Yuri Drama CD: El Cazador de La Bruja

January 17th, 2008

Had a *brilliant* time at the signing last night, I’ll post pics and comments this weekend. In the mean time, a review of an actual anime-related thing! Can you believe it?

It’s not too often I can call a Drama CD just about perfect. Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to: Madrigal Halloween is pretty much the only one I’d give that title to so far. But El Cazador de la Bruja: El Bosque del Eco must certainly share the title. It has everything an El Cazador fan could possibly want. Ellis teasing Nadie slightly inappropriately, Nadie saying, “Yuigon attara, dozo” in that way she does, with the smile obvious in her tone, Ellis brightly saying “Yes sir!” when she gets her own way, Ricardo saving the day, Lilio not speaking until she does and then creeping us all out, Blue Eyes sardonically narrating, and sharing a moment or two with one of her unnamed henchchicks. Unfortunately, Rosenberg pretending to be a decent guy to Melissa, who is desperately trying to trust him. And, of course…LA being a freakazoid.

And magic, and violence and miracles and action and great music.

Perfect.

For fans of the series, this was an episode that fits in the final third of the series – after Ellis has realized that she’s in love with Nadie, but not vice versa yet.

The story begins with our heroines arriving at a town with no money, and no prospects – there’s not even an Amigos Tacos in the place. A pervy old guy approaches them with a request to pose for inappropriate pictures, which is negotiated down a bit, until they are sidetracked by finding an emerald necklace. Oh, the pervy old dude says – that belongs to the Professor, it’s part of a treasure from the mythical Ringing Forest. So off Ellis and Nadie go to return the necklace and make the world right.

Only, they encounter the Professor’s wife dying from a gunshot wound, and who gives them a casket. They try to return all of this to the Professor who turns out to be a fake, in it for the money – and his partner, the pervy old guy. Nadie and Ellis fall for the oldest trick in the book and are drugged. Ricardo wakes them up, then watches hopelessly as they drive off to get their revenge – well, they don’t actually say that, but let’s be real.

LA delays the creepy guys, Ricardo saves their lives, LA eventually kills them anyway and in the end, Ellis and Nadie learn that the casket actually holds a skeleton, the spirit of which possesses Lilio and says that it has come home, followed by the manifestation of the El Bosque del Eco, the Ringing Forest. And all is well again. In the epilogue, Ellis tries to get Nadie into a daring bathing suit, if not for the pictures, then just to enjoy her in same. (She obfuscated a situation a bit earlier in the story, too, in order to undress Nadie – when confronted about it, all Ellis would say was that Nadie was sexy that way.)

In the beginning and middle of the story, Rosenberg lies beautifully to Melissa a bit, too.

This DCD comes with the extra of a postcard of the cover art of Nadie and Ellis looking happily at one another. And the cast and crew credits come in English and Japanese, something I thought was kinda cool.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 5
Service – 6

Overall – 8

Unless I’m hallucinating, Jody “Blue Eyes” Hayward’s henchchicks never get any voice credit – or, indeed, names. Anyone know who they are and why that is?

13 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:

    Maybe it should be “El Bosque del Eco”? :)

  2. Probably. Thanks for the correction!

  3. Anonymous says:

    O HAI
    I already know you STARTED this thread, but can you sit through reading the rest of the praising comments you received?
    http://orz.4chan.org/u/res/272618.html

  4. I started this thread, huh? Because I have that kind of free time.

    Gosh some people really need to relax.

  5. Anonymous says:

    ‘because i have that kind of free time’

    You have a blog. And write Fanfics.
    I rest my case.

  6. Clearly, Q.E.D. You should be a lawyer!

  7. Anonymous says:

    Glad I found that orz.4chan thing. I was actually starting to believe in the human race. Thankfully that’s put a stop to it. Had great fun posting this though . . . No.273368. I appreciate Okazu and the effort you put into it. Thanks.

  8. anon – thanks for the kind words. I’ve always been happy to share whatever I find out there with readers.

    Jealousy and spite are a well-known measure of success and popularity. The more of the latter, guaranteed, there will more of the former. It’s like that on the school playground, and it doesn’t change as we get older. Check out “Spears sucks” one day on Google. That poor girl has hate coming at her from all directions – and you can be sure that those people don’t know her at all.

    The most amusing thing about the petty accusations raised against me is the complete misunderstanding of my nature. IF I were ever to post anything on a thread like that, it would not be to defend myself, but to excoriate myself in the most amusing and absurd way possible. I’m not likely to waste energy pissing into a sea of piss. :-) (Thanks Noriko, for that quote.)

  9. Azley says:

    thanks a lot for the review on the DCD! I love El cazador and bought the 2 DCD’s but sadly I can’t understand japanese (but I still wanted to have them XD). Does anyone know if there exicts a translation from the whole DCD/s? Probably not but I still hope :p

  10. Anonymous says:

    I know that one of the henchchicks (the long hair one) is voiced by Inoue Marina, who is also Lilio’s seiyuu. That might be why she’s not being credited as Henchwoman A :)
    I only have my ears to guarantee the accuracy of this information, but I’m pretty sure it’s Marina. (She was also one of the Witch clan council members and the announcer on the plane…)

    I have no idea who the seiyuu for other henchwoman is.

  11. xIan_23x says:

    hola ~

    de casualidad no sabes donde puedo encontrar el CD drama, bueno el argumento en Ingles (?)

    mm.. como no se Japones T__T

    Waaa quiero leerlo T,T

  12. @xIan_23x – No, el CD está solamente disponible en japonés.

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