Kōichi Sakakibara is the main protagonist of Another, and is its principal point of view character (though he shares this with Mei Misaki and Izumi Akazawa for a few scenes). A recent transfer student to Yomiyama North Middle School, Kōichi is at first confused by the strange nature of his new class. But as his fellow students begin to die, he comes to realize sinister forces are at work...and they seem to revolve around a mysterious, withdrawn girl named Mei.

One of the major differences between anime and manga Kōichi is his relation to Izumi. In the anime, they're shown to be friends, whereas in the manga, Izumi blames all the deaths on Kouichi and Mei (much like in the original novel).