Witch Hunter Robin

Though hidden away from the general public, Witches—those with supernatural powers—have always existed in human societies. Neither numerous nor inherently evil, Witches are nonetheless capable of creating disorder by misusing their powers for criminal means. The task of solving supernatural crimes falls outside of the jurisdiction of normal authorities and is instead handled by the Solomon organization.

Having finished her training in Italy, Robin Sena transfers to Solomon's local Japanese branch, STNJ. Possessing powerful pyrokinetic abilities, she is herself a Witch, putting her at odds with STNJ's methods of dealing with rogue Witches. In particular, Robin opposes the use of an elixir called Orbo, which can weaken or even neutralize a Witch's powers. If Robin wants to find her place within the organization, she must find a way to navigate the internal politics of Solomon while also handling the threat of hostile Witches—but both seem to be dangerous for very different reasons.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Sena, Robin Main

Watanabe, Akeno Japanese

Amon Main

Takewaka, Takuma Japanese

Lee, Michael Main

Yuuki, Hiro Japanese

Doujima, Yurika Main

Hikami, Kyouko Japanese

Karasuma, Miho Main

Kouda, Kaho Japanese

Sakaki, Haruto Main

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

Nagira, Shunji Supporting

Yamanoi, Jin Japanese

Kurosawa, Akio Supporting

Ohba, Mahito Japanese

Higashi, Yuuji Supporting

Takatsuka, Masaya Japanese

Custodian Supporting

Kawazu, Yasuhiko Japanese

Sugita, Tsutomu Producer

Murase, Shukou Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard, Original Creator

Fujino, Sadayoshi Sound Director

Nagai, Tatsuyuki Episode Director

Reviews

Oct 29, 2025

k-0da

Recommended

The top review is my friend's, and the bottom review is mine (owner of the account.)
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Witch hunter robin: Magic CSI anime

Witch Hunter Robin follows the story of a bunch of witch hunters who work as magic police, catching a new criminal every episode with a cold witch girl as the protagonist. As someone who picked up Witch Hunter Robin for the sick visuals, I felt very spiritually connected to the possible adult swim audience of the show. And boy it sure is an adult swim type anime.

I can guess the staff attempted to appeal to a western audience by the character design and ... its more realistic proportions (of course it could also be following the trends of somber 2000s shows). But the way the anime is structured is also a dead giveaway, the cop show from the 90s elements, mixed in with sick action scenes and a more somber tone with no usual anime gags make it seem a tad try hard. Sadly, it failed to capture my attention because, by making the cast more somber and quiet, the show felt almost lethargic with the way nobody properly interacted with each other in any meaningful way except when they needed to inch the plot forward.

Speaking of plot, it draaaags. The start of the show is very episodic, and without an interesting cast you are left with only the actions happening on screen. Each episode a random witch gets jailed and sent to a factory without any type of trial. Since the characters take their sweet time to question it (or react to anything at all) you start to feel like you are slowly going insane, “is anyone seeing this?” I asked my screen to no avail. While it is obvious that the show was on its way to critique the system in place eventually, the execution wasn’t the best and it just felt like an unearned conclusion to an extremely serious situation. Just like my police procedurals!!!

Witch Hunter Robin has cool action scenes, moody coloring and nice framing from time to time, however it tries too hard to be something it’s not meant to be and it ends up just being mid.
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Woke Hunter Robin is like a six outta ten but legitimately one of the most interesting thematic dialogues I’ve seen in a long time.

Animation? It’s fine. Gritty 2000s nostalgia vibes kind of carry and otherwise alright animation. The set dressing, character designs, and cinematography are all pretty good though; it's just the actual movement leaves more to be desired.

Music is alright. Not noticeable, which is both good and bad. The OP and ED are fine, again; its a very 2000s anime type of nostalgic, which can be appealing.

The characters leave a lot more to be desired. With the exception of the series protag, a lot of them are very flat, receiving little backstory. They don’t really form real bonds/dynamics, the supporting cast mostly existing to move the plot along. A lot of the show felt like it was just going through the motions. Robin herself is fine; she’s a very good female protagonist with her own agency and character---despite what the OP may lead you to believe, her life does not revolve around a man (thank god) and she’s a competent fighter.

Where WHR is so interesting to me is that it’s fundamentally a pro-cop show. Our protagonists are the good guy cops who can do no real wrong, and every criminal they arrest is comically evil. In the early episodes, regulation steps in and prevents them from bringing the monster of the week to justice; there are no truly sympathetic monsters in this show, with the exception of maybe one or two which I’ll avoid talking about for spoiler reasons.

The reason why this is so intriguing to me is that while the show is trying to tell me cops are good and necessary, everything else it shows clearly is not. At the end of the week, the monsters are kidnapped off the streets in unmarked trucks and taken to the “factory.” No trial, no notification to their families, no hope of freedom, nothing. While the show may be attempting to portray the classic cop case of “one bad prison system ruins the bunch,” everything else surrounding that prison system… is also like, ontologically evil. The thematic cognitive dissonance is utterly fascinating, because in an attempt at moral greyness, the director appears to have dipped far further into black paint than he may have realized.

The thematic dissonance doesn’t make WHR a better show, just a much more interesting one to watch. It’s a little late into October, but if you’re looking for a spooky show that’ll make you think in a way the writers weren’t intending, WHR is a strong contender.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Mar 4, 2025

ryck66x

Mixed Feelings

Hello, first of all, this is my first review, I apologize for any mistakes. I hope you enjoy reading it.


Visual Impression and Animation: I would say that it is a good animation, it is not perfect, but for me it was very enjoyable from beginning to end. In addition to the scenarios, which I maintain the same opinion. Now, two negative points are the action scenes that end up being very tedious, as well as the first part of the anime mentioned below. But some are exceptions, and end up being cool. I also liked the futuristic touch, combined with a time when this would ... not be possible. And also the scenarios, locations and costumes, which contribute to the atmosphere positively.


Script and Pace: I felt that the pace of the anime was slow. I think the plot could have made better choices to be more interesting in the first part of the anime, because it ended up becoming repetitive and, at one point or another, I ended up getting bored and even sleepy because I was watching the same thing and nothing surprised me. The good thing is that the second part came and revived the anime, breaking out of that repetitive cycle, containing more mystery, investigation scenes and battles that became a little more striking as the episodes went by. In addition, pieces of the protagonist's story were revealed, and external things fit together in due time. Another positive point is the good balance between calm moments and moments of action, and I particularly like how these moments convey a comforting feeling. One point to be commented on, and that many other people have already commented on, is how the anime sometimes leaves questions unanswered, despite the ending that answers many questions regarding the protagonist's story. But I wouldn't say that this ruins or hinders; sometimes, not answering questions is a good decision. And here, it didn't make a difference for me, my few doubts were answered, and others, I can overlook.


Characters: Good to say the least, however, they could have been much more, and I felt that they lacked greater development. The only ones who grow in the anime, even if minimally (except for the protagonist), are Michael and maybe Amon. The others are there more to fill their own roles and, in 26 episodes, they end up not having that much importance in terms of development. Since, in the first part of the anime, this does not happen. We can have a minimal glimpse of development from the second part onwards, but it does not seem to be that important or significant. And, although I understand their motivations throughout the anime, I would say that it does not go beyond that. They do what they have to do.


Soundtrack: Great. It was composed by Taku Iwasaki, the same person responsible for the soundtracks of Akame ga Kill!, Rurouni Kenshin (1999 and 2001), JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Noragami, Soul Eater, Black Butler, Bungo Stray Dogs and many other important titles. Now, returning to the anime, the soundtrack varies from rock to jazz, at least as far as I could detect and tell. In addition, there are many musical experiments and combinations of these aspects that I could not and cannot say now, but which were certainly good during and after the anime. And I recommend listening to the soundtrack on Spotify or YouTube to learn more details about it, because I really lack information to describe Iwasaki's beautiful work in this work. Commenting a little more about the soundtrack, there is also a background piano that appears frequently and that is very striking and emphasizes many moments that occur during the anime, and it ends up being a beautiful and even moving thing. In addition, just like these musical experiments, rock, jazz and piano also helped to build the mood and atmosphere during the anime's scenes. They gave an extra charm to the work and matched well with the proposal of the anime and its themes. And also, of course, even after all this, I cannot fail to mention and highlight the opening and ending. Both are particularly addictive and good, in addition to the vocalist herself, who did a great job. I wanted to comment more about them, but I am afraid of commenting on something completely unrelated, so I will stop here.


But overall, I would say it is a good anime, with good potential, but due to some points mentioned above and the choices made in the anime itself, I believe it cannot reach a higher level. That said, it is worth watching if you want to experience something atmospheric, with genres of action, drama, supernatural, mystery and involving witchcraft, but explored in a different and interesting way. In addition to presenting gothic/noir settings, themes, and costumes.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jan 1, 2025

ChloesMAL

Not Recommended

When watching this I kept thinking "is this a sequel? am I missing some backstory" but no this is it.

The first few episodes felt like Detective Conan and that it was going to be a 'hunt of the week show' but then it just becomes a story of 'office politics' There's supposed to be a deeper backstory and mystery but none of it is intriguing or remotely interesting, once again I watched this Anime at 1.5x speed and it was still painfully slow. It isn't unwatchable but it just isn't worth your time x

Still haven't reached the text limit, this anime doesn't ... need an entire essay , it's slow, boring, lacks excitement etc etc

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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	Poll: Witch Hunter Robin Episode 1 Discussion Sabinlerose - Feb 26, 2011	28 replies	by n3mpl0yed4star »» 12 hours ago
	Poll: Witch Hunter Robin Episode 16 Discussion Sabinlerose - Mar 15, 2011	17 replies	by FoggyRadiation »» Jan 16, 8:26 PM
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