Eternal Sabbath #6

Genre manga Author Fuyumi Soryo Publisher Del Rey Manga External Links Official Eternal Sabbath #6 Website

Eternal Sabbath follows the story of Dr. Mine Kujyou and her search the genetically engineered Isaac. The child Isaac has the power to read minds and to also control people's minds. He has killed several people and is out to finally become stronger than his older 'brother' Shuro.

Dr. Kujyou is out to stop Isaac before he kills anymore people, but she is temporally distracted by a troubled woman named Ms. Iwamura. Haunted by the memory of her father mentally and physically abusing her, she recreates the same environment for her daughter Yuri, even though she realizes that she is only harming the child. Shuro has grown in this series, he is not as heartless as he was during the first couple volumes, and has developed feelings of love for Mine. Isaac on the other hand has had no one to develop a friendship with, and even his friendship with Yuri falls apart when she steals the gun from him.

The story is touching and dramatic. We see the struggle within everyone to try to understand their reason to exist on earth and to become better people. Even Isaac, who is a psychopathic killer, has his reasons for his attitude. This volume seems to deal with coming to terms with death and understanding love of all kinds. Shuro and Mine admit that they are in love with each other and Yuri finally understands that her mother loved her even if it was too late. The bonds between the characters are very strong and the story is well-written that you can believe the changes that take place and the dialogue. Even though the story is depressing at times, people dying from disease or because of Isaac, there is still some hope. There is a lot going on and the attention shifts from Isaac to Shuro to Mine so at times it can be a bit overwhelming. The story itself is full of emotion and can be exhausting at times. You really have to be in a certain mood to read Eternal Sabbath and prepare yourself for an emotional rollercoaster. If you've read Mars, then you'll understand the type of writing involved as Eternal Sabbath and Mars are both written by Fuyumi Soryo. The art in the manga is all right. There's nothing that particularly stands out for me. The range of emotions is almost lost as the characters only seem to have three faces: shocked, normal, and upset. Of course Isaac has only two emotions: evil and more evil. The character designs also aren't that impressive. Of course Isaac and Shuro will look similar since they are clones, but Isaac's mother and Yuri's mother are hard to tell apart, and Mine and Yuri look quite similar as well with their age the only thing differentiating their features. The scenery is also quite drab, but I actually enjoy the drabness, it adds to the atmosphere and mood of the manga.

Overall this is a powerful volume. I feel the worst for Yuri in this volume because the poor girl has really got it rough. The entire manga really shows how important human relations are and how even though we have the best intentions, things don't always happen the way we want. It's a tense manga and by the end, the tension builds up even more. Wonderful story with ok art.