The-Unlimited---Hyoubu-Kyousuke-Cover

The Unlimited – Hyoubu Kyousuke Episode 1 Review

The Unlimited - Hyoubu Kyousuke Episode 1 Review Cover

Title: Zettai Karen Children: The Unlimited – Hyoubu Kyousuke, 絶対可憐チルドレン THE UNLIMITED 兵部京介
Producers: Manglobe, UNLIMITED Partners
Genres: Supernatural
Duration: 23 min. per episode

Kyousuke Hyoubu, an ESPer who was betrayed many years ago, is now one of the most powerful ESPers—and also a fugitive. However, behind that glare lies a kind heart. His main mission is to save ESPers who are mistreated by humans, even if that be by force. Through his methods, he has saved many ESPer lives and gained the loyalty of those he has saved. The name of his group: P.A.N.D.R.A.

 

 

 Fansubs watched: Crunchyroll

Zettai Karen Children: The Unlimited – Hyoubu Kyousuke, yea that name is just ridiculous so lets stick to ‘The Unlimited’, is once again a different anime apart from the moeness this season. From one end of anime of Boobs from Senran Kagura, to the other extreme of high paced action, is The Unlimited. The first episode features many things that seem absent from this season; such has high paced action, a form of anti-hero and over-powered arrogance. There is one thing; the main character reminds me of Lelouch from Code Geass, which could be a good thing. Regardless of reminiscence, lets get into the review.

The Unlimited - Hyoubu Kyousuke Episode 1 Review Screen 1

A man will silver hair flowing in the wind, standing atop a large tower. He smirks and jumps off the tower to a cut of where soldiers are shooting near civilians. All of the soldiers are distressed and they all die mysteriously, save for one. His weapon crunches up and the soldier explodes. The silver hair man then teleports in front of some tanks, who fire at him only to be ineffective. He tosses the tank into the others causing a large explosion. He is then seen on the same tower by some helicopters, which get taken down by a paddle pop stick and the click of his fingers. The man approaches the last surviving pilot and tells him that he, Hyoubu Kyousuke, intends to remain silent as an Esper. Then cut to opening. So we figure out that the mad silver haired man in a school uniform is called Kyousuke. He truly has some tremendous power, since he is an Esper after all. Kyousuke has an arrogant personality, shown throughout this episode as he wants to do things his way. He reminds me of Lelouch quite a lot, they both have some attained power, are arrogant in nature and do what they think is best. Another prominent character is Andy Hinomiya who is found in the Esper prison. He seems to have some power that gives him strength and agility, used to take down other in fights. He has a different coloured eye, which could be the source of his power. Also, at the end of the episode it is revealed that he has more powers, and is working undercover for another organization. Two other characters that have relations to Kyousuke is a little girl called Yuugiri and a man will long black hair- who seems to be the right hand man of Kyousuke.

The Unlimited - Hyoubu Kyousuke Episode 1 Review Screen 4

After the opening, we are taken to the Esper prison where Andy is held, and see that he is in a fight against some other inmate. We also see the warden of the prison, some fat version of Hitler. Andy wins his fight and gets his share of the winnings, a chocolate bar, and a helicopter flies overhead. Fat Hitler was looking at mug shots, and on of them was Kyousuke. The helicopter lands and what do you, Kyousuke comes out escorted by guards. Fat Hitler comes to talk to him, but as the guards are getting cautious of him Andy steps in. Kyousuke walks to him and tosses a helicopter in the air, in which the guards turn on their anti-esp thingy to max. One inmate gets injured and taken away. Kyousuke and Andy get taken to a special cell, where they talk about things, like escaping. At lunch time, the chef sprinkles some drugs on Kyousuke’s soup, which he knows and gives to Andy to eat- which he doesn’t know. Some shenanigans happen, Andy gets into another fight and the drugs kick in and he is taken away to the ‘hospital’. Kyousuke rescues him from there and they enter a large room with machines and a glass box. Kyousuke goes on a rampage when he sees this room, and destroys most of the machines, where a picture drops in front of Andy that has someone that looks like a younger Kyousuke in it.

A girl- Yuugiri-pops out inside the glass box, and Kyousuke talks to her. Fat Hitler comes out and brings some Esper that he experimented on, and looks like a charger. The charger and Kyousuke battle it out using ESP powers, in which the charger seems to have an advantage, with all his experimented abilities and whatnot. Andy then helps Kyousuke and shoots off his horns. Kyousuke approaches Yuugiri and sees a tube sticking out of her, and he begins to rage. He goes into hyper mode- called unlimited- by turning his badge upside down. Needless to say, Kyousuke owns everything and defeats the charger easily. All three of them escape on a ledge, where Kyousuke powers down and reveals a giant ship that was hidden under some barrier. Everyone on board greets Kyousuke, and he invites Andy to join his cause. The long black haired man talks to Kyousuke about his decision, and under the ship’s surface, Andy triggers his eye and speaks to some government official. And so ends episode 1.

The Unlimited - Hyoubu Kyousuke Episode 1 Review Screen 5

The episode is built up upon the mystery of Kyousuke and his powers. We see that he is a very powerful person, and Esper, with ESP powers that took down an army battalion. Even under some anti-ESP field, he is able to use his powers when others couldn’t. We also get a small glimpse into his life with that picture that Andy saw, too bad it’s now burnt. He also has a strong relationship with Yuugiri, which is could be similar to Anna’s relationship with the red king in K. His mysterious nature is similar to Lelouch and also similar to Gai in Guilty Crown. Of course, Andy himself has some mysteries especially at the end when he reported to some higher up. His power seems to be unique, and have multiple abilities sorted into different colours.

As for the premise, some segregation stuff in a near future setting- I think- some it’s similar to Code Geass, without any giant mechs- as of the first episode. Since there is a prison full of Espers, and that Kyousuke declaring that there is some law exclusive for them, it seems that there is a large minority of Espers, and of course the normal people suppress them since they have super powers. Discrimination and segregation have been done before in anime, but it seems to be some time before this theme was done well. Other than that, there are many things shrouded in mystery, especially regarding the characters related to Kyousuke himself. And one of the most important question about him, which even the episode asked, was why he was in a school uniform. That question will haunt everyone until its reveal, it will keep Sherlock awake at night, and even Stephen Hawking will have to write theories for. Uniforms aside, Yuugiri’s relationship is interesting, since she is quite young and was captured for a reason.

The Unlimited - Hyoubu Kyousuke Episode 1 Review Screen 3

Onto the animation, the episode has pleasant action sequences but some of it was kind of odd. Since most of the fighting was ESP abilities and Kyousuke dancing around the air doesn’t really show an epic showdown. But needless to say, it was still entertaining to see. There are many explosions, cracks in the ground and invisible effects in battles between Espers. Also, Kyousuke’s transformation is quite cool with all the colours flying out and enveloping him. The backgrounds are all nicely designed to fit with the prison theme of the episode, especially the contrast with the end and beginning of the episode. As for the character designs, Kyousuke himself looks arrogant. His’ silver hair is the archetype of being special, and his usual demeanor is the typical arrogant smirk. Andy’s designs reminds me of Suzaku, with his hair style and even his personality. Yuugiri’s design is quite intriguing regarding her eyes, but that’s about it. Also, there seems to be some form of mature violence in the series, with the full exposure of two characters exploding and expelling liquids. On the topic of expelling, the monster design was different to typical enemies and adds somewhat to the scientific experiment aspect of the show.

On to the music, there is epic orchestral music playing during the battle scenes that add to the sequences. As for the other BGM, nothing really comes to mind. The voice acting in the episode is nothing special really, but Kyousuke’s voice seems to fit his personality-for the while. That and Yuugiri’s extremely high and chirpy voice may get annoying later. The episode does have an opening and ending. The opening is rather catchy, upbeat and has a nice rocking beat. The vocals too are good, so the song used is a good selection. Whether it fits the series’ tone is yet to be determined, but the visuals do go well with the song. The opening has many erratic cuts that show various locations and the powers that Kyousuke uses. The most spoilerish thing that occurs is the powers that Kyousuke and his friends use, which gives them butterfly wings. There is also a large filter of red over the opening, don’t know what is up with that. The ending song sounds like something from a shonen, and sounds rather good. The visuals themselves are saturated to fit some old casino, card game theme, it brings a 50’s vibe. The ending is used to cement the character’s relationship between each other and is nice to look at.

The Unlimited - Hyoubu Kyousuke Episode 1 Review Screen 2

The Unlimited is a good anime thus far; it is a nice differentiation from the normal happiness that the season is experiencing. Kyousuke as a character reminds me of Lelouch, which isn’t a bad thing since he was a good character and anti-hero. The action scene between the Espers are done well to a certain degree, and the mystery behind Kyousuke and his comrades, and the action scenes, are probably the driving force of this anime.