Occult Academy

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Anime Review
I finished watching Occult Academy last week, and I surprised myself by my reaction to the ending.

The show itself established its characters and world, built on both, and told mostly stand-alone stories for most of its run. At episode 11, it accelerated into its end game.

And I was rather bored.

Everything in the show gets either a twist or a payoff. The plot is perfectly paced in its revelation of character background and character development.

But the finale lasted for 3 episodes, and there just weren't enough characters or factions to fill that out. That's a movie, essentially.

The ending didn't drag, exactly. It was paced as quickly as the rest of the series, and was certainly filled with greater direct tension. But in retrospect, I wanted things to move quickly.

The funny thing is that anime is more often accused of rushed endings than slow ones. I suspect the creators of Occult Academy wanted to give themselves plenty of time to avoid that. But instead, the show spends a lot of time on characters running away or engaging in duels that don't push us towards the end.

On the gripping hand, these are nitpicks. I thoroughly enjoyed Occult Academy, and several moments burned themselves into my brain. It's just a shame that the ending felt drawn out.

Did you feel the same? Have you seen an anime or read a manga that had a drawn-out ending?