You would think those kids would be more scared since they were abducted by a pervert wearing spandex..

Level E continues its reign of being the most peculiar anime of the winter season as episode 5 starts out with our favorite Prince Baka kidnapping 5 kids in order to turn them into heroes of justice. After having seen so many different parodies and comedic takes on Super Sentai, aka Power Rangers, I find it hard to laugh at them anymore. However, this episode did a good job of keeping my attention and making me interested in seeing more, which is something that these kinds of parodies have failed to do for me. I loved the stupid poses and them calling each other by their color names. Also, was it just me or was Prince Baka flying around in a giant N64 cartridge? I guess it was more timely when Level E was first published, but they should’ve changed it to something else like a PSP or DS.

Must have been where Nintendo got the idea of the 3DS.

I got to be honest with you, I do not understand why these kids are so unimpressed. First they are abducted by aliens, but that is lost by them. The only really accurate reaction is by the class president, which oddly enough is both the most annoying character and the most realistic of the bunch. While the others find having powers to be annoying, he finds having them quite cool. I will admit that the suits look somewhat stupid, but would you not want to have those powers? The comedy was driven by the fact that the kids thought the powers were more of an annoyance than something cool. The best part of the episode was the manual itself. Not only was the chibi prince just as funny, but when he told them to use hammers and kitchen knives to fight the aliens, I nearly choked on my own laughter.

Is it wrong to be turned on by a green lizard alien girl with horns and a tail?

Episode 5 was great because it utilized misdirection very well. I honestly thought that the kids would have to fight off their teacher some how, but instead she was just an evil looking alien. There really isn’t a whole lot to say about this episode, but it was definitely amusing to say the least. Level E is a hard anime to figure out. Overall you can just put it in the comedy category, but since there is no clear story structure there is no way to predict what is going to happen next. This episode kept that going as it turned what I thought was going to be 5 kids trying to fight their teacher into a story about them wanting to take revenge on Prince Baka. I am glad that he is continuing to be a prominent figure in the anime as I still think he is the best character I have seen in a long time. I can’t wait to see how this arc evolves with the Prince becoming the evil overlord and how the kids are going to deal with Craft.

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