Short Synopsis: The villain turns out to be… a teacher. More importantly: Ran and Midori become friends.
Highlights: Excellent banter, though the evil teacher was way too evil.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10
I’m probably going to end up comparing this series a lot to Night Head Genesis, the in my opinion best series about psychics. There are a few things that Telepathy Shoujo Ran could have learned from it, and I especially mean how the lead characters grew up. Naoto and Naoya’s parents clearly loved them, but in the end they were taken away because Naoto kept causing trouble with his powers and quick temper. Telepathy Shoujo Ran’s reasoning turns out to be much less subtle: Midori and the teacher became hateful because they’re hated, Ran became cheerful because she has a caring family.
It’s really what this series needs: subtlety, because it’s bloody awesome in every other department: a terrific soundtrack, great graphics and especially an excellent sense of characterization. It just wants too much in too little time. Still, who knows where this series would end up once the characters start developing? This series is so much fun when something exciting isn’t happening, so I’m interested to see what this series can do once it has the time to build up and the characters have gained depth. For only that reason, I’m going to follow this series until the end.
The Kansai-ben was quite a surprise, I never expected Midori to come from Osaka, and this episode certainly changed the way you look at her character. I like how she’s witty, and doesn’t take everything for granted, although that Kansai-ben is a bitch to try and translate. I already have enough trouble with regular Japanese. It’s the same with Ghost Hound: the characters there too talked with weird accents. Ran’s brother also surprised me, in terms of the big role he had on Ran when she found out that Rui (Louie?) was missing.
Also… why were there sakura-petal on top of a school-building?
Petals clearly there for a good style effect :). Or maybe the teacher had a bucket full nearby and was having them fly around with her power so it’d look cool.
The situation with Midori was pretty clear from the start. Once you got that flashback obvious that her families reaction to her abilities helped shape her direction. Makes sense since most people are deeply affected by how others view them. Ran got strong support from Rui and her brother which allowed her to stay on that path. Without them could have easily turned into someone very different from normal.
I think the teacher let the girls have the heart to heart since it was pretty entertaining. Thought she was almost clapping there :). But is quite nice when the enemy lets you relax and talk.