El Cazador de la Bruja

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We won't choose between just "dead" or just "alive". We've chosen freedom.

Taco, taco, tacos, delicious tacos!

El Cazador De La Bruja (The Witch Hunter) tells the story of Ellis, a young girl who finds herself chased by bounty hunters, the most skilled of whom is Nadie. Luckily, Nadie is not about to kill her, but instead sets herself up as Ellis' bodyguard on her journey to find out more about her Mysterious Past.

Ellis has some mystifying powers, such as setting things on fire or freezing them; throwing people around with force fields; and inhuman strength, which allows her to jump several meters in one go. Unfortunately, she doesn't have complete control over those powers yet. Ellis is also haunted by memories of the killing of her former foster parent, whom she calls "the professor". Did she actually kill him? What is the role of the organization that sends one bounty hunter after another to obtain her? Who is the creepy guy who keeps stalking her all the time? And what is Nadie's role in this web of intrigue?

The series is produced by Bee Train and is the Spiritual Successor to Madlax, which in turn is the Spiritual Successor to Noir. Together, the series form Bee Train's "Girls with Guns"-trilogy, with noticeable plot similarities. El Cazador de la Bruja is generally lighter in tone than the other two series and shares neither their ambiguous endings nor their particular focus on female gunslinger action.

The relationship between the two female leads is also much less ambivalent and clearly develops a romantic slant. Fans who loved the dark, puzzling plot twists in the two first series might be disappointed by the comparative straightforwardness of El Cazador de la Bruja, since it focuses on the relationship between the main characters.

The series should best be seen as a story of two people who find themselves and each other against a backdrop of the Mexican desert, crazy (and ineffective) bounty hunters, and of course, tacos.

Not to be confused with the short-lived Cross Gen Comics pirate title, El Cazador.

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Tropes:

• Always Save the Girl: Unusually, by another girl.
• Amazon Brigade: The team of female The Men in Black led by Blue Eyes.
• Ambiguously Brown: Nadie could be Hispanic or Amerindian or just really tan, and has Blue Eyes.
• Ancient Conspiracy: The Witch Coven.
• Angel Unaware: In the middle of Mexico/South of Mexico, there is an inn run by an old man; who apparently is really the Hopi Fertility Deity Kokopelli. He takes the form of a white author who died 3 years prior to the plot.
• Anime First: Simultaneous manga release.
• Anime Accent Absence: Despite taking place mostly in Mexico and South America, there are rarely any accents.
  • Partially averted in the dub where some accents get used and even some lines of Spanish in the first episode to establish the world of the play.
• Apologises a Lot: Iris.
• Artificial Human: Ellis and L.A.
• Ax Crazy: L.A.
• Badass and Child Duo: It has two: one is the main couple, Nadie and Ellis (at least until the latter learns to use her magic effectively); the other is Ricardo and Lirio, whose similarities to Lone Wolf and Cub are lampshaded early on. First is a same gendered pairing, the second is a pure example.
• Badass Normal: Nadie and Ricardo.
• Badass Spaniard: Seeing how the series takes place in Latin America, there are a few, but Ricardo is by far the best example. "Let's have a drink in hell, amigo" indeed.
• Bait and Switch Credits: The opening and ending both count. Nadie and Ellis never visit any floating land, no masked man ever follows them around and there is never a cat with a sniper rifle.
• Bare Your Midriff: Nadie.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Ellis was already considered this, but in episode 16 she consciously beats the crap out of L.A.!
• Big Bad: Rosenberg.
• Big Fancy House: In several episodes.
• Bilingual Bonus: Apart from the frequent occurrence of Spanish in the dub, "Nadie" is Spanish for "Nobody".
• Blasting It Out of Their Hands: Nadie's favorite way of disarming opponents.
• Blood From the Mouth: Rosenberg in Episode 25.
• Blood-Splattered Innocents: Ellis.
• Blush Sticker: Particularly Lorio, but seen on other innocent young children, including Hispanics.
• Bodyguard Crush: Mutual, although instigated by Ellis.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: Nadie uses Ellis' "Yes, sir" on two occasions. Ellis says Nadie's Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner right before shooting Rosenberg.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: L.A. on several occasions, most notably in episode 24.
• Brand X: Amigo Tacos.
• Broke Episode
• Catch Phrase:
  • Ellis: "Yes, sir!"
  • Nadie: "If you have any last words, say them now."
    • Less often (in English/Spanish, so it's meant to be notable): "Pardon?"/"¿Perdón?"
  • Ricardo: "Let's have a drink in hell, amigo!" (In the dub version: "I'll buy you a drink in hell, amigo.")
• Catgirl: Sort of -- a few characters put on cat ears in episode 11, including L.A and Ricardo.
• Cat Smile: Joaquin in the last episode.
• Cheerful Child: Lirio.
• The Chessmaster: Rosenberg.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Ellis for Nadie. Particularly noticeable in episode 19, when she mentally dubs a couple's conversation over the conversation between Nadie and Ricardo.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Ellis is somewhere between this and an Ambiguous Disorder.
• Code Name: L.A. Fridge Brilliance implies that "Ellis" is actually an acronym for "L.S."
  • In which case, what happened to L.B. through L.R.?
• Companion Cube: Squenchy, the lizard from episode 3.
• Crossdressers: Two transvestite bounty hunters.
• Cute Mute: Lirio. She pretty much communicates with giggles and little noises. She does say "Kitty!" in ep 22, referring to a cougar.
• Cute Witch: Ellis, somewhat subverted.
• Dead Star Walking: Professor Schneider, voiced by Shinichiro Miki.
• Death Is Cheap: Episode 25.
• Distant Finale
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: When Ellis uses her powers, she starts breathing heavily, and her expression and demeanor are rather... suggestive. It doesn't help at all the first time she does this that L.A. is watching her, also breathing heavily with the same expression, and the camera keeps switching between them.
• Doing in the Wizard: Inverted. Ellis is the product of genetic engineering, but her powers seem to be genuinely supernatural.
  • Not to mention episodes involving a woman who can read the memories of others, the harvest spirit Kokopelli, and it is probable that the old fortune teller in the first episode was the real deal.
• Double Entendre: Having very sexy girls and women for the Sex Sells in order to sell tacos!
• The Dragon: L.A.
• Dramatic Wind: Jody in episode 21.
• Dramedy: Noir and Madlax are ultra-serious; El Cazador is pretty much a platonic ideal of anime Dramedy.
• Dude, She's Like, in a Coma: L.A. to Ellis twice. He even records it!
• Emotionless Girl: Ellis isn't quite this; she feels emotions (however understated), but doesn't readily identify them.
• Expy: Sort of -- Jody shares common traits with Chloe from Noir and Limelda from Madlax, like being voiced by the same seiyuu...
• Extraordinarily Empowered Girl: Ellis.
• The Faceless: The Witch Coven chairwoman for most of the series.
• Faceless Goons: And triceraninjas!
• Fan Service: Sufficiently more of it than in Noir and Madlax; driven to extreme in the manga adaptation, to the point where it's not funny anymore.
• Fan Nickname: "Dougie" for Rosenberg, and "Squenchy" for the lizard in episode 3
• Finger-Suck Healing
• Flash Back: Up to and including a Whole-Episode Flashback.
• For the Evulz: Rosenberg arranged the whole stupid road trip through Central America so that Ellis and Nadie would get close enough that when he killed Nadie the grief would trigger the final awakening of Ellis' powers: just as the shredding of her favorite teddy bear initiated her first breakthrough and the murder of Dr. Schneider triggered her second.
  • He's a Yandere. A pedophiliac yandere in charge of the CIA...
  • Blue-Eyes suggests that he's seeking revenge for his father who was Driven to Suicide by the government after seeking the witches' power. He flat out denies this, though. Although it's hard to tell if he's being honest or not.
    • Note that Blue-Eye's grief at Nadie and Ellis's apparent deaths trigger her own latent witch powers. Maybe Rosenberg was on to something.
• Generic Cuteness: Nadie is apparently mildly unattractive, or at least very plain judging by the reactions she gets from most men. Even the playboy mariachi only flirted with her to get money. The way she's drawn, though, the worst you could say about her is that she's a bit skinny for a Hot Amazon.
• The Glasses Come Off: Blue Eyes ten episodes in (she also lets her hair loose), and the look stays for the rest of the series. Rosenberg says that she looks hotter without them.
• Gratuitous Spanish: Justified, since it is set in Latin America.
• Groin Attack: In ep 20, when Ellis sets L.A.'s crotch on fire with her powers (Ouch!).
• The Gunslinger: Nadie.
• Healing Factor: Sort of -- Ellis can only remove foreign objects from the body without harm. She can do absolutely nothing to the wounds caused by them, let alone to any kind of illness.
• Heel Face Turn: Blue Eyes. Episode 21 is pretty much dedicated to this.
• Hidden Depths: Antonio: mild-manner taco stand manager, former contract killer.
• Hidden Eyes: Ellis in episode 16.
• Hot for Student: Ellis and Professor Schneider.
• Hot Springs Episode: In the Mexican Desert, no less! in Episode 15. Justified, in that it's a spa with an onsen theme.
• How We Got Here: A few episodes are set up like this.
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: Ellis and L.A.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Ellis in episode 23.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: With the sole exception of "Maple Leaf", every episode begins with "A Woman" or "A Man" and then an adjective phrase to describe them.
• In a Single Bound: Ellis and L.A.
• Invocation: In the last episodes.
• Jittercam: A subtle example in episode 16 as L.A. walks towards the camera.
• Kawaiiko: Lirio.
• Killed Off for Real: L.A. and Rosenberg; though in the final episode they fake us out with Jody's assistant.
• Last Of Their Kind: The witches dying out.
• Limited Wardrobe: Semi-justfied, given they're fugitives.
• Limp and Livid: L.A.
• Lolicon: Ortega's interest in Ellis in episode 12. Hell, anyone who has interest in Ellis tends to border on this. L.A. manages to avert this since he's the same age as her.
• Lovely Angels
• Love Makes You Crazy: L.A., although his love for Ellis has been imprinted in his mind.
• MacGuffin: Witch powers.
• Magic Skirt: Ellis.
• The Men in Black: In the OP only, there is one guarding a brainwashing facility for Rosenberg, but given he's wearing a sombrero and smoking a pipe, that sorta takes away the mystique. He's only in one episode, and doesn't do anything. Blue Eyes does utilize a couple of WIB henchladies though.
• Meganekko: Jody Hayward, a.k.a. "Blue Eyes".
• Meido: Ellis and Nadie don maid outfits twice.
• Mind Control Eyes: L.A. in episode 24, and Ellis whenever she unconsciously manifests her powers. Her eyes still change even after she gains full control of her powers.
• Ms. Fanservice: Blue Eyes.
• Morality Pet: Lirio to Ricardo. Not that he's a bad guy.
• Mood Whiplash: "Maple Leaf"
• Mundane Utility: Ellis, episode 26.
• Mythology Gag: In episode 4, Ellis brandishes a fork as a "weapon". In Noir, Kirika killed Chloe with a fork.
• Nadie Is About To Shoot You
• Names to Know In Anime:
  • Ellis: Ai Shimizu and Maxey Whitehead
  • Nadie: Shizuka Ito
  • Jody: Aya Hisakawa
  • Ricardo: Fumihiko Tachiki
  • Lirio: Marina Inoue and Monica Rial
  • L.A.: Mamoru Miyano...the dub manages to be rather notable as well by casting Jamie McGonnigal, normally a New York VA and nowadays known for Barry and Trip in Pokémon and Omi in Weiss Kreuz.
  • Schneider: Shinichiro Miki
  • Melissa: Megumi Toyoguchi and Brina Palencia
• Odd Name Out: "Maple Leaf", again.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: Not Latin, but still ominous.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Through most of the series, Jody is only known as "Blue Eyes".
• Only One Name: Primary heroines, no less; also L.A., Lirio, and Ricardo.
• Opening Narration: Done by Blue Eyes in the latter half of the series.
  • Also on the first episode.
• Otaku: Ortega, episode 12 -- military variety.
• Our Heroines Are Dead: Nadie is forced to shoot Ellis in the penultimate episode, then dies shortly afterwards. It doesn't last long.
• Phlebotinum Rebel: Ellis; L.A. at several points in the story.
• Playing with Fire: One manifestation of Ellis' powers.
  • An Ice Person: She freezes a road in ep 17.
• Product Placement: this Pemex fuel station, where Pemex is Mexico's national oil company. The public phones also look pretty much exactly as Telmex's phones, though this might be more Scenery Porn than anything else.
• Psychotic Smirk: Rosenberg.
• Razor Floss: L.A.
• Riding Into the Sunset
• Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: Nadie even turns down a guy to run off with Ellis once more. In fact, Ellis's rather suggestive at times behaviour might indicate there's more to it.
• Roof Hopping: Ellis jumps inhumanly high, leaping up balconies in ep 17. Jumping from one to the one directly above it shouldn't be possible. In her case, A witch did it.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Rosenberg. The nameless bounty hunter in episode 9 also qualifies.
• Shipper on Deck: By the end of the series, Ricardo is shipping Ellis/Nadie.
• Shotacon: Seriously, that scene in episode 10 with Rosenberg whispering to LA.'s ears while the latter was naked... Then that strange hug in episode 24. Just seeing the attitude which with Rosenberg treats L.A. doesn't seem to make it too hard to believe that L.A. is, you know, not very virgin.
• Shout-Out: Most notably, to Noir and Madlax; see ANN.
• Sleep Cute: In ep 15, Ellis and Lirio.
• Slasher Smile: L.A.
• Small Town Boredom: Rita in episode 5 wants to get out of her small town and go cit the big cities.
• Smash Cut: Used in episode 21, to make the audience think L.A. has murdered a young flower girl. The next scene shows that she's just fine, and was happy that he bought all her flowers.
• Sneeze Cut
• South of the Border
• So What Do We Do Now?: Episode 26.
• Spicy Latina: Nadie.
• Spiritual Successor: To Madlax.
• Staking the Loved One: Nadie has to kill Ellis to stop Dougie's plan. She gets better.
• Stalker with a Crush: L.A.
• Stern Chase
• Take My Hand: Episode 19.
• This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: Toyed with in various ways throughout the series.
  • In episode 10, when a thug is holding Ellis hostage, Antonio thinks he has to go out and save her since he and his wife are the ones the thug's boss wants. At the same time, Nadie thinks she has to save her, since she and Ellis are so close. By the time they finish arguing and agree to BOTH go rescue her, Ellis has already knocked the guy out with a pair of maracas.
  • Averted when Ellis briefly tries to run away, since she doesn't want to be part of Rosenberg's plot or hurt anyone she cares about with her powers. Blue Eyes tries to tell Nadie that Ellis has to work it out on her own, but Nadie gives her a Shut UP, Hannibal and refuses to let Ellis run off a second time.
  • Played straight in episodes 24 and 25, both when Ricardo goes to finish things with Rambo L.A. and when Ellis and Nadie decide to finish their journey before the others catch up.
• Token Mini-Moe: Lirio.
• Took a Level In Badass: Ellis, once she gains full control over her powers.
• Unexplained Recovery: Both Ellis and Nadie die in the penultimate episode. However, they only stay that way for about five minutes.
• The Un-Reveal: Just as powerful as The Reveals of Noir and Madlax combined.
• Villains Out Shopping: Once Rosenberg gets to his lakeside villa, there are plenty of cuts to him just fishing or playing chess. Of course, these scenes are often still set to his evil-sounding theme music. It doesn't help that he eventually ends up looking at a picture of Ellis a lot.
• The Voiceless: Lirio (except for two instances at the end of the series). Despite this, she acts as a link between Nadie and Ellis and Ricardo, seeing as Ricardo isn't exactly the sociable type. Any interactions between them for much of the series is caused by their interactions with Lirio.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Antonio & Margarita in episode 10. A tubby taco stand worker married to one of the hottest women in the series. Apparently, he reminded her of a puppy she had as a girl.
• Villainous Breakdown: L.A. in ep 20, not that he was tightly wrapped in the first place.
• Witch Species: Ellis and L.A. are synthetic, while Jody/Blue Eyes is natural, but unpowered.
• Will They or Won't They?: Nadie and Ricardo; they won't, obviously.
  • Nadie and Ellis appear to get together in the end, though.
  • Pedro in the last episode seemed to like Nadie a bit. Joaquin, not so much.
• Xanatos Roulette: Rosenberg tries to do this -- it fails.
• X Meets Y: Amigo Tacos, when Taco Bell meets Maid Cafe.
• Yandere: L.A. and Rosenberg.
• You Gotta Have Pink Hair: Lirio. It's quite out of place in a series where most characters have natural hair colors.
• Zettai Ryouiki: Ellis.