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「マヤの文明」 (Maya no Bunmei)
“MAYA’s BUNMEI”
Just when we thought it was all over, the writers slip in another huge twist at the very end by reviving the threat of Nostradamus’ Key. Rather than blaming the alien invasion and the subsequent destruction of the world on a witch — which didn’t make that much sense anyway because it’s witches and aliens — they go for a scientific theory where space and time get distorted if two identical existences are superimposed. The cause of that? Going back in time and coming into contact with your former self. Admittedly, I wasn’t banking on the photo Maya took last time with Fumiaki and Mikaze in the same shot leading viewers astray, even though the thought had crossed a lot of people’s minds. I figured alien technology would be advanced enough to isolate one of the two objects in the picture or that Maya was specifically thinking about destroying Mikaze, but evidently that wasn’t the case. As such, I couldn’t help but think of the irony in how Mikaze would have been doing the world a favor by killing Fumiaki had she not been stopped by him and Maya. Of course, there’s always the possibility that Mikaze would unleash a similar hell on the world if she did survive, which would make it a matter of picking your poison.
Anyway, what did kind of throw me off was the adherence to the single timeline theory. It’s easier to grasp than the split timeline, and the one I’m personally inclined to believe since it seems more plausible than an infinite number of timelines in existence, but the writers decided to take a spin on it where the sole future can be changed. While the possibility isn’t a new concept to time travel, I always find it creates a time paradox much like it did here. As noted, Fumiaki ends up being the key and is unable to avoid meeting himself after Maya calls his mother to bring “Bunmei” to the school’s closing ceremony. In accordance to the single timeline theory, their attempt to prevent the two of them from meeting ends up being in vain when Bunmei decides to go explore Waldstein Academy on his own. The eventual encounter between Fumiaki and Bunmei and the opening of a dimensional rift that aliens started pouring out of paved way to a bad ending, but an ending that made perfect sense in my eyes.
As I mentioned last time, this outcome sticks to the theory that any attempt to change the past would lead to the very same future a person came from, because the history that’s already been written is what led to them traveling back in time in the first place. With that in mind, I was somewhat pleased when it looked like they were adhering to this theory despite the bad ending the story was headed towards, as odd as that may sound. Because of that, I had pretty mixed feelings when Fumiaki overcame his trauma by confirming with his former self that he came here on his own accord (i.e. that this was all his fault to begin with) and then using his recovered psychokinetic powers to send the aliens back where they came from and close the rift. It was pretty cool seeing him kick some serious ass and sacrifice himself to change history — with “Flying Humanoid” playing in the background as he took to the skies — plus the way he left Maya with a lasting impression of his manliness in the process. The only problem I had with it was how it totally messed up the concept of time.
In the future, Junichirou — who was finally confirmed to be the commander and sent into hiding by Chihiro — wasn’t even aware that the future had changed since his memories hadn’t realigned accordingly. When he finally stepped out of his underground bunker with his men, he found himself in a thriving future and a cafe behind him replacing it. The apparent time lag from his memories aligning with the new future is one aspect of the single timeline theory that makes it suspect, as the disappearance of the world as he knew it and the recreation of it where he has no recollection of Waldstein Academy being destroyed on July 21st, 1999 would make more sense. The real time paradox though is exactly who saved the world to begin with. Assuming this is now the future, the Fumiaki that sacrificed himself never existed to begin with. There was no barren future to send him back from, nor a need for Junichirou to create a time agency to try and correct the past. From July 22nd, 1999 onwards as the world knew it, there was no alien invasion. If we go back to July 21st and the one month leading up to that, this Fumiaki from that nonexistent future is still there though and Maya is well aware that he traveled back in time to help her save the world. In the actual future, she’s supposedly married to the one who grew up, which is not the same Fumiaki who was sent back. (What a cougar!) So, where did this Fumiaki who saved the world come from?
The short answer is that he never existed in the first place, much like Junichirou never went into hiding for the past thirteen years to come up with a countermeasure to save the world, hence the discontinuity in time. If there was never an alien invasion on July 21st, 1999, there definitely wasn’t a time agency in 2012 trying to save a future that was already safe. The only way one could fathom this working out is if the future happened before the past, but the mere sound of that should go to show how preposterous that thought is. So yeah, this time paradox is why I prefer the theory where the past can’t be changed if there’s only a single timeline. This series decided to follow it for the most part and eventually break away from it to give a good ending, which should leave viewers with mixed feeling if they actually stop to think about it. Regardless, it’s how these paradoxes are handled that always has me interested in any series or movie — anime or otherwise — that tries to tackle the time travel idea, much like Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin did.
Epilogue
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Final Impressions:
“Believe in Anime no Chikara.” It’s a mindset that’s grown on me over the past three seasons and one I plan to stick to whenever their next project rolls around. After blogging for some time, one of the things I’ve grown accustomed to hearing over and over again is how an anime adaptation isn’t faithful to the original source material and some people raging over it just because they’re instinctively biased towards what they were exposed to first. Because of that, original series such as the ones produced by the Aniplex, TV Tokyo, and A-1 Pictures collaboration are always a breath of fresh air in more ways than one. It’s a lot of fun covering a series where no one knows what’s going to happen and everyone is just as excited about the next episode as the next person. There are no expectations of adherence to source material and no disappointments stemming from that either. It’s pretty much the same as covering manga, except talking about an anime is generally much more involved due to the presentation aspect. In this particular case, there were a lot twists that added to that enjoyment, which nobody who wasn’t working on the series could have definitively foresaw.
Seeing as I enjoyed both So-Ra-No-Wo-To and the much underappreciated Senkou no Night Raid, I was convinced I’d be watching Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin before I even had any idea what it was about. Upon doing my season preview “homework”, the idea of a sci-fi paranormal comedy had my interest piqued as soon as time travel came into play. News that K-ON‘s Hikasa Youko would be starring in it made it almost an immediate sell, but what really surprised me was the quirky cast of characters that accompanied the tsundere-like Kumashiro Maya. Breaking away from the norm of pretty boy character designs, Smile and JK showed just how awesome they can be despite their unsuspecting appearance, which went on to reiterate the comedy side of things. To a lesser extent were Ami and Kozue, who were still a lot of fun to watch since they were Maya’s closest friends. To a surprisingly larger extent was Chihiro, whose obsession with Abe-sensei is seen in an all new light following the revelation that she’s actually a white mage on Maya’s side. Finally, there’s Fumiaki himself, who started out as a pretty wimpy character yet managed to go out in a blaze of glory. I was never annoyed about his character like some people were, simply because I saw it all in good comedic fun, but he even surprised me with how cool he turned out to be. On top of the quirky characters themselves, there were the overexaggerated facial expressions that I just loved seeing, most of which stemmed from Maya herself.
Every since the second episode, I made mention of how this was the show I was looking forward to the most on a weekly basis. Now almost three months later, that sentiment hasn’t really changed all that much. Sure there were other good shows right up there this past summer, such as K-ON, Amagami SS, Mitsudomoe, and STRIKE WITCHES 2, but none of them had quite the same kind of appeal that left me eagerly wanting to see where the next episode was headed. The overarching story surrounding Nostradamus’ Prophecies and the destruction of the world really helped in that regard, and I absolutely loved how all aspects of the story came together in the end — especially the parts that were seemingly unrelated at the time. I could probably go on and on about how much I enjoyed this series, but I’ll just leave off with the recommendation that original anime series are the way to go, and everyone should be checking out Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin if you haven’t already. It takes a seemingly normal anime premise and makes it not so normal at all. It’s the occult!
I love this anime! Hikasa Yoko, and Aniplex good job!
I wanted to see future Maya lol
This is what a have to say: BEST ANIME OF 2010 – so far ! Anime no Chikara, I love you so muuuuch! But I was wanting to see a kiss between Maya and Bunmei in the end, so I’m just 1% disappointed. Better than Ookami-san, like 100% better.
Wow. I have to finish watching this NOW. Thanks for the review as always! Can’t wait for next season!
I really enjoy Hikasa Yoko VA in Seitokai Yakuindomo and Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin. She really does a good job in what she does. So does Maya actually marries Fumiaki at the end?
I have a Question. Wouldnt the Fumiaki that sacrificed still havet to exist to protect Maya from Mikaze?
exactly, which is one of the many problems with this kind of plotline.
i’m rather disappointed that they went with this route not only because of the inherent time paradoxes, but also because they made such a big deal in previous episodes about the person using the phone having to think about destroying the specific object they’re taking a picture of – if she wasn’t thinking about destroying BUNMEI, it shouldn’t have shown her a picture of the future if BUNMEI is destroyed, regardless of him being in-frame.
and i can’t even begin to understand how the spoon gave him his telekinesis back, nor how said ability was able to almost instantly destroy a horde of aliens and close a dimensional time rift.
Bunmei from a destroyed future existed because of a parallel universe. However parallel universes exist on the same time line. Since time lines can only contain what happened and didn’t happen not the ifs or buts there can only be one universe or future. Bunmei from a destroyed future is not the same as Bunmei from a saved future. Bunmei from a destroyed future would have been trapped and incapable of returning to the future of his existence because it would not longer be the same universe he existed in. This is why when Junichirou came out of his bunker into the changed future his memory and environment changed to the current existing parallel universe.
The spoon thing at the end was hilariously fitting. Though Maya stealing the shota from his mother and marrying him was probably the best part. I enjoyed this show a lot. I’ll miss the characters. I really wanted to see their future selves though.
Lol at Maya being a cougar. One follow up question though: When did Maya x KidFumiaki consummate their relationship @_@?
The real ending did a good job tying up all the loose ends, I’m glad for that. The ending was a really charming way to close things up.
“One follow up question though: When did Maya x KidFumiaki consummate their relationship @_@?”
theoretically speaking, it would be the moment they held hands.
“Believe in Anime no Chikara.” Well, Im a believer, yes I am. Im going to miss Maya and them white heels.
https://randomc.net/image/Seikimatsu%20Occult%20Gakuin/Seikimatsu%20Occult%20Gakuin%20-%2013%20-%20Large%2039.jpg
….I have but one thing to say to this: SPOOOOOOON!
Relativistic Paradox on time if you can travel faster than light which has to deal with the fact that, traveling back in time can change the future in a way that erases you but you, yourself, continue to exist within your own timeline and future/past cone. The “you” that would be born in the timeline that you’ve changed will not come into being but you will still have existed and the future will have changed drastically by a single action. The question then becomes, what happens to the future YOU came from. Does it continue from where you left or does it get re-written? Does time by the necessity of time travel have to split at moment at which a person regresses in time to change it?
No matter how you go about it, this ending doesn’t make sense in the frame of how time is understood right now unless the guys in the bunker themselves were outside the future/past time-cone and, any changes that occurred to the timeline, would never touch them because they were not within the possible cone of influence of the person they sent back. This, however, would mean that they exist outside the boundaries of time…
It is possible to argue that Fumiaki would have remained in existence even if the future that would have created him ceased to be because his own future/past time-cone persisted, however it is impossible for the agency to have remained in their bunker and unaware to the changes of the world and alterations of the future. They, simply, would not exist in that state.
Schrödinger’s Theory? Throw away that 2 of 1 entity doesn’t exist, so that it would result to an off dimensional error occurs which leads the story to where it goes. Of course though something that’s fictional shouldn’t be something to think very deep about. I believe this explained why or how “Abe” lost his psychic ability to bend spoons.
Schrodinger doesn’t really add much in the way of explanation to this paradox, unless I am misunderstanding where you’re aiming the theory. The fact that two of the same exist is in theory possible because by the definition of time and what future/past are to an individual person, the two identical people are only identical in that they look/biological are the same, they are however (by the view point of the universe) two very discrete entities with two very discrete existences and experiences. There’s really no reason for the universe to get ripped asunder when they meet.
Its a paradox plot hole, really. They tried to do a Terminator (which probably handled time travel best of all before 3 and the remainder were ever introduced) but then added in a future scene which didn’t make any sense.
Dang, I hate time paradoxes. Yeah, where did #6 come from? I’m disappointed on the fact that they didn’t show some sort of picture, it’s just 3 plates of curry and 3 spoons! Could some one explain this symbolism of some sort!? Loved #6’s 30 seconds or something of glory.
Rest in piece, Fumiaki the Brave… all is forgiven.
Victory needs no ecplanation, defeat allows none.
Aaaaargh @ Maya – you waited how many years for the little Bunmei to grow up???
Some serious shotacon…
so now i totally want Anime-no-Chikara to release another Occult Gakuin series that takes place after the first season but several years later where Fumiaki is entering Waldstein Academy and Maya is still headmaster or working at the school. They mess with the occult together and we can watch their romance blossom! of course the series should cover the span of a few years. i would love that!
This is actually the first Anime no Chikara anime I finished.
This was a rather interesting anime and I’m glad I followed it to the end, though some parts were a bit slow. Akari was it? I wish they would’ve explained the Maya and Fumiaki thing a bit better though.
now i know why future fumiaki has no powers, because he took it from himself in the past,
Think about it this way.
The theory of the rift ‘opening’ is if the 2 entities come in contact as the time space continuum (blah blah) can’t take the amount of stress that it gets from having 2 of the same exact entities at the same time.
So here come the aliens. Skip a bit and now we have the magical spoon. Most likely one of those O-parts that we had heard about in earlier episodes. His is, in this case, real. He then goes on to use the full ‘power’ of the O-spoon to destroy the aliens that have already come out of the ‘rift’, at the cost of his own willpower/life force.
Here’s where it got confusing. Here’s some added tidbits.
{MAIN POINT}
He sacrificed himself to destroy the aliens that have already come out of the ‘rift’, but at the same time he ‘fixes’ the rift by dying. Therefore having only 1 Bunmei in the SPC [Space tim….you know].
Now you could say “Well why did we need him to destroy the aliens by sacrificing his life and instead went back to the future [lol]”. Which is true. But even if the rift closed, the aliens that had already come out would still be roaming around.
Anywho. I figure thats the explanation for it. Though at least thats what Im hoping.
omfg~! its the golden byakugam! =)))
I guess you can say Bunmei was the beginning of the end…
Time travel just confuses me to the point where I don’t even bother trying to understand it. lol
You are doing the right thing. What happen has happen and that is all there is to it.
so whats the age difference of the young Bunmei and Maya?
I think it’s about a 6-8 year difference since he’s about 10-12 and she’s 17-18. With the 13 year time difference for Bunmei to travel back in time, he’d be in his early to mid 20’s, making him just the right age to be a teacher… This would make Maya about 30.
Not THAT big a difference.
my estimates bring around at least 10 years.@_@
This reminds me of Twelve Monkeys except for the part where Uchiha actually changed future.
The only way I can make sense of this is to say Uchiha became his own timeline when he went back in time… And then for some strange reason this time he stopped being a wuss. Then the future slowly changed for the future, but happened slower for some people (maybe the energy involved in changing everyone’s future is too much for an instantaneous thing?)
My thought is that maybe the principle began to remember the new future as he steps out for longer (cause how else can he get home to Uchiha’s place?).
“Anime’s Law of Comedy Anime: All Comedy Anime must end on a ‘Happy Ending’, regardless of any paradoxes it may break. This law takes first and foremost precedence over every other law.”
– Anime: A Practical Approach, 12th edition, 2006
…Ohhhh, that explains the apparent paradoxes.
Zettai Ryouiki really helps.
First off, no one knows if that Fumaki she mentioned over the phone is the kid.
And if it is, I DOUBT that they got together.
Im a lil confused on that part…
you’re right, it must be some OTHER uchida fumiaki. 9__9
dude, it’s his last name on the nameplate in front of the house and 3 place-settings, you hear fumiaki’s voice say “i’m home” while maya’s asking her dad when he’ll be home for dinner. put 2 + 2 together.
barvo with douche reply
secondly, the voice doesnt sound much like fumaki, I thought it was the dad.
Araaaaaaaa
And Bunme fall down form sky… again !?
To be honest, there’s no real way of explaining the paradox plot without out there being logical flaws. Personally, I think that the best way of looking at it is that the Nostradamus’ Key issue is that the aliens and future Fumiaki are in fact paradoxes themselves. Neither of them could have logically existed in any timeline due to the fact that without future Fumiaki, the aliens could never have invaded but without the aliens, Fumiaki would have never been sent back. The two simply cancel each other out in the end and then time just works itself out, with the time force being absorbed back into a working timeline after they abandon their bunker which is probably the last part of the paradox to resolve itself. It’s not really necessary to completely explain how this all happened because paradoxes ignore logic. That’s why they’re paradoxes.
The only problem with ruling out their existences completely is that Maya and various others have memories of Fumiaki and the brief alien invasion. In fact, Maya’s encounter with him directly affected her future with the Bunmei from her time period. The destruction around Waldstein Academy was also evidence that the aliens were there.
I think we can all agree that trying to make sense of a paradox is fruitless. All we can do is recognize that there is one.
“Neither of them could have logically existed in any timeline due to the fact that without future Fumiaki, the aliens could never have invaded but without the aliens, Fumiaki would have never been sent back.”
wait, what? i agree with the first part, but “without the aliens, fumiaki would have never been sent back”? the aliens came about because he was sent back. hence the “future happening before the past” thing that divine mentioned. they had to send him first before the aliens start invading.
lolicon
Wrong: Lolicons = Lolita complex, meant for girls.
What you’re thinking is Shotacon.
Truly one good show I’m glad to have followed. I did enjoy the series and will remember it for its good mix of action and some laughs. Hikasa-san did a wonderful job once again in Seikimatsu. For a series with an occult background, it kicked HSotD’s ass as far as keeping my interest in it.
“Believe in Anime no Chikara.”
I’m not sure of their actual ages but if Maya was around 16 and Fumiaki was around 5 in 1999, then in 2012, Maya would be around 29 and Fumiaki would be around 18?
What a cougar.
Sorry, Fumiaki was probably 10 at 1999 so he’d be 22 by 2010
This is really bittersweet. I couldn’t call it a happy ending since the Fumiaki who taught the school for the whole month,the cowardly Fumiaki whom Maya came to know and love died in a blaze of GAR. In the end, Maya still live with the memory of that Fumiaki, exemplified by the dish she serve the family, curry rice and eaten with a spoon.
if thats the case the age difference is 11yrs its not that bad but it could have been worst lol
After watching this episode, I was wondering how old Fumiaki really was. Luckily, I found it by watching a promo video at the official website (the ages were shown in parentheses). According to the promo, Maya is 17 and Fumiaki is 23, so that means Bunmei is 10 in 1999. Here’s the video if interested.
http://www.occult-gakuin.jp/special/movie.html
7-year difference is not that bad.
Thanks for clearing that up. 7 years difference is really not too bad. I don’t think his mother would have approved though, regardless. 😛
I hope to see more from Anime no Chikara soon, adaptions seem to be the only thing that creates anime, in the end I just get the feeling that reading the manga would be the complete enjoyment of a series. I’ll favorite this anime for best of the year ^^
Anime no Chikara is a class act. My #3 of the season. I’m looking forward to anything else this studio releases.
you know the way it ended kinda reminded me of the new season of the sci fi show Eureka expect that in here they don’t remember the other timeline
After all the talk, I decided to see what it was all about. One word “Disappointment!”
Actually, I’d loved it had they taken Abe completely out and just focused on Maya. Or better yet, send a female psychic back time in stead, lord knows your average female characters in anime are a thousand times more competent than your above average male characters. All in all, I’m filing this under “Useless Japanese Bitch Boy gets paired with overly competent female character” anime. I also stand by my saying that five COLLECTIVE minutes of being a badass doesn’t make up for an entire series of being an incompetent, pathetic, waste of a good male protagonist character. It’s like being raped and then receiving a cookie as an apology.
Wow. This show really pulled through and finished with an amazing ending. I was at the point of tears when the credits rolled. Bittersweet, but the way Bunmei evolved as a character is really an outstanding achievement of this show.
Time paradoxes would have been an issue for me if I felt it was the heart of the show, but I don’t feel it is. The paranormal is what drew me into the series but the progression of Bunmei and Maya as individuals and how everything came together is really what puts this show ahead of the rest in my mind.
There are problems, but I would consider this anime of the season and a strong contender for the year. I look forward to seeing more shows that really showcases the advantages of creating a story for a specific medium. I haven’t believed in the anime no chikara idea up till now. I can’t wait for their next series. Now excuse me while I go qq.
Btw, was it ever established how old Bunmei was in 1999? Five years old seems a bit too young since he’d only be 18 in the future and stepping in as a teacher. Placing him at 12 or so would only be a five year difference or so between him and Maya.
I did justice in a way to Bunmei and her life, what was her life for anyway? In a fantasy-like setting that enable him to do what he did in order to give everyone else a future, even Maya and himself.
LOL, SLICE OF LIFE Genre on Season 2 Anyone? hehehehe
If I recall properly, it was said that Fumiaki from the future(2012) was 25 years old,and if you go back to 1999 which would be 13 years into the past so the kid Fumiaki should be around 12 years old then(I think it was also mentioned somewhere that Fumiaki of 1999 was 12). With Maya at 16 years old, that would mean they have just 4 year age difference so at 2012 Maya would be 29 and Fumiaki would be 25. I’d say that’s not much of an age difference.
Though I completely forgot about it at around halfway this season, I was actually thinking that if the Fumiaki that came from the future would disappear then Maya could just settle with the Fumiaki of her present time(the 12 year old). I never would have expected that they’d really go with that at the end O_o
“Believe in Anime no Chikara.” I’m a believer!!
What I was half expecting to happen was for Maya to go to the future with Bunmei, this way their age difference would’ve been justified. But that’s what made this ending so funny to me.
well if Bunmei had this kind of powers all the serie it would had been awesome… mmm maybe too easy
BTW I love time travel
I actually had to rewind the end to make sure I wasn’t reading that name plate wrong. lol. So they did get married. And I guess she just sorta stole him from his mom …? I’m so curious about how their relationship developed though! Darn. In 1999, she was 17 and he was 10. So, in 2012 they should be 30 and 23. Thats not bad. 7 year difference. Cougar Maya ftw. But I really wanted to see how they looked like at 30 and 23. Darn again.
Well, we have already seen Bunmei at 23 as that was the one who went back in time. As for Maya 30 so would she most likely look hot 🙂
30 year old Maya will be still wearing her trademark white dress and black stockings. Believe it.
“Believe in Anime no Chikara” I am a BELIEVER!!!
It is so sad that Bunmei DIED destroying the aliens and himself thus stopping the rift in space.
I expected him to use a spoon as weapon but I never expected for it to be this AWESOME.
This reminded me of this one video,
The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon by Richard Gale.
Breaking off the theory in which they followed allowed Bunmei the opportunity to mature,(not letting anyone or thing tell him what to do or happens, independence) and that is why he became awesome.
MEN DON’T FOLLOW THEORIES!!! WE MAKE THEM AND CHANGE THEM!!!!!!!
also young bunmei was awesome. I was actually surprised how he bent the statues’ fingers.
he didn’t destroy the aliens.
he closed the rift which they were crossing by destroying himself.
edit: he pushed the aliens and closed the rift by destroying himself.
simple answer, it was all a dream. future guy never exist meaning he never cause the event and life goes on.
Bunmei ended up being the Key, in my opinion he was a “copy” of the original Fumiaki. In a way that’s what I thought would be the reason how he really didn’t exist it was just some god making one random person become the Nostradamus Key and Bunmei was that random person.
“After blogging for some time, one of the things I’ve grown accustomed to hearing over and over again is how an anime adaptation isn’t faithful to the original source material and some people raging over it just because they’re instinctively biased towards what they were exposed to first. Because of that, original series such as the ones produced by the Aniplex, TV Tokyo, and A-1 Pictures collaboration are always a breath of fresh air in more ways than one.”
Being one that has complained about deviations from original content so do I think I should reply to that. I actually like original stories like this one. What I have a problem with is the usual lack of quality when we have an anime based on something and they deviate from the original.
The way I see it is when we have an original series like this then they start out with a good script writer with a script in hand and use that to acquire funding for the new anime. This script will need to be good enough to interest investors.
But when we have an anime based on a manga or other story, then the original story is what is used to make investors interested. This is due to simple time-line that they need investors to acquire the rights and even start writing a script. They then don’t need to hire any costly high class scriptwriter, but can write the script on napkins during lunch breaks, at least that is how it seems.
So it’s not so much a matter of preferring adherence to the original story as preferring a cool familiar story over fresh crap.
The question is, would you still feel that way about a series if you didn’t have source material to compare it to?
Also, in the case of an adaptation of a manga you haven’t read yet or an original series like Occult Gakuin, do you find that you’re less likely to be upset with whichever direction it goes?
If people looked solely at an anime adaptation and pointed out specific things they felt could have been done better, without using the original source material as a measuring stick, then I would be inclined to agree with that statement. The problem is, their reasoning almost always goes back to, “the manga is so much better”, without realizing that their justification is “because it’s the manga.”
I realize not everyone is like that and some people are open-minded enough to take an objective view on an adaptation, but it’s the other crowd that I’m referring to. SEKIREI is a good example of this. I actually enjoyed the series but some manga readers look at it with disdain.
I actually enjoy the moving pictures and sound of anime so will in general favour anime over manga if they are the same. You are in a way correct that sometimes so will an anime get disrespected due to the manga, but that is, at least when it is me, more connected with the manga being really good and thus makes even a mediocre anime will look bad by comparison.
Your example, Sekirei is pretty good as it gets a passing grade from me, despite not following the story perfectly. But if we do compare it with the manga so does it look a bit worse then it would if we didn’t have the manga to compare with. The plot has been simplified for the anime to make it easier for ‘stupid’ viewers to keep track of. Instead of multiple plots ongoing and hints being dropped about future events long in advance so have the anime compacted each sub plot into continuous arcs with less build up. Some of the serious event’s are toned down a bit to be more suitable for a younger audience. The main character is made a bit wimpier then in the manga too. The last episode is a good example there, when he huddles on top of musubi like a child protecting his mom, while even Kuu-chan (she is like 3 while he is 20) stands face to face with the danger when she blocks it. It made me face palm when a 3 year old girl is manlier then the 20 year old main character.
All in all so do I consider Sekirei to be a pretty good anime, but it would have been a lot better if it had followed the manga exactly instead of the more lose version we got. None of the changes actually made it better. It did follow the manga well enough that none of the changes actually made for any surprises for the manga readers either (well, apart from one noteworthy event happening in the anime before it did in the manga).
In line with the discussion of paradoxes:
If this show had been based on a manga, and had deviated significantly, would people still like it as much? Is it possible that the nonexistence of something can change your experience?!
I have mixed feeling about Maya marrying child Bunmei. I loved the Maya x Bunmei pairing but that was Bunmei who was there with her through their journey to find the “Key”. To me, even though they are both Bunmei, they are different people.
But I think the ending was very smart 🙂 Even though it left me with sad emotions like Bunmei sacrificing himself, overall it was a great ending
You have to consider the fact that 13 years a long time. Maybe their relationship started out as a brother-sister thing, then eventually Fumiaki hit puberty then started getting a crush on Maya. Saying that Maya befriended Little Fumiaki for the purpose of marrying him is silly and presumptuous because we don’t really know what happened in 13 years. That’s pretty much delving in to fan fiction territory at this point.
“Saying that Maya befriended Little Fumiaki for the purpose of marrying him is silly”
LOOOL, I didn’t say that XDD My point is, to me the Bunmei who was with Maya and sacrificed himself is different from the little Bunmei cause they would had different lives. That’s why I have mixed feelings about this.
@Divine, synkronized, Daniel, & Lilian,
Cougar or not, you gotta envy her. It’s nearly impossible to raise up your (future) spouse & shape him/her according to your desire & vision. Even more here, it’s the wife that tends her own husband from he still a kid – that could go beyond common Queen Control if Maya likes. 😀
Ah, I think it’s more likely that she made sure to put some spine in him then made him into a whipped puppy.
Off-topic a little, how much age different between Queen Amidala & Anakin Skywalker when they married? 😛
BTW, any other anime/manga where the heroin is older than the hero (besides Clannad)? 🙂
kimikiss, kimi wa petto, akira, gokusen…hmmm.. those are all what i can remember. tenjho tenge is kinda like that too.
Im Dal Young as a thing for older women and most of his manwa has an older woman as lead female. Unbalance X Unbalance would be the most obvious one as there the age difference is part of the main plot.
yes,yes..that manhwa..UxU,.onegai sensei..what else..i’ve forgotten the rest..yokoshima-sensei from SYD was a cougar though..xDD
That’s it! Onegai Sensei! Forgot the name/title but now you remind me back. 😀
waaaaaaaaaaaaa. my next in line for download
0MG! i never thought that MAYA was a COUGAR! but seriously MAYAxKIDBUNMEI is HAWWTT!! LOL. yeah, i have cougar fetish.i’ve always thought a woman older than the man in a relationship is sEXY! COUGAR MAYA FTW!! XDD but isn’t that CHILD ABUSE?XDD
They certainly messed up some concepts with time / time travel.
I guess the time concept here is similar to haruhi’s endless 8, though the events do not loop but the with the cause being the future bunmei meeting the past the overall effect might as well be a time loop, with the correct choice of bunmei finally fighting back at the end & sacrifice himself to prevent the disaster, close the dimensional rift and break out of the time loop thus creating a new & different future.
or better yet the producers must have used the time concept in DNA² where the cause of the disaster in the past was due to something being sent from the future to stop it.
The time lag at the end would be better and make more sense if junichirou’s group had a device that allowed them to exist outside of time during their search for nostradamus’ key thus allowing them to exist, after the key was destroyed, in the new timeline and with their memories intact.
to all u who keep emphasizing about “the spoon”. It’s not the spoon that gives him powers u can look at it a medium which one focus their mind upon. I it more likely that the trauma from the original opening of the gate cause such a mental trauma in lil Bunmei he subconsciously sealed away his own power along with the memory of what happened. Recalling of his memory from his near death exp.
So the key is Chihiro, Maya’s father, Maya and Fumiaki all of which were involved in the domino style events (Maya the most important since there would never have been a possibility of meeting if she did not hire them, assuming no temporal stream self adjustments where chance happenings would still bring them to the college)
All this would have been removed and still fufil Fumiaki’s wish to see his mom if
i) Fumiaki returned to the future after meeting his mother
ii) Maya got Ami and her dad (most reliable, others like JK and Kozue reliability 0, Smile reliablity only average) to take young Bunmei somewhere far, while Fumiaki met his mother
iii) Fumiaki removed himself at range and used a binoculars
Also its wierd that the intent of destruction applies to everything in the picture. That would make it impossible to say if for example Yggdrasil was the key or just something in picture.
Fumiaki was surprisingly powerful, definitely outstripping No 5 and i would guess No 1-4 as well. If they clone a bunch of Bunmei’s they could have a chance against the aliens.
Also, since their memories remained, that would mean at the exact time and date the team ran out of the room, large numbers of people would suddenly recall an alternate life. Scientists in the resistance would retain their knowledge of alien technologies. The worldwide effect of so many people recalling would make the possibility of time travel an undeniable certainity.
Nice show, this one has a lot of everything
I was reading on Wikipedia for this show and it mentioned that there are 4 extra spin-off episodes. So I guess it’s not over for me in till I get those extra ones…
so the humans were the ones that allowed to aliens to come in. Mikaze’s demon world is probably more interesting than these alien robots.
Did he really die, maybe he’s trapped in the alien dimension forever.
Future Bunmei didn’t panic, yet he put all his resolved and talk with the young Bunmei. With the sight of the young Bunmei unconscious after knocked off by the explosion. Future Bunmei reminds me of Kittan Gar Mode of Gurren Lagann with the exception of Kittan kissed Yoko, while Future Bunmei didn’t even have a chance to kiss Maya (later enjoyed by the young Bunmei).
This plot was already used in Kimagure Orange Road (no need to explain the details) and Hitman Reborn except the past Bunmei is still alive, where as Yuni ceast to exist in the past.
Maya and Bunmei started their relationship 17+5 10+5 in 2005, then get married in 2007 Maya 25, Bunmei 17 (after Bunmei graduated from Occult Academy), then have a child born in 2008.
So a shotacon ending is not bad. Check Please Teacher! and Megadere.
Remember people there is NO LONGER A PARADOX after Bunmei sacrificed his life to kill the aliens. What sent them back is more or less Bunmeis existence. He “dies” from using the spoons power by destroying the aliens that have ALREADY come out of the rift. Then because hes dead the balance in the space time continuum is restored now that there are only 2 Bunmeis.
Also I JUST noticed back about episode 11-12 the joke regarding Bunmei and Mayas name.
Maya Bunmei. Mayabunmei = Mayan Civilization. LOL
why didn’t that happen during the “first” alien invasion tho?
Its an ending I can praise as a self proclaimed critic , but its also an ending that I personally hate.
hmmmm all the cougar talk about Maya left me with the ultimate cougar: Ryoko from Tenchi Muyo!
700 years old and still hawt!
and one more thing that sprung to my mind: was SNWT world the same world as the Occult Academy, plus some 100 years after alien invasion?
Ryoko is still a young cub when compared to her “mother” Washu who is depicted as on and off interested in Tenchi :p
So did Maya, Junichiro, Ami, Kozue, Smile, JK, and everyone else who knew future Fumiaki still retained their memories of the events they experienced together? Or did it get lost somewhere in time?
@Lilian
This anime needs an extra episode to explain what happened to the rest of the cast. I want to see Maya as a teacher for Bunmei.
There is supposedly 4 spin-off episodes in the Blu-rays of this show. How knows there might be one that would expand on the ending a little bit more.
bumei’s spoon > alien force. wow just wow.
I have a spoon and wont hesitate to use it!
I would assume the age difference is not that all big between Maya and Fumiaki. I think he would be 11 or 12 at most and she would be at least 4 years older.
what the hell was that?! it sucks that they had to negate that “must think of destroying at what you’re looking at” rule. that threw the whole thing out of whack. i wish they just went and had maya realize that bunmei was the key. it would’ve made more impact. knowing her feelings about him and knowing that he’s the key, that should tear her apart real good.
that whole “the future came first before the past” thing messes the whole thing up as well. ugh. they could have at least shown maya in the future.
awesome ending goddamit.
Some things were left unexplained but that didn’t make this finale any less awesome, not for me at least.
Like a lot of people pointed out, theories and concepts about our own understanding of time parodies left us questioning about the logic used in the show. The proof of 100 comments on an Occult Academy post made me realized it definitely made an impact in its viewers in either awe or rage. With a couple of extra episodes coming in a few months, I thinks it’s still too early to call everything we saw in this episodes as we see fit. I myself have a lot of questions left like how much of Bunmei’s story was true? Was it all just a coincidence, with him as the actual key? But I was still satisfied in how things wrapped up here.
As an Anime Original, I was very skeptical watching Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin back at the start of summer but when I was expecting nothing out of a series I know nothing about and as how every week blew all those expectations out the window this series easily became one of my favorites, not only for the summer but for the year so far.
now you have to wonder if mikaze had used maya instead, would it open a different door, to the underworld perhaps where all these demons like that big panther came from
a SPOON is stronger than a DRILL!
You guys have touched on it, yet haven’t realized something I just thought of on my drive home…
Mikaze WAS the original Nostradamus Key. If she had succeeded in opening the portal, KidBunmei would still have been at the closing ceremony, therefore seeing it all go down. Which brought forth the alien invasion and all the events taking place.
Bunmei and KidBunmei meeting was a SECONDARY Nostradamus Key that opened up the dimensional rift, but it wouldn’t have been stopped simply by Bunmei not having being sent back in the first place. There is your paradox explanation.
If Bunmei hadn’t been sent back, Mikaze would’ve succeeded. If any of the #1-5 had succeeded in finding the Nostradamus Key in the first place, Bunmei would’ve never been sent back because the event would’ve been averted. Mikaze is a sly little devil, so nobody really suspected her until we, the viewers, came along.
The Breakdown:
1. Chihiro sends Junichiro off to save his life. Mikaze succeeds in killing Maya and opening the dimensional portal, letting the aliens loose on Earth. KidBunmei witnesses this, thus his traumatic blackout.
2. Junichiro is in hiding, so he decides to start the time travel agency to prevent this from happening and hopefully saving his daughter’s life. Bunmei wakes up and from his trauma loses all psychic ability. No more spoon bending.
3. Thirteen years later, they finally find a way to send people back in time. Bunmei gets “volunteered” and thrown into training. The first 5 Abe Sensei replacements are sent back, each failing to complete their missions because Mikaze has caught on that they’re looking for the Nostradamus Key. Unfortunately, they have not caught on that she is it.
4. Bunmei gets called last in line, so he is sent back as Maya returns to the Academy. She knows the prediction by heart, so she calls Bunmei out as being the Key as he fulfilled the prophecy and created the second key.
5. Hilarity ensues.
i thought of the same thing, that bunmei became another key. it would have made a lot more sense if that was the case. but for this to be valid, the time travel agency people should have mentioned something like “crap, we just made another key!”. but no, what they said was that it was their fault that the portal opened in the first place. then, the “mikaze key future” should also have been different from the “bunmei key future”.
another thing, how come the agency never thought of that whatchamacallit conjecture right away when they sent the first agent.
They didn’t know what they were dealing with. By Nostradamus’ Key, they thought they were looking for an object, not a person. Also, they didn’t think about Mikaze being the original key and thought they had inadvertently created the key. They didn’t take into consideration the paradox if they really had.
Wrong. Maya was original the key that Mikaze used to open her own demon world where those creatures came from. None of them were technological advanced.
curious one, Maya wasn’t the key. Mikaze was trying to kill her because Maya was the only one capable of stopping her. This is why Chihiro and puma-boy were there, to protect her.
I’ve explained my theory of the time paradox fix in detail and with justifications. If you want to convince me otherwise, I suggest you give exact descriptions and examples.
My second biggest beef with anime/manga next to hental loli crap is how otaku’s always muse over age difference to justify what they watch and read in regards to pairings, but never contemplate the child grooming which has mental and psychical bearings on said child’s future. Don’t even start me on shoujo material and the 10 years later time skip to cover up the child rearing.
First off you don’t know what happen in those 10 years. We only know she eventually marries him at the end. Secondly, you don’t know the age gap between the two.
Is it just me or Maya’s father looks like Colonel Sanders(KFC) or even Hayao Miyazaki. :O
Screw the time paradox, pedo-Maya is by far the most disturbing thing about this finale! Half-joking comments aside, I certainly enjoyed this show and must reiterate my disappointment about the lack of an Anime no Chikara project for the fall season. Hopefully they’ll be back for the winter.
My head starting to hurt when you started talking about the different time theories. It reminds me of the Bakuman manga where they try submitting a manga about time traveling. Can’t wait to see the animated version of Bakuman.
All in All I liked the ending of Occult Academy. I jumped when Maya mentioned Puerto Rico in the chupacabra episode as I’m from Puerto Rico. I seriously don’t know who started the tales of the chupacabra.
Just two statements:
Great anime, stupid ending.
They did again. I would have prefered a bad ending.
Just two statements:
Great anime, stupid ending.
They did again. I would have prefered a bad ending where everyone gets killed off again.
Greate anime, complicated plot..
That’s all I can say…
I finally watched ep 12 and 13 so my thoughts are
It took me by surprise that thing of fumiaki being the nostradamus hey, really, so I loved this episode and I was hoping a happy ending and it was a happy ending ^^
I really like bad endings in some animes but now I didnt
and it was a maya x fumiaki ending XD so it was better ^^
there gona be an ova right? well, lest hope to be fun and interesting like the anime.
but the true is the I DO need and ova to explain some things, like the fumiaki that Maya talk about in the new future, is the bunmei that we all know or the kid one? :S
Its kinda picky for you to be so picky at the end of the series. If you wanted some things that didnt make sense with the anime, you coulda gone for episode 1, where #5 dies even though he supposidly had pyrokynesis.
But yeah awesome anime overall, and I rather liked the ending.
My take on what happens with teh time paradox is: time gets destroyed, and then rebuilt. The dimensional rift + Fumiaki’s telekinesis completely decimated time, and then things dont really matter if they are future/present/past, and are slotted back in whatever order, with the order following how the creators wanted the series to end (and the fans :D).
^that solves everything. I should have my own blog. xD
I just finished watching this. I probably should read more comments before posting my opinion…but..What if Maya and Bunmei didn’t actually get married? What if she raised him and she adopted his last name. Perhaps she didn’t want to force her surname upon him in order to retain his identity. I mean Fumiaki hated being called Bunmei and wanted everyone to call him by his real name. He wanted to have the freedom to be himself and live like a normal boy. Maybe Fumiaki loved Maya (not romantically) for respecting his individuality and for not controlling him/manipulating him. But I also think that it’s not odd for them to marry in the future..if age gap is 10 yrs or less. As for the rest of the story…I still have to allow my brain to try to make sense of time-travel, the key, aliens, etc. I don’t know..I really liked this anime and the majority of the characters. It had a lot of potential. Of course it would have been better if the series was longer than 13 episodes.