Occult Academy

""I hate the occult!""

The date is July 1999, and people were wondering if the world was going to end. At Waldstein Academy--known by its nickname "Occult Academy" for its rather odd field of study--the principal, Junichiro Kumashiro, has died of what the media is claiming as a heart attack. When his 17-year-old daughter, Maya, comes to his funeral (late), the truth is revealed--his love of the occult had gotten so out of hand he summoned a demon.

Maya quickly disposes of said demon, but that's not the real story here. The story really begins with a naked man descending from the sky. He is Fumiaki Uchida, a (former) psychic from the year 2012, apparently sent to stop the world from ending in an alien invasion under the cover of a teacher at the academy, Minoru Abe. His and Maya's destinies collide as Maya plans to get rid of the school that tore her family apart, while Fumiaki uses her assistance to find and neutralize an object or person called the "Nostradamus Key", which, when activated in conjunction with Nostradamus' prophecies, could begin said alien invasion.

Hilarity Ensues.

The third entry in Aniplex and TV Tokyo's Anime no Chikara series (preceded by So Ra No Wo To and Senkou no Night Raid), this Anime First series started in Summer 2010, ending in the fall.

US residents may legally watch this series at Crunchyroll.


 * Abusive Parents: Maya's Dad, although he really did seem to love her in the end (his obsession with the occult got the best of him),
 * Academy of Adventure
 * Action Girl: Maya with her crossbow of determination.
 * Adorkable: Kozue.
 * All Just a Dream: Elaborate Happy Place illusions rarely work on the Genre Savvy.
 * All Myths Are True: Aliens, Ghosts, Psychics, U.M.As, magic spells,  ... The only thing preventing this from becoming a Fantasy Kitchen Sink is a vague explanation.
 * Almighty Janitor: Smile, literally.
 * Alternate Character Reading: The "On the Next..." for episode six uses the alternate reading of "Michinori" (distance) as "Doutei" (virgin), which Kozue finds amusing.
 * "Bunmei" and "Fumiaki" are written with the same kanji.
 * Anti-Hero: Fumiaki has all the makings of a Type I.
 * Apocalyptic Log: Of the recorded variety.
 * Armor-Piercing Slap: Ami delivers one to Maya in episode 7 after the latter insults the former's father when his UFO plan fails. He then gives Ami one and tells her to apologize to her friend, but she just runs away, which leads into the next episode.
 * Ascended to A Higher Plane of Existence: Akari in episode 10, in a very touching scene where she finally meets Santa.
 * Automatic Crossbow: Maya's weapon of choice against monstrosities of the occult is a crossbow, with gun ownership being mostly illegal in Japan.
 * Back-to-Back Badasses:
 * Badass Driver: Mikaze may drive like crazy, but she knows what she's doing.
 * Bad Future: What Fumiaki is trying to prevent.
 * Barbie Doll Anatomy: Averted. The Lens Flare Censor may be in effect, but the shadows from the light aren't. Look closely when Fumiaki lands; the shadow of his wang can be seen.
 * May also count as a case of Getting Crap Past the Radar.
 * Batter Up: Smile, in the mountain, with the wrench.
 * Beware the Nice Ones:
 * Big Damn Heroes: Several of the main characters do this for Ami after a giant chupacabra kidnaps her.
 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
 * Black Blood: Green blood, in this case.
 * Black Magic:
 * Blind Without'Em: Kozue, even when she's possessed.
 * Blue Eyes: Maya of the piercing variety.
 * BFS: The "S" stands for "spanner".
 * Body Horror: Mothman.
 * Boom! Headshot!: Ami's dad manages to decapitate a chupacabra in episode 8...using a nailgun.
 * Calling the Old Man Out:
 * Can't Hold His Liquor: Fumiaki.
 * Car Fu: Ami's dad does this in episode 12.
 * Cast of Snowflakes
 * Cat Smile: Kozue.
 * The Cavalry: "The SDF is here", Just in Time...
 * Character Development:
 * One incredibly well executed example, through all his hardships and misfortunes in the series, and a lot of soul searching in the last episode, it's completely credible his transformation from zero to hero.
 * Chekhov's Gift:
 * Chekhov's Gunman:
 * Chupacabra:
 * Clingy Jealous Girl: Two examples:
 * Chihiro shows this early on, and hates how close Mikaze and Fumiaki seem. Surprisingly she doesn't seem to pursue him too much, but she's never happy whenever they're together.
 * Maya starts to exhibit this later in the series, especially how cheerful Fumiaki gets whenever Mikaze shows up, and even punches him during one such occasion.
 * Close-Call Haircut: Fumiaki just narrowly avoids Maya throwing a giant sword at his head.
 * Maya does it to him again later with a crossbow.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Kozue
 * Combat Pragmatist: Maya is not above fighting dirty, up to and including using her bracelet as a set of knuckle-dusters.
 * Conspicuous CG: All background extras. It looks fine from far away, but it's rather distracting when they're maybe ten feet from foreground characters.
 * Crazy Prepared: Would you just happen to know what is the right frequency for  and carry a musical instrument while searching for a missing person in a mountain?
 * Crop Circles: One of these kicks off episode seven's plot.
 * Cursed with Awesome: Fumiaki's spoon-bending, which was kind of awesome, but it ensured he'd never lead a normal childhood due to his overbearing mother.
 * Dangerously-Short Skirt: Maya in her white dress.
 * Dark and Troubled Past: Maya and Fumiaki.
 * Dead Man Writing:
 * Death Glare: Maya delivers one to Chihiro in episode 2. She also uses it against Fumiaki at times.
 * Demonic Possession: Both Maya's father and Kozue by the lamia.
 * Design Student's Orgasm: The opening sequence is a loud explosion of occult imagery.
 * Designated Victim: Despite her belief that nothing out of the ordinary happens to her, Kozue ends up a victim of the occult a lot more often than everyone else... yet she's never down for long.
 * Determinator:
 * Dirty Coward: Fumiaki for just about the entirety of episode four.
 * Disappeared Dad: Maya's father is one.
 * Double Standard Abuse (Female on Male): Maya tends to beat up Minoru/Fumiaki a lot.
 * Dowsing Device: JK's rods. They also double as weapons. And lockpicks. It's starting to look like there's nothing he can't do with them.
 * Drives Like Crazy: Mikaze, very much so.
 * Ami's dad can do this, too (and it's not limited to just things with wheels), but he knows how to turn it off.
 * Dogged Shady Woman: Chihiro to Fumiaki.
 * Dude Looks Like a Lady: JK.
 * Earn Your Happy Ending: And how. Episode 12 makes it look like everything's wrapped up nice and neat, then the future guys go outside...
 * Elaborate University High
 * Hair Decorations: Maya and her Alice band.
 * Funny Spoon: Bunmei defeated the alien invaders with a spoon.
 * Evil Costume Switch:
 * Expressive Accessory: Smile's smiley-face badge tends to mimic Smile's expressions.
 * Faking the Dead:
 * False Friend:
 * Fan Girl: Kozue loves anything remotely supernatural.
 * Fan Service: We get a lot of low-angle or close-up shots of Maya's legs with the black stockings. It's been described as 'intelligent fanservice' by some of the fans. Also, she takes a shower in episode 2 and wears a swimsuit in episode 6, but these parts are fairly tame compared to most anime.
 * Episode 11 features a lot of it.
 * First-Name Basis: A sort of variation. As a child, Fumiaki's stage name was Bunmei, which he hated. Mikaze referring to his younger self as "Fumiaki-kun" instead of "Bunmei-kun" when they see said younger self on TV is one of the things that makes him fall head-over-heels for her.
 * Later on,
 * Five-Man Band
 * The Hero: Maya
 * The Lancer: Ami/Fumiaki
 * The Big Guy: Smile
 * The Smart Guy: JK
 * The Chick: Kozue/Fumiaki
 * Flat Earth Atheist: Maya vehemently denies or simply expresses hatred for the occult. She used to love it, though, and her extensive knowledge on paranormal matters is often used as a source of Hypocritical Humor.
 * Flatline Plotline
 * Gainaxing: Mikaze, very blatantly in episode 11.
 * Genki Girl: Kozue, especially in regards to occult stuff.
 * Genre Blindness: While Maya is often Genre Savvy, she displays this in the last episode.
 * Genre Savvy: Maya
 * When the others cheer her on to rescue Ami, she replies with "In the movies, everyone who says those lines dies." None of them do, but it freaks them out nonetheless.
 * Godiva Hair: Maya in episode 2 during a Shower Scene.
 * Goth: JK fits the classic image of it.
 * Of the cheerful, energetic variety.
 * The Greys: One descends from the spaceship
 * Hair Reboot: In Episode 8, Maya shoots a crossbow bolt through Fumiaki's hair, leaving a hole in it, but it reverts to normal a few minutes later.
 * Hairstyle Inertia: Fumiaki and especially Maya, who also has Same Clothes, Different Year.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Looks like Mio toughened up a bit. Still Tall, Dark and Bishoujo, only now she seems to be actually embracing it.
 * Rolo grew out of being the Yandere and became The Lancer. But he's still a dork...
 * And it looks like Kudo has found something else besides story telling...
 * And Kaere / Nice is another eccentric blond chick.
 * Looks like Hiroshi finally grew a pair by losing them.
 * It's seems that Angel is now a fan of the supernatural and wears Glasses
 * Homage: Fumiaki's arrival from the future in the buff appears to a take on the same procedure used in the Terminator films.
 * The War of the Worlds tripods appear in a flashforward in episode 2.
 * Hope Spot: The end of episode 12.
 * Hot Witch:
 * Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every episode-title features the name of one of the show's characters, with the exception of episode twelve-
 * I Just Want to Be Normal: Part of Fumiaki's backstory as a kid. His mother constantly exploited his talents, ensuring that he'd never get to lead a normal life due to his busy schedule. A lot of his resentment was also due to her breaking promises to him in order to book more shows for him.
 * I Just Want to Be Special: Kozue's determination to find some occult stuff, and at least be conscious enough to witness it, since she doesn't remember the stuff that happened to her.
 * Improbable Aiming Skills:
 * Improbable Weapon User: JK and his dowsing rods.
 * Maya uses her bracelet as brass knuckles.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: "Maya's Amigo" and "Mamma Amiya", episodes 7 and 8 titles.
 * In-Series Nickname: Almost everyone calls Fumiaki by his old childhood nickname, "Bunmei". He doesn't like it much.
 * It's Personal: Maya's reason for even coming to the school is because
 * It Was with You All Along:
 * Journey to the Center of the Mind -- Via the Flatline Plotline.
 * Just Before the End: Or After the End, depending on the point of view.
 * Kick the Dog:
 * Let's Get Dangerous: Several characters portray this trope, most notably Chihiro and Fumiaki at the end. Prior to this they both seemed like Butt Monkeys.
 * Limited Wardrobe: Maya has apparently worn the same white one-piece dress since she was a kid, and has never been shown wearing anything but this and her school uniform.
 * Lock and Load Montage: Episode 8.
 * Longing Look: Chihiro often has one when Fumiaki is in her line of sight.
 * Lovable Coward: Fumiaki may still get there ...
 * Love Epiphany: Fumiaki has one in episode 10 when he realizes how upset Maya got at him when Mikaze showed up at school. This right as Mikaze asked him to eat at her house, rather than the restaurant, and Chihiro showing up as well in an attempt to do the same.
 * Magical Incantation:
 * Male Gaze: Pretty blatant in Episode 11.
 * Meganekko: Kozue's glasses are part of her soul. No, really.
 * Miniature Senior Citizens: Mikaze's boss and Fumiaki's landlady (sisters).
 * Mini-Dress of Power: Maya
 * Miles Gloriosus: Fumiaki.
 * The Mole:
 * Moth Out of Hell: With Glowing Eyes of Doom.
 * Ms. Exposition: Maya, more often than not.
 * Mukokuseki: Maya's blue eyes aside, averted along with her sister trope Only Six Faces. There's a lot of work put on faces and facial expression.
 * Mundane Utility: You can use timeline predictors disguised as cellphones as ... cellphones.
 * Nail'Em:
 * Nakama: Even without Maya, Team Occult Academy (Ami, Kozue, Smile, JK and maybe Fumiaki) agrees to stick together and not let the world end.
 * Naked First Impression: Though the light covers it for the audience, Maya gets a good look at Fumiaki's junk when he lands.
 * Oh, the fans get a decent look, too, depending on how much you're paying attention.
 * Naked on Arrival: Fumiaki
 * Near-Death Experience: Kozue willingly goes into one, ending up in a very Seussian afterlife.
 * Never the Selves Shall Meet: In fact, doing so
 * No Guy Wants to Be Chased: Fumiaki has made it very clear he doesn't like Chihiro's constant advances.
 * That seems to be more because he used his phone to find out what would happen if he did go out with her.
 * Which makes one wonder why he didn't also do the same thing with Mikaze at some point early on as well. He was clearly interested in her.
 * Non-Action Guy: Fumiaki. Of the lying cowards sort. Most of the time.
 * Not Herself:
 * Not Quite Dead:
 * Nuclear Option: Because the Godzilla Threshold will be crossed.
 * Odango: Chihiro's hairstyle.
 * Offhand Backshot:
 * Only a Flesh Wound:
 * Orphean Rescue Mission
 * Our Lawyers Advised This Trope: Every episode ends with "This program is a work of fiction. Departed spirits, psychic abilities, UMAs, etc. do not exist. Unless you believe in them..."
 * Out-of-Clothes Experience: Fumiaki's.
 * Papa Wolf: Ami's dad.
 * Parental Abandonment: Two examples:
 * One with Maya, who felt her father was ignoring her and was focused solely on occult stuff, which caused her to resent it as she grew older.
 * Another is with Akari, a little girl who
 * Perpetual Frowner: Maya
 * Phony Psychic: Guess who..
 * Though, it should be noted he wasn't always that way.
 * The Power of Rock:
 * Public Domain Soundtrack: Previews for the next episode fittingly use the first movement of Beethoven's "Waldstein" piano sonata.
 * Psychic Powers: Fumiaki was a spoon-bender, which is shown by his younger self on TV. Although he somehow lost them by adulthood.
 * Number Five was a pyrokinetic, and JK's dowsing works.
 * Real Place Background: The Bunker shown in Episode 3 is actually called Matsushiro Underground Imperial Headquarters and located in Nagano, Honshu. It's likely other locations shown in the anime are actually existing ones around Nagano as well.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Subverted because Ami gives Fumiaki one in a very casual manner and didn’t thought about its significance, but Fumiaki took it seriously enough.
 * Red Herring:
 * Robe and Wizard Hat:
 * Romantic False Lead:
 * Running Gag: "My glasses... My glasses..."
 * Scooby-Doo Hoax:
 * Screw Destiny: Fumiaki's raison d'etre.
 * Self-Serving Memory: We find out that
 * Set Right What Once Went Wrong
 * Scary Shiny Glasses:
 * Shaggy Search Technique: Fumiaki is a master of this.
 * She's Got Legs: Maya.
 * Shout-Out: The time machine used to send Fumiaki to the past has been used before for teleportation.
 * Maya nicknames JK Kurenai no Buta. He likes it.
 * The students' song about Chihiro's hairstyle is a reference to a song and animation featured on Okaa-san to Issho (Together with Mother, think Japan's Sesame Street).
 * Kozue loses her glasses fairly often leading to hilarious situations or even driving the plot.
 * The Little Prince is Kozue's spiritual guide.
 * The name 'JK' could be a reference to the author of Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling.
 * Possibly one went out to Hot Fuzz with the
 * They both probably derive from something else, but the original promotion poster of the series looks oddly similar to a Gintama DVD cover, and the characters have suspiciously similar personality traits.
 * Shower Scene: Maya in the second episode. She then goes on to spend the next few minutes in a towel.
 * Smash Cut: Used to confusing effect in Episode 11 when the scene goes from
 * Spirit World:.
 * Spit Trail Kiss: Mikaze does not let up on the tongue
 * Stable Time Loop:
 * Stage Mom:
 * Super Empowering:
 * Tall, Dark and Snarky: Maya.
 * Tear Jerker: Several examples throughout the series, but the most notable one during the Akari arc in episodes 9 and 10.
 * Theme Music Power-Up: The OP plays when
 * Thirteen Episode Anime
 * Those Two Guys: Subverted with JK and Smile.
 * Time Travel: Despite seeming like a major theme, it only only plays a pivotal role in the beginning, and at the end.
 * Timey-Wimey Ball: Don't think too hard about the ending. What was that mantra like...
 * Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe: Averted. The series is set Nagano Prefecture which is well west of Tokyo.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Ami and Maya as kids.
 * Took a Level in Badass:
 * Trademark Favorite Food: JK loves pudding.
 * Trailers Always Spoil:
 * Tripod Terror: The aliens in The Future.
 * Tsundere: Fumiaki calls Maya one, though she counters that the term itself didn't really exist in 1999. Doesn't help her case though.
 * Can be applied to her reactions towards the occult: "I-It's not that I like the occult now, okay?"
 * Her dere side shows more and more, being in full blast by the end of the series.
 * Uncanny Family Resemblance:
 * Upgrade Artifact:
 * Villainous Breakdown:
 * Was It All a Lie?:
 * Was Once a Man:
 * We Want Our Cloudcuckoolander Back: Kozue's enthusiasm for the occult may drive Maya up the wall, but once she's turned into a rational, straight-laced model student, guess who's trying to get her back to her old self?
 * Wife Husbandry: Inverted.
 * Witch Hunt:
 * Wham! Episode:
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: You don't need blazing sparks and thundering shockwaves to deny access to a key, Chihiro.
 * White Magic:
 * The World Tree: What is apparently one shows up underground.
 * Wrench Whack: Smile's weapon of choice.
 * X Meets Y: It's been described by some fans as Ghostbusters meets The Terminator.
 * Or Shakugan no Shana meets Bakemonogatari.
 * As of Episode 11, possibly
 * You Are Number Six - Fumiaki is literally number six. The first five fared poorly...
 * Youkai: Episodes 9 and 10 features a little girl's spirit that turned into a yuki-onna.
 * Your Princess Is in Another Castle:
 * Zettai Ryouiki: With the focus on legs, especially Maya's, it's hard to miss it.
 * Wham! Episode:
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: You don't need blazing sparks and thundering shockwaves to deny access to a key, Chihiro.
 * White Magic:
 * The World Tree: What is apparently one shows up underground.
 * Wrench Whack: Smile's weapon of choice.
 * X Meets Y: It's been described by some fans as Ghostbusters meets The Terminator.
 * Or Shakugan no Shana meets Bakemonogatari.
 * As of Episode 11, possibly
 * You Are Number Six - Fumiaki is literally number six. The first five fared poorly...
 * Youkai: Episodes 9 and 10 features a little girl's spirit that turned into a yuki-onna.
 * Your Princess Is in Another Castle:
 * Zettai Ryouiki: With the focus on legs, especially Maya's, it's hard to miss it.