First of all, props to those who of you who instantly saw through Uchida’s fabricated story about why he was picked as the time agent. I thought he had the appearance of a cool guy and was only ever shown up otherwise when Maya was in the picture. Turns out he was a massive loser all along, although at least he still had his fashionable Hawaiian shirt. I suppose this also goes some way to explain why he was so lackadaisical about his duty. It bugged me at how quickly he lost interest in his task of finding the Nostradamus Key. I wouldn’t class someone who is banging on the door shouting ‘let me out’ as someone who had a high job satisfaction rating. His initial enthusiasm for his task was most likely him convincing himself mid-flight that he was the saviour of humanity (he seems like the kind of guy who’d trick himself like that) but hearing his mums voice, amongst other things, drained his enthusiasm pretty early on.
What we didn’t get an answer to is what’s up with Uchida’s waitress girlfriend. When he was telling his amazing story at how we whooped those Tengu assess to her, I was eagerly anticipating some reaction that would show she was a Tengu herself but there was nothing. That in no way means she’s clear of suspicion. For one, how did she get out of the cave unharmed after Uchida ran off like a giant wimp? And do you really think we’re going to believe she knew what was going on in that cave because she ‘thought she saw someone’? Suspicious me thinks. Neither do I think that the existence of Tengu are out of the question. They spent a lot of time explaining what they were to now reveal they were just a bunch of mothmen. The girlfriend is still suspicious. The Tengu are still out there. It’s just I don’t think to two are related anymore.
I suppose I could continue talking about the plot but I’m only kidding myself if I do so. Occult Academy isn’t about the plot and I doubt it ever will be. ‘Plot’ is just an excuse to shove Uchida in a giant pile of crap. ‘Plot’ is a reason to have Smile swinging his massive spanner around. ‘Plot’ is fabricated on the spot so they could have JK jamming away and striking dramatic poses while doing so.
(I almost wrote his name as TK. Imagine when Girls Dead Monster had to get a new vocalist, they took JK as their great new lead singer. I’m trying as hard as I can, but I just can’t come up with any flimsy reason why JK would be considered moe.)
I love Smile and JK. Maya might be wearing that one-piece, figure hugging, zettai ryouki outfit of hers, but Smile and JK steal the show whenever they’re on screen. Smile wielding his spanner at a size even Guts would be proud of as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Although Maya was holding it at the end of the episode so maybe it’s made of a super-light substance or hollow on the inside. However Smile could not have done what JK did at the end of the episode. I simply can’t imagine Smile attempting to pull a dramatic pose. He’s the kind of guy who would take out the gods while picking his nose.
The plot may be a bit of a joke but the humour is still as clever as ever. One particular favourite moment of mine was when the vice-principal lady (who I swear look exactly like Rosa Ushiromiya from Umineko except with dango hair) was asked why it was felt necessary to seduce Uchida and she retorted with ‘I’m aloud have a crush, aren’t I!’. The show knows when to be silly (the Scooby-doo esque scene with Smile and JK missing Maya and Uchida when they ran through the caves) and it knows when to lay on the slapstick to full effect with Rosa lookalike’s love poem. As much as it feels like it’s stumbling about a bit, Occult Academy is a strangely lovable show.
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Smile reminds me of.. Wrench-guy-who’s-name-I-forget-from-Baccano!
Graham Spector.
Also they aren’t alike asides from the spanner thing. Graham is flamboyant. Smile is straightforward
I knew his name was something with a G. I just remember him as Epic-Wrench-Guy. I’m watching the episode now, by the way. I’ll re comment with thoughts.
The spanner and the coveralls. But, yeah, Graham was psycho, so different personalities.
It’s just the mechanic character. Anime needs more mechanics who aren’t generic large men. Needs more Smile, more Graham, more Winry etc.
Mechanic fighters need something else as a weapon besides the wrench. Like… a tape measure whip.
Winry with a tape-measure whip…hmmm
Hurrrrr–
I’m sensing she might be an entirely different thing totally from this Tengu storyline..
Well, if those eyes and that taste in men are anything to go by…
Also, she seems to like Uchida only because he seems to be one of the few people ever to pay her any (fake) attention. Even if it was about that dodgy hairdo.
Didgy hairdo? Ideal hairdo more like. I’ve always wanted a girlfriend who styled her hair like dangos
Tut tut, what would Nino-san say? OMG, visioning Nino-san with dango-hair…
Ah, she’d still look cute.
If Nino can pull off windmill hair then there’s no style she can’t pull off!
The scooby doo scene got the biggest laugh from me so far this season, and even got me to make an OH EXPLOITABLE template last night on a certain anonymous imageboard.
You’re a fan of Photoshop, right? Here were some of the better contributions:
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd34/vucubcaquix/oh%20exploitable/1280211061897.jpg
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd34/vucubcaquix/oh%20exploitable/1280211396704.jpg
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd34/vucubcaquix/oh%20exploitable/1280212991029.jpg
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd34/vucubcaquix/oh%20exploitable/1280211982726.jpg
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd34/vucubcaquix/oh%20exploitable/1280213327838.jpg
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd34/vucubcaquix/oh%20exploitable/1280214318981.jpg
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd34/vucubcaquix/oh%20exploitable/1280214888215.jpg
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd34/vucubcaquix/oh%20exploitable/1280216046536.jpg
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd34/vucubcaquix/oh%20exploitable/1280216368501.jpg
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd34/vucubcaquix/oh%20exploitable/1280218658183.jpg
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd34/vucubcaquix/oh%20exploitable/1280223272611.jpg
You spend too much time on 4chan. It’s warped your mind.
although that did give me a lol. Especially the Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei one
LOL! Those were awesome! Lol’d at the Sakura and fish one. The SZS one too..
I agree — the plot is definitely secondary to the action and comedy in this series. What little plot there is offers opportunities to see different aspects of the characters and their abilities, e.g. JK & music. I do love Maya’s defensiveness right after she delivers her “occult geek-trip” — it both serves as exposition for the audience & a nice way to emphasize her secret fascination with the occult.
She truly is tsundere for the Occul–
THAT WORD DIDN’T EXIST IN 1999!
I get the feeling Uchida is still hiding something, or at least there is more to the story he does not know. The way he is just plucked out of nowhere and sent back to the past is just weird. Why specifically him?
Because he had powerz? That’s the gist I got. They knew his name because he was the kid with psychic powerz back in the day. Although maybe there is something more
I guess that’s a good explanation. This is what I get for watching shows late at night when my brain is in sleep mode.
Well, that waitress girl is shown in the opening with the odango lady. And the odango lady is kinda suspicious.. and waitress girl is kinda suspicious too. I can’t help but think they’re working together lol.
Awesome episode, i laughed so much at that scene about “His legs were like the wind..”
Nah, those too would clearly be rivals in love. In fact, I can’t wait for that inevitable showdown. Oh god, that’s going to be awesome!
Oh lol, that could be possible an interesting sight to see.
But dammit, Bunmei. Get your act together, man. He totally looked ridiculous, albeit very funny and entertaining, this episode.