Misaki in the series finale. In her last moments, her last words show that she is affectionate towards Kōichi Sakakibara.

At the start of the series, she is first uncertain and concerned over the question of Kōichi: Is he the extra? How to fit him into the existing scheme in class? Then she was irritated at Kōichi's fraternizing with Mei. Unaware that Mei had attempted several times to discourage Kōichi, she began to resent the quiet girl for apparently not doing enough in her role to prevent the calamity and also seemed to dislike Kōichi for constantly fraternizing with her. She was able to set these resentments aside, temporarily, after Mr. Kubodera died in Episode 7. It was eventually revealed that she was actually quite fond of him, with hints of romantic attraction. However, at the end of the series, the deaths of her loved ones and the threat of the calamity eventually cause Izumi to put those feelings aside, as she concludes the only way to end the curse and protect her friends is to kill Mei...even if that means killing Kōichi in the process.

In the manga, Izumi isn't very sociable to new people as she rarely converses with anyone aside from close friends such as Yukari Sakuragi. When she does speak with someone, she is straightforward and sometimes confrontational. This stems from a troubled home life where she had to deal with her reclusive and unstable older brother before he committed suicide. (The versions of the story differ on whether he was really her older brother, or was an older cousin living with them as an older foster brother.) Her troubles also cause her to resent anyone who is able to deal with heavy burdens with hardly any evident suffering, especially Mei Misaki.

Due to these problems, she has developed a bit of a Tsundere personality.

As the calamity claims several people around her, including people she cares about, Izumi grows more and more unstable, culminating in her attempting to kill Mei after she becomes convinced that Mei is the extra. After Mei survives the assault and assures her that, despite the calamity, she is still alive, Izumi regains her mental stability and even develops a sense of humor.

Main Article: Izumi Akazawa/Manga

Izumi is a major character in the manga and fills much the same role as she would later on in the anime (her role in that adaptation having apparently been inspired by her larger role in the manga; Izumi was a minor character in the original novel).

One and a half years before the events of Another, Izumi had a cousin, though they were raised more like siblings. Unfortunately, he died as a result of the Class 3-3 calamity, possibly either by suicide or accident. On the path next to the riverside, a distraught Izumi called her cousin an idiot for dying and furiously kicked a can lying on the ground. The can flew and accidentally hit someone on the path at the bottom of the grassy hill. As Izumi rushed down the hill to apologize, she lost her balance and fell, landing at the bottom. The boy she hit with the can, Kōichi Sakakibara, offered her a hand. Touched, Izumi accepted. Kōichi noticed that Izumi looked upset, and she told him that she had lost someone close. He admits that he has also lost someone, having to visit Yomiyama North Middle School that day to attend the funeral of a relative. It is unknown how their encounter ended, but Kōichi later returned to Tokyo.

After the calamity began, one and a half years later, and the extra one for that year entered the class, Izumi's memory of this encounter was altered along with Kōichi's, but she still recalled the impression of Kōichi's hand on hers, and for most of the series, she would struggle to recall this memory.

On the very first day of the school year (before Kōichi transferred), Izumi volunteered herself to be the head of countermeasures for Class 3-3, out of determination to ensure that the calamity that killed her cousin never happens again. At the same time, fellow student Mei Misaki is chosen as the 'non-existent', to balance out the number of students and prevent the calamity, and it becomes Izumi's job to enforce this countermeasure. However, complications arise when Kōichi returns to Yomiyama to live with his grandparents and aunt Reiko, and transfers to Class 3-3. Since the non-existent had already been chosen, they, the class officers, the teachers, and Reiko, an alumni of the class, fail to tell Kōichi about the curse, merely repeating mantra to "uphold class rules" without explaining what they were, as it would mean acknowledging that there is an extra, leaving Izumi and the rest of the class in a difficult position for the first half of the series.

In "Rough Sketch", Kōichi is admitted to the hospital with a collapsed lung, forcing him to miss the first couple of weeks of school. As he was recovering, Izumi, along with class representatives Tomohiko Kazami and Yukari, paid him a visit on behalf of the class, and partly to see if he was the extra one that year. After they ask him several questions regarding whether or not he had been in Yomiyama before, Izumi offers to shake his hand, since there was a rumor that the extra ones' hands felt cold to touch. When Kōichi accepted, Izumi recalled the impression of his, but she was unable to recall the memory.

Later, she was upset with herself for being absent on Kōichi's first day in class.

Like the others, she hesitated to tell Kōichi about the class curse after Yukari's death, a decision she later comes to regret.

In "Put Flesh", she and Naoya Teshigawara argued against the background when they heard a huge crash through Kōichi's cell phone (which was Sanae Mizuno's elevator crashing). She held a grudge against Mei and Kōichi for disregarding the rules and therefore causing most of the deaths. Then, in "Build Limbs", she apologized for no readily apparent reason to Kōichi, telling him it was for everyone's safety. From that moment on, she and the rest of the class ignored him. Later, Kōichi returns to the empty classroom to see that the class had elected a new female class representative. Izumi had received 24 votes to 2 votes for Aya Ayano. Mr. Kubodera, walking past the empty classroom, confirms the election to Kōichi. In Episode 7, after she witnessed Shoji Kubodera's death, she confronted Kōichi and the others on the rooftop. In the next scene, when Kōichi and Mei visit Tatsuji Chibiki in his office, they pass Izumi leaving. Chibiki tells them that Izumi had been consulting him about countermeasures. Later on, Izumi met with Kōichi, Naoya, and Yūya Mochizuki in the Inoya Café. They acquired information about Katsumi Matsunaga and decided to look for him for help to solve the calamity.

In Episode 8, the team went out of Yomiyama to look for Matsunaga, and they had fun at the beach while waiting for his call; Izumi took her Countermeasures partner, Takako Sugiura, with her, as well as their mutual friend Junta Nakao, a decision Izumi came to regret. While not accomplishing much, Izumi played with her friends at the beach while they waited for Matsunaga to get off work. Their fun was cut short, however, when Junta was hit by a yacht and eviscerated.

In Episode 9, after Junta's funeral, Izumi walked the still-shaken Takako home; she took time out from looking after her friend to glare at Kōichi and Mei, who she held responsible for his death. In Episode 10, at the beginning of the episode, Izumi dreams of the day she met Kōichi, while mourning her cousin's death. During the first dinner of the class trip, she gave a speech on the curse issue, demanding an apology from Mei for allowing the deaths to continue. The confrontation is cut short by Daisuke Wakui's asthma attack, and he's sent to the hospital.

In Episode 11, she talks about Mei's past with Takako. Later, when Kōichi and the others are in the hall, she hears the ruckus and goes to check. They heard a scream and Izumi recognized Takako's voice. They hurried up to Izumi's room and found the door stained with blood. Takako was missing, but she later appears with a blade and tries to kill Mei. Izumi was shocked and was pushed to the side. Takako later escapes, and Izumi tells Kōichi and Mei about how she, as the head of countermeasures, had to listen to the tape. A few seconds later, Takako broadcasts the tape and tells everyone that Mei is the dead one, asking everyone to kill her. At the end of the episode, Izumi finds Kōichi and Mei standing near Takako's body, much to her shock and horror. Izumi draws the wrong conclusion and thinks Mei killed Takako. She becomes enraged and vows to kill Mei.

In Episode 12, when Tomohiko attempts to kill Kōichi, Izumi steps in to save him and hits Tomohiko with a metal rod, knocking him unconscious. She then attempts to deal a fatal blow as she believes he does not deserve to live after murdering two classmates. However, she was stopped by Mr. Chibiki as he feels classmates should not kill each other, and Izumi runs off. Later, she finds Mei and attempts to kill her. However, Kōichi stops her to protect Mei and attempts to reason with her. She ignores him and says that she must kill Mei to end the calamity and protect everyone. When Izumi finally gets a hold of Mei, Kōichi knocks Izumi off her and restrains her to prevent her from attacking Mei. Feeling both anger and sadness, she knee-jabs him in the groin, then hits him with a metal rod, causing him to fall backwards onto Mei. With tears in her eyes, she demands to know why he was protecting Mei and says that all she wanted to do was protect him and everyone else. Asking if he had some sort of a death wish, she attempted to kill both Kōichi and Mei, 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. Kōichi, shocked, removes her from the wall. While lying on the floor bleeding, Izumi tells Kōichi that they had actually met before, one and a half years ago. She was upset over the loss of her cousin and kicked a can from the top of the riverbank, which hit Kōichi, who was down below. She rushed down to apologize, but tripped and fell and had to be helped up by Kōichi. She asks whether Kōichi remembers this, and he replies that he doesn't. Disappointed that he doesn't remember, she tells him that he should at least pretend to remember before she dies. Kōichi says her name, but before he could say anything else, an explosion occurs and the inn begins collapsing. Izumi is buried by the rubble as Kouichi and Mei escape.

Izumi first seems intrigued by Kōichi as she feels that they have met before. She had held suspicions that he was the dead student at one point. When informed of Kōichi asking about Mei Misaki, she vaguely warns him and shows signs of beginning to dislike him, as he's putting the entire class in jeopardy. However, later on in the series, she begins to like him and appreciates his presence, rebuffing Naoya's advances to ride with him to the beach. At other points she tries to get closer or better know him, including calling him by his first name, wanting to go to the same school as him, and sitting next to him in the café and car ride to the beach.

Whatever feelings Izumi had for Kōichi, she'd expressed to Takako, which actually saved his life, as Takako went out of her way to avoid killing him, as it would devastate Izumi. However, once Takako died, Izumi became actively hostile toward both Mei and Kōichi, holding Mei responsible for her friend's death and furious with Kōichi for defending her. However, she was still willing to protect Kōichi, fatally striking Tomohiko when he attempted to murder him. Still, when Izumi confronted Mei, Kōichi's intervention pushed her into attacking him and asking if he had a death wish when he protected Mei. However, upon being mortally wounded by flying glass, Izumi relented, finally remembering where she'd met Kōichi. Her last words were to him, half-jokingly telling him he was terrible, and teasing him for still not remembering her and not lying to make her feel better.

Izumi's first meeting with Kōichi left a strong impression on her, as she was able to remember bits and pieces of it despite the curse having altered events so he wasn't present at the time. This suggests that, however briefly the two had known each other, she felt a strong connection to him.

In the manga, Izumi blames Kōichi for Yukari's death, and at several points glares at him, claiming she'll never forgive him for this. Her angry confrontation with Mei at the inn is enough to cause Kōichi's lung problems to flare, and she never apologizes to him for this. The two aren't especially close or friendly in this adaptation.

In the live action film, Izumi and Takako take an interest in their new classmate and start following him one day after class; they are both horrified to learn he was going to Mei's home. Izumi's first major scene with Kōichi is at the inn, when she demands that Mei apologize to the class for making the curse worse. Kōichi stands up for his friend, asking Izumi if she thinks everything is Mei's fault. Izumi doesn't reply to this, though Takako suggests Kōichi should bear part of the blame as well. The two don't speak again.

It is unknown how much of a hand Izumi had in Mei's being chosen as the student to be shunned, and because of the Countermeasures, the two don't often speak. However, as more and more people die (including Yukari, one of Izumi's best friends), Izumi becomes increasingly hostile toward her, going so far as to single her out on the school trip in front of everyone and demand an apology, as she saw Mei as the sole person responsible for the calamity that year. This is possibly because Izumi believed Mei could have resisted Kōichi's attempts to talk to her, but didn't.

Still, unlike the vast majority of her classmates, Izumi didn't believe Takako's broadcast and didn't attack Mei, instead going looking for her friend to try and reason with her. Unfortunately for all three girls, Izumi was too late, and upon finding Mei standing before Takako's body, having apparently just murdered her, Izumi flew into a rage, vowing to kill her in revenge. Izumi's hatred burned deeply, going so far as trying to kill Kōichi when he tried to protect Mei (something even Takako had hesitated to do). Izumi's vendetta against Mei led to her own death, when, about to kill Mei, a window exploded and impaled her against a wall. Dying mellowed Izumi, and she calmed down considerably before dying in front of Kōichi and Mei.

In the manga, Izumi's relationship with Mei is much more developed, as Izumi resents Mei's stoic acceptance of her role as the nonexistent student. Though the two have much in common, Izumi is jealous of Mei's calm demeanor. She attacked Mei in the kitchen during the school trip, having convinced herself that Mei is the extra student, and stabbed her in her glass eye, unaware of the prosthesis. Mei survived this, however, and bearing Izumi no ill will, instructed her to flee the now-burning kitchen, lest she become another victim of the curse.

In the film, Izumi is more immediately hostile toward Mei. She and Takako follow Kōichi one day, and are horrified to realize he's been tailing Mei himself. At the inn, Izumi berates Takako for trying to sit with Mei and Kōichi before digging into them herself, commenting how the class has so easily accepted Mei back into the fold and blaming her for everything. Later on, Izumi becomes convinced that Takako is the Extra and stabs her in the throat. Mei and Naoya arrive almost immediately afterward, saving Takako's life. Tomohiko accuses Naoya of killing Yūya, causing him to panic and flee, only to be electrocuted by loose wires outside their room. Izumi, realizing that nearly killing her friend hasn't solved anything, decides, therefore, that Mei must be the extra, and chases her into the woods, only to decapitate herself on a cable. Mei is horrified by this and stares at her body in shock for a few seconds.

Izumi doesn't have much patience for Naoya, seeing him as an idiot. After hearing of his promise to explain the history of Class 3-3 to Kōichi without her permission, she was furious.

In the anime and manga, Naoya has a rather obvious crush on her, which Izumi does not return, refusing to sit by him on the trip to the beach and generally disliking his attitude, often calling him a jerk or an idiot. The two interact the most on the beach trip, as Naoya had deliberately paired himself with Izumi as the kids tried to catch their lunch; however, Izumi spent most of the day either furious with Naoya or flirting with Kōichi, much to Naoya's irritation.

In both iterations (and the original novel), Naoya stands up to her when she confronts Mei in front of the entire class, showing how strongly he feels about Izumi; this doesn't extend to him allowing her to abuse his friends. However, in the manga, Izumi survives, and upon waking up in the hospital, finds Naoya waiting for her. This implies the two may at least be on friendly terms post-calamity.

This relationship is not present in the live-action film, however, as both Naoya and Izumi are minor characters. While trying to escape the inn with Mei, however, Naoya made a point of finding Izumi and Takako to warn them to leave the inn. Entering the girls' room, they found a horrified Tomohiko and an angry Izumi, standing over Takako with a bloody knife. Shocked by this, Naoya demands an explanation, but Tomohiko interrupts and accuses Naoya of killing Yūya. Panicking, Naoya fled, only to get electrocuted outside the inn by a loose wire. His death caused Izumi to realize the curse was still active and that attacking Takako hadn't solved anything, and prompted her to attack Mei next.

In the anime, what, if any, relationship Izumi had with Yukari is not developed. Though the two were apparently at least on friendly terms, they never interacted on screen outside of a handful of scenes. Yukari seems to be afraid of Izumi, confiding to Kōichi that she and the others have to be careful lest "Akazawa yell at us." Later on, Yukari nervously tries to placate Izumi when the latter expresses frustration over her faulty memories concerning Kōichi. While Izumi was upset over her classmate's death, the two didn't seem to have been especially close.

This is different in the manga. Izumi and Yukari were shown to be good friends since they were young. Izumi cared a lot about Yukari, keeping a picture of them together on her desk, and blaming Kōichi and Mei for her death, as they had ignored the class rules, which she believed activated the curse. After Yukari's death, Izumi can often be seen glaring at Kōichi, at one point even saying she'll never forgive him. In one chapter, Izumi sat in her bed and despaired, crying for Yukari to save her from the curse. Yukari's death isolated Izumi, who felt alone and no longer had anyone to discuss her problems with. This loneliness led her to attack Mei at the inn. When Chibiki rescued Izumi from the burning inn, Yukari's name was one of the two Izumi muttered, the other being her brother's.

Izumi and Takako are best friends, sharing a room during the school trip. Izumi seems to care a lot for Takako, escorting her home after Junta's death and later expressing concern for her well-being, commenting that ever since, she's been increasingly unstable. Takako expresses relief upon encountering her in the inn, having just been attacked by the innkeeper, commenting she'd rather die if Izumi had been killed. However, Izumi doesn't listen to Takako's broadcast, refusing to attack Mei as she doesn't believe she's the Extra.

In Episode 11, Izumi went looking for Takako to try to calm her down. Unfortunately, she was too late, and Takako attacked Mei a second time, accidentally killing herself in the process. Arriving just in time to see this, but unaware of the context, Izumi flew into a rage, vowing to kill Mei in revenge.

In the manga, the two aren't especially close, though Takako is the only person to openly side with Izumi at the inn, though she stops just short of actually suggesting the entire calamity is Mei's fault, merely saying she thinks Yukari died avoiding her.

In the original novel, Kōichi comments that Takako puts her loyalty to Izumi above all else, even common sense, and is usually joined to her at the hip. The two seem to be close friends; both are killed together at the Inn.

Likewise, in the live-action film, the two have an odd relationship, as, among other things, Izumi never calls Takako by anything other than her last name, suggesting the two aren't especially close; their relationship tends to be much more abusive and unhealthy. While Izumi calms Takako down after she learns she's to be "the one who does not exist" for the year, the two aren't especially friendly. Izumi and Takako trail Kōichi to Mei's aunt's studio early on, and are horrified to learn where they are. The two sit together on the bus to the inn and share a room. At dinner that night, Takako attempts to sit with Mei and Kōichi, only for Izumi to irritably snap at her and tell her to sit somewhere else. Like Izumi, Takako confronts Mei and Kōichi at the inn, telling Kōichi she blames him for the calamity.

When Tomohiko tells the girls how to break the curse, Takako adamantly refuses to kill anyone, which angers Izumi. A short in the inn's electrical system traps them in the girls' room and makes Izumi suspicious of her roommate. Telling her she's always pretended to be "a good girl," Izumi informs Takako she thinks she's the Extra, prompting an angry response from Tomohiko. The two argue, but Izumi wins and stabs Takako in the throat. Shortly thereafter, Mei and Naoya arrive and find Izumi standing over the injured girl, who was desperately trying not to bleed to death. Almost immediately afterward, Naoya is killed, causing Izumi to realize that trying to kill Takako hasn't solved anything. Unconcerned, she attacked Mei next, leaving Tomohiko to help Takako escape.

Izumi and Tomohiko worked together as class representatives, though their duties in this role aren't shown very often. In matters about countermeasures, Tomohiko deferred to Izumi, as this was her area of expertise. Still, the two were apparently friendly, as Izumi referred to him as "Kazami-kun" at least once. However, as things began to unravel at the inn, Tomohiko opted to take matters into his own hands and start murdering his classmates. Having encountered the corpses of two of his other victims, Izumi put a stop to his rampage before Tomohiko could kill Kōichi, whom Tomohiko was convinced was the extra. After hearing Tomohiko blame Kōichi for their mutual friend Yukari's death, Izumi killed him with an iron bar she'd acquired earlier (presumably to kill Mei).

Standing over Tomohiko's body, she berated him for thinking Kōichi was the extra, as well as his earlier murders, before coldly offering to help him die, as he didn't deserve to live. As a consolation, she informed him he'd be able to keep Yukari company. Izumi prepared to hit him again, only to be stopped by Chibiki, who told her that her classmates shouldn't be killing each other.

In the manga, Tomohiko is a class representative and countermeasures officer, alongside Izumi. The two don't often interact, though Tomohiko was with Yuuya and Naoya when the latter went to check on her in the hospital, and he often liked to tease his friend about his obvious crush on Izumi.

In the film, Tomohiko tells Izumi and Takako how to end the curse. Immediately afterward, the lights go out due to faulty wiring, sealing them in the girls' room. Izumi becomes convinced Takako is the extra, but Tomohiko defends her, prompting Izumi to ask him whose side he's on. Though he was against it, Tomohiko didn't raise a hand to protect his friend, who Izumi stabbed in the throat. However, Tomohiko was shocked by this, and rather than pursue Mei like Izumi, he instead opted to help Takako to safety.

Kazuma is Izumi's older brother in the manga (cousin in the anime). He was mentally unstable and often locked himself in his room. He does not appear in the anime, although his name was seen in the Class 3-3 list of 1996, and it is implied heavily that he is dead in that universe. Izumi first met Kōichi at his funeral.

In Chapter 17 of the manga, Kazuma commits suicide by hanging himself in his room. Izumi, who'd noticed his room was quiet, went to check on him and found his body. His death devastated her, though she tried to hide this; this, coupled with Yukari's death, was what motivated Izumi to attend the class trip in order to break the curse. After being rescued from the burning inn, a delirious Izumi muttered Kazuma and Yukari's names, suggesting their deaths were her motivations for attacking Mei in the first place.

Kazuma is only indirectly mentioned in the anime, during Izumi's flashback, as she was sobbing by the river and cursing her "stupid brother." This suggests that he'd killed himself, as Izumi was angry over his death. It was after Kazuma's funeral that Izumi met Kōichi.

Kazuma is indirectly mentioned in the film, as Izumi worries for the safety of her parents and brother upon seeing Yukari's death.