Occult Academy: Episode 4

HELL YEAH! Now we're back on schedule! Sorry for the posting delays!

The first half of this episode had Fumiaki searching for Maya, the latter half having both Maya and Fumiaki trying to defeat the monster. Unfortunately, the beginning of this episode was horrible! While it did have a few funny jokes, the moment where Fumiaki and Mikaze are together are the worst parts of the show. Mikaze is just so... bland and boring, that it makes it nearly impossible to care whether the two get together or not.

Thankfully, everything takes a turn for the awesome when Mikaze and Fumiaki get seperated, and Maya comes into the picture. Not only does the rest of the episode develop the plot, but it also delivers a few twists that did not fail to interest me. I loved it how they finally explained what happened to #5 and Fumiaki's cowardly behavior, despite being sent to find Nostradamus's key.

Unfortunately, things don't go so well after they explain that Fumiaki was actually forced to find Nostradamus's key against his will. While this fact should make us sympathise with the main character, his cowardly behavior afterwards is taken way too far, as we see Fumiaki running around like a crazy person, screaming at the top of his lungs, and basically being turned into a useless comic relief character. While it's nice that they make Maya an independent and badass female lead, they didn't have to make Fumiaki so freakin' annoying. I will admit that the flashback that shows Fumiaki being forced to time travel was the best part of the episode though. I mean, sure he's really annoying, but you can't help but sympathise with him in the moments where he isn't freaking out. Plus the scene where he's crying in relief about how he survived the caves actually depressed me (and that's supposed to be a funny scene!). Hopefully he is a reforming character, and not a deteriorating one, as this guy needs to grow a pair.

Despite the comedic intent, this scene just depressed me.

Overall, this was a great episode compared to last one. While Fumiaki has become unbearably annoying, the flashback in this episode really did a lot to give him depth. Plus the plot unfolded rapidly, thus making me excited for the next episode. My only hope is that Mikaze will soon disappear, as the show was doing just fine until she showed up.

Please get her out of the show!

Rating: Great