Occult Academy has an interesting premise, with time travel and mysticism contributing to a big-mystery story-line. The series is short, only 11 episodes, and that's a good thing.
With such a short series, there isn't a lot of time to get off track, but unfortunately they still managed to make several episodes in the middle feel disconnected. Didn't think much of the "romance" subplot, either, which was very shallow and really contributed very little to the story that couldn't have been handled in a much simpler manner. The mystery aspect didn't work too well, I'm afraid. By the time we got to the last three episodes, I'd seen most of the "twists" coming a mile away (though I'll admit that there were still some mild surprises in the very last episode). And is it really necessary that Maya is constantly dressed like a streetwalker? (I know, it's anime, but still.)
The good news is that several of the characters are very likable, mostly the sub-storylines are engaging, and the overall story moves along nicely since it is so short. The Akari arc was especially good, and even the "near death experience" arc wasn't too bad.
I enjoyed Occult Academy despite the flaws, but if it had been any longer, I might not have had the patience to get through it.
Review by ineffablebobBlockedParent2015-11-03T01:02:33Z
Occult Academy has an interesting premise, with time travel and mysticism contributing to a big-mystery story-line. The series is short, only 11 episodes, and that's a good thing.
With such a short series, there isn't a lot of time to get off track, but unfortunately they still managed to make several episodes in the middle feel disconnected. Didn't think much of the "romance" subplot, either, which was very shallow and really contributed very little to the story that couldn't have been handled in a much simpler manner. The mystery aspect didn't work too well, I'm afraid. By the time we got to the last three episodes, I'd seen most of the "twists" coming a mile away (though I'll admit that there were still some mild surprises in the very last episode). And is it really necessary that Maya is constantly dressed like a streetwalker? (I know, it's anime, but still.)
The good news is that several of the characters are very likable, mostly the sub-storylines are engaging, and the overall story moves along nicely since it is so short. The Akari arc was especially good, and even the "near death experience" arc wasn't too bad.
I enjoyed Occult Academy despite the flaws, but if it had been any longer, I might not have had the patience to get through it.