Kita ze Inbou! - キタぜ陰謀!

Series Information

ANN Encyclopedia | AniDB | AnimeNfo
Genres: Action, Girls-with-guns, Adventure, Drama, Mystery
OP: [Hikari no Yukue] by savage genius
ED: [romanesque] by FictionJunction YUUKA
エル・カザド

[Episode 1: The Escaping Girls]

[Enjoyment Value: 9.1/10]

[Opening sequence]

OP: [Hikari no Yukue] 「光の行方」 by savage genius
Listen to the OP: Mirror 1 | Mirror 2 | Mirror 3

[Summary]

Ellis is a young girl that tries to make a living performing unbelievable card tricks in a small South American town. The thing about Ellis is that she has a bounty on her head and a bounty hunter is already on her tail to claim it. Nadie, the bounty hunter, is a goddess with guns being able to shoot guns out of other people’s hands and is unbelievably fit. Before she can capture her for herself though, some other hunters arrive to take Ellis away but Nadie quickly disposes of them and leaves with Ellis as two more arrive on the scene. Afterwards, Ellis leaves Nadie behind by jumping over a fence much taller than herself with relative ease.

Apparently, Ellis has “Witch DNA” inside of her and also has no memory of her past. The reason behind her bounty is that she has alledgedly murdered someone in the past, which was shown in the prologue. Nadie is somewhat similar to Ellis in that she too has no memory of her past and doesn’t even know her own real name.

The scenes shift to a scientist named Rosenburg who apparently has a quite an interest in Ellis evidenced by her picture on his computer screen and a dart pad with her face on it. She is somehow involved with something called Project Leviathan. In the same building a junior female scientist is working behind her desk and after another co-worker leaves her, her demeanor changes slightly as she unbuttons her blouse to cool off and reveals an odd necklace around her neck.

Meanwhile, Nadie is speaking with Ellis’ shaman caretaker about her (and is also told by the caretaker to look after Ellis) and leaves after noticing some men are surrounding the house. Nadie finds Ellis nearby and takes her into town where she speaks to her about her lost memories and introduces herself. The girls then hear a sudden explosion from the direction of Ellis’ home and rush to the scene where they find the two hunters from earlier before. Nadie quickly disposes of one while Ellis uses an ability to heat up the other hunter’s gun and causes it to go off, wounding the hunter. Ellis goes to her now dying caretaker who gives her a mysterious stone and tells her to go to Wiñay Marka. Later, after Ellis visits a church, Nadie then steals a jeep from two amateurish hunters and drives off into the distance with Ellis.

[Ending sequence]

ED: [romanesque] by FictionJunction YUUKA
Listen to the ED: Mirror 1 | Mirror 2 | Mirror 3

[Thoughts]

This first episode of El Cazador was just about what I expected from a Mashimo Koichi and Bee Train adventure. The characters, specifically so far Ellis and Nadie, are quite interesting and aren’t a bore. I liked Nadie’s design a lot as well as she sports some interesting choice of clothing. There is also an old man and a little girl who’re apart of the story but as far as in what capacity it’s unclear. Rosenburg and the junior female scientist also seem to have a large role in the story but so far the woman comes off as more interesting than Rosenburg so far.

As for Ellis, I’m not sure what to think about her just yet. Can she use her magic consciously like she did with melting the gun? I’m not sure about that but at the very least she is able to do things like jump very high and over big gaps. Nadie is of course an excellent gunslinger but her abilities shown so far aren’t that diverse but we’ll most likely get to seem them later on when she has to fight someone stronger.

Oh, and the music. I absolutely love the music of El Cazador. That includes the OP, the background music, insert song, and the ED. savage genius delivers a solid and upbeat OP that is quite different from previous work (e.g. Simoun). FictionJunction YUUKA graces the ending of the episode with a wonderful combination of Kajiura Yuki’s musical composition and Yuuka’s beautiful voice. It’s upbeat just like the OP but is notch lower from what I’ve heard. The insert song that played during the scene where Ellis was speaking with her dying caretaker was excellently done and shows that Kajiura Yuki will always deliver a perfect song to be used at just the right moments.

Overall, this premiere wasn’t disappointing in the least and met my expectations with open arms. I can only hope that the level of quality shown in this first episode will carryover to the others until the end of the series. While I’m quite sure the excellence of the music will stay constant, the animation may vary depending on if an episode is “big” or “small” in relation to story progression and action. Either way, I think I’ll be enjoying the rest of the ride El Cazador will provide over the next few months.

[Preview]