Psychic Academy Aura Banshou

3 reviews - 4.5 total score (Explanation of the rating system)
avg. score: (1.5)

3. Iodine

Eight-minute shorts make up what can only be described as a fanservice series that tries to disguise itself as a supernatural action anime. A boy named Ai goes to a prestigious academy for people with "aura" powers in hopes of meeting his old childhood friend, Orina. A love triangle soon forms with the two of them and Myuu, a standoffish redhead, and Ai spends the rest of the series getting into compromising situations and feeble fight scenes. Most episodes include at least two extended opportunities for ogling the busty female leads, and the premise isn't so very concerned with supporting an ongoing story as it is with providing a convenient reason to have a high school setting and people with wacky superpowers. The characters are utterly devoid of anything even remotely resembling personalities, and there isn't a faintly entertaining moment in the entire series.

The designs are generic and boring, and the animation has very little going for it. The few attempts to incorporate CGI are afwul, and the 3D elements are glaring eyesores. Other technical areas are similarly lukewarm, and it's very noticeable that the opening sequence takes up about a fourth of an episode's runtime. There isn't anything really sexy or risque here, despite all the panty-shots, and the attempt at a plot is laughable. Psychic Academy is a waste of space and a bigger waste of time.

2. Olmanek

And the point of this series was? You'd assume that should you decide to create something that you know others will see you would actually put some effort into it, they didn't, this is horrendously boring and pointless. The ending cleared up nothing, and our young lads true powers are only hinted to, he's got a bit of an inferiority complex because of his brother, but not really, it's more that his brother is eccentric and he isn't, sounds interesting doesn't it? And that is probably his second biggest dilemma. The love interests are boring, and the shapely female form never looked so bad, I suppose they deliberately wanted to make it look as though the females were 'bursting' out of their clothes, but it was closer to say having a hideously oversized head, not something that I could see actually used as eye candy to attract a random viewer. The animation is bad. There is nothing good about this series. Avoid it.

1. Tempy

Here's an interesting idea: web broadcasted anime! Psychic Academy Aura Banshou and Mahou Yuugi are the first shows that I know of that see the light of day online. Psychic Academy episodes are only 10 minutes long, and if you realize there's at least 9 volumes of manga (still ongoing), then it's obvious that 24 episodes just ain't going to cover it all. Ai Shiomi is kind of a wuss, but with aura powers. And the Psychic Academy is a school for aura users just as himself. There he meets a rabbit he reluctantly has to call master, childhood friend Orina, and mysterious girl Myuu, who happens to have a 100% aura compatibility with Ai-kun. Apparently one of the requirements for this school is not only to have aura powers, but if you're a girl you also need to be at least a D-cup. The girls are all packed. Yep, this is a fanservice show. The thing that keeps the show interesting to watch is the clumsy love triangle between Ai, Orina and Myuu. There's nothing new there, and what there is is incredibly shallow, but the girls are cute enough and hey, I guess I can still be suckered in by the usual clichés.

Unlike AIC's Mahou Yuugi however, Psychic Academy's low budget is all too painfully apparent. The art is poor and inconsistent, the animation is bad, the CG effects are absolutely horrendous, and the composer needs to be stabbed with a rusty spoon. Sure the main girls look nice, and the OP is decent as well, but the show is probably the cheapest thing since Initial D. The writing is agonizingly bad, especially during "action" sequences. When the Aura Hunters appear you'll be groaning loudly while trying to jam a pen through an eyesocket. The humor is also way too simplistic, and only amusing when it plays off on sexual tension between Ai and the two girls.

And like predicted, the ending does not offer a resolution. Now I'm convinced I'm a masochist because I actually want to see more of this show. Maybe they'll make a new series, or maybe I should just spare myself the agony and check out the manga.