Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「フライングヒューマノイド」 (Flying Humanoid) by 中川翔子 (Nakagawa Shouko)
Watch the OP!: Download, Streaming ▼
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「マヤの予言」 (Maya no Yogen)
“MAYA’s Prophesy”
Anime no Chikara’s third project aired today and proved to be the awesome supernatural comedy it was made out to be. Best of all, it’s already been picked up as a simulcast by Crunchyroll, meaning that subs will be readily available unlike Senkou no Night Raid. Whether or not you support simulcasts, most people are probably going to end up watching their translations by some means, so this can only mean good things for fans (… even for those who don’t like paying for so-called bad translations yet will watch them for free).
For this premiere episode, all eyes were on Hikasa Youko‘s portrayal of our female lead, Kumashiro Maya, in her short white one piece and black stockings flashing zettai ryouiki all day like it was nobody’s business. As mentioned back in the Summer 2010 Preview, she’s made the trek out to Matsuhiro, Nagano to attend the funeral of her father after he suddenly passed away. He’s actually the school director of Waldstein Academy located on Minakami mountain, better known as Occult Academy due to all the paranormal activities that take place there. The humor quickly kicks in when we learn how tough Maya is due to her absolute disdain for the occult world. Not only is she short-tempered and quick to act, she doesn’t seem the least bit afraid of possessed spirits even after they’ve taken over her father’s corpse.
What was surprising to learn though is that she’s really well-versed in the subject, having picked up a lot of it from her father when she was younger. She only ended up hating it later on when her father became completely obsessed with it, so much that he lashed out at her, leading to her mother taking her away to live elsewhere. This introduction episode covered Maya’s background for the most part, and has me really looking forward to more of her spunky attitude after seeing her chop her father’s head off without hesitation to exorcise the spirit that possessed his corpse. While the horror element was present in this beautifully animated first episode by A-1 Pictures, the humor that resulted from Maya’s interactions with her childhood friend Kuroki Ami (Takagaki Ayahi) were pretty funny as well, particularly during the flashback scenes. Their lighthearted relationship was established quickly and entertaining to boot, whereas the support cast comprised of Ami’s friend Naruse Kozue (Hanazawa Kana in yet another typecast meganekko role), occult dowser JK (Koyasu Takehito), and school mechanic Smile (Takahashi Hiroki) brought some additional humor with their own nuances.
JK may look like nothing more than a fat guy with dyed red hair, for which Maya aptly refers to as “Crimson Pig” (Kurenai no Buta), but Takehito voicing him is bound to lead to some good laughs. Smile on the other hand already had me laughing a fair bit when he was beating on a possessed Kozue and telling her not to get all cocky just because she’s possessed. I got some Harima Kenji vibes hearing Hiroki play Smile here, which is utterly awesome given how that was one of his best roles (on top of being Ryu in Street Fighter). In addition to Maya’s new gang of friends (if they can even be called that), we have Vice-Principal Kawashima Chihiro (Kobayashi Yuu) and yet to be seen Nakagawa Mikaze (Chihara Minori). Last but not least is the arrival of Uchida Fumiaki (Mizushima Takahiro) from thirteen years in the future, who serves as the male protagonist in the series sent back in time for some yet to be revealed purpose. He arrived butt-naked Terminator-style, leading to a speechless yet hilarious reaction from Maya. The shadow of Fumiaki’s “package” showed just how well endowed he is too. (lol)
Production-wise, I’m pretty excited about where this series is headed, being another original one by Anime no Chikara. The animation seen thus far has been quite a visual treat and the various backdrops get the full-blown treatment as per their other projects. I also like how there are a variety of character designs so that no one looks too generic. Maya in particular is really pretty with her sky blue eyes, while JK with his chubby demeanor serves as the other end of the spectrum. Music-wise, the opening theme is performed by Nakagawa Shouko, whose RAY OF LIGHT song was featured as the fifth Fullmetal Alchemist ending theme as a lot of people are probably aware. The ending theme here is performed by Takagaki Ayahi, and interesting enough features real kids lying in a field to change things up. There’s something about little kids and horror that just seems to go hand in hand, especially when you hear their laughter off in the distance.
Overall, this first showing really delivered in terms of providing a similar feel to Ghost Hunt like I was hoping. The difference is that the comedic element is much more prominent, thanks to Maya’s “I hate occult crap and don’t take shit from anyone” personality. More often than not, she’s scarier than the ghosts, and it’s been hinted that she’s a bit of a sadist too, both of which are a lot of fun to watch. I just love how her facial expressions show everything from her annoyance to her embarrassment too, making her a tsundere character played by Youko that is always great in my books. It looks like we’re getting some fan-service from her next time, so this is already turning out to be a supernatural blast. This series is a guaranteed watch of mine like I said in the season preview, but now I’m eagerly looking forward to it on a weekly basis after getting a taste.
ED Sequence
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ED: 「君がいる場所」 (Kimi ga Iru Basho) by 高垣彩陽 (Takagaki Ayahi)
Watch the ED!: Download, Streaming ▼
Preview
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Looks like goooood watching 🙂
1st episode rating: 4/10
whats with the ed??? REAL LIVE PEOPLE?!?! yuck, who needs that? otherwise pretty good start lots of HORROR this season ,love it.
seriously… ED with 3D pig disgusting :/
lol oh you 😀
(and awesome, smileys don’t turn all ugly anymore~)
I actually really liked the live action ED. As long as the actor looks close enough to the character, it feels like we’re offered a slightly different side to the character.
Hahaa. Watched this yesterday on keyhole… Jesus Christ.. I’m hearing voices from the future…
Everything’s out of sync. Anyway. Seemed quite nice so I’ll download and rewatch this once it’s out.
It’s out now, Megalith.
Seems like a fun start. This summer is turning out better than I expected.
Thanks! DL’ing it nao! 😀
Have high hopes for this one
I second this.
Nakagawa Shouko :]
I guess I’m not the only one disturbed by this shadow.
https://randomc.net/image/Occult%20Academy/Occult%20Academy%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2040.jpg
does not disturb me one bit! maybe cuz i like men >.> But this does disturb me:
https://randomc.net/image/Seikimatsu%20Occult%20Gakuin/Seikimatsu%20Occult%20Gakuin%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2026.jpg it puts a new meaning to fisting
Er… that’s Kozue spitting out some slime and not Smile’s fist.
i found that “shadow” fkng Hilarious!!!
I found that expression hilarious, my new desktop background for the day.
that shadow was definitely… interesting
her expression is pretty funny as well
i didn’t see problem with the real people in the ending ,the kids were cute how can someone wrote disgusting ,apart from that i can’t comment about the show yet because chia anime don’t have this anime subtitled yet
GOD BLESS YOU for including the screenshot of fumiaki’s junk, that had me laughing SO HARD i was almost in tears!
I enjoyed the ED musically more than the OP, but the OP did have some interesting animation.
I’m looking forward to more of this series, I thought this was quite a good start.
Is it Miyakami mountain or Minakami mountain? I heard Minakami yama from the taxi driver…I might be dead wrong. Oh well, I had quite a few laughs from chibi Maya’s actions to her reaction to the light at the end, lol. On a random note, I couldn’t help but think of Tohno Akiha when I first saw Maya wearing that white headband.
Nope, you’re right. My mistake. It’s Minakami-yama. Dunno what I was on because I had it written as “Miyakami-yama” in the season preview, which I copied from for this post. Sadly, I checked that Japanese Wikipedia page when I was writing the preview too. >_>
I was supposed to watch this, but this is ridiculous
Haha I think I’m gonna really like this one. The humor is great in a sultry kind of way and the animation is beautiful. I can’t believe you didn’t make a connection between Maya and Senjougahara or Shizuku, since she reminds me a lot of those two. I’m definitely sticking with this one.
im already hoping for a second season. hahaha.
it’s a end of the world plot anime, is it not?
anyone noticed Hikasa yoko singing the 99’s song at the preview?
A1 Pictures surly surprised me, watching it felt like the animation BONES come out with. Big Fan of Sci-Fi this looks very enjoyable.
Now this one looks like it could be fun. Given how So-Ra-No-Wo-To and Senkou no Night-Raid and this one share the same continuity, I’m greatly intrigued as to how the story will proceed. And Hikasa Yoko as a cool and complex girl! One piece miniskirt is certainly not my favorite clothing on girls but I like Maya a lot. Anyway there seems to be a huge lot of deception going on in this series, so it’s quite interesting. I think I’m going to stick on to this show.
I hope to see plenty of horrific twisted people in the course of this one. Kozue running in all fours was awesome (not just because my own story’s protagonist has the same gimmick). But I’m certainly not a huge fan of worms in dead bodies…. yuck.
smexy its new exciting and not fake and gay anime no chikara pwns
CRAP…
Just got home.. Excited to watch the DL’d episode.. I play the freakin video.. AND IT’S A RAW..
WHOOOPEEE… Downloading again….
Checked it again.. So off to download HorribleSubs’ release. I wanted to get Commie’s but they suck at encoding. -_-
On the other hand I get to notice stuffs that weren’t even visible on KeyHole streaming.
Dad: Well done son. Well done!
Noooo wasted download quota i would freak but maybe some of you have huge limits that don’t even get all used up when its time to renew. I swear Australia’s internet deals are terrible
Well here in the Philippines we have borderline decent connections.
They’re sub-par… I have a 1.5mbps connection… No DL quota limit but your downloads takes a friggin long time to finish.
Downloaded Clannad in 4-6 days. 24/7. When I’m surfing I only allocate only about 50kb/s for the DL. So with that going on my speed is already crippled leaving me with slow browsing. 🙁
Anyways I watched it already and it was still fun. Kozue’s scene doesn’t get old. Smile just smacking of her face like that was so wrong on many levels.
And after that when Maya defeated the spirit, I thought Kozue died actually. If not for me replaying the stuffs again I wouldn’t have noticed her weak presence with that puffed out hair of hers.
All in all I’m gonna keep an eye on this. 1st ep delivered well.
It is really interesting to me that Maya wears the same clothes (just different size) since she was small.
I don’t mind that outfit she has on is kawaii and looks great, every good show has an eye candy which needs the right outfit, just glad they didn’t make her wear the usual sailor uniform.
Just an observation 🙂 I also like her exclusive custom (one piece with thighhigh stockings, just another of my fetishes) and it also makes her a bit more “special” here apart from other female characters.
desu ne
Kozue looking for glasses even when shes possessed – ROFL
Maya’s expression at the sight of naked time-traveller – priceless!
Anime no chikara is becoming my fave studio fast. Kyo Ani, watch your back!
“anime no chikara” isn’t a studio, it’s more like a programming block… sort of like adult swim or toonami. it’s a program dedicated to anime-original series, as opposed to series that have been adapted from manga.
Actually, it’s more of a collaboration project/alliance between A-1 Studios and Tokyo TV to produce new original anime series. One part studio, one part broadcaster (with all the money). You are correct about the set time slot though, as Anime no Chikara productions always air on Mondays at 25:30.
Song in the preview for episode 2, what’s the title and artist? also is there any reason why they’ve used a different song compared to the op/ed for it? Cheers lads and lasses
pretty damn good! Wasn’t expecting to watch it but now im surely gonna 😛
Omg move over Yuri. Maya is in da’ house! New waifu material! I really liked this one a lot more than HoTD But seriously naked time travel sucks! I’m not doing it until they get that fixed. Though it seems he left a “good” impression. Want to see more of this one
DAT ASS!!! xD
Too bad I can´t watch it o CR “due to licensing restrictions” 🙁
same here
man,gotta find the torrents now
just when i planned to embrace simulcasts
Am I the only one who felt that the animation was strange, a lot of still/ repeat of same shots,and maybe others things I don’t remember anymore. Did they do that to make the viewers feel the power of the occult, I think they did it wrong, Shaft doing strange stuff in Bakemonogatari is a good example of what I am talking about, and when they aren’t doing still frames the animation is at the top, here it was meh.And it wasn’t much fun either, I only checked this because of the thighs service.And I still want to watch only for it after the first episode.
It doesn’t have the over the top violence and fanservice of HOTD or the charm of Bakemonogatari. On the other hand, it does have decent humor. Maybe it’s the kind that grows on you.
im not sure how i feel about this one its fairly clear that she doesn’t believe in the occult because of her fathers behavior but then again she knew what the spirit was and also the deal with that guy teleporting out of the sky like that im trying to figure out what type of stuff were dealing with here. Its clear that some of this is going to be the esp type of occult. Such as telepathy and pyrokenisis and other things that may be influenced by technology but will the creatures and other things be either monsters made by man or by magic im not sure yet. I feel that the vice principle is probably evil.
It’s not that Maya doesn’t believe in the occult stuff; it’s just that she hates it and doesn’t want to promote ideas of it. She clearly knows it’s real and how to deal with spirits, which is what I find interesting about her character.
“Okkoruto nante DAIKIRAI!!!”
I love that line so much for some reason. :p
This show looks very promising! And Maya seems like a fiery go-getter with personality to spare! I likes!
It’s been a long time since we have a tsundere although not on the same level as Hitagi.
I find it funny when the guy is wearing some sort of damn black glasses Arnold is wearing for lolz. The way he stand up after sent from the light is Arnoldish.
That guy sent from the future to help Maya destroy the Academy (Since Maya herself was killed by some group, to protect the academy) in the near future, nobody can’t beat those high level spirits which prompted them to send the time traveler back to 1999.
Save the future.
Persona 2 meets Terminator meets Ghost Hunt
Excellent first episode: smooth animation, great amount of details for both the decors and the faces (especially Maya’s face) and good humor! Simply beautiful. The team who dealt with Naruto’s last episode should learn…
Nice Starts For this anime, and i really2 love the animeation quality….
And i really love the Ending song,I want to know when ED single will be launched???
The first episode is packed with emotional details and comical moments to introduce the main character Maya and her friends.
As for the plot, it reminds me that Suzimiya Haruhi recruits classmates to search for aliens. But Maya seeks to subvert people’s belief in the supernatural. I think this plot has great potential for a horror comedy.
And one last thing: what’s up with Maya’s hairdo? It looks so 60’s that, perhaps, it is hip again?
Definitely sticking with this one.
14:17-14:24 = ritsu and mio (k-on) roles reversed aha
Kid Maya is just too cute! Though I have to wonder why teen Maya has the same sense of fashion as her kid self haha. A bit odd but that’s probably part of her charm. And that pen0r shadow shot and Maya’s expression, ROFL.
it looks so interesting!! I just waiting for a good fansub ^^
But this anime, for sure (:
what a freemason/illuminati anime..hate both of them..
Well I watched the first ep, and of course I will watch the rest.
starting to love Maya? xD
bleh, i think i’ll stick with Highschool of the dead. btw funny shadow at the end.
delicious thighs
Zettai Ryouiki not Ryouki
(Sorry but i’m a big fan) =P