E's Otherwise Volume 2: Mind Bender (DVD) - Anime Reviews


	Number of Episodes 5 Language Options English/Japanese/English Subtitles Released by ADV Films Extras - Clean Opening/Closing Animation - Production Sketches - Actor PSI Profiles
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E's Otherwise Volume 2: Mind Bender (DVD)

Twelve powerful corporations run the entire planet. And the most powerful company – Ashurum – will do anything they can to maintain control.

To subject the renegade city of Gald, they will infiltrate a cadre of enemy guerillas. When one of their prized psychic agents goes missing, no cost is too high to return him to their dark fold – whether that means sending in a cyborg assassin, reprogramming one of his friends, or enlisting two newer, even more powerful psychics into the company.

Enter a world where every thought wields terrifying energy – and where any life can be viciously wasted in the pursuit of power.

The first disc got all of the characters into the places that they needed to be, and now we enter the stretch of episodes that are… well… episodic. We get the self-contained stories that tell a complete plot and in the background we get pieces of the main plotline that is moving. But that’s not a bad thing for this series, the moments of levity are some of the best in this show.

Episode 06: Test Site City

The local government has declared a moratorium on all companies interaction with the free city of Gald, including both political and military intervention. With this decree, one of the companies is now anxious to get its’ assets out of the city. Kai and Yuuki get the call to try and find a person, but are warned to just contact the organization but not to let him see them. After some working the ground, they come across the target beating up some people, and Yuuki unintentionally lets himself be seen. So the target heads towards the pair, but when he attacks, it’s apparent that he isn’t human, he’s actually a “branded”. Branded are humans that have undergone extensive prosthetic upgrades and have been brainwashed into killing machines, and will kill anyone who sees them to prevent their cover from being blown (how exactly a man going on a killing rampage won’t draw attention seems to have been glossed over). So the pair do what any rational men would do, they make like the wind.

While stopping to catch their breath, they come across an unfortunate meeting: Asuka comes along to bring them lunch, but now that she has been seen as well, she is also a target for termination. Yuuki decides that a direct battle will be ineffective against the opponent, and so they run into the sewer systems and head for one of his weapon stashes. Kai is uncomfortable in killing a human, even if it is trying to kill him but he does become more proactive in wanting to stop him after the branded kills all of the people in a train station. While Yuuki tries to defeat the living weapon with brute force, it takes Kai’s weapon proficiency to neutralize the deadly foe with precision shooting. In the background of this

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episode: Maxim has begun to make headway infiltrating the rebel forces and is now meeting with Maria. He insists on being able to stop whoever has been killing people in town, but he is rebuffed when she insists that the organization can handle it for now.

Episode 07: Purple Destiny

Yuuki and Kai are brought in for a job by the local library – and no it’s not for fee collection. Apparently, a man posing

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as a superhero sends a video warning that he intends to steal the first printing of the manga of his namesake (if a Spiderman threatened to steal Spiderman Issue #1). Yuuki isn’t particularly interested in being brought out for a mission to stop some sociopath, but the money is too much to resist. However, the money has drawn the attention of one of Yuuki’s competitors: Leonid. Leonid offers information about the target and wants to help in the suspect’s apprehension in exchange for a portion of the payment. When the target arrives early, he seems more interested in running the protectors around in circles but Kai quickly realizes that he is a psychic like him. Unlike the trained Kai, the criminal doesn’t appear to be that powerful of a psychic at all. And when he is forced to bypass all of the library’s defenses in succession, he tires and is arrested by Kai. In the background of this episode: Maxim continues to press Maria for the chance to meet with the leadership of the rebels.

Episode 08: The Chronicle of the Rise and Fall of Tokugawa Ramen

After a trip downtown, the trio of Yuuki, Kai, and Asuka decide to go for a bite to eat and they visit the one ramen house in town. Yuuki is less than impressed with the food that he is served, and his cooking sensibilities are upset by the cooks’ gruff response to his displeasure: and so the gauntlet has been thrown. Yuuki has decided to make a better ramen than the noodle house and has enlisted Kai to be the gopher and collect all of the ingredients for his soup. Not being satisfied in just making a decent ramen, he wants to collect the most delicious ingredients from around town: a swallow’s nest and a deep sea fish that lives in the bay. After poor Kai is able to get all of the necessary ingredients, Yuuki begins cooking his ramen base and then converts his van into a mobile kitchen and ramen booth. Parking near the busy ramen house, he quickly steals most of the customer base with a more delicious ramen. The plan goes well until Asuka decides to help in the kitchen… and leaves the kitchen in cinders.

Episode 09: The Bewitched Soul

With the moratorium on acting within the city of Gald, Ashurum is working against the rebels in the only way it can: by stopping the transporting of weapons into the city to break their supply lines. And so, all Gun Runners and Suppliers are under attack and are being ferreted out. One of the suppliers isn’t too worried though, he’s got love on his mind and is desperate to meet Yuuki’s female companion from the mission in the casino. And so he hires Leonid to find out who the woman was, and to ask her out on a date to meet him. Except the woman was none other than Kai in drag, and he certainly doesn’t want to get dressed up again – but when Asuka hears about the condition of the man who has been wrought by love, she makes Kai feel sorry enough for him to get into costume and meet him.

The eccentric supplier is smitten with the surprisingly pretty Kai, and as the date progresses they become targets of the dragnet to catch all of the weapon suppliers in town. The less than enviable situation for Kai quickly becomes an even larger nightmare having to be a paramilitary soldier in high heels. In the background of this episode: Maxim finally meets with the leadership of the rebels, Erimiya.

Episode 10: Rewritten Memory

Maxim has returned to base and after delivering a report on the meeting that he had with Erimiya, the organization has decided to assemble a team to contain and capture the elusive man. Shin-Lu has finally regained consciousness, and so Eiji orders her to undergo another brainwashing procedure, this time a quick overlay to her personality. When Shen-Lon goes searching for his recovered sister, he is surprised to see that she is up and about and with a new person: Sherry (actually another boy posing as a girl). Sherry states that they are both to be made members of a new team, and introduces another new teammate: Kyou. Much like Shen-Lon, he postures way too much and is a general jerk. Strangely enough, they don’t like each other very much and quickly end up testing their powers against each other. Maxim arrives to break up the fight and you get a glimpse of his powers – the ability to neutralize another’s powers for a while. Maxim targets the aggressive Shen-Lon with the attack, and so he is without any powers for the immediate future.

The upset Shen-Lon returns home with Shin-Lu and tries to settle in, but the two siblings still have baggage over what has happened. Shin-Lu still wants to know what happened to Ruri, but when Shen-Lon challenges he questions, she quickly brings up that it was his fault that the explosion happened on their last mission. Although the two are able to settle down, Shen-Lon notices the personality changes and new nervous twitch that Shin-Lu never had before.

The second volume of E’s Otherwise didn’t particularly move the main plotline forward very much, but did a great job in spending time with most of the main characters of the series and helping to flesh out their personalities.

- Tazman

(August 11, 2005)

"You're queasy? I've been keeping up with this pill dog for dog."

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