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Title:  E’S Vol 4

Author: Satol Yuiga

Publisher:  Broccoli

ISBN: 9781597411219

May Contain Spoilers

Yuuki is contacted by the mysterious Maria, who asks him to hand over the psychic living in his house.  Yuuki is dismayed to learn that she means, not Kai, but Asuka.  Things get really tense when he learns that there’s a price on his head.  Kai, awakening underground, finds himself a prisoner of Ghibelline, a priest and the leader of the resistance.  He wants Kai to join their side, so he has his powers at his disposal.  Kai’s objections are momentarily silenced when he meets Raphael, one of several young telepaths working with Ghibelline.  What are Ghibelline’s plans for his young charges?

This volume of E’S was fast paced and tense, as both Yuuki and Kai find themselves in dire jams.  Yuuki’s search for the Sacrament has him researching the origins of Gald and Ashurum’s involvement with it.  All of his questions has earned him some unwanted attention.  In addition, Kai has up and disappeared, leaving behind a weepy Asuka.  Sometimes it’s hard to be a tough guy, what with your sister turning her sad, doe eyes on you.  Yuuki crumbles before her onslaught, putty in her hands.  While searching for answers, Yuuki turns out to be a little too trusting for his own good, and now he’s got more trouble than he can handle. 

Kai, after teleporting from Yuuki’s, ends up underground, a captive of Ghibelline’s.  While attempting to escape, he is led, telepathically, to a room where young psychics are being held in cages.  He’s bewildered when he discovers that they are willing captives serving the resistance.  When one of them is grievously wounded, Kai’s efforts to have him treated fall on indifferent ears.  The reaction of Ghibelline’s fighters to Kai’s desperate quest for help really underscored the distance between the psychics and the normal humans. 

Just when I was starting to get really involved in the story, this volume came to an abrupt end.  Half of the book is comprised of a short story, “Prelude to Destruction,” a preview that Satol Yuiga wrote prior to beginning work on E’S.  She was asked to draw it to highlight the atmosphere of the E’S world.  I thought it much darker and gloomier, and the characters’ personalities reflected the world around them.  This Kai has none of the softness of the other.  He believes that his sister is being held captive by a government organization, and he doesn’t hesitate to use brutal methods to get her back.  I liked this harsh, unyielding version and hope that some of these traits will carry over into the longer work.

The pieces of E’S are slowly starting to come together, and I found myself wondering how Ghibelline plans to exploit his young troops.  What is the tournament that was so briefly mentioned?  The volume left Asuka and Maria in a bind, too, and I felt a little cheated when everything came to a jarring halt.  The momentum was starting to carry the story into exciting territory, but now we’ll have to wait until the next volume to see how it pans out.

Grade: B-

Rated for 16+

Review copy provided by Broccoli Books