El Hazard: The Wanderers
DVD Features:
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Volume #2: The Ultimate Weapon
English Dubbed Version
Released: 1998
Version: DVD (Pioneer)
Approx. Rating: PG (or 13UP) due to mild swearing
Length: Approx. 150 minutes
English Cast: Eddie Frierson (Makoto Mizuhara), Michael Sorich (Masamichi Fujisawa), Bob Marx (Katsuhiko Jinnai), Lia Sargent (Nanami Jinnai), Melissa Charles (Alielle), Dorothy Melendrez (Miz Mishtal), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (Shayla-Shayla)
Synopsis
Makoto continues his adventures in El Hazard in this 2nd Volume of The Wanderers. A new character is introduced in the last 2 episodes of the volume. It's another girl and she's a "demon god" named Ifreeta (pronounced 'If-er-eat-a'). Also new to the show is a very odd cat named Ura (Julie Maddalena). Jinnai manages to get a hold of the'Ultimate Weapon' alluded to in the title. Will he win? I wonder.
The Review:
This set of episodes is also pretty good. While there is only 6 to choose from instead of the 7 from the last volume, they do a good job of continuing the story and getting us to know the characters better.
Nanami is finally in the show again and she's quite entertaining. Unfortunately, Alielle also gets lots of screen time, and while she's amusing, my view of her was tainted by The Alternative World series. Thus her hugging of certain characters leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
There is also some definite filler material here. In episode 11, A Child's Heart, the entire episode drags. There are a few good moments, but mostly it's rather dull. It does nothing to advance the story other than the romance between Makoto and the princess.
Probably the most interesting episodes (to me anyway) were the last two (where Ifreeta is introduced) and the first one where Nanami comes back into the show. They actually go somewhere and you also get to learn more about some of the other secondary characters, such as Nanami and a little about Ifreeta and her motivations.
We learn exactly what kind of stuff a demon god can do in the 13th episode. By now you've probably figured out that the 'demon god' and Ifreeta are one and the same. Anyway, she goes head-to-head with Miz Mishtal and Afura Mann.
The Good Stuff:
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Miz Mishtal is always amusing in her interactions Fujisawa. |
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The voice-work continues to be very well done with spot-on line delivery |
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The storyline in most of the episodes is pretty good too |
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The introduction to Ura is pretty interesting even if parts of the story itself, such as the beast, are rather lame. |
The Bad Stuff:
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Mild language still resides in this series |
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There's a bath scene which shows nothing in the 12th episode, but some might find it offensive |
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Alielle's borderline gay-ness shows through in this part of this series. |
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There's still a 20-30 second interlude of stock-footage at the beginning of every episode. Thankfully they drop that idiocy in episode 14 (which is on the next volume). Why they waited so long is anyone's guess!!! |
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There was one scene where Jinnai seemed to flip the bird at the Bugrum's Queen...it made no sense to the dialog going on in the scene though and if you blink, you'll miss it. |
While these episodes are basically just laying the groundwork for the last 13 episodes, they are still good in their own right. However, I think the 2nd half of the series is better. The characters are more fleshed out by then and the writers seem to have gotten a handle on what works and what doesn't.
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(Watch out for the bird flip)
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