Category: El Cazador de la Bruja

You know, at one point, I didn’t really like this episode, for obvious reasons (fanservice, a rather annoying Lilio). But when the episode finished, I do admit that I left it with a good feeling. It’s a typical example of an episode which was good and annoying at the sane time. The thing I like about El Cazador is that each episode has some kind of semi-hidden meaning behind it. Every episode shows a certain character who is special in one sort of way, and it shows how Ellis and Nadie relate and react to this character. The character of this episode: Lilio. The difference with the previous episodes was, though, that we didn’t delve into her background. We never get to know anything about who she is. Instead, the episode spends its time fleshing out her character. With a shower- AND pool-scene less then five minutes apart from each other, this had to become annoying. But these scenes did show one thing: Lilio and Ellis are very similar when they’re together. At one point, they’re both waiting for their companions, they’re both getting enthusiastic when someone similar to their companions comes close, and they both remain enthusiastic when they realize they’ve got the wrong person. For Ellis, this was obvious, since she likes to imitate people, and Nadie never told what she was going to do (this time, she just went to get some cash from Blue-eyes to pay for the hotel they’ve been staying in). But Lilio raises lots of questions. Why doesn’t she get lonely while she waits for her father? Why does she always smile? Why can’t she talk? Why would her father take her along on a dangerous mission like this one, and heck, why would he leave the girl unguarded? Does Lilio know what her father is doing, and if she does, then why doesn’t she mind? Also, I LOVED LA. Not only did he kiss Ellis in the previous episode, he also cut off a piece of her hair and turned this into a straw doll. His obsession is really getting freakier by the minute, and now it seems that he’s a walking killing-machine with that string of his. Still, who does he work for I wonder? All I know for sure is that Rozenberg has possession of the videos the guy makes, so why does he want to have the guy removed from the scene? It seems now that LA indeed is acting on his own, but if that is the case, then I do wonder how Rozenberg got a hold of his videotapes… The question also remains: what did Ricardo did to LA after knocking the guy unconscious? Obviously, the guy will wake up with quite a headache (Ricardo did this in quite an original way, actually. I never recall seeing someone getting knocked out when a gun is shot too close to his ears), but I do suppose that Ricardo didn’t just leave LA’s body afterwards. It’s a bit strange for his mission to just knock the guy out and just leave afterwards.]]>

One thing I don’t get is how people are claiming that El Cazador is stuck in fillers. Heck, there hasn’t been one episode which didn’t contribute something to the plot, and all the episodes have spend some nice time fleshing out the different characters. This time, Nadie’s history gets a bit explored. It seems that Nadie wasn’t always a bounty hunter. At one time, she worked at a local restaurant. In there, she started liking a boy, but he used her money to hit on another girl. Because of that, she came to hate the guy. In this episode, she runs into him again. The interesting thing is, that he tried to team up with the hunters. He still works at that same restaurant, as one of the guitarists, though his skills are terrible. I suspect that he could use an extra bit of money. You wouldn’t suspect it, but apart from Seirei no Moribito, El Cazador has proved to be the most difficult anime to understand raw. That’s because there are so many details inside each episode that you just can’t miss, and I’m really noticing with my Japanese skills that I miss out on them more often when compared to other anime. In any case, the climax was a great one. We’re never shown who actually did it, but after Nadie has taken care of the hunters, he ends up with two gun-wounds in his stomach. The girl we saw him flirting with in the flashback still is with him, and she’s shocked to find the guy in a state like that. We’re never shown whether he lives or not, or what happens afterwards, though. But in the epilogue, we do see the two of Ellis and Nadie crying. And LA, I finally realized that he actually works for Rozenberg. I kept wondering how the guy was able to trace Ellis and Nadie’s every step, but now it seems that LA has been filming Ellis not just because of his personal fetishes. Still, I do wonder how he got hold of the footage with Ellis when she was armed with a pair of forks, since we see him trailing Lilio and her father during that episode. Speaking of the two of them, I still have no idea about their role. They work for Rozenberg as well, and in this episode we see them react when Nadie comes running past them, but after that we never see them again… Is their job to be trailing the pair of Nadie and Ellis? But if it is, then why does Rozenberg use LA as well? I’m also surprised at how this show handles deaths. It’s a bit confusing when compared to Wellber no Monogatari, where Tina uses a gun that doesn’t kill, but these people definitely do die. Because of the travelling nature of this show, these people are just left behind, as if they never existed in the first place. In most anime this is a bad thing, but somehow this really works for El Cazador, making it one of the most thought-provoking series this season.]]>

I decided to stop giving these small blurbs of information about each show. I began to notice something, and Cos confirmed this. These things made me really lose sight of what’s important in an anime, and they only made sure that I was way too focused on finding something really unique. The ratings illustrated this. The good points also were pointless (pun not intended, but it does fit well) and I’d usually claim that one part of the episode was good, making it seem that the rest of the episode was just worthless. The short synopsis also can be easily omitted, but the worst parts were the bad points. For each episode, they forced me to look at bad points which usually didn’t matter. Overall, it was a bad idea. Anyway, about the episode, it was another great one, just like all the others from El Cazador. It starts when a van is blocking Nadie’s and Ellis’s way, being stuck in the mud. Nadie tries to help move it, but that doesn’t work. When Ellis pushes it slightly, though, the van moves easily, suggesting that Ellis has more than just powers to heat things up. A bit later, near the house of a girl, the car stops again. This time, due to lack of gas. Nadie finds this strange, as she just refilled the tank. The girl we saw, meanwhile, ran home and put on a dress. It seems that she’s been anticipating travellers. When she put on the dress and waits for the two of them to come as well, she’s surprised to see them being pulled in by the same van from before. Nadie then moves the car to the local mechanic, and there indeed seems to be a leak in the fuel-tank. The driver from the van, meanwhile, appears to sell different kinds of dresses. When Nadie and the mechanic make a small test-drive (?) they see the girl again, but she doesn’t respond. The mechanic notes that Rita (the name of the girl) is rather sick, but it’s nothing to worry about. We then switch to that evening, were the mechanic managed to finish fixing the car. A while later, Rita comes to Nadie and Ellis, asking them to take her along with them. It seems that she’s been living inside the same town for her entire life, and she really wants to go to the city. I think that this is because she’s sick. She probably didn’t have much to live. Nadie, though, declines. That’s only natural, of course, with all these people after them. Rita, however, takes this the wrong way. And after all, you wouldn’t expect people like Nadie and Ellis to be hunted, do you? LA meanwhile, managed to catch up with Nadie and Ellis again. I still don’t know what he was doing near the two others, in the last episode though. We then switch to Rozenberg, where he watches a bit of the footage of last week (the hilarious part where Ellis attempted to help Nadie with a pair of forks XD). I had to laugh when Rozenberg didn’t get any of this. Blue-eyes is with him, for once when she can’t figure out what Nadie’s thinking. That night, Ellis buys a small pouch from the guy in the van (who decided to stay near the place for the night as well), so that she could store the stone in it, in order to prevent mishaps like in the previous episode. But guess what, that night, when everyone’s sleeping, it appears that that guy is one of the hunters, after Ellis. He tries to take her away, with the help of none other than Rita, using Nadie’s car to get away. Whether it is the work of a bad mechanic or LA, we never know. But the fact remains that the fuel-tank stil leaks, dropping fuel all over the road. When Nadie comes after them, and gunfire ensues, this catches a flame, causing the car to drive off a cliff. Ellis surprisingly leaps through the air, and manages to save Rita as well. The van-driver though, is unconscious. What follows is an explanation of why Rita did what she did, and I had a little trouble following it. She wants to go to the city, that’s for sure. Because she’s sick, she probably won’t have many chances to do so in her life. Nadie and Ellis, meanwhile, shamelessly steal the guy’s van. That guy, meanwhile wakes up, with somehow tomato-juice on his head when he sees the bounty-hunter. I chuckled when the guy mistook the tomato-juice for blood. Ellis, meanwhile, changes into a different dress. One thing I’m surprised about is that, unlike Noir, El Cazador gives actual personalities to the hunters, after our main characters. Only few of them are just brainless goons, and they’re not just finished off after one episode. I’m really surprised at the amount of detail put in the storyline as well. I liked how the last scene emphasized on Ellis, changing her clothes. Will Nadie be doing the same at one point? The past cases have been quite unique, and I really like this about El Cazador. Especially the nuns and the dead body were unique.]]>

Short Synopsis: This time, we find Ellis and Nadie in a local monastery, where the two cross-dressers from last time are out for revenge. Good: Ellis was too cute. Bad: The climax was a bit unbelievable. Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 Okay, so this episode was a bit silly, but it definitely was fun! The episode starts by throwing us right into the action, when the two cross-dressers from last episode have finally caught up with Ellis and Nadie. They don’t know about LA, so they blame the twosome for messing with their car. The three nuns who live in the monastery prove to be another very interesting case this time, solely because they take a step away from what you’d expect from a bunch of nuns. Ellis, armed with a pair of forks was also hilarious to see. ^^; Obviously, there are many similarities between Noir and El Cazador, but there’s one fundamental difference: Noir started off mysteriously, and it took a very long while before the first mysteries started to get solved. El Cazador, on the other hand, has already answered a lot of questions in its first four episodes. This episode, for example, shows a lot of things about Blue-Eyes, while Rozenberg is also seen doing a few things here and there. Those scenes were a tad difficult to understand, though. What is clear now is that Blue-Eyes and Rozenberg don’t have the same intentions or goals. It seems to me that Blue-Eyes is trying to find out what Ellis actually is, either that, or she already knows this, and tells this to the viewers. Ellis is some kind of witch, I’m not yet sure whether she was born one, or that she gained her abilities from the professor. What we also learned was that some strange experiments were performed on her, till she at one point begged the professor not to do them anymore. The professor promised he wouldn’t, which could suggest why Ellis killed the guy: he broke his promise, and she couldn’t take it anymore. Blue-Eyes seems to be trying to figure out what Rozenberg is after, as she continues to spy on him. Lilio’s father, meanwhile, is seen to have made a phone call with Rozenberg, which suggests that they’re on his side. I kept wondering why LA didn’t appear in this episode, but it seems that he’s been trailing the other twosome. I suspect that the next episode will bring them a bit more in the spotlight. Finally, what was up with that final sentence in this episode? Ellis isn’t god’s child? What could be the meaning after this?]]>

Short Synopsis: It starts raining, so Ellis and Nadie take refuge in a house whose owner died long ago. Good: Great combination of comedy, characters, mystery and thought-provoking elements. Bad: Will Rozenberg be doing other things than just sitting on his chair? Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 I just realized that I’m blogging quite a few series who feature a strong female lead, who travels along with one companion. It’s interesting to see that each season does have its distinctive features. It’ll also be interesting to see which of these series will turn out the best, as they’re all very good so far. El Cazador has its mystery, Wellber no Monogatari has its setting, Seirei no Moribito has its attention to detail and Claymore has its tragedy. And really, ever since Eruhe (spelling?) emerged from the back of the car, I started to really like him. His obsession with Ellis just isn’t healthy, but he’s on one side very funny, and he has to have some kind of reason to be so obsessed over her. Ellis and Nadie are the same, in a way. Ellis herself has quite a few sides, a clueless girl, a murderous one and a compassionate, for example. Nadie, meanwhile, acts cheerful and level-headed most of the time, but she is actually hiding some kind of sad past. I love how balanced these first three episodes have been so far. El Cazador also comes with a nice amount of symbolism, which doesn’t feel out of place at all. The main theme also is quite interesting: how people live their life after killing someone, and the aftermaths of the death of a person. I also love the addition of random cases of random people Ellis and Nadie run into. For some anime, it may not be a good idea, but it’s perfect for El Cazador. Again, a very good balance is kept between the story of the person who gets featured in the episode and the main storyline, unlike stories as Mushishi and Jigoku Shoujo, where Ai and Ginko take a step back in favour of the other characters. I’m glad I decided to blog this, as this episode gave me lots of inspiration and topics to write about. Now let’s hope that this series doesn’t go down, somewhere in the middle.]]>

Short Synopsis: The car breaks down, while Nadie and Ellis stop by a quiet restaurant. Good: Every character seems to have different intentions and goals. Bad: The daughter chose an awfully convenient time to return to her mother. Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 And the second week of the spring-season has started, which means that I’m going to have to decide which shows to blog, and which ones to just watch or drop. It’s quite interesting now that I started to watch this entire season raw, as opposite to the previous fall-season (in which I watched about 50% of the shows subbed), as I’m now noticing that I can make an actual viewing schedule. Sunday will remain the day to blog Les Miserables, while Tuesday will feature El Cazador. Saturday is going to be very difficult, as it’s got no less than four shows worth blogging. ^^; Anyway, the second instalment of El Cazador pleasantly surprised me. It starts out as a mere filler, but throughout the episode, so much new information is given. First of all, Ellis seems to have killed someone she referred to as “the professor”. Nadie, meanwhile, has a dark past of her own, as we see in a flashback. Not only that, she seems to be working for the secretary (Ms Heiward, code-named Blue-Eyes) of the rather evil guy we saw in the previous episode (called Rozenberg, apparently). Blue-Eyes, meanwhile, seems to have different ideas than this evil guy, so I’m not sure whether Nadie also works for him. Meanwhile, we’ve got ourselves a guy who keeps following Ellis undercover. He seems to be in love with her, though I think this is turning into an obsession. What was also up with that strange orgasm the two of them had? And let’s not forget the shady man and his daughter (Lilio). I still don’t quite get what they’re after, but the man definitely has something against Ellis. It seems that this will be another one of these anime to feature random cases the protagonists run into. Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen anime with this concept for a long while, especially now Jigoku Shoujo finished. It’s quite strange, as I tend to love these kinds of random stories. This one is about a former bounty-hunter, who stopped her business and opened a restaurant after she killed a person. Her daughter, however, hasn’t wanted to see her for over ten years because of this. At the beginning of the episode, I wondered why Ellis was treated so nicely by this woman, but it seems that she bears close resemblances to her daughter. It’s only natural for a mother, I guess. A biker who frequently visits her shop told Nadie about all this. Quite interesting, if I say so myself, though I dislike how the daughter chose out of all moments this one to come back to her mother. Still, I’ll forgive it, as the results were quite interesting. Oh, and I’m glad to see that the music still rocks as always. :)]]>