Zettai Karen Children
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Zettai Karen Children | |
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 Zettai Karen Children manga volume 1. |
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| 絶対可憐チルドレン (Zettai Karen Chirudoren) |
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| Genre | Action, Comedy |
| Manga | |
| Author | Takashi Shiina |
| Publisher |  Shogakukan |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Serialized in | Shōnen Sunday |
| Original run | 2005 – ongoing |
| Volumes | 12 |
| TV anime | |
| Director | Satoru Nishizono |
| Studio | SynergySP |
| Network | TV Tokyo, AN-X |
| Original run | April 6, 2008 – ongoing |
| Episodes | 52 |
Zettai Karen Children (絶対可憐チルドレン? lit. Absolutely Lovely Children) is a Japanese shōnen manga by Takashi Shiina. The manga started serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine Shōnen Sunday in 2005. An anime series began on April 6, 2008 and is scheduled to run for fifty-two episodes. Shiina developed the series out of a short story he had written in a special issues of Shōnen Sunday. The series was essentially the same, except for the fact that Kōichi Minamoto was named "Hikaru Minamoto", and he also had psychic powers.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
In the future, people with ESP are becoming more widespread. The Japanese government has taken in three of the most powerful espers in Japan known as "The Children" to work for B.A.B.E.L. (Base of Backing ESP Laboratory), but all three are ten year old girls with questionable attitudes.
[edit] Characters
[edit] B.A.B.E.L.
[edit] The Children
- Kaoru Akashi (明石 薫 Akashi Kaoru?)
- Voiced by: Aya Hirano
- A ten-year-old Level 7 psychokinetic (the maximum ESPer potency designation), Kaoru is the reckless and zealous member of "The Children" Special Esper Team alongside Shiho and Aoi. When she is introduced, Kaoru is seen reading a magazine that is the Japanee equivalent of Playboy and behaves in somewhat of a cavalier manner, much to the annoyed dismay of her adult superiors. When confronted by an adult for not taking a mission seriously or ignoring a directive about a behavior, Kaoru gets angry and telekinetically shoves the offending adult away (often clear across the room, no less). An item of interest to note is that Kaoru's powers are capable of going berserk under certain extreme circumstances (such as if Minamoto is in mortal danger from hostile criminal espers or from armed anti-esper human beings) and have been demonstrated to defy (and eventually destroy) a fully powered-up ESP Counter Measure generator.
- Aoi Nogami (野上 葵 Nogami Aoi?)
- Voiced by: Ryōko Shiraishi
- A ten-year-old esper with Level 7 teleportation capability, Aoi is the rational member of "The Children" Special Esper Team alongside Kaoru and Shiho that likes playing video games in her spare time. Like her teammates, Aoi is introduced as behaving in a somewhat cavalier manner that annoys her adult superiors. A guess as to the mischief that Aoi is likely to get into is not being where she is expected to be (i.e. asking her to wait outside of a store and then turning to find her gone). An item of interest to note is that Aoi tends to use the honorific -han instead of -san.
- Shiho Sannomiya (三宮 紫穂 Sannomiya Shiho?)
- Voiced by: Haruka Tomatsu
- A ten-year-old esper with Level 7 psychometry, Shiho is the sarcastic and sharp-tongued member of "The Children" Special Esper Team alongside Kaoru and Aoi. While not adhering to any one leisure activity, Shiho has been known to use her psychometry to probe people's thoughts without their permission and is the first to realize why Minamoto works so well with them — more explanation below. While not able to do much during missions aside from gathering information that is not immediately obvious from the environment, Shiho still supports her teammates by doing whatever she can. An item of interest to note is that Shiho herself explains that her teammates are the only children her age she knew and that the ESP portal limiters worn by all espers power down espers by three levels. That is to say, whenever Kaoru telekinetically shoves an adult around, it is at an artificial Level 4 rather than at her natural Level 7. Unfortunately, in the world of Zettai Karen Children, society still fears and shuns Level 4 espers and their higher-powered brethren.
- Kōichi Minamoto (皆本 光一 Minamoto Kōichi?)
- Voiced by: Yuuichi Nakamura
- The field leader of "The Children" Special Esper Team, he is tasked with overseeing their day-to-day care and making sure they do not get too carried away when they are doing their jobs. Even as they mistreat poor Minamoto and generally give him super fits, the girls highly esteem him enough to ask the B.A.B.E.L. chief to be allowed to reside with him. Minamoto is quite courageous and sincere in his belief that Kaoru, Shiho, and Aoi are little girls to be protected and cherished before they are Level 7 espers (which Shiho says are treated the same as mass-destruction weapons). An item of interest is that Kōichi was derived from a character in the Zettai Karen Children manga that does have psychic powers and is charged in the same role he is. Still, Shiho's psychometric snooping reveals that even without psychic powers, Minamoto was treated just as his esper charges were because of his high intelligence as a child (expulsion/prohibition from being in school).
[edit] B.A.B.E.L. Headquarters
- Taizō Kiritsubo (桐壺 帝三 Kiritsubo Taizō?)
- Voiced by: Jūrōta Kosugi
- The leader of B.A.B.E.L, he dotes on "The Children" all the time and spoils them rotten not realizing that this overindulgence is probably the reason for the bad behavior of "The Children". Taizō can and does point to Minamoto as the scapegoat for The Children's fallibilities and poor attitudes. Whether Taizō over indulges "The Children" because he really loves them or because he is frightened for his job/personal safety (after seeing Kaoru severely damage a shopping district trying to stop a criminal esper) remains to be seen; still, Taizō is extremely attached to Kaoru, Shiho, and Aoi (who are starting to realize that Taizō's intense affection for them is not entirely altruistic) and goes into a frenzy comparable to a Level 6 esper whenever he feels that "The Children" are in distress.
- Oboro Kashiwagi (柏木 朧 Kashiwagi Oboro?)
- Voiced by: Masumi Asano
- Fujiko Tsubomi (蕾見 不二子 Tsubomi Fujiko?)
[edit] Wild Cat
- Naomi Umegae (梅枝 ナオミ Umegae Naomi?)
- Voiced by: Ayumi Fujimura
- A sixteen-year-old Level 6 psychokinetic high-schooler, Naomi has a proclivity to behave the persona of a typical bishoujo character whose naive mistakes would make for a dysphoric working environment and would not be regarded as a laughing matter (either at the time or after the fact) under normal real-life circumstances. If the temptation to lash out in frustration at some of Naomi's more embarrassing mistakes by severely reprimanding and slapping some sense into her can be subdued and extinguished, it becomes clear that Naomi has built a solid four-year history with her supervisor Ichirō of sincerely wanting to do well for herself and doing B.A.B.E.L. proud. An item of interest to note is that it is through a simulated duel with Kaoru (after her telekinesis misfiring to Ichirō's painful misfortune during a mission to challenge a voyeuristic criminal esper) that Naomi realizes that Ichirō's intense affection for her is not entirely the altruistic and professional working relationship that it is supposed to be. It is at this point Naomi gains the nickname "Wild Cat", the rationale of which is demonstrated whenever Ichirō tries to manipulate Naomi and fails to keep his professional (and physical) distance.
- Ichirō Tanizaki (谷崎 一郎 Tanizaki Ichirō?)
- Voiced by: Hiroshi Yanaka
- The heavy-smoking thirty-six-year-old supervisor of Umegae Naomi, he has extremely attached to his esper charge over the four years it has been since her supernatural powers were discovered at twelve-years-old. While he has done a good job of administrating over the development of Naomi's social character which has helped regulated her telekinesis for constructive ends (examples of which Naomi has demonstrated on the street while off-duty), Ichirō has also demonstrated signs of a lecherous personal agenda to refine Naomi as his "ideal woman". Unfortunately, having twice been on the receiving end of Naomi's telekinesis misfiring to his detriment and the telekinetic exhortations to keep a professional distance that followed thereafter have not convinced Ichirō to abandon his lecherous personal agenda. There is not a lot here to contraindicate against this dynamic eventually ending in one of three ways: Naomi dumping Ichirō as her supervisor, Ichirō pushing his luck with Naomi once too often—with mortal consequences, or Ichirō being fired from B.A.B.E.L. for sexual harassment and sub-professional conduct.
[edit] Doubleface
- Natsuko Tokiwa
- Voiced by: Eri Nakao
- Natsuko avails her clairvoyance as the Doubleface esper receptionist team alongside her partner Hotaru and is charged with identifying and intercepting the incoming riff-raff. Not only can she detect dangerous items such as packaged explosives or concealed personal weaponry, Natsuko can tell if a visitor is keeping himself in good hygienic repair. It would not be out of the question for Natsuko to use her clairvoyance to spy on a visitor during his time on the B.A.B.E.L. premises to ensure good behavior. She and Hotaru once threw cold water on Taizō lusting after them during a tour of the B.A.B.E.L. facility to welcome Minamoto, thereby suggesting that they are probably young twenty-something adults. While it has not been officially appraised, Natsuko's esper potency designation is probably around Level 4 or 5 considering the responsibility level with which she is charged.
- Hotaru Nowaki
- Voiced by: Rina Sato
- Hotaru avails her telepathy as The Doubleface esper receptionist team alongside her partner Natsuko and is charged with identifying and intercepting the incoming riff-raff. Hotaru will most likely read the visitor's thoughts to determine what kind of day the visitor has had or whether there are mortal designs upon any of the espers in B.A.B.E.L.'s stewardship or any of the other B.A.B.E.L. personnel. While it has not been officially appraised, Hotaru's esper potency designation is probably around Level 4 or 5 considering the responsibility level with which she is charged.
[edit] Others
- Shūji Sakaki
- Voiced by: Kishō Taniyama
He is the psychometric physician of B.A.B.E.L. whose job it is to inspect espers at the conclusion of every mission. Shūji behaves as quite a lady's man and is friendly with Kōichi (who is originally a medical researcher before enrolling in an overseas supervisor course). It is not known when Shūji was born or when he joined B.A.B.E.L., but it is clear he is an asset to the organization.
- Kiriko Suma
- Voiced by: Rika Fukami
- The former supervisor of "The Children", Kiriko seems to hate being in the supervisor role and behaves toward Kaoru, Shiho, and Aoi as if they are animals. The ESP portal limiters that Kiriko gave "The Children" are fashioned as chokers and are deactivated with the password 'Solomon', a powerful and wise king in the Old Testament who used a magic ring to converse with animals. Her current status is unknown after Minamoto comes back onto the scene; given that Kiriko hates espers, she probably either left B.A.B.E.L. or transferred herself to a department that is esper-independent.
[edit] P.A.N.D.R.A.
- Kyōsuke Hyōbu (兵部 京介 Hyōbu Kyōsuke?)
- Voiced by: Kōji Yusa
- A former military esper with eight decades of life under his belt, Kyōsuke is one tough esper with an abundant anthology of different esper capabilities. As is the case with Kaoru's berserk runaway telekinesis, Kyōsuke has the capability to defy fully powered-up ESP Counter Measure generators but does so as "the rule". Kyosuke has a lengthy history of teleporting out of his subterranean holding cell, walking around for a breath of fresh air, and teleporting back in without anybody detecting and challenging him. He views Kaoru as his queen and soul mate due to her ability to defy the fully powered-up ESP Counter Measure generator and wishes for her to grow up quickly not caring anything that Kaoru is much more like a child than she initially appears as Kōichi is forced to endure on a daily basis. Given that there are few efficacious avenues for damaging him (never mind the subjugation and confinement), Kyosuke brazenly behaves his belief that he can demonstrate his volition of doing whatever he wishes. It would not be that outrageous to suspect that Kyosuke is either one of the alpha adversaries or the alpha adversary, considering that he behaves with such impunity and finds euphoria in using his hypnosis to manipulate Kōichi for his own recreational ends (such as effecting the mirage that Kaoru, Shiho, and Aoi are physically older than they really are) and thinks that Kaoru will make a good spouse for him.
- Mio
- Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya
- Takashi Kugutu
- Voiced by: Yukito Sōma
- Muscle Ōkama
- Voiced by: Kenta Miyake
- Momotarō
- Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya
- Shirō Maki
- Voiced by: kōzi Otiai
[edit] Other characters
- Chisato Hanai
- Voiced by: Kaori Fukuhara
- Masaru Tōno
- Voiced by: Rina Satō
- Yoshimi Akashi
- Akie Akashi
- Voiced by: Hiromi Tsuru
[edit] Media
[edit] Manga
Zettai Karen Children began as a shōnen manga written and illustrated by Takashi Shiina. The manga started serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine Shōnen Sunday in 2005. Shiina developed the series out of a short story he had written in a special issues of Shōnen Sunday. The series was essentially the same, except for the fact that Kōichi Minamoto was named "Hikaru Minamoto", and he also had psychic powers.
[edit] Anime
- See also: List of Zettai Karen Children episodes
An anime adaptation produced by SynergySP began airing in Japan on TV Tokyo on April 6, 2008, and will contain fifty-two episodes.[1] The anime has two pieces of theme music; one opening theme and one ending theme. The opening theme is "Over The Future" by Karen Girl's, and the ending theme is "Zettai love×love Sengen!!" (絶対love×love宣言!!?) by Aya Hirano, Ryoko Shiraishi, and Haruka Tomatsu.
[edit] References
- ^ Zettai Karen Children episode listing (Japanese). TV Tokyo. Retrieved on 2008-06-07.
[edit] External links
- Manga official website (Japanese)
- Anime official website (Japanese)
- Zettai Karen Children (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
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