El Cazador Episode 1!

Finally, the series I've been waiting for is here. El Cazador de la Bruja (Spanish: "Witch Hunter") or just El Cazador for short, aired. At the time of this writing, raws are out as are subs in Spanish and Chinese, but no English just yet. Anyway, the series looks like it's everything I hoped and expected. Animation is Bee Train Digital, in 720p high definition, so it looks like a cross between Madlax and .hack//Roots. The character designs are pretty good; they look a lot more... cheery than usual. Nadi (the brunette) kind of reminds me of Nono from Gunbuster 2. Elyse bears a strong resemblance to other Bee Train characters, in case you hadn't noticed.

The plot so far is this: Elyse is on the run, because there's a bounty on her head for murdering someone, but she doesn't know how or why; she doesn't remember much. She does, however, seem to have some subconsciously-controlled witch powers. A mysterious company is observing her and it seems she is the subject of a "Project Leviathan". Nadi is just a bounty hunter of sorts (she tries never to kill if she can avoid it) who has decided to protect Elyse because a nice old woman asked her to. The old woman has told them to travel south, and given them an uncut red gem, which seems the same color as the stone on a necklace worn by a woman in the mysterious company.

The opening theme is "Hikari no Yukue" ("Whereabouts of the Stars") sung by savage genius, who also did the opening to Erementar Gerad ("Elemental Gelade" in the States). I'm willing to bet the song is composed and sequenced by Yuki Kajiura, though. It sounds like her type of deal. It's a great song and very catchy - sort of ethnic-influenced JPOP. The ending theme, "romanesque" is FictionJunctionYUUKA, which is Yuki Kajiura with Yuuka Nanri, a pairing we've seen several times, including the MADLAX opening and ending themes, a couple Gundam Seed insert songs, and most recently the OP to .hack//Roots. It sounds a lot like their regular stuff except with a much stronger focus on Spanish-style acoustic guitar. Being as the show takes place in Central or South America, that's pretty appropriate. The single for romanesque comes out April 18th. Background music is basically the same Yuki Kajiura that you've seen everywhere: mysterious chants, calm piano pieces, and excellent string-heavy electronic action songs. The sequence at the end of the episode has a great song with some nice guitar strumming and lyrics in Spanish - otherwise it sounds incredibly like the music from Tsubasa Chronicle. One song stood out as unusual tracks consists of some bluesy riffing on a harmonica, apparently catching some of that "wild west" feel. It works pretty well.

Oh yeah, and if you're a fan of voice actors, Nadi is voiced by Shizuki Itou, who's done a lot of roles that I mostly haven't seen, and Elyse is by Ai Shimizu, the voice of He Is My Master's Mitsuki, among others. Both are sort of medium-level talents so far as I can tell; they're alright for the roles but I'm not seeing anything special coming in Nadi's voice just yet.

In short, the show is more of the same from Bee Train and Yuki Kajiura; if you were a fan of Madlax and Noir, you'll love it, being as it's the same thing with a Central American twist. If you didn't like those shows, or if you're not looking for more of the same, forget it. But I know I'm going to be loving every bit.