Plot: The world is filled with people who possess psychic powers, but society shuns them away as monsters. An underground organization dedicated to training psychics to secretly use their abilities for good has recruited Kai and his younger sister to assist them in their goal. However, after a terrifying run-in with a rival psychic, Kai finds himself being cared for by two normal people in the outside world and learns that the organization may be more than meets the eye.
Breakdown: Hate to say this, but this was another series I quit watching. The first few episodes are actually fairly interesting, but it gets very boring afterward. I got through episode eight before I decided to ditch this series.
Let me just say this, there’s nothing inherently wrong with this series, it’s just really cliche and boring. The characters are cliche and boring. The story is cliche and boring. The artwork, while being crisp and nice, is also boring. Hell, even the plot isn’t all that interesting. It doesn’t really bring anything new to the table, and I found myself sleepwalking through a good chunk of it. There’s nothing to make it stand out or hook in viewers.
After the fairly interesting first few episodes, we meet Yuki and Asuka. Yuki’s a stubborn older brother who finds it difficult to get along with Kai, and Asuka is an airhead whose CONSTANT failures in the field of cooking are a CONSTANT running ‘joke’. Almost the entire first half of episode eight was dedicated to talking about how bad Asuka is at cooking. That’s ridiculous. I will agree though that it is insane how bad she is at cooking. I mean, she mixed coffee beans and grounds together to essentially make coffee bean soup while trying to make coffee. You will believe a person can be this stupid when you see Asuka. They bring it up so much, it’s like the creators really think this is an original character quirk.
News Flash: no. In fact, failing in the kitchen has to be one of the most over-used character traits ever, especially for moe female characters.
They should’ve just kept him at the institute. The characters there all have powers and are a lot more interesting. Sure, Gary Oak wannabe boy was a little annoying, but at least things happened there.
Then we have Kai who, while being kinda cool in the first few episodes, simply goes from pretty boring to snooze. Eight episodes in and I don’t care about him or his sister at all. That’s a big problem.
As long as I’m thinking about it, episode eight in it’s entirety was stupid. They go to a really famous ramen shop and wait in line for an hour (an hour, for ramen. You could have it in three minutes at home. I know it’s not the same considering how good the ramen shops in Japan supposedly are, but come on – an hour’s ludicrous.) and the cook is incredibly mean. What person would talk like that to customers when they have done nothing? Imagine an incredibly snooty French stereotype chef who has his panties in a bunch and make him a ramen cook. That’s that guy. If you were that rude to customers, there’s no way you’d have the kind of customer base this place sports.
Voice Acting: English – The voice acting is incredibly mediocre. No one sounds memorable, everyone sounds bored and Asuka is a pain to listen to.
Bottom Line: This series is a poster child for mediocre anime. I hope it gets better later on for those still interested in giving it a viewing, but I’m ditching it.
Additional Information and Notes: E’s Otherwise was produced by Studio Pierrot, and was based off a manga series by Satoru Yuiga. It was directed by Masami Shimoda. The English version was licensed by ADV Films, but since they have gone defunct, Section23 Films owns it now.
Episodes: 26
Year: 2003
Recommended Audiences: There is some violence and intense moments. 10+
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The Anime Madhouse 