Despite the ubiquity of the idea its pretty rare that somethings ending genuinely completely tanks it. Usually at worst endings leave themes or plot points unresolved which makes them unsatisfying. This rarity makes Occult Academys absolute traincrash in its final three episodes all the more astounding and almost impressive in its sudden derailment of what made the prior 10 at all worth watching. If you wonder why Im leading with that its because OAs ending really does retroactively corrupt the viewing experience to that degree. Lets get the good points out of the way because they do exist and in fact are almost plentiful in the first two thirds of the series Maya our protagonist is not a particularly deep character but for the shows first part she manages to be magnetic by sheer force of personality and plays off her supporting cast extremely well and there is an ongoing implication that the schools vice principal and her bodyguard a knockoff of Gomez from Birdy The Mighty might be up to something sinister. The shows first ten episodes nominally revolve around the presence of time traveler Fumiaki and the hunt for something called the Nostradamus Key an artifact that must be retrieved before a certain date or the world will end. In actuality theyre fairly selfcontained small story arcs usually lasting one or two episodes. These center around all kinds of unusual phenomena from attacks by mothmanlike creatures to supporting character Kozue having an induced neardeath experience and it altering her personality. The highlight of theseand its not even closeis the last centering on a ghost girl named Akari being finally put to rest after having frozen to death as a child. This arc comprising episodes 9 and 10 is genuinely moving and had the show ended herewithout ever resolving its background plotOA would probably be sitting somewhere atop a 70odd like many shows I and many other people have seen that are solid and have a few highlight episodes but arent anything groundbreaking. Then like a trio of kicks to the stomach come episodes 11 12 and unlucky 13. Each of these is bad enough on its own but combined they form a fullon assault on every existing point the show had in its favor. This begins with Fumiakis sortof girlfriend Mikaze a genuinely sweet girl who was part of an ongoing Bplot namely that she was causing Fumiaki to split his time helping Maya find the Nostradamus Key. This was a conflict yes but it was never presented as a major one and there is zero hint that Mikaze herself is anything but wellmeaning and possibly a bit ditzy. Episode 11 begins with her attempting to outright seduce Fumiaki to kill Maya and appears to reveal that she is part of some sort of cult who wants Maya dead and the titular academy destroyed. This is the first of many many illthoughtout plot twists that embody all the worst preconceived notions about the device. The very worst Shyamalan film has never packed a onetwo as bad as Mikaze is part of a cult No actually shes an actual evil sorceress controlling the cult These revelations come so quickly after each otherand in the midst of so many othersthat they rapidly lose even pure shock factor what the fuck?s rapidly fading into dejected ughs as the episodes roll on and then start to drag on. The sinister vice principal is revealed to be a white mage read: magical girl straight out of Nanoha despite being in her 30s Mayas fathers notebook is revealed to be a magical talisman. The vice principals bodyguard is a demon who can transform into a winged panther. It just goes on and on like this piling idiotic left turn onto idiotic left turn until it starts chasing its own narrative tail. The real insidious bit here is not these problems which are obvious upon even a cursory viewing but the fact that they rob Maya of so much of her agency. Maya as said earlier is not a terribly deep protagonist and she doesnt even fiteven in the early part of the seriesthe conventional definition of strong female character. Shes not very nuanced and most of the conflict in the story revolves around her dead father spoiler: at the end of the series it is revealed that he is in fact not dead but for the storys first twothirds she has oomph. Shes physically capable she drops monsters left and right with the help of axes crossbows more than once and even simple sticks shes loud and uncompromising and in general is in charge. These twists make her a pawn of Mikazes cult then the vice principal and then finally in what is undeniably the worst of these Fumiaki. At the end of episode 13 in a final punch to the jaw its revealed that Maya and a young incarnation of Fumiaki from the present instead of the future despite a fairly big age difference end up getting together. That they could not leave well enough alone even this sickeningly overdone clich as rich in simple boringness as it is heteronormative and he gets the girl bullshit is the final nail in the coffin for what is a terrible terrible ending to a show that begins so well. I rarely am so vulgar and so referential to my own scoring in my anilist reviews. I try to maintain a pseudoprofessional tone and to talk about what shows do right or at least do interestingly. But in Occult Academy all of that is overridden by one of the worst ending arcs Ive ever seen in the medium. I sometimes end reviews with a recommendation. Instead I will end this one with quite the opposite. Unless you plan to stop at the end of episode 10 stay far far away from Occult Academy.