Zettai Karen Children

Mostly it appeals to many loli fans and who like magic or esper or any kind of thing. The plot is okay just needs to be a little bit remodeled overall it is pretty good to watch. The humor spent on this anime is actually very entertaining mostly goes with the whole faction of it being loli and appealing to grown ups.

The action is pretty okay though not so hardcore that drags up to like two episodes like other animes, but yet its a quick and straight to the point anime. It actually has a solid plot and well so far it is developing ... itself for the climax, straight to the point with entertainment.

Overall its an 8, for any loli fans who love the humor this is one of the must see anime.

A fairly enjoyable series which has either been watered down too much, or not enough.


Overall - 6/10

From the Animesuki thread, I read that the manga is more hardcore with blood and depth in comparison with the anime. While I have not read the source material, I can already sense in the anime that things have been watered down to an extent. This has all to do with the series airing at 10am on a Sunday. I feel things are still too hardcore (i.e. targeted at Japanese Otakus) with the constant perv/service/loli references, to be suitable for kids.

On the other hand, the general ... over-action of the BABEL boss, and the limiter de-activation scenes have certainly been created to make kids laugh and enjoy. While I thankfully do not know the tastes of a hardcore Japanese Otaku, I found my attention span dropping in the scenes that are meant for kids.

So where exactly does this series want itself to be placed?


Story - 7/10

The story follows the daily lives and missions of 3 children who are exposed to events that usually, only grown-ups can comprehend mentally. Thus the events, missions, conversations and the experiences that the Children face are crucial in influencing the way that these children grow as characters. It is known in the story that these Children have an almost equal chance of becoming "good" or "evil" when they grow up and I liked the latter episodes where the events may greatly influence their mindset.

The style is standalone episodes with quick action and conclusions, but they follow a logical and linear timeline and the way they made it so episodic, yet so continueous in a smooth manner is commendable. However, the time constraints per episode may have compromised depth.

The scene is where a government organisation called B.A.B.E.L is responsible for policing and looking after espers, with their objective to show the world that both espers and non-espers can peacefully co-exist. B.A.B.E.L. faces against both extremes, organisations that are determined to create a world ONLY for espers, and those who want a world without espers. This creates a Gundam SEED-esque mess which I like because both sides have very "human" reasons for their opinions and objectives. Such a setup also creates potential for depth and involvement. All in all, the story has a very solid foundation.

The series ends nicely, but with lots of loose ends that were left untied. It seems to be implied that a sequel is possible, which would justify the loose ends.


Art - 5/10

Being a 52 episode season, one couldn't expect spectacular art due to budget constraints and indeed, the art and animation are nothing spectacular. I found the art and animation to be of fairly average standard where nothing really stood out. Animation had jerky moments but it was far from "framelaggy" as in the case of You're Under Arrest - Full Throttle. The art does its job and is fairly consistent. To sum it up, it was good enough.


Sound - 6/10

The music and sounds are fairly repetitive and what can one expect from (supposedly) a kid's show? I found the BGM to be fairly convincing and I definately liked the music where the limiter was deactivated. However, not much else really caught my attention aside from...

...Over The Future, the first OP. The voices sound a little weird because it had been transposed up a minor third for the TV series - the full song has a lower pitch. This song definately caught the spirit of the series and I really love the feel-good feeling. I do question the use of *real* kids to sing this. While it gives them opportunity to shine into stardom (and what a solid performance in the MV), this show screams "Japanese Lolicon" at times and I feel there's a moral issue. The seiyuu's could actually sing this to an acceptable standard as heard on Youtube.

I found the voicing of the characters to be very good, with excellent performances from cast of The Children - Hirano Aya, Shiraishi Ryoko and Tomatsu Haruka, all who have provided great performances in the past.


Character - 6/10

After the initial 10 episodes or so, when The Children are tamed down enough to be sent to school, I feel there was limited character development, save for Kaoru being subtly manipulated. I felt that the episodes in the runup to the finale would have a real impact in defining Kaoru's future (and turning evil or not), which I throughly enjoyed.

We however get to know the backstories of the major characters which were definately interesting and links in well with their current behaviour.

If there is a second season, then I would feel that the limited development is justified, as Zettai Karen Children by its nature is a dragged out series.


Enjoyment - 7/10

I actually enjoyed this. The dumb things and the abuse of power that The Children can get up to is just entertaining, including whacking people into walls, when there was a lesser option that is just as effective. Watching the antics of moderately bad kids is definately funny. Of course, I also got a lot of enjoyment from the story.

However, I didn't really feel as involved (glued to the screen) as I could have done.

Before you start citing my review as "Not Helpful", read what it says in the asterisks. Thanks.

**Review Edited as of Episode 9**

Well, it's odd i haven't seen a review of Zettai Karen Children yet. Well anyways..

Story: - 8.2/10 (B-)
The story is about a trio of girls who have superpowers and save the world. Before you start accusing it of being like the Powerpuff Girls, i just gotta say this: The way they made it, it makes more sense than PPG. The first episode was hilarious, with Okami Muscle (Gay Muscle..? lol) just made me laugh in a good way. And Kaoru, man oh man she's ... hilarious. Acts like a perverted guy when it comes to boob sizes and weird fantasy stories. I really like this show already.

Animation: - 8.6/10 (B+)
The animation is really well made. With the entrance for the trio, and Muscle's er..flashy attack. Of course, i need to watch more to fully review it.

Sound: - 7.7/10 (C+)
It's not the BGM is awesome or crappy, sometimes it fits and sometimes it doesn't. But the Opening, "Over the Future" is at some parts, really well sung and some other parts, kinda annoying. Each break of the song, and the singer's voice is way high-pitched. Haven't heard the Ending yet though.

Characters: - 8/10 (B)
Well we have Aoi, Shiro, Kaoru and Kouichi so far including the members of B.A.B.E.L. So far, so good. Hopefully i get to see some new characters soon. Now that more and more characters

Enjoyment: - 8.6/10 (B+)
For now, i really like Zettai Karen Children. As someone who is easily turned away from fanservice, i thought that Zettai Karen Children would be just that, but i was wrong. I think everyone should watch this show.

Overall (Averaged): 8.4/10 (B)

I am sure everyone who has watched this Anime would agree with me. Minamoto is a really irritating idealist who keeps on admonishing Hyoubu, saying he is the bane of all normals and some stupid stuff like that. He doesn't even try to understand Hyoubu's point of view.

Hyoubu is the SIGMA of the series. Other PANDRA members fall under the ALPHA category. Minamoto is a beta for sure. The other BABEL members are gamma's.

I have never seen such a bland characterization for a protagonist(Self-Proclaimed) Minamoto, who always spews idealist stuff and blames everything on Hyoubu and PANDRA. He doesn't even know the dark ... side of humans which is shown constantly in the series.

The main antagonist, is what they say but the true protagonist of the series Hyoubu is the most unique and most awesome character to be ever made. He is funny, powerful, sarcastic, kind, caring. He is a whole package. But the idealist Minamoto who spews nonsense always trains his gun at Hyoubu,

I liked Minamoto at the beginning but he kinda does the same thing, Hyoubu would just be taking to Kaoru but Minamoto will arrive and be like, "don't go near him he is evil", after literally being saved by Hyoubu. In reality i liked Sakaki who had a unique character very much unlike Minamoto.

The Girls were cute and funny, but sometimes i just skipped the stuff they say since they are boring. The school parts were funny. Kaoru grows into an OK character but the initial episodes in which they appear, Kaoru behaving like a pervert, Shiho like a mature yet yandere type character both sucked very much. Aoi is a silent character which i enjoyed since she is humble and not a creep like the other two.

Some evil espers do some bad deed, but Minamoto being the tunnel visioned beta blames who? You have guessed it right : Hyoubu. Someone is hypnotized, someone is killed, someone is kidnapped : Hyoubu.
Someone is saved : BABEL. BABEL is the place where love beats power. Even in BABEL chief doesn't see the girls as girls but treasures. More like things that show the domination of their country. Good job BABEL. This is the propaganda they spread. Looking at it now, makes me laugh my ass off.

My only wish was Hyoubu to have been in all 52 episodes atleast for 10 mins per episode. He was so popular they made a spin-off with him as the protagonist. And it has much higher rating than the parent one. And also not seeing the spectacled beta everytime.

Everyone constantly berates Hyoubu to be a Lolicon, but Hyoubu only cares about the happiness of the Espers especially Kaoru's and their safety, but in reality the Chief, Minamoto, Tanizaki are the real Lolicons, all are from BABEL by the way.
I really get pissed off at Minamoto when he says Hyoubu to be a Lolicon when he constantly have these blushing shitty moments with the girls. "Think back on what you said about Hyoubu you beta", is what I want to tell to Minamoto.

Sorry for the long review but I just wanted to make sure everyone knows about "The beta, who keeps berating the SIGMA, just to be saved by him again and again and again." This actually sums up review.
"SIGMA rules."

Let's start with my favorite parts of the show: The main Antagonist

Kyosuke for me is interesting, he's cool, he's likable, he's funny, and I have never wanted to join the villains organization more than I want to join PANDRA, Even the members are awesome.

Then there are the main characters in BABEL, now if I wasn't going to join PANDRA, and I was an Esper(#Esper_master_race), I would join BABEL maybe. That's because while I like most of the characters in BABEL, most of them should be fired or sent to prison. The chief is the the absolute worst character in the show, he wastes resources ... and harasses 10 year olds. Then there's Sakaki, who while actually being a very likable, would be arrested for some of the things he does in the office. Then Supervisor Tanizaki, who was extremely creepy in episode 4, Tanizaki is the other worst character in the show.

Then there's Director Fujiko, whose introduction could be edited out and it would change nothing, including her ability to drain other characters energy with physical touch, which was used in a pointless minute long seen that could be removed and change nothing. I actually do like Fujiko in some cases, but the first few episodes she's in are mediocre and in the grand scheme of things, pointless.

Next let's talk about my one of my favorite characters in the, Naomi! 2 out of her three episodes in the show were amazing, and they all have the same premise, Tanizaki(the creepy guy) is worried about her, and our main characters spy on her to figure out what's really going on. Other than episode 4, these episodes are really good.

Next let's talk about the main characters, Kaoru Akashi, Aoi Nogami, Shiho sannomiya, and Koichi Minamoto. These characters are really good, most of the time. The girls constant jealousy or attacks against Minamoto get annoying after a while. Minamoto himself, if you look had him individually, he is very bland. The girls themselves are likable in their individual characters are very likable, especially Kaoru, who has to be since she is probably the most important character in The Children. Aoi is cute, but annoying at times, and Shiho doesn't really have a lot to her in terms of character in the beginning, but gets better as time goes on.

There are also some some other characters who I really like, but we don't have time, we should move on to other parts. Let's talk about the music. I really love the music, even though I didn't like either of the opening themes at first but I grew to love opening 1, and like opening 2. I love all the endings, especially ending 3, I usually like female singers more than males, but I love the singing voice of Kouji Yusa(Hyoubu Kyousuke).

Next let's talk about the animation. The animation while outdated, looks really good to me. There is one episode in collection 3 when they have a really fast paced fight scene and they sacrifice a lot of detail fr the movement is what it feels like. There are also episodes that have good artistic direction, and bad artistic direction, where for some reason they make the screen sideways, like it's meant for some kind of Fanservice, but really just makes you dizzy.

Let's talk about the story, which the anime doesn't actually get to the main plot of the entire series till the end of collection 2. Now I'm not going to go too deep on spoilers, but there was a prediction of the future, and a select few characters are trying to prevent it in different ways, and realistically you know that it's going to happen because that would be anticlimactic. I like a lot of the events in the show that I personally like and though I really wish there was more of this show, because I really like a lot of the characters.

The ending we're given is serviceable, even though the manga is actually still continuing today. I really think that in few years we should get a remake that goes all the way to the more resent manga chapters, which in 2018 or 2019 the manga might be over. Now they could probably just remake the the whole series because not a lot of people have seen it, considering you can't really stream it anywhere legally, but I will say this show is worth buying, I rewatched several episodes in the show, but I would say that they should cut out some stuff in order to broaden its audience.

Like they could sensor a lot of the loli stuff, and though I'm kind of against the idea, they could do an FMAB and have a filler that tries to introduce us to the characters and stuff in order to skip some of the other stuff, I'm against the idea though, because you'd probably miss out on many amazing moments and a few hilarious moments too, but I would understand trying to get to when they're in middle school as fast as possible though.

I give this show my fullest recommendations to watch by any means necissary. I'd also like to have to possible remake to be licensed by funimation, becaused while they could never be as good as this Japanese cast, I would like it to be dubbed. The show is licensed by sentai filmworks and does not have a dub. It's also cheap to buy, which is another reason to buy it. I only spent 100 dollars on these four collection, and 25 on the spin off, The unlimted Hyobu Kyosuke. This show is known as Psychic squad on disc release

Currently this will be the 1st draft of this review. (I will make a better one after my Exam)

[Even though I gave it low grade, it comes from how hard I grade it and maybe it'll be bump up 1-2 points if graded by others]

To say it simple for simple understanding for simple people: Magical Girl

This show was really based on magical girls who were called ESPer instead and the main character of this show are the three Level 7 (highest level) children esper who luckily found someone who accepted them.

Story: (7/10)
I must say Zettai Karen Children really gives me high expectation at first sight. ... The story was about Esper, as known as people who have abnormal powers (e.g. psykic, mind reading, teleportation), which was obvious that they'll be hate by normal people. That's really the strongest part of this story; is how to lead normal people and Espers to live together. However, this story doesn't allow that to happen easily and the obstacle called "Normals" who hate esper and "PANDRA", espers who hate normal. The story level ups when we knew that the people who are holding the future were 3 Esper children (Kaoru, Shiho, Aoi) . That part is what I like about the story, children, who were the future for us adults. We are leaving the future in their hands either for them to be good or evil and saving the world or destroy the world is up to their choice. Then we had this 20-years-old guy name Minamoto, who was the key to those 3 children future and the future of the world.
The story will become fabulous if the main theme of "co-opporation" (since this story wants normal and abnormals to be together). Howeve, maybe due to the extremely long series (52 episode) the story does have some "not relevant" (extremely out of the blue) kind of episodes that doesn't makes sense. Thus, pulling it down from a 9 to an 8.

Art: (6/10)

We cannot expect much from art when they have 52 episodes to do, however, they still meet my expectation as albe to watch. There are no rag-doll and people move normally (well, most of them). However, their background sometimes totally fail and that also concludes to their characters. For conclusion their art was their weak point in this show. (No shining point at all)

Sound: (6/10)

Their sounds are good, but just barely good and not anything better. Their OP and ED are consider as above average (for only 2 OP and 1 ED) but still not good enough to make people remember it and want to listen to it again. Thus, pushing it down one grade from 10 to 9. Then sometimes they lack sounds at places where there should be sound effect there (even though most of the sound effect were heard and was good) and push it down to an 8. Finally is the character voice acting, as expected from high level voice actor (e.g. Aya Hirano) their sounds were very good, but when thinking "They're currently acting as a 10-year old kids" some part are not realistic enough to be 10 years old. Overall, their sounds made above average effect on the viewer.

Character: (7/10)

We did see a hell lot of interesting characters in the story. For Example, a guy name Muscle Okama (Muscle friends) who are gay and shoots laser beam from...ahem...that thing. The three main character have their character development from brats (sorry for rude words) who were spoiled to nice kids who were self-sufficient (a little). However, they do develop at some parts without any information leaving the viewers to questioning about when did they stop doing "....". The character did develop, but not to their critical yet and thus (also leaving the question of are they bad or good) only develop from brats to kids, but not to good children. They did show them at adult around 18 maybe. Next is balancement, main character were well balance with 3+1 however, the minor character just kept increasing and some are used only once and forgotten. If they can manage their character more (if they create a second season) then they'll earn more points.

Enjoyment: (7/10)

I can't believe myself that I'm saying this but I do enjoy this show to the level of watching it every 2 weeks after some episodes came out. Their series have loads of parody from many other animes (e.g. like Hayate no Gotoku) and some parody were clearly shown and not being the background image (e.g. Imitating of Death Note). However, they lack the timing of using their parody (the clearly shown one) and some ruined the moods of watching totally. Next was I enjoyed seeing how the children (girls) react to their supervisor (man) and also like seeing him get into many troubles ( funny, scary, gay-ish, almost dead). What really makes me annoyed the most was their acting like those Magical Girl series (ones where their transformation took the whole 1-4 minutes) and how some actions doesn't make sense. Overall I still see it as Enjoyable, but not to the extreme rate.

Overall: (7/10)

It is a show with a really interesting topic to do with. However how they express it from the anime wasn't sastified and I can't really give them anything more than 7 (Actually it should be a 6 but I gave them one more for interesting topic).
My suggestion is that if you're those kind of loli's, parody and comedy lover it isn't a bad anime to try.

Zettai Karen Children is a shounen action-comedy focused on a government organization called BABEL tasked with serving as mediators in hostilities between espers and humans. Among the organization and main focus of the series are a trio of powerful esper 10-year old girls called "The Children" who are chaperoned by Koichi Minamoto. The series explores the developing bond that occurs with Minamoto and The Children, as well as the group and BABEL coming at odds with several enemy organizations who have differing views on the future that espers can bring to humans to the world.

Zettai Karen mixes around comedic and serious moments in exploring its ... world and characters. The comedy mostly comes in the form of parody and the eccentric quirks of the cast. It makes nods at points to other anime titles and pokes fun of elements to sentai shows with the over-the-top introductions, commands and attack names being called from BABEL and other espers. The series also milks the eccentric quirks of the characters for its humor at many points such as Kaoru's perversion for attractive women, Muscle Okama's stereotypical gay character and Ichiro's lusting for partner Naomi. Many of these comical bits left me feeling rather indifferent or feeling some of the quirks were on the obnoxious side, particularly anything involving perversion of the characters being shown or teased. Still, there was some stuff that got me giddy such as series anti-hero Hyobu Kyosuke trolling Koichi for his personal amusement and an episode that parodies Death Note.

The series also has its serious developments in exploring the hostilities between espers and humans. In spite of his trolling, Kyosuke's character is fleshed out to explore a rather tragic back story that led to his mentality to become a Magneto-like figure in trying to aid espers and prepare for a possible war between his kind and humans. The pasts of the Children are also explored with how they became part of BABEL and their complicated pasts with their family members. The positions of organizations and individuals on esper abilities and how those with such power utilize it are also focused on at points throughout the series. While the series is comedy-driven throughout a good chunk of its first half, it does come to gradually tone down on its humor as hints to a possible dark future for Kaoru and the presence of another enemy organization rear their head in the second half.

Still, the series lacks a proper ending as the mentioned enemy organizations are still at large and things with Kaoru's future are left uncertain. Plus like a good number of action titles of its kind, Zettai Karen Children still dabbles fairly heavily in cliches typical of shounen anime with a number of adult characters behaving childishly for their age, many characters within the series filling certain archetypes and a good amount of black-and-white morality being milked in regards to some of the enemy organizations.

Overall, I suppose my thoughts on Zettai Karen Children are a bit mixed. I liked what it explored with its esper premise when things got serious and some of the humor to it did get me laughing, especially with moments where Hyobu was behaving like a troll. However, a good chunk of the show's humor did not really appeal to me and it still dabbles fairly heavily into the typical cliches and character types that one would find with a shounen title. I guess like the majority of titles aimed at the demographic, the series is best worth checking out if you're fairly new to the cliches offered for action-comedies geared toward younger male fans.

I'm rating this story based on what I have only watch. I dropped this midway. Not a fan.

Story: 7/10
I find the story typical almost cliche from all the anime I've watched already. the difference though was how it was presented. And of course ESP plus anime is always ALWAYS fun to watch.

Animation: - 6.5/10
I've seen better, well done animation.

Sound: - 6/10 (C+)
Not as catchy as hope it was.
...
Characters: - 6/10
Typical three main characters, almost those magical girls genre anime (Sailor Moon and the likes). Almost borderline to harem, which I don't like too much. Typical naive powerful female lead and the other two as mere support. Reminds me of Magic Knight Rayearth, but the MKR was done, plotwise and animation, better. Now Kyousuke's a different thing. The main antagonist of the story. The reason probably, I find this story's sequel much much likeable since he was the main lead.

Enjoyment: - 5 /10
I was able to watch until mid, even though I'm developing wrinkles as the story progresses. The most I enjoy here was the villain. Most of the time, I'm cheering for him.

Overall (Averaged): 6/10
Without the main villain, I would've rate this 4. I'm probably not suited watching stories like this.