Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Witch Hunter Robin
Witch Hunter Robin is a Japanese Animation series created by Sunrise, who also created Cowboy Bebop and Mobile Suit Gundam.
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." Each witch has a different power, and the powers can be anything from eletrical generation to the ability to stop and start hearts at will. The first witch that the audience sees hunted (almost a kind of joke) has the bizarre ability of telekinetically grabbing people by their feet and tripping them.
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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.
The series, in a subtle yet obvious way, accuses the current scientific establishment of brainwashing everyone into looking down upon paranormal phenomena as a mere hoax: It is the curse of our age; an orthodoxy of its own that prevents us from taking the next step in evolution. Yet, there are those few silent centers of research that continue to pursue such phenomena.
Indeed, one begins to wonder, has science itself become a new dogmatic religion?
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
- Seperate 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 March 19th, 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.
External links
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