[quote]Genres: adventure, drama, magic, mystery Themes: bounty hunters, girls with guns, witches Objectionable content: Significant Plot Summary: Ellis, a young girl suspected of murdering prominent physicist Heinrich Schneider, is on the run from prosecution when she is tracked down by a female bounty hunter Nadie in a small Mexican town. However, instead of turning her in, Nadie impulsively decides to help her and the two embark on a journey south where they hope to find clues about Ellis’ past. The guiding stars of their journey are the mysterious gemstone “Rosa del Inca” and the “Eternal City” of Wiñay Marka. Number of Episodes: 26 Vintage: 2007-04-02 to 2007-09-24[/quote] ANN Info Page
So anyone see the first episode of this on On Demand? It was full of win! The first episode was so good that I had to check out the second episode on Funi’s online player, and it did not let me down. Just as awesome as the first episode. The pacing is just perfect! I just love how cool of series this is. The setting is great as well, Mexico was perfect for this. It feels very much like a western, but a very very good western. So that’s a good thing . The artwork is great, and the animation really shines in the gun fights. But the music is where it’s at. The music is just amazing. Really this is some great stuff. It feels like Bee Train poured a lot into this series, and it paid off. From opening theme, to ending theme both were amazing. And don’t even get me started on the incredible insert songs/background music! I have not seen much of the Bee Train’s “girls-with-guns” trilogy, but I really am digging this one and now I gata check out the rest. I’ve been slowly watching Madlax (only on episode 4 so far, gata get to watching more of that great show) , but haven’t seen Noir yet (gata buy that one day). So far I like this one the best though. It’s an amazing show, and the best part is I’m not really sure why. The dub is solid too so that’s always good. Maxey Whitehead is really good as Ellis, she makes the character feel very off and lost which seems fitting. Nadie ,the lead character, is played by Trina Nishimura who is doing an amazing job so far. I like her here much more then I did in Jyu Oh Sei. She totally fits the character in everyway.
Anyway this is a show you should be watching ;). I know I’ll be buying this on DVD ASAP. It’s an excellent show (so far).
Since I enjoyed Noir so much, and have Madlax, I was planning on picking this up. But it’s not exactly high on my list. Most of the reviews I’ve read of it have been pretty poor and only one person I know actually enjoyed it enough to buy it. Not to mention, most Funi releases will continue to get pushed down the list until they finally fix their video issues. I’m not going to pay $50 or $60 for a set that has worse quality than foreign bootlegs, especially when Sentai and Media Blasters are continuing to put out releases with decent video quality of shows I really want.
Eh…their disks always look good to me . And Sentai and Media Blasters usually have no dubs, remember that.
And this show is so good you have to check it out, regardless. Bump it up your list a little bit, especially if you enjoyed Noir or Madlax. 3 episodes into this so far and I can say it’s a very strong start to the show. Can’t wait to see where it’s going.
I find myself caring less and less about dubs nowadays. I really wish some of Sentai’s shows were dubbed, but I would much rather have Clannad or Ghost Hound subbed, than most of the shows Funimation has licensed dubbed. I’ve also noticed that since I’ve started watching more subtitled series, I find myself more critical of dubs than I had been in the past. I find most of Funi’s dubs these days rather rushed and poorly cast. Ouran, for instance, I found nearly unwatchable because of the poor castings in that show. Caitlin Glass was completely off as Haruhi and nearly ruined the show for me. Not that her performance was bad. It was actually quite good, but her voice just didn’t suit the character at all. It’s one of the few times ever that I actually switched over to the subtitle track on a show.
Though I have found that the quality of the video on their discs seems very dependent on what player you use. They look much better on my PS3 than on my Pioneer player. This is rather odd though, as most of my DVD’s seem to look better on my actual DVD player. But I don’t see any reason why Funi’s video quality should be so much worse than releases from much smaller companies.
And most of Media Blasters releases now do have dubs. They’re last several new shows have all been dubbed.
God I guess today is off topic day. What are some of the new shows from Media Blasters that have dubs? Ah My Buddha and what else? I haven’t been paying attention to their titles lately.
And I commented on the dub for this, thought it was quite good. Nothing like ADV could turn out back in the day, but still very good stuff. And the show is quite good. One of my new favorites. So far I rank it a 9/10. And there have not been any official reviews of this yet (mostly because it’s not on DVD yet)…so I don’t know what you mean by bad reviews? Fan reviews you mean? If so, pretend I reviewed it and gave it a good mark .
LOL! Yeah, I was mostly referring to fan reviews. And most of the shows Media Blasters has done recently has a dub. Moribito (of course), Blade of The Immortal, Genshiken 2, and Ikki-Tousen Dragon Destiny. I think the only two subbed shows have been done by them recently, one being Doujin Work. (The second series’ name eludes me at the moment.) Nighthead Genesis was sub only, but that was completed some time ago, and the complete box set is due out early next year.
Not to keep going off topic, but thank you very much for the info. It’s nice to see all that in one place. I knew about Genshiken 2 and Moribito of course, but not the others.
Ehhh, I’m dieing to see more of this exellent series. Really it’s the best new show I’ve seen in awhile now. They only have the first 4 episodes (dub) up online so far, so I’m going crazy…need more… Don’t want to see the sub (which they have all of it up online btw) I kinda doubt they’ll upload anymore of the dub though, so I’ll just have to wait until the DVD’s come out in December. But that’s sooo far away…AHH what am I ganna do! I gata see more of it.
I really enjoyed it and have pre-ordered the DVDs - I watched the on-line subs since I couldn’t wait. Of the three, I still have a strong preference for Noir; I rank this about even with Madlax. Some things are better (the character relationship ups and downs) and some worse (the ending wasn’t bad, just not as strong as the other two, IMO.)
So, I finished up the first 4 dubbed eps. on the FUNi site.
Thus far, this definitely falls very short of Noir or Madlax in quality in my opinion.
The animation itself, actually isn’t bad, and falls right in line with the others of the “girls with guns” series, it’s just the rest of it for me.
The soundtrack, in general, is very Cowboy Bebop-ish, though it does have some Yuki Kajiura’s signature tracks. But all in all, I almost couldn’t make it past the first episode due to the soundtrack alone, as I have real problems with the Bebop soundtrack.
I’m not one to bitch about a dub, regardless of age or style, when it comes to anime, as I really prefer dub over sub, but the dub on this is horribly bland and doesn’t fit the characters well at all.
I wasn’t too fond of Aaron Dismuke as Alphonse Elric and found him to be rather annoying from time to time, but he actually did a good job with it on the first FMA series. With the Brotherhood dub coming up, they’re using Maxey Whitehead (Elis in El Cazador) as Alphonse and if her performance in Brotherhood is this bad, I have serious doubts it’ll turn out nearly as good as the first series. Vic is awesome and all, but I really don’t think he can carry Maxey through the entire series.
I’m sorry coffee god but I MUST disagree with you on all accounts.
Noir/Madlax vs El Cazador -
I haven’t seen Noir yet, but El Cazador is MUCH better then Madlax!! Not to say Madlax is bad, it’s not. It’s a great series, in fact if it keeps this up it could be a really interesting show. But it’s nothing like El Cazador. I just love this show. It’s characters are better, the storyline is better, and the action is handled better. But the best thing this series has going for it is it’s great setting. Mexico is like the wild west lol.
Music -
I really don’t see how this sounds much like Cowboy Bebop. It’s not British or American rock or jazz based music. It’s totally Kajiura-type music heavily inspired by western/southern and mexican music. Dosed heavily in vocals of course, unless they are going for their western movie theme. And it’s really an amazing soundtrack. Also it’s 110% in your face, as apposed to the more atmposheric Bebop tunes. I really like the opening theme in El Cazador, but the ending theme is where the show really shrines. Also this has some excellent insert songs that I can’t get enough of.
Oh and Cowboy Bebop’s soundtrack was great. Perhaps not a favorite of mine, but I thought it was top notch. ( Whether or not Yoko Kanno can be creditied with it…well that’s something to ask Dragoon . )
The Dub-
While not close to anything ADV could pump out, it’s still quite a nice dub. Much better then the more funi-factory dubs they’ve been making latley. Maxey Whitehead is PERFECT as the slitly dazed Elis. Not sure how you can have a problem with her. She’s so cute lol. This dub is not really bland either.
I just woke up so I’ll just post some random thoughts…
Sadly, gotta completely agree with Coffee. I must say Bee Train’s past brilliance has started to really diminish over the years. Bee Train used to be one of my top favorite studios, but I really can’t seem to find much of their stuff of late that I’ve enjoyed.
I really wanted to love El Cazador…
El Cazador, was one of the last and very few titles I actually taste-tested when it was being shown in Japan, watched 2 eps of it. That was before the US Anime market collapse, in early summer of 07.
I found El Cazador, then, bland. I thought maybe it was just cause I wanted to wait for it to be dubbed, since I enjoy dubs more. So, I decided to wait. Flash forward 2 and half years later, and I watched the same 2 episodes as I did back then - sadly, the dub version has been even more glacial - which is surprising to me, since I think Chris Bevins might be my favorite Director at Funimation - his stuff is usually extremely capable. This is his first dub that I just am not enjoying from the get-go.
While I like Trina Nishimura (loved her in JOS), so far I’m not bowled over - but I need to see more perhaps beyond the 2 episodes. Maxey Whitehead on the other hand literally and figuratively put me to sleep. She was really good in Baccano, so I’m not writing her off completely yet as a talent - for the role however, I have little excitement to watch and see more.
I’ve stopped watching at ep 2 and have no plans to continue this series, unless someone wants to give me the DVDs as a gift or if I can watch it free on VOD or something.
[quote=dragoon]
I just woke up so I’ll just post some random thoughts…[/quote]
And I thought my sleep cycle was weird.
Anyway I’m not sure how you guys didn’t just get pulled into this series in the first episode. That was such a great start to the series for me. It’s got enough humor, and enough action, but the drama is great too. I quite like the idea of these two girls, traveling over Mexico, and such. The first 4 episodes were great Dragoon , although it is starting to feel a bit episodic. I’ll be sure to post my thoughts on the rest of the series when I get my DVDs.
Guess I have different tastes then you guys. But really this show is amazing. I can’t see how anyone could dislike it.
Sometimes Bee Train shows take some time to warm up to, especially their newer stuff. Their older stuff even, to an extent but I always used to get hooked immediately to their stuff. Not so much nowadays. I’m not sure this is the case on this one but it’s something I’ll certainly take into account and look forward to your future thoughts. Hopefully this doesn’t turn into Tsubasa. What a snore-fest.
Yes I agree that Madlax took a little to warm up to. At first I wasn’t won over on the show, but a few episodes in I started to really enjoy it. It took it’s time grabbing me, but it’s a solid show. This however grabbed me from the start, and hasn’t let go.
And I will remind you guys that for once I am in the majority here, and you guys are the minority (aka crazy :P, just kidding ) with this opinion. The word of the street has been “this is the best series in the trilogy” and so far I agree. Of course it’s not fair for me to judge, since I haven’t finished any of them, and only seen parts of this and Madlax. But I can say it’s an amazing show that just wowed me off the bat.
Most of the people who say that are moe fans and like yuri. Whether they admit it or not there’s definitely that peripheral element at play - The previous iterations didn’t really have the moe factor that draws the interest of today’s newer fans and trends. So yes, it’s more in fashion now. No where as impacting as Noir for its time though.
. The artwork is great, and the animation really shines in the gun fights. But the music is where it’s at. The music is just amazing. Really this is some great stuff. It feels like Bee Train poured a lot into this series, and it paid off. From opening theme, to ending theme both were amazing. And don’t even get me started on the incredible insert songs/background music! I have not seen much of the Bee Train’s “girls-with-guns” trilogy, but I really am digging this one and now I gata check out the rest. I’ve been slowly watching Madlax (only on episode 4 so far, gata get to watching more of that great show) , but haven’t seen Noir yet (gata buy that one day). So far I like this one the best though. It’s an amazing show, and the best part is I’m not really sure why. The dub is solid too so that’s always good. Maxey Whitehead is really good as Ellis, she makes the character feel very off and lost which seems fitting. Nadie ,the lead character, is played by Trina Nishimura who is doing an amazing job so far. I like her here much more then I did in Jyu Oh Sei. She totally fits the character in everyway.
. And Sentai and Media Blasters usually have no dubs, remember that.
. )