Occult Academy 3: tengu and love horoscope

Aah, love.

The third episode of Occult Academy (Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin) brings some changes in focus, structure, and tone. Whereas previous episodes have focused on Maya, this episode mostly deals with Bunmei-kun (AKA Abe Minoru), who, it turns out, likes to be called Fumiaki. Whereas previous episodes completely tackled a single problem within the episode (both previous episodes saw the vanquishing of some sort of monster), this episode sets up such a monster (called a tengu), then mostly abandons that thread, leaving us feeling like this was more of a two-parter. Whereas previous episodes could be described as horror-comedies with some action, this episode was a … romantic comedy?

Maya wants you to take the tengu seriously.

At least one person remembers this is a horror and action show.

Before we move on to spoon boy’s romantic interlude, there was a monster revealed this week, and it looks like it might be the one that killed #5. Unfortunately, the last spoon bender is too busy exploring his romantic options to participate in the hunt. As a result the episode leaves Maya in a bad situation.

Who knew #6 was this good with the ladies?

Abe Minoru #6 may have a difficult relationship with Maya, but this episode shows multiple ladies throwing themselves at him. Fortunately his future-phone can be used as a love horoscope, so he decides to blow off the assistant principal’s advances.

Since we see things more from his perspective, we get confirmation that he is the spoon bending kid known popularly as Bunmei. We get to see a flashback with him happily eating his mother’s curry, and her calling him by his real name, Fumiaki. We also get his internal musing that everyone forgot about him when he lost the ability to bend spoons with his mind. He seems homesick when he stumbles into a little shop to buy a plate of curry.

Well, that was fast!

Yes, a girl who is “just his type”, pops up to feed him his favorite dish, curry. Bunmei is on the TV, but this girl remarks that “Fumiaki-chan is cute,” making her only the second person (after his mother) to call him by his real name. #6 quickly becomes a regular, and the girl knows that he is a new teacher at the Academy without having to be told. She asks him out on a date, and it turns out she picks him up in the exact kind of car he always wanted, a Porsche. Hmmm… the girl who waits tables at the little curry shack with no other customers owns a brand new Porsche.

Fumiaki courageously offers his arm.

The date goes very well, including an indirect kiss, her calling him “interesting”, and a trip to a spooky underground bunker where the poor girl had to glue herself to Fumiaki out of fear. After seeing a pile of paper cranes left for the dead, she gets emotional, and collapses in Fumiaki’s arms for comfort.

This was a pretty strange episode. Remember that stuff I wrote at the beginning about Maya bravely fighting against a tengu all alone? Abe “don’t bother me when I’m spooning” Minoru doesn’t. While Maya is in danger, #6 is on the best first date ever.

I don’t know what is going on, so I will offer two theories. First the innocent theory: Fumiaki’s new girlfriend is crying at the end because a relative (perhaps her grandfather) was one of those who died digging the bunker. On the other hand, this girl seems to be too good to be real; perhaps she is targeting him for the forces looking to use the key. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that she is a monster of some sort. In fact, my gut tells me that it is more likely that she is one of the tengu than that she is sincerely interested in him. He should use his love horoscope on her soon.