E's Otherwise Volume 3: Head Spin (DVD) - Anime Reviews


	Number of Episodes 4 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 3: Head Spin (DVD)

As the twelve corporations continue their manipulation of the psychics they control, the most ruthless conglomerate, Ashurum, ratchets up their devious techniques. One of their newest developments? A machine that locates psychics and renders them powerless – and Kai becomes an unwitting accomplice in the machine’s test run.

Meanwhile, gentle Asuka finds she has a psychic connection with the leader of the resistance group. But as other alliances are formed, still others are torn apart when the formerly close siblings Shen-Lon and Shin-Lu find themselves in a deadly training game. And when Shin-Lu finds her powers increasing to dangerous levels, her relationship with her brother becomes less like Hansel & Gretel and more like Cain and Abel.

Wrap your head around the twisty plot and compelling characters of E’s Otherwise.

I’ve been waiting for this, another dose of E’s Otherwise. This disc brings us to the half-way mark of the series and should start to bring the main plot into focus. Let’s dive right in to the action once again.

Episode 11: Sweet Melancholy

Kai decides to take a bodyguarding assignment that Yuuki didn’t want to work on. The job is to protect a man, Dzhyuma, for 3 days while he’s in Gald. The young man is a bit of a snob and has a major chocolate fixation (I’ve never seen someone consume that much chocolate without being German or trying to kill themselves). He’s a head of a research division for the company Gatovi (it’s a subsidiary of one of the mega-corporations) and doesn’t specify what kind of business that he’s on. For Yuuki, this is very suspicious and although he didn’t intend to do the mission, he’s still checking into Dzhyuma’s background to make sure that they are no surprises for Kai. Dzhyuma is walking around the city with Kai, and he reaches into his pocket and activates a small box – this box causes some distress for Kai but he doesn’t let it affect the mission. The boy then asks Kai to take him to a place where psychics are

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congregated. Meanwhile, Yuuki has learned through his contacts that their current job is to protect a weapon maker – one that specializes in the development of anti-psychic weapons. Also, Dzhyuma is the son of the company’s owner and that he’s currently not in good standing with his father.

Kai does as he’s been asked and takes the boy to the local residential area, but as he points out – they aren’t going to be

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able to determine who’s a psychic, although Dzhyuma seems confident. Kai continues to feel sick, and it’s starting to get worse – he’s having a hard time standing straight and is having to balance himself. Suddenly, a man on a terrace starts screaming in pain and falls to the ground. Dzhyuma believes that they’ve found their first psychic and he orders Kai to help capture him, Kai refuses and tries to restrain the boy. A thief suddenly grabs Dzhyuma’s bag and tries to run away, so Kai draws his revolver and shoots the handle of the bag so it falls. As the thief doubles back to pick it up, Yuuki arrives to throw the bag to Kai and knock out the assailant. Yuuki approaches the boy, opens his coat, and turns off the device that’s been affecting Kai. Kai also scares off some men who were watching the action from the periphery.

They take him back to their home and Yuuki begins to ask him some questions – namely why he’s out here and also to get some explanation on the equipment that he brought with him into Gald. He explains the equipment on his person – it is an inhibitor for psychics and is stops their power (with some physical side effects apparently), but will not explain who the men were.

Episode 12: Blind Spot

Dzhyuma explains the relationship with his father (adopted father actually) and how he started working on psychic research despite his father’s urgings not to. Yuuki points out that his equipment has been modified by other people to make weapons that kill psychics, and he seems surprised to learn that his research has been abused to do that. Yuuki agrees to lend out Kai as a guinea pig but on one condition: he wants him to develop a counter to the weapon to protect Kai. Dzhyuma agrees but adds an additional condition of his own: he wants to have a date with Asuka. Yuuki agrees heartily, but Kai really doesn’t like this one bit.

Spending some time doing research, subject and scientist start talking. Dzhyuma’s motives for doing his studies are certainly not aggressive in nature; he’s definitely more of a renaissance man, learning for the sake of learning and is just happens to be that his field involves psychics. The next day on the date, Kai and Yuuki are tailing the pair but at a distance, Yuuki wants to find out who is tailing Dzhyuma and to determine their motives. While watching, they get attacked instead of the client by a pair of psychics. So, this allows them to test their new equipment, the Kai’s counter and the jammer which take out the enemies quite easily. The attack is two-pronged – while the psychics attack the “muscle”, a pair of snipers fire at Dzhyuma. Kai and Yuuki track down the shooters quickly and make them withdraw. Making sure everyone is alright, Asuka convinces Dzhyuma to determine whether his father is at fault about his research being leaked, so he will now return home. He declares that he’s in love with Asuka and declares that Kai is obviously his rival (to the surprise of Kai).

Episode 13: Innocent Enthusiasm

Yuuki leaves the house alone and he doesn’t want anyone else to know what he’s up to, despite being asked by Kai. He’s actually heading out to make donations to local charities, but doesn’t want anyone to know about it nor receive recognition for his gracious nature. So Kai and Asuka are stuck alone and without anything to do, they check the job listings for any worthwhile missions – and Asuka immediately finds one about a missing cat. She wants to help it, but Kai isn’t particularly keen on such a mission, especially when Asuka starts asking a dog for help. But to his surprise, the dog leads them to where it last saw the cat.

The trail leads to an enclosure, and so after sneaking in, they discover that it’s a construction site and that the cat is stranded on a girder and is wailing. Kai goes up to help it, but is scratched for his troubles; so Asuka talks to the cat and it calms down enough for Kai to get it down. The pair safely return the cat to the owner and accept their reward (which Asuka wants to get Yuuki something with). Yuuki comes home to an empty house, he heads to his computer and receives an email about a person wanting to talk about the “magician” in his house; he fears that someone has discovered Kai’s abilities but heads to the meeting with some concern. His meeting turns out to be with Maria of the rebels, and she is insisting that he let the psychic he’s protecting join up with them and that his abilities would be put to better use working for them. Yuuki does not take well to the fact that he’s being investigated, and will not acquiesce but when Maria suggests that “we need her power” – he realizes that they are referring to Asuka and not Kai.

Episode 14: Solitary Shooting Star

Shen-Lon has been noticing the changes in his sisters’ personality – while her outgoing and caring nature hasn’t changed, some of her patterns have disappeared and others have been reversed completely. He loves his sister dearly, but the changes stick out in his mind. He’s heading in for a test of his psychic abilities today, and his strength has seemed to increase from the last testing, but he can’t help but to show off and destroys much of the monitoring equipment. The test is being administered by Professor Chigaya, an expert in psychics and head of the development division of Ashurum. She is approached by Shin-Lu and asked if she can help, so they decide to amend the test to include a mock-battle between the two siblings. Shen-Lon is shocked at the change in her personality once the fight begins – she’s attacking aggressively and is goading him to fight back, but he cannot attack his own sister. She eventually overcomes his defenses and sends him to the hospital – while she keeps a vigil over his body, she mentions that she’s getting stronger to see Kai again; so when Shen-Lon regains consciousness his hatred of Kai is definitely renewed. We also get a little flashback – Eiji is meeting with Prof. Chigaya and outlines an experiment on the twins (Shen-Lon and Shin-Lu) that will increase their psychic powers, and mentions that Maxim has been brought in as a replacement for Kai (in training, not in power level). Eiji talks about how Kai was a perfect specimen of psychic power.

Back in Gald, Yuuki asks Kai backhandedly about ways of detecting psychics, Kai doesn’t know any so Yuuki tells him to forget it. He decides for the time being that it can’t be true, and the three head into town to go shopping. While walking around, Kai hands his bags to Yuuki and says that he must go help someone – Yuuki is flustered, but when Asuka comes and asks where he went, she relates that she also heard a voice calling for help. Yuuki heads near the church, and the voices are becoming more potent, so much that it’s filling his mind and he forcibly teleports back home. He’s racked in pain, so Yuuki takes him back to see the doctor. The doctor suggests that he may be suffering repercussions of not having received psychic-enhancement therapy from Ashurum, so he decides to test his abilities by having him levitate a pen; he cannot, but he claims that he’s having difficulty focusing and instead crushes the pen by accident. The doctor looks at the readings and Kai’s powers have dramatically increased and he’s having difficulty controlling them. He subconsciously sees blood and is remembering trauma from his past – as he collapses into a ball, he starts to become ethereal and completely disappears.

I knew it! Actual plot development… just enough to make me groan in annoyance that I’m going to have to wait a while for the next disc. Dang it! Good disc.

- Tazman

(January 9, 2006)

"I had a boyfriend who was trapped in an avalanche, and he survived by drinking melted snow. He was saved by his grandfather who had a dream about that exact spot."

"Wow. You had a boyfriend?"

- Jewel & Roger (American Dad)

Related Links:

Anime: E's Otherwise Vol. 1 (DVD)

Anime: E's Otherwise Vol. 2 (DVD)