Bakuretsu Hunters (Sorcerer Hunters) is a license that ADV has sat on for roughly two years. While some fans have cringed at the thought of waiting that long, the presentation is well worth it. Set aside the S&M-heavy packaging, the suggestive volume titles, and the bad puns, and what you have is a sure-fire winner.

The Sorcerer Hunters are a band of five warriors set in kind of a pseudo-midevil setting, whose job it is to fight the all-powerful sorcerers that rule the land with an iron fist. Under the direction of Big Momma, a goddess-like woman (who is just as big as the name implies... but not in the Roseanne way), the crew fights evil along with themselves.

Okay, so the plot isn't too different from, say, Slayers and all the millions of clones out there. No, Sorcerer Hunters' biggest strength is the characters and their constant play off each other. Carrot Glace, main character and skirt-chaser, is right up there with Ryo Saeba from City Hunter in terms of slap-stick pervert humor. Fellow hunters Chocolate (who's violently in love with Carrot) and Tira Misu (who is secretly in love with Carrot) constantly fight to keep Carrot away from his constant pursuit of all things female, which is like trying to keep a fish from swimming...

Carrot's well-behaved bishonen younger brother Marron and hulking gladiator Gateau Mocha round out the cast. Those two haven't been utilized yet...

So, where is ADV getting all this bondage stuff? Well, Chocolate and Tira change into these beautiful battle chicks, complete with leather (or is that vinyl?) outfits and whips. Yes, this as just as pointless as it is in most of Gō Nagai's works, but it works to scare the beejesus out of Carrot 80% of the time...

Oh yes, the dub. Well, the original had Megumi Hayashibara (who can still be heard in the really catchy opening), but the dub is so well-done I don't even miss her much. I don't say this very often, but it's pretty much flawless... (In fact, the narration at the end of every episode is a vast improvement.)

But Sorcerer Hunters isn't just perverted jokes and occasional magic action. One episode in particular, known as "A Dreamy Girl at Lakeside", is truly inspired romance, and we see what a total nice-guy Carrot can be if given the chance. (Of course, she's a spirit that decides the fate of the nearby village who ages a lifetime in 24 hours and afterwards takes whoever she meets into the lake with her forever... but it's all in good fun!)

I can't recommend Sorcerer Hunters enough. It's damn close to a perfect example of everything that's right with contemporary anime.