El Cazador 1: Runaway girl (逃げる女)

Those of you who have seen Noir or Madlax, will feel a sense of deja vu here.



We opened up the story by following the journey of Nadi, a bounty hunter, who is trailing Ellis, who has a large bounty on her head, "dead or alive".

After making the first contact with Ellis, Nadi decided to play a little game first with her, instead of apprehending her immediately. However, before Nadi can properly secure Ellis, other bounty hunters makes their appearance one after another to catch Ellis. I feel that there is a sign of sympathy here from Nadi for Ellis because of this.



After disarming the first wave of bounty hunters, Nadi and Ellis is trapped in what looks like a dead end. To Nadi's surprise, Ellis managed to super jump over the wall to safety.

Meanwhile, the big bad boss shows more glimpse of the puzzle. It looks like the real reason for the bounty is due to Project Leviathan, of which Ellis seems to be part of, and not necessarily the killing she has committed.
Nadi then meet an old lady who is an mutual acquintance of both girls, who ask Nadi to help Ellis.



After meeting up with Ellis again, they have some more talk and Ellis confesses she did not actually remember what happened during the murder incident. Their conversation is cut short, when a blast to the old lady's house to lure Ellis does just that. Surprisingly, Ellis is not the weak girl we suspected, as not only she can melt Nadi's heart, she can also melt guns with her gaze!
They are too late, as grandma can no longer be saved. Before she passed away, she hand Ellis a glowing stone that should help in her journey.

In the end, after praying for the old lady's well being in heaven, our two main heroines start their journey south.



Opening theme: Hikari no Yukue/To the light (光の行方) by savage genius
Ending theme : romanesque by FictionJunction YUUKA


Impression:
While the music from Yuki Kajiura remains great and uplifting, Noir and Madlax fans may feel they are watching a different realization of the same concept. On top of that, the action scenes in this episode isn't that exciting either. That is not to say the story is bad, it's just that there is a strong feeling we have seen all this before, with practically little or no signs of anything new. I feel the series would be much more interesting if one has never seen the two series above.

If time permits, I might continue to follow the series for the music alone, as its awesome.