Warning - Video with adult content
I don't usually have a lot of negative things to say about anime series that I like. That makes sense, right? If I like it, then generally that means I don't have huge issues with it.
Zettai Karen Children, I'm afraid, is an exception. And here's why.
Zettai Karen Children (English title
Psychic Squad) is the story of three extraordinary young girls. Set in an alternative Earth where espers, or humans with psychic powers, are discriminated against and frequently abused - or worse - Japan's "secret weapon" is a trio of esper girls: Kaoru Akashi, Aoi Nogami and Shiho Sannomiya.
Kaoru is the leader of the three. A brash tomboy, red-haired Kaoru can use extreme force energy as both an offensive weapon and defensive shield.
Dark-haired Aoi Nogami is a teleporter, meaning she can teleport herself and others, as well as inanimate objects.
Demure-looking Shiho Sannomiya is a telemetrist. She can read a person's thoughts and feelings by touching them, including their memories.
Although they are ten years old, the girls are drawn to look even younger. Together, the super-esper trio is known as "The Children" and they work for B.A.B.E.L. (BAse of Backing ESP Laboratory), Japan's organization that seeks to integrate espers and normal humans together in society.
In the first episode, twenty-year old Kouichi Minamoto begins his job as the girls' supervisor.
After a brief period of adjustment, the girls take to Minamoto. When B.A.B.E.L. Chief Kiritsubo grants the three esper girls' request to move in with bachelor Minamoto, Minamoto fights it at first and then comes to realize that he enjoys taking care of the girls. Around the apartment, he's frequently seen with a Japanese housewife's apron on as he cooks their meals or cleans house.
The chief antagonist in the story is Kyosuke Hyobu.
Hyobu was a teenage esper during World War II who shot down Allied warplanes using only his ESP abilities. A more powerful esper than even his adoptive sister Fujiko Tsubomi, Hyobu was shot and killed at the war's end, but revived himself in order to take revenge against the "normals." His constant companion, usually found sitting on his shoulder, is the flying squirrel esper Momotaro.
Fujiko Tsubomi founded B.A.B.E.L. after World War II and her brother Kyosuke Hyobu started PANDRA, an organization of rogue espers whose goals and methods are usually at odds with B.A.B.E.L.
B.A.B.E.L. employs The Children to rescue people and to fight in dangerous situations that have been predicted by high-level espers. One prediction which hasn't yet come to pass is the underlying focus of the series: that in the future an adult Kaoru will join forces with Kyosuke Hyobu to lead espers in a world war against normal humans, and that in this war - Minamoto will shoot Kaoru dead.
None of what I've described presents any moral issues or anything questionable. The problem with
Zettai Karen Children isn't in who it's about, but rather - who it's made for.
Zettai Karen Children on the surface appears to be a show for kids. The heroes are three cute ten-year old girls who have superpowers and the story is told mainly from their viewpoint.
Every episode is preceded by the familiar warning for children: "While watching
Zettai Karen Children, please be sure to sit far from the television and have a light on!" delivered by The Children and Minamoto.
So it's a kid's show. Right?
In several episodes, Kyosuke Hyobu messes with Minamoto's brain waves so that he sees The Children as sexy adult women in an attempt to shame him (Minamoto
is rather a Boy Scout - almost too virtuous to be true) and to shake up his sense of certainty as to how he's supervising the three girls.
(It's an interesting dynamic with Kyosuke and Minamoto. Kyosuke wants to lead the esper revolt with Kaoru and also has romantic designs on her future adult self. It's implied throughout the series that Kyosuke is actually the most powerful esper on the planet. He torments Minamoto when he gets the chance, but he can't actually kill Minamoto or Kaoru would hate him - which is the one thing he's afraid of. So it's a tug-of-war of influence between the two men with Kaoru in the middle.)
Whenever Kyosuke forces Minamoto to see the girls as sexy women, which starts in episode 9, the show lurches into rocky terrain with heaving breasts, brief flashes of nudity and other wholly inappropriate visuals and dialogue. But actually, it went off the rails before then.
Back in episode 4, 15-year old esper Naomi Umegae, code name "Kitty Kat," started failing her assignments. As it turned out, Naomi's B.A.B.E.L. supervisor Ichirou Tanizaki had been grooming her since she was a child to become "the perfect wife" -
his future wife. Naomi's hidden disgust at Tanizaki's constant sexual harassment and controlling of her behavior finally comes out and she turns violent toward Tanizaki.
As
Zettai Karen Children is a comedy, as you might guess, Naomi's new sadistic treatment of her supervisor - just like her harassment by him - is played for yuks. Renamed "Wild Cat," whenever Tanizaki comes on to her thereafter, Naomi simply uses her ESP powers to hurl him into walls or slam him to the ground and fry him with electricity.
And here is the crux of it.
Zettai Karen Children, clearly an anime that is watched by children, is laced with sexual content. Not only Minamoto's induced visions of The Children as adult women and Naomi's sexual harassment by Tanizaki, but sexual humor and nudity are found in almost every episode.
I've worked with adult content as an editor of manga and light novels - I've
written adult content in my m/m yaoi romance stories,
Kaminishi and
Time Gone By, so I'm no prude. But I draw the line at children. My writing and my editing work all involve stories of consenting adults and I wouldn't be involved with them otherwise.
Although the ten-year old Kaoru, Aoi and Shiho aren't the targets of sexual humor or harassment in
Zettai Karen Children, they are usually present when it occurs. The precocious Kaoru is obsessed with adult women's breasts, to the point where Aoi calls her "a dirty old man." And all three girls are in love with Minamoto.
If
Zettai Karen Children stopped there, it would still work as an anime for children. After all, young girls are curious about what it will be like to have breasts someday and frequently get crushes on older male figures, especially those in a position of authority. There's nothing unusual about that.
But the sexual content in the series is so overwhelmingly pervasive that it's clear that
Zettai Karen Children is actually intended for two separate audiences: children, mostly girls (boys probably wouldn't want to watch three magical girls as the heroes of a story), and - loli otaku.
Here's an AMV that shows this perfectly. And again - this video is NSFW.
The song is "Over the Future" by Karen Girls,
Zettai Karen Children's first opening.
The video presents what looks to be a show for kids until 1:47-3:16, when it becomes something else. I could discuss which episodes the images came from and explain them somewhat, but I think the visuals speak for themselves.
So who is
Zettai Karen Children meant for - kids or adults?
I don't have an answer for that, but it brings to mind a last point I want to make. As an American fan of Japanese anime, I'm always the first to defend the use of adult and serious themes in anime to people who think anime is just cartoons and therefore (to the western way of thinking) meant for children.
This time I can't do that. While I recognize, as always, that Japan is a different country with a different cultural mindset and its own legitimate views on what is appropriate and what is not for them, there's no way I can defend the mixing of adult sex content into an anime that is obviously also watched by children.
I'm currently at episode 41 and there are ten episodes left. Despite my reservations, I'll continue watching
Zettai Karen Children to the end of the series. I can do that because I'm an adult who can distinguish between what is appropriate and what is not.
But a six-year old can't.
