Read my E’s, Volume One manga review first!
E’S Volume Two continues to follow Kai Kudou’s struggle with his loyalties and his heart.
plot summary
Kai is both captive and guest of the Tokagawa. Yuuki doesn’t fully trust Kai since Kai is a member of Ashurum’s psychic military force. However, Yuuki does have a soft spot for orphans and he makes sure that Kai has good medical care and is comfortable as he convalesces.
Asuka is quite taken with Kai and does everything she can to make Kai feel at home. But Kai just wants to return to Ashurum and Asuka, sensing his unhappiness, helps him “escape” to a train station.
Ashurum, though, wants Kai back in a serious way and sends a deadly cyborg to collect their wayward charge and to eliminate all witnesses of Kai’s powers. Yuuki suddenly finds himself protecting a conflicted Kai and Kai finds himself questioning his loyalties to Ashurum.
Kai’s powers, all the while, are becoming unstable and dangerous. Will he be able to regain control of that which makes him valuable to Ashurum and dangerous to Asuka?
review
Kai is portrayed as a conflicted and confused in Volume Two, and rightly so. He watches in horror as the murderer sent to bring him home “cleans up” all traces of Kai’s stay in Gald. Kai’s naievite is slowly being replaced by a resolve to turn against the place that reared him and succored him his entire life.
Kai’s idealism is also highlighted in Volume Two when he questions the way Yuuki earns money in order to support Asuka and the other orphans in Gald. However, Kai begins to learn that the world doesn’t always go the way we want it to, how we want it to.
The character development was strong throughout the manga, and there was plenty of angsty soul-searching as well. Asuka is given more depth, but she’s developing in a moe direction. Whether or not she’ll reach an intolerable level of moe and become annoying is too soon to tell. For now she’s hovering on the line between naive and innocent and moe and distracting.
The mangaka, Satol Yuiga, used large quantities of black for this volume, similarly to Volume One. The overall effect is one that’s oppressive and dark. It suits the manga but gives it a heavy feel, despite the detailed line work. Thankfully, even with all the black and dark gradients, the pages don’t scan as “muddy”.
Yuiga did a great job with the character designs; treating the characters like movie characters and giving them multiple and creative wardrobe changes. The details and diversity in the clothing are extra which add to already exceptional artwork. Yuuki’s sweater in Chapter 10, however, is a massive fashion faux pas.
Bonuses abound in the back of Volume Two and include Yuiga’s “Aftertalk Manga“, a mini panel manga, correlation charts, terminology page, and a preview for Volume Three.
E’S, Volume Two was chock full of emotional moments and non-stop action. There was only one, maybe two, “Uh-oh” moments in the manga. All I’ll say is that it involved Yuuki, Kai, and a red dress.
Rating
E’S, Volume Two gets 3.5 outta 4 gummies!