• Source: The SoulTaker

The SoulTaker (Japanese: The Soul Taker 〜魂狩〜, Hepburn: Za Sōru Teikā ~Tamashii Gari~) is an anime series that focuses on seventeen-year-old Kyosuke Date who was killed by his mother Mio Date, and afterward gained the ability to turn into an incredibly powerful winged mutant known as "The SoulTaker" and that he has a long-lost twin sister named Runa, and that his past is all a lie.
The series was directed by Akiyuki Shinbo and was Tatsunoko's first anime to utilize digital animation as well as the first anime to be broadcast on high-definition television, and features a five-episode spinoff OVA miniseries featuring the character Komugi titled Nurse Witch Komugi, albeit Shinbo did not return to direct the OVAs.




Plot


After being stabbed in the chest by his mother, Kyosuke Date is resurrected to find out he has a twin sister named Runa, and the ability to transform into the amazingly strong, powerful and dangerous superhuman mutant known as the SoulTaker. As he seeks out his twin sister, he is being pursued by the strange mutant doctors and nurses of the hospital, led by his own father, Richard Vincent, as well as the evil Kirihara corporation, led by Yui Kirihara, who are also tracking down Runa for their own malevolent purposes.
Assisting him along the way are the mysterious Shiro Mibu and the nurse mutant girl Komugi Nakahara, who betrayed the Hospital out of strong romantic love for Kyosuke.




Characters


Kyosuke Tokisaka Date (伊達 京介, Date Kyōsuke) Voiced by: Mitsuki Saiga (Japanese); Brad Swaile (English)
The main character. He is a mutant boy who is kind-hearted, generous, selfless, serious and determined. After being stabbed in the heart by his adoptive mother, Mio, he returns to life to find his long-lost twin sister, Runa. He has the mutant ability to transform into the tremendously strong and dangerous superhuman mutant known as "The SoulTaker". He can also communicate and resonate telepathically with Runa and the fragments of her spirit/soul called flickers.
In Nurse Witch Komugi, he appears as a seventeen-year-old star who helps his long-lost twin sister Runa who has mysteriously been released from his body and retains her five-year-old look.
Shiro Mibu (壬生 シロー, Mibu Shirō) Voiced by: Masaya Onosaka (Japanese); Trevor Devall (English)
The man who aligns himself with Kyosuke and Komugi against the Kirihara Corporation. It is later revealed that Shiro is Yui's younger brother.
Komugi Nakahara (中原 小麦, Nakahara Komugi) Voiced by: Haruko Momoi (Japanese); Jocelyne Loewen (English)
A nurse girl who betrayed the Hospital to help Kyosuke after she realizes that she has fallen for him. She is the main protagonist in the mini spin-off, Nurse Witch Komugi.
Maya Misaki (岬 真夜, Misaki Maya) Voiced by: Ikue Ōtani (Japanese); Kelly Sheridan (English)
Kyosuke's good friend and savior, who was soon kidnapped by the Kirihara Corporation to be experimented on to search for Runa Tokisaka. She was the very first Flicker to be created. She is restored to life when all of the Flickers leave Runa. She was the first SoulAnubis, before all the Flickers were absorbed into Runa.
Yui Kirihara (桐原 夕映, Kirihara Yui) Voiced by: Akiko Hiramatsu (Japanese); Lisa Ann Beley (English)
The CEO and head of the Kirihara Corporation, and one of the series' antagonists. She is killed by the Alien, who is later revealed to be five-year-old Runa herself. In Nurse Witch Komugi, she appears as a director of the company; her return unknown.
Dr. Richard Vincent (リチャード・ビンセント, Richādo Vinsento) Voiced by: Masashi Ebara (Japanese); Paul Dobson (English)
One of the main antagonists who is the late Tsubaki's husband, and the father of Kyosuke and Runa. He is also a mutant, with the ability to turn into the mutant SoulCrusher. He battles his son in the fifth episode, and reveals the truth about the Hospital and the Beta Applicon virus to Kyosuke. He ends up being destroyed by his own son in their second (and last) battle.
Oribia Carlaile (オリビア・カーライル, Oribia karrairu) Voiced by: Miki Itō (Japanese); Venus Terzo (English)

Dr. Kyoya (ドクトル凶也, Dokutoru Kyōya) Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki (Japanese); Brian Drummond (English)
The first mutant that Kyosuke faces in the premiere episode "The Crest of the Devil." Kyoya fights Kyosuke (now in his mutant form) but is eventually defeated when Kyosuke kills him with the Lightning Breaker.
Mio Date (伊達 水脈, Date Mio) Voiced by: Minami Takayama (Japanese); Ellen Kennedy (English)
Kyosuke's adoptive mother who had stabbed him in the heart in order to awaken his dormant abilities as a mutant, as the only way to have done so was to betray a loved one. She was a good friend of Tsubaki Tokisaka, who entrusted Mio to raise Tsubaki's son, as Tsubaki did want to involve him with her family's dark ambitions regarding her twin daughter and his own twin sister, Runa.
Tsubaki Tokisaka (時坂つばき, Tokisaka Tsubaki) Voiced by: Mako Hyōdō (Japanese); Nicole Oliver (English)
She is the wife of Richard Vincent and mother of fraternal twins Kyosuke and Runa. She was one of the Tokisaka Clan who used the extraterrestrial substance of the Beta Applicon to further their research in eradicating disease and the evolution of humankind. She was the first to be saved after her father, Daigo Tokisaka, had injected the alien anti-virus into her system. Five years later, she and her daughter were pursued by the members of the Kirihara Corporation. Knowing that she could no longer protect Runa, she had stabbed her in the chest in order for Runa to develop her inherent mutant abilities. The circumstances of her demise is unknown, though Runa had unconsciously created a Flicker that took on her appearance and memories. This motherly flicker appeared to Kyosuke in the seventh episode, "The Last of a Woman".
Runa Tokisaka (時逆 琉奈, Tokisaka Runa) Voiced by: Michiko Neya (Japanese); Brittney Irvin (English)
The main antagonist who is Kyosuke's fraternal twin sister and creator of the Flickers. She is accused of being the Devil. Although she appears to be five years old, she is actually seventeen years old. She appears as a five-year-old child when her Flickers are not in her body. When they were absorbed into her body, she transformed into a seventeen-year-old teenage girl, which is her true form and can turn into the mutant SoulAnubis. In the spinoff Nurse Witch Komugi, she is a five-year-old child star who works alongside her seventeen-year-old twin brother Kyosuke.




Terminology


Applicon Buster (アプリコンバスター, Apurikon Basuta) - A very deadly antidote that was created by Daigo Tokisaka for the sole purpose of destroying the Beta Applicon. It is powerful enough to be hurled like missiles to wipe out all mankind on Earth.
Beta Applicon (βアプリコン, Beta Apurikon) - A virus capable of turning humans into mutants by altering their DNA.
Flicker (フリッカー, Furikka) - These are fragments of Runa that she generates as well as being reflections of her existence.
Hospital (ホスピタル, Hosupitaru) - An organization founded by its director Richard Vincent and many surviving mutants to relieve those who were infected with the Beta Applicon.
Kirihara Corporation (桐原グループ, Kirihara Gurupu) - Originally a funeral business company, the Kirihara Corporation is a large global conglomerate. Armed with cutting-edge science and power, facilities and factories are set up around the world.




Production


In 1996, studio J.C.Staff collaborated with and provided director Akiyuki Shinbo for Tatsunoko Productions' 1996 OVA New Hurricane Polymar at the request of the character designer, Yasuomi Umetsu; and succeeding the end of New Hurricane Polymar, Shinbo and Tatsunoko Productions started work on another project which was ultimately never produced. Shinbo was then asked to direct the cutscenes for the Tatsunoko-produced video game Tatsunoko Fight (2000) and was then asked to direct an original series titled "Warhead", which eventually became "The SoulTaker."
Directing the series, Shinbo admitted to being more focused on the series' aesthetic and visual presentation than the story itself, which he left the entirety of the organization of to frequent collaborator and writer Mayori Sekijima. Character designer/chief animation director Akio Watanabe and visual director/mechanical designer Toshiaki Tetsura, also previous collaborators of Shinbo's, were invited to participate on the series as well. Together, Shinbo and Tetsura experimented with a technique of using the former's cleaned-up and enlarged storyboards for the purpose of using them as background layouts (原図).
The series found itself in various production troubles, most notably in that Tatsunoko Productions and the team were unable to find studios who were willing to take on outsourcing jobs for the series. This set the series' production schedule back in the long run, and in total only three of the episodes were produced outside of Tatsunoko Productions: episodes 3 and 6, which were produced at Kyoto Animation; and episode 10, which was produced by Triangle Staff and Shaft. Shinbo lauded the studio's efforts, saying he was impressed with their quality. Triangle Staff and Shaft's episode in particular had a rough production schedule due to episode director and storyboard artist Shintarou Inokawa's storyboards being very late, and Shinbo was surprised that Shaft (who was mainly in charge of producing the episode) was interested in handling it despite the tighter deadline.
In a 2012 interview, Shinbo mentioned having interest in making a prequel or sequel series to The SoulTaker.




Anime


This thirteen episode-series produced by Tatsunoko Productions and directed by Akiyuki Shinbo, premiered on the Japanese television network WOWOW on April 4, 2001, and ended exactly 3 months later on July 4, 2001. Two days after the last episode aired, North American anime licensor Geneon Entertainment USA licensed the series and released it on 4 volumes on DVD and VHS. In 2004, Geneon had re-released the series under their Signature Series label.
It originally aired in the United States on TechTV as part of Anime Unleashed, and later aired on G4 after the TechTV merger.
The series' opening theme is "Soul Taker" by JAM Project while the ending theme is "Memory" by Shinji Kakijima.




Notes






= General notes

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= Citations

=
Maeda, Hisashi; Hiraiwa, Shinsuke (2007). アニメ新表現宣言！新房監督作品の奥にアニメ表現の最先端を見た！ [Declaration of a New Expression for Anime! I saw the Cutting Edge of Anime Expression in Director Shinbo's Work!] (in Japanese). Tamon Creative. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
Shinbo, Akiyuki (2012). 新房語 [Shinbogatari] (in Japanese). Ichijinsha. ISBN 978-4758012591.




References






External links


The SoulTaker (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia

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