Between studying for midterms (reason for the lack of pictures but next time, I promise) and stuffing my face with cake, I decided to watch this one first out of the few I plan to watch for this fall 2007 season. The elements of this show bring to mind: Ghost Hunt, Chrno Crusade and Getbackers; maybe even Witch Hunter Robin. It also ties in the Ars Goetia which is a fascinating aspect of magick, specifically demonology. I’m not sure how much of Goetia this show will focus on but the “accuracy of representation” is a good factor for me.

The show jumps right into the action, which can either work for it or against it. Sometimes, as in Tokyo Majin - when they over extend the frenetic action, the show can seem as if it lacks substance (which apparently, I have wrongly judged of TM). For Rental Magica, the action is concise and to the point and it sets up the premise of the show. The members of Astral are a group (much like in Ghost Hunt and to an extent, Getbackers … hell even Devil May Cry in the sense that they are hired for a job and then get paid in exchange) who act together to solve mysteries related to the supernatural (which in this show, seems very much like Ghost Hunt in the sense that it draws on shinto and other forms of Eastern occultism). The foremost question I have is whether this show will continue in a way where they encounter supernatural forces that span one to multi-episodes and then end OR will a sinister sleight of hand be revealed in some organization/some kind of final purpose. Random solving mystery shows are alright to an extent, but are much better if they progress to a overall unity at the end.

The eye patch aspect of the main character kind of made me scoff but as soon as it came off, Jun Fukuyama’s character Itsuki Iba became Lelouch Lamperouge in early Code Geass. His demon eye (D.Grayman anyone?) lets him instantaneously become a magical battle master tactician and he beats off commands to his subordinates like the genius Lelouch is, or of course Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell. He’s also a stereotypical character-who-seems-weak-on-the-outside but probably has a lot of power (Naru from Ghost Hunt). I don’t really love the character design as they are rather generic, sure not everything can look like Real Mayer from Ergo Proxy but I like a little bit of … well character.

Seiyuu appear well in this show with Shizuka Itou (Pumpkin Scissors, El Cazador) and Rie Kugimiya who is Kaguya from Gintama and of course Jun Fukuyama who’s voice REALLY shows when his eye patch comes off. *sigh*

The first episode did not have the opening song which is not surprising, as for the ending - it’s relatively pleasant. I’m not usually a listener of OPs and EDs unless they are extremely well done, so in that light, the ED is better than generic but not terribly great. I enjoyed the different characters, they are rather standard in an anime with a mixed group but with all the non-unique aspects of this show, one more isn’t going to matter. There’s a slight thing that drew my attention and it was the way they portrayed the supernatural forces. It’s hard to describe, but it’s more figurative than literal; there are no scaly horrid horned monsters here (yet).

All in all, although the show is far from unique it still has a certain appeal to it and I will probably watch at least 3 more episodes.

Tags: Anime Review, first impressions, rental magica

Category: Episode Synopsis

A. Papillon is not amused.