aka Seikimatsu Okaruto Gakuin
Number of episodes: 13
What Wikipedia says: "Set in the year of 1999, the story
revolves around the mysteries of the Waldstein
Academy also known as the "Occult Academy"
due to its unorthodox researches involving myths, legends and paranormal
activity. The main protagonists are Maya Kumashiro, daughter of the late
principal of the Academy who assumes his position and Fumiaki Uchida, a time traveller
sent from the year 2012 with the mission of finding and destroying the 'Nostradamus
Key', an unknown item that the Nostradamus Prophecies foretold to be the
cause of an alien invasion that will devastate Earth."
What tTPO says: Occult
Academy really had few
excuses. It was written for television (rather than having to face the
challenges of adapting from another medium), and the premise, which while
interesting enough, was not overly complex. Yet somewhere between conception
and execution things went very wrong. The series starts out satisfactorily
enough but soon wanders off into filler episodes with the main characters (charged
with saving the world) soon getting distracted by relatively trivial matters. I mean, why wouldn't you? It is only the END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT we are talking about here. Then,
around about episode 11, someone in production appears to have decided "we
had better finish this", and the final 3 episodes rush towards the finish
with several minor characters abruptly changing. It doesn't help that there is
not much to like about Maya (who doesn't appear to have worn any different clothes since she was about 6, just the same ones in larger sizes) or Uchida, though in later episodes there is a
little sympathy for Uchida as his childhood is revealed. At least the animation
is pretty.
How about the music?: The OP (by Japanese idol Nakagawa Shoko) is very likely the best thing about this series. Awesomely catchy J-rock
song with a singer that is more entertaining to watch than the show it opens
for. The ED is a bit of more generic pop.
So how does it end? (Spoiler Free): In a hurry, but ultimately most loose ends are
wrapped up satisfactorily. As you would hope in a made for TV anime.
Overall Grade: D (Don't bother). This is not the worst piece
of anime to hit the small screen but I cannot in good faith recommend this to
anyone. Poor pacing, unlikeable characters - it could have been so much better.
Enjoy Shoko-tan's version of the OP then go and find yourself something
else to watch.
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