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.
