Occult Academy 1: first impression

And from the sky came a pillar of fire.

Occult Academy (Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin) is a story about saving the world by preventing something bad from happening in 1999. Perhaps you have heard of an impending doom associated with the year 2012? Occult Academy is the story of how the world of 2012 will try to avert the crisis by sending someone back to 1999 to prevent the tragedy from occurring. I happen to love stories like this, and so far, I’m happy to say, this series is off to a good start.

Attending your father's funeral is bad enough...

Maya Kumashiro

July 1999: Maya Kumashiro returns to the academy for occult studies that her father founded to attend his funeral service. In the town below, rumors abound about strange things associated with the academy. Having arrived, Maya, dressed in an unusual outfit for a funeral, has a difficult time concealing her impatience, as a tape recording her father made is played for the students assembled. In it, the beloved principal, and school founder incants a formula to return spirits from the dead. As they say, things go horribly wrong.

You have looked better.

Most of this first episode involves introducing characters and setting the scene, as you might imagine. I was surprised by the amount of action. There were also a couple of honestly funny moments, and even some touching ones. By the end of the episode, I think it is pretty easy to understand why Maya hates the occult.

Maya and her father in happier times.

One other thing we learn about Maya is that she has been wearing that same outfit since she was a tiny girl. I don’t know why, but, yeah, the exact same outfit, from hair band to black stockings. She doesn’t wear the pumpkin any more, though.

"For official purposes, everyone has a number. Yours is number six."

We weren’t given a lot of information about this guy yet. He obviously is the one sent back in time to save the future. I think we saw his fifth incarnation die. Maya got to see a whole lot more. We’ll have to wait until next week to get any real info out of him, though; there just isn’t enough information to properly speculate. I’ll be eagerly watching for what may be the series that redeems the reputation of Anime no Chikara.