Anime: Witch Hunter Robin

It's really easy to pitch this series as "The X-Files meets Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex", but that makes it sound way more awesome than it is. Not to say that Witch Hunter Robin is bad by any stretch, it isn't, but the series needs to be with moderate expectations to be fully enjoyed.Set in a world where people with paranormal powers called Witches, or "craft users", who have been around for millennia, hiding from the rest of the world. For years, an organization called SOLOMON, run by priests set in Italy, has dedicated their time and effort into hunting down and killing them, except for the Japanese branch, which captures them and put them away in a mysterious place called the "Factory".After the death of one of their hunters in the Japanese branch, SOLOMON dispatches a new hunter there, a 15-year old girl named Robin. Robin herself is a "craft user", raised by the Roman Catholic Church in Italy, specifically trained to hunt down other "craft users". But soon, she finds herself tied up in a situation more complicated and hidden than first thought.One of the worst things you can say about a series is that it had potential. The setup for the series is great, and it even has some depth to it, such as has having a moral grey area in which any of the characters ask if what they're doing is right. But the series has a few problems that prevent it from going from an OK series to a great series.The biggest problem is that the series end with a cliffhanger. A cliffhanger made worse by the fact that a sizeable chunk of this series are "monster-of-the-week" style episodes, where the witch hunters take down whatever witch is causing a problem that episode. The plot proper doesn't start until somewhere in the second half, but by then, it's a bit too late.As a result, lots of the plot and themes never really get fleshed out, and unlike a lot of anime, Witch Hunter Robin is not an adaptation of an already existing source material, so not even "Just go read the manga" excuse can be used here, because there is no more to this series.Witch Hunter Robin never really got popular enough to get another 13 episodes, and it's a shame, because right when it started to get interesting, the show ended with no resolution whatsoever. And this series could really use some closure.

THE STAFF
- Animated by studio Sunrise, which is very good in making shows full of cool robot action. But since this is not a mech show, it is not a good show.
- Directed by Murase Shuuku, who is mostly a character designer than a director. He did a nice work in Ergo Proxy but other than that he is not someone important.

This was so boring, I will just stick to basic information because of it.

1) The emo characters.
Although the term is a bit off since everybody was mostly emotionless and not exactly cutting his wrists. Anyways, the characters in this show don’t show much emotion. I guess being an uncaring prick was a trend back then. But beyond that, how can you like such emotionless characters unless you are an emo? I sure didn’t care about them; they quickly became boring. They are not even complicating or too developed. Plus, they are treated as expendable units too; the heroine is a witch brainwashed to hunt her kind and her kind is monster of the week mooks. Her boss is a scheming bastard and the only plot twist in the entire show. And… that is pretty much all there is to them. One could say “How about Robin gradually realising she is being manipulated and rebelling?” Oh sure, that counts. Too bad it is ALL TOO BASIC AND EXPECTED to matter. Do you know how many anime with assassins there are and the premise is exactly the same? Requiem for the Phantom comes to mind above all and although I was also bored with it too, it still had the same premise with a lot more meat to it. Not to mention Neon Genesis; everybody was emo there and yet in the same amount of episodes you would be offered a hundred times more stuff about each one of them to care.

2) The story.
It is as I said about an organization using witches to hunt other witches, which are considered dangerous for humanity. And if you think that is all it takes to fill a 26 episode show, then you have nerves of steel. For 90% of it is almost stand alone missions of hunting some mook monster with anti-witch guns and watching Robin being all emo. It gets boring very fast, as the characters are emotionless and the plot is slow, simple and predictable. The only worthy thing in it is Robin’s gradual turn heel, but even that happens in a snail slow speed and eventually it feels expected and too simple to care.

3) The action.
It is nothing great in terms of choreography, plus Robin gets out of each situation with minimum injuries. This is no Mazinger Z to expect some cool robots blowing stuff up in every episode and in a storyless fashion. As for the super-powers of the show, it is nothing Darker than Black didn’t offer in a lot more variety.

4) The production values.
They are nothing great in terms of animation, OST or artwork. There are many other shows that used as much dark as possible to show how emotionless and depressed everybody is, but that is hardly enough to deem the show worthy. I mean just look at Robin’s favourite hairstyle. Isn’t it weird; almost ridiculous? And if I wanted to watch emo people dressed in black, I would be watching Naruto Shiippuden instead of this; more action and more variety in themes too.

In all, this show is a fail in all aspects. Not because it has a terrible story or crappy production values. It simply came out in a time where most other anime had all its (few) interesting elements and a hundred more on top of them. I do not recommend it to anyone because it is all too basic, dull and lasts a lot more than it should.

And now for some excused scorings.
[/spoiler]

Witch Hunter Robin is best enjoyed as an exercise in style. It has an unusual visual design and quality music, but the story and characters appear to have been made on the assumption that if the give as few details as possible the viewers will hallucinate something interesting.

Animation:
The animation quality seems high, but it's difficult to see anything clearly, as everything is black on black. Well, not everything, there's also some brown.

Witch Hunter Robin's art style is somewhat unusual. It gives everyone a very mature look, in contrast to the cuteness you see in most other anime. This has the side effect of making the supposedly fifteen year old Robin look twenty, and the characters in their late teens look like they're in their thirties, though.

Despite the generally negative tone I seem to be taking, I would like to stress that I believe that the Witch Hunter Robin looks quite good, and am happy to see an anime use this kind of style.

Sound:
The voices are good, as is the music. Wasn't really my style, but it worked well.

Story:
There really isn't a story. The first half or so of the series is more or less purely episodic. Then you have a mini-arc, followed by a minor setting changed. After that it's still essentially episodic, but with some continuity. It's not until the last five or so episodes that the series builds any momentum.

Not much of note happens during the series, either. There's some stuff about the true nature of witches, but that poorly explained and never goes anywhere. There's a couple plot twists, but one of them was made obvious as early as the first episode, and the other has zero emotional impact, for both the characters and the audience.

Character:
The best that can really be said about the characters is that they're not annoying. Most of them only have vague outlines of a personality, and they only ever do what the plot requires of them. A couple of the single-episode characters are interesting, but most of them don't get much of a chance to explain their motives.

Magificient all-around good anime. This anime has action, drama, and mystery; it has some supernatural and sci-fi elements, and is very entertaining.

The animation isn't too amazing for a 2002 anime, but I loved the fight animations, especially for Robin's craft fights; they were very well done.

I loved the soundtrack, especially the opening theme, and I loved the sound effects for things like the craft powers and the Orb-shooting guns.

I loved the story in this anime. Great use of plot twists; this anime isn't very predictable and keeps you on your toes. Also, this anime's unique take on Witches was very interesting; Soloman and the STN-J were both interesting, and Soloman was given just enough background for the plot to flow, but left mysterious enough so that they still felt like an ancient secret organization.

While the first dozen or so episodes pretty much follow the same formula, each episode does advance the overall plot and provide information neccessary for the advancement of the plot.

The witches' origins, powers, and causes were also well fleshed out and provide interesting backstories in each episode.

Also, while the ending is a bit open-ended, I did like the ending and felt it fit this anime.

As to the characters, I loved them all. Each was given depth and a unique personality, and faced their own set of conflicts and desires throughout the story. Every character in this series experiences development and growth; by the end of the series it will be evident that each character has changed due to the events of the series: especially Robin and Dominja.

This anime is a very great and under-rated anime: this would be in my top 10-15 best animes of all time. This anime should be much higher on the top 200 list. Also, due to the complexity of the plot and background information, and the actions scenes this series is very re-watchable, especially the final 10 or so episodes.

Dark... Very dark...
Witch hunter Robin gives a gothic feeling that i like very much and unfortunatelly can't find easily in an anime.
Robin a 15 year old girl gifted with special powers, arrives in the city carrying nothing but a suitcase.
She's about to join forces with an organization that hunts down witches and its existence is known only to a few. Many things will hapen to her and the rest of the witch hunting team and pretty soon she'll realise that nothing is at it seems or should be taken for granded.

The background of the show, the city, is an empty, rainy place. Unlike other animes, we don't see crowded streets and roads full with cars. We will not see happy shopers or people going at festivals or public celebrations. The whole show has a feeling of loneliness, barred emotions and mystery.
The animation is wonderful,presenting a part of world that does't -or shouldn't- exist, yet very realistic. Well designed characters even not the main ones (like the keeper of the coffee store that the team goes, wich of course is most of the times empty). There are no comic reliefs in WHR, unless somone count the director of the office, who's lighten the whole atmosphere in a way.

Robin herself, is a uniqe character. Delicate, but with an enormous ammount of strenght hidden deep within. So mature, that sometimes we can forget that she supposed to be 15 years old. She thrives for acceptance and she gets it from the whole team but not from the one she wants it the most. Amon. A man that his feelings towards Robin are well hiden like his past. Amon is the stereotype of the cool/tough/silent guy but it doesn't get annoying since the creators took care to present him with a fresh aspect, staying away from the usual "tough man" seen in many animes.

The music...
The opening song is really good,fitting nice with the show. For the rest i'm neither negative nor positive, the SFX(the rain,the ravens i.e.) were really satisfying though.

WHR is not the kind of anime that someone can watch again and again just for fun. It's a bit "heavy" for entertainment. But for sure is a show that every anime fun should have in his or hers collection.

strong setting somewhat neutrialized by dissapointing storyline

Witch Hunter Robin is a good anime. Its setting is strong, be it a bit matrix-style, but it convinces, and it does its thing. I've just finished watching the last episode, then I decided to add a review, just for fun.

The animation of Witch Hunter Robin is quite original. It is not really realistic, but it is absolutely not your big-eyes/monstrous hairstyles cliche. Actually, most characters look normal (except for their overly matrix-style clothes), which is why they are convincing and entertaining. Robin, however, is a bit of a black sheep in this context: with her weird coupe and her ninteenth century-style of clothes, she is kind of cool though.

The music is very good. the intro rocks, especially if you like bass guitars a bit. The outro is also good, but nothing special, really. In the series itself, the music is sensitive, beautiful and dark. It really adds to mood, and it can make a dull episode more bearable.

The storyline is not really special. The whole thing is about an elite organisation that fights and arrests (hunts) witches, supernatural crimimals that threaten human society in the future. The first 15 episodes or something are all independent stories about individual hunts, to give you the chance to know the characters. The quality of these stories differ: most are above average, but some are truly fantastic: these episodes are very deep in ethical meaning and after a few days, they will still haunt your thoughts. The overall storyline, that picks up in the second half of the show, is a bit of a dissapointment, to be honest. Without spoiling, I can tell you that just too much is untold for the series to be truly finished. This is a pity, that keeps Witch Hunter Robin from being a truly recommendable anime.

There is not really much depth in most of the characters. Exept Robin, they are all pretty stereotypical: the distant elite soldier, the hacker, the hotshot, the female sidekick and so on. This is the greatest flaw in the whole anime. I think they could have made this series a lot better when they extended it to around 40 eps and invested some attention to everyone's development. Robin however, has a personality of her own. Special award goes to her voice actor: Robin always whispers, and when she raises her voice, which she rarely does, you know that there is trouble going on. It really adds to the mood, which is certainly the strongest point of this anime.

Though they are not really comparable, I think you might like this serie if you liked Ghost in the Shell. I do not recommend this anime to newcomers however: it is a bit too slow and the dialogs are too complicated for watching after coming home on a saturday morning. If you are watching this series, watch the whole shit in a week and make sure you are awake while you do it. It is worth your time.