What is Witch Hunter Robin?:

A question that is most definitely NOT to be confused with the question "What is The Matrix?", although people who take one look at this series say that it has elements of La Femme Nikita, X-Files, and The Matrix all rolled into one. Some critics have gone so far as to say that it's similar to the popular TV series Buffy: The Vampire Slayer based on the nature of the first half of the series. I say they're all right--Witch Hunter Robin does have elements of the aforementioned shows, but in a way... most shows and stories are spawned off one another.

Witch Hunter Robin is a 26-episode dark anime series that shares its unique genre with a very similar and very popular series -- Hellsing. It was created by Bandai and Sunrise, the same duo responsible for many other kickass (mostly mecha) series viewed by anime fans internationally. Some of their well-known series include The Big O, Cowboy Bebop, the Gundam series, Infinite Ryvius, and Wolf's Rain. So, this is pretty much guaranteed to be one kickass series, right? Definitely.

Running on TV Tokyo from July 2 until Christmas Eve 2002, this series aired from 11:25 until 11:55 P.M. every Tuesday night. The series spans across 13 DVDs in Japan, 2-3 DVDs on the bootlegs, 5-6 CDs on fansubs (depending on which fansubber's version you received or downloaded), and 6 DVDs in the Region 1 Release. WHR has been fansubbed in several languages, including English--with ANBU and the former Rice-Box fansubs being two of the most popular, well done English subs released on the Internet.

Witch Hunter Robin has had several runnings in the United States during the last year and a half via the Cartoon Network's late-night "Adult Swim" block, as well as a few runnings on CN's Canadian counterpart, YTV.

Sci-Fi leaked news in April 2004 about Sunrise approving a live-action series based off of Witch Hunter Robin. Although once assumed to have been dropped from production, news as recent as June 2006 points to evidence that the live action is still in production, this time by Roy Lee. Further news on this recent development, and the live action itself is pending.

WHR focuses on 15-year-old Robin Sena, a young hunter recently sent from Italy to her native Japan as a replacement for the STN-J by Solomon Headquarters. STN-J suffered through the loss of one of their hunters six months earlier, and apparently Solomon doesn't have too much faith in one of the other replacements brought on board for the team a few months earlier. Obviously, Robin is far from what anyone in the division expects from a "headquarters hunter." The tension between her and her partner (also apparent STN-J leader) Amon is so thick you could cut it with a knife. But, what is she really there for? And isn't her Craft similar to those of the witches she is ordered to hunt? As I said before, and as you see in the series... there is much more to this young firestarter and the situation with present-day witches than meets the eye...

Last Updated: December 29, 2006.

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