All Rise...

El Juez Steve Power ha encontrado la curación para el insomnia.

Editor's Note

Our review of El Cazador De La Bruja: Part One, published February 17th, 2010, is also available.

The Charge

"If you have any last words, say them now."

Opening Statement

The tale of the Hunter and the Witch resumes. Ellis and Nadie continue their southbound journey to Winay Marka, and forces of Rosenberg keep chasing relentlessly. Does the second half manage to overcome the slow start of the first? Or does it just dig the hole even deeper.

Facts of the Case

Ellis is an amnesiac with a bounty on her head, and Nadie's trigger finger is the only thing keeping her friend from falling into the wrong hands. They're looking for pieces of Ellis's past, and every mile of open highway brings the girls closer together…but their special bond is bound to be tested.

With mystic clans and government agencies hot on their tail, Ellis and Nadie long for the freedom of the hawks that glide above them on the desert winds. That happiness is out there…but the girls will have to fight for it. The final showdown is coming, and the Hunter won't lay down her gun until her Witch gets what she's looking for.

The Evidence

When last we saw our heroic duo, they were in the midst of traveling south and dealing with an endless tide of Bounty Hunters in between long stretches of nothing. Not a lot has changed this go around; El Cazador De La Bruja still moves at a snail's pace, and the plot still meanders like a two year old at bedtime. Things kick off with at least a few answers, getting into Ellis' history and why she is the way that she is. Rather than throwing cards onto the table, Nadie and Ellis just do more of the same stuff we saw in the first 13 episodes. Their cutesy pseudo-romantic relationship continues to bloom, though at a frustratingly agonizing pace, and Ricardo and his pint-sized sidekick get a larger role as traveling companions.

The writing remains weak throughout, with clichéd and ridiculous dialogue spewed by poorly realized characters. There is little or no narrative push to give you reason to care about the answers to all the little convoluted mysteries that pop up. The pacing remains the show's biggest issue; it's like the whole thing is just stuck on cruise control at 60 when it's riding the freeway in the fast lane. The whole show is just a series of fatal flaws that really kill any kind of momentum that could drive the whole thing home.

El Cazador De La Bruja shows no imagination in character design, and nothing really changes from the first half of the series. No neat new villains, no shocking visual transformations or intriguing new locales, just more of the same yawn-inducing fodder.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

Funimation continues the trend of banging out some great looking discs. El Cazador de la Bruja's flat and lifeless animation is transferred flawlessly, with some vibrant color and no noticeable problems. The English 5.1 is perfectly adequate, if a little front loaded, and the Japanese stereo is about what one might expect. Extras consist of a solid commentary track on one episode with the English cast, and some textless opening and closing montages.

Closing Statement

Quite frankly, El Cazador de la Bruja was a huge letdown. The premise sounded like fun on paper, but the show never manages to capitalize on anything, and just moves so damn slow. Even on a technical level there's just nothing here whatsoever that endorses a purchase. Save your time for something else; heck, go watch Cowboy Bebop or even Black Lagoon again.

The Verdict

Culpable. Muy culpable!

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