Yes, yes, I do go on and on about how unripened fruit can be sweet, delicious, and flat-chested, but if my fascination with Mikuru is any indication, I do in fact like breasts of all sizes.
The Zettai Karen Children calendar I purchased for this year has been treating me well, but the image that’ll be gracing it for the next two months is especially noteworthy.
Breasts are fine, too.
I actually finished up Zettai Karen Children raw about three months ago on the flight over here to Japan, watched the sub about two months later, and am only getting around to writing about the show now. Yeah, it’s been busy.
However, I feel Zettai Karen Children is worth me taking about an hour or so of my free time to impart to you, the reader, how much of a fun, charming and crazy children’s cartoon Zettai Karen Children is.
Zettai Karen Children was originally a manga by Shiina Takahashi, with the anime version by Kawaguchi Keiichiro and the rest of the cool dudes down at Synergy SP. In other words, the dream team that made the better season of Hayate no Gotoku! The story takes place in a world where people who can use ESP–Espers–are common place. Our main characters three young esper girls, Akashi Kaoru, Nagomi Aoi and Sannomiya Shiho who are special, super powerful espers. Codenamed “The Children”, they do work for Babel, which is an organization of specially trained espers who fight crime around the world. Minamoto Koichi is the man in charge of these three espers, but he also functions as their surrogate father by looking after the girls’ day-to-day life, and even living with them. While episodes tend to be stand alone, the main plot focuses around Babel’s battle with P.A.N.D.R.A–a faction of espers who believe that they are superior to “normals”–people without special ablities–, and wish for a world in which only espers exist.
Zettai Karen Children didn’t really grab me with its initial episode, but I came to really like it as the weeks went by. The series from the get-go is kind of off-putting right down its more-’90s-than-’90s character designs, but once you give it a few episodes, it develops into a very fun show. As mentioned earlier, each episode is pretty stand alone, and the general routine goes something like this–something happens, be it a crime, a disaster, or just an accident; Babel is called, and somehow the problem gets resolved. There are however other more mellow episodes which focus around the girls’ school life, as well as the episodes that focus around secondary characters. The show is rather lengthy–52 episodes–so it has a lot of breathing room.
What makes the show good is just how well-written and entertaining each of the individual stories are. Each and every episode is simply very solidly written, and is complemented by very rapid-fire, fast moving direction that isn’t annoyingly crazy, but just crazy enough. The show is rather comedy-centric, with gags ranging from jokes based around character quirks, to full on parodies of shows you should have watched, but probably haven’t. It certainly does carry the parody show vibe of the first Hayate season (in fact, Hayate characters often make cameos), while at the same time delivering an entertaining plot episode after episode.
However, Zettai Karen Children addresses some serious issues. Sure, they’re presented in a very heavy-handed, kids show manner, but the fact that such ideas are even being presented to such an audience puts Zettai Karen Children a touch above your usual kids show. The issue of prejudice is a big one–espers aren’t normal people. They’re often separated from the rest of normal society, and there are even groups of people who actively display their hate for espers violently. There are often times scenes where our young, 10-year-old heroines confront this harsh reality, and try their best to just deal with it. Another rather mature-for-a-kids-show part of Zettai Karen Children is that P.A.N.D.R.A aren’t really portrayed as such bad guys. Much like Big Fire in Giant Robo, P.A.N.D.R.A doesn’t do what it does just to be evil–they’re simply fighting for their own idea of justice. The members of P.A.N.D.R.A are all fleshed out well enough so that you can really understand where they’re coming from. Especially their leader, Hyoubu Kyousuke. The rest of the issues the show addresses are kids show things like believing in yourself, but if you’re not a totally broken and cynical shell of a man, I still think such messages can be appreciated by adults.
Characters are the big thing that carry this show–all of them are painted with their own unique brand of insanity, but at the same time have multiple sides to them. The main characters, Kaoru, Aoi, and Shiho are of course very memorable for how adorably bratty they can be, but the show also has a rather strong set of side characters such as Umegae Naomi and her supervisor Tanizaki Ichiro, who has an unhealthy obsession with his subordinate, and always ends up with his face flat on concrete. Another amusing pair is “The Chief” and Kashiwagi Oboro, the former of which dotes on The Children like an overprotective parent, while the later has a sweet face, but a cold as ice interior. There’s also the hilariously perverted Dr. Sakaki, as well as the cheery welcome desk girls Tokiwa Natsuko and Nokawi Hotaru. Due to the show’s 52 episode length, all of the characters get a chance to shine.
The animation by Synergy SP is fine considering the length of the show–episodes never look especially terrible, and when they look good, they really look good. One note about the show’s visuals that I already mentioned is the character designs–they’re rather ’90s-styled, and will probably turn fans of more modern design work away. I will admit that they struck me as a bit odd as first, but I quickly came to love them. The only real problem with the character designs is that because they’re so detailed, some of the not-as-stellar looking episodes can kind of turn into slide shows–awesomely directed slide shows, mind you, but slide shows all the same.
Nakagawa Kotarou–one half of the musical talent behind Code Geass–provides a very swing, and at times big band inspired musical score that pays homage to 1970s spy movies for the show. Strangely enough, it complements everything perfectly. There are two opening themes–Over The Future, and My Wings, both by a group of young girls called Karen Girl’s, who made their debut with this show. There are four ending themes, and they’re all fun songs by the seiyuu.
Zettai Karen Children is simply a great time. While it is a kids show, it’s one of those kids shows that can appeal to adults, and clearly has certain portions aimed directly at adults. The jokes are all really good, the main story is rather interesting–even if it is unresolved by the end–and everything is presented in a solid, good looking, 52 episode package. While it may be something of an undertaking, I do recommend picking it up, even if you just want to watch it weekly. You’ll have fun with, I promise.
Casshern Sins: I’m actually starting to enjoy it as it nears the end. Kind of feels pointless, though.
Clannad ~After Story~: It’s kind of gotten to the point where I really don’t care, but it’s not that bad. Still very pretty.
Jigoku Shoujo Mistuganae: Episodes alternate between being very good twists on the normal formula, to very… weird. It’s really troubling when the first half of an episode is really happy, because you just know things are going to go south. They’ve been laying off of the damning to hell sequences as of late, which is good.
Kurogane no Linebarrels: My disposable guilty pleasure show. I watch this for the soap opera youth drama, as well as the tits. When the animation gets crappy, it doesn’t really matter because the style is already pretty quick and dirty.
Maria†Holic: While not the best SHAFTXSHINBO combo, I’m starting to find this entry into the team’s resumé to be quite entertaining. The girls don’t really have any moé charms, but I find them rather beautiful.
Michiko and Hatchin: This show continues to be of fairly high quality, but would really shine if Watanabe was actually on direction. The episodes have been getting a bit weak, but still good.
Minami-ke Okaeri: Better than Okawari, but still falls short of the original. If I ever get around to re-watching Minami-ke, I’ll probably just stick to season 1. You did well asread, but not well enough!!
Shikabane Hime: Kuro: For some reason this show is becoming really cheap looking, but I still enjoy it. I hope it ends strongly.
Sora Kake Girl: I’m tempted to label this as my favourite of the season. It’s a wonderful combination of fanservice, science fiction antics, and well-realized moé characters. I smell some fanart coming on.
Sora Wo Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai: Since this is only going to be nine episodes (according to MyAnimeList), I guess KyoAni only has to animate one or two new episodes. Or maybe they can stretch the last OVA all the way to episode 9. Who knows. I like it.
To Aru Majutsu no Kinsho Mokuroku: If I put my desire for more Index screentime aside, this has become a pretty decent collection of SF/fantasy centered stories. With some pacing issues, of course, but it’s developed into a pretty good show.
Toradora!: This show is rare case. I think it’s quite good, but I’m not moé towards any of the characters. It slipped up a bit after episode 16, but it’s gotten back on track. It’s pretty good, but I don’t think it’s really worthy of BEST SHOW OF THE YEAR or anything like that.
Tytania: The writing in this show is ever so cheesy, but I love it. It has the Death Note/Code Geass appeal, in which I actually watch it for the ridiculous plot as opposed to other things like character interaction. The characters are quite crap, I think, except for the moé princess and Fan Hyulick.
Zettai Karen Children: It’s ending so soon? Say it ain’t so! I want a second season! A third, even! This could run for 200+ episodes and I’d be totally cool with that.
Kind of started on my 30 disc DVD backlog, and am half-way through a Shuffle! disc. Hoping to burn through my Shuffle! and Air discs before I head off to Japan. I’ll probably bring Gao Gai Gar and Nanoha along with me to Japan.
Meanwhile, at Synergy SP…
“Man, we haven’t done a Death Note parody yet.”
“But I guess we need some cute shots to balance all this stuff out”
“Oh shit, we haven’t had an R. Lee Ermey cameo yet! Fix that shit, dude!”
Every Zettai Karen Children episode is amazing, but this one takes the cake.
The opening was sung by THE CHILDREN this time around, and the ending was 絶対love×love宣言!! sung by 可憐Girl’s. It was nice to see that ending animation again.
Lack of blog posts is due to a lack of motivation on my part. I have some ideas, just no drive to put them to digital paper. I’m also busy with some other things, like printing and mailing out doujin orders.
Though, I think they just asked the artist to draw a “koku-jin” and leave it at that. I mean, I guess it does look like him if he let himself go.
Once I make it through my digital backlog (which is composed mainly of 16:9 Clannad ~After Story~ episodes) I’ll start digging into my DVD backlog by finally tackeling these Shuffle! DVDs, and these Air DVDs that I got well over seven months ago. Then I guess I’ll watch Gao Gai Gar or Nanoha.
With both the years 2007 and 2008 behind us, it’s time to look ahead to the glorious year of 2009! Well, not really, but there are a number of shows that have come out of 2008 incomplete, so here’s a rundown of the ones I’m watching.
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