Yes, at least for me personally. First thing you notice when you start watching is that, yet again, the synopsis is deceiving to say the least. It promises an action-packed adventure full of chases, shooting and all that cool stuff. Well, it isn't. Don't get me wrong, this big chase is the main plot and does set up the situation but it's not really the focus. The events move at an extremely slow pace most of the time, heck, most of the show fells like a normal TV series with each one having a separate plot. But despite that, the anime manages to make it interesting to watch, most of the time at least.
I am not 100% sure of the reason but at least half of it comes from the stylistic choice. The exact time and place of the events are never specified, the best I was able to figure out is that it's probably the south of the US or even Mexico sometime in the middle of the 20th century. This makes for a pretty unique setting, and the show takes full advantage of it, whether it's the use of authentic guns, wardrobe choices or the music, which just so happens to use all the instruments that I adore. It's spanish guitar, flute, mouth organ - everything's simple but still very effective and is great for the scenery shown here: the desert, lonely villages, classic southern cities and so on.
The leads are another huge part of this show's appeal, and it once again shows that originality isn't always what you need to create a likeable and believable persona. Nadie is a light-hearted and honest bounty hunter, Ellis is a clueless innocent girl unable to hurt anyone. We've seen this a million times, even those two characters as a main couple, say, it's one of the romantic lines in the Mass Effect trilogy (now that's an out of place reference). It works, though, mostly because the writers had 26 episodes to work with and were able to show their relationship's development in detail. It had a great sense of progression and was believable, for which I'm willing to forgive the less than intriguing plot. No, actually, it is pretty intriguing but it's predictable and rather disappointing in the amount of answers we get. That's the main reason why my score is highly subjective: I couldn't care less for the plot as long as I see genuine character interactions, and those are plenty here. Also, to conclude praising the leads, the designs are great. Both I couldn't help but like from the getgo and up till the end.
Other prominent characters are, sadly, less impressive. Let's start with the villain. He's the as generic as you can get - you have the glasses, the snarkiness and, as it turns out in the end, an overcomplicated and, in my opinion, stupid and strange plan. And it's sad, too, for screen time is constantly wasted on his interactions that do nothing to build his obviously boring character or move the plot forward. There are also a lot of people who we don't know much about even by the end. There's a bounty hunter named Ricardo who's looking after a mute girl Lirio. It's genuinely heartwarming to see, it's made obvious that he cares about her in a way that a good parent should. But that's all there is to it: there is no development whatsoever, even by the end. That was a huge disappointment, as these two had potential. Then L.A. Oh, god, L.A. I'm still not certain what his purpose was. He was creepy as all hell, that I'll give you, and at one point I felt great sympathy for him but ultimately he's underdeveloped. Again, could have done that instead of some of the more pointless episode plots.
Of which, to the show's credit, there are not many. Most serve to deepen the relationship between Nadie and Ellis or flesh them out a bit more and, seeing how they are extremely likeable, it works. This is a difficult thing to pull off but they managed to, partly due to most of the people met in single episodes being actually believable and interesting. They usually have a point and are well-written. It makes me sad the same amount of effort didn't go into some of the supporting characters, say, Blue Eyes, who is ultimately pointless. I am literally not prepared to answer why she even was there.
The art was consistently good throughout the series, not much to say here. It got simplistic during one fight but it's the only time I noticed it and only for a brief second. Not surprising, since this anime mostly relies on gunplay, which is done well. I liked the fact that they weren't afraid to show blood. Don't get me wrong I don't lke (to put it lightly) pools of blood and constant gore and believe it's disgusting, or it should be, anyway, since "horror" movies have taught me to just ignore it most of the time. I'm just glad that the show isn't trying to censor every bit of blood like modern action movies that try to be PG-13 or not draw it at all, like, say, Noir (which was constantly bugging me throughout that otherwise nice series). It appreciate the decency. As for the actors, some are merely adequate, for example, the villain, Rosenberg; to be honest, there's not much to work with. Some are really good, lidethe leads and L.A, even though he's chewing scenery like crazy half the time. Well, actually, partly thanks to that, as he makes it really enjoyable; not surprising if you recall the seiyuu voicing him also did Okarin and Light, who were both great at hamming it up.
Overall, it's a mixed bag. On the one hand, I loved Nadie, Ellis and their relationship, as well as the score and the setting, so I enjoyed it, hence teh rating - when this show focuses on something, it does it very well. The problem is that many of the elements usually important to most people are underplayed: the plot and the villain are lackluster, there is little to no development for most of the supporting cast. It might, no, it will turn many people off, and if you're expecting an epic adventure with big revelations in the end, it's not for you. If, however, you want a mild and enjoyable trip with charming leads who are well-written and have great chemistry, sure, give it a watch. You will get exactly that.
