Absolutely Lovely Children #26 — The Queen of Catastrophe

September 28th, 2008

 

 I’d let her ruin me any day of the week.

I’m still on vacation for another couple days. Yes yes, this is late, but I don’t think I’m going to get to Kyouran Kazoku Nikki until tomorrow regardless. I watched about 5 minutes of it and my brain shut down. It’s another one of those episodes completely full of incomprehensible nonsensical exposition that it tries to pass off as a deep plot about megalomaniac cat girls and alien waterblobs. Nabari will come… whenever. Spoiler: Yoite and Miharu make out like insecure teens at Mardi Gras drunk off half a bottle of Woodchuck.

Impressions:

I hope we’re done with the psychic animals now. Momo was really enough, and the ultra-powerful telepathic dolphin named Chuu-i (Chewy? Chui? Whatever) is sort of pushing it. He wasn’t really bad or anything, just lacking any sort of personality and probably not going to ever be seen again, so I’m not really certain why they had to use him instead of just having the first vision of the Esper War come from the normal precogs. This was pretty specific and absolute compared to most of the other future visions, although it has been awhile since they directly referenced or used them. From what I remember, they at least had percentage probabilities and the Children were there more as damage control than prevention. A massive wartorn cityscape with Minamoto shooting Kaoru is a little more exact than that.

As for the rest… a pretty fanservicey episode I suppose, though Oboro in the US bikini and Road Warrior Kaoru trump the lolis in swimsuits. Of course, Hayate and Nagi made a much more obvious appearance than they have in previous episodes, and even actually affected the plot this time. It makes me wonder whether or not the next year of Hayate is going to have ZKC appearances tossed in once every month or so. I couldn’t recognize any of the other couples, but that could just be a failing on my part. I do like that they changed the style for impish Shiho in the past few episodes from just being mischeivous as she telepathically tortures people to instead appearing to be genuinely deranged.

We should also be getting a new OP and ED in the next few episodes (along with the 8 billion new shows), though maybe I’m crazy since I don’t usually watch the EDs, but this episode seemed to have quite a bit more animation than I remember it having. *shrug* Anyway, here’s to hoping My Wings is at least as good as Over the Future World and the next 26 episodes with PANDRA and the Esper War looming are as good as the first 26.

A couple awkwardly tries to make the moves on each other in a ferris wheel, but Shiho and Aoi teleport in to put the kibosh on things and then teleport the two away. They keep teleporting peeople out as Minamoto explains that there’s a bomb on the ferris wheel. It detonates, and Kaoru secures the wheel before there’s too much property damage.

On the ground below, Nagi puckers up for Hayate, but he looks away from her. Kaoru leers at them, letting the ferris wheel roll into the bay. Minamoto facepalms.

The media is all over BABEL in the aftermath, but the girls are just gossiping over all the couples they saw, so Minamoto chews them out.

Sakaki, ever the advocate for free love, is on their side.

Downstairs, Natsuko and Hotaru fend off the media/blush and pan for all the cameras.

Kaoru wants a vacation to be all lovey dovey with Minamoto. The other two are not as pleased with that.

Minamoto meets with the chief and Kashiwagi, and they have to restrain him from attacking the media seeking to defame the works the Children. A man runs in with an emergency call. The chief orders that they leave on BABEL-1 at once.

Double Face notes BABEL-1 leaving and are somewhat curious, but they still have the media to deal with. A delivery man sneaks past the reception area in the chaos.

The chopper arrives at a dolphin shaped island.

The girls frolic happily on the beach and drag Minamoto out for some beach funtime. Sakaki tries to stir Minamoto’s lolicon tendencies a little bit out of general impishness. The girls find something as they play in the ocean.

The chief talks to Minamoto and tells him the real reason they’re out here. They’re meeting a level 7 esper. Right on cue, the girls return with a dolphin in tow. The chief introduces it as Chuu-i, one of the experimental animals. He talks to them through telepathy and puts a precognitive vision into Minamoto’s mind of himself being shot to protect the chief.

At his luxurious resort, Kyosuke silently fumes. Momo flies in and tries to figure out what’s up, but Kyosuke flicks her away and then teleports to parts unknown.

After relocating Chuu-i to a kiddy pool, he starts telling them that his vision is absolute. It will come to pass and that the future cannot be changed. Kaoru breaks a watermelon over his head and all three of the girls tell him that they’ll fight for the future that they want blah blah blah, the norm basically. Chuu-i just sort of sits there with watermelon all over his head.

After that, everybody goes back to happily playing until nightfall. The girls go to sleep while the guys eat various deserts. Chuu-i has another vision for Minamoto.

In a destroyed city scape, a badly wounded Minamoto holds a woman at gunpoint, the Queen of Catastrophe… no… Kaoru. She turns around and tells him to shoot. The fight will go on. Minamoto yells at her demanding to know why she’s causing this war. Kaoru’s earpiece transmits a message that someone is under attack and then breaks into static.

Minamoto tries to yell to her, but she tells him it’s useless. She raises her hand and says something silently to Minamoto as she charges her power. Minamoto fires and Kaoru falls.

Minamoto is completely floored. Kyosuke hovers nearby.

A little later, Minamoto sits by himself to think about things. He can’t believe a war between Espers and the normal humans would start. Kaoru sleepily comes up to him and snuggles right up. She dreamily asks him about the old man dolphin’s vision of the future and says that they’ll save him. Minamoto snaps out of it and tells her that of course they’ll save it.

Kaoru changes topics and wants to know why Oboro isn’t on the trip. He knocks her over in annoyance.

Right on cue, Minamoto gets an emergency call from Kashiwagi and tells them to return at once. BABEL-1 explodes a distance away. The Normal People got a spy into BABEL and found their location. Minamoto orders the girls to safeguard Chuu-i while they fight the terrorists. Sakaki’s got his staff, so it’ll be okay… right… as he clubs Minamoto acidentally.

The girls head out to sea and safety with Chuu-i, but Shiho immediately asks him what he told Minamoto. She knows that something is completely wrong here.

Back with the guys, they drop a flash grenade in the middle of the group and then attack. Sakaki and the Chief take down a couple, and Minamoto holds another at gunpoint, but there’s one that they missed who points his gun at Minamoto and fires.

The bullets are telekinetically stopped by Kaoru and then the Children go to town on the terrorists in their own little ways. Minamoto yells at them for returning, but Chuu-i’s still safe, and Kashiwagi phones them to let them know that she’s on her way with a military ship. Kaoru and Minamoto share a moment while the other two wonder about the weird mood.

In the morning, Kaoru’s psyched for Kashiwagi’s presence, and Sakaki eggs them on.

The girls glomp onto Minamoto, and Sakaki puts him in a headlock for attracting all the female attention, but then they notice that Chuu-i’s missing.

At the ship, The chief prepares to hand over the terrorists to Kashiwagi, but one of the military men pulls a gun and points it at him. The terrorists on the dinghy leap on the chief and hold him down.

Three shots ring out, but Chuu-i has leapt between the chief and the gunner fulfilling his vision of the future, but Minamoto’s on his back. Minamoto takes a bullet in the arm and another in the back of his bulletproof vest, but Chuu-i is hit by the third and sinks, reminding Minamoto that the future is immutable. Minamoto flails around, trying to find Chuu-i, but he keeps sinking until he kicks away and swims off into the darkness.

The Children rush in and take control of everything. Kyosuke watched the whole thing and teleports away.

On deck, Minamoto’s been patched up, but the girls are nearly in tears over how he made them use him as a human shield for Chuu-i. As they break down sobbing, he hugs them all and thinks to himself that he will protect their future. In the distance, Chuu-i leaps through the waves.

Preview:

Espers gone craaaaaaaaaaaaaazy.

Posted in Zettai Karen Children | 7 Comments »

7 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • sage says:

    Loved the episode.

    Spoiler: Yoite and Miharu make out like insecure teens at Mardi Gras drunk off half a bottle of Woodchuck.

    Oh you would like that wouldn’t you *rage*

  • FortMan says:

    IIRC, “Chuu-i” is his rank (Liutenant, I think).

  • Hiyono says:

    Untouchable Empress > Queen of Catastrophe imo.
    As for the other points, yes, it’s the dolphin’s rank, and it came from him instead of the Babel precogs because he’s a level 7.
    Spoiler for manga (although who knows if we’ll ever see it).
    [spoiler]Babel precogs have their own version where they literally gauge (as in there’s an actual gauge) whether the Children will become angels or devils.[/spoiler]

  • ItAintEazy says:

    Oohoo, next episode is Shiho with a bopgun. All this time, I was wondering how she can participate in missions where offensive attacks are needed. Apparently she will make up for it.

  • Aroduc says:

    Huh. Hadn’t realized that ‘chuui’ was Lt. Oh well, learn some new Japanese military rank that I’ll never hear again every day.

  • Shippoyasha says:

    Chuu-i, every other damn anime in existence says that. It’s like the most available military rank in anime or something.

    That said, next ep, GONZO animation. It actually looks great.

  • Aroduc says:

    You’d be amazed at how few military shows I watch. Hell, just ex out all mecha and you’re down to like… twenty in existence? And of those, at least a good chunk are fantasy which use archaic military terms anyway.