"Three hundred and twenty years have passed since the coven sank in the dark. I am a Hunter. Those who are witches are my prey. I have been trained since a young age to hunt them. Now, I have been given a new hunting ground. They use strange technology here, but I shall not. I shall remain faithful to the old ways." - Robin Sena

       Witch Hunter Robin revolves around people who display signs of the craft that has awakened in them. The craft is a sort of ability only known to some people, which can range from being able to read people’s mind to being able to control elements such as the earth. Those who have signs of the craft are labeled as witches and it happens that Robin (the main character) has the craft of being able to create fire. Normally, witches are hunted down and killed as their crafts are perceived to be dangerous to mankind. However, Robin has been raised in a closed environment and taught to control her craft, which later on, is used by an organization known as Solomon to help hunt other witches down.

       In the beginning, Robin was sent to Japan to replace a former member of the STN-J, who was killed a few months ago. The STN-J is a branch of Solomon in Japan whose members are hired to hunt and capture all witches (or at least those in Japan). Initially, Robin was looked down upon her arrival at the STN-J (maybe because of her age). The other members often kept to themselves and have only the objective to hunt witches in their minds. One particular person, Amon, treats Robin rather harshly, especially after witnessing Robin’s rashness in using her powers to subdue a witch during one of the hunts. He then revealed that at the STN-J, they prefer to capture witches with the help of a green coloured liquid known as Orbo, rather than to kill them (which is what will happen if Robin were to use her craft on the witches). Orbo is designed to repel the power of witches and is used along with the bullets they shoot in order for it to have an effect on the witches. Amon, Karasuma and Sakaki (some other members of the STN-J) even wear a tiny vial of Orbo around their neck to protect them from being harmed by the craft. Once a witch is subdued by the Orbo, a call is then made to the ‘factory’ and some people will be sent to the scene to take the witch into the factory. No one at the STN-J really knows what happens after the witches are sent into the factory but assumes that the fate which awaits the witches there is definitely better than them being killed.

       The story took a drastic turn mid-way of the series. The higher authorities at Solomon headquarters had decided that Robin is too powerful for them to control and thus, they proceeded to hunt her down. This happened after Robin met a witch called Methusalleh, who passed on the fragment of wisdom to Robin before she died. With the fragment, Robin’s power has increased immensely and thus is deemed too dangerous even for a witch turned hunter. This made Robin rethink her actions of hunting her own kind, which suddenly seems so wrong. Some of those witches have done nothing wrong except to be born with the craft in their blood. Those related to a witch also suffers from the loss of a loved one and even worse, they will be monitored for the rest of their lives for any sign of the craft awakening in them.

       Meanwhile, those at the STN-J were not informed of the hunt for Robin. Some of them even got caught in the crossfire and appeared to be dead (they were shot multiple times…how can anyone survive that!). What’s worse is that investigation of the hunt on Robin all led to the fact that Amon is one of those who are sent to hunt Robin…..

Characters

        Robin Sena – Robin is 15 years old (although she looks slightly older than that). She was born in Japan but was raised in a Convent in Tuscany (this explains her taste for clothing – most of the time, she is seen wearing a dress that reveals only her head and her hands). Her craft is the ability to create fire which turns out to be useful in the case of hunting witches. Thus, she is sent to the STN-J to replace another craft user turned hunter who died a few months before her arrival. Although having a craft user on the hunter’s side gives the STN-J a great advantage, Robin’s aim when creating her fire is not very true. This results in one incident whereby the other hunters got trapped in a circle of fire created by Robin. Amon then came up with a theory where Robin’s eyesight will deteriorate if she uses her craft at its maximum level. Amon later gave Robin a pair of glasses to improve her eyesight (and her aim). Feeling that the glasses is redundant, Robin refuses to use it. However, after a particular hunt in which Robin could not seem to aim accurately and nearly got herself defeated by a witch, she had been using the glasses every time they are out on a hunt.

        Amon – More than anybody at the STN-J, Amon is a person who often keeps to himself. He has been hunting witches for slightly over 5 years and is the most experienced of the lot. Amon’s mother is a witch who did not reveal her craft until after he was born. This is probably one of the reasons behind Amon’s hatred towards witches. Having a witch as a mother means that there is a very likely chance of Amon himself being a witch, but his craft (if he has it) has not awaken yet. Amon is portrayed as a person very dedicated to his work, so dedicated until his fellow hunters had little doubts when suspecting that he is one of the people behind the hunt for Robin later on in the series. Karasuma even suspects him for killing the previous craft user of the STN-J.

        Shunji Nagira – Nagira is Amon’s brother who works as a lawyer in a small law firm (very small indeed as there are only 3 people working under that firm). He does not share Amon’s hatred towards witches. Instead, he feels sorry for them and those who have been affected by the witch hunts (mainly family members of the witches). Nagira hates those who hunt witches claiming that the craft is dangerous and those who posses the craft should be eradicated from humanity. Thus, he set out on his mission to help as many people as possible who have been affected by the hunts. Nagira came into the picture after the hunt for Robin was initiated. During her escape, Robin was given a piece of paper by Amon, telling her to contact Nagira and to stay put until further notice. This led to Nagira assigning Robin a job as a bike-messenger for the firm and a room above the firm in which to stay in for the meantime. He has many contacts from which he learns about the craft and the incidents happening around it. This is proven useful when Robin seeks to understand more about herself, the craft and a particular ‘fragment of wisdom’.

        Miho Karasuma – She is one of the hunters at the STN-J who is only 19 years old (once again my eyes are deceiving me…she certainly looks older than that!). Other than Amon, she is more experienced than the others and has also been working in that field for 5 years. Karasuma has a special ability; when she touches an object, she is able to determine strong emotions that have been left behind on that object. This ability proves useful during the hunts as they are able to determine whether a witch is behind a particular incident (witches normally leave behind emotions of anger and hatred). However, there are no indications throughout the anime on whether Karasuma is a witch or just a normal person with special abilities.

        Haruto Sakaki – Sakaki is also a hunter working for the STN-J. He is rather inexperienced in that field which often leads to him being in danger during the hunts. The only thing that has kept him from being killed by the witches’ craft is a tiny vial of Orbo hung on a string around his neck. The Orbo protects him from being affected by any craft of the witches. Like Amon, there is no sign of the craft on him and thus, he uses a gun to shoot Orbo-injected bullets at the witches to subdue them.

        Yukira Doujima – She is also a hunter but she seldom goes out on actual witch hunts. She is the daughter of a very prominent person and thus she can slack around the office (and even arrive late at work) as she wish without getting a scolding from the Chief. Little is said about her character except that she is very lazy. However, after the hunt on Robin, she has been working hard to help out around the STN-J (as both Amon and Robin are missing or in hiding and is no longer able to continue work). Towards the end of the anime, it is also revealed that she has more on her plate than just being a spoilt brat.

        Michael Lee – Michael is very good at computers and he used to be a hacker. One day, he made a very wrong move which involves hacking into Solomon’s server. The people at Solomon managed to catch him for doing so and in exchange for his life, Michael has to work at the STN-J. He is not allowed to step one foot out of the STN-J premises and therefore, he is never seen in other settings.

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