Ranked #2973

Psychic Academy

Psychic Academy was one of the first anime to take the step towards the internet. Being a pioneer in internet-only broadcasting, it made me wonder why it decided to take such a route. Curse you, curiosity, for getting the best of me yet again.

Though there are 24 episodes in the series, each episode is about eleven minutes long, and two of those minutes are used for the opening theme. With the remaining nine minutes, a story is hastily attempted to be woven. Unfortunately, focus on the plot is lost, and the show quickly falls to the lowest common denominator: shameless fan service. I lost count at the number of panty shots and "accidental" groping situations. It's a shame, really. If more time were spent on the whole "Aura" concept, then Psychic Academy could have become a decent series.

At the same time, not everything was horrible. There were a few decent moments of comedy sprinkled here and there, and some moments between Orina and Ai were genuinely nice. Beyond that, much of what went on between the characters was rather forgettable. Being aired solely on the internet, the budget constraints were obvious. The animation was poor at best throughout the series' run. Going along with that was the horribly out of place CGI effects. I use CGI lightly; the special effects looked more like something out of a Flash program.

While there are certainly worse anime out there with a short run time *cough*Legend of Duo*cough*, Psychic Academy is not much better. Though you won't waste too much time if you do decide to watch anyway, it is still time better spent on better anime. read more

Knowing the first volumes of the manga I started watching Psychic Academy with the expectation of getting an average but quite enjoyable anime. Well, I got definitely less than that. Let's start to look at the different rating aspects:

Story
If you read the manga, you might recognize that there is not much of a thing you can call a mature story but at least they constructed a satisfying alibi for the fanservice that takes place. Here we go with the first question that occured to me (and will occur to you, if you have too much time to waste and watch psychic academy instead of taking my advice not to do): Why is the only thing you get to see during the 2 minutes exceeding intro two half-naked girls? This is the first awkward fact keeping in mind one episode lasts only 10 minutes and it is quite representative for the whole anime. If you read the manga, you might know that there is a lot of fanservice too, but they are going into the whole aura thing as well so it is at least an entertaining mix of story and cute looking girls the main character has to deal with. That potential is all wasted by focusing too much on the latter. There is no single episode where the character (or one of the girls) does not 'accidantly' gropes the breasts or falls onto the (the other) girl's gorgeus body. I think you get the idea here. Therefore the story evolves just from single events which seem not to fit (but do within the manga) without any proper introduction to the world and its characters.
My rating: 1 - Pathetic

Art
There is not much to say here, it is just the average. No artistic parts but no black outs as well.
My Rating: 4 - Decent

Sound
There is not much noteworthy music used, the intro music is - like most anime intro themes - horrible and the ending theme is quite decent.
My Rating: 5 - Mediocre

Character
Like the story part the small potential the manga offered got totally crushed here. The often seen, but at least reasonable conflict between the main character and his superior brother for example is mentioned but goes nowhere (except to some fanservice scenes of course!) and so the characters are just shallow characterless beings. Even the love between the main character and his childhood girlfriend is mostly wasted due to the fanservice.
My Rating: 1 - Pathetic

Enjoyment
While it is sometimes funny watching two shy (almost-)lovers getting disturbed showing there real feelings or getting into awkward situations this does not work here. It becomes boring after the first one or two episodes because the main ingredients are always the same never changing types of misplaced fanservice. However, there are some more interesting parts of the remaining 'story' left which crop up just at time to spare a few points here.
My Rating: 3 - Poor

Overall
In case you missed the idea: Don't watch this anime. Simply don't. If you really want to try out Psychic Academy...well, try the manga. It is not a masterpiece, but I estimate it at ~5 points - so this is quite entertaining if you like this type of manga.
All aspects above sum up to an overall rating of 3 - Poor. read more