El Cazador de la Bruja

Title:El Cazador de la Bruja
Overall:Watch
Keywords: , , , , , ,
Notables: ITOU Shizuka
Music - KAJIURA Yuki
R1 License - FUNimation
SHIMIZU Ai
El Cazador is the story of a girl named Ellis, who finds herself on the run from so-called Bounty Hunters, due to her being a suspect in a murder and she now has a million dollar (dead or alive) bounty on her head. She meets up with a hunter named Nadi who has a change of heart, chooses to forgo the bounty and offers help her in her pursue the truth as to her past. Now both of them are being targeted by the Hunters and their quest for the lost truth as to Ellis' crime begins.

Anime series first aired on April 4 '07.
Animation by Bee Train.
24 TV Episodes.

Funimation announced on 2/19/09 that they have licensed this show.
For images, see Cute Girls with Guns wikipage.

Episode Details 
01, 99A, 99
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Watch 8 7 7 7 5 6 Ggultra2764 [series:1573#1552]
This was a bit hard for me to stay engaged on. The third of Bee Train's well-known "girls with guns" titles, El Cazador de la Bruja features a bounty hunter named Nadie who is tasked to protect a mysterious girl named Ellis, who is seemingly connected to a murder and is sought out by other bounty hunters for the million dollar bounty on her head. What makes this one notable is that the series dabbles into episodic stories and elements of comedy at a number of points in the series where Nadie and Ellis get entangled in some bizarre predicament with locales or other bounty hunters while they press on with their journey to learn more about Ellis' origins. Hints of these are scattered throughout the series as several characters, friendly and sinister, have their connections to the journey our two heroines press on with and even the past of Ellis, which the series further explores in its second half.

Unfortunately, it was rather hard for me to care much for this series due to the way its plot and characters are set up. The pacing can get too slow at points thanks to the episodic stories that get set up and it got rather irksome for me seeing the series continually dropping hints in many episodes without doing anything major to advance its main plot thanks to much of its episodic setup. When the series finally does get to its revelations on Ellis' past, the reveal is pretty predictable if you're able to follow hints from earlier episodes and it even includes some deus ex machina tossed in the mix when seemingly tragic developments have taken place. The characters aren't much better either as they are tacked on with archetypes you would see pulled from action/ adventure anime titles and many of them have little in the way of depth beyond playing whatever roles they are necessary for in the anime's plot.

Pretty much without neither the plot nor the characters able to grab my interest with El Cazador de la Bruja, it was a chore for me just to even finish up the series and I think the light-hearted mood that the series attempted to pull with its episodic developments and comedy compared to the suspense, seriousness and drama that was built up in Noir and Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ might have negatively effected my perceptions on El Cazador. Because despite having their cliches and flaws, those two titles were much more engaging for me in seeing what developments unfolded with their main pairings. Compared to them, El Cazador is pretty forgettable in comparison.

Last updated Wednesday, November 13 2013. Created Wednesday, November 13 2013.
Unevaluated Forbin [series:1573#1573]
Having only seen 1 episode of this I cannot really comment on a show I haven't seen in 2 years.

Last updated Thursday, February 19 2009. Created Thursday, February 19 2009.
Watch 8 8 8 7 7 7 Dreamer [series:1573#2279]
Wow, this is Thelma & Louis of the anime world! However, I think the original Thelma & Louis was much better. Nevertheless, this was still interesting and kept you watching each episode up to the very end. Afterall, I was quite curious as to what this strange little blond haired girl was about and what would be their final destination.

I didn't particularly care for Nadie. I didn't think she was too good at portraying a bounter hunter. She almost reminded me of someone who simply picked up a gun and decided to try her hand at it but only always got by due to her quick wits. I couldn't stand the character "LA". I thought he was a waste of animation and really didn't lend much to the episodes.... besides freaking you out occasionally.

Overall, the story was pretty okay and the ending was nicely wrapped up with a happy ending.... minus a few deaths.

Last updated Sunday, June 08 2008. Created Sunday, June 08 2008.
Unevaluated Stretch [series:1573#628]
(13 episodes watched):

Blond haired Ellis, who may or may not be guilty of murder, is a strange girl with even stranger powers that defy explanation. She/they must have something to do with the theory of "Maxwell's Demon", a radical concept of physics which might turn everything we know upside down. It has been branded a scientific heresy, but somebody is still taking it/her quite seriously since something called "Project Leviathan" has been organized. Nadie is a bounty hunter who starts out seeking the fantastic reward which has been placed on Ellis' head, but takes a liking to her. They set off together, to find Ellis' vaguely defined goal, after which she'll presumably turn herself in so that Nadie can collect the money. However, numerous other hunters, plus the people at Project Leviathan, are also on her trail, and take a less gracious attitude to her treatment. Anyway, as the two girls wander about they run into all sorts of odd people and learn all sorts of lessons about life. I sort of wish we, the viewers, would learn some more about the long term plot of the series, however. I'm halfway through the series and only now am I learning any more about the longterm plot than could have been deduced by reading the synopsis above. I still don't know exactly what Ellis is or what Mr. Rosenberg intends to do with her once he manages to capture her (I bet he will, sooner or later, just so that he can reveal his plans). Rosenberg's secretary (who looks like a descendant of Victorian Maid Emma) is either a spy or has grave misgivings about her employer, and is Nadie's sponsor. This slow pace of the long-term plot gets frustrating, which is one reason I'm only thirteen episodes into this Spring series. Still, this is a fairly fun and semi-intriguing show. Setting it somewhere in Latin America (I presume) is an unusual touch.

P.S: To be honest, I think I'll be shelving this show for the time being. I have fallen far behind when it comes to keeping up with new releases, and I'm frustrated that the plot of this show is taking so long to become clear (maybe it never will be). I can't help feeling that watching new episodes of El Cazador has become more like a chore than a joy.

Catch Nadie's montage at the Cute Girls with Guns page!

My favorite line: "I wonder if it was the cake I ate for dessert" --Rosenberg's Secretary

Last updated Saturday, October 23 2010. Created Friday, April 20 2007.
Unevaluated Jan-Chan [series:1573#967]
What a fun first episode!

Great animation, mysterious story, fun characters... in short - a great start!

Nadia (the bounty hunter) is a no BS type of lady who is quick with her gun. Her target is the blond-haired Ellis, a little girl who is seems to be completely out of touch and very spacey. But Ellis does have an interesting little ability, which she uses to rescue Nadia from a sticky situation.

No less than four bounty hunter teams attempt to collect the bounty on Ellis’ head in the first episode (opps, a dozen dead hunters!) And there certainly going to be more.

The closing scene of first episode reminds me of Thelma & Louise, so this is probably going to be a story of two cute ladies on a road trip from hell, having to fight against the world.

I posted a few images of the first episode.



Last updated Thursday, April 12 2007. Created Monday, April 09 2007.

Other Sites
NameURL
Japanese Language Web Site http://www.elcazador.tv/

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