Failure on almost all fronts Just earlier this year, I was able to get acquainted with my first anime studio Sunrise – “Code Geass: Lelouch Rebellion” and despite the rather skeptical attitude towards it, which accompanied me a good half of the viewing, it was able to eventually surprise and from the finale I got just a heap of positive emotions. After that, I decided to check out some more Sunrise work, and my choice fell on Robin the Witch Hunter. I chose this anime simply because I like the subject more or less, although something useful in it can be seen extremely rarely. Pretty high ratings on most sites, as well as good trailers in general, also “sold” me this work. Moreover, now in such a distant 2009, I managed to buy a DVD with this anime, but the hands at that time did not reach and frankly, it would be better if they did not reach at all.
The plot of Robin tells the story of the work of a secret non-governmental organization that has set itself the goal of destroying all witches, and to be exact, we are talking about people who possess incredible abilities that exist beyond the limits of standard human understanding. It is in this organization that a new hunter comes - Robin, she is still quite "green", but in any case, she looks no less advantageous against the background of her new colleagues, since in fact she is a witch, but provides all possible assistance in catching her own kind.
In 2002, Sunrise turned out really very strange and ambiguous anime, which in general and praise probably for nothing. Although there are a couple of moments, well, for example, the musical accompaniment, which immediately adds +100 to the atmosphere of what is happening and as if adjusts the viewer to the right or to be more precise, the right way. In addition, visually, "Robin" does not look ugly at all, even with an age-adjusted drawing is quite decent. On this some weighty advantages end, as otherwise it is probably a complete failure. It is worth starting at least with a plot that is molded according to the most banal patterns of any work of mass culture. I don’t see any reason to go into any significant subtleties now, but the motivation of most characters, their goals, tasks, etc. sometimes defies any explanation. Moreover, in this very plot, there is often such confusion that you do not understand what character and where he came from, why he did something there and where he disappeared. As if the creators were constantly losing the thread of the narrative itself and stuffing some completely unnecessary storylines. Approximately from this it follows that there is not a single interesting character here at all, they are all banal faded and of course boring, these are so standard stereotypes that you manage to understand some of their actions and decisions in advance. It is not interesting to watch them at all. The action was practically not brought, there is little of it and most of it comes down to throwing some fireballs and shooting from pistols with tranquilizers.
Alas, but “Robin” turned out to be even more divided and I do not understand the high ratings of this anime on certain sites. These ratings must have been screwed up by people familiar with the work at the time of release, well, or quite after. Now it is impossible to appreciate, since literally every aspect of this series is limp on both legs, and at least in the last ten years a huge number of things have come out that put Robin on both shoulder blades literally on all fronts. This is also clouded by the fact that in essence “Robin” turned out to be an unfinished work and in the finale you can feel a bold hint for the next season. That is, the creators initially invested as little as possible really interesting plot details in the first season in order to stretch at least for the second. In the end, there is room only for nostalgic fans, and everyone else can safely pass by and not waste even a fraction of their time.
4 out of 10