Occult Academy

Synopsis:

After the death of her father, Maya Kumashiro is appointed headmistress of Waldstein Academy to take over the job that he once held. The only thing is that Waldstein Academy is a school dedicated to the study of the occult... which she despises. She reluctantly assumes her role as the headmistress and also a student with the intention to destroy the school by superseding her fathers position. However, when she is visited by a time travelling agent that warns her of a forthcoming apocalypse, she puts her plans on hold until she can prevent the events as foretold in the Nostradamus Prophecy. Maybe Maya doesn't hate the occult all that much.


Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 13


Review:

The first thing I noticed is that when Occult Academy started, it didn't try very hard to capture my attention. In the first episode you're introduced to a very irritable Maya attending her fathers funeral. Although it's evident she doesn't want to be there, Occult Academy decides to kick things off by having a his final audio recording accidentally summon a demon that possess him and his dead body rises, floats around, and starts causing chaos all over the school. Now, doesn't this sound a little familiar at all? Evil Dead anyone? While some may think that this is an homage to some old school horror, to me it shows a lack of originality and ultimately... it's kind of stupid. Although this is the event that starts to being Maya back into the world of the occult, what follows in later episodes is even less eventful.

Now, bringing in a time traveller, named Bunmei, that forewarns the destruction of Earth in the future was sort of a saving grace in the earlier episodes. But Occult Academy does practically nothing with this angle on the story. Instead, this anime just keeps screwing around with having Maya and Bunmei fighting all these lesser, and not very interesting, creatures like an over-sized moth or goblins. Occult Academy goes along with this 'monster-of-the-week' presentation with each episode ending with Bunmei saying that they didn't find the Nostradamus Key which is rumored to be able to save Earth from it's impending doom. Stringing you along from episode to episode you'll realize, nothing is happening and as a matter of fact what you watch has very little to do with being related to the occult. It's not until the tenth episode where any plot Occult Academy has begins to show itself in the form of a witch that wants to kill Maya, detroy the Academy, and take over the world. Everything up to this point is just fluff and could barely hold my attention and it all concludes with an ending that can only be described as beyond stupid that will have you asking yourself, "What in the hell was that all about"?

The animation itself diverges from the classic style we are all used to and the characters are presented well with no stone unturned, even Bunmei's mysterious past is brought full circle. And sure, Maya is smokin' hot, but that's just not enough to go on with Occult Academy as this anime can't tell a decent story for the supernatural genre it wants to fit into. Instead, it holds about as many surprises as someone putting a sheet over their head in an attempt to look like a ghost and saying "Boo"! If you decide not to watch this anime you won't be missing much with this turd.

Occult Academy (opening)

Recommendation: |Very Low|

From: Crunchyroll
Media type: Internet streaming
Languages: Japanese
Subtitles: English

Watch it for free at Crunchroll: Occult Academy