After the horrifyingly traumatic events of last volume, Elijah has steeled himself to do whatever it takes to get revenge on drug-runner and pimp, Pedro. No matter the cost, despite the protests of his friends, Elijah embarks on a new journey, entering in a world of crime, lurid violence, and danger everywhere.

This marks a new arc in the series as Elijah enters into the world of organized crime to exact his revenge on Pedro. He must first seek the crime boss known as the Automater, and it sets him on a path that there may well be no returning from. He learns of Pedro’s past, one filled with harsh occurrences and even harder choices. Through this background story, Pedro is humanized as most of Hiroki Endo’s characters are. For no matter how evil the actions of any of the people we have come to know, there is always a reason for them, and at the heart of it all, the quest for survival. For Elijah, simply trying to survive is no longer enough as he becomes obsessed with destroying Pedro. But just how far will he go in this quest? And what will be the ultimate price he will have to pay for it in the end?

A fascinating tale of a dystopian society, the character studies are enthralling and equally disturbing. The violence and suffering of these individuals are of a magnitude that can barely be contained, yet Hiroki Endo finds a way to tell their stories with a poignancy that touches the soul even while he never glosses over any misdeed or merciless occurrence that has happened to the people, or that these characters have caused. As much as he manages to humanize ruthless men like Pedro, he does not seem to do it to soften or rationalize what horrors this man (or any of the characters in the story) have committed, but rather to magnify the tragedy of it all and bare the cost to the human soul such acts tear out of those lives and the lives of those around them. One of the most disturbing things is the apathy to which all of these characters face their lives. Helena, so brutally raped and mutilated, has survived, and yet even she asks fifteen-year-old Elijah not to go after Pedro despite what he has done to her. She, like many of the characters in the manga, act as if what has happened to her is almost expected or accepted as ‘normal’, nothing more. The devaluing of life in this world is horrifying. When surviving is the only goal anyone strives for anymore, what room is there for hope? Can a soul be saved under the onslaught of the apathy such inhumanity and cruelty engenders? These are but some of the deep and hard-hitting questions this series offers and makes for such an engrossing experience.

IN SUMMARY:
Elijah embarks on a new journey, as his life becomes one obsessed on gaining revenge. Eden is an enthralling read that immerses the reader ever more into this dystopian world with every chapter.