Sorcerer Hunters

With an 18 certificate and character names like Chocolate and Carrot, you should pretty much get what you expect when buying this volume of Sorcerer Hunters – a collection of three episodic OVAs dedicated to fan service more than anything else.

Pervert Carrot, followed by a young boy and an old man (who do not feature in the second and third OVA, but are equally perverted), pursues women and his sexual fantasies at all hours. In this first OVA, centred around a trip to the hot spring, we essentially get just four scenes: Carrot, the young boy and old man staring at girls in the hot spring (among them, main characters Tira and Chocolate), a brief session of dining which gives way to sexual fantasy, a host of characters sneaking between rooms that night, and Big Mama (powerful mage and leader of the Sorcerer Hunters) threatening to lay down the law.

The second OVA begins with a young girl named Maris almost being raped by a host of zombies, but luckily she manages to smash her father’s decomposing skull with a rock and fall off the edge of a cliff. Only to become undead herself, of course. Big Mama then tells the team that the source of the problem is a Necromancer known as the Death Master. Trying to prevent the Death Master from acquiring power of the ancient Necronomicon, Carrot and friends give viewers the only straight-faced fight in the entire volume during this OVA, but it’s forgettable.

The final OVA has almost no story, and is concerned only with what happened when the Sorcerer Hunters visited a local tree that, according to legend, can grant two lovers their happy ever after. So what happens at this festival around the tree? Quite a bit, actually, but the only thing of any importance is the exposition of Chocolate and Tira’s past, with a slightly more emotional tone than anywhere else in the collection.

The story and this volume do little other than to provide an excuse for fanservice, character humour and a traditional fantasy adventure. That’s probably enough for some viewers, and I’m sure this DVD will find it’s niche, especially among people who liked Puni Puni Poemy (the humour is quite similar, though more subdued, and many of the voice actors are the same), but for the majority, this volume will probably seem too light. The heart of the comedy, for example, is that everyone is a pervert or of some peculiar attraction, and while the main character is a pervert, he chases after every woman except the only two who want him, his companions Tira and Chocolate.

From this, you can probably deduce that Sorcerer Hunters is a short, simple and thoroughly unexceptional series. Even as a parody, its hard to tell whether the joke is on other anime, or on this one, but because the series is so light-hearted, it would take more malice than I have in me to tear it apart. Maybe others will be won over by the same charm (and Tiffany Grant).

In Summary

If all you want is a few laughs, some light-hearted fanservice and a few stereotypical characters to get you there, then the Sorcerer Hunters Collection might suffice. If you want an intricate story, developed characters or an accomplished piece of art, then this is one to avoid.