"Witch Hunter Robin" takes place in a modern world where magic is a thing and an organisation called STN hunts down magic-wielding witches, often with the help of magic-wielding "craft users". The show focuses on the Japan branch of STN, where a young craft user named Robin becomes a latest member of the witching hunting team.
"Witch Hunter Robin" came out around the turn of the millennium. Like a typical TV anime of the era, the series ran for 26 episodes and has a structure which starts off mostly episodic, establishing the settings and characters etc, but transitions to a second half more focused on a central plot. I found the standalone episodes quite enjoyable, but the second half disappointed me a little. Not because it became terrible, but because I expected the story to kick into a more exciting gear like other anime that followed a similar formula. With "Witch Hunter Robin", I didn't think the second half got much better than the first: the more substantial plot, while interesting, didn't quite reel me in, and I felt it told the internal political conflicts in a rather confusing manner.
The world building is also quite confusing. The story of "Witch Hunter Robin" features some intriguing parallels between craft users and witches, raising questions around why society accepts the former but not the latter. However, the effectiveness of the concept gets blunted by the anime's reluctance go into details about the difference in classifications. As a result, you can read reviews written by three different reviewers and find three different understandings for something that should have been easy to clarify.
One of my favourites parts of "Witch Hunter Robin" is the action. The battles can be quite flashy and tense, and the animation seems to excel particularly when the action involves flames. I wouldn't say the anime counts as an action-heavy show though, and part of me wishes it were. The battles tend to be short-lived affairs; outside of that, the plodding sense of mystery forms the main draw, but one that didn't engage me as much. The ending in particular failed to draw much of a reaction out of me, despite what seemed like an attempt to do something out of the ordinary.
I think the main reason I couldn't engage with the story more is the characters. I'm very much a character-oriented person when consuming stories, and "Witch Hunter Robin" disappointed in this aspect. While initially appealing, many of the characters don't get much development, and for the ones that do, the development sometimes feel stilted, their changing attitudes coming across as overly-sudden or out of character.
I do love the character designs of "Witch Hunter Robin" though. In a break from most other anime, the series goes for a more life-like look for the characters and for the most part pulls it off in style. Goofy anime staples such as super deformity and exaggerated expressions are nowhere to be found, which sits just fine with me. The designs also strikes me as distinctive, especially the titular character's hairdo. One minor grumble I have is the occasional stiffness in the characters' expressions, particularly around the mouth, although I suspect the only reason it's noticeable is because of the anime's realistic style. The characters' wardrobes frequently feature long, shadowy trench coats, and the anime's colour pallet consists of mostly dreary shades of dark and grey which complements the sombre atmosphere nicely.
That said, while the anime does "dark and gloomy" well, it falls over whenever it tries to lighten the mood. The humour in the show sucks particularly bad. The dry deliverance of flat punchlines results in jokes that are hard to pick up. The show does have some funny moments, but I found myself wondering whether the writers even meant them. For example, one of the characters cocks up so many times it's like a running joke, but the show itself doesn't seem aware of the joke.
The last complaint I have is regarding the music: I rarely complain about the music of a show because it's generally adequate. However, the music of "Witch Hunter Robin" is noticeably bad. The opening doesn't fit the mood; the background tracks are bland and not particularly pleasing to the ear; the ending track is okay until the singer tries to sing in English, and sings it so badly that I didn't realise the "English" parts existed until most of the way through the series.
But despite all my misgivings, I'd still count "Witch Hunter Robin" as a good anime. The show comes off as refreshingly dignified and mature without resorting to the "edgy and violent" shortcut that some other anime take. While I don't see myself revisiting the series, I enjoyed it well enough as I was watching. I guess I'm simply disappointed that, after such a promising start, "Witch Hunter Robin" didn't end up as anything better than just plain old "good".
Personal rating: +1.0 (good)
