He’s bee-hiiind you!
YAY! Maya’s back!! In short, this epi was all kinds of Win. And all kinds of 
. And 
. And LOL. And @_@. And 
. And T__T. And EH?! Observe…
Episode Summary:
The Vice Principal [hitherto referred to as V.P. for my sanity, as comrade Mysty might say] informs Uchida that Maya and Kozue are officially missing. Uchida is suitably gobsmacked. Then, in a less serious tone, the V.P. quickly suggests that they both look for the two girls together. Uchida is suitably quick at suggesting that they split-up. As Uchida legs it out of there, the shady guy appears and asks V.P. what the point of seducing Uchida would be, but V.P. is apparently falling (or at least trying to fall) in love with the green suited bumbler. Meanwhile, the green suited bumbler heads down into the town and is both surprised and touched at the spectacle of everybody banding together and searching for the girls. He is then positively delighted to bump into Mikaze, who suggests that they look for the girls in her car. Uchida is then suitably less delighted.
Soon, after asking some questions and following some leads, the two end up at the Amato Shrine in Minakamiyama and, following an I-think-I-saw-someone-worth-following hunch by the surprisingly eagle-eyed Mikaze, they end up going inside the shrine, tripping, and discovering a secret tunnel. In which Uchida reluctantly enters and swiftly gets very impressively lost. All this time, J.K. with his dowsing rods, accompanied by a nonchalant Smile with a bloody big spanner, are on the school grounds searching for Maya. Before J.K.’s rods lead them off to exit stage right. Also, at pretty much the same time, V.P., for some reason, seems to be writing a trashy romance novel inspired by her favourite green suited teacher.
Welcome back.
Back to the caves, and Uchida is randomly reunited with the very Principal that they have all been searching for [Woohoo!]. She, of course, gives him all kinds of hell and they eventually discover another inner chamber with a very big and important looking sparkly tree and Maya waxes mythical on said tree. In short, it must be Nostradamus’ Key. Uchida then takes a pic on his trusty gizmo. In short, it is not Nostradamus’ Key. Then all hell breaks loose as Uchida’s footing literally breaks loose and he falls in a frikkin enormous pile of crap. As if things could not get any worse for the Time Agent, Maya gives him even more hell for being stinky as well as useless, before the bat-winged and red-eyed beasty that was chasing Maya in the last epi is suddenly upon the both of them. They seem to get away, only to walk right into the lair/ nest thingy of the beasty – or ‘Mothman’ – as Maya explains, while demanding that the Time Agent finally flex his Time Agent prowess. Before Uchida admits that his story was all lies and that he was just a Z-list, semi-supernatural-powered-celebrity-turned-bum who’d been captured and forced into going back in time by the Mysterious Men.
Maya is not amused. However, she soon discovers Kozue in a nearby oozing cocoon and promptly goes about rescuing her. And waking up the rest of the sleeping/ hatching beasties Mothmen. Uchida then runs away. Things look pretty bleak for our current favourite tsundere and her currently comatose friend, until our current favourite strongman arrives throwing around his bloody big spanner to TAKE CARE OF IT, not unlike the style of a past favourite vending-machine-throwing bartender, I might add. The episode draws to a close with the Scooby gang intact, not least of all a certain cowardly Time Agent, who Maya can barely look at, let alone give him the usual hell. In fact, she gives him worse, in a concise, but ouchy kind of way. As they rest of the gang leave him behind, Mikaze suddenly turns up and Uchida promptly takes the credit for the whole thing. The final scene is of the shady guy reporting to the V.P., who is closing the book in which she’s been writing, that the caves have been sealed. She acknowledges his good work and adds that Maya is a whole heap of trouble.
Thoughts:
Now THAT’s more like it. After the semi-snail-paced epi last week, I’m glad we didn’t see too much of Ms Cute Waitress (at least not in moe mode) after she unintentionally showed Uchida how to do his job. In contrast, I can’t really fault the pacing of this epi, I think I just enjoyed pretty much all of it, especially after Maya returned, of course. However, before I fangirl over Maya, I will add that Uchida suddenly got a whole lotta interesting. Yes, interesting. I know most of us probably wanted to conduct various experimental forms torture on his useless, cowardly arse in this episode, but I must admit to noticing a few more faces in his ‘many face of’ repertoire, plus the fact his unreliable-narrator-ness was confirmed with such panache in this epi actually does make me want to see and learn more of him. While I’m holding a bloody big spanner of my own to hit him with, of course.
Back to Maya. Yes, she returned in this epi, of course – and what a return it was! Not only did we see here in all her tsundere arse-kicking, cross-bow shooting, giving-them-hell glory, but she actually didn’t physically hit Uchida that much. Instead, the insult-reaction comedy ping-pong was fabulously fast-paced and literally made me LOL all the way through that middle section. Plus, the bits that were interspersed with J.K. and Smile I thought were incorporated seamlessly and worked well too.
So, as I’ve mentioned and implied so far, this episode was sort of Scooby-Doo-esque in terms of structure and comedy. However, the key shifts in tone and mood were certainly stark. Namely, the big (partial) reveal about Uchida being a big fat liar. The parts where his real story flipped around the previous ‘cool’ version were still funny, of course, but the glimpse we saw of the dystopian future ravaged by destruction and poverty with a destitute and desperate Uchida sitting alone in the middle of it was certainly a sharp contrast to anything in which I could have imagined him. Clearly, there’s a real tragedy in his past that we’re yet to hear about, which would explain that turned away face and the unseen tear he shed at the beginning of the last epi. A face that I’d actually liked to have seen, but might have made me a bit teary too if I had.
Of all the things to pull out of the bag…
However, none of this, of course, excuses what Uchida did to Maya and Kozue. Or, rather, didn’t do. Even Maya’s reaction after hearing the real story (‘…You can’t use any psychic powers and you get lost in caves. You’re a worthless time agent. And you stink.’ Ouch!) was no less ouchy than what he deserved. And it was nothing compared to that look she gave him at the end and the way she simply uttered that one word. To be honest, I can’t tell if that was the most p***ed-off I’ve seen her yet, or just hurt. Both, I assume. Shame daddy’s book only contains protection spells as opposed to hexes and curses, eh? Needless to say, Uchida’s subsequent and sudden credit-taking before Mikaze was actually pretty creepy to me for, some reason. I mean, rather than just being out of order, he came across as being almost schizophrenic, instead of the loser-but-nice-guy-underneath thing I thought he had going on. Hmmm…
Finally, some words on some of the randomness. Notably, J.K. and his keyboard of doom. Kind of reminded me of Arakawa, too. In short, and unlike that bloody big spanner, I certainly didn’t see that one coming. Though, speaking of that spanner, Smile is fast becoming my favourite strongman of the season. At least there’s someone man enough in this anime. Plus, he also gets bonus points for coming the closest to filling the void left by the frikkin awesomeness that is Shizuo.
May the throwing of overly large heavy objects continue!
33 Comments
my hate for Uchida grows… any screen time spent on him is time wasted… i mean how could he leave Maya back in that cave like that…. especially when she is doing his job… that gutless worm… The Maya, JK, and Smile team is all kinds of win though!
Haha, yes I thought you’d have a field day with episode, ectholion, given what you said about him after last week’s epi. Although, surely it’s not wasted if it’s time spent getting his arse kicked by Maya, at least. How could he do so indeed… unless they want us to hate him (probably) and thus not feel guilty about enjoying Maya unnecessarily torturing him (as if we would) for some future see-he’s-a-good-guy-after-all-let’s-forgive-him sorta arc. And regarding the three new amigoes – I completely agree!
I agree, this episode intrigued me even further about what exactly happens in the future and #6′s role in it. Is it just me, or are Mikaze’s eyes a bit more disturbing than those of the other characters? She always seems to have extra lines drawn above and beneath her pupils. I don’t know if JK’s “music is my life” is just a one-shot gag for him to knock out the Mothmen with a keyboard-guitar, but I’d certainly like to see more of it in future — perhaps a solo rendition of “Fuwa Fuwa Time” is in order!
More JK in general is a good thing. I like his character, and the keyboard just adds to it.
Completely agree. Wasn’t sure at first if there was more to him than his dousing and good hearing ability, but I’m happy to say I was very pleasantly surprised by him in this epi. And more Ami wouldn’t go amiss either, seeing as she was the one who was pretty quick to gather them all up in the first place, plus those snippets about her role in the past life of Maya last week need to be addressed soon, I hope.
Ooh, I never noticed that about Mikaze’s eyes. Probably because I was too distracted by her annoying voice. There’s defo something fishy about little Miss Perfect though, but looks like we’re going to have to wait to see what, if anything. Yes, loving J.K.’s randomness, not least of all that weird chuckling (*chuckles again remembering*. That line, and pose, was certainly hilarious. Even if they don’t reuse it, I hope we see some more of his, er, creative side again. Or any of his sides, for that matter.
The guy is not only a hobo but also a scumbag. It looks like his parents needed to institute some morals into him while they were showboating him off so he doesn’t become such a leech on society.
Well, can’t really blame him for being the first, but I’ve got no complaints regarding the second charge. Interesting you mentioned the parents, can’t remember any mention of his dad, but his mum seemed sweet, more pleased that overly-proud. However, as you suggest, clearly something went badly wrong somewhere along the line.
I was generally pretty annoyed at every moment of Bunmei’s screentime in this ep. I agree there’s probably deeper tragedy in his character, but felt that this was a pretty lame way to try to squeeze comedy out of him. Also, I won’t be surprised if by the end he gains ‘I AM BOSS’ hack powers due to the removal of some “past tragedy mental block”…
P.S. Screaming Mothra Keytar is Epic
Lol, even in the first half? Well it was certainly a pretty unecessary way to squeeze it out, makes me wonder why they were trying so hard to get us to laugh at as well as hate him. Which means your theory is sounding highly likely. And yes, that was pretty frikkin awesome.
Yes, I was annoyed even in the first half, lol…though I admit I did laugh at this epi at the same time. Pretty strange feeling.
oh and i just loved her standing on Bunmei’s back in heels… she is rapidly becoming my favorite character of the year
…and I second that. Her uber-tsundere fake-occult hating aside, she just too awesome. Plus the girl knows how to dress herself. In short, Maya screentime = good times.
I was thinking they better not turn Bunmei into a love intrest for Maya… i will be soo pissed.. and im hoping that this Mikaze either see him for the loser he is, actually is the old lady, or has herpies and give it to Bunmei.
gonorrhea of the eye would be fine too
Gotta hand it to the fat guy. That keytar was full of win.
Yes, I bet Maya won’t be calling him Porco Rosso again anytime soon.
After this episode she should just form a team with JK and Smile, and kick Uchida out of the Key-hunters club. If I understand correctly, she even has her own future-phone.
im liking this idea…
Given the one that killed number 5 is a Mothman I’m inclined to think he did have pyrokinesis just that it is a paper x rock x scissors for him as Mothman are immune to fire.
http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Mothman
For some reason the future resistance organization is sending only as far as we know Espers. Probably something to do with the alien technology. Thing is Fumiyaki is the bottom of the barrel. Either he lost his powers growing up or he still have it but something psychologically repressing the ability.
Ah, thanks for clearing the Mothman thing up, and the stuff about no. 5. That’s an interesting theory, about how some people’s natural Esperish powers might be the only hope against the aliens… though, in the case of Mr bottom of the barrel, the mind boggles at how the ‘powers’ of ‘Bunmei-chan’ could possibly help…
Uchida sure is an annoying coward.
True. Though, it’s fun laughing at him.
Another random thing to add to your list, the yellow smiley badge that Smile has, changes. That last screen-shot you have, it’s in shock…. and when the moth was chasing Maya and Bunmei, and Smile and JK were standing around it went from ambivalent to happy…lol… I love this show.
Haha, that’s brilliant, well spotted! I love the visual humour in this show too
.
I think Maya’s last look back at Bunmei was a mix of anger and utter disgust. I sort of have to give him some credit for picking himself back up and going right back into the charade when he meets back up with the waitress. Most anime lamos would’ve been in a funk, but Bunmei’s special.
Loved the quick scene where Maya and Bunmei run right behind JK and Smile, and the mothman follows right after. They seem to have one of these moments in each ep, and each moment has been golden.
Fumiaki might not care what anyone thinks of him, aside from Mikaze, though, since he can just teleport back to 2012.
As for that one scene where everyone runs behind JK and Smile, I thought that was odd, since technically that was an exit as well.
You’re watching a show called ‘Occult Academy’ and you thought that was odd? Sorry, don’t mean to be cheeky, but that made me giggle
Agree about Uchida ceirtainly not having any loyalties with anyone, and given the nature of his being there, you could argue why should he? However, the manly explanation he gives Mikaze clearly shows that he knows right actions from wrong, so he really should have known better than to leave the girls. But then it wouldn’t have been so funny/ dramatic if he hadn’t, of course… hmm…
Oh he’s ‘special’ alright… in more ways than one
I also agree that such scenes are comedy gold (like Uchida’s chibi-face after photographing the VP, and Smile’s random punch, and the many faces of Maya, right) and that it’s this element that makes the quirky comedy of the show.
P.S. I frikkin love your gravaters!
haha, thanks! You just love Usui. Everybody loves Usui.
And Shizuo (I used the plural for a reason) and… well, I don’t actually know who you had before then, but I assume they were equally awesome.
I for one was not particularly surprised when JK pulled that keytar out his bag. Heroman pulled the same stunt (though maybe less cooly); one of the characters fights the bug-like aliens with a guitar and mobile amps.
Haven’t been watching Heroman, but that scene sounds cool too. Hope he won against the aliens – and that his axe and amps were alright!