Occult Academy: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Occult Academy: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

12 Monkeys see, 12 Monkeys do.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 15, 2012

Some of my studies for a post graduate degree were a largely self-directed affair at Portland’s Reed College, which back in the day allowed Liberal Arts students the freedom to pretty much chart their own course. With the goal of ultimately writing a thesis comparing and contrasting the alleged “automatic writing” of the wives of rival “magicians” and poets William Butler Yeats and Aleister Crowley in mind, I set off on a far ranging pursuit that had me working with a renowned Yeats scholar to uncover the labyrinthine mythology and symbology of Yeats’ poetry, while at the same time working on independent studies that furthered my education in an area that had always been something of a fascination for me, the occult. Stacks of books either by or about Gurdjieff, Crowley, The Golden Dawn, Helena Blavatsky and scores of others dotted my little house and were often augmented with a number of tomes by symbologist – analysts like Carl Jung. The whole idea of a “hidden wisdom” is alluring at least in part by simple dint of the fact that this supposed wisdom is ostensibly hidden (though some would argue with the glut of books about the occult available, it’s not hidden very well). All sorts of once arcane information has become the stuff of popular culture in such works as The Da Vinci Code and other books and movies of that ilk, and even the somewhat rarified world of anime hasn’t been immune to various occult influences and even inspirations. Occult Academy is a kind of fun series that traverses some well worn occult tropes while also working in a facile time travel element. Anyone who, like I have been, has been interested in various occult traditions will no doubt get a kick out of this series, but even those who couldn’t care less about Hermetic wisdom and/or “as above, so below” may find a lot to enjoy, especially from a visual sense, as this is one of the more elegantly designed animes in recent memory.

One of the recurring jokes (if that’s the right word) in Occult Academy is how heroine Maya Kumashiro repeatedly screams, “I hate the occult!” This is a rather ironic statement as Maya is the daughter of Junichirou Kumashiro, founder and principal of the The Waldstein Academy, a school centered around investigations of paranormal activity and hidden wisdom. Maya has returned to Waldstein because her father has died under mysterious circumstances, and the Academy has been left in her care. What unfolds next may not make Maya like the occult or paranormal phenomena any better, but it makes any attempt to deny or run away from it next to impossible. A huge yellow vortex opens in the sky and a naked young man floats down from some netherworld. That turns out to be Fumiaka Uchida, who has come to Maya’s time of 1999 from his time of 2012 in a desperate attempt to prevent a calamity which will result in aliens invading and taking over the planet.

Fumiaka is on the hunt for some unknown entity called The Nostradamus Key, an object which will prevent the alien attack and restore the future to a relative sense of normalcy. He and Maya set out on a quest to figure out both what and where The Nostradamus Key is. Playing into this harried attempt to stave off future calamity is the fact that Fumiaka’s 1999 self—a young boy who has attained celebrity for such abilities as being able to bend spoons with his mind—is fascinated by The Waldstein Academy, wanting to further his studies there and extend whatever innate talents he may possess. Occult Academy does a remarkably good job of playing the two timeframes—1999 and 2012— off of each other, working in at least a couple of time travel paradoxes into the mix, and ultimately delivering a very satisfying answer to what exactly The Nostradamus Key is and how its discovery leads to some unexpected results.

Occult Academy is one of those very rare animes which doesn’t outstay its welcome, while at the same time not being afraid to take its time in developing character and plot, despite its relatively short running time of thirteen episodes. For example, the central conceit of the time traveling Fumiaki isn’t even revealed until the very closing moments of the series’ first episode, and Occult Academy continues to follow that trend, slowly but deliberately building the pieces of the puzzle and introducing its supporting characters in service of the overall plot arc. While there is a certain anecdotal approach to several episodes, as Maya and Fumiaki investigate this or that mystery, once the series reaches its denouement, it becomes clear that the writers have very artfully woven in essential information that makes several seemingly tangential elements come into sharper, and more relevant, focus.

While the idea of a time traveler visiting the past to prevent a calamity is a pretty hoary trope in science fiction (if you haven’t read Jack Finney’s fantastic novel Time and Again, run out and get a copy, it’s incredibly entertaining), Occult Academy manages to rethink the premise and invest it with some new life. Part of this reinvigoration is due to the series’ very engaging animation style, which features well above average character and background designs, and a very consistent use of a quasi-3D approach that gives the characters and the story literal as well as figurative depth.

Occult Academy: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Occult Academy is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of NIS America with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a fantastic looking anime that pops incredibly well on Blu-ray. As mentioned above, the animation style here is unusually complex and well detailed, with a lot of attention paid to some nice character designs and very well rendered backgrounds. By far the best part of this presentation is its consistent use of a quasi-3D technique which looks absolutely great throughout the series. Over and over, the camera will dolly around characters which are dimensionally placed in front of the cartwheeling backgrounds, and it really creates some enormously effective depth. More subtle uses of this 3D technique pop up in several episodes, with an approach that resembles a very artful reimagining of the old Disney multi-plane technique. Line detail is very sharp and colors are nicely robust and very well saturated.

Occult Academy: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Occult Academy features only one lossless audio option, an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 mix in the original Japanese. NIS America has wisely started making subtitles optional, so for those who want to just enjoy the visual delights this series offers in abundance, the subtitles can be turned off. The audio itself is very strong, if obviously fairly narrow. This series probably could have benefited from a surround mix, as several elements that include some nice sound effects would have been augmented with increased immersion. But fidelity here is excellent, and though narrow, the mix is extremely well prioritized, with dialogue always clearly and cleanly presented. Dynamic range is also very strong and varied throughout the series.

Occult Academy: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Four shorts are included featuring childhood adventures with a strange little lizard like beast called a tsuchinoko. These include:

• Nice to Meet You, Tsucchi (HD; 3:01)


• Our Buddy, Tsucchi (HD; 3:33)


• You Can Do It, Tsucchi (HD; 3:13)


• Goodbye, Tsucchi (HD; 3:53)

Other supplements include:

• Clean Opening (HD; 1:31)


• Clean Ending (HD; 1:30). It's interesting to note the ending is live action.


• Clean Ending Episode 13 (HD; 1:46) is an animated ending for the series' final episode.


• Love Machine (HD; 1:36) is a kind of animated music video, though there are no optional subtitles, so it's kind of hard to know what they're singing about.


• Deluxe Packaging Including Hardback Book. As with previous NIS America releases, Occult Academy comes packaged in a sturdy slipcase which includes two keepcases for the Blu-ray discs as well as a nicely illustrated hardback book which features character profiles as well as recaps of all of the episodes.

Occult Academy: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Even diehard anime fans (and I count myself among that group) would be hard pressed not to admit that there's an awful lot of dreck out there in this particular genre. There are so many copycat shows that look the same, sound the same, and feature basically interchangeable characters and plots that it's hard to tell them apart sometimes. While Occult Academy certainly owes at least a little to several projects (both anime and live action) that have gone before, including "save the future by going to the past" outings like 12 Monkeys, the series is also very inventive and smartly written. What's exceptional about this series is how it knows almost inerrantly when to spend time developing a point and when to simply move on. Aiding and abetting the largely expert pacing is an incredibly vivid visual presentation which lifts this series well above a lot of its anime kin. This is another very handsomely packaged premium edition from NIS America, and with extremely solid video and audio presentations as well as excellent supplements, this release comes Highly recommended.