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「文明の崩壊」 (Bunmei no Houkai)
“The collapse of BUNMEI”
With how hilarious this series is turning out amidst all the supernatural stuff, it’s easily become my favorite show of the season. I just can’t get enough of Fumiaki acting cool in front of Mikaze, and he gets the most befitting treatment this time around for lying about his past — sitting his ass down in a huge pile of shit. Seriously, this show kills me with laughter… and then some. It’s right up there with Mitsudomoe this season for the funniest show and will likely end up as a good candidate for my favorite of the year. For instance, I realize I’m supposed to be suspicious of Chihiro since she clearly knows more about the school than she’s letting on, but when she revealed that she had earnestly fallen for “Abe Minoru” to obsessive diary levels, I was honestly too busy laughing at the disparity between what she sees and reality to even care. I have faith that Anime no Chikara will pull this series together towards some semi-meaningful conclusion, but for now I’m enjoying the lighthearted laughs like there’s no tomorrow.
Mikaze and her Porsche hasn’t gotten the least bit old yet, especially when I see Fumiaki’s reaction to going on a drive with her and him getting his face plastered to the side window when she corners like a mad woman. Like some people have already suggested, I agree that Mikaze is a bit too ideal of a girl to not be wary about when she’s seen with Chihiro in the opening sequence, but I’m hard-pressed imagining she’s aware that Fumiaki’s from the future. Chihiro clearly doesn’t know, plus Fumiaki confessed to Maya that he’s no hotshot time agent like he originally made himself out to be, but actually a homeless bum who can’t bend spoons anymore and got his ass thrown into the past against his will. I don’t know whether or not he exaggerated his own misfortune so that Maya might take pity on him, but the stark contrast between his original version and this most recent one was pretty damn hilarious. I just love how his attire with the Hawaiian shirt and all remained constant in both versions of the story, yet he was such a loser in the latter one. Maya not even giving him the time of day to tell him how pathetic he is added to the hilarity, and I was amused to no end when she kept telling him to stay at least three meters away from her because he was covered in moth shit, even when they were running for their lives. Given the speeds that Fumiaki can book his ass when he’s scared shitless, I’m inclined to believe he is the loser he admitted to be and very deserving of the punch Maya gave him without any warning using her bracelet.
Story-wise, the whole World Tree bit of mythology they slipped in was pretty cool to see, due to its ties to Norse mythology’s Yggdrasil and how it gave off a surreal feel resting underneath Minakami-yama. As such, I was a bit disappointed that nothing more came from it when it was quickly determined it wasn’t Nostradamus’ Key. In lieu, there was a nice and eery feel from the Tengu/Mothman nest littered with human bones they stumbled upon, where Maya was evidently okay being three meters within Fumiaki if it meant using him as a human stool. Incidentally, my hunch about Kozue getting abducted proved to be true, making the real surprise Smile and JK kicking ass. We’ve already gotten a taste of what Smile’s capable of when he was slogging away on a possessed Kozue in episode one, so it was JK’s 360 degree attack that wowed me here. Seeing him bust the keytar out of his backpack and defy physical constraints like he was Link with his magical pouch was quirky, but pretty cool too since he knew moths are sensitive to certain sound frequencies. In contrast, I can’t even explain how much I laughed at the scene where Fumiaki had his cowardly ass bumped off the cliff shortly after, while the entire cave was detonated by Chihiro’s black suit subordinate to seal the moths inside. In light of what happened, I’m a bit shocked that Fumiaki went on to take credit for the rescue in front of Mikaze — especially after Maya gave him a really disappointed look and called him a coward for running and leaving her behind — so I’m hoping she starts abusing him even more so than before.
As for a random stab on who or what the Nostradamus Key is, I think one of the most interesting possibilities is Fumiaki himself, since it would create a time paradox. In other words, him going back to time to prevent the arrival of the aliens is the very thing that allowed them to arrive. The other possibility of course is that it’s Maya. The photo she took of herself using Fumiaki’s phone in episode two showed her dead thirteen years in the future, but I gather she wasn’t thinking about killing herself when she took it. As explained then, the camera gives visual indication of how something will end up depending on what you’re thinking about doing with it now. Every time Fumiaki uses it to check for Nostradamus’ Key, he’s always thinking about destroying what’s in front of him and hoping to see a rosy future, suggesting that Maya herself hasn’t been completely ruled out just yet. In any case, those are just some random ideas I have for now, and I just love how no one knows since this is an original series. 🙂
Preview
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woo new episode!
Hopefully this episode is less boring than the last one. More Maya is always a good thing!
ughhhh, main characters are still as boring and annoying as they were before >_<
such a potential wasted on shallow comedy series with no good characters….
Well I have to say Fumiaki has to take the medal for the most absolutely wimpiest protagonist in history. I mean he didnt ditch a girl to save his own skin once, oh no, he did it twice! haha twice one one episode he just left the girl to die when things looked a bad. I mean thats just awesome. There was something I didnt get…. Where the hell do smiles get that huge f’in wrench? was he tuning up a tank or something?
Wow, talk about late night blogging lol. Well, here goes my rant.
After watching the episode my opinion of Fumiaki went from “pretty funny clutz” to “lying pussy”. Leaving Mikaze behind, lying about how he was chosen to be an agent, leaving Maya behind, and then lying to Mikaze. Of course, I thought his explanation in episode 2 about how he was chosen was fishy but to get confirmation still sucks, not to mention he was way more pathetic than I thought he would be. I hope he redeems himself soon because he lost so many points this episode, and I’d rather keep enjoying the main protagonist in the show rather than hate him for most of it’s run. I know I should be taking his antics as a joke but I just don’t like his character after that showing this episode. :/
At least Maya, JK, and Smile are useful. Watching Smile swing around that huge wrench was awesome and hilarious at the same time, and JK bringing along that keyboard was a “lucky” break lol. I still think something is off about Mikaze, especially considering she was able to get out of that cave unharmed by herself. I hope we get some answers soon, I’m tired of always being on edge in the scenes she’s in.
As for Chihiro, I just can’t take her love for Fumiaki seriously. Judging from the scene between her and the other agent, and her writing love poems, I’m led to believe that she really does like him but I just can’t bring myself to actually think of it as important. Maybe it will be an important plot device later on, but for now it’s just creepy more than anything. Actually, I’m wondering if her poems have any hidden meaning, since the scenes kept flashing between her writing and Fumiaki’s actual actions. On the surface it looks to be for comedy, but I have a feeling there is some deeper meaning behind it.
Oh, and I like how Maya looks with her hair flipped forward too.
Hahaha. Great reflection on what I’ve been thinking.
I lost all respect for Fumiaki in this episode. Funny or not, I just can’t stand wimp characters. I don’t think he deserves any attention from any of the ladies in there (even if Chihiro falling for him is hilarious). For me, it will take a lot as well to have this character redeemed.
I like Mikaze’s character and hope she doesn’t turn out to be an evil character. I was also wondering how she disappeared from the moment Fumiaki ran away from her until the very end and still survived the blast. I have to admit for a moment, I was worried and surprised no one actually asked or thought about her. Is Fumiaki an airhead on top of being a cowardly piss?
I cheered Maya when she abused Fumiaki. Thank god she is the main protagonist, right?
As far as secondary characters, TK amazed me here. Sure he doesn’t have the look of a hero but man, he knows how to act cool when needed. Smile is the powerhouse needed to back this little group.
It’s a fun show to watch and I’d follow it til the end.
Just what I wanted say… though I felt like punching him after the credits started rolling! 😀
called it, i saw him being a total and complete wimp and liar from the 2nd episode. He is probably going to be hopeless for a few more episodes. Its probably also the reason he can’t use psycokniesis anymore his confidence is shot he needs to get his head in the game and stop being a wipe if he is going to save the world. Though i wounder what happens if he does save it is he going to cease to exist as his future didn’t occur or is he going to go back to the future, or live in the present. Or just get killed in the process of saving everyone.
This series isn’t actually one of those shows I’m anticipating every week but now I think I’m completely hooked.
I was laughing all throughout this episodes.
While the future of mankind is in Bunmei’s unreliable hands, I wonder what’s gonna happen now.
This is definitely looking to be my favorite series this season.
MUST.GET.STARCRAFT.TWO.NAOW
Bunmei is reminding me of Shaggy from Scooby Doo. Even the color of suit is similar to the color of Shaggy’s shirt. Now, what Bunmei needs is a Scooby snack or needs to redeem himself in the next episodes.
You know, that makes alot of sense. This show might have been made to resemble like Scooby Doo. We have a whole ensemble cast of stereotypes that investigate the supernatural. Fumiaki pretty much fills the role of the coward. At least he is funny, and Maya constantly gives him the beating he deserves.
Still his reluctance to go back to the past seems to conflict with his appearance on the first episode. If he was dragged kicking and screaming to the time machine, why was he so calm when he appeared naked in front of Maya? Wouldn’t he be crying and cowering?
This is definitely THE series of the season. Its just so fun to watch. This is coming from a guy who’s never watched other anime no chikara projects so i was pleasantly surprised and still being surprised on how awesome this is.
I’ve grown tired of Japanese fixation on having male characters in a lead role often times being lame cowerds/pussies and or just full of fail till close to the end of a series.
I’ve also grown tired of having them being dumb for the sake of the comedy factor. Like this show wouldn’t have been just as good or better of the dude wasn’t serious about his work and a real agent. BUT NOOOO, we have to use the same lame anime stereotypes it seems. Yet they wonder why the industry is falling year after year, gee, I wonder why?
It’s still a pretty good show, but I mean come on guys, really?
You have to keep in my that this series was intended to be a supernatural “comedy” from the very beginning. If Maya is going to be the diligent lead, she needs someone to use as comic relief. That’s where Fumiaki comes in.
That’s just, again, falling into the same old thing though. You can do good comedy without that old skit where one of the characters is a idiot for comedies sake. The show is fine, and I expected comedy, but come on, slapstick, which is basically how the comedy gets played out since the guy just gets smack around and so on, is way overused. So i’ve grown tired of it. It’s time for more creative and “smart” comedy. Basically, characters don’t need to be retarded so a show has comedy.
I personally don’t have a problem with a goofy character for providing comic relief. I actually laugh a lot at Fumiaki acting cool in front of Mikaze too, which doesn’t involve him getting slapped around. However, seeing silly/stupid stuff happen on screen seems to work much better than intelligent, witty humor like we have in Seitokai Yakuindomo. I have no problems enjoying either, but a lot of the humor in Seitokai is simply lost on people.
Do you have an example of a “smart” comedic anime series that you’d like to see more of? (I don’t mean that in a rude way. I’m just trying to get an idea of the type of comedy you prefer.)
I’m pretty sure bakemonogatari’s the best example for a smart comedy. Not that your asking me but if GP wants a smart comedy, he has to look somewhere else. Not that Occult Academy is a dumb series but… yea.
Agree with GP.
Only difference is I’m less forgiving, and am gonna drop this shit. Wimp protagonists sicken me. I’m all for girl-power, but seriously…..
Guess it’s only Rainbow that’s left for me.
Hm, I see a lot of people are calling this show “the one” this season, even Divine. I have to disagree, Denyuuden has been getting progressively more awesome each episode, not to mention some spoilers I came across made me realize how truly epic it’s going to be later on. You really should’ve kept blogging it Divine, things only get more awesome after the flashback arc. 🙂
I just want to reiterate that I’m still watching Denyuuden though. I like where it’s going and am glad a lot of people are giving it an honest chance after I wrote about it in the season preview, but I’m currently enjoying Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin more on a weekly basis.
What’s Denyuuden?
“Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu” or “Legend of the Legendary Heroes” in English.
I had to wait 24 hours and calm myself because this episode left me bitterly angry. I did try to laugh Fumiaki’s antics off; but his faults are so disgusting that made me puke. Maya should impale him with Smile wrench. Then have him marry Chihiro and have a long life with her and 8 kids. He deserves as much. If this was a comedy from the start I’ll agree; but the premise is occult, time travel and saving the future and we get a male lead that can’t even wear a 4 point seat belt correctly. There’s no way to hit your face against the side glass with a 4 point system; even with Mizake’s driving. I wonder if the producers will redeem him somehow. I can forgive running scared and lying; but leaving Maya to her fate was too much. Maya is a great lead and I want more of her and her crew (read Smile and JK) I had hopes in this show because the mystery without going too much guro. Will try to think about this as a comedy and see if it improves …
.
Keep in mind that this is a comedy and was intended to be one from the start. I even listed the genres as “Supernatural, Comedy” in the season preview after finding that out. What’s interesting though is that it has a semi-serious occult side to it, giving it a refreshing premise that works well in my eyes.
For some reason Maya carried me away on her serious business bandwagon. Knowing that is a comedy I’m willing to cut some slack off now to Fumaiki. I read the preview but something got lost from the time it was published to the start of the season. I’m always confused at the beginning of each season due to all the show starting and all the new names Lol
Again I approve the lying (whoever hasn’t lied to a female please throw the first rock :P) and be afraid (said female finding that you lied to her!) But I felt so bad when he left Maya, anyway she didn’t need him at all 😀 Let’s see how thing develop next episode with my new point of view for the series as a whole.
Yeah, I agree he’s a total loser for ditching two girls, but his cowardly behavior isn’t enough for me to hate the show. He’ll get what he deserves from Maya. 🙂
Now that I think about it, Fumiaki’s courage’s seems contradictory. In episode one he didn’t seem so panicked traveling to the past unlike what’s been showed here. In episode 2 he crashed into Maya’s window (with a Tarzan yell no less) when he thought she was in danger. He did freak at the sight of the Ghost, but he did inadvertently save her.
What gives?
Yeah, I have a suspect that neither story that he’s told so far is correct.
He’s had his moments of courage amidst cowardice and is throwing signals all over the place, though I think its funny so many people are instantly judging him based on this episode.
It was probably an actual choice by the writers, since this episode was called ‘The fall of Bunmei’, after all.
Of course, if he does have another wimp-out episode, he WILL be irredeemable… so yeah…but for now, I’ll hold my judgement.
Well, I have one unspoken rule for all comedies: Make me laugh, or I’ll stop watching. This episode BARELY made it through this rule. A lot of this episode depended on Fumiaki’s antics, but well, I didn’t think any of them were funny, except when he landed in poo (and that was just because it was poo). Tbh, Fumiaki just pisses me off. Everything he does, is just sad.
Like not even sad sad. Just sad. And like Suzuku up there said, he’s kind of just a lying pussy. I still laughed at some times while watching this, so I’ll continue on watching, but FFS PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME “TRY” TO LAUGH.
Btw Fumiaki’s face pisses me off. But that’s just me.
Fumiaki you’ll better save the world or you will end upas most despised “hero” in the anime history… Its one thing being wimpy, but being absolute coward and blatant liar…
Maya gets thumbs up for that punch.
LOL @ romantic interest Chihiro has taken up in Fumiaki, and Fumiaki trying to impress Mikaze…
Mikaze crazy driving is top notch comedy too.
One person that amazes me with resilience is Kozue – she survived posession, and now apparently being cocooned by Mothman Alien-style…
I think some of you guys are being a bit too critical about wimpy male leads. I could be wrong, but it’s as if some of you have had such bad experiences with them that you’re quick to judge any series that remotely shows signs of having one and not watch it for that very reason. Admittedly, I’m a bit apprehensive about them as well, but it seems a bit harsh to not give a series a fair chance for that reason alone — especially not after only a few episodes.
This series is a comedy, so it’s probably a bit premature to start picking apart Fumiaki’s character this early on. He did pull off some semi-heroic stuff in prior episodes after all, and like eharper256 mentioned above, this latest version of his story may also be a lie.
Hmm, maybe that’s why it’s beneficial to have a blogger with diverse tastes to test the waters for everyone who can’t be bothered to. Speaking of which, I need to find someone else like that, preferably with a decent grasp of Japanese and English. Kiiragi’s tastes turned out to be much more limited than the ones he claimed were as diverse as mine. He won’t even touch certain genres like mecha nor most romantic comedies and isn’t watching the majority of shows I’m covering right now. He’s a “triple A” anime-only kind of guy, which is fine, but very very restricting as a blogger. He was only interested in two big shows this season — HOTD and Amagami SS — so I gave him one hoping he’d be keen on covering it really quickly. :\ (HOTD ep4, where are you~)
Prooof on the other hand watches a much wider variety of shows, but doesn’t have the time to cover more than he is currently. Also, I don’t want to tax him with writing more when English isn’t his first language.
I don’t have anything against wimpy mains in general (I mean, I have Naruto and Simon listed as two of my favorite characters on MAL) it’s just the way Fumiaki came off this episode. I had no problems with him being whimpy in the past few episodes, but it left a really bad taste in my mouth when he lied just two seconds after abandoning Maya to make himself look cooler. Admittedly I found it amusing and was laughing when he ran out of the cave at mock speeds, but it irked me ever so slightly (which is an accomplishment to say the least).
As for the blogger plight, if no one with a decent grasp of Japanese comes to the table I’d be willing to pick up the simulcasted series. My tastes are all over the place (just look at my anime list) and I watch pretty much everything this season aside from about four shows. I have plenty time on my hands and that won’t change until around November-December at the earliest (due to exams and SAT preparations).
With so many shows simulcast nowadays, the Japanese requirement is admittedly not that big of deal anymore. The only reason I have it is because I don’t want a writer to be forced to work their schedule around someone else’s. e.g. A fansub group’s.
Also, there are still a lot of shows not being simulcasted, so having someone who can watch raws gives me more freedom to cover shows and not have to give ones that I’d want to blog myself to someone else simply because it’s simulcasted.
I do like how you watch a variety of shows though, so that’s not something that I overlook either. A diverse taste with decent English writing skills is surprisingly hard to come by as-is. The site should be okay for writers this season, but fall is when an extra hand would be nice. If you’re still interested then even though it overlaps with your SAT prep, let me know.
I definitely will. There are quite a bit of awesome anime starting next season that I’d be interested to blog. Toaru Majutsu no Index S2, Bakuman, and The World God Only Knows come to mind right off the bat.
“Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai” isn’t confirmed for fall as far as I can tell, but it’s interesting you mention Index 2 and Bakuman as I’d actually like someone else to cover them if possible. Index I don’t mind watching, but it’s overly convoluted compared to Railgun and doesn’t sound like a lot of fun to cover (from what Omni tells me). Bakuman seems to be a big one, but I have to see what other shows it’s competing with on the day it airs.
Really? I guess those were I just rumors on MAL then, since a lot of people were talking about it’s scheduled for this fall. And I can understand why Omni would think Index is too convoluted based off the first season, since it only covered the first 6 novels which are more or less just exposition. Starting from novel 7 is when the story begins to open up and introduce more of the magic side of the world and it gets really interesting. I’m a big Index fan so I have no qualms with the dialog and long explanations.
Personally, I like this show, because it does a very good job in doing what its suppose to do, to entertain (at least me) and its hitting my sweet spot, that is…cute girls that kick-ass, plus a ton of comedy, some mystery,and of course supernatural elements (also a little bit of romance would be a win-win for me). About the male lead, he’s passable in my opinion,..reason for that is his in his early 20s (I don’t like male leads that age 15 or less and speaks or acts larger than Jesus and spouts something like saving the world, etc), period. The show has a very good start and pacing in my opinion.
I didn’t think this was a comedy series lol, it just has its funnier moments.
Man, I didn’t expect a malde lead this season that seems even more pathetic than the male Amagami lead.
In contrast to other comedy shows it’t not 100% comedy though, so I hope that he’ll man up amd redeem himself sometime later.
I found this episode hilarious, I don’t understand why people take such a comedic episode so seriously. His cowardness was so pathetic that I couldn’t stop laughing. The most funniest part was when he was looking into the sky crying about how good it was to be alive and forgetting about everyone else. Although I wasn’t expecting himself to lie about killing the tengu and taking credit for everything…
Just something about this episode seemed off. I still enjoyed some parts though.
Ahh..well it’s not like I was a huge fan of his anyway, but Fumiaki really annoyed me this episode. Overall I thought the episode was good though, so I guess it’s whatever. I really wanna know what the heck that dango hair lady’s up to though.. what’s her name again?
I think the most profound reason Fumiaki’s behaviour seems to be so unforgivable it that he demanded an excuse for nearly knocking him over the cliff after he forsook Maya and left her to die. This is just too shameless, even for a dumb, cowardly and pretending comic-relief character.
What makes a character likeable is that people can identify with them and most people want to believe that they can overcome their weaknesses in crucial moments and act brave… or at least not like a total jerk.
I think that even applies to Fumiaki’s character. Redeeming is always an option and even used for most characters to show a certain trail they needed to overcome in order to become the person they want to, thus not making it too easy for them to be perfect, which makes it even more easy to identify with them.
Bottom line: I think what Fumiaki did was really over-the-top even for his character and a fatal flaw in his character setting which will make many people lose interest in him or even the whole show.
However, he still is able to redeem himself even though he has to think of something really good to make up for this.
P.S.: I just remembered that even after his shameless demand for an apology and Maya’s “response” he didn’t feel bad or guilty, instead he just startet lying to Mikaze… I don’t see much of a wish to redeem himself, or rather no guilty conscience at all. *Sigh*
Anyone notice Smile’s smiley badge? It changes faces throughout the episode. From ambivalent,unhappy, happy to
shock, https://randomc.net/image/Seikimatsu%20Occult%20Gakuin/Seikimatsu%20Occult%20Gakuin%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2033.jpg
lol…
Wow, I didn’t notice that. Pretty cool lol.
Just watched all 4 episodes. Initially i watched about half of the first episode and found it lacking. Fortunately, only after reading Divine’s episode review did i know there was more humor than expected (humor can save anything IMO). Now knowing more of the plot, its looks a heck lot more interesting.
Though Fumiaki sucks, Maya’s not much better especially her treatment of people (Hell, AB’s Yuri went through more than her and she’s not as randomly violent).
I keep getting the vibe that Mikaze is actually the old landlady plus being the Key itself. Perhaps he’ll soon take a photo of them together (unlikely though given he knows that the picture will look horrible).
Chihiro seems like she’s being set up to be the “looks like villan but actually an ally” sort of storyline
It is okay to faint or cringe in terror when facing such monsters, but fleeing and leaving a girl behind is not cowardice anymore, it is just being asshole. Fumiaki deserved to be eaten.
pretty sure porche girl is a tengu or something, WHY? because you’d have to be a pretty EVIL creature to stand next to a dude that smells like shit and not bat an eye.
One of the best shows this season with possibly the worst character this season. Fumiaki is a terrible character. Running away twice, away once from 2 helpless girls who were about to be killed and then taking the credit for it. Terrible.
What happened to that Fumiaki that crashed through the window (while yodeling like Tarzan)? This episode’s Fumiaki was a stark difference from that one. The episode’s title foretold all this, Fumiaki’s character has collapsed.
Actually I really disliked this episode. Abe’s main point seems to be just to exist so there can be a pathetic character so that Maya can shine, and the writers seem to want to make him even worse with each episode. This can be funny, but if this continues his development in the third episode will be pretty much pointless.
For some reason I really like JK… even more than Maya and Smile. Don’t you also think that he’s kinda special. It’s just something I can’t put my finger on, someone, help me out there.
I finally watched it, so good
Im really loving Maya, she so cute haha xD so tsundere :3