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 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 make 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.