It’s been awhile since we last looked in on Es, my bad, especially since we last left off on a bit of a cliffhanger as I remember it. It seems last time out Asuka was being threatened again with abduction, and it looked like only Maria (who has her own agenda) is standing between Asuka and said abduction. Well the first part of this story is the resolution of that, and how Asuka is saved… only after a long fight (which gets worst when a powerful new enemy named Maxim drops in and attempts to take her), which leaves Yuuki busted up something fierce.

As for Maria? She’s part of a growing list of people who are out to retrieve this strange “Sacrament of Calvarias”, which just added Kai to that list. Still in that strange religious order facility with the captive kids they pit against each other in Fight Club style bouts, it seems they want Kai to go find the Sacraments for them (and he has some pretty good non self centered motivation to do just that). Of course what happens AFTER somebody finds those damn Sacraments remains to be seen, but things are not good for Kai.

Bad days seem to be the common thread of this volume, by the way, as we check back in over at Ashurum where Shen-long is about to be backslapped (through a power shaking major fight) into becoming the “member” of new top dog Maxim’s group. And being forced to join with his sister Shin-lu worrying him (as he suspects something is dreadfully wrong with her) things couldn’t be worst for him.

So Yuuki is on the mends, plots are still happening to take Asuka, and now this shake up over at Ashurum concerning command and the search for the Sacraments? Could things get any worst… could be as Kai is about to get involved in stopping a mercy killing of a little girl afflicted with -- what!! Darn! Find out next review!!

Mmm… are you reading this? No? Why not.
I’ve been reviewing this from the start, and while I do admit I might have had a wee bit of concern at the start once I started rolling through the reviews (and each subsequent book) it’s become a wee bit of a happy time reviewing this title whenever it comes along for another round (I’m going to miss it when the series wraps). Staol Yuiga’s E’s is a nice slice of good all about, strong writing nice artwork and I like the little extras thrown into the back of this one as well. Overall a solid title that is a good read (and keeps you coming back for more volume after volume). Recommended most definitely, a 4 out of 5.