Zettai Karen Children (lit. translated as “Absolutely Lovely Children” and officially released as “Psychic Squad” in English) is a manga series written and illustrated by Takashi Shiina. The author developed this series out of a short story he had written in Shonen Sunday Super by Shogakukan in 2003. A 4-chapter story was then published in Weekly Shonen Sunday in September 2004. Psychic Squad was later serialized in the same magazine for 16 years from July 2005 to July 2021. The manga ran for a total of 63 volumes. As of July 2012, Psychic Squad reached over 6 million copies in circulation.

A 51-episode anime TV series produced by SynergySP was broadcasted from April 2008 to March 2009. A special OVA was released in July 2010 that included the original material based on the junior high school story arc. From January to March 2013, a 12-episode spin-off titled “Unlimited Psychic Squad” (known in Japan as “The Unlimited: Hyobu Kyosuke”) produced by Manglobe was broadcasted on TV Tokyo and other stations.

The story of Psychic Squad featured three 10-year-old girls as the main protagonist. Kaoru Akashi was a Level 7 psychokinetic and she could destroy a tank; Aoi Nogami was a Level 7 teleporter and she easily teleported out of a tank full of water; Shiho Sannomiya was a Level 7 psychometer and she could read a chart through several layers of obstruction.

That was their daily ability test in the headquarters of a secret branch of government known only as “Base of Backing ESP Laboratory”, aka B.A.B.E.L. This organization was tasked with handling situations that couldn’t be resolved by ordinary means, including dealing with espers engaged in criminal activities.

Watching the girls from behind a glass window was the bureau director Taizou Kiritsubo and his secretary Oboro Kashiwagi. As Kashiwagi started to explain the background of espers and their power, it was known that in the 21st century, the number of espers continued to increase. Espers were thus active in the fields of military, politics and diplomacy. They held the key for global competition as a country that could control espers could control the world.

However, most people with the ability only reached as high as Level 4. There were only three Level 7 espers – the highest level, that were under employment by the government. Those three were Kaoru, Aoi and Shiho.

On site, the girls had to capture an esper criminal. He was a Level 5 teleporter and he just blew up a building to try and escape. Their assigned “babysitter” Koichi Minamoto came to the scene and tried to alert the girl of the danger.

Without fear, Shiho read the criminal’s mind by touching his back and revealed his whole plan. The criminal was trying to fake a robbery to cover for a planned terrorist attack for his client – the violent group called “The Brutes”.

Aoi and Kaoru arrived shortly after and used their abilities of teleportation and psychokinesis to corner the criminal. Kaoru threw a car at him but the attack was stopped short by Koichi activating an abilities limiter that the girls had to wear. The car came crashing down and Koichi swooped in to put a special handcuff on the criminal’s wrist. This handcuff could neutralize esper’s power and render them helpless.

The girls got angry because of Koichi’s intervention and used their powers on him. Kaoru took of her abilities limiter and pushed Koichi flat against the wall. It appeared that even though these girls were strong, they have rather horrible personalities.

Back at B.A.B.E.L headquarters, Director Taizou showed Koichi the latest report from the Psychology Survey department. The report stated that when being asked to write an essay about their dreams for the future, the girls wrote that they didn’t have any dream.

Afraid that their lack of motivation would drove the girls into the wrong path and ended up using their powers for evil, Director Taizou told Koichi that he had to make the girls change their mind.

While doing a test on their personal development, Koichi remembered his talk with Kashiwagi before the girls came into the organization. It turned out that Koichi wasn’t just a normal employee but a genius with two degrees at only 18 years old. He had promising future as an elite researcher but chose to look after the girls because he understood their pain and loneliness.

Koichi’s kindness really showed when he grabbed Shiho’s hands like a normal kid while the other staffs were scared to touch her due to her psychometric ability.

Just then, Koichi’s phone rang, alerting him that the criminal from earlier had escaped and the police was in hot pursuit. The girls were immediately transported by a helicopter to the scene. During the ride, Shiho asked Aoi and Kaoru to rewrite their essay but Kaoru said that it was impossible for them. Due to their overwhelmingly strong abilities, they had nowhere to go but working at B.A.B.E.L and other paths were but a far-fetched dream.

Koichi then announced that the girls’ abilities limiter has been released, signaling their time for battle.

The girls flew down and chased after the criminal on a motorcycle. Kaoru broke the ground under him but he quickly teleported to avoid it. Finally, they cornered the criminal by driving him inside a tunnel and flung him into the wall.

The criminal asked the girls to let him go because he was an esper just like them and espers didn’t have much of a choice in their future. It was either the criminal path or working for the government.

Koichi interrupted the criminal and said that the reason he became unfortunate with his given power was because he chose this path himself. “Don’t put your future together with these girls!”, Koichi shouted angrily.

Hearing that, the girls went to Koichi’s side and hugged him. “I guess being a babysitter isn’t so bad after all......”, Koichi smiled and thought.

Will the girls be able to conquer the challenges of being espers as such young age? Will Koichi be able to guide them into the right path? Read on to find out!!