When this manga came out, I put two conditions upon myself – I would not buy it for full price and I would not read it with a chip on my shoulder.
These might seem strange to those of you who don’t pay attention to the Japanese imprints under which the original manga are published, but to those of you who do, the fact that this is a Champion Red manga says all you need to know. Champion Red, as I have mentioned many times, harbors a strong dislike for women which manifests itself through the constant demeaning of all female characters. This was the home of the appalling Mai HiME and Mai Zhime manga adaptations.
I confess that upon learning that the manga adaptation of El Cazador (エル・カザド) was to be a Champion Red comic, I was disappointed and a little sick to my stomach. Of the three “Girls with guns on the run” trilogy by Mashimo and Bee Train, El Cazador de la Bruja was the most light-hearted and the most easy-going. Knowing that this manga was going to pull Ellis’ underwear down and stare at her still makes me taste bile.
The manga is exactly what I feared. It has lost all the good-natured banter, the strong female characters, the sense of a dire fate that can be avoided and a journey at the end of which the destination never need be reached. Instead, it has traded this all for the obsessive and very nasty leering at the secondary sexual characteristics of all the female characters – even the nuns. It’s…sad.
It’s extra sad when you think that there was an audience for this. “Why yes, I would prefer this cheerful, happy anime rendered into a series of demeaning quasi-sexual positions, thanks!
So I knew going into it, this was not going to be good fun, unless demeaning women is your idea of good fun.
The only Yuri was Nadie and Ellis walking off into the sunset holding hands.
Ratings:
Overall – 1
Anyone want this manga? It’s yours. Tell me *why* you want it and the least honest person wins.
I want it so my dog will have something to chew on other than my homework.
I want it so I can cut it into pieces and paste it back together into a bizarre art piece that comments on the widespread objectification of women in popular culture.
Reading the review, it makes me annoyed that I can’t read basic Japanese as I’d like to be able to read this stuff and be able to say “Yes, this was trash but at least I can tell the difference.”
Thanks, Erica. Nice review. Great stuff.
I want it because I don’t read much manga and don’t read any Japanese, so that particular copy won’t do any further harm.
No, no, really, it is a dishonest answer – its awfully dishonest, I promise – because for a manga that messes up such a great story, what I really want to do is to hide it somewhere in the part of the basement that catches the damp so it can slowly rot like a prisoner condemned to die in a dungeon. Or {oh no}, I was not supposed to say what I was actually going to do with it?
At least its possible for anyone to watch the anime again to clear our heads.
I’d want the book so I can feed my pyromaniacal tendencies. I’d draw up a circle, place the book on it, and set it on fire with the promise that at least I will never make anything this trashy. These won’t necessarily be done in that order.
I would love to read this manga every night :)
After a few strategically placed sticky notes with my own word bubbles, I’m sure it’d be just as good as any!
I want it because lesbians are icky and it’s much better when they’re reduced to a series of panty shots and belligerent sexual tension.
~Blue
I want it because there is nothing better to level my table than constant demeaning of female characters.
arrrghhh
Why must they smudge the good name of El Cazador de la Bruja?
it was my favorite Yuri series for a while, and now they just threw away all the good parts to make it a crappy unfunny/anti-fun mess…
they should have let a, y’know, good writer of strong female Yuri characters get the rights to create it… or the original team TT~TT
So glad I found this post. I loved the anime and want to keep my feelings about it intact.