Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin – 12

Mikaze’s vanquished but is that all? Heck, no!

This month has definitely been very happening for me, in both good and bad way. It all started really weird with me burning my hand while cooking and then almost getting into an accident (being hit by a bike while getting out of my car). I came out of both the situations pretty much unharmed, a bruise or two are nothing, which was lucky. From my recently celebrated birthday though, things are looking wayyyy up with lots of changes and good news all around. Thanks again to Hoshi and Vivi who made awesome art for me and all the regulars of the site, who wished me. Arigatou gozaimasu~!

It was almost ridiculous seeing my three drafts when I logged in to review the current episode of Occult Academy; it happens when you have too much on your plate. However, let’s not dilly dally and quickly go over what happened in the penultimate episode. Things went from a cat fight to epicness when it came to the two mages’ face-off. Everyone watching this show just wanted to off with the two-faced witch, who had Fumiaki twisted around her little finger. Of course, that means everyone was cheering on the VP, who had literally shown above all as the white light of reason.

Mikaze, however did not go down easy. How evil plans go, she took time in gloating over how she was behind every supernatural attack on Maya and how she used Fumiaki for her own ends. It was never explained how she controlled him but for the townsfolk, she definitely put a spell on them, which was somewhat virulent in nature (Kozue got sucked into the whole Kill the witch, destroy the devil’s den… mob, like always =__=).

My respect points for Chihiro sky-rocketed with her resilience against Mikaze’s attacks. It was clear that her love for Fumiaki was not something made up but true from the heart. It was almost heart breaking to see her use last few minutes to dispel Mikaze’s magic from Fumiaki and explain the situation so that he could not only save Maya but the entire humankind. Her loyal unnamed guard’s performance was laudable no less, who did her bidding till the end. This series has been pretty much death-less in case of the main characters, offing with two supporting cast seemed a bit extreme; though they were glimpsed in the preview so there’s still some hope left. I can’t expect Chihiro to pull up a Touko but I can hope, right?!

For the most part, Maya didn’t have a big role except for being protected yet when everything came down to business and she was finally under the premise of the Waldestein Academy, she showed her ace of the still surviving book from her father, which was switched by Chihiro (c’mon people, I am trying hard not to refer to Harry Potter but this series is filled with so many references of spells, switching of books and protections charms… -__-). Moving on, Mikaze didn’t have much time in mocking Maya with news that she was responsible for her father’s death. Such EPIC Fail that she couldn’t recognize Chihiro’s magic of faking a corpse!

I whooped with joy when Fumiaki didn’t even pay heed to Mikaze’s keening rather continued his conversation with Maya. However, the witch tried, our main pair finally worked together to not only take Mikaze’s picture with the future phone to prove that she was the Nostradamus’s Key but vanquish her with the spell that Jun’ichirō formulated by reciting it together.

Peaceful future? Where?

But is that all? Of course, not! The celebration of destruction of Mikaze is not sweet because some friends were lost and the future remains unchanged, which Jun’ichirō and his cohorts wonder while staring at the rubble left behind.

Moments:

Who else had the him (from PPG) vibes whenever she said, Kumashiro Maya?

My favourite Meddling Kids!

To the radiant Southern sun, I give you Queen Susan, the gentle

I swear for a moment there, I saw JK as Kouta, Smile as Takashi & Kozue as Alice….

Yuri moment…? -__-

LOL WUT?!

Kiss you? Are you out of your mind, oba-san?!

Fumiaki, where you lookin’? =__=

Who you calling pervert, PERVERT!

DAAAWWWWWWW~

End Thoughts: I can’t say I’m hugely impressed yet I was more than satisfied with Mikaze’s end. If I said, Die Mikaze, DIE! previously, I can bet a lot of my readers went, hear hear! More than FIGHTO ON~! The mages’ face-off didn’t last too long yet it was easy to see that Mikaze knew all the dirty tricks in the book. However, three cheers to Chihiro for not only clear-thinking but saving Jun’ichirōs prized possession, his daughter’s life. If it weren’t for her Fumiaki wouldn’t have been able to come to the rescue and finally play his part of the Time Agent to prevent the rift from happening.

Though, with an end like that there are definitely some knots that are left tying and some closure between the main couple. There’s still the biggest question of what would happen now that the past event has changed, I would take a leaf of my own research that I shared in the review of episode two:

The time travel done here is between parallel universes, even when the researchers said to be careful, if Fumiaki and Maya are successful in finding the Key, their future would definitely change. In case of success, what would happen to older Fumiaki because a 12-year-old (approximated) version of him already exists in 1999, so would the 24-year-old just vanish into thin air when the events change? (Wouldn’t that be just sad?) There can be two possibilities in case of time travel paradoxes (at least that I know of):

• The assumption is that the past and the future are unalterable. Events that had occurred in the past or are supposed to happen in the future (such as Fumiaki attempting to save the world), cannot be changed. Therefore, the time traveler will be endlessly thwarted by “mishaps” in his attempts at trying to change the past. Thus, the rift would happen anyway and the flow of events will remain intact. This premise is SHOT now.
• The second possibility is a little more complex and is centered on “The Split Universe Theory”, given by Schrodinger. That is whenever an event has equal probabilities of occurring or not occurring, the universe splits into two and that is how in one world the rift would occur, while in the other one (where Fumiaki really is), the rift would not occur and no invasion of aliens. Still the question remains of the traveler’s fate of what would happen to him because there are many theories to define not only time travel but travel between parallel universes created due to possibilities.

Something that bugged me was the animation of this episode. It was not like, this has not been happening since a last few but being the penultimate episode, animation shouldn’t have looked blobby and out of shape in zoom out shots. Also, it was very convenient for Mikaze (I don’t think this was her true name) to be the Key; ignore her throughout the plot while everyone screams SHE’S THE ONE and do just that by the end of series. I guess, the writers should have worked on the plot like how Chihiro was put in – until shown, everyone was pretty much wondering what her motives really were. Anyhow, this was a thirteen episode series and original at that; it still managed to entertain me and came out as one of the top 3 of the Summer anime.

There’s still a lot of explanation to do like how Maya’s father would resurface and time paradoxes to be resolved. I’m just glad that the main leads developed in character so that their relationship doesn’t look fake or forced. Maya was a complete tsun in the beginning but she warmed up to her friends and her Bunmei; same for Fumiaki who was a total dork and blinded by Mikaze’s fake charm turned into a responsible man, who took the responsibility of the task assigned to him.

Last episode preview; Maya’s Bunmei: W00t?! Last episode already? Aahn, I am going to miss this though the title sure has a bittersweet feel to it. Would Fumiaki return to his time and forget all about her? Can he stay in the ’99 present with all the time paradoxes applied (his kid self to boot)? What would Maya do? Would her father come to her rescue? Would the future remain the same? So, many questions and so little time! Let’s look forward to the last episode and I hope it ends well. Till next time, Ja ne~

About Kyokai

The Boss lady of Metanorn, who makes it all happen. An animanga enthusiast, who watches/reads almost anything that strikes her fancy. Just beware of her Death Perception and always keep her happy. Regularly found at @KyokaiTM & #[email protected].