Anime Review: Witch Hunter Robin (English Dubbed Version)

Witch Hunter Robin is a dark, introspective anime series that focuses on a 15-year-old girl named, of course, Robin Sena. The starting premise of the series revolves around a group of highly trained specialists that form the STN-J, a Japanese subdivision of Solomon Headquarters. The STN-J hunt down "witches"-humans with extraordinary and deadly powers that they've used to kill people.

These witches usually don't even know they have such powers until something snaps inside them one day. The STN-J differs from other witch-hunting teams in the fact they don't kill the witches, but transfer them to "The Factory" to be contained; most members of the team believe this is the more humane method. They also make great use of a substance called Orbo, which neutralizes a witch's powers.

Robin joins the group to replace a team member who had been killed in a mission six months before. Known as a "Craft User" she exhibits remarkable, though largely unfocused, pyrokinetic skills from the beginning. She tries desperately to fit in with the other team members, most of all her cold, cynical partner Amon. However, he makes his distrust of her known immediately, criticizing her inability to pinpoint her target.

The show's direction continues in this vein until around episode 11, when it takes a dramatic turn. A witch Robin is hunting makes her question everything she's been told up until now, suggesting the STN-J is little more than an advanced version of the Salem Witch Trials and that Robin is assisting her team in committing atrocities against her own kind. This turning point casts a different light on everything the audience has been shown, rapidly changing the focus of the series from hunting witches to uncovering the dark secrets behind Solomon Headquarters-and the horrifying truth behind the substance known as Orbo.

The series itself begins rather slowly, introducing both the characters and the plot over a number of individual episodes. After the turning point the pace picks up incredibly quickly, which often led to me pausing and rewinding the tape to figure out what the heck just happened. Character development is an important and integral part of Witch Hunter Robin, and much of the action is hinged on the interaction between the team members (particularly Robin and Amon.)

Especially after episode 11, it's best to watch the show in chronological order or it won't make much sense. Robin especially grows as a character, changing from wide-eyed teenager to determined heroine over the course of the series. Her grave demeanor throughout the show is one of its intriguing characteristics, lending to an anime series that truly is both dark and disturbing. Although the characters in general are distant to one another at first, the surrounding plot that draws them together brings out the best (and worst) in each of them.

The subdued color scheme of the show also helps drive home the gothic horror theme. The characters are all realistically drawn, exaggerated only enough to give you a glimpse into their personalities that the series isn't able to elaborate on verbally. The music is absolutely stunning, even by the anime genre's standards, making the entire series all the more mysterious and creepy.

The dark nature of the series obviously isn't intended for children. But if you enjoy a good suspenseful series with good plot twists and an emphasis on character interaction and development, you'll definitely enjoy Witch Hunter Robin.