Witch Hunter Robin
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It is a darkly serious crime drama that follows the STN-J, the Japanese branch of a secretive global organization, SOLOMON, that fights the harmful use of witchcraft. Being a witch is a genetic trait, and the STN-J maintains a database of everyone with the trait and is empowered to eliminate or arrest them should their powers "awaken." Witches have a wide variety of abilities, though they usually possess only one each, and the powers can be anything from electrical generation or telekinesis to the ability to stop and start hearts at will.
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Plot
The show begins with the recruitment of 15-year-old Robin Sena, as STN-J lost one of its members in action. Robin is a witch who was born in Japan and raised in an Italian convent. Robin's "craft" is pyrokinesis.
Initially, the series appears to take a "monster of the week" approach. About halfway through the 26-episode season, the characters and the relationships between them are established. At that time, the real story gets underway.
As the series goes on, Robin grows increasingly uncomfortable with her role in hunting witches. Some of the witches do not deserve the punishment that they receive inside the mysterious "Factory". Eventually Robin begins to worry that she will become a target and grows to suspect that her partner Amon will welcome the opportunity to hunt her.
Analysis
In the story, Robin is a "craft user", i.e. a secret trainee of The Catholic Church in Italy that uses her craft (fire) to hunt down witches. Thus witchcraft is seen as a genetic anomaly that is passed down in the human genome and may surface at any time as the species regenerates. Therefore witches are simply people whose genes contain the witchcraft genetic traits. Once they learn of their powers, unfortunately, they begin using it toward personal gains. And that is when secret organizations such as "Solomon" (and the Japanese "STNJ" in Japan) come in to eliminate their threat from society.
Robin is sent to Japan to aid the STNJ in their efforts to capture witches. The STNJ are however working on a liquid called "the orbo" that can deactivate witchcraft. Eventually, as the story progresses, Robin herself becomes a target of the STNJ and labeled a witch, and thus "hunted".
The story hence asks the viewers the question: Are we innocent until proven guilty, or guilty until proven innocent? Especially if we are born with unique abilities? Who has the right to judge others? For example, in one episode, a physician working in a hospital, realizes that he has a "magic touch"; he has the power to handle and transfer "life forces". So he drains the life force out of criminals and greedy mafia bosses, and gives them to terminally ill children dying in hospitals. The STNJ hunts him down too.
What appeals to many fans of this TV series is the soundtrack, the sleek Matrix-like styles of the characters, the well done dubbing, and the concept behind the stories themselves such as mysticism, telekinesis, remote viewing, PK tests, causality violations, etc. In addition, the time devoted to the character development of Robin (especially in the later episodes) is also quite rare in animation, Japanese or other wise.
The series may be interpreted as a subtle accusation against the current scientific establishment of looking down upon paranormal phenomena as a mere hoax. The scientific establishment's own orthodoxy may be preventing us from taking the next step in evolution. Yet, there are those few silent centers of research (http://www.princeton.edu/~pear/) that continue to pursue such phenomena. Indeed, one begins to wonder, has science itself become a new dogmatic religion? (http://www.scientificexploration.org/jse/articles/pdf/14.3_arp.pdf)
Characters
Episodes
Witch Hunter Robin debuted on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on February 16, 2004. The series also began airing on YTV on September 10, 2004.
- Replacement
- Addicted to Power
- Dancing in Darkness
- Stubborn Aesthetics
- Smells Like the Wandering Spirits
- Raindrops
- Simple Mind
- Faith
- Sign Of The Craft
- Separate Lives
- The Soul Cages
- Precious Illusions
- The Eyes of Truth
- Loaded Gun
- Time to Say Goodbye
- Heal the Pain
- Dilemma
- In My Pocket
- Missing
- All I Really Oughta Know
- No Way Out
- Family Portrait
- Sympathy For the Devil
- Rent
- Redemption Day
- Time to Tell
Live Action Version
On April 5th, 2004, the SciFi Channel released a press release stating a listing of new shows and movies in development for the future and one of the listed shows was Witchhunter Robin in which the press release describes the show in development as "Based on a Japanese anime, this series follows a group of trained cops that seek to capture witches. One of the newest cops, Robin, is secretly a witch herself and uses her powers to track down the evildoers." This show will be live action and the executive producers are Roy Lee and Doug Davison who are credited in the press release as being the producers for the movie The Ring, no premiere date was given in the press release. As of June 5th, 2005, there hasn't been any new information on the series and it is unknown at the current time if the series is still in development, in limbo, or dropped from development.
Cast
External links
- Adult Swim Witch Hunter Robin website (http://www.adultswim.com/shows/witchhunter/index.html)
- YTV Witch Hunter Robin website (http://www.ytv.com/programming/shows/witch_hunter_robin/index.asp?showID=296)
- Episode guide (http://www.animetique.com/animeepisode.asp?ID=22)
- Cinescape article dated April 6th, 2004 that mentions the SciFi press release that mentions the live action version of Witch Hunter Robin (http://www.cinescape.com/0/Editorial.asp?aff_id=0&this_cat=Television&action=page&obj_id=41212)fr:Witch Hunter Robin