Occult Academy

The story opens at the school commonly known as the Occult Academy in 1999, where the Dean/Principle/Headmaster has just died. He founded the school to help train people in non-standard modes of reality ranging from magic and astrology through telekinesis and UFOs. His daughter, Maya, arrives late for the funeral and in an angry frame of mind. When her father's spirit-inhabited corpse gets out of the casket and starts attacking the students, Maya goes into action to protect them with a physical counter attack. While doing so, she hands out whatever disinformation she feels will best deflect the people she is speaking with from believing in the Occult as something supernatural, an equally important defensive move from her perspective. There are two brief segments, at the very beginning and the very end of the episode, where we catch a glimpse of something different than the main body of the program; a brief glimpse hinting at the time travelers from 2012 and their agenda.That aspect of the plot doesn't get introduced properly until episode 2, and forms the second leg of the basic premise.

This is only the first episode, so it is difficult to actually comment on the quality or give it any accurate rating as yet. The premise is first class and has a lot of potential, but as to whether the writers can convert that into an ongoing storyline that will build on the promise and deliver a riveting series that glues us to the screen remains to be seen. Likewise with the characters; in this opening episode we were introduced to Maya, several of the students, and the vice principle. The only character explored in enough depth to get an initial peek at their motivation and personality was Maya, but that is not surprising in a 22 minute episode with 14 minutes of action sequences and 4 minutes of background and setup exposition. In the second episode the time traveler is explained, and a very uneasy alliance forged between the two main protagonists.

Animation quality looked pretty good; not new or groundbreaking, but definitely solid and workmanlike in its delivery and quality. The animated Maya looks awfully familiar (think Eureka7), so I feel confident when I get to reading the credits in detail I will discover a few old favorite names. As for the music, the intro song is quite good, and sung by voice actress Ayahi Takagaki, who also plays the part of Ami Kuroki in the series. If you are thinking her voice is familiar, perhaps you are watching another great series being streamed here on Crunchyroll this summer, Asobi ni Ikuyo: Bombshells from the Sky, where she both sings the theme song and is the narrator. The incidental music, meaning the background audio that builds a mood for a specific scene or enhances the transition from one scene to another, did not at first stand out enough to distract me from what I was watching. That is half the job for incidental music, but because it did the first half so well, it took me until the second episode to realize that it did the second half and actually added to and improved the overall viewing experience. I give this program full marks on an acoustical level.

Final conclusion: this one looks very promising indeed, and unless it takes a virtual header into the bottom of the quality pool I will see it through to the end of the first season. I will also tentatively recommend it, and keep my fingers crossed that I will continue to do so by episode 4 or 6.

Final final conclusion: I have just finished watching the last episode, and this one did not disappoint. In fact, during the last two episodes it justified itself across the board, and made me proud of the male protagonist I had previously found lacking. While I would have enjoyed the plot line continuing, this story is complete unto itself and reached a satisfying ending, even if it was a slightly sad satisfaction.

A strange mix of the supernatural and futuristic, despite its generic look there's nothing quite like it. The characters (both main and minor) were surprising and original from beginning to end, and didn't come across as shallow without devoting entire episodes to their personalities. All the storyline twists were unexpected, but lacking in something. Overall, it was a new direction than the generic supernatural/magical animes, but failed to deliver anything meaningful at the end. Did not leave me wanting for more.

When I first saw this anime, I thought that it would be something along the lines of CLAMP School Detectives...granted, I love CLAMP, but this anime totally went the other direction! Aliens, time-travel, various monsters and beasties from around the world, this anime had it all. But even among all the weird goings-on, there was still that slice-of-school-life atmosphere that seemed to bring it all together...with humorous results! True, I'm a bit of an occult fanatic myself, but this anime made my imagination implode on itself with its storyline and character base. The main character, Maya, at first appears to be cold and heartless towards others (I especially love when she puts the beat-down on Fumiaki...I'm a bit of a slap-stick comedy lover) but shows that she has a much softer side when it comes to Fumiaki. Fumiaki, on the other hand, seems to be a "comic relief" character...he comes from the future (appearing stark nude, to Maya's chagrin...another funny moment), acts tough but is a total wuss, and doesn't have any spectacular abilities (although he claimed to be psychokinetic). He tries to be friends with the then-cold Maya, who obviously doesn't want anything to do with him (as she "hates" the occult, and wants to destroy her father's academy, for which this anime is named)...this causes many of his problems, as Maya then gets angry with him. Overall, I applaud the creators of this anime, and can't wait to see what they have in store! 5 stars guys, keep up the good work!

So, first of all, let me say that short animes are always the best! Like Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo. The differences with Occult Academy and those two is the overall feel of the storyline and some of the animation.

Let's go with the animation. I loved it. If fits just right with the story of students and staff of an Occult Academy. It didn't go too far with being so serious as C.B. or S.C. and that's fine. If it did it would ruin or, at the very least, take away the feel of it. I really loved it. The animation fits just perfectly. It's not too cartoony nor is it too rough with it's animation. I love some of the expression that Maya made. It was very cute especially the flashback to her childhood. Soooo cute.

The characters!!! Oh, man!!! I must admit, when I started watching and seeing the male protagonist (Bunmei), I was a little bit bummed. However, seeing all the characters come together, it was perfect. Heck, I think it was even realistic! Bunmei was just an average person thrown into a crazy situation. That's exactly how an average person would act and it fits his character perfectly. Maya and the other characters also are perfectly integrated in their roles.

As for the music, it was about average. Honestly, I didn't pay much attention to the music because of the storyline and characters.

Speaking of the storyline, it was just perfect for a short anime. I actually want to see another season but I wouldn't know how the writers could pull that off. Anyway, I love the storyline. A hero who travel back in time to save the future and a young woman who is conflicted with her past. Now, with their path intertwined, they are trying to find a way to save the future all the while running into monsters, friends, and enemies.

Gotta love it. The ending is a bitter sweet ending and leaves the viewer wanting more. Well, at least, I want to see more.

I just finished Occult. Now where's the sequel?!! It's a great show.
Here are the five best things about it;

1.) It's unique as there are not too many Anime's of this style about the Occult

2.) Unlike most Anime this get's better as it goes on!!!

3.) There is very little Ecchi, or Fanservice and despite the
cartooniness it makes this Anime more mature and respectable!

4.) The main character Maya is really awesome!

5.) The Script is really good!

**A criticism I heard of the show was that there are some "fluff" episodes (mostly episodes (3-6). I don't agree. Fluff to me is different than "filler". A filler is something that is just made to create space (like on a cd) so you feel like paying for 10 songs.

Fluff in film isn't to make something bad, for example on Buffy, or on Inu Yasha, or on The Office, Sienfeld. Not everything went together sometimes each episode had a simple plot (fluff). This is just the STYLE of show and yes it makes more money in the long run but I would rather a show stick around a little longer if it's good. Also most great shows mature with age after the first season in the "fluff" style as this was the case in the shows mentioned above.

The only thing I didn't like about this was the slight cartooniness of
the monsters etc! Get rid of the cartooniness go for more abstract!!

Occult Academy was, at first, another horror anime that I wouldn't like at all. After watching the first episode, all of that changed. The characters are amazing and the animations are spectacular; I felt like I could relate to Maya (Main Character) because of her father and how she reacted to ghosts and the Occult. I really enjoyed the characters, some funny and others sad but all of them made the foundation of the story and plot and that is what made this series so great. Uniqueness is certainly something I look for in an anime and this just blew my mind. Amazing! Loved it. So sad that it is over.

The first episode really hooked me. But then the show wandered around a lot before getting close to its end at which point it seemed to be like...

"Oh shoot, the show is ending soon isn't it? We'd better wrap it up, fast!"

I wanted to like it a lot, but it just felt rushed. And too much filler, especially for a short series. They could have easily gotten away with 6 episodes.

As for tertiary characters, I think they picked the wrong ones to focus on. Chipmunk girl and her childhood friend were far less interesting and amusing than JK and Smiles. I enjoyed the main character though, as well as the animation and setting. I also felt it unfortunate that the show left the viewer without much of an idea as to what the occult, in reference to the academy, was. You get to see some monsters, and then a little magic, and that's it. Most of the characters seem more like normal people who don't really know much about, or have much to do with the occult. It's obvious monsters do exist, because you see them. Same for magic. But where is it during the bulk of the show that doesn't contain it, and why isn't the main character doing something more with it?

Overall, I think the show (writing?) needed to be tightened up. It had a lot of potential, but could have been a lot better.