Absolutely Lovely Children #24 — Stockholm Syndrome

September 13th, 2008

 

From hostage to maid in one night… well done, Minamoto.

Impressions:

Another pretty solid episode, though it got downright weird towards the end. Yes, even for a show with telekinetic laser squirrels, a monstrous Mio-clone fused to a bulldozer is downright bizarre, to say nothing of angelic Kaoru saving the day and displaying some clone abilities of her own. Just as expected, I was greatly amused by all the times Kugimiya Rie talked to herself… and occasionally sat on herself. We also learned that Jaws (still no clue on the name) is a telepath, though seemingly significantly less powerful than that Comerican dude since he really didn’t do anything with his power except talk. Sakaki also continued to get bonus points for having a staff hidden in his motorcycle handle and being smart enough to know to use it as a connection to read his opponent. Shiho also apparently picked up her pistol at some unseen point in the past because she whipped it out here. From where, I have no idea. I don’t think that dress had pockets, and I’m sure as hell not frisking her for a holster.

It’s also worth mentioning that Aoi spends the entire episode without any pants on. Don’t know why she didn’t have a spare pair laying around somewhere to replace the ones Minamoto was washing, but hey… you’d almost forget about it if you weren’t paying attention.

Shiho and Aoi appear at the apartment too. They’re a team, obvious, so they’ll be there during a pinch… which is a lie. Apparently Aoi needs pants and Shiho… I don’t remember… something about her father.

In the car, Minamoto starts getting mouthy, so Mio duct tapes him up and Momo gets the same treatment when she starts mouthing off too. Mio’s taken the precaution of pocketing his limiter remover cell phone so he can’t use it even if he gets free.

Sakaki and the Children take off to the meeting place, but the map’s pretty bad, so they’re somewhat lost and frustrated. Sakaki takes it from Kaoru during a break and scans it himself.

He sees an image of the place they’re looking for and tells the girls to take a quick break before they head out again. The girls immediately fall asleep and Sakaki drives off without them.

Back in the hostage situation, Minamoto is appalled by his conditions… or rather, all the cup ramen trash around the place. When Jaws gives him a choice of which he wants, cup ramen or cup curry, he gets pissed and somehow manages to convince Mio to let him make her a real meal. He does so while Jaws and Momo go out shopping. She doesn’t like it too much and tries to remove the yucky vegetables, but Minamoto yells at her about growing up big and strong and that rot.

Mio fantasizes about herself and Kyosuke on the beach, but because she’s so small, he’s repulsed and goes happily skipping off with his queen.

A little later, Mio takes a bath with Momo while Minamoto does the laundry. She warns him about running away again and he just shrugs her off. When she gets out, the towel is warm and smells nice. Creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepy.

As Minamoto chats with Jaws about Mio’s lack of parents and structure, Sakaki rides up.

Sakaki pulls out a hidden staff from the handle bars and attacks. Jaws blocks it, but Sakaki uses the physical connection to read everything about Jaws’ abilities. Sakaki lets him know that and tries to demoralize him by saying it’s all decided now, but Jaws yells at him to shut up. They realize that he’s a telepath and he tells them about Mio’s past. She was abandoned and broken, but Kyosuke is the one that saved her.

Mio, now in street clothes, walks up behind them. They’re all amazed.

Shiho lets everybody know that Minamoto thinks that she’s really cute, prompting Kaoru to punish him. They followed Sakaki after all.

Mio’s ready for the challenge though and splits herself into three. Minamoto took back the limiter release way back when he was doing the laundry though. He tells her it’s nothing personal as he unlocks the Children.

Aoi and Mio teleport across the roof as Aoi taunts the inferior teleporter. Mio turns around and uses a portal to grab one of Aoi’s legs and then starts tickling her foot.

Shiho tries to pull a gun on her clone, but Mio grabs her arm through a portal and pulls it through, disarming her (somewhat literally). Shiho scratches at Mio’s face through the portal and Mio throw the hand backwards onto a backhoe. Shiho reads the backhoe and figures out how to operate it and brings it crashing down on Mio.

Mio barely manages to portal her legs away to safety.

Kaoru’s having issues with Mio as well. Momo tries to get her to stop fighting, but they both yell at her.

Minamoto and Sakaki have their hands full with Jaws. He throws Minamoto aside and pedoboy lands right between Mio’s seperated legs. He grabs them and takes off on motorcycle, running over Jaws in the process.

Sakaki takes the opening and delivers his killer blow, a sedative. Good work, doctor.

Because she can’t go far, the upper half of her body is pulled away from Kaoru and she’s forced to reincorporate herself in Minamoto’s lap. Kaoru drops down to punish him, but Aoi interrupts. The Mio she was fighting suddenly collapsed and is disappearing. The Mio that Shiho was fighting, however, has gone berserk and been forcibly fused to the backhoe. Real-Mio tries to reincorporate her, but Demon-Mio fights back and tries to pull her in. The Demon yells that she should be allowed to do whatever she wants and this Queen business is nonsense. The two are stalemated. Minamoto tries to help Mio.

Kaoru watches, and thinks about her past, how she was alone and there was nobody for her.

She remembers Minamoto, Shiho, and Aoi as the light that saved her. Kaoru detonates the Demon-Mio and wraps Real-Mio in angel wings, telling her that she’s not alone and never will be. Kaoru rushes at the Demon and splits into a ton of clones, all attacking at once. She provides enough of an opening for Mio to reincorporate that part of herself, but she then collapses from all the wounds the Demon took.

Kaoru tries to help her up, and Mio starts crying a little bit.

She then teleports a ton of bugs onto Kaoru and declares that the fight isn’t over as she portals away. Shiho tries to read where she went, but gets nothing… except for Minamoto’s panty related indiscretions concerning Mio which she evilly shares with the others.

Some time later, Double Face treats Minamoto’s Kaoru-inflicted wounds. He thinks about PANDRA and wonders that if he had been able to find and save Mio, if she’d be part of their team too.

At night, Kyosuke welcomes a contemplative Mio into PANDRA.

Preview:

Prenatal espers? Um… ooooookay.

Posted in Zettai Karen Children | 4 Comments »

4 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • Midonin says:

    No pants, you say? Somebody sign her up for the 501st.

  • Solaris says:

    Lol why do anime heroines only have one pair of pants?

  • Anon says:

    Methinks Sakaki is gay for Minamoto. xD
    More yaoi jokes please :D

  • Solaris says:

    … and why aren’t there any fortuitous wind blows raising random skirts? T___T