English Dub Review: Heavenly Delusion “Children of the Nursery”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Before the events of the story, the being known as Asura was an alien looking creature who could fly and heal while avoiding detection from the adults in Heaven. However, one day, it went to Kona to say goodbye and then hung itself, telling him that he would find someone to love one day.

In the present, Kiruko tells Maru that Usami was holding a small button with the same bird logo as the Kiru-Beam and try to investigate that, finding a man named Juichi who shares his theories about what caused the Great Disaster and his experiences in a “Walled Town” which was dominated by women who used him as a breeding slave. Kiruko writes this off but then notices they are in front of Takahara Academy, which uses the same bird logo as the button and the gun. They soon piece together that this academy is the “Heaven” they’ve been looking for.

Back at the academy, the class is informed that Tokio will be absent, the reason being later revealed to be that she is pregnant.

OUR TAKE

Seems Hulu finally got off its butt and decided to start releasing the remaining five dubbed episodes of the series. Having worked my way through the first eight episodes, I’ve found it a pretty entertaining watch as the story bounces between the ongoing plots in both Heaven and Hell, inside and outside the protected section. Going back and forth, we can see how certain things connect before the characters involved see them. While this can sometimes lead to the audience feeling too ahead of the game and waiting for the characters to catch up, it seems that the trajectory of this story is for the two groups of kids, Kiruko and Maru & the ones at the academy, are likely to run into each other at some point, possibly even as soon as the end of this season. In the meantime, we learn more about their circumstances, seeing as Kiruko and Maru work their way towards Heaven while the Takahara kids may eventually find themselves headed towards Hell. And this pregnancy announcement may just be the turning point for them as it interferes with the vague plans of the adults running the academy.

As for this episode specifically, the main development is pretty much just finding out about Tokio’s pregnancy and Kiruko and Maru finding the source of the bird logo that is on the Kiru-Beam and the button Usami had. I don’t think we’ve seen any of the adults at the Takahara Academy use similar weaponry, but it does look like a sufficiently high tech-y place that could use a laser gun for any number of reasons. For all we know, it could be what their outside security uses against Man-Eaters or a prototype that they never ended up making more use of. Speaking of the Man-Eaters, they seem to not be the only supernatural being the viewer is now aware of with the proper introduction of Asura, who had been hinted at in previous episodes but only now is shown to be an alien looking being with a giant head and had a significant relationship with Kona and then killed itself. We’ve only got four episodes left before the finale, and the possibility of a second season is usually up in the air, so we’ll see if we get any substantial answers in the coming weeks. But uh, yeah, always use protection, whether it’s against Man-Eaters or man, uh…eaters. Also maybe stay away from big headed aliens, I guess?