As I wrote a review for Code E I figured that I should also write a review for the sequel Mission E. Mission E is a fairly heavy improvement from Code E, but it is still far from perfect. The story is still fairly bad at giving exposition to explain certain events, but it is much better than Code E was in this regard. The feel of the plot is more consistent than Code E's and the characters are better written. However the story still has trouble giving exposition to explain certain events, the plot can take time to pickup as it feels very caseof the week for a few episodes before the overall story starts going, and the story still sucks at explaining backstories and motivations for characters outside of the main characters, making certain actions and characters feel hollow or confusing.

The characters seem better written having had time to mature over the 5 year time skip and many events are only implied through passing details. For instance Saihashi is a part of the cast again and while what she did during the time skip is not really elaborated on she appears to wear dog tags implying that she was part of the military for some time during the time skip. This could also explain her proficiency with piloting a helicopter and a speed boat. That being said, as I mentioned above, many characters, especially supporting and antagonist characters, lack backstories outside of passing scenes that I can only hope was the production company trying to explain things that were in the source material, but I haven't read the source material so I can't be sure.

Chinami returns and while she is a main character this time around she also functions as a supporting character throughout a lot of the story helping out Maori. Chinami's personality seems to have changed a bit too as she now comes off more as air headed and very extroverted as though she was making up for her past introverted self, but she also shows moments of astute observation which is displayed mostly through body language and glancing looks such as noting when Maori is having issues with pain in her shoulder, or when after acting air headed and suggesting that they get food in the cafeteria of the school they had infiltrated she later remarked that there were no special ingredients in the food showing that she doesn't always act without thinking.

Maori is our new main character and takes the role that was previously held by Chinami in Code E. Her story has parallels with Chinami's but differs greatly in many respects. While Chinami was introverted and emotional due to her powers constantly causing her family to move for fear that she would be discovered. Maori is taciturn and never really seems to express her emotions, similar to how Saihashi was in the beginning of Code E before she started to soften up thanks to Chinami's influence. Maori deals with not being sure if she can trust OZ completely, feeling as though they are not much different from the Organization. This comes to a head after she was kidnapped and mentally toyed with by the mysterious Akane who seems to have no real affiliation and does whatever amuses her, such as giving Maori a means of escape from being held by the Organization and seemingly having knocked out most of the guards using some sort of tranquillizer. By the end seeing how Chinami was looking for her and various other events Maori softens and starts to become more of a "normal" girl including finding love. Also a fun detail that is hinted at early on and confirmed much later, Maori is the little girl with the dog from Code E who was next to Chinami when the dog scared Chinami and caused her to short out the air control tower. Maori actually thought it was her own doing and remarked that she was depressed about it for a long time.

Sonomi returns as Chinami and Maori's boss. Her role is mostly a supporting role akin to the stereotypical Bosley character in spy movies (I hope that reference isn't too old now). Her job is mostly handing out missions and running the organization of OZ while ensuring that the staff have the resources that they need. We also get some closure from Sonomi with regards to her thoughts about Kotarou and Chinami as she acknowledges that the two love each other but she was unsure if they had confessed to each other. She has also moved past her love for Kotarou saying that it was sort of like getting over a bad cold and somewhat mocking herself for how stubborn she was. She is now married but we get very little information about her family beyond the fact that she has kids and her husband is always concerned about her.

Adol returns as an antagonist. His motivation also answers one of the biggest lingering questions from Code E and its abrupt ending, Mils has survived but she is in a state similar to locked in syndrome. She seems unable to react to external stimuli. However hope for her is provided after a scene of Maori visiting her and holding her hand allows her to move slightly and even attempt to speak. This is later explained in exposition by Kotarou. While talking with Adol, Kotarou explains that Type E may have medical applications and proposes that the suits the girls wear on missions have the potential to enhance the nerve impulses and that may be enough to allow Mils to truly live again instead of being akin to a doll. Adol is one of the more important supporting characters and while it is implied that he was in love with his sister, him and Maori having a budding love that was born originally from a sort of whim by Adol to take Maori on a date after meeting her once before without realizing who she was.They can be assumed to become a couple as shown when they fell asleep together after the final mission and Maori's dog Dorota being in the hospital room with Adol after the final mission.

Kotarou returns as a supporting character and is mostly responsible for the technology that the Type E users utilize such as their suits. Beyond that him and Chinami are still a couple but they haven't progressed very far. It wasn't until a heavy push from Sonomi that they get engaged instead of just date.

Finally we have the return of our main antagonist from Code E, Hiiragi. While his motivation is never expanded upon aside from a panning shot of a picture of him and a young boy presumed to be his son and his rants calling Type E users monsters, we have no idea what drove him to hate Type E's. We do however learn that he is a biologist and that his work alongside a person named Akamatsu-sensei laid the ground work for much of Kotarou's understanding of Type E powers. Kotarou however reached a completely different theory than Hiiragi based on the same body of evidence leading to divergent philosophies. Under the organizations employ Hiiragi uses his power in a bid to eliminate Type E users from society. He also employs the mysterious Kiriku who little is known about aside from a final scene implying that they are a type E user despite Konomi stating earlier that only girls can be Type E users, something that is never elaborated on, and that they were subjected to medical experiments that still haunt them as seen in a very brief flashback.

The plot is fairly solid but at times the pacing can be questionable such as starting out with a scene with horror movie vibes and then a superhero action sequence before a break for exposition to explain what the hell is going on and then a daring escape. Through exposition and offhand remarks numerous questions from Code E, mostly its finale, are answered. Yes the animals in the area of the summer school had Type E powers. Yes Mils survived but she is unable to react to external stimuli being in a state akin to locked in syndrome. While not confirmed it is very heavily implied that the meteor shown in the opening scene of Code E's first episode did indeed fall in the area of where the summer school was and that is why animals and potentially even plants around there were able to use Type E powers and react to Chinami to produce the firefly effect, the theory behind which would later be used to create the suits used by Type E users. Sonomi moved on from her love and seems to hold no hard feelings, even pushing Chinami and Kotarou to finally get engaged. And we get a proper explination of Type E powers beyond the ability to produce EM waves. In short Type E powers seem to amplify nerve synaptic current. This would mean that the previous hypothesis of electrical cells similar to electric eels is likely very wrong and that the virus changes its hosts in some other way.