Concrete Revolutio S2

Well, here I am. Back again in hopes that I would make sense of the pretty confusing and complicated first season. I hope Concrete Revolutio S2 would be easier on my brains as the series makes its way to its finale. I am not expecting it to be super easy because that will just cheapen everything that they have built up so far but at least be at a comprehensible rate for idiots like me who is trying real hard but still fails. Uh huh. And I thought being a superhuman or superhero was just easy stuffs. Kick the super villains’ ass and save the world. And some get the girl in the end. Uh huh. It’s not so simple and straightforward these days. Why do we all have to grow up and complicate things?

Episode 14
On the news, bodies from the hostages taken by Radical Superhuman Revolutionary Force have been found. Shiba and Jirou are still butting heads over their idea of justice. We jump to a timeline whereby Shiba has joined the bureau (and Kikko’s hair has grown waist length). We see Shiba training in a giant mecha and is having a hard time controlling it. Suddenly a UFO appears before them. Yusei Washizu is an android alien from some alien federation and needs the bureau’s help in capturing criminals hiding on Earth. The federation have been fighting S Planetarians (they make black holes as weapons) for millions of years and finally defeated them. Its remnants are hiding here. One of them is Grosse Augen. However he was told that it was already defeated 5 years ago. Washizu has proof that there is footage he is still alive in Shinjuku 6 months ago. So they stage some show to bait it but a monster that lost its habitat starts attacking the crowd. Jirou and Akira Shirota are also watching from the shadows. Despite Jirou’s advice to stay put as they are just here to watch the bureau, he goes out and transforms into Gross Augen to tackle the beast. Emi speaks to Jirou about his promise never to see Kikko again but he already did on the train. Emi wants him to come back to her but he won’t. Gross Augen realizes the beast is just a robot and trap. He is crucified while Jirou runs away believing the bureau has lost its way.

Because Shiba is still in a dilemma about his ideals of righteousness and being human, he narrates how he was transformed into a robot after he died once. Washizu tells him that a criminal is evil no matter what powers one has. Only freaks cause trouble. This makes Shiba upset and almost beats him up and backs down since he is overheating. Washizu plans to execute the S Planetarian in public to make an example. Kikko is guarding him and since she still has feelings for Jirou, she follows his instructions to go see him. It was just a trap so Jirou could jump into her portal to where Gross Augen is so he could get Equus back. Washizu detects a Fumer inside Jirou’s body. Fumers are gas-like species aliens and can take over the bodies and minds of those they possess. Shiba gets into his mecha to fight Jirou but ultimately his conscious stops him so Washizu takes over. He is still no match for Jirou’s power. Before Washizu can eliminate him personally, Jirou shoots him in the back. Now he knows what he wants. He wants to be cured. He rips out some chip inside Washizu’s head and believes this is what he needs to be righteous again. Jirou escapes with Gross Augen. In the future, Shiba talks to Jirou about how the police tried to treat him as a broken machine after that incident. He thinks he is justice and if others say he is wrong, they are also wrong. Jirou notes he too is superhuman and will also protect him.

Episode 15
The bureau is investigating aliens masquerading as humans being exposed and killed in broad day light and in public. Jirou is suspected but the real perpetrator might be a woman. Ah, say a woman and Kikko starts thinking how Jirou can be related. You know that guy is soft on women, right? Jirou visits Judas who now runs a hospital. Aki Haruna, one of the members of Angel Stars is hospitalized here and is believed to be wanted for the alien murders. The bureau busts in to arrest her but Jirou quickly carries her away. I think this triggered something inside Kikko and Emi. At his hideout, she notices he has the helmet of Rainbow Knight and is a big admirer of him. She doesn’t believe the helmet is real. Flashback sees Jirou meeting up with Mitsuya but the moment he speaks to him he collapses. Jirou is then captured and Akita is seen coming out from his body to control Mitsuya’s dead body. He and his Fumer comrades explain their responsibility to lead other inferior beings as advanced civilization. Kikko and Emi visit the agency of Angel Stars only to find Aki has been fired due to a scandal. Kikko thinks it is a man but the manager says it isn’t necessary. When Aki is in pain, Jirou checks her back and finds some sort of modifications that Judas made as per her request to become stronger. It is revealed that she had an affair with another fellow band member, Fanny. Yes, it’s a lesbian relationship. The agency viewed it as scandalous and Aki got sick of being told about justice and being bound by the definition of somebody else’s justice. She wants to be free like Fanny and not have any justice on her.

More flashbacks on Jirou’s encounter with the Fumers whom he doesn’t believe exist anymore. He was told they have to inhibit a superhuman’s body or else they cannot last long. They try to kill Jirou and take over his body. Akita possesses Jirou to kill off his comrades. Because Jirou is still alive, this means Akita has only a limited time to live and will die inside of him. He will use his remaining power to control his inner beast. Aki believes the Fumer still exists inside of Jirou. When she tries to attack Jirou, he realizes she has been killing aliens to find Fumers. She needs to follow Fanny who has gone to the stars (it is believed Fanny died via committing suicide). Time giant size fighting with Jirou riding Equus up against, uhm, Aki the giant woman? He defeats her but doesn’t want to arrest her. With Satomi in the picture now, Jirou hands over Aki to her other band mates to escape. Aki won’t give up on her dream to head to the stars and gives her Rainbow Knight’s helmet. Emi and Kikko are not pleased with his actions especially with the helmet containing Rainbow Knight’s secret identity. However Jirou says it is empty. He remembers Akita told him the helmet is real. He reveals a deep dark secret. Rainbow Knight’s secret powers come from his mask and suit. This means he was just an ordinary human being. Since a normal human isn’t enough to form a bureau, a superhuman was needed to commit a crime. This left Jirou confused of defines a superhuman and now the ladies in shock too because it means Rainbow Knight was just pretending to be superhuman. And it’s going to get more confusing because Jirou says Rainbow Knight was really a superhuman. WTF???!!! Are you mind f*cking with me???!!!

Episode 16
Kouichi Amato test jumps a ski jumping platform. His fellow jumpers commend him for his good work but one of them, Ganba somewhat hates him as he still holds a grudge. Suddenly dark clouds hover over them and zap the jumpers! The bureau is called in because the jumper trio know have a flower over their head! It is stiff and hard so they can’t cut it off or even wear a helmet over it. Because Japan is hosting the GP, they can’t just cancel this big international event and the bureau needs to solve it by tomorrow. Ganba thinks Amato is behind this trickery although his comrades don’t think he could since he is just an ordinary human. Suddenly dark clouds form over the city and zap everyone. They too start growing a flower on their head. The bureau goes to intercept it but they too got zapped. However they realize a flower isn’t growing and this could mean it only affects regular humans. That night, Ganba attacks Amato and threatens him to spill the beans. Ganba runs away when Jirou comes to the rescue. Jirou has business with Amato as he talks to him in his dorm. He is trying to confirm if Amato was behind this and even so he wants to protect him from the bureau. Amato takes out documents showing superhumans are allowed to participate in the games as long as they don’t have mechanical parts. Muscle and nerve body modifications are allowed. Amato was pressure to take the surgery to become a superhuman but he feared he couldn’t live up to expectations. What if he got all the modifications and failed to win the gold? Because of that he was taken off the team. Jirou isn’t interested since he isn’t the culprit but Amato pleads for him to use his power to solve this case.

Meanwhile Jaguar brings the ladies to a tree in the snowy forest believed to be behind this incident. This tree is also the symbol of god in this region. Emi is acting strange when suddenly she is possessed by the tree’s god. Meanwhile the manager tells Amato to cancel his jump since the event will be cancelled. Emi turns into Piricappi, the god of the forest. It is believed the skiing platform and facilities were built on Piricappi’s grounds and Piricappi’s role is to plant seeds, grow flowers and make a forest. Piricappi controls all the humans with the flower to gather at the ski platform, turning them into a mini forest and her power enhanced thanks to possessing Emi’s body. Jirou and Jaguar start fighting whether to save Emi or the race so Amato tells them to cut the crap and tells them off if they’re so powerful, why don’t they just use it to fix everything instead of quarrelling. Amato realizes the opening ceremony falls on the same date as the forest god’s yearly ritual. He prepares to make the jump through the gap in the mini forest. Jaguar doesn’t believe he can make it and is tempted to use his power to stop him. However Amato lands perfectly. Piricappi is satisfied and frees everyone from her mind control. Ganba and the rest apologize to Amato for being rude. Amato also explains he wants to do his duty as a test jumper since he doesn’t have the courage to represent Japan. Eventually his teammates win the gold. Emi also apologizes for the trouble. Because old forgotten gods become youkai so she somewhat clicked with them. Although the incident went without anything untoward, she wonders if the race was to be held here again, the old gods that sleep here can be trouble.

Episode 17
When a tunnel accident involves casualties, reports blame superhumans for this. The bureau suspects they are trying to sway public opinion that government should manage them. Fuurouta tails Emi who seems to be taking a long elevator down to the Earth’s core to find an underground youkai named Devila. Emi is worried if she can talk to her seeing she hates humans. She also knows Devila has a brother named Devilo. He isn’t an adult yet and thus in human form and should be easy to deal with. Speaking of him, he is on the surface. Shinjuku to be precise. He is talking nonsense and stating the obvious but people seems to be attracted to his words and before they know it, a large crowd is following him! Shakkou and his public security break up the crowd and send them scattering when they point out a large shadow youkai carp, Zumanun swimming beneath their feet. They chase and engage it. Jaguar and Kikko want to take in Devilo but Jirou is here. He says Devilo are not the culprits for the tunnel accident as believed by the public security. Jirou doesn’t want Devilo to go to the bureau as they will use him although Jaguar warns as explained by Magotake that he might have this Pied Piper effect and this makes him dangerous. Devilo thinks Kikko is cute and chooses her side. With Zumanun distracting, Devilo easily loses them. Jirou wants to know where Devila is so that Emi can have her put the underground and humans at peace. However Shakkou believes these creatures cause trouble and Japan will have them forfeit the underground. The fight continues with Fuurouta and Emi now back above ground. When a building reduces to rubble, it is a sign Zumanun has returned underground. The public security declares this a victory but the bureau believes that wasn’t its true power and could have destroyed the city if it wanted to. The public security now wants to arrest Devilo. The bureau scuffles with them. Devila pops up and sucks some of the world’s water into space. Then she picks up Devilo. When they notice Devila has a tail, they realize Devilo’s human legs are because he is still a child. He will lose them when he grows into an adult. And that is right about now. That is why Devila came to the city so that Devilo would lose his human form. Devilo states that they are everywhere. If they cannot live underground, they’ll just live in space. And up, up and away they go.

Episode 18
Wakamura and his daughter, Yuko pray at their late wife/mom’s altar. Yuko then goes to hug her mom’s grave (a rock with a face?) in the midst of the Seitaka Awadachi flower field. The flower is not a Kanto native and has become widespread throughout the years. Shiba destroys a truck transporting prisoners. One of them hijacks a bus that Wakamura and Yuko are on. When she believes a superhuman would come save them, she is taken hostage. Her father tries to save her but is shoved out of the bus. But then he turns into a superhuman?! Like the Hulk married the Thing and you get this atrocity! With a lame mask he is… Human Man?! Nice name… He easily beats up the villain and saves the day. Meanwhile Jirou is facing off with Daitetsu and his mecha. However the mecha malfunctions (overheating, I think) and this enables Jirou to save Earth-chan from his clutches. Kikko stops them as Jirou mentions the helmet similar to Jin. Something about to test brain stimulation and amplify superhuman power because Teito wants profitable superhumans and public security wants prospective soldiers. That is why the bureau is necessary to protect superhumans. But Kikko doesn’t care about all that since it gives a reason to see Jirou even if it means being his enemy. Jirou and Earth-chan return to Shiba and Judas as they discuss about Human Man showing in public and helping others. Judas mentions about the superhuman disease that is spreading via a new pollution. He views Jirou’s mission to protect superhumans no matter what akin to this disease. A couple of superhumans want Wakamura to help them rob a bank but of course he refuses. After Jirou chases them away, he asks Wakamura’s intention to become one now. He was here during the Shinjuku riots. He didn’t understand what was going on but he became a superhuman as someone close loves one.

Wakamura sees Touzaki who returns with his blood samples. They confirm to have superhuman elements. She gives him some drug to suppress it but of course he didn’t take them. She tells him about Seitaka Awadachi plants that are harmful. These are clones and stunts growth of other plants as well as mutate humans into superhumans. This is why he turned into one and since it is also turning others and they view it as inconvenience, she arranges for the field to be burnt on Christmas. Wakamura asks Yuko who is more handsome, daddy or Human Man. The latter! Because daddy has only been crying since mom died! So when public security is here to burn the field, here comes Human Man to protect the field. Jirou arrives to negotiate and learns he is protecting it because without them he is just a normal human. He is trying to hurt humans so he can stay as a superhuman. Earth-chan views him as evil as he didn’t become a superhuman for world peace. Human Man says because of Yuko loving superhumans, he became one. That is all he asks. When Earth-chan attacks, Jirou fights her. He too believes fighting for children is what superhumans do. Yuko pleads at her mom’s grave to save them. But the rock then breaks open. It is actually a pupa for Campe. She heard her prayer and helps spread the pollens around. Seitaka Awadachi plans soon bloom across Japan. With many superhumans booming, Human Man never appeared again.

Episode 19
An expedition in Antarctica digs up a cat samurai girl, Iron Mask Swordsman Koma frozen in ice for 300 years. Satomi and his Teito have bought her in a bid to advertise for publicity. After being thawed out, Koma is brought to see the Prime Minister, Shigeru Tachibana. Koma reads some of the legends in literal works regarding her as Tachibana tries to paint the country in chaos. Koma remembers she sacrificed herself to protect the village from mutants, much to her brother’s dismay. It is then the god statue combined with her and turned her into this form. To repay Tachibana for rescuing her from her frozen state, she will help slay the evil. She is told Jirou is the leader of the evil mutants. She cuts down Shiba’s hideout and there is nothing Shiba and Jirou can do about it. They are unsure what she is talking about Zess Satan and Dragon God Asahi but she thinks they’re playing dumb. She flees when Jaguar and Kikko arrive. Because Jaguar has met her before during his time travelling, he knows where she is heading. There is this tomb that Koma seems to be invading to activate something. It is the tomb of Zess Satan she sealed. Kikko thinks because this era is so alien to her and nobody knows her except Zess Satan. She is digging up her arch enemy to fight him again. Koma’s duty is to slay all evil and not spare a single one. She transforms into her real warrior form to try to undo the seal.

When Jaguar enters the fray, he believes it is not Zess Satan she wants to revive but Asahi who died while sealing him. Flashback shows Koma and Asahi facing off but the latter lost. She won’t kill him despite his reasoning that she will be seen as a traitor and an ally for evil if she spares him. If she lets him live, her justice will be lost. Thus he is going to defeat Zess Satan to obtain his powers to beat her. He did that but Koma eventually sealed them. Jaguar believes they both felt for each other. Koma is disappointed despite defeating every last evil, wars did not stop till this day. What she lost was those dear to her. She knows doing this won’t bring Asahi back but to prevent others from experiencing a similar fate. Jirou stops her and mentions how cool Asahi was because he was an evil superhuman but justice inside him stirred. Koma sees Jirou as a nice guy so she goes back to punish Tachibana for deceiving her. He pleads for his life and even tries to show his ancestry. He is the descendent of her younger brother. He reveals his superhuman powers to control animal minds. He can control some politicians too but only if they’re of the dumbest kind. She is confused her descendent is tormenting superhumans and living lavishly. Going to war to stop war? WTF?! I’m as confused as her too. Koma goes away saddened with the fact Zess Satan is gone but the war did not. Satomi has recorded their conversation. Jaguar intends to give his time travelling clock to Earth-chan to send Koma back to her era. However Koma refuses since it will be the same. There is no difference then and now. So what will she do? She once travelled to find the end of the world (was that why she was in South Pole?) and will continue to do so. Recording of Tachibana’s conversation is revealed to the public. Japan is thrown into chaos once more. War. It never changes…

Episode 20
Colonel Carloco tasks the bureau to retrieve a missing soldier, Jonathan Morrell. He came to them instead of the public security because this involves military secrets and this small team is flexible. Besides, Magotake is related to this. At least in the experimental superhuman unit call JOE (Jungle Operation Enforcers). All American JOE superhumans who fought in the Southeast Asian war were stationed at Yokota Air Base in Japan instead of being sent back. The bureau tries to enter the base but couldn’t enter because it is US land. Fuurouta brings Kikko to see Jirou who tells her as usual for the bureau to stay out of this. Because he knows superhuman soldiers who fought the war will be detained and can never go home. This is to cover up their existence. Jonathan escaped because he wants to go home and if the US Army finds him, they’ll kill him. Jonathan is with him and plans to send him home. Jonathan is with Shiba but he is scared with any altar things even if it is decoration. When Jirou returns, he hears out Jonathan as he recalls the atrocities he did in the jungle in the name of guiding humans to a new era. There were local people turning into beasts and the likes. Jonathan was traumatized that he did anything to survive. He considers himself a murderer and can’t go back. But Jirou believes the power he yearned for in the beginning was right and he should return proud and condemn the US Army’s injustice. Jonathan becomes scared when he saw Emi’s youkai at the window but when Jirou turns, he sees nothing. Carloco shows top secret blueprints of JOE to Magotake. He believes their purpose in using superhumans differ than the rest because they are not for national profit but for mankind. Something about Earth was ruled by former rulers like spirits, ghosts, etc. So he plans to eradicate them and share this glory with mankind.

Emi and Kikko report Jonathan’s location and when Carloco and his JOE guys arrive, they become hostile in trying to take them in. But they got the wrong room so Jirou and Jonathan escape. Kikko believes they are going overboard but Carloco says this is the best way to keep casualties to a minimum. Despite Emi looking like she is siding with the US Army, her logic it is better to be their ally and then get in their way instead of rebelling outright. This is the best way to protect Jirou. Later Carloco gets a call from Master Ultima to capture Jirou. This guy compared to that soldier is more important as he is the key for the future global energy crisis. Jonathan is hiding in the cabin woods but his trauma works up. He runs away realizing this country is similar to the jungles he fought in. Everything has a spirit in it unlike his home where everything is only human. The JOE guys attack. Jonathan kills them and even a couple of innocent hikers! Then he goes crazy realizing he knows a way to guide mankind by becoming God and instilling fear and death. He arms himself with the weapon limbs he torn off other JOE soldiers. Carloco intervenes to fight him. He disagrees with Jirou’s notion that they are abandoning him because they are going to bring him back with honour. Carloco kills off Jonathan. Then he faces off with Jirou as they both have opposing views on justice. Their clash is stopped when Magotake steps in. They’ve secured Jonathan, now leave. Jonathan is taken back in a coffin on a plane home to US. The news reports the incident and blames it on the youkai. Shiba thought Jirou wasted his time because Jonathan was destined to return to the battlefield as he was born there and had nowhere else to go. Jirou disagrees because Jonathan admired superhumans and aspired to be one. It was his reason to save him.

Episode 21
Maria Nana, an ex-IQ member enters a superhero haven. Everyone still hates and blames her for being part of that riot that gave superhumans a bad name. She leaves once she sees Fuurouta but Satomi puts on Claude’s helmet on her and brainwashes her. There is something about NUTS that Touzaki explains like how they don’t broadly interpret superhumans but deem them as super-humankind with innate or acquired exceptional power. This makes non-superhumans to be considered evil and can crack down on bad ones and make it look like an in-fight. Shiba fights Mieko and Kaoru. Satomi wants Touzaki to wear Claude’s helmet and make her into a superhuman to pilot the mecha. He believes acquiring NUTS will make them equal as Gods. Once she starts up the mecha, she takes on Aki. But being a beginner and non-superhuman, she loses. But the leak from her mecha’s fuselage is causing great damage to Aki. With the damage around, Jaguar punches Jirou that he didn’t do anything to stop the attacks but stood there just like a coward. He didn’t stop Shiba and Mieko-Kaoru’s fight. He didn’t even stop Aki’s fight. The fuel is analyzed and it is discovered to be that same powerful drug developed by the US to kill immortal superhumans like that immortal family. Now it seems they have developed it as a fuel. Judas has a hard time trying to treat Aki but he takes Jirou’s blood and everything calms down. There are rumours about Jirou’s blood revitalizing superhuman cells and its side effect turns them into giants. With his blood, an unknown energy always appears in the superhuman’s body. To find out more, he suggests asking Magotake since he is an expert on this field. Because if you remember that Big GaGon incident, it was Jirou’s blood that turned a peaceful beast into a violent one. Earth-chan comes down believing Jirou called for her. He didn’t but she believes his heart was crying out to her. However she doesn’t know how to help him. Mieko and Kaoru don’t want a part in this as they are made to unite the country. Now they see them as enemies of peace and leave.

Satomi and Touzaki see Tachibana to tell him about the leaked secret meeting of him with Master Ultima over the implementation of NUTS. With this, Satomi believes they have washed their hands off and this mismanagement has nothing to do with them anymore. Tachibana will be forced to resign and Master Ultima will be prosecuted by many. Touzaki is surprised this means NUTS project is off. She wonders about his plans and he mentions everything will go accordingly still since there will be Okinawa even without NUTS and a movie released at the end of the year. His goal is a world without superhumans. Daitetsu isn’t pleased when Touzaki relays the order to not resist when superhumans attack and just watch NUTS get destroyed. He becomes disillusioned about justice and believes Jirou has always been stating the obvious. True justice shouldn’t be like that and a strong determination like his that doesn’t allow evil at all. So what has Touzaki to do but to drink her heart out. Actually she is also called out by Jirou. She gives him Claude’s helmet as he wanted because he heard she spoke with Claude when she was on NUTS. Jirou puts the helmet on and peeks into his own past. Emi snuck him out to play but he got injured. Because he doesn’t want to go back, his powers went berserk. It was like as though there was some sort of beast inside him. The year after the war ended, Satomi is seen talking to Magotake about the Germans’ failed bomb proposal. Satomi told him about American dropping a bomb on Hiroshima last year and it was supposed to destroy a city. But it had no effect as a baby (Jirou) was found alive. But what if that bomb was real. Because it did cause a great deal of damage.

Episode 22
Satomi thought GaGon was disposed of but Magotake regenerated it using a piece of its heart using Jirou’s blood. He wanted to present this to Master Ultima but some organization broke in and set GaGon free and thus that rampaging incident (the one which also had Jirou went out of the lab for the first time and supported GaGon). Now Jirou is seen talking to Claude. He is told what if Claude’s personality was burnt into the helmet’s processing unit and Teito mass produced it. Countless Claude could be dwelling in it now. Claude wants to show him the rest but Jirou is overcome with fear and doesn’t want to see it. Earth-chan rips the helmet from his head. Touzaki takes the helmet instead as Jirou warns Claude’s thinking will corrupt her. As a plain human, she explains her simple version of justice and how all superhumans should just get together for the greater good. She might not want to be a superhuman but doesn’t mind having powers. Earth-chan destroys the helmet. During a public event where NUTS is on display, all the related parties are there. With Satomi warning superhumans are in the midst, panic soon starts as NUTS get into gear. Touzaki wears the helmet and Claude corrupts her. She goes berserk destroying everything. Jirou remembers Claude took off his helmet. Jirou saw his own face. So now he is paralyzed in fear and not attacking back. Something about all the reasons for being passionate and justice, his kid self is the source. Fuurouta and Jaguar had to talk some sense into him that he is no longer a kid and before him is a crying one. Jirou gets his groove back as he combines Equus with Shiba’s mecha into something more awesome and save the day. In the aftermath, a handful of casualties and hundreds injured (including Touzaki). During the great typhoon in Japan, it seems like Satomi sabotaged the transportation of NUTS and let the flood wash the robots away. Everybody is watching a propaganda video from Teito and Jirou needs to see this to see what Claude told him was consistent. So it tells about the incident with Rainbow Knight and his defeat. Jirou didn’t want to believe when Rainbow Knight said justice might not exist.

Episode 23
Master Ultima is hunting down youkais and captures Koma. However Emi fights and kills him and then takes over his Ultimapolis base. The police’s superhuman violence control merges with the public security force to form a new super soldier unit as they raid superhuman hideouts and arrest its remnants. After the propaganda movie, the people now thinks the bureau is an evil organization hiding a beast. Magotake talks to Jaguar about his last meeting with Jirou whereby he told him the truth about Satomi’s theory on how Jirou was born. Something about Jirou being a contact point where 2 worlds overlap. Because the bomb failed to explode, its failure most probably had simply taken a shape of a baby. It is believed in that alternate world, the bomb may have exploded and people found a way to control nuclear fission and there was no need to fight over oil. World peace reigned. Jirou might have come into existence because somebody wished for the tragedy to be undone. Like a superhero when somebody cries for help, they appear to help and save the day. Thus the bureau was formed to protect Jirou as Satomi and the US Army has always been after him. But Jirou doesn’t want all that as he still believes in a righteous superhuman. Kikko and Fuurouta talk to Touzaki who has left the company and in charge of songs for kids’ shows. She thinks that superhumans are just nothing but children’s imaginations. Once they are gone, the kids will wake up. The duo then stumble into Shiba, Mieko and Kaoru who show her blueprints of Ultimapolis. There is something fishy about the engine. No, not that its design looks like taiyaki…

Jirou travels underground to Ultimapolis where Emi is. He realizes the engines are powered by superhuman powers. Because of their superhuman genes have this regeneration ability that won’t be melted from that fuel, massive energy is generated by the division and fusion of cells which is then used as fuel. Master Ultima tried to secure superhuman rights through this. Superhumans will resolve the energy crisis and end wars. However this only applies to humanoid superhumans. Youkais and other beasts will be just used as energy. Emi wants to build their own nation here and secretly trying to negotiate for their independence. Kikko wonders if Touzaki is trying to send a hidden message through her songs about superhumans being useful to humans. Earth-chan then crashes down to Earth because she has ran out of power after the relentless chasing from the super soldier unit. Mieko and Kaoru are put out of commission by Daitetsu’s metal manipulating abilities while Shiba tries to save Earth-chan ends up getting ripped to bits by a train. Jirou doesn’t want to run and has Ultimapolis resurface. Jirou has decided that mankind and beasts are enemies after all. He faces off with Akira as Judas relays Judas’ last words to Jirou. Kikko is shocked when Fuurouta discloses that Emi took her demon powers to save her. That’s why in return Jirou promised never to see Kikko. It’s the reason he left the bureau. It’s too late for Kikko to blame herself. Ultimapolis has resurfaced and Jirou has defeated Akira before shortly declaring war on all superhumans. Also shortly after, Emi makes a public announcement to demand Ultimapolis be surrendered to youkais and beasts eternally. Satomi also exposes top secret information about the new energy type that can be created out of superhumans. With humans making their decision, so did superhumans. Everyone is going to war and for the first time superhumans have a reason and enemy to fight.

Episode 24
It seems 2 years have passed and peace reigns. Everyone now views superhumans in a good way thanks to the Okinawa incident. So we go back 2 years to see the epic fight. Emi and her youkais are led by Jirou against humans and humanoid superhumans who turn against Jirou since he killed Rainbow Knight. Especially Daitetsu who is facing off with him. Jirou admits he killed Rainbow Knight and is a beast. Jirou defeats Daitetsu. Daitetsu thought he is going to die but his BL Clan friends save him. With Kikko joining the fray, everyone sees her as a saviour and thus her witch powers grow. She whisks him away inside Ultimapolis where she confronts Emi. Emi claims that Jirou will leave with her and the rest of the youkais to another world. Because Jirou is the contact point, once he awakens, the door to another world will open. A world where there will be no wars over energy. When Kikko attacks her, Jirou protects Emi. Kikko pulls back in time. As Satomi explains, it is part of Jirou’s plan to become a villain and then die by her hands since she is the hero. With the people’s trust regained, they can continue to live in this world. But must Kikko really kill Jirou? He believes he did her wrong. She was pure and strong and would become a hero of justice. But because of him, she changed. She fought for herself and not justice. Kikko has always viewed him as a superhero but Jirou doesn’t think he lived up to that as he always breaks his promises. Satomi has his own script to play. He is going to defeat Jirou so that superhumans fight humans and disappear on their own. He wants Emi to take her youkais and leave to the other world. Satomi hates superhumans because they feel unnatural to this world. It’s like as though this world is a child dreaming and must grow up.

Before Jirou leaves with Emi, he wants to defeat Satomi. It might look like Jaguar is using his technology to stop Jirou, but because such technology doesn’t exist in his era, time is correcting itself so Jaguar and his machines disappear. Jaguar notes to Jirou that he is on his side this time. Satomi reveals he was born the same way as Jirou. A large meteor crashed into Earth that could destroy everything but instead gave birth to an energy that was him. He used that energy to stop aging and maximise his abilities. The guys clash and for the first time Jirou admits himself to being a superhuman. The rest of his pals chip in to fight Satomi. However Satomi uses the fuel to burn Jirou’s arm. Normally his regenerative abilities meant that it could regenerate in no time but because Akita is controlling his power, Jirou will not be able to keep his form soon and become pure energy. Emi wants him to go to the other world to solve this problem. Unfortunately Jirou won’t be going. He admits to breaking another promise and will be staying. They can use Satomi as the contact point seeing he is the same as Jirou. Jirou turns into pure energy, never to appear again. In the aftermath, Emi and her youkais leave for the other world via using Satomi. Ullr decides to go along too. Because he still loves Emi? Kikko and Fuurouta along with the other humanoid superhumans stay back. Now 2 years later, Touzaki is a famous person and everyone helping her out. It is believed that a group of aliens are on their way to Earth and another battle is loving. Kikko might not be able to see Jirou but she can still feel him spread all over the world watching them. She hopes one day a voice would reach him just like how superhumans are supposed to be. There are short montages of other characters but I don’t really get it. Not any more at this point.

With Great Powers Come Great Energy
Sadly… I still don’t get it!!! So looks like the only thing I can see as the root of all this problem is that superhumans have this potential to become new source of energy that currently this alternate world is facing right now and that might be the reason why everybody wants to rule over superhumans. Which is of course the root of all the complications and convoluted plots which I still am not being able to comprehend. So it looks like they have gone with a seemingly good ending because yeah, peace, right? Till the aliens arrive and decide to do an Independence Day on Earth. That will be a superhuman story for another time. So how did they solve the energy crisis because everybody is like so happy respecting superhumans like super idols instead of looking them as power source? Beats me. Not that I care anymore. Because it’s like treating your porky pet pig as your beloved little brother instead of eating it as bacon for breakfast. Hell, yeah…

A great portion of this series also follows the format of the first season whereby there is some sort of random case. Even if there were enough pieces of the puzzles to put together and form at least a reasonable story from some of the recurring characters and incidents, for a dumb guy like me, I still didn’t really understand everything in the overall picture. It is as good as if I never saw the first season, jumped straight into this one and be equally confused in the end. Only this time it is worse because since I saw the first season not too long ago and now that I just saw the second season, I should be able to grasp something. Yeah, blame myself for losing interest and being lazy to go back and refresh my memories of the first season. WHAT?! YOU CRAZY?! You want me to go back and review and remind myself what the f*ck just happened???!!! That’s like studying for exams in my schooling years that I loathe!!! Not happening. Prefer to blame all the confusing stuffs here instead of reading up. It’s much simpler that way ;p.

So you can bet that I have forgotten a lot of plots, scenarios and outlines from the first season which of course further impedes my understanding and thus my overall enjoyment for this series. Oh heck, who am I kidding? I couldn’t even enjoy it in the first place with me racking my brains trying to make sense of everything which I eventually failed at the end of the episode and season. I remember the episodes in the season don’t air in chronological order (at least that is what I still believed to be) but for this season, it seems I don’t even give a damn anymore. All I know is that many of the episodes this season should have taken place at least after those we have seen in the first season.

In the end, I don’t even know who is who and what is what. What side they are on and what they are really after. Because like Jirou himself is already one bloody confusing existence. Say what? He is born from a failed nuclear detonation? He is not superhuman? And then finally he is? What kind of justice he believes in? I give up. I don’t even know Jirou any more than I know a stranger. In the end, he decided to do a Madoka and become one with the world. That’s like becoming God, no? And what about the other characters of the bureau? I don’t know whose side everybody is anymore in the end. It’s like everybody slowly starts to leave the bureau or become fugitives. I don’t know. I don’t know anymore. I don’t know what the heck is happening. Forgive me for spamming this (and you’ll hear this a few more times) because really, sometimes it feels like a waste of brain power and time for me to watch the entire series without understanding a damn thing in the end. I was hoping to see Kikko and Emi fight over Jirou but with all the complications happening, that remains a pipe dream. At least they still love this guy, right? Right?! He is no longer physically around but I’m sure he’ll always be in their hearts. I know it sounds cheesy but whatever.

Some of the other recurring characters from the first season like Campe only make very short cameos and I believe they don’t make any significant contribution to the overall plot. At least not individually. Then others like Master Ultima whom I thought was somewhat a disappointment but it could be just the way the plot worked out. Because I thought he was supposed to be the biggest antagonist whatsoever but I could be wrong and my confusion of everything might have my perceptions of him mixed up. And then he got killed by Emi so easily. WTF?! So he’s not like the ultimate final boss? And that final boss goes to Satomi? I don’t know. I thought he was a bit weak too. I mean, he is a shady character and it’s like he has some sort of scheme up his sleeves but it is as though his final battle in the final episode felt like they ran out of time so they need to hurry with the epic boss fight and just get over with it. Some new characters this season like those skiers and that normal human who turned into a superhuman feel like they’re just fillers. Some from the first season never came back like those comedians although they do make very short cameos in the final episode. If you still remember them. I believe the series has so many characters that somewhat ties into the plot directly and indirectly but since I failed to connect them that way, most of them are out of sight, out of mind.

There are probably lots of other things I wanted to say but I couldn’t because I am still super confused as I am typing my final words. My final thoughts are still jumbled from the mess. So I’m just going to just summarize a few of the other points I noted like the action parts are filled with its typical flashy exaggeration and special effects just like last season. I guess there is not much need to understand when things go boom. Or is there? The art and drawing is also consistent with last season with lots of colourful backgrounds and characters. But some of the characters like Emi and Kikko spot a more mature look this time. But I want to point out that there is one episode whereby bare tits are very visible. As Devila was always in her natural form, if you look closely enough, you can actually see her tits and her long flowing hair is just like a fake teaser to make us think it is there as a natural censor but it isn’t. At many times you can see her full nipples in your face. Well, this anime isn’t really for kids in the first place despite the setting of how kids love dreaming of superhumans and superheroes. This season’s themes are also done by the same people with ZAQ handling the opener, Warireru Doukoku and the ending theme ALL-WAYS by Yohsuke Yamamoto but this time featuring Nami Tamaki in the lead vocals. This mean it’s not an instrumental this time. Also, at least this time the ending credits animation didn’t have weird creepy animations. And just like last season too, I found out there are lots of insert songs but I didn’t really notice them.

Overall, I am reiterating what I mostly said in my previous blog for this series. It is not a show for any Tom, Dick and Harry. You need to have a sharp and exceptional mind to watch and keep tabs at all the happenings. Hats off to those who actually understood and enjoyed this series. So I’m glad that this series is finally over as I can put my brains to rest. I’m just glad I didn’t live in that alternate world with all the confusion and fighting with superhumans. But come to think of it, this reality isn’t any better because we still fight among ourselves for every petty reasons. Either way, as long as you are human, you’re still screwed. That is why till this day no real or fictional superhuman or superhero could still save us from ourselves. And even if you have a free pass to start anew in another parallel world, I believe it will still end up being the same thing. We’re humans after all, with or without super powers.

 

Concrete Revolutio: Choujin Gensou

The army is supposed to protect the nation. But who is to supervise them? The army police. Likewise, the police who are supposed to police over the peace of a nation, who is supposed to supervise over them? I’m not too sure but I’m sure there is a special task force to oversee that. I think. In short, in every or most professions, you have another body that supervisors and oversees something. So that is why when you have superhumans protecting Earth from evildoers in the name of justice, who will be the ones keeping a watch on them so that they do not abuse their special powers? According to Concrete Revolutio: Choujin Gensou, Japan has formed a bureau to manage, keep track and organize these superhumans from the shadows as a measure to secure peace and order. These are not only the trials and tribulations of the bureau as they seek to keep the peace by doing their job but you’ll find all the conspiracy and political manoeuvres behind it all. Yeah, what is a superhuman series without all that in addition to all that pow, wham, bam, zap and boom.

Episode 1
Kikko Hoshino works as a waitress when a customer, Jirou Hitoyoshi needs her help. He believes a scientist is going to sell national research secrets that will cause delay in the sciences for a decade. To their surprise, it is the other way round. The scientist seems to be getting something he wants experimented on. With Jirou telling her to steal the package, she does so as she uses her magical wand to teleport away. The agent then turns into a giant evil alien. Another giant alien, Grosse Augen pops up to fight it. As explained, it might look like the giant transported to another dimension to fight. But in actual fact just like in reels for every movie, there is a gap between those films and thus that is where the fighting takes place. Just too fast for our human eyes to catch. Kikko follows Jirou as they continue their mission. He explains they are from an organization that protects superhumans. Jirou transforms his car into a giant mechanical Centaur, Equus to fight the evil alien. And there’s something about using the climate too. Whatever. Anyway the evil alien is defeated. But Kikko is shocked that Jirou attacks Gross Augen too. Jirou tells Gross Augen to separate from that human. However he claims to be sharing this human’s life now. Flashback reveals the human police officer saw he was dying after his spaceship crashed. After being explained about the danger befalling on the planet, he did not hesitate to agree and merge with him. Jirou does not believe about him giving his life for his planet because if he did that, he cannot exist. He also knows the body is at its limit but if they act now, Gross Augen can go back to his home planet. At the back alley, Jirou did the necessary to send Gross Augen back. I’m not sure what happened back at the bureau but the scientist looks disappointed upon learning he was dealing with aliens. Jirou brings Kikko back to his organization and is made a member. Flash forward a few years into the future, Kikko is seen chasing down Jirou but he gives her the slip after all that fighting. It is believed he disobeyed orders from the bureau to save a human’s life and went rogue. And it has something to do with Jirou merging the human with the comatose evil alien after separating him from Gross Augen. Jirou is adamant he won’t return to the Superhuman Bureau ever again.

Episode 2
Fuurouta the ghost kid is at a carnival where a man is exhibiting a rare and expensive bug to awed kids. He causes havoc to free the bug so he could sell it and get the money when a thick black fog engulfs the area. The freed bug is grateful for his assistance and mentions the Tartaros Bugmen in this fog are her comrades here to whisk her away. The black fog is now engulfing the National Diet building. Fuurouta seems to be in prison but when he heard about this news, he decides to get cheeky again. I mean, as a ghost he could just pass through walls, right? When Jirou sees him, he tells police officers to surround him since he cannot pass through living objects. At first Fuurouta is not interested to work with Jirou and his bureau but after seeing how cute Kikko is, he’d love to try it out. He learns everyone here is a superhuman except for Jirou who is the only human. Fuurouta wants to join but they’re not hiring since they just hired Kikko. They brought him in just to watch over him so he doesn’t play pranks on others. Fuurouta smitten with Kikko, tries to impress her but her mind is somewhere else. Along the way, he meets Campe, the bug he saved earlier. He gets the wrong idea she likes him so he tells her he already has someone he likes. He also thinks she is a ghost because she ‘suddenly disappears’.

The bureau’s chief, Daishi Akita talks to Jirou’s adoptive dad and researcher, Magotake about the Tartaros Bugmen who once ruled this world for millennia before falling from power. Magotake believes this virus which he cultivated from their grave is the reason for their downfall. With all the superhumans in the fog case dead, Fuurouta decides to help out with this fog mission since he can pass through things. If he is successful, he’ll join the bureau. He enters the fog and throws the virus container at them. The fog disappears. Campe doesn’t seem pleased and flies away. The bureau members vote whether Fuurouta should join or not. Kikko is against it since she doesn’t want kids working in dangerous places. But by majority votes, Fuurouta is in. In the near future, Fuurouta is attacked by a grownup Campe but saved by Jirou. Campe has been looking for him to avenge the deaths of her Tartaros Bugmen. She as their queen was captured and about to be sold and Fuurouta saved them. The Tartaros Bugmen lived in Japanese woods and had a contract with humans. But today’s politicians forgot about it and started cutting down trees, infuriating them. Because Fuurouta killed them with the virus, she is the only one left. Fuurouta feels guilty and would gladly die by her hands but Jirou tells him his life is not enough compared to the millions he took. Even if Campe took it, what difference would it make? She can’t forgive him is because they are friends. But Campe notes because they are different now, they cannot be friends (Fuurouta is still the same ghost kid who never grew). Fuurouta is sad that he is always stuck as a kid and cannot tell between good and bad. He wants to grow up too. But Jirou tells him to stay as he is.

Episode 3
Detective Raito Shiba is investigating a series of bomb explosions at train stations at airports. He is not too thrilled when the Superhuman Bureau is also assigned to this case. As employees from Yatsuka Heavy Industries were targeted, it is deduces that Yatsuka might be developing weapons for other countries. The loophole is that doing research for it is legal. But what if a superhero is trying to stop them in making weapons for other countries? Shiba lock horns with Jirou about the non-existence of superheroes and will find the culprit himself. Akita explains Shiba was a brilliant detective till an accident. His entire body is replaced with a machine and his memories and personality was transplanted into it. Shiba on his way to a Yatsuka factory, meets a girl named Mieko Koorogi. She asks if he is with Yatsuka. He denies. When he sees the Superhuman Bureau here, he takes her to run but gets electrocuted. She then grabs him and runs into the factory. Mieko is also a robot as she is trying to search for someone but looks like it’s the wrong target. It is discovered that a pair of robots, a male and a female were created during the war. Mieko is one of them. Kaoru Handa is the other although he went missing after the war. It could be that they are sent away and programmed to meet like lovers. When they meet, they might turn into the ultimate weapon. If they are a bomb, you know what this means when infiltrating an enemy country, right?

Shiba finds Mieko and realizes that the recent attacks were because she was trying to find that person and the only clue she got was that he was made from Yatsuka, like how all the bombs were. Shiba is drawn to her but she is not amused and runs away. He is going to shoot her when Jirou borrows some time stopping device from fellow comrade Hyouma “Jaguar” Yoshimura to stop time and grab both of them. Shiba reveals his body is designed very closely to her counterpart, that is why he is drawn to her. That is why he will also destroy her. After telling her about the possible merger that will turn her into a bomb, he tells her it is a safer bet for her to merge with him. Mieko couldn’t accept it and jumps into the water plant to self destruct. In the future, Shiba has turned rogue as he destroys a military escort bringing home a criminal that has been living a recluse life in Guam. He brings her to where the water plant was. He thought Mieko blew herself up but had merely dived to the bottom to hibernate. This criminal is Kaoru who was given orders to hide in the south, Shiba wants him to merge with her. After explaining the false love and sense of justice programmed into them, he will use them to show what true justice is and awake Japan. Jirou steps in to stop Shiba. Mieko and Kaoru have already merged. However they cannot do as Shiba wishes since what he is doing is evil. But aren’t they just machines to programme what they are told to? Jirou says justice and all that crap is only due to humans’ misinterpretation of it and at times make mistakes. Shiba and Jirou begin their super power fighting. If the bomb doesn’t destroy the place, I think their fighting would.

Episode 4
When beasts were spotted in Japan, Jirou wanted to use his power to kill them but was reminded the bureau’s duty is only to secretly manage superhumans. Jirou believes all beasts are evil although his colleague, Emi Kino believes not all are. Upon arrival at the scene, Gross Augen pops up to take the beast on. That was the first time Gross Augen appeared and has fought many beasts. But after he has left for his planet, a month later it seems more beasts are appearing. Will there be another such great hero to fight beasts. Speaking of which, a giant squid beast is dropping acidic drops over the city. Don’t worry, there is this little superhuman, Earth-chan to the rescue. Although everybody knows this superhuman, based on the law, superhumans cannot be reported in newspapers despite the monster incident can. Even if superhumans can appear in magazines, they are all lies. It is what the bureau wishes for in their bid to hide and protect them. Also, since more beasts have emerged, the number of superhumans laying low has increased to help out and show off their fighting prowess by defeating those beasts. Jirou and Kikko are following Fuurouta to a bunch of kids keeping a baby beast, GaGon. They are picked up by Ukyo to see the president Matsumoto of a mini company, Radio Wave. As beasts are popular with many people, his aim is to broadcast them live when they appear. He feels sorry for beasts because they are product of human experiments and industrial wastes and believes they should co-exist. However Jirou believes otherwise that they are born from nature.

They explain GaGon had been Hiroyuki’s brother ever since the war. His real brother died of malnutrition. When he picked up GaGon in the streets, he treats it like his reincarnated brother. As proof, it is quite gentle and friendly. Shiba stops by to report findings from the lab about the DNA of beasts coming from one source. This means somebody is manufacturing beasts and might be selling them to crime syndicates. Jirou defends Radio Wave as this rundown factory cannot make a decent beast. Shiba thinks Jirou is conspiring something because with beasts being the bad guys, it is a good reason to make superhumans look good. Ukyo and Matsumoto thank Jirou for not reporting GaGon. GaGon takes a liking for Jirou and clings all over him. When the news reports the return of Master Ultima, it seems like it is a very bad news. Akita sees a couple of his old friends and in their true form, they discuss what measures to be taken. Akita then reports to his bureau members that all the reported beast appearances have been sold separately to organizations by the same maker. And the broker is Radio Wave. Jirou becomes upset as he rushes over there. However Ukyo comes crying that they’ve gone too far as a Big GaGon has been developed using bits of GaGon. Jirou tries to stop Matsumoto but the latter activates his Big GaGon to crush him. Jirou releases his locks to turn into some fire monster and burn the place down. Ukyo is actually Emi as she ‘repairs’ Jirou by pushing back all his protruding bolts and calm his flame.

Episode 5
Jirou is resting and having troubling remembering what happened. As the beast appearances have reduced, Matsumoto, Hiroyuki and GaGon are currently missing but the bureau believes they are hiding at some university that is organizing a peaceful march. True enough they are. Before Jirou could take action, Hiroyuki stabs him with a serum that makes him go berserk. He accuses them all of being beasts so they should become one too. This is part of the plan to make Jirou look like the bad guy so Matsumoto can send his beast to take him down and earn good public image. There is a dead American beast but with GaGon’s regenerative cell, it can grow explosively well. The beast absorbs GaGon and turns into MegaGon! The rally leader convinces the student to protect MegaGon as Jirou runs rampage. Luckily Fuurouta ejects Jirou before anything untoward can happen. MegaGon and the rest make their march and garner more support from the public. Kikko confronts Emi about her disguise as Ukyo. She claims she is a youkai and can’t shape shift without a model, thus the missing cut out pictures from the magazine. Emi knows the chief loves superhumans and would never have allowed this. But she continued to let Jirou stay on the job because he is far more dangerous and not an ordinary human. That is why she loves him. Only a person who truly loves him can stop him. She shows a burn scar on her palm. In short, everyone has beasts inside them. Kikko sees worried Jirou trying to get up because Emi went by herself to defeat the monster. He reveals his hatred for beasts that began since his childhood. A beast was attacking the city and at that time Jirou just escaped some strict facility. That freedom made him cheered on the beast because it is like it freed him. But at the same time he hated it for wanting to destroy the world. There is one beast he can’t reach and Kikko thinks it is Emi. She tries to kiss him and act like a beast to prove there is one inside her?! WTF?! When MegaGon begins to move, it is stopped by Fuurouta disguised as a sticky mat. Then Emi summons the birds to annoy MegaGon as it turns himself into a ball. To buy more time, Kikko uses her magic to try and lift it but to no avail. The trains collide for some super explosion but since it didn’t reach, Akita possesses a train and fights MegaGon till a large explosion occurs. The crowd then provokes MegaGon to attack and destroy. Matsumoto rants about beasts not able to understand humans and that is why he loves them. Cue for him to get killed off. Jirou arrives to finish it off. Emi is seen giving Magotake blood derivatives of Jirou.

Episode 6
As part of the investigation, Fuurouta joins a music-cum-comedy band, Mountain Horse consists of Don, Freeze, Haru and Dee, as an assistant. Seems they incorporate superhuman powers in their brand of comedy. Previously they were normal humans but after making their debut on stage and after the next band supposedly had superhuman powers played, the next day they found themselves with superhuman powers. While the rest relish about their new powers, Don is cautious because of the laws regulating superhumans that made them illegal. There was a robbery in progress but their powers were more comical than anything helpful. It took another group of superhumans to chase the robbers away. Angel Stars becomes the first bona fide superhuman all-girl band while Mountain Horse is left to become second rate comedians and hardly do any singing. But Don doesn’t think it is such a bad idea since it is making people laugh. One day Don overhears his boss discussing with Michiko Touzaki to control the superhuman population by adding some drugs into chocolates as promotional items for Angel Stars that will take away their power. Don is then picked up by the bureau who wants his help to stop this evil organization but he refuses since it will cost them their jobs. While Don’s band mates are pondering to stop this evil, Don talks about how being superhumans is bad. He doesn’t mind being second rate because he gets to make people laugh. The band is called to see Touzaki who is offering them to sing a song that will sell 10 millions of copies. However Don remains suspicious that she would pick them and refuses her. He knows she is on to them that they know about their plan and shutting them up. He hates being superhuman but if they continue to treat him the way he is now, he will be less than a third rate. He is going to use his superhuman power just this one time. So they infiltrate the factory to destroy the chocolates but the robot mascot attacks them. Even Angel Stars join in the attack as ordered by Touzaki. During all that, Dee was killed. Jirou was about to intervene but Don informs that they are quitting immediately. This means they are free to play wherever they are and will not be tailed. He also threatens them to stop this chocolate production or he will show everyone this proof. In the end, the trio continue their comedy routine. Jirou who wanted to recruit them felt their superhuman powers went to waste but Fuurouta notes that they made people laugh and that itself is a great power.

Episode 7
Kikko’s little mascot helper, Ullr is talking to Emi about Kikko’s whose true identity is a princess of some dimension as opposed to her witch status as the people here think. Both somewhat agree Kikko might be getting to close to Jirou. Ullr as her watcher doesn’t like it. Emi as Jirou’s boyfriend doesn’t like it. Kikko meets Judas to register him as part of the bureau. However Earth-chan thought he escaped from prison to do more bad things and attacks him. However Judas zaps her so they can get away. Flashback shows Judas was part of some evil organization. He used his power for evil till Earth-chan fought him. Her words made him changed and wanted to turn over a new leaf. Now they need to contact Earth-chan. Kikko wonders why can’t they just call her. Well, she is a satellite orbiting Earth! Hey. Kikko is seriously bringing a land phone up there? I don’t think the cable is that long. But she has no time since Earth-chan senses those calling for her help and dives down to defeat the evil and even help a baby bird back to its nest! Yes. Even helping an old lady cross the street! Earth-chan our everyday hero! Eventually Kikko gives her some konpeitou to allow this machine to have dreams. Back home, Jirou tells Kikko that Japan’s Prime Minister will be joining DFE (Defence Force of Earth), an organization to defend Earth from evil space people. However many superhuman youths are against this and Earth-chan is needed to help protect the PM. Because the public will always believe whoever Earth-chan protects is the good guy, the whole plot is to make the public view Japan as joining DFE as good. And it is the bureau’s job to make that happen too.

As they talk to Judas, it seems he wants to join in the protest because he believes not all space people are evil. Some superhuman youths think Japan wants to make them fight again. Earth-chan thinks Judas has lied again to become bad so Judas promises he will join the protest and not use his power. When Kikko asks her was she able to dream, she couldn’t answer and blushes. Then some smart ass tells Earth-chan that Kikko is actually a witch. Earth-chan thinks she is tricked and throws away the konpeitou. The protest begins but Earth-chan is just staying watch since she only reacts and helps those who make an SOS from the bottom of their heart. When the protest gets violent, Earth-chan again thinks Judas lied when he used his power. When Kikko intervenes, Earth-chan fights her. Kikko tells her although lying is bad, humans cannot be right all the time. Jirou adds about Earth-chan’s design that the more people she helps, the more feel good feelings she’ll get. It seems to hint that her design isn’t to help others but to hurt. They see Judas using his power to help an injured man. Judas explains how his heart was calling out to Earth-chan in the past to help him help a guy stuck in some accident. He apologizes for breaking his promise and can never be a superhuman of justice like her. In the aftermath, Japan successfully joins DFE. Earth-chan has not slept well since that day and goes down to visit Kikko. She gives her a piece of konpeitou and tells her sometimes people need a little lie. Earth-chan thinks this konpeitou is what lies taste. Mmm. Brings back nice memories of her family. Sleep well.

Episode 8
A group of young kids, BL Clan led by Yumihiko Otonashi diffuse another student protest case. Although they have superhuman powers, they still refuse to register with the bureau. When rumours surfaced about Eye of Lucifer returning, Jirou gets alerted because he is the enemy of Rainbow Knight, his admired ally of justice. Although Rainbow Knight has been labelled mainly as a criminal because his records stated he kidnapped children and demanded ransom. A collector who collected Rainbow Knight’s gun received a note from Eye of Lucifer he will come to steal it. He engages BL Clan to help protect him. Jirou and co are outside the collector’s house. BL Clan thinks they are working for Eye of Lucifer. Suddenly Eye of Lucifer is seen and has stolen the gun. They try to ring him in but he escapes and leaves his decoy costume behind. Jirou continues to believe Rainbow Knight is a hero because he remembers he died before his eyes. Kikko asks Shiba more on Rainbow Knight. The kid he kidnapped, Daitetsu Maki was never found. She thinks everything was a scam to make Rainbow Knight to look like a criminal. But she is even more confused that he was told Daitetsu did exist. Jirou is not happy BL Clan is here to help protect his home since Rainbow Knight’s mask is located in an underground safe. When a commotion is heard outside, they see Equus slightly activated. They think Eye of Lucifer is trying to break the safe using this. It is puzzling because only Jirou can activate Equus. When Eye of Lucifer is seen carrying off Rainbow Knight’s mask, they think it is a trick. He might be holding a fake to make them check on the safe and he’ll steal it then. But to their surprise, the safe is already open. Only Magotake and Emi know its password. Again Eye of Lucifer escapes with his decoy suit.

While BL Clan is resting in their base, Rainbow Mask appears before them. He claims Yumihiko has stole his mask. When his friends couldn’t defeat him, he summons his mecha, Gigander 7. Rainbow Knight deduces Yumihiko’s power is to bend metals. This proves he is disguised as Eye of Lucifer. Because when the villain appeared, why didn’t he summon his robot? His power could easily make Equus look like it activated and open the safe. Yumihiko claims Rainbow Knight’s mask and Eye of Lucifer costume in his possession are real. When the real and retired Eye of Lucifer (an old guy now) confronted Yumihiko, he was worried his family is now being suspected. Yumihiko suggests donning Eye of Lucifer himself to commit crimes and to give him the perfect alibi. Of course his real goal is to lure out Rainbow Knight because there is something he needs to ask. A golem attacks them. Rainbow Knight saves Yumihiko. It is revealed to be Jirou behind that mask. He made one as a fan. Yumihiko remembers being kidnapped by Rainbow Knight who claims he is doing this to protect him as an ally of justice. But after he was rescued by the police, he learnt there was a demand for his release. Although he remembers him as a nice gentle man, he wants to make it clear he is evil. That is why he will defeat him and never become like him. Jirou calls him strong because he can differentiate clearly what is right and wrong unlike him. He adds that the beast that attacked his town when he escaped the facility, he fought it with Rainbow Knight. He sees him as the superhuman of justice but Rainbow Knight denies and claims he just tries his best to be one. Not everyone can be black or white. Even if they are grey and believe in justice, he wants to be that ally of justice. The golem is taken down. The culprit behind this is Akita and his comrade who believes he now owes him one so stop opposing the DFE issue. He also got back the original suits of Rainbow Knight and Eye of Lucifer. In the future, Jirou confronts Daitetsu who is no other than Yumihiko.

Episode 9
The bureau is keeping an eye on a superhuman family of 6. They are believed to be immortals. It seems the wife is waiting for the husband, Minoru to return. They sent out a signal 2 years ago but there hasn’t been any reply. It all began when some factory exploded. This family who lived there survived and showed no signs of anguish. They hijacked an ambulance and crashed it although no bodies were found. They find it strange for the superhumans putting on such spectacle that would only attract more attention. Jaguar believes the family might be missing one member. Originally there were 7 of them. He was there during the feudal times and watched over the family from time to time. Akita remembers a case from USA about an immortal family but they took 2 years to reply. It is believed Minoru had been taken as prisoner of war during World War II off the shores of Hawaii and then end up being used as human experiment to see what could kill an immortal and the secret behind immortality. Nothing worked and they don’t know what to do with him anymore. Only when the bureau gave details about the family, the Americans admitted to this. Magotake finds it odd that the Americans want to do shared research with them now and thus going to set Minoru loose with this intention to reunite with his family. Of course Jaguar finds it odd that they would release an immortal now whom they have kept hidden for 30 years. The plan now is to keep watching them and once they reunite, they will register the family with the bureau.

The family receives a breaking call from Minoru and they are so glad to hear from him. Suspicions start rising when there has been no contact from the American side. At this point in time too, Jirou seems to have left the bureau but makes a return to save the family. He disagrees with the bureau’s excuse of protecting them because he thinks they are just going to exploit them. Of course old flames are starting to be brought up but they have to put they aside now since the Americans have appeared in their giant Transformer! Looks like Uncle Sam doesn’t intend to do shared research after all. The family is not happy that this happened when they are a whole again but Jaguar argues superhumans need to be under government management. The bureau do all they can to fight the robot but Transformer dude can even melt Emi’s youkai! Minoru explains this biological weapon the American created. As long water is around, this robot also serves as a chemical plant that processes the fluids. But it has a ‘weakness’. It will self destruct once its mission is done: To kill the immortal family. This is of course to hide the destruction. There’s some crap about separating molecules from life but I don’t really understand that scientific crap. The family happily goes to be melted by it. The robot soon melts itself. But shortly, the family regenerates and head their own way. Jirou is still upset that the bureau believes in protecting and managing superhumans. It is like they’re saying they are beyond the control of a nation and mankind. It is just arrogant. I guess this means he won’t be coming back even if they ask. Because they cannot harm anyone and no one can harm them, they have already surpassed humans.

Episode 10
Jaguar is a time police from the future, Time Patrol (TP). He goes back to the past (present time) to stop a criminal from changing history. Meanwhile the police surround a house whereby an ordinary old man is holding a couple of superhumans hostage for scamming him. Jirou and the bureau can only watch. Suddenly a blimp belonging to Infernal Queen (IQ) kills off all the police (because they are inefficient for letting this happen), kills off the old guy (for resorting to kidnapping) and killing off the hostages (for being scammers). Yeah. Everybody died. As explained, IQ is a terrorist organization who decides to kill anybody they deem evil. Next day when Jaguar enters the office, he is asked by Shakkou, the commander of the public security force who suspects him to be a member of IQ. He explains more about IQ and their stealth technology that hides their identity. He shows them pictures of IQ’s members and one of them looks exactly like Jaguar. Jirou believes the photo is fake but Jaguar himself admits it is him. Then he uses his time stopping power to escape but Kikko manages to catch up and brings him back to her place to show him Jaguar’s clone she captured last night! Because he had different items from another era, she believed he wasn’t the Jaguar she knew. This Jaguar is from TP on a mission. Jaguar reveals more that he is also the creator of IQ as he wanted to change history since in the future where he came from there are no superhumans as that potential was taken away from humanity. Jaguar did confronted TP Jaguar before but realizing killing himself would create a time paradox and making himself disappear, he went back in a little further in time to change his methods. Therefore right now there are 3 Jaguars existing in this time line. The bureau Jaguar, TP Jaguar and IQ Jaguar.

Jaguar knows IQ Jaguar will be targeting and to kill the bureau. He throws a question to Kikko about time paradox. Something about if humans would disappear if all the evolved monkeys were eradicated. No. Time would just let it slip by since it would be an unsolvable paradox. But since Jaguar is not big enough to influence time, he would simply disappear. When IQ launches their attack on the bureau, Jirou faces off with IQ Jaguar and although he believes that evil in any form is inexcusable, he questions his method by eliminating evil would make the world a better place. After all, Jaguar was the one who made Equus for him. Equus manages to best the blimp. Jaguar confronts IQ Jaguar and explains why Equus is much stronger because he created it after the blimp. He shoots himself as IQ Jaguar warns he would disappear. But Jaguar already knew it would come to this and is ready to disappear. Eliminating him would just make him feel at ease. He dismisses his childish cold hearted way in making the world a better place so IQ Jaguar thinks he is just trying to erase his embarrassing past as an adult. After IQ Jaguar dies, Jaguar is surprised he is still around. Oh, but the blimp crashes. Did he die? Nope. He pulls himself out of the water and standing before him is Kikko. She explains she went to get TP Jaguar’s time watch and showed it to Magotake. He went to research on how to make time travel work and thus his watch began to research on time travelling. And thus Jaguar’s watch was created, creating a time paradox question of the chicken or the egg. Now he has become an unsolvable paradox and must exist for the sake of time. Like Jaguar once said about history cannot be erased. Just that things get written over. And that is why the past cannot be undone.

Episode 11
Claude, some Code Geass Zero knock off intercepts a US submarine. Jirou is seen talking to Touzaki. He hasn’t forgiven her agency for being involved in that chocolate and GaGon incident. She claims he misunderstood as they support the hypothesis the humans evolve into superhumans. They think the bureau is too liberal with that term and should include aliens, demons, robots, etc. After all, superhumans are humans too. Angel Stars are here performing for the launch of the US submarine. However Claude is seen standing atop it after it surfaces. He asks Angel Stars if they are fighting for justice, freedom or peace. They answer justice and their paycheques. He likes their answer and slices open the submarine! It reveals the inhumane use of superhumans as power source for the submarine. Shiba fights him. Claude believes superhumans should not be used for wars and conflicts. He claims superhumans fight for either justice, freedom and/or peace. The fight ends when Kikko tries to intervene. Claude releases some explosion that reminds Kikko of Jirou’s power going berserk. In the aftermath, clips of the submarine workings are shown on TV. As showing such footage would violate the superhuman law, the bureau believes Imperial Ads must be behind this and pulled some strings. They also think Claude is from that agency seeing their timing is more than coincident. While Jirou drives Kikko home, he mentions his disagreement of Claude’s ways and might be planning to fight him. But Kikko is more concerned about Jirou’s hostility to Imperial Ads. He brushes it off and believes Claude is not superhuman but a demon. Kikko points out herself as a witch. She can’t take anymore of this arguing and walks the rest of her way home. One day Kikko gets a call from Claude to come as he wants her to see something. She decides to go alone and it has been 2 months since Claude has stayed silent. Inside the hospital, she is shocked to see Claude killing the doctors. Wait a minute. Why is Claude shock to see her see this? Kikko starts feeling hot and eats some herb that turns her into some, uhm, evil sexy sorceress? She tries to extract answers from Claude but he says this is something he must do to fight true evil. Then she asks Claude if he is someone she knows. He shows a group picture with Jirou instead. With her suspicions confirmed, Kikko passes out.

Episode 12
A scene showing Kikko meeting Dr Nagakawa. He knows about her identity as a witch who gains her energy from human happiness and is here to find a partner. Read that as spouse. Taki and Takahara from Strange Power Risk Management have been requested by the police to investigate crimes of magic and science abuse. Using magic to materialize simple solidification of that moment carved deeply into that point of space in time, a secret passage is also revealed where dead corpses of superhumans were used to be experimented on. Could it be Claude got word of this place and came here for revenge? Kikko is not pleased to hear a new law to be passed that will put superhumans down with force. It makes Claude’s case more humane. She runs away but Jirou wonders if she and Claude had met. She gives him that group photo and tells him he should just reveals his true feelings for her. Jirou asks Emi about this unknown kid in the photo. Since he doesn’t remember, Emi tells him this guy was his friend, Jin. He is dead. Killed by Rainbow Knight. When Jirou goes home, he sees Magotake talking with his old friend, Yoshiaki Satomi who is now an old guy who receives advisor fees from Imperial Ads. Seems they were talking about that Daitetsu incident and the possibility of somebody being Claude. Jirou asks Magotake about Jin and he remembers how close they were and if he was alive, he would be a year older than him. This Russian superhuman, Golubaya Laika enters Japan’s airspace and is shot down by Master Ultima and the SDF. Kikko sees Psy-Kicker at a school to talk about Claude when Golubaya crashes down. The news is reporting all over about this crash. Golubaya is the first superhuman to head to space without a space suit but unlike Master Ultima who is a spaceman, Golubaya is pure Earthling. He once defied orders and attacked an enemy nation before giving his famous speech of Earth’s beauty that is worth risking protecting the lives of all superhumans. Although he was demoted, he might be in contact with Claude.

News spread soon that another student protest at the school opposing the mistreatment of Golubaya being unfairly shot down and calling for greater protection of superhuman rights. Psy-Kicker translates Golubaya’s last words he is here to see a friend before he passes away. That friend is Claude who wanted him to see the inhumane superhuman experiments. Claude believes superhumans are supposed to lead the world to peace but their freedom is taken away in the name of war. Everyone is separated from justice. He knows Kikko has great powers and wants to save people. He has her show her true feelings as she turns into her dark witch form. Jirou arrives too late to protect Golubaya and the superhumans are siding with Claude. He is attacked by Kikko and he believes she is mistaking him for Claude. Master Ultima arrives to retrieve Golubaya’s body. As Jirou is explained, Golubaya flew over Ogasawara Islands without permission and was shot down. He is told to concentrate in finding Claude. Deal with him or else a war will start. More revelations being Ogasawara used to be US territory before being handed back to Japan. There was a superhuman research facility there and maybe Golubaya knew something about it and was headed there. When Jirou confronts Claude in his hideout (courtesy being tracked by Emi’s familiar), he sees him talking over the phone about the kidnapped kids in Rainbow Knight’s incident that all except Daitetsu were killed. In reality they were sent to an island to be experimented on. The ransom Rainbow Knight demanded was made up. Claude gives Jirou the phone to hear the explanation right from the mouth of Magotake. Rainbow Knight threatened to reveal his existence to the public as well as superhuman experiments performed on children. If Rainbow Knight is labelled as a criminal, it would be easy for the government to strengthen their grip on superhumans. His sacrifice was necessary to form the bureau. Jirou is not happy his hero is set up as a criminal. He demands answers but Claude cuts the line. Claude reveals himself. He is Jin though he goes by the name of Nagakawa. He believes Jirou would have been sent to the island and cruelly experimented on just to bring out his abilities had he not been the adopted son of Magotake. He believes the bureau doesn’t protect superhumans. Akita disagrees. Although he wanted to protect superhumans for the sake of the planet, they were in a hurry to form the bureau. Claude doesn’t believe his word and cuts up Akita to reveal his true alien form. A cigarette smoke cloud?

Episode 13
Strange Power reports the cruel superhuman experiments in a press conference but the police arrest them for breaking the secrecy law. Satomi and Touzaki see Junichi Mitsuya the politician about the recent events as well as the student uprising in major cities around the world. Mitsuya thinks they are trying to cash in on the superhuman stars and selling other people’s goods. Mitsuya argues the revised law that is about to be passed in legislation will define humans and thus human laws will no longer apply to them. However Satomi argues back by defining superhumans, he can create any segregation law he wants. That never crossed Mitsuya’s mind! Later he calls the bureau about failing to find Claude. Akita is disappointed in him and possesses his body. Emi and Ullr talk about world balance if Claude and Kikko pledge. Also, Ullr hints that he is trying to find a partner himself but I suppose he can’t make a move when Jirou’s around. Jirou wants a way to bring Kikko back but that medicine that Nakagawa made for her, absolutely impossible. Emi is not pleased Jirou is doing this for Kikko. She has a spell that will turn her devil queen side into some human tiger. As for her original personality, well, if that is her true personality. However Emi wants Jirou never to see Kikko again. Because whenever he is with her, he is trying to become a person she wants. The uprising in Japan begins. The students do a Zero clone by putting on helmets and impersonate Claude to fight the police. Earth-chan intercepts and the crowd wonders whose side she is on. She doesn’t want that tragedy to happen again and she’ll punish both sides if necessary. But she is attacked by Yumihiko who is siding with the police. Then there is Shiba facing off against Psy-Kicker but Fuurouta helps the latter since he is an ally to all kids. Psy-Kicker and his group are then faced with Jaguar and his ant mecha army.

Of course the ultimate fight is between Jirou and Claude. Magotake and Master Ultima are watching them. Despite Claude has the ability to absorb and transform metal, it is Jirou they want. Although he is a product of coincidence, his powers are still needed. It is hinted Master Ultima sacrificed many superhumans to create Claude. Or rather his helmet that gave him his powers. Kikko is about to assist Claude but Emi keeps her busy. She pops a pill that takes away her devil queen side while her original body falls unconscious. Jirou remains defiant to his ideal he wants to protect and be an ally of justice the best he can. Claude calls his ideals foolish and can never be achieved and is only sweet on the ears. That is why he is going to defeat him and become a second Jin. He will not be his replacement and deny everything that is of him. Jirou releases all his locks to go berserk and smash Claude. Claude is going to absorb all the metal but he realizes his helmet is broken and thus his powers have gone out of control. He turns into a metal statue instead. Now it is Jirou’s turn to go berserk. You know you’re in big sh*t when Emi as the only person who could save him starts pleading for others to save Jirou. Judas senses this and calls on a handful of characters over the series. I’m not sure singing with Angel Stars would do any good but as Jaguar mentions, Jirou needs to be pulled out from Equus that is taking away his power. Psy-Kicker does the honours to bring him out before Emi puts back the locks and seals the raging flames. Earth-chan is seen broken. In the aftermath, the revised law has been rejected based on majority vote and many are in shock that Mitsuya had a change in heart. Little does everyone know this is actually Akita possessing him. Jirou has left the bureau without a word or note and this makes Kikko sad. You happy now, Emi? He did live up to your promise never to see Kikko again. What do you mean you meant for him to chase Kikko out of the bureau???!!! Next time make your intentions clearer!!! Ah, a youkai nevertheless but still a woman…

Super Management Crisis And Complication
Oh… My… God… You mean there is another season to continue?! You mean I have to put up with another season of confusion? Looks like it. But first let me get this first season out of the way. Sad to say, I was hoping to enjoy this series but it ended up confusing the hell out of me. Because of its non-linear storyline as well as the confusing plot over plot, combined with the many characters, it is quite unfortunate that I found this series to be hard to watch. Hard to understand. The confusion took that fun out of it. Gone are the days when superhuman and superhero stories were relatively straightforward and having that goodie-goodie tone. Now it has become this ‘sophisticated’ and complicated. I am sure that hardcore superhero fans and those with brilliant minds would appreciate this kind of work while dumb idiots like me resort to mind numbing ecchi fanservice season after season. Yeah…

Okay, to start off with why all this confusion was bad for my watching experience, let me begin with the non-linear storyline. You see, after a few initial episodes, I realized that they were going back and forth between the past, present and future events. I believe and am very sure that despite how disconnected they are, they are all connected and hopefully in the second season where all the dots will be drawn together. But as far as this season is concerned, with a plot that jumps from here, there and everywhere, it only further confuses me to think what the heck is happening. Because for example Jirou was part of the bureau as seen for most of the episodes shown but in the future it looks like he has turned renegade and fighting against them. Thus, such disconnected shorts, my mind was not able to put the pieces of the puzzle together and by the time this season ends, I have so much wondering to do and questions to ask. But thankfully, I forgot most of them by the time I penned down this blog :\.

This brings me to another point. Because of this non-linear method of executing the storyline, the disconnected stories of some of the episodes feel like standalone fillers. Like that Tartaros Bugmen episode I was wondering what the implication and impact of its story to the series except being Fuurouta’s only prominent episode. In many cases, their stories for the episode do not end there and warrant something like “To be continued… In the near future, b*tches! Hahaha!!!”. Like that robot couple reuniting and facing off with Shiba. Or that case of Yumihiko/Daitetsu in the future. The cliff-hanger ending doesn’t bode well with me since the next episode will be a totally different new story. Except for the final few episodes which became some sort of mini arc. Like I have said that these episodic-like episodes I believe are part and parcel of the bigger story and picture which hopefully will all be connected to when I watch the next season.

Then in most episodes you have like some sort of protests by ordinary citizens (why are they usually unhappy students?) who aren’t happy with something and therefore some blockade and standoff with authorities. Then the confusion comes when the superhumans or whatever gets involved. Whatever. I guess with unhappy people everywhere, it is no surprise to see something similar happening in reality but I’m not going to compare real life and anime here. Sometimes it gets confusing especially that GaGon case where giant King Kong was rampaging but the students were protecting it to go on a rampage. Huh?

The other thing impeding my enjoyment is the characters themselves. Don’t worry, they are cool. Each of them has their own personality and some with weird super powers. I don’t dislike that. What I am trying to say is that thanks to my previous couple of paragraphs regarding the flow of the series’ episodes, it gets even more confusing to try and understand them especially the main characters from the bureau. This means it goes without saying that other side characters or characters that for now appear only in that episode, I’ll be usually wondering their fate at the end of the episode or their overall impact at the end of the season. Except for the final episode where they try to mash in as many of the past characters so that you’ll at least remember that they still have some sort of role to play and related to this whole mess big or small, directly or indirectly. Then again, for the umpteenth time I will say it, they are all somewhat connected and yes, wait for it, I’ll find out more the next season comes.

For example, Jirou himself. Now, I remember clearly this dude says he is the only non-superhuman in the bureau. I am not sure if his memory is faulty (since he really does have memories he cannot remember) or he is being planted with false memories. And then halfway through, we see him spout superhuman-like flames. OMG. Is he a robot or a superhuman trolling everyone else by convincing them he is true blue human? So is he human or some sort of superhuman but doesn’t technically fall under the definition of what a superhuman is? Confused? I know I am. I want to believe his tragic past is simple like how he got involved with all this sh*t but it just got complicated after that Rainbow Knight revelation and all that other crap. Geez. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.

But I still have to talk about the other characters. At least from the bureau. But they too are a big mystery since we are only fed bits and pieces of information about each of them. Like Kikko the magical witch from another realm. Okay. Emi the youkai who has more than just colleague ties with Jirou. Okay. Fuurouta the friendly ghost. Okay. Jaguar the man from the future who came back to the past and is now living in the present. Uhm… Okay. Akita the chief of the bureau who isn’t really an old geezer human as we think he is because he is some sort of, uhm, cloud alien? Well… Okay. Magotake the adoptive father of Jirou who looks more than just a scientist than meets the eye. Okay. Then there are other recurring characters like Shiba the detective who tries to quell the situation but often fails because crowd power or bureau intervention. Then there are those who aren’t done yet and more is to meet the eye than them like Master Ultima, Touzaki and Satomi. Are they on our side or against? Okay, too many already. Time to stop.

In short, the character development isn’t the best here but I won’t go so far to say as it is that bad. It is just that with the confusion and complication of everything, maybe there were more revelations about certain characters over the series. Just that I was just being such a stupid guy trying hard to understand. And while my brain was working, my ears weren’t so perhaps the important stuffs just slipped before my ears. Every character including other superhumans making their cameo here holds a lot of great potential and secrets to be revealed which I believe would be quite interesting to know. Even the background of certain incidents as well as how superhumans came about and all that conflict sh*t would be good topic to be explored in depth. But as for this season, I will just leave my thoughts here.

Those hoping to see some sort of romance brewing between Kikko and Jirou and even with Emi might be disappointed. I know I am. Because I thought this seemingly love triangle distraction would be the only thing that I would understand and enjoy. Shucks. Then perhaps they tried to troll us with Ullr but I suppose nobody cares about this cute little piece of crap. Because we are so used to seeing such cute little critters as mascots to assist the heroine instead of being a main character and love interest of others. Yeah, it will be freaking weird if it ever works out. Then again, everything in this series is weird simply because you don’t understand it well enough.

It is interesting to see the series exploring the theme of using superhumans and exploiting their powers for war. The biggest irony is that normal ordinary humans that don’t possess a shred of power are the ones suppressing those with actual powers. But at the end of the day, the question of morality, justice, freedom and peace boils down to even viewers’ discretion. Your stereotypes and knowledge will make you conclude whether or not the act of managing superhumans is good or bad. There will always be two sides to a coin. Anyhow, managing humans, super or not is one big messy piece of sh*t, don’t you think so? Come to think of another irony, do you think it is logical for laws made by humans to regulate superhumans? Imagine superhumans making them for ordinary humans. I smell hardship slavery and dictatorship… On a side note, for those who are wondering why this series looks similar to American DC Comics’ Watchmen, it is because the producers made this series based on its setting.

After all that confusing storyline flow and insufficient character developments, I guess I could say I also take some pleasure in watching the action scenes. In line with the superhuman theme, I guess it doesn’t disappoint as you have your flashy and exaggerated superhuman powers that defies logic accompanied with lots of explosions, booms and bangs. But these action scenes usually aren’t that long as they are just something to supplement the drama and plot. After all, with the bureau going around investigating stuffs, sometimes you might feel it is turning into a detective genre instead.

The art and animation style of this series can be said to be unique in its own way. At least slightly different than your today’s standard Japanese anime. It has lots of interesting character designs although some like Jirou reminds me like he popped up from some retro anime series. Uhm, like that dude in Cyborg 009? Yeah, definitely that similar hairstyle. Some look cartoonish like Fuurouta (I supposed it would be in line as the series’ joker character) and Earth-chan. Besides, I think many of the decent female characters have this bishoujo look. You know how a sucker I am for a pretty face ;p. The colourful backgrounds as well as the bright colours of the characters definitely give this series a superhuman and superhero feel. Also, if you feel that the series is like it popped up from a comic book, that is because some of the background tones use those dots to convey that sort of feel. They just didn’t incorporate onomatopoeia words.

As the cast list of this series is long, the only ones I recognized are Aki Toyosaki as Emi, Ayana Taketatsu as Earth-chan, Shinichiro Miki as Magotake and Nana Mizuki as Campe. The rest of the casts are Kaito Ishikawa as Jirou (Genos in One Punch Man), Sumire Uesaka as Kikko (Shalltear in Overlord), Eriko Nakamura as Fuurouta (Chisato in Koi To Senkyo To Chocolate), Tokuyoshi Kawashima as Jaguar (William Jones in Emma: A Victorian Romance), Tetsuo Kanao as Akita (Chad Adkins in Gangsta), Kenichi Suzumura as Shiba (Sougo in Gintama) andTomokazu Seki as Claude/Jin (Chiaki in Nodame Cantabile).

The rock style opening theme, Katararezu Omoi by ZAQ isn’t too shabby and fits with the overall mood and pace of the series. The ending theme is unique as it is weird. The Beginning by Yohsuke Yamamoto is one of those few anime themes to be an instrumental. Although the rock piece is acceptable, what I found weird is the ending credits animation filled with paper cut-out montage and animations as well as kaleidoscope effects. Superhumans on LSD? I also found out that there are quite a lot of insert songs featured throughout the series but I never noticed them since I was too busy trying to understand what is going on. Although those sung by Angel Stars I have noticed but it isn’t something that appealed to me.

Overall, this series isn’t an easy anime that any Tom, Dick and Harry could just jump in and simply watch and understand. It is not like your Hollywood superhero movies whom everybody can just watch and enjoy without even reading the comic book first or know a damn thing about the characters. You need to take some time to digest what is going on. This season isn’t as concrete as I hope it would be and more like wet cement. Still shaky and not solid yet but in time would be. Hopefully that is what the second season would be. This series is after all like superhumans themselves. They are still humans beneath all that fancy costume and flashy powers and deserve to have a second chance.