Witch Hunter Robin - Reviews

What I Liked: The fact the series went from "monster-of-the-week" to supernatural noir-thriller halfway through. Character development was sound. The soundtrack suited the series down to the ground.

What I Didn't: Recycled footage was a little too obvious. Robin's character traits were a little questionable (age conflicting with things like riding a moped in Japan, etc.). The second half felt like it dragged on at times.

Final Verdict: A somewhat bipolar but very enjoyable supernatural noir anime, but is slow to start. You can't accuse the writers of creating flat characters, though.

Deep over all story line.   Short series.   Almost like a magical version of La Femme Nakita series (the series with Peta wilson).   wish it had more episodes.   enjoyed rewatching this.   yes I do own this one as well.

Witch Hunter Robin

Plot: "STN is a secret organization charged with capturing witches of all ages who misuse their inate ability of the Craft. Its newest recruit is a young girl named Robin, who wields the same power that she is helping to control. While skillful at their ability to detain quickly, the number of witches keeps seeming to increase, and the misuse of power grows stronger, casting a shadow of doubt as to what is really going on. For STN, there is much work ahead, and for Robin, her troubles are just beginning..."

Story: Something like Witch Hunter Robin is not quite hard to find. Once i managed to watch like half of it, i already found a similarity. Kiddy Grade, one of my old favorite shows debated the same kind of theme this one debates as well. Another one that came up in my mind is Noir, yet another anime that dwells within secret organizations. The setting of this show was to my linking. For an anime that involves characters with super powers (or psychic powers w.e.) i was kinda sick of seeing the typical and classical japanese setting instead i could finally see an european one. The story is centered around a teenage girl named Robin Sena. She was sent from headquarters to help assist the STN-J crew in hunting down witches. Unlike the other team members, Robin possesses Craft abilities, in other words she can invoke flames to defend or attack an enemy, thing that her comrades don't have or simply, their powers have not awaken yet. The setting is a little bit more complicated. The anime uses references from a real historical time when humans were obsessed with persecuting and killing witches which at that time were considered a curse for humanity and they were seen as beings that bring only harm and no good. STN-J unlike the other places where Robin worked uses different rules. They do not kill witches but they capture them alive. A witch is placed on a black list once they either can't control their Craft abilities or once they start using it to cause harm. Robin stands on a dangerous path. Both the organization and her comrades (especially Amon) view her with doubt since more than once she demonstrated that her power is not something which can be underestimated. The fear of her turning against the organization haunted Amon which kept her on a short leash, being assigned as her partner while she was to help STN-J. It did not take long until Robin settled within the crew. She started to become more friendly with the other members such as the hacker, Michael, Haruto Sakaki, Miho Karasuma and Yurika Doujima. Without knowing her own roots Robin continued to hunt down witches together with Amon and the rest of the crew until the organization itself started to take weird measures. From this point on, Robin changed her objective. From hunting down witches she wanted to know what exactly is she and what happened in the past. Well, whoever saw either Kiddy Grade or Noir might have an idea about what I am talking about here. These anime are similar in more ways then you might think. At the beginning I found this show sort of average, it did not manage to impress and in every episode the same thing was repeating. The plot barely starts to develop in the second half of the show. However, i would advice you guys to do not drop it and give it a chance until the end, maybe your expectations might be rewarded.

Animation and Sound: Sunrise, i studio that i do not admire at all. Whoever read my old reviews about other shows produced by Sunrise they might be aware of my opinion towards it. It's not like this show is bad in every way but my hatred comes from the amount of worthless shows they produced and the time they wasted on stuff that in the end failed badly. The few shows that they produced and were good in my opinion are Kurokami (Black God), Code Geass and Crest of the Stars series. However after watching this i am intended to add this one to the list as well. Animation wise it is fairly good. The characters are portrayed in a realistic way and the backgrounds as well. Sound wise, nothing impressive except for a few background soundtracks and the opening which was so-so.

Characters: A plus for this show is regarding characters. Even though this show lacked some plot elements, the characters compensated. Robin from the beginning was an interesting personality. Even though out of all the members she is the youngest, her attitude towards her job was probably the most serious out of all. Unlike Doujima or Sakaki, she was not a big talker but when she needed she would always comfort the other people, such as Michael, who in my opinion, out of all her comrades he was the closest. Amon, unlike the other members of STN-J was more of a solitary man. He did not like to interact with others in his free time. At the beginning he did not have a good impression about Robin, since he was instructed by the higher ups to keep an eye on her but later on he starts to take some interest in her. Every character in this show has a role to play in the end since this show puts a lot of effort in developing all of the main protagonists, not only Robin and Amon. Surely, the most funny character i find in this show is Dojima.

Overall: I think this show might've a lot better. Alas, how it stands now is not bad either. Fans of supernatural shows might find some interest in this one. The thing i liked the most about it was the historical references this show used in building its plot (kinda tired of stuff that are invented). Also, expect some romance in this one but not a very intense one, if you know what i mean.

~Enjoy and Cya Around~

I'm a fan of old-school anime and it's difficult to find anything I can get into. Witch Hunter Robin was one that mature anime fans can enjoy. No large-eyed characters to be found here! Unlike many seinen series', like Monster or Death Note, Witch Hunter Robin doesn't suffer from any pacing problems, and instead goes along at a decent clip. The animation is well rendered and the characters were all fairly interesting. Even though none were exactly noteworthy or anything, the characters were all easy to grow attached to. From begining to end, Witch Hunter Robin was a strong and steady bit of light entertainment.

Highly recommended, especially for older anime fans like me.

Anime in 200 Words: Witch Hunter Robin

Premise: A special agency exists to hunt down the witches who prove dangerous to society. Many hunters are witches themselves, so the line between friend and foe can get blurry.

Weakness: I thought the early episodes were predictable and grew tired of solving the cases before the characters did. I’ve no idea if this is just me, or if most people will find it to be true. Still, this was the only real problem I found in Witch Hunter Robin.

Themes: I love the delicate line between wielding power and being too dangerous to handle, so I really enjoyed this series once they go deeper into the world and the past.

Age Issues: Robin doesn’t seem like a 15 year old to me. I guess that because she grew up in a more rigid environment and had to deal with a lot of pressure, she’d be more mature, but she really seems older. It’s too bad that she’s jail bait. (Poor Amon.)

Overall: This series would have gotten a higher score if it weren’t for the weakness. I almost dropped the series, but I’m glad I finished. It’s a solid show, worth watching.