Witch Hunter Robin: Complete Collection | 
| Actors: Akeno Watanabe, Dorothy Elias-fahn, Dave Mallow, Jerry Gelb, Mela Lee
Studio: Bandai
Category: DVD
List Price: $149.98
Buy Used: $38.99
You Save: $110.99 (74%)
New (6) Used (8) from $38.99
Rating:  68 reviews
Sales Rank: 61496
Format: Animated, Box Set, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: English (Subtitled), English (Original Language), Japanese (Original Language)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 6
Running Time: 650 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 6.5 x 2.7
UPC: 669198210051
EAN: 0669198210051
ASIN: B0002VEVQG
Theatrical Release Date: February 16, 2004
Release Date: October 26, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Complete with original artwork, disc(s), and case. In stock and ships today!
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Raised in an Italian convent, 16-year-old Robin Sana returns to her native Japan to join the STNJ, a secret organization that captures, rather than kills, witches of both sexes. The typically mismatched crew includes hacker Michael Lee, rookie Haruto Sakaki, psychic Miho Karasuma, Yurika Dojima, the spoiled daughter of a prominent family, and icily aloof Amon, the de facto leader of the team. As a "craft user," Robin can conjure fire as a weapon, but has some trouble with her aim. Witch Hunter combines the subdued palette of Blood: The Last Vampire with the alienated tone of the Vampire Princess Miyu OVAs. The elegantly designed settings and skillful use of color are more interesting than the flat stories about pursuing the supernatural murderers. All six volumes and a pin collection are included in this set. (Rated 13 and older: violence, alcohol and tobacco use) --Charles Solomon
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| Customer Reviews: Read 63 more reviews...
 Good drama, style, and characterization, but plot needs work May 2, 2005
Geo
97 out of 104 found this review helpful
Witch Hunter Robin is a 26 episode Japanese animation series set in the near future in Japan. In this near future, individuals dubbed Witches who exhibit uncontrolled or psychotic manifestations of supernatural penomena are tracked and hunted by a shadowy international agency. The title character, a quiet teenage girl raised in a European convent who posesses the ability to mentally start fires, works as a hunter for the Japanese branch of this agency (in the STN-J). Some of the people she works with are up-front about their personal histories; others stay secretive. The first half of the series focuses on Robin working within the STN-J to hunt other Witches. Events halfway through the series lead to her becoming a fugitive; the storyline then delves deeper into several subplots concerning Robin's origins, the personal backgrounds of some of the secretive STN-J members, and the activities of the STN-J administrator.
This series is carried by its rich character development and its strong dramatic moments (which are neither forced nor overplayed). The characters, even those who appear in single episodes, are defined deeply in a way that makes the watcher care about them. The storyline slowly (but not too slowly) unfolds within single episodes and across the series as a whole. An air of tension or mystery often permeates the plot. Remarkably, this is all done with relatively little action (many action scenes merely feature people staring at each other while they duel with psychic powers) and with remarkably little nudity. This is a strong dramatic series that holds the viewer at the edge of his or her seat with plotline, not with cheap thrills.
The animation style compliments the storyline very nicely. Everything is cast in dark hues complimented with pale colors. Faces, clothing, and architecture are highly stylized; much of it looks gothic or industrial. A strong emphasis is placed on visuals, particularly visuals of individual faces. While the individual characters and scenery are drawn technically well, the animators did have some problems. Some scenes feature computer-drawn backdrops that look artificial, and cars for some reason are not drawn well when moving along the line of sight. Despite these drawbacks, though, the animation still looks great.
The series only has two problems. The minor problem is the soundtrack, which is somewhat lackluster. The major problem is the predictability of the storyline. In earlier episodes, when Robin is hunting other Witches, the writers leave little mystery as to who will be hunted at the end of the episode, even if it is supposed to be unknown. Often, the hunted Witch is the one character that Robin or someone else in the STN-J interacts with during the episode. The later episodes become less predictable, but a significant portion of the series's finale is disappointingly easy to infer.
I did not view all of the extras on the DVDs, but both the character/equipment overviews and particularly the cultural information were useful.
Overall, this is a very good anime series with excellent drama and characterization as well as a visually-pleasing animation style, although the predictable storyline and lackluster soundtrack inhibit it from being the best. I recommend it to any anime, sci-fi, or fantasy fan.
 WHR - The Complete Collection May 15, 2005
eau (USA)
40 out of 53 found this review helpful
This complete collection consists of the same 6 discs from the individual volumes in a digipak and a collector's pin set. The book-like package that you see in the product image above is actually a flimsy outer housing that holds the pin set and the real digipak. This collection was released in late 2004 for a limited run, mainly to cash in the holiday season.
awesome series July 9, 2005
Looking out and looking in (USA)
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
I'm more of the shojo fan. Series like Fushigi Yugi and Ceres Celestial Legend have made it into my anime library. I have recently gotten into the shounen anime such as Inuyasha, Samurai Champloo, and Full Metal Alchemist. And I'll be honest, I much prefer the more boy-oriented anime where romance is second to the series and the story itself is the whole jist of the show.
This is what appealed to me for Witch Hunter Robin. Although more shounen then shojo, Witch Hunter Robin is a mixture of action, mystery, and suspense with a dash of romance. I enjoyed all the characters and was even surprised by the little twists and turns that pop out in later episodes. But what I love most about this series is that Robin is not a WHINEY, GIRLY, BRATTY 15 year old who always has to SHOW HER UNDERWEAR. She's in fact a mature young woman who is patient, and if not monotone, kind, and accepts responsibility.
This series has a Harry Potter meets the Matrix type blend. The witch hunting may bother a few (particulary Wiccans) but the overall message of the anime is positive. As Amon puts it "God never forsakes his creations".
Awesome anime, well worth the money!
Well. It's not Shakespear. It's not even funny. March 12, 2005
The Literate Wench (Yorkshire, England)
12 out of 49 found this review helpful
Have any of you ever seen La Femme Nikita? Ok, not the movie, the American TV show. Well, maybe I should explain. La Femme Nikita started as a French film about a smack addict who, with her other smack addict friends, knocks over a convienence store and kills the owner. She gets the death penalty. She is killed. She wakes up in a cell, and the secret shadow organization re-makes her from the skinny shaking junkie into the smooth suave killer they want. Jane Bond, in the beginning of her carreer... Why am I telling you this? Patience, grasshopper.
It was a terrific movie: "My Fair Lady" gone paranoid government killer. Anyways, hollywood thought it would be even better is everyone spoke English and hey, the lead should definitely be a blonde. This was remade and renamed ... um... I forget. No, really, I do. Anyways, in the end the main chickie redeems herself and doesn't want to kill anymore and runs away - leaves her friends at the secret org, leaves her lover that the org knows about, and is finally free. This is the sort of ending that cannot be made into a continuing TV series, so when someone decided to make this movie into a TV series they set it between the time she got caught and the time she left. And they turned the name back to La Femme Nikita, because the Hollywood name was not going to work out on a TV show of that sort of budget. And I'm not talking about a big budget, despite the show being fairly decent.
So, now we get to the point of this little trip down memory walk of fame. The show, La Femme Nikita, was all about - get this-a girl in a super-secret organization with a broody good-looking boss who she cared about and who cared about her but they couldn't show it because, at first, he was just too cold; and besides, inter-office relationships are frowned upon; and later there were all sorts of secret agendas and plots twists and the org was very scary, "If you leave us or betray us we will kill you and we'll only be doing it for your own good". And maybe the organization is good, adn maybe it's using evil methods, and ... Super technology, etc, etc... wait, which show am I talking about again? Oh! I'm talking about Witch Hunter Robin, of course.
Anyways. It's very pretty, visually, and some bits -where Robin's playing with her new glasses -are awesome. But overall, it's very hard to understand. Something is lost in translation, I'm guessing. They try so hard to be inscrutable and obscure they obscure the whole dang plot away. Or at least, it moves very.... very.... sloooowly.
It could do with some comprehensable dialogue, that leads somewhere. There's such a thing as letting the viewer figure out for themselves what's going on, and then there's not providing enough information for anyone to figure out anything. This leans towards the second of those.
But it's a good show. It's got a good soundtrack, lovely visuals, and it's quiet; I appriciate quiet, especially when so many shows rely so much on obnoxious use of explosions and gunfire. It's ... the word is thoughtful. It's a thoughtful show where the characters are introspective and yet powerul. I do like it.
Great for the Serious Anime Fan April 5, 2005
Bookworm (Texas)
12 out of 15 found this review helpful
And I mean Serious in the type of anime you like. If you want explosions, huge fights, teardrops, veinpops, and comedy... try something else for now and save this for another night. WHR is a great choice if you like film noir style. The action is mainly low-key, but you get to see some awesome magic- especially as Robin discovers more of her gift. There have been several reviews that talk about holes in the story, but what they didn't seem to understand is that Robin was raised in a convent and was trained that all witchcraft was evil and there's a differentiation between witchcraft and craft users. There was no interaction between herself and the witches she hunted before her transfer to STN-J because witches were killed outright. It's explained to her that STN-J captures witches instead... this is the same spot where you hear her disgust of ORBO. (in the 1st or 2cd episode)You then follow Robin through the realization of her powers, finding the true history of witchdcraft, and her struggle to find out if being a witch means you are inherently evil- especially herself. At the same time you have the conflict between Solomon and STNJ over ORBO, the group dynamics of the actual teammembers of the STN-J, and their growing suspicions that all is not what it seems. If you love untangling plots and a deeper story than most, WHR is for you! If you prefer your plot on a silver platter... you might want to try something else.
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