Occult Academy, you’ve made a fan out of me.
It becomes clear in episode 5 of Occult Academy that fledgling director Tomohiko Ito owes much to his time under Mamoru Hosoda. This is by no means a bad thing – for me, it just took the series from good to great. While all the Anime no Chikara series have been visually strong, episode 5 steps things up with a short, surreal journey to the afterlife.
But this isn’t the afterlife often seen. It’s glittering colors and foreign landscapes, sprinkled with bubbles, a dream come true. Though the rest of the series is saturated and beautifully done, it’s also eminently realistic. From its first episode, it was clear that Occult Academy was a cut above. It was quick-witted, well-paced and (like all Anime no Chikara projects) well-animated. But it dares to be different. It dares to be more than a gag anime; as the quietly-developed plot continues to bubble forth. Maya’s growing concern with the state of the school’s activities is palpable as they send Kozue, a classmate, to the afterlife via bringing her to a near-death state. Despite the plot creeping in, Tomohiko Ito manages to keep the humor and drama relatively well-balanced. If Occult Academy is his first gig as a series director, I’d love to see him 5 years from now, when he smooths the edges in his style.
The episode concludes with our bespectaled Kozue only partially returning to life: a part of her is stuck on the other side, searching for her glasses. Following episode 4’s somewhat deadly (and smelly) encounter with moths, the campus activities are slowly straying from harmless to dangerous. In addition to the beauty of this episode, Ito is continually building layer after layer of something more sobering; what it is remains to be seen.
If Anime no Chikara will be remembered for anything, it will be for giving the chance to outlandish premises like Senkou no Night Raid, and to directors like Ito. At the moment, I have nothing but praise for the man: he saw a chance to flex his directorial muscles, threw caution to the wind and went for it. The result is an absolute treat to watch.
The candy-colored afterlife
9 responses to “The candy-colored afterlife”
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I’m sold on Occult Academy with this post. I was planning to dip into High School of the Dead, but this looks ten times more exciting; the first two images are especially gorgeous.
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Unless you are deeply interested in boobs, skip HotD.
The boobs, they don’t go away, I know, I read the manga.
There are more fan service moments than killing zombies, brah.
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Oooh. I’m excited to see this one!
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I LOVED the afterlife sequence. It reminded me of this advertisement by Takashi Murakami:
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Didn’t seem like the video will show up, here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIhnnQH_GdQ
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I’ll try not to get my hopes up but I’ll be cautiously optimistic that THIS will be the show that will pull Anime no Chikara out of the dent they’ve put themselves in! Looks like the show has been delivering from the very first episode, as I’ve been told its extremely riveting. And I do see a little of Mamoru Hosoda, particularity the color composition and the faces somewhat.
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I’m trying to find a site to watch this, but Crunchyroll won’t load it!
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[…] last time, and not long ago. I would have waited but I’m behind with Yumeiro, and a post on Bateszi’s blog made Occult Academy 5 look so cool I decided I couldn’t wait. And it is a good episode. The […]
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[…] fun, I guess? It just seems really predictable as well. I’m definitely going to check out Occult Academy at some point, and, just last night, I made an impulsive, three episode foray into Madhouse‘s […]
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