365 Days of Manga, Day 99: E’S

E’S (Esu) (??) • Satol Yuiga • Broccoli Books (2007-2008) • Square Enix (G Fantasy, 1997-2009) • 6 volumes in America, cancelled (15 volumes in Japan) • Psychic Science Fiction Action Drama • 16+ (mild language, graphic violence)
In the cities of the future, common people fear and hate psychics, and the megacorporation Ashurum tracks down rogue talents with its private psychic military squad. Kai, a teenage psychic unaware of Ashurum’s corrupt nature, gets separated from the corporation and ends up in the dangerous world outside, where guerillas, corporations and the church are hunting for a lost artifact called the “sacrament of Calvarias.” One of the better modern fusions of shôjo and shônen style, E’S may be the only manga to successfully combine energy-blasting battles with Terminator-esque cyborgs with cute girls and closeups of kittens (Asuka, the housekeeper of Kai’s safehouse, likes pets). The story reads well, the characters are engaging and attractive, and Yuiga’s art is an outstanding example of the mid-1990s super-detailed style also practiced by artists such as Kazushi Hagiwara: futuristic skyscrapers etched with screentone, flowery character shots, and convincing fight scenes. As shôjo-influenced psychic sci-fi dramas go, it’s somewhere between the tepid Kamui and the more original (but snail-paced, and probably never-to-be-finished) X/1999.
3

Today’s winner is Mike R. of Missouri. Congratulations, Mike! And today’s photo is of one of our previous winners, Katrina D.!

Who knows what goes on behind that mysterious mask of manga? All I know is, (1) “The Recipe for Gertrude” is a good series to which I should have given a higher rating in the original MtCG and (2) you will soon have even MORE manga to build an even more impressive manga-wall! Thanks for your photo, and enjoy your forthcoming second batch of manga!