Occult Academy: Episode 6

*Jaw Drops*

This was fantastic! I was honestly worried that characters such as Mikaze and Fumiaki were going to ruin the show, but this episode proved me wrong! The episode began with Maya and Ami trying to figure out what happened to Kozue during her near death experience, an event that caused her to lose her belief in the occult. During this, we are introduced to hilarious scenes that show Maya and Ami trying to convince Kozue that the occult does exist, a venture that is unsuccessful even after Fumiaki tries to fool her via a fake spoon bending trick. After doing everything imaginable, they conclude that Kozue may have lost her occult-loving heart in the afterlife, meaning that they have to go back into the afterlife to get her back. This half of the episode was the weakest part of it, as while it was funny, the arguments between Maya and Fumiaki get plain ridiculous and have no point to them

However, the second half is nearly perfect! After Fumiaki convinces Maya to allow him to go instead of her, we then discover through visions in the afterlife why Fumiaki is psychologically messed up. The reasons given finally allowed me to sympathize with Fumiaki, thus making him a likable character. Plus his decision to risk his life by going into the afterlife shows that he is a reforming character, making him even more likable. It also helps that Maya sees these visions, allowing her to understand Fumiaki and realize that he is telling the truth, meaning that progress to advance the story will finally be made later on.

The dream world in this episode was also much better looking than the one in the last episode. The added colors and visions did a great job of making it a visual spectacle. This is probably the nicest looking show of this season! My only problem would have to be that Fumiaki did spend too much time contemplating on his life while he should have spent time looking for Kozue. While I'm glad they did dedicate a nice amount of time developing his Fumiaki's character, it just seemed a bit counter intuitive.

Overall, this was a fantastic episode. While Mikaze remains the only annoyance in this series, it successfully made Fumiaki a likable character, meaning that the plot can finally move forward. Plus with the relationship between Maya and Fumiaki finally improved, the duo can now search for Nostradamus's key, something that wasn't focused on enough due to Fumiaki's personal issues and Maya's hatred for Fumiaki.

Rating: Excellent