Synopsis

Several years into the future psychic powers have started appearing throughout the world at a level of abundance and power that rivals stories like the X-Men. Research into these powers has become split between the apparently world governments sanctioned Aura Development Center, and other more private schools such as Japan's National Psychic Academy. Enter Ai Shiomi, little brother to Zerodyme, savior of the world who has been identified with extraordinary potential and has been transfered to the National Psychic Academy to help him realize it.

Review

Psychic Academy took me by surprise when I actually picked it up and READ it. Originally I took it to be another Tenchi Muyo, another Maburaho, another Love Hina, another Girls Bravo...just another sorry sack of shit harem story with a faceless cypher of a main character...honestly those sorry sacks of shit should just have their eyes erased...it would be more truthful. Anyway, I recall picking up this title after watching the guy next to me at the fanboy store out here picking it up and laughing every three seconds as I was browsing. I figured there was no way that THIS could be that funny.

Well, after reading through the first one, and barely standing up straight the entire time, I grabbed the 3 or 4 that were out at the time and took them home with me to browse at my leisure.

The story of this manga is one of the more interesting I've seen in awhile. Admittedly the powers that all the children and many of the adults weild are a focal point of this manga, and the reason for many of the happenings that go on, but the true driving force of this manga is the love triangle between Ai Shiomi, his childhood friend Orina (also called Sahra), and the girl who shares a 100% aura compatibility with him, Mew. And it's not a love triangle in that both are trying to get the boy or something of that nature; it's more that the three are trying to reach some sort of equilibrium with each other, though they are confusing what's happening with your typical love triangle.

This is part of what made the manga so appealing to me, there were no giant declarations of, "I shall not lose!" or people getting knocked into the stratosphere, these were three sixteen year olds, who'd just been thrust into an extraordinary circumstance, and it would be up to them to decide how to deal with it.

The problem is that there WERE other things going on, and they WERE going to intrude upon these children's quest for balance. One of the themes is how the normal people and the powered tend to get along...this is very much in the vein of X-men, but it also segues into how the powered deal with the fact they aren't normal, which is an entire storyline within the manga. Also, while Japan's National Psychic Institute sought a balance between the powered and the non powered, and to use their powers for the benefit of all, the Aura Development Center had been experimenting on the powered, cracking their 'aura codes' in an attempt to control and regulate this new state of evolution. And it's not just human evolution either, it's the evolution of the whole world, which is also another theme of the series.

The humor of this series is well worth the price of admission, though it tends to slack off towards the end as things start to come to a head with the two opposing schools of thought concerning aura development. Still there are a few things that persist. It also helps that the localization of some of the characters were actually more entertaining than a straight out Translation. Often when they localize something to the extent they do with one character in particular, such as Ai Shiomi's master, the bunny Master Boo (yes, he's an actual rabbit), it has something to do with their accents, such as Osaka's from Azumanga Daioh. Master Boo is given a sort of hackneyed country and western southern United States dialect with all the weird quotes that go along with it. I usually don't like it when they localize things too much, but in this case, it added quite a bit to the character of Master Boo...he practically makes the book at times.

The art style has all the girls having overly generous proportions. I mean it, each and every one of the girls would have a guy's hands twitching every single moment of every day around them. I'm sure it could probably be explained away with how the powers they have overcharge their bodies, but it may be just the artists style...though he is also the artist of the Escaflowne manga; and I seem to recall a few of those girls weren't nearly as busty as what's shown here. Details otherwise are pretty good; and you get several really good shots of said girls nearly nude, but only once do you get to see everything without something strategically covering it up, heh.

As I was saying before though, the real driving force is the love triangle between Ai, Mew, and Orina.

I have to admit, Ai Shiomi is one of the few likable male protagonists of recent memory. Typically current anime males have often been complete and total losers of one sort or another. This one he starts out rather depressed and feeling quite a bit out of his league, but as he starts to grow and gain confidence, both with his abilities and with his relationship with both Orina and Mew you see this reflected in his actions in the book itself. To be honest, he does have a lot to be discouraged about. His brother is an RPG type hero, a slayer of the evil overlord; his best friend is more powerful and advanced than he is, not to mention he hasn't seen her in years; and he hasn't exhibited any power to date. He changes and grows as an individual...heh, at the end he's even a bit Magneto-ish, but that's to be expected after what happens to him.

Orina is, as one of my fellows put it, glorious. In many ways she is the typical childhood friend type character that the harem anime male is supposed to 'favor,' and at the same time, she is something completely different. In an RPG she'd certainly be the main character's love interest...she's a cleric. A healer, and it's in her power to heal some seriously massive injuries. It's never explicitly stated, but I also think she may be somewhat empathic; in any case she's certainly loving in many ways...and what she loves, she loves passionately, both Ai...and Mew too; which is something Mew doesn't understand at all at first...though eventually I believe she realizes the full extent of it.

Mew is damn near a withdrawn goth type girl. She's also one of the most powerful of the children at the National Psychic Institute; quite a bit more powerful than Ai Shiomi for almost the entirety of the series. To get off track for a moment, this has to be the first time that I've ever seen a series where the main character remains one of the weakest offensively 'til the very end of the series; he had a good defense, but without Mew, his offense was nearly nonexistent. To get back on track, Mew is the kind of girl who sings out the need to be hugged, and Ai...the one she's in tune with, often gives her just that. Her growth is also most interesting; with Ai and Orina often just showing her the love she had been so long denied, she slowly comes out of her shell. In many ways, she and Ai are two halves of the same person; and for Orina to love one, she would have had to love the other. I'd still like to see this aspect explored, as much as possible, in some sort of follow up; but given the nature of the ending of the manga, I'm not sure the author will.

These are the three main focal points of the series; but there are other interesting people there too, such as Fafa and her brother, Ren, who is quite literally living in her heart. Also Zerodyme, the conquerer of the evil overlord, and the teacher with a seriously bad taste in ties and a penchant for being an overly protective and affectionate big brother. There are no shortage of interesting and well rounded side characters that are truly value added.

And as for the villains, I have to admit, Mew's father had to be based on Gendo Ikari in every way, and Guyrozo...well, it's too bad he had no real idea what it was he was truly doing until the very end. They too are well put together, but honestly with Mew's father, I got the distinct impression the author really wanted to say what a bastard Gendo Ikari really was, and this was his way of kicking Ikari's ass...which I can understand.

Overall, buy this book, steal this book, just GET this book. It's that good.

And as for the anime, don't even bother trying to watch that. They took this cool story, and I guess the director and/or writer wished he could have made something this cool, because he changed all sorts of little things which totally changed several deeper meanings of what the manga's story portrayed, thus destroying what made the manga so good to begin with. Also, the episodes are 13 minutes long, 5 minutes of which are taken up by the beginning and ending. The anime is a complete and total waste of time. Just ignore it, and check out the far superior manga...maybe one day they'll animate it right.