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1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_helen_esp_1124329.jpg]]
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3A manga written and drawn by Kigitsu Katsuhisa, the same mangaka responsible for ''Manga/FrankenFran''.
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5It tells the story of Helen Takahara La Guido, a young Japanese girl who, five years ago, lost her sight, hearing, and ability to speak in a traffic accident. Until the beginning of the story, Helen was having a peaceful and normal life with her uncle and her guide dog Victor, when suddenly strange powers woke on her.
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7While the range of those powers is unclear, the series shows Helen helping several people in extremely unusual ways with them, as well as sensing and meeting beings that are unseen to normal people. Beside all this, she also can communicate with Victor via telepathy. With her innocent and optimistic nature, Helen is able to solve problems that couldn't be done by a regular human, albeit some of them get herself trouble.
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9Serialized in ''[[Magazine/ShonenChampion Weekly Shonen Champion]]'' from 2008 to 2010 and compiled into two volumes, the series is a big surprise to the readers who know Katsuhisa's other work. While ''Franken Fran'' presents us with [[{{Gorn}} shockingly violent scenes]], [[{{Squick}} very disturbing situations]] and ([[SurprisinglyHappyEnding usually]]) [[DownerEnding not so happy endings]], ''Helen ESP'' surprises in showing a more positive and light-hearted story. However, one thing that both series have in common is that the protagonists see themselves entangled in problematic situations of the human nature, and try to solve them no matter what cost.
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12!!This series provides examples of:
13%% * ABoyAndHisX: "Helen's Song" features a young circus performer and his giant boar.
14* AntWar: In "Helen And The Dream", [[spoiler: two warring ant colonies are who Helen has been advising.]]
15%% * BittersweetEnding: The way how several chapters end. The bitterness to sweetness ratio depends on the chapter, but there's usually a little bit of both. However, this doesn't apply to every chapter, as some have downright happy endings with no bitter notes, like chapter 14.
16* BreakingTheFourthWall: The last chapter of the series has Helen having a dream where she comes in contact with the person who was reading the story all along. She then warmly greets the reader.
17* ButNotTooForeign: It is stated that Helen is half-Japanese, half-French (probably Corsican, given the name).
18* TheCameo: Fran (yes, ''[[Manga/FrankenFran that]]'' Fran) makes a special appearance in the bonus chapter of volume 1. She even offers to help Helen in getting out of her disability. Hilariously, however, Helen asks Fran to help her in something else: to read Braille faster.
19%% * CanineCompanion: Victor.
20* CordonBleughChef: Helen, surprisingly enough. Her uncle was cringing at the sight of the food she managed to cook despite her handicap, but was ready to eat it anyway so as to not hurt her feelings, and to his surprise, it actually tasted delicious. He attributes this to the fact that because she's lacking two of her senses, the other ones became a lot more acute to compensate.
21* CreepyDoll: One story features a female manequinn of the school falling in love with the teacher who built her, and tries to kill him because she can't have him physically. Subverted since the mannequin herself [[TragicVillain knows she is doing something wrong.]]
22* CuteMute: Helen. She's mute, but adorable as hell.
23* DarkIsNotEvil: Like the creator's earlier ''Manga/FrankenFran'', the work has a number of beings that seem monstrous or terrifying, but turn out to actually be good-natured beneath the surface, like the demon from the first chapter [[spoiler:whose claim of wanting to die to save her Master turns out to be entirely genuine and in good faith]] or the mysterious shadowy figure from the second chapter, that appears to menace Helen [[spoiler:but later saves her from an attacker and rapist.]] Others are [[DarkIsEvil just as bad as they appear]], though.
24%% * DeadpanSnarker: Again, Victor.
25* DisabilitySuperpower: Helen may have lost her sight and hearing, but her other senses became a lot sharper because of that, and her ESP powers grew to the point that she can communicate with her CanineCompanion Victor.
26* FaceOfAThug: Helen's principal is introduced with ScaryShinyGlasses, [[FingerTenting steepled fingers,]] claiming his school supports diversity and tolerance while his face can only be described as Japanese Hitler. This turns out to be entirely correct, with every student being more than willing to help Helen (the principal himself makes no further appearances).
27%% * IfICantHaveYou: In the chapter "Helen and the Doll".
28* InvisibleToNormals: Occasionally Helen meets supernatural deities that can't be noticed by other people. Some of them tend to be good-natured, while others... not really.
29* GoryDiscretionShot: [[spoiler:Devil's death in chapter 4. He gets brutally and literally clubbed to pieces by angry townspeople who thought he was going to attack Helen]]. However, while the action takes place offscreen, you do get to see surprisingly gory glimpses of it and its aftermath; the end result wouldn't look out of place in ''Franken Fran'' (Though it would be tame by its standards).
30* JapaneseDelinquents: Oguri's older brother Midou is a classic example -- a hulking, foul-mouthed figure with spiky hair, mirror shades, and fingerless gloves with knuckle plates, first seen having just beaten someone unconscious before noticing Helen and starting to hassle her -- though he reforms himself later.
31%% * LighterAndSofter: To the eyes of readers who have read ''Franken Fran'' first, at least.
32* MagicalRealism: The series' attitude toward Helen's {{esper}} powers gives it a MagicalRealism tone. We never find out exactly why she has them or how they work, and despite Helen being powerful enough to "destroy this world" (according to the demon in the first chapter), her life doesn't change much after she finds out about her abilities.
33* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold:
34** [[spoiler: The supernatural creature of chapter 2, a sinister-looking, shadowy figure tied to the fourth floor and elevator of the town meeting hall and ends up terrifying Helen, but helps Helen when she is about to be attacked by a would-be rapist.]]
35** [[spoiler:Devil, from chapter 4. He's an aloof, distant, and widely hated dog who constantly steals food and can get pretty violent, but that's because he knows how dangerous humans can be after all his friends from the dog races were killed, and has to feed a baby that had been abandoned in a shrine where he lives.]]
36* NiceGirl: Helen is an absolute sweetheart. In fact, Victor notes a few times that she's sometimes ''too'' nice, leading her to trust people too easily.
37* OriginsEpisode: Chapter 13 explains how Helen and Victor met.
38%% * ThePollyanna: Helen.
39%% * PsychicPowers
40* ShoutOut: A Japanese work that calls a deafblind "Helen" is likely to be influenced by UsefulNotes/HelenKeller; especially the fact that she visited Japan several times during the Pacific War of all times made her better known in Japan than in the US.
41%% * TheSpeechless: Helen.
42* TalkingWithSigns: Helen's primary method of communicating with other people.
43%% * TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Helen's schoolfriend Oguri plays the former while Helen herself is the latter.
44* WhenSheSmiles: Victor was originally just the family's puppy, but when Helen lost her senses and parents, she understandably became a lot more withdrawn and bitter for a time. Getting her to smile again was the reason why Victor decided to train hard to become her eye-seeing dog.
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