Occult Academy

Occult Academy
世紀末オカルト学院 (Seikimatsu Okaruto Gakuin)
Genre	Comedy, Supernatural
Anime television series
Directed by	Tomohiko Ito
Studio	A-1 Pictures Aniplex
Original network	TV Tokyo
Original run	July 6, 2010 – September 27, 2010
Episodes	13

Occult Academy (世紀末オカルト学院, Seikimatsu Okaruto Gakuin, "End of Century Occult Academy") is a Japanese anime television series produced by A-1 Pictures and Aniplex and directed by Tomohiko Ito. The 13-episode anime premiered in Japan on the TV Tokyo television network on July 6, 2010. Occult Academy is the third project of Anime no Chikara. It is being simulcasted by Crunchyroll an hour after the Japanese broadcast. . A manga adaptation of the anime is currently serialized in Media Factory's Monthly Comic Alive.

Plot summary

Main article: List of Occult Academy episodes

The story revolves around Maya, the daughter of the former Headmaster of a private Japanese academy dedicated to the study of the occult, and time traveling agent Fumiaki Uchida, a mysterious young man who travels back in time from 2012. In 1999, Maya returns to the Academy, both for her father's funeral and for her goal to destroy the Academy, as she hates everything occult. Occult Academy is apparently situated in Nagano, as the Matsushiro Underground Imperial Headquarters are shown to be nearby. Further on in the series, Maya remembers asking her father for a place where humans and monsters can study together; indicating the academy was actually Maya's Christmas gift from her father therefore giving her less of a grudge towards the school and the occult.

Characters

Maya Kumashiro (神代 マヤ, Kumashiro Maya)

Voiced by: Yoko Hikasa

The daughter of the Waldstein Academy's late headmaster, Junichirou Kumashiro. She hates the occult despite her vast knowledge about it. Her hatred stemmed from her father's obsession with the occult thus causing a strained relationship between his wife and daughter. After her father's death, Maya becomes headmistress of the "Occult Academy" and vows to destroy the school. Later in episode 10 it is revealed that the Academy was Maya's Chistmas present from her father. Maya realizes that she turned her back on her father when he was only trying to fufill her christmas wish. She then makes a promise to her dead father to save the Academy and the World. With the arrival of Fumiaki Uchida, she forms a partnership with him in order to find the key of Nostradamus which will cause an alien invasion in 1999.

Fumiaki Uchida (内田 文明, Uchida Fumiaki)

Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima

A time traveler from 2012 who is sent to 1999 to find the key of Nostradamus. He was forced to be #6 after the agent before him, #5, was killed. In 1999, Fumiaki was a little boy with special psychic powers. Dubbed "Uchida Bunmei", he appeared on many television shows, demonstrating his psychic powers by bending a spoon. His popularity grew quickly, but it came at a heavy cost. As he became more popular, his mother became obsessed with his fame, to the point that she refuses him a normal social life. Fumiaki eventually loses his psychic powers, and by 2012, he was considered a fake.

Upon arriving in 1999, Fumiaki encounters Maya, who at first thought of him as a coward, since all he could do is run in fear. However, he eventually earns some of Maya's respect, as Maya sees part of his life in a near-death experience and realizes that he, like her, was also a lonely child. He and Maya form a team to find the Nostradamus Key and prevent the alien invasion.

Reception

Anime News Network's Zac Bertschy sees that the "animation and character designs are gorgeous, with some really nice background work" and "an incredibly strong start to a show with huge promise." Theron Martin says that the series "is one of the best-looking series of the new season (maybe the best), including some beautiful background art, nice animation courtesy of A-1 Pictures, and character designs that certainly won't bore". Carl Kimlinger finds that the series "is, if not the best, certainly the most entertaining of the series to emerge from Aniplex's Anime no Chikara project" and "is more Sam Raimi than Tite Kubo". Hope Chapman comments that "it's still incredibly entertaining in a pure, enchanting way, a little reminiscent of the most humorous bits in Mamoru Hosoda's films".

Music

The series' opening theme is the song "Flying Humanoid" (フライングヒューマノイド, Furaingu Hyūmanoido) sung by Shoko Nakagawa, and its ending theme is "Kimi ga Iru Basho" (君がいる場所, "Where You Are") sung by Ayahi Takagaki.

External links

• Occult Academy (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Occult Academy streaming online for free at Crunchyroll
• GYN Fansub Fansub in Brazil