「雪のあかり」 (Yuki no Akari)
“AKARI of snow”

Seeing as this is a supernatural series and all, I’ve been sort of wondering when a ghost would show up. Well it looks like I don’t have to wonder any longer, as the little girl in the red coat we saw in the preview last time turns out to be just that. Much like the title suggests, she’s named Okamoto Akari and voiced by a new seiyuu named Minase Inori. The Japanese anime community is already trying to figure out exactly who Inori is, but we do know that her debut role here will span two episodes. The actual story involving her character who froze to death waiting outside her apartment for her father Kengo (Ueda Yuuji) is surprisingly not that creepy though. After the summoning that Chihiro performed called out Akari instead of Maya’s late father, the main cast was far too relaxed in the presence of a ghost for me to start feeling any anxiety over it. No one seemed to care that JK was the only person that couldn’t see Akari either, even though he was able to sense where she is. What’s more, no one seemed to mind that she could physically interact with everyone, and were simply focused on bringing her home to try and put her spirit to rest. All just another day’s work at Waldstein Academy it would seem.

Things did take a more serious turn when they found her home and Akari showed signs that she was traumatized by the exact spot that she died, especially when the washing machine went flying and a snowstorm enveloped her. However, I was still more keen on learning about the circumstances leading to her death at that point, more so than fearing that she’s going to start killing people. Akari has shown that she’s a friendly spirit that means no harm to others, and developed attachments to Smile and Maya in particular, so there’s really nothing eery about her character at this point. Instead, it looks like the story will come down to resolving things between her spirit and her father, who feels responsible for her death and is extremely upset about it. Looking back, I don’t see much more to this two-part arc nor much relevance to the main plot, but still enjoyed this episode a fair bit due to Akari’s cute character and wanting to see them help her spirit.

Amidst those developments, Fumiaki’s relationship with Mikaze looks like it’s continuing to get on Maya’s nerves, albeit it still feels like she’s annoyed about him having a girl who fawns over him rather than being jealous of Mikaze. Of course, one could always argue that’s the sign of a girl who’s unknowingly interested in a guy like Fumiaki, so it’ll be interesting to see which one it ends up being later on. There was also mention of Maya selling her father’s house and the new owners tearing it down and getting rid of everything inside, which left me wondering if she’s overlooking something that may have been left behind there. There hasn’t been much mention of the old research notebook she discovered back in episode two and how it detailed his research into the Nostradamus Prophecies, but if he left something like that behind for her, it doesn’t seem all that unreasonable that there might be more. For now, I’m curious about Chihiro seen talking to Mikaze in the preview. As mentioned before, the two of them are seen together in the opening sequence, so all the suspicion as to whether or not Mikaze’s in league with her and keeping tabs on Fumiaki may come to light next time.

* P.S. JK is hilarious as always.

 

Preview

17 Comments

  1. Its like the destruction of the world is really no big deal. Unless 21st(?) Aug never comes (and Fumiaki time travelled in Aug 1st i think), i don’t see how the lot of them can be so unfocused on dealing with the issue.

    Maya probably accepts Fumiaki’s version of the future as real so she should have started planning and execution by now. Fumiaki so far just seems shortsighted (even if Mikaze is not something odd like actually being the old lady), shouldn’t he be more motivated to stop the event?

    This anime is really missing AB’s Yuri

    Zaku Fan
  2. Nothing to do with the Nostradamus key but it was a very good episode. I’m with D on this one, Akari is one adorable kid which makes her story a very sad one. I think the best way to have her spirit go to rest is to reunite her with her father for Christmas? It would be nice to have a good end to her mini arc.
    Also, is Fumiaki that much head over heels with Mikaze? She only seems to tag him with food and request to get more products on the school’s ground (and therefore a better access to the school?). She seems to be using Fumiaki over and over. Found the 2 of them cute at the start, now and much like Maya in a sense, they do get on my nerves. Always thought Mikaze was too good fr Fumiaki so I guess we’ll see some light next episode.

    Shinjiro
  3. I liked the episode. It seems like the little ghost girl reminds Maya of herself when she was her age. Maybe we wkll learn more about Maya hopefully but I really want to see some answers dealing with key. Anyways I still look forward to watching Occult Academy every week out of all this seasons anime.

    infinite
  4. Great episode. I don’t know, I think Maya is pretty clearly jealous and annoyed by Mikaze. Especially the sulking on the bus after Abe changed his mind and went with Mikaze.

    JK and Smile are the best characters in the show.

    ava
  5. Ahem, Maya is getting classic tsundere symptoms: jealousy apparently for no reason, and trying to deny it. If Mikaze turns out to be agent of evil forces, and this leaves Fumiaki stricken with grief, Maya would happily turn dere and console him…
    Sad ghost-girl in the snow is reminding me of certain classic fairy tale by H.Ch. Andersen…
    Other than that with 10th episode apparently dedicated to resolving the ghost case, we have only two episodes left to save the world 😛

    ewok40k
  6. Did they kind of imply that the invasion of the aliens was ‘tomorrow’? Fumiaki seemed to have had an ‘oh shit!’ moment after Mikaze returned his suitcase and said ‘see you tomorrow’.
    But then again, the previews showed that nothing of the sort happens.

    Jo
  7. I think this mini-arc is just a build up to the finale, the way I see it; Maya helps Akari find peace for her and his father then she realizes the importance of the “place where you can call home”, decides not to sell her house and finds some clues left by her dad that is somehow key-related.

    A bit of a cliche but hey who knows.

    By the way, I never would’ve guessed JK can’t see ghosts.

    Jaden
  8. This series has multiple seasons written all over it. I guess the series will end with Mizake and the vice principle coming out in the open as villains and leave it open ended or on a cliffhanger for season 2? Would hate for little to happen on the Key plotine right up to last episode and then in last episode it all gets resolved.

    Karmafan
  9. JK’s face had me rolling so hard. And seeing Maya’s motherly sad is nice too. <3

    BTW has it really been confirmed that this is going to only be 13 episodes? It seems like it's going to go on longer than that to me; I also didn't see a new Anime no Chikara series for fall season on Chartfag's anime chart.

  10. why so “many” comments? xD

    This episode was really nice, Poor little girl, Akari u.u

    and yes Maya seemed jelous xdd

    its worng to want a Maya x fumiaki thing? XD cuz I want to, but Fumiaki is just a dork xD so I think its wrong xD

    lol
    1. The problem is, shows like this with intelligent stories are dismissed as “pretentious” by today’s otaku. They would rather watch series with shitty stories but tons of moe and fanservice. For example, the only defense I’ve ever heard from Highschool of the Dead fans about why they like such a godawful show is “Who cares? BOOBS!”

      These idiots will be the death of us all.

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