Kita ze Inbou! - キタぜ陰謀!

[Episode 2: Waiting Girl]

[Enjoyment Value: 9/10]

“Arigatou Nadie…”

[Summary]

In the middle of a desert, Nadie and Ellis find themselves stranded with a broken down jeep. Ellis pulls out a pair of binoculars and gives to to Nadie so that she can search for a place to rest and eat. Nadie happens to find one in the distance and prompts Ellis to follow her. Upon arrival they meet a woman who is the owner of the diner and she can tell immediately that they’re hungry but she doesn’t take a liking to Nadie as she does Ellis. After Nadie accidentally breaks a pinball machine, their food is ready but they done get to eat before helping out around the place during which an old man enters the diner.

Later on after more chores are done solely by Nadie, Nadi talks a bit with the old man who arrived earlier. He tells her that he managed to fix their jeep and Nadie asks him about Frida. After the little talk and finding out about Frida’s former profression as a bounty hunter and Frida’s daughter, Maria, Nadie remembers something of her past but she doesn’t dwell on it too long and subsequently ends up breaking a coffee pot at the same time Frida arrives back from her errands. Nadie finds herself cleaning Frida’s truck during which she feels something is not right in the desert. The mysterious guy, LA, who seems to be obsessed with Ellis appears again, hiding behind a cactus as he observes her and Nadie form afar.

Meanwhile, Rosenburg is discussing Ellis’ whereabouts with a subordinate in his office. When leaving his office he encounters the female scientist from the first episode, named Ms. Hayward, but quickly leaves when she tries to discuss something work-related with him. However, her true intentions for coming there were shown after Rosenburg left. Back with Nadie who is busy running errands, before she leaves to return to the diner she goes to the nearby telephone where the old man and Lirio from the previous episode are. She receives a call and talks about Ellis with the other caller who happens to be Ms. Hayward. As she’s about to leave, she meets an older Maria staring at the truck she was driving and takes her back with her to the diner.

Back at the diner, a bounty hunter appears to capture Ellis once more which as a result angers LA who was observing Ellis from the roof of the diner. He prevents the bounty hunter from escaping by damaging his car which gives Frida enough time to arrive and kill him. Nadie quickly takes the gun away from Frida and fires off a few bullets so that she can take the fall for killing the hunter which seems to anger Maria. Later that night, Frida, Maria, and the old man see off Nadie and Ellis who again drive off to their next destination but not before LA sees them off unnoticed.

[Thoughts]

That was quite an enjoyable episode. The music was yet again marvelous and didn’t fail to disappoint whenever it took precedence over dialogue. Oh, and the animation was still topnotch for me this week. I thought that the story for this episode was quite nice. From what I gathered, Nadi ended up reuniting Frida and her daughter Maria. It’s a good thing that Nadie took the fall for her since killing was the reason why Frida’s daughter had left in the first place.

As for the main story, things are getting more interesting. Jodie (aka Ms. Hayward) seems to be working undercover at the building Rosenburg is stationed at and is apparently there to dig up some information on Ellis. The thing is I had no idea that Nadi even knew her but now I think that it was Jodie that called her in the opening minutes of the first episode. Their plans for Ellis still aren’t too clear yet but they don’t seem to be malicious in nature. As for LA who is following Ellis and taping her movements…what is up with him? Is he some kind of pervert? I know that he’s at least working with Rosenburg by sending back footage of Ellis using her abilities but the guy is getting too involved into his work by mocking Ellis’ deep breathing and the way she says “yes-a”.

I honestly can’t tell where El Cazador is going at the moment but I do like its presentation of Nadie’s and Ellis’ journey which gives me a sense of almost being in the back seat of the jeep that they’re in. Not to mention, each and every character in the series has a different agenda and goal to achieve which makes the cast more diverse than most. Next episode seems to bring us some Nadi and Ellis bonding and that weird guy appears again. But does he attack Nadie or was it someone else? Well, I’m going to have to wait until next week to find that out. That said, I love this show so much already.

[Preview]