St. Luminous Mission High School

[DB]

I viewed all 13 episodes, which is the entire series.

Here's an odd one that's been around a while but almost no one knows about. Saint Luminous is an unusual work. We open up with Kishima Kaihei, a young lad who's somewhere between 16-18. He's undergoing something of an interesting event in his life. It seems after his grandfatehr died, Kaihei inherited the position of Chairman of a prestigous all girls liberal arts oriented high school. He's even taken his best friend, Ryuu Tanami with him, though in order to attend, Ryuu's going to have to go undercover as one of the girls. The story opens on the first day of Kaihei's arrival.

While it sounds like the foundation of a hentai or fanservice oriented anime, it's not in the slightest. On the contrary, when Kaihei arrives, he sees a girl in a St. Lum uniform running in a mist. He tries to follow her, only to have the girl run until she seems to disappear before his eyes. Upon arriving at the school, Kaihei learns the girl disappeared early that morning... from a closed shower with someone within a handful of feet of her. This turns out to be the start of a trend, as other girls begin disappearing one by one as well, from such areas as locked rooms, swimming pools, and other impossible ways. It's up to Kaihei to figure out what's going on.

It's a mystery series, except it's more creepy than mysterious. You know something supernatural is going on by the second ep as the next girl to disappear literally fades from sight in the middle of a swimming pool. No, you're not really expected to solve this early on. Instead it almost has a dating sim feel as individual girls are focused on in each episode, frequently with them disappearing at the end (though not always). It's all about characterizations more than anything else, and what makes the individual girls click, as well as a slow unfolding of the mystery of why they're disappearing.

You'll be relieved to know there's barely any romance, and even then it's relegated to the background. One of the girls develops an understated crush on the crossdresser, and one of the girls was a childhood friend of Kaihei's that's interested in him, but shy glances are about all the interest shown by her. Oh, most of the girls dwelled upon obviously look upon Kaihei in a good light, but they are isolated in the middle of a rural area with no guys their age around on the grounds (there are reference to girls sneaking out at night to meet guys, showing hormones do exist) and usually the girls in question have had a brush with breaking the rules, and Kaihei is in a position to help them, but this is no Love Hina by any stretch of the imagination.

The real key to this series is a fairly creepy feeling in the early parts as the girls disappear and Kaihei can't do a thing to stop it. It's only a slow progression of events that begin to unravel the mystery and explain what's going on.

Kaihei himself is fairly understated. He's in a position he has no experience in, and frequently butts heads with one of the more strict teachers and her feelings on how the school should be run, but he's really very quiet and non-confrontational. He's more concerned with trying to stop the disappearences than anything else, though the writers use him as a contrivance to understand each of the girls that the individual episodes center on as well.

My feelings regarding him as a male lead was that he was actually dealt with fairly well. He's not required to do anything exceptional (aside from trying to figure out what's going on), he doesn't do anything stupid, and only tries acting on the information he has on hand (which isn't much). his personality is passive, and he can get pushed around a bit, but it's never very far, and fits the character. He's basically a quiet nice guy trying to help out as best as he can.

His best friend Ryuu gets a bit of development, going from something of a horndog to actually becoming a more understanding fellow when it comes to women over time, since he's always hanging around them and comes to understand to a degree how they think. He also acts as the muscle for Kaihei in the few instances its needed.

There are various girls in the series as well, too many, truth be told. Usually one disappears, another pops up to take her place in the development cycle. The characters tend to be a touch cliche (nerdy bookworm, vibrant surfer girl, pensive painter) but it works, given the nature of the series. The girls are shown to exist in groups away from Kaihei. There's the painter and the sidekick she picks up. The head of the radio club and the group of underclassman that help her, a muscian who's a little addled, and some of her friends. So Kaihei isn't in every scene, even if he is the star,

The middle of the series, about ep 6-8 or so, does tend to drag as the clues parceled out are slow, and things take on a touch of a repetitive pace, but by ep 9 they start to resolve things and explain what's going on and move the story forward.

There'a definitive end to it which wraps things up farily effectively. A breath of fresh air compared to some series. There's not going to be a sequal to this one, nor should there be. It was satisfactory to me, and in relation to the events going on in the series.

Animation is basic. I'd wager the budget was somewhat limited, though it's better than Psychic Academy. Music was mood setting, but nothing great. Interestingly, there is no 'opening song' just a brief theme as they go right into the things with the start of the episode.

In summation, the creepy atmosphere and fact this was wisely only 13 eps worked for me. There's an understated tone to the series, giving it an easy rather than manic feeling, and only the very middle of the series dragged for me. They probably could have down with a touch more tension, or increased the creepiness factor, but what's there was enjoyable. My recommendation is to give the first 3-4 eps a try and see if it works for you. If it hasn't caught you attention by the 4th ep, it's not going to. However, if you're in the mood for something different, give it a try. You might find it has a nice flavor. It won't make you feel as though you can look on the world in a new light, but it's a fun way to kill a few braincells.

I give it a 5 out of 10. It would have been 6, save there's no rewatchability factor to it.

[Prince Herb]

Actually, I quite liked this series, and think it deserves a little better than 5/10.   It reminded me quite strongly of an entire genre of British TV Fantasy/SF/Horror series for kids from the 1970s made on a shoestring budget, but that still had a certain element of that quintessential air of the unknown about them.   Series like, oh, "Children of the stones", for example, with its combination of cut-down Lovecraftian serpent people and Neolithic mystery.

I give it 6/10 myself, but perhaps only for British viewers of a certain age and nostalgic temperament.