First Impression – Occultic;Nine
Something wicked this way comes.
Welcome to another Fall first impression and I’m on cleanup duty for random titles this season. Some of you have already guessed that this is from the same author of Steins;Gate and Robotic;Notes. He loves using semi colon and here’s Chiyomaru Shikura at it again. Let’s see how this faired.
The setting is present day with a blogger protagonist after a foreshadowing of many deaths. What do you know, someone actually made an anime about us lowly beings?! How could this be? I guess the industry has become meta enough for main-streamers talk about bloggers and their branch of affiliates. Blogging has indeed become an extension of communication channel and even part of the digital marketing space, which is ever evolving with the advancement in technology and how we interact with it. But the one in Occultic;Nine is very niche. I’m not sure to be amused or not but Yuuta’s Kiri Kiri Basara is a horror stories aggregator, something of a katsu news for anibloggers. The main idea behind the blog however is to get a hold of exciting stories. And yes, it is a way for a measly income with ads and clicks. Monetising your hobby is quite good but it’s not always successful. Which is understandable from Yuuta’s expressions and sad case of finances.
Our protagonist is a nerdy otaku, who wants to be cool but fails with his jumpy personality. He has a hard case of chuuni disease and is internally conflicted between his cool-potential and passion over his hobby. Of course he is broke and needs money to get by, basically an uncool version of Okabe Rintaro. I have a feeling, all the Yuki Kaji haters will soon gather because this is another of his predictable roles. Man, give the guy a break, this is his living and not all roles signed up are ideal. But anyhow, I wasn’t too impressed by his shenanigans and over the top hijinx.
Anyways, in the hunt for amazing horrors, his paths will cross with an array of individuals, first in line is a F-cup Mahou Shoujo wannabe (highly annoying), shooting lasers with sound effects. There is also a vision-monger Idol who feels things, a meganekko, a witch-type girl, specialising in curses + her ghost, a cougar and possibly two bishies who would join the club.
Currently, not a lot is known of the end result except for the fact that these nine characters would have to work together to battle incoming horrors. The first of which is the horrible murder of Professor Hashigami via scalping, a high-profile scientist who researched in the occult field and believed the existence of souls and even poltergeists. Not many people took him seriously but from his demeanour alone, it is clear that he was serious about his research and believed in the occult existence. However, his murder screams agenda and revenge by a person who doesn’t believe in whatever he was selling or is basically the first in many to follow. We know too little about this guy for getting into the verdict of who done it but we will find out with more episodes.
One thing I do wonder though, which was handled quite poorly. If you are horror-blogger, how do you not know to touch questionable material? Leave alone a bloody knife? Sure, it was dark in the room but how can you just pick up something like that? And thus, our protagonist Gamo-tan is in deem trouble with literal blood in his hands. Time to sing, something wicked this way comes.
I’m on the fence for this one. I was quite intrigued by the concept while checking out Fall list but didn’t like the first episode that much. The biggest reason is Ryo-tas and her bouncing melons. Seriously, not funny at all. Practically speaking and I say this from experience, the girls on the bigger side DO NOT jump around like bunnies. It is not comfortable and this basically felt like forced fanservice than anything. Was this necessary? Not to mention, Protagonist has a bad case of fast-pacing, which might be part of his personality but just jumps out and not in a good way.
On a plus side though, there’s definitely mystery afoot with the murder of professor. It is too soon for me to drop this because something interesting might come up and I might even warm up to the characters it but as a first episode, not much impressed. It would even be funny if the kawai idol in the program that professor was invited to, scalped him and left it in mailbox. Anyways, this might not be the season winner but I’m okay to give this a three-episode test.
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].
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
I’ll watch another episode, but am unsure about giving it the 3 episode trial. I found the characters of both Yuuta and Ryo-tas (especially Yuuta) quite annoying. Not exactly the kind of thing that will draw you into investing the time to watch a series. However, several of the other characters we barely saw look like they could draw my interest. So it gets at least a second episode to try and sell me on it.
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
I agree with you but not all first episodes are great so I usually judge the first episode mildly while later ones quite strictly. Let’s see how this one goes.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Yeah, lots of annoying characters running (and bouncing…) around here. There seem to be some cool ones to hopefully balance it out, but I’m just not sure if it can hold together with this many oddballs in there all at once. Still, I’ll keep watching to see how it goes. It may not make the most of sense, but at least it’s entertaining for now.
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
I wanted to kick Ryo-tas in the butt. I am also worried about her back. :/
Anyways, too many oddballs as you say (nine in total and one of them might even turn out to be a ghost!), but there is a possibility of few of them being okay. Let’s have at least two more episodes roll before we get on with the verdict on this one.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…felt like an overload of noise:signal (or is that noise;signal?) in this one. I can’t quite get a bead on the type of story they want to tell, and that’s not good for a first ep.
I don’t find Fanservice Girl as annoying as most, as I don’t really see her a just silly fanservice for the sake of it, just a person that is aware that fanservice exists, and it trying to play that sort of “role”; she’s playing it badly, and that’s the purpose of her character in the story. The bounce is typical anime exaggeration and doesn’t feel any more out of place than a bunch of flamboyant combat animation.
Now…does that make this an interesting character that’s well executed? No, not as of this episode, but I get what they were after.
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
It’s definitely noise;signal in this case.
That’s a good explanation for the bounce but definitely not for me. But then again, I’m not the target market so I should basically sidle out of this one.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
A lot of randomness about and oddballs at every turn but it has some charm. I guess my biggest attraction to it is hoping to see some of the science addled characters get stumped and eat their words by encountering something they can’t explain by all their logic. Then there’s the murder mystery and the protagonist probably getting framed for bad timing. So I’m intending to stick around and might do so for the entire run.
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
The professor in question seems legit and the concept of occult is on the serious side so I’m actually intrigued about their treatment of it. And who knows, some of the later characters might actually be likeable.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
Hahahahaahahahaha, I initially ready your line Kyokai as
the girls on the blogger side DO NOT jump around like bunnies
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
complete fail at using quote tags orz
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
So, you’re the faint-hearted type, huh? 😛 I think the setting’s aspiring to mystery than horror. It isn’t giving off that kind of vibe.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
Welp I can watch horror, it’s just not my preferred type of entertainment. But at least so far it has tingled my queasy sensor.
But if the mystery leans a bit into the graphic end, I might have to rethink it.