ES: Eternal Sabbath

Jun 5, 2011

aindah

Recommended

Whenever I find a manga that qualifies as a masterpiece in my book, I feel the need to write a review. It is a silly compulsion, purely because I have little to say save "It's perfect".
The story and its development are smooth and natural, the characters are complex and lifelike. The ones which are not-so-human manage to capture the essence and ambiguity of what it means to be a human being. Eternal Sabbath is complex and simple at the same time, and it poses an eternal moral dilemma - is anybody born good or bad?
I loved everything in this manga. The sensitivity of ...

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Apr 20, 2008

volition

Recommended

To be able to take over someones thoughts, to go into peoples minds - thats an unseen ability, and by the story we can experience what its like. In talks I admire some analytical thoughts: about love, growing up, and self understanding. Also story touches about sientists morale, about humanity morale.. that we would rethink our point of view towards such.

I liked ES, as it was very interesting of mans with those abilities thoughts, and Dr. Mine Kujyou thoughts. Story was realistic, yet I personaly dont like too much dramatical scenes, Id like to see more things going well. I also liked the development ...

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Jul 3, 2010

Noofar

Recommended

Eternal Sabbath is very intriguing story about the mental stability of people!? How if someone was created to solely for reason as stupid as mortality and at the end it backfired to control minds and hearts of people?!

This story depicts if in reality this really happened how people will react positively or negatively!?

The art and character development is simply so great!? The characters are so deeply connected with each other with very complex networks very hard to break and the same time fragile!?

Human relationships, psychology, jealousy, emotions and so much more u will observe in this manga!? If you are not so into ...

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Jan 13, 2015

Jagory

Recommended

Someone could call ES a plain sci-fi manga about human experimentation and meaning of being human, about value of human life, about morality of murder and judgment, about tragic love in today-we-save-the-world circumstances... The final may seem plain also as a logical ending. It may also scare like The Astronaut's Wife or Transcendence's final, when you know that this story is totally completed, though it may be also a beginning of smth... Wait a minute! Isn't it a describing of a perfect sci-fi?
ES - Eternal Sabbath is a great work, for adult mind and not for entertainment: there is little of humorous or ...

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Dec 17, 2011

shlomiardan

Recommended

Preliminary (50/83 chp)

I sincerely think this manga is a masterpice and deals with the psyche and soul of humans in ways no other manga does. I actually registered on this website just to write this review.

In other manga, the characters are super brave, never lose, never are really emotionally scarred (and when they are, the main character can cure anything just by saying a few words and screaming some BS about being brave or something) and all characters are sexually dead - like the people who write manga can't deal with anything but violence and rivalry (naruto, bleach, death note and even the heavier ones- like ...

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Jun 24, 2011

lenofilus

Recommended

to be honest, i come across this mangaka by chance while searching something really enjoyable to spend my free time.The result was more than expected.

The first manga of hers that i've read was Mars which is quite similar to Eternal Sabbath,a mixture of romance,slice of life and psychological issues,but don't expect some sweet and innocent stories.

Her work is a plenitude of fellings and situations that make you give it some thought.The most outstanding thing that really catched my eye was her predisposition to psychology and her wish to show the deepens thoughts of humans.
In fact,this is more than psychology.It's science,philosophy,religion.It's the struggle of humans ...

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Oct 23, 2011

daisies

Recommended

This is actually the first time ever that I've felt I had to write something to a manga. Why? Because it took me in from the first page, captivated me and wouldn't let me go - I read all 82 chapters in one go. Also, it's one of only 2 manga that ever managed to make me cry.

What I thought seemed to be most important in the story was morals. What is right and what isn't plays a big role here and you get the impression that the author wants you to decide for yourself on which side you stand.
I loved that it came naturally ...

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May 13, 2012

clairelie

Recommended

For me this series is a fantastic harmony of science-fiction and drama, with what I found to be well crafted elements of love, and human psychology and philosophy - or the "dark side" of human nature.

Characters
I felt Souryo's characters to be "of their own" meaning I could read separate personalities and attitudes coming from the dialogue, body language, style of dress, and so on. I love when a writer (and illustrator) creates strong characters that are individualistic. (Here the use of the word [i]strong[/i] is meant not as a means of saying a character is physically or mentally strong, rather that the character itself ... has been well thought-out and constructed.)

Iillustration
As the plot isn't exactly that of a happy one I really enjoyed the harmony between the plot theme and the style of illustration. I grew attached to the central characters, empathising with their range of experience and emotions. I wouldn't define the illustrations as "pretty", however the illustrations for me at least are aesthetically appealing. A first glance at the front cover illustrations before ever reading a volume and I already became compelled to know about the characters and their story.

Plot
As I mentioned earlier the plot combines quite a few elements together: science-fiction, drama, love, death, psychology and philosophy. I'm sure there are other underlying themes that can be picked up too without having to name them here - the ones above are what I feel to be most prominent. Overall I feel the series fits under the genre heading of drama, however I feel it to be a science-fictional, and psychological drama with a highlight of love between two central characters (it's subtle and beautiful how love is represented in this serious, personally).
If you're after action, this series may be a little light in that regard; for me it was no issue at all. And if you're after romance this again is lacking. When I talk about love I don't mean romance because I feel there's a difference. I would define the likes of Fruits Basket, or La Corda de Oro, for example, as having romance - this series is far from the sort.

The eight-volume length is not too long and not too short. The author has allowed me enough time and space to get to know the characters and their experiences, feel with the characters, and then finish off the story quite memorably. When I'm not reading the series I feel as a sense of nostalgia as I really did become quite attached to the characters and their relationships.
I'd recommend this to any manga reader although I know it won't be to everyone's taste.
It was certainly one of mine. I hope my review has allowed you some clarity to the series if you haven't read it already.

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Apr 8, 2016

JulianGesicht

Recommended

Story and Characters
The story is about Akiba Rouysuke, an experiment human clone, who contain the gene ES. This gene grants the user immunity to all diseases and can live up to 200 years. Also the user has special ability, which enable him to enter human minds, see their inner thoughts, and manipulate them. Although there are special humans, the reason why they are special is not revealed, who can resist this power to a certain degree. One of them is Mine Kujo. A neurological specialist from a physiology research institute from the U.S. Extremely intelligent,she may be one of the most up to earth ...

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Oct 21, 2020

rectified_rascal

Recommended

Shoujo/seinen manga have had a long history of combining psychological drama with romance, comedy and sometimes tragic elements. Maintaining a proper balance between these elements is crucial because if the tone is not right or if one of the elements is over-emphasized, the manga ends up devolve into introspective claptrap that feels weighty and profound but is actually the opposite. However, if the balance is maintained the results can be stunning. One of the manga-ka who did this balancing act best was Fuyumi Soryou in her short series – ES (Eternal Sabbath).

One of the first things about ES that makes it stand out is ... its art. While it is certainly “shoujo like”, it has sinister and psychedelic elements as if the artist had taken inspiration from a Junji Ito horror manga. For instance, in the first chapter the main character has a vision of a character who is plagued by guilt. His guilt takes the form of thorns that emerge from his spinal cord and impale our MC’s abdomen. His blood then splatters onto the ground from where barbed wires emerge and engulf the characters. The barbed hooks then transform into wasps that sting the MC before finally disintegrating into dust. It is ridiculously creepy and feels out of a horror manga. And yet, when not drawing such disturbing images – the art is very elegant. The characters looks less more Scandinavian or Italian than Japanese – tall, lean and ridiculously photogenic. Fuyumi uses such transitions from elegance to horror and then back again to tremendous advantage giving ES creating a sense of whiplash in the reader’s mind.

Beyond the art though, ES is an unusual manga in that it doesn’t rely on the standard shoujo/shounen tropes but feels more like a Hollywood thriller. One would imagine that a manga that has elements of genetic modification and mutants running loose in Tokyo would lead into epic battles in which the future of the world is at stake. However ES keeps it small, choosing instead to focus on how such mutants would survive in a world that is alien to them and how the world responds to them. Along the way, it explored the question of “nature vs. nurture” – can a mutant who has potential to do tremendous harm be nurtured to do become a good person? Or is it in its nature to be harmful? The series has tons of twists and several plot revelations that make it an absolutely gripping page-turner. And along the way, the series obliquely makes social critiques on parenting, child-development, modern-age relationships etc. It is all executed brilliantly until…

Until the final volume where it careens out of control. For obvious reasons, I won’t spoil what happens but the final 5-6 chapters finish the series off in what feels like a simple ‘predictable’ ending instead of a ‘grand’ finish. By no means can I call it a disaster, but it feels like a slight put down considering just how spectacular volumes 2-7 are.

All in all, ES is a fine piece of work. It is short – just 8 volumes long but it feels much less short because it is so fast and gripping. I remember reading this first in 2007 and upon rereading it in 2020 – it still holds up very well. Highly recommended. Just be prepared for a slightly lackluster ending.

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Sep 21, 2017

Poudycat

Mixed Feelings

(spoiler-free section)
ES doesn't come anywhere close to a masterpiece, mainly due to flaws in the plot (plot holes, plot armor) and in the characters, notably their lack of depth.

In terms of plot, ES falls short due to its premise. Shuro's power is non-interactive: he goes into your mind and can kill you or brainwash you. This is nothing short of being OP, and if he enters someone's mind, there's no real telling what's going on until the narrative fills us in. So where could this manga get interesting?

In the characters! That's because now the question is, how will he use his powers and how will ... humanity respond? Unfortunately, the characters are simple and one dimensional, and especially serve the inconsistent plot before serving themselves. Shuro initially stands out as curious, nonchalant, not emotionally invested in anything, and does some good deeds when he feels like it. However, as the story goes on, he loses a lot of complexity and gets a side role. His emotions get simplified and he very quickly becomes a sensitive person.

Psychology is oversimplified and most of the characters' intentions are induced as originating from some traumatism, notably lack of parental love. This is similar to Freud's psychology, which is so outdated and pretentious hand-waving that it's not even taught in standard university psyc textbooks anymore. [As a minor note, characters are also overly polite (but maybe this manga is juste more Japanese-like than others). When Mine accuses a woman of beating her child, that same woman, regardless of her anger against Mine, still lets Mine into her house on several occasions... There are other instances of a character hating another, yet acting way too friendly, even more than you would act towards a typical friend. ]

Finally, to seal the deal on this 5/10 rating, ES has your dose of poorly written plot. Characters experience plot armor all the time and there are significant plot holes (specifications below).

**(SPOILERS section)**

Plot armor happens for both Mine and Izaak. When Mine is surrounded by brainwashed police officers, Shuro comes to the rescue (although he was not initially with her). When Izaak is about to get shot, Mine gets emotional and purposely misses his head. Then as he retaliates, Shuro yet again appears from nowhere to save her.

When the author realizes his story is spinning in circles, the story-writing suddenly gets incredibly rushed. Izaak turns out to lack antibodies against aging, so he's suddenly grown/aged to 70 years old. The problem? Shuro is 15 years old and has grown to the human equivalent of 20-30 years old, looking like a "handsome college student". We thus understand that ES age around twice as faster as humans. So why would Izaak, who is the human equivalent of 10 years old, grow much faster than Shuro and age more abruptly? Over ~2 weeks he suddenly gets white hair and his skin gets wrinkly. I'm pretty sure aging is a spectrum; if he were lacking the antibodies at birth, then he would have gotten wrinkly and gray hair progressively.

The young girl (Yuri) somehow becomes vulnerable to Izaak's power and gets killed off, even though she's supposed to be some kind of "race" with immunity to ES powers. The author could argue her 'inner will' was weakened after her mother died, but are we really going to say that this 4th grader, when not in turmoil, has a stronger 'inner will' than all those adults that have died from ES, from delinquents to researchers? If so, then the author did a poor job at showing us that those who could die from ES were weak-willed humans.

Finally, the final battle. As I said at the start of this review, these battles mean nothing to us and the author even took advantage of that by deceiving us over who won. Then we got the dumb magical ending where Shuro's powers transfer to Mine and that she surpasses his ability by killing Izaku...

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Sep 8, 2023

choimochi

Recommended

[WORK AND AUTHOR]
ES: Eternal Sabbath is a drama, science fiction, and supernatural manga, written and drawn by the author Fuyumi Souryo, which has eighty-three chapters published from 2001 to 2004. I worked with Shoujo, for Seinen. It is important to say that Souryo is a veteran mangaka who has been publishing works since the 80s and continues to be active until today, with her most recent work: Cesare: Hakai no Souzousha, ending in 2021.

[PLOT AND CONTEXT]
In this work, Souryo slaps the characters and the reader in the face by raising questions about the importance of life, which seems to be a recurring theme in the ...

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Dec 21, 2021

Stone76

Not Recommended

Really interesting premise but I think it could have been executed a lot better. Lots of problems I have with the manga. I find it interesting that some other reviewers claim this is a masterpiece despite its blatant flaws.

STORY - [5.5/10]
You follow the journey of 2 individuals developed in a special lab. They were developed to have psychic powers and one of them was taught morality, while the other one was not. By psychic powers, I mean that they can read minds, control people, and even harm others (through doing mind stuff). With this in mind, you follow both of them and how they interact ... with the environment around them. For the entirety of the series, it seems like it wanted to take a philosophical approach to what it was trying to accomplish, and I honestly do not think it delivered on it. It just never really went in-depth on anything it presented and in all honesty, it probably couldn't. Every topic introduced regarding this part of the story was kinda simple. Maybe it's because I binge that kind of stuff, but the ideas and questions brought up just weren't complicated enough and also boring. At some points, the two individuals begin to question the meaning of their existence, but the story doesn't go in-depth on it as it could have. It comes out simplified too. Some of the drama, especially toward the beginning, wasn't very interesting as well. It does somewhat pick up but I think the first 20 chapters or so are a bit hard to get through.

Although sometimes, the story was just plain stupid. A very convenient and also very disappointing weakness for the antagonist is introduced which just comes out as incredibly lazy. There are multiple times where the antagonist could and should have died, but didn't because the series wasn't long enough I guess. plot holes. It had its share of general problems.

ART - [6/10]
I have very mixed feelings about the art.

On one hand, I think this author draws scenery and background details very well. The background of the panels always looked very nice. On the other hand, I think the people were drawn quite bad. This doesn't apply to every character, but if you look around at some of them... its like the mangaka has a base template she uses to draw facial structures and makes a slight change to it each time. I just don't like how some of the faces were drawn, and they sometimes have alarmingly similar qualities. But scenery and objects came out quite nicely.

CHARACTERS [5/10]
None of these characters were very memorable in my opinion. As mentioned before, it revolves around 2 individuals created in a lab with different mindsets. It focuses on the development of these 2 characters as they get out into the "real world" as much as possible. The development is predictable and since everything is somewhat simplified in this manga, also boring. It's a bit wholesome to see the main lab experiment, Shuro, get in touch with humanity as the story continues but... Izaku's was boring. Predictable increasingly destructive behavior.

A romantic development is introduced for seemingly no reason other then to arsenal the impact of the ending, if I had to guess. Side characters were not that interesting either. Really not much else to say.

OVERALL ENJOYMENT - [5/10]
I don't think I can recommend this series to be honest. It actually reminded me of Kiseijuu a lot, and I'd recommend you read that instead if you haven't. It has worrying issues in each of its departments, and as a result, I sincerely think you could just use your time reading something better.

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