Half Pain, Half-Assed
Dec. 3rd, 2004 08:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
40cakesAnime ruminations. I've been watching a DVD a night of WHR, trying to see if I like it enough to keep it around.
I think the reason I kept buying this series and watching it and have held onto it for so long is that it has SO MANY good things going for it. The character designs, the animation, the music, the plotlines. GREAT. And completely wasted.
I love the idea that the STNJ hunters have powers, like witches, but haven't seemed to even consider that that means they're witches THEMSELVES. So why wasn't this presented at all earlier in the series? Instead, we're wondering why Robin's so upset when Methuselah calls her a witch. "Um, yeah. You set things on fire with your mind. What the fuck did YOU think you were?" Methuselah also tells Robin she's a turncoat of sorts for being a witch, and hunting down witches. This would've had more impact if we had met some good witches first. Up until this point, we've learned that the STNJ keeps tabs on seeds and witches, but only hunts them when they start killing people and causing destruction and setting people on fire, etc. There was nothing to suggest they were harming innocent lives. It's only AFTER this episode that Robin meets some people with magical powers who aren't evil, and we see the Factory take innocents. That's shitty storytelling, but a good idea.
It's too slow. I have no problem with slow storytelling; I own Haibane Renmei and Noir, for crying out loud. But the story goes slow, then tries to pack in all that troublesome plot into the last five episodes. After 21 episodes of "Let's hunt a witch. Let's not hunt witches. Oh no! We're attacked! Robin moonlights as a messenger and learns about human nature," we have 5 episodes of "Robin's genetically engineered! Here's what orbo really is! Karasuma's kidnapped! Let's storm the Factory! Robin's a god!"
So many plot ideas are teases.
- They hunt a witch who kills people out of vengeance for her murdered twin. Her power is fire. When she finds out she has the same power as Robin, she's upset, because only she and her sister shared that power...and that's all she says before she is shot by Amon. What does this say about witches? We know powers are passed down genetically, but are similar powers passed? Was Robin really related to the girl?
- We watch an entire episode about a homeless man who drives other homeless men crazy with his mind. By the end of the episode, Robin knows he's the witch, but we don't see him get caught. Ever. I thought this was foreshadowing, since they emphasize that she knows who he is, they don't catch him, and we never really now WHY he's driving people to suicide. But no, just another throwaway episode.
- Robin lives with Toko, Zaizen's daughter. What was her connection to her father? Did she know about his plans? She gets hurt when Solomon tries to attack Robin, and we see Zaizen beating Amon for his daughter's injuries. She was bound and gagged, and people were shooting past her to kill someone else. What did he think would happen to her?
- Who was Kate? What did she do that warranted hunting? What about Robin made her different from Kate, that Amon couldn't bring himself to hunt her? They keep bringing her up, but we never really find out. It's not mysterious or suspenseful; that's just bad storytelling.
Who are these characters? We know more about some of the people they hunt than the main characters. Robin is boring. For all her powers and her background, she has no personality. In only the last episode do we see any real pain and angst on her part. I like Michael, but I would've rather SEEN how he came to the STNJ than just be told real quick that he hacked into their system and so they employed him rather than prosecute him. We could've used a nice character-centric episode for all our major players, honestly. What are their powers? Why do they hunt? Who are these people? If Dojima's parents are influential enough to get her a cushy government job, why did she get put with the STNJ of all places? Does she have powers? What are they? Why is Sakaki so insecure? Is it because he hasn't awakened? What happens when a hunter awakens? They obviously don't immediately hunt them, since Karasuma uses her scrying time and again and no one bats an eye. Why is Amon so important that he gets to know more info than the others? Hell, Harry got a whole family episode, and though he IS awesome, wtf? What was the meaning of the pendant Robin wears? We see her clutch it and it gives her strength in a battle. It spins during the end credits, the only animation there.
And the end. A new hunter steps out of a cab, dressed in black. It doesn't look entirely like Robin, but it mimics the way she arrived at the STNJ. Why? Amon and Robin have been the focus of the series, and yes, we know they're alive, but it'd be nice to just see some recognition of that. (That's it! It should've ended on a framed photo of Robin and Amon together, Robin saying, "And together, we'll shine...")
It was like some really good writers gave out a general challenge and a group of really shitty writers took them up on it.
Oh well, Witch Hunter Robin. At least I got a shot glass, a Tshirt, a CD, and some neat see-through art from you. Perhaps I'll take some screencaps of Michael and Dojima before we take a field trip to EB.
That's it. WHR needs a spinoff starring Michael, Dojima, Harry, and Nagira. THAT would rule. Everyone gets fur coats!
>^..^
I think the reason I kept buying this series and watching it and have held onto it for so long is that it has SO MANY good things going for it. The character designs, the animation, the music, the plotlines. GREAT. And completely wasted.
I love the idea that the STNJ hunters have powers, like witches, but haven't seemed to even consider that that means they're witches THEMSELVES. So why wasn't this presented at all earlier in the series? Instead, we're wondering why Robin's so upset when Methuselah calls her a witch. "Um, yeah. You set things on fire with your mind. What the fuck did YOU think you were?" Methuselah also tells Robin she's a turncoat of sorts for being a witch, and hunting down witches. This would've had more impact if we had met some good witches first. Up until this point, we've learned that the STNJ keeps tabs on seeds and witches, but only hunts them when they start killing people and causing destruction and setting people on fire, etc. There was nothing to suggest they were harming innocent lives. It's only AFTER this episode that Robin meets some people with magical powers who aren't evil, and we see the Factory take innocents. That's shitty storytelling, but a good idea.
It's too slow. I have no problem with slow storytelling; I own Haibane Renmei and Noir, for crying out loud. But the story goes slow, then tries to pack in all that troublesome plot into the last five episodes. After 21 episodes of "Let's hunt a witch. Let's not hunt witches. Oh no! We're attacked! Robin moonlights as a messenger and learns about human nature," we have 5 episodes of "Robin's genetically engineered! Here's what orbo really is! Karasuma's kidnapped! Let's storm the Factory! Robin's a god!"
So many plot ideas are teases.
- They hunt a witch who kills people out of vengeance for her murdered twin. Her power is fire. When she finds out she has the same power as Robin, she's upset, because only she and her sister shared that power...and that's all she says before she is shot by Amon. What does this say about witches? We know powers are passed down genetically, but are similar powers passed? Was Robin really related to the girl?
- We watch an entire episode about a homeless man who drives other homeless men crazy with his mind. By the end of the episode, Robin knows he's the witch, but we don't see him get caught. Ever. I thought this was foreshadowing, since they emphasize that she knows who he is, they don't catch him, and we never really now WHY he's driving people to suicide. But no, just another throwaway episode.
- Robin lives with Toko, Zaizen's daughter. What was her connection to her father? Did she know about his plans? She gets hurt when Solomon tries to attack Robin, and we see Zaizen beating Amon for his daughter's injuries. She was bound and gagged, and people were shooting past her to kill someone else. What did he think would happen to her?
- Who was Kate? What did she do that warranted hunting? What about Robin made her different from Kate, that Amon couldn't bring himself to hunt her? They keep bringing her up, but we never really find out. It's not mysterious or suspenseful; that's just bad storytelling.
Who are these characters? We know more about some of the people they hunt than the main characters. Robin is boring. For all her powers and her background, she has no personality. In only the last episode do we see any real pain and angst on her part. I like Michael, but I would've rather SEEN how he came to the STNJ than just be told real quick that he hacked into their system and so they employed him rather than prosecute him. We could've used a nice character-centric episode for all our major players, honestly. What are their powers? Why do they hunt? Who are these people? If Dojima's parents are influential enough to get her a cushy government job, why did she get put with the STNJ of all places? Does she have powers? What are they? Why is Sakaki so insecure? Is it because he hasn't awakened? What happens when a hunter awakens? They obviously don't immediately hunt them, since Karasuma uses her scrying time and again and no one bats an eye. Why is Amon so important that he gets to know more info than the others? Hell, Harry got a whole family episode, and though he IS awesome, wtf? What was the meaning of the pendant Robin wears? We see her clutch it and it gives her strength in a battle. It spins during the end credits, the only animation there.
And the end. A new hunter steps out of a cab, dressed in black. It doesn't look entirely like Robin, but it mimics the way she arrived at the STNJ. Why? Amon and Robin have been the focus of the series, and yes, we know they're alive, but it'd be nice to just see some recognition of that. (That's it! It should've ended on a framed photo of Robin and Amon together, Robin saying, "And together, we'll shine...")
It was like some really good writers gave out a general challenge and a group of really shitty writers took them up on it.
Oh well, Witch Hunter Robin. At least I got a shot glass, a Tshirt, a CD, and some neat see-through art from you. Perhaps I'll take some screencaps of Michael and Dojima before we take a field trip to EB.
That's it. WHR needs a spinoff starring Michael, Dojima, Harry, and Nagira. THAT would rule. Everyone gets fur coats!
>^..^
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no subject
Date: 2004-12-04 12:04 am (UTC)However, I think that the Craft-users and Witches distinction was actually a pretty good way of showing STN's and Solomon's hypocrisy early on. They're entirely willing to use "Good Witches",but must call them something else. (Oh, no they're Witches, they're bad, you're Craft Users, they're okay.) As for why Robin doesn't meet any other Good Witches until after she leaves STN-J(other than her coworkers), the fact is that she was living in a controlled environment. We also get a hint in Episode Eight that STN isn't as up and up as it says it is, they take the human doctor into their custody rather than turn him over to the regular police.
With Doujima, I would question whether the influential parents story isn't just another part of her cover. On the official website, it says something about her having powers that are too slight to be detected. Sakaki is also supposed to have powers(they say he's a B level, but don't specify what his powers are)
There really should have been a few less Witch of the Week episodes and more for the plot arc, but oh well, that's what fanfic is for! I too, want to see Doujima and Michael fight crime together. I've been trying to write a fanfic that dealt with some of the issues that the series leaves out for some time, but it just isn't happening.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-04 10:11 am (UTC)Why do you like it, then? Just curious. I think the series was interesting enough to see, but I own things on DVD for rewatch quotient. And I haven't had the desire to watch it since seeing it the first time.
However, I think that the Craft-users and Witches distinction was actually a pretty good way of showing STN's and Solomon's hypocrisy early on.
I agree that the hypocrisy was there, but I think if the (nonexistant) difference between Craft Users and Witches was going to be part of the focus during the Climax, it really should've been given more focus than "Oh, yeah, Robin's a Craft User. Let's go hunt witches." Maybe they could've hunted a Witch that they said was a former craft user. Also, this bothered me because they kept tabs on people with magical abilities without necessarily judging them as either. We later saw the parents whose daughter awoke to her powers, then didn't come home from school one day. Why was she judged as a Witch? Why not a Craft User? And why were her parents allowed to keep living normally (relatively), since they not only had powers, but it seems they had advanced magical knowledge - we met them because Nagira thought they would know about the Arcanum. How does one get judged as a Craft User? How does one get judged as a Hunter (yes, dammit, I require more explanation than an old priest comes by and asks you questions, especially since the guy they were questioning was completely batshit)?
There really should have been a few less Witch of the Week episodes and more for the plot arc, but oh well, that's what fanfic is for! I too, want to see Doujima and Michael fight crime together. I've been trying to write a fanfic that dealt with some of the issues that the series leaves out for some time, but it just isn't happening.
I'd like to see that. Seriously, let me know when/if you finish and post. I understand that everything shouldn't be explained in a show, and some should be left up to the fans to interpret or assume. However, when you leave too much up to be guessed, that's laziness (or in the case of Evangelion, it's apparently some sort of genius. Whatever).
>^..^<
no subject
Date: 2004-12-05 12:12 am (UTC)I originally watched it in fansubs, and liked it enough that I bought the Hong Kong subs, and then the US release. I've watched it all the way through about three times, give or take an episode. I love it for the potential, actually. (There's no STN in America and there are Witch groups? Hmm, I wonder if there are Witches' Rights groups... That sort of thing.) Plus, I completely fell for some of the characters, namely Doujima and Michael.
We later saw the parents whose daughter awoke to her powers, then didn't come home from school one day. Why was she judged as a Witch? Why not a Craft User?
This was one of the things that puzzled me in the series as well. I finally decided that although they were under the same umbrella, Solomon/STN and STN-J were poles apart in how they went about discovering Witches. Keeping a comprehensive family tree(so to speak) of Witches really smacks of Old World and Solomon. The HUnters that come from Solomon and the STN in Italy are all extremely old-fashioned in their dress and their words. They probably rely on several of the tried and true methods form the Inquisition to find their Witches--suspicious neighbors, odd occurrences(which would be more widely known due to modern news agencies), superstitious families seeking help in religion for Talented children, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if there was someone whose power was sensing Witches. STN-J, on the other hand, is very technologically minded.
However, they're both looking for the same thing--people who have manifested a power and are relatively stable. The Witches they hunt have all gone, as you say, batshit. They can't handle it.
And why were her parents allowed to keep living normally (relatively), since they not only had powers, but it seems they had advanced magical knowledge - we met them because Nagira thought they would know about the Arcanum.
It's been a while since I saw this ep, but I didn't think they had any powers at the beginning of the ep. The father manifested his near the end. Probably Zaizen didn't yet feel comfortable enough with his control over STN-J to start ordering people to bring in Seeds who weren't doing anything.
Another aspect I wish they'd touched more on was the Witches' underground network, as evidenced by Nagira, Amon, and the way the Witches they hunted knew of STN-J and other Witches.
I'd like to see that. Seriously, let me know when/if you finish and post.
I have a bit of it posted, but it's such a rough draft.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-05 06:20 am (UTC)