Zettai Karen Children: The Unlimited Hyoubu Kyousuke – 11
Oh my God, we’re doomed. They have GLITTER.
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One left to go and then The Unlimited is over! I’m getting excited for all these finales and upcoming new shows, but at the same time…I have 3 essays due next week. What horrible timing! It’s hard to take a break from writing by blogging since the two of them involve writing. I apologize if I’m a bit out of it. |
Is it possible to truly forgive someone who has truly hurt you? The Unlimited answers this question in a way I never thought it would, suggesting that forgiveness is possible even in the face of complete betrayal. Hyoubu has been hounded by his past for his entire life, bitterly forming PANDRA with the intention of avenging his fallen comrades. He hasn’t gone a day without hating Saotome Eiji and normals. In other words, he is less likely to let go of a grudge than a moray eel is likely to let go of a tasty meal – and those things don’t let go even when they die.
Man, I wish I was as good as using tonfa as Andy…
The man who seems incapable of forgiveness has forgiven Andy. Keep in mind he’s still hellbent on getting revenge on Saotome Eiji, and probably hasn’t gotten over what has happened to him just yet. Despite this, he takes a deep breath and tells Andy that he forgives him. It takes a bigger man to accept an apology then to go on hating someone with good intentions, and he realizes that. I was under the impression that Hyoubu wouldn’t develop that much, but it appears that he has actually learned a lot about getting close to others. If he can apply this reasoning to the injustices he has suffered, then there is some hope that he might be able to believe in a future of espers coexisting with normals. He may not be buddy-buddy with them, but he might just be able to handle them if he feels satisfied after stopping USEI and Saotome.
Even if he doesn’t take that extra step, it was impressive to see Hyoubu and all of PANDRA forgive Andy. That takes a lot of strength to forgive someone who sent an entire military force after them. It’s not a stance I expected the show to take, so it was a pleasant surprise. Just like that, Andy is part of PANDRA again and all is well! I’m glad, because I love watching these guys work together. All the mocking dialogue between them this week was great, from Andy trying to be manly to Hyoubu whipping out a sword to show him up. They see each other more like equals now, and I think that’s just what Andy has wanted all along. A place where he would fit in and be considered a teammate to be relied on.
I really enjoyed seeing Andy and Hyoubu hobble their way to find Yugiri and make do with the most makeshift weapons. Taking on a swarm of robots and gunmen with melee weapons? I don’t know how they didn’t become swiss cheese 5 seconds in. It was an unrealistic match-up, but I still greatly enjoyed the more scrappy fighting that went on. ESP fights are great, but there’s nothing a classic bashing and slashing to get things going. There’s a real sense of desperation when an all-powerful esper is so weakened that he has to resort to killing robots with a metal rod. This is the same guy who can levitate an entire ship on his own.
So what now? It seems like an entire subplot involving Yugiri and the entire city of New York is emerging at the last moment. I can’t say I’m particularly invested though. I want them to get Yugiri back but I couldn’t care less if she was a clone or not. The whole politics thing doesn’t interest me that much either. It’s like for every great thing this show does, there has to be one cliche moment. Here it’s Yugiri being the product of an experiment, and currently under USEI and company’s control. :/ At least we can finally see how strong she is, as she easily took out a good chunk of the core PANDRA members (or at the very least incapacitated them for a while). Yugiri has always been a wild card, and her mysterious origins left things open for her to be just about anything. An experiment is just not quite what I had wanted.
Ah well, I’m sure the finale will still be interesting and full of more great action. There’s also a Fujiko clone running around, so unless Yugiri used some potent hypnosis then Fujiko might be this female esper they’re talking about who was used as the basis for all these clones. She’s strong and was under Saotome’s care for quite a while, so it wouldn’t be too hard to get a few swabs from her and use that DNA for cloning. It’s weird how so many ideas are suddenly coming into the playing field all of a sudden in the final episode when all I care about is Hyoubu. Forget everything else, I wanna see Hyoubu mess shit up. Come on guys, give me a good finale to ring out this series in the best way possible!
Oh, and one more thing.
Ain’t no bromance like butt-bumping bromance
Preview: The hunt for Yugiri is on. Hyoubu may have to go Unlimited to get this job done. Hey, you guys ready for the finale? Get hyped!
About Overcooled
A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
This episode has gotten mixed reactions, but I have loved every episode of this show up until now, and episode 11 is no different. Yes, it was a little implausible in the fight scenes and there were rushed bits, but the parts you brought up about character development for Andy and Kyousuke were awesome. I love the friendship they have developed and have been hoping since the first episode that Andy would truly join PANDRA. So, that was great for me.
As I have said before, I didn’t think it would be too hard for Kyousuke to forgive Andy, it was a betrayal he was prepared for, and there were a lot of extenuating circumstances. As for Saotome however, that was a tragedy that arose from his adolescence, when he was only 15. Hurt and emotional scars like that, at that impressionable age, just don’t go away. Andy’s actions didn’t cause any loss of life, Saotome deliberately betrayed not only Hyoubu but the entire ESP Unit who trusted and followed him. It cost the lives of all those men and almost Hyoubu and Fujiko as well. And not only that, but Saotome deliberately went after him years later, and again tried to kill those close to him. Hyoubu has the right to not be in a merciful or forgiving mood when it comes to that bastard.
As for the rest of the episode I thought PANDRA let him off pretty easy, but I guess they just follow their Major’s lead. Walsh went down like the punk he was, and BABEL is in NYC as well. And then there’s Yugiri…little Yugiri.
Poor Yugiri is a clone and word has been spreading through the ZKC community that she is perhaps a clone created by the evil organization “Black Phantom”, as their backstories involving a single esper woman being the mother to many clones, are very similar. I would really like that twist, and I would like to see them continue with that into a second season. Yugiri has shown three abilities thus far: telepathy, precognition, and hypnosis and all of the highest level. From what I can gather from that and what she is doing to the PANDRA members, I gather she is using her ability of hypnosis to make very strong illusions of other esper individuals and the effects of their powers. Illusion is all about fooling the mind about what it can sense, whether that be through sight or feeling. So, a master of hypnosis would be able to make her victims see and feel anything, which is probably what she did here. It’s also probably why Andy didn’t truly see her when she passed right by him, as he is immune to her abilities.
As all these pieces are starting to come together and next week is the final episode, I truly trust that they will not rush this. There are so many things now coming to light, including Saotome’s plan and how it involves the new mayor and Hyoubu. What happened to Fujiko and why did Yugiri copy her entire form and not just her powers? And what about the organization behind Yugiri’s creation?
I really, really, hope and pray that this show has a second season. It needs one and it demands one. There is no other show that I have been so adamant that it have one, and I have seen much worse anime get longer shows or sequels. Why should this one be cut so short?
I cannot emphasize this enough:
THIS MUST HAVE A SECOND SEASON!
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
What Andy did was a lot less severe than Saotome, but once you’ve been that traumatized, past events tend to affect your current decisions. That’s why abused children are afraid to trust new people. I think it took a lot on Hyoubu’s part to forgive Andy, and I didn’t think he had it in him. I’m glad to be proved wrong though, because I love seeing them work together.
Hopefully they throw fans of the old series some more bones with that. It may fly over my head completely, but at least it adds some continuity. So far the pacing has been really good, so I hope nothing gets rushed. I wouldn’t mind a second season, but I dunno if that would happen with just a spin-off.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Don’t tell the long term fans of ZKC this, but I enjoyed The Unlimited wayyyy more than the original ZKC show, but maybe that’s a matter of taste. (I have heard that the manga itself gets rather good though…) If anime-only shows can get sequels, I don’t think an independent spin-off should have much problem. I really hope that they get to make a second series. Also, I’m interested in seeing who licenses this (hopefully not Sentai again, *bleh*), though I will be getting this on DVD regardless.
And I think Hyoubu’s relationship with Andy has permanently changed him as a character. Show ▼
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Shows ending and new ones that on the way. It all leaves a bittersweet feeling when you think about it. This episode of Zettai Karen Children was so entertaining that it felt really short. So Yugiri was the byproduct of an experiment and was massed produced. Now I’m really wishing for the show to be extended so that part of the story could be explored. And it looked not even Kyousuke was aware of her origins.
The conditions of forgiveness depends on what you’ve done, how serious the transgression is and to whom you’ve done it to. For me, Kyousuke forgave Andy because he was just a pawn and he’s got bigger fish to fry with Saotome and the normals.
That USEI guy was pretty loyal to his cause if he tried to off himself without hesitation. But I hated his guts with a passion for his narrow minded views on espers, especially him always refering Yugiri as an “it” and a monster. All and all, I’m glad he’s finally dead. Next on the list, hopefully, will be Saotome. Honestly, in shows like this where most of the humans act like complete asses because they don’t accept existences of a different nature, I wouldn’t mind seeing them being overrun by espers and such.
The animation seemed to have improved when Andy and Kyousuke started fighting. Everything got more fluid and the sound effects were sharper down to Kyousuke slicing as much as those drones as he could. Andy may be inept where ESP is concerned but he’s badass with weapons. I could easily imagine him being in a weapons based fighting video game like Soulcalibur.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Wow, haven’t played Soulcaliber in quite awhile. And somehow, I think all of PANDRA could somehow fit in there. But then again, I think they can fit in anywhere if they wanted. 😛
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I’m so glad Hyoubu forgave him. Sometimes even when all the reasoning in the world says you should forgive someone, your heart just can’t do it. But he did it!
Saotome should die by the end of this. If he doesn’t, I’m gonna be pissed.
The Unlimited Soul Calibur? Or maybe Super Smash Bros. Unlimited? The possibilities are endless…
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
I agree that The Unlimited needs a second season. Even if the next episode ends with Yugiri back with PANDRA, Saotome dead for sure this time and USEI smacked down hard, there’d still be a lot left hanging. Does the relationship between PANDRA and BABEL change? Has the future changed or is the war between espers and normals still predicted? Is Hyoubu still going to die soon, or is he cured? More than enough for another cour or two!
I don’t think Fujiko is the female esper who was cloned to produce Yugiri and the other clones. She passed out of Saotome’s control at the end of WWII and DNA wasn’t discovered until the 1950s. Yes, Gregor Mendell founded genetics in the 19th C., but it wasn’t until the discovery of DNA that the idea of cloning arose. Prior to that selective breeding was all that was possible and that’s not the same as cloning. Plus, different hair color.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
I find it interesting how many people that a lot of fans think that Fujiko is related too. First, some were saying that she was the “queen’s” ancestor, and now some think she’s related to Yugiri.
But can we really blame them when many of the girls in ZKC seem to have very similar faces? -_-;
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I would like a season 2 but I really don’t know if we’ll get it.
Hmm, maybe not. But in an alternate anime timeline where people can alter genetics with ESP, can you really trust our timeline of technological development?