[kuromitsu]

Originally Posted by GenjiChan

The way you said it, it seems Mamoru is...

Spoiler for Just for safety:

... gifted like Shun.... Wow!

Not necessarily, but this is sort of what I was talking about all along, re: why they're targeting him. I thought the episode made it obvious enough that his panic triggered his power pretty much subconsciously. They targeted him because he was "the weakest link" now with dangerous knowledge and dangerous thoughts which can lead him on a dangerous path - and lo and behold, here's the proof that indeed, he isn't 100% safe. Of course one has to wonder if this would've happened without them pushing him over the line by sending a kitty after him, or even if there was any need to target him in the first place instead of giving him some time to see if he can sort himself out, after all apparently he came back from the summer camp shaken but mostly okay. But kids have been culled for less and I guess nobody wants to wait and see if he's really dangerous or not... And in any case, what's done is done and everyone has to live with the consequences.

I've seen many people talking about how sweet and harmless Mamoru is, which is of course true, but that has no bearing on the decision whether to eliminate him or not. The problem with gouma and akki is not their personality. A gouma can be the sweetest kid ever but that doesn't matter if he can't control his subconscious and his power (see also: Shun). An akki can seem docile except you have no idea what's really going on in his head and when he'll snap.

Also, I just noticed:

Originally Posted by Dark Wing

So dose that mean the Ethics Committee have the power to veto a decision made by the Board of Education whenever they want or is it only possible when proven it's a special case involved?

If you remember ep 1: Saki's mom asks her husband to put some pressure on the Education Committee to make them reconsider Saki's execution by cat, and he reminds her that he's in no position to do that because the Education Committee is basically independent and answers only to itself. Tomiko has enough authority (in various ways) to veto a decision if she wants to, but as she told Saki there's an agreement that the Ethics Committee keeps out of the Education Committee's business. So Saki's case was a very rare exception.

Originally Posted by Dark Wing

I remember it was mentioned somewhere that Saki's father was some kind of judge or a high level decision maker like a city council member after all being able to help decide who gets an extra ration of electricity seems like a big deal to me.

I don't remember if they ever said this in the anime, but he's the mayor. Apparently he has no power over the Ethics & Education committees, though. Her mom is the head of the library which is supposed to be a position even more important than her father's (but apparently not important enough to pressure the Education Committee into anything...).