The SoulTaker
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| The SoulTaker | |
|---|---|
| The SoulTaker ～魂狩～ (Za Sōruteikā ~Tamashii Gari~) |
|
| Genre | Action, Horror |
| TV anime | |
| Director | Akiyuki Shinbo |
| Studio | Tatsunoko Productions Geneon |
| Network | WOWOW |
| Original run | 4 April 2001 – 4 July 2001 |
| Episodes | 13 |
| Spinoffs | |
The SoulTaker ~Tamashii Gari~ (The SoulTaker ～魂狩～ Za Sōruteikā ~Tamashii Gari~?) is an anime series that focuses on Kyosuke Date who was killed by his mother, and afterward gained the ability to turn into a monster known as "The SoulTaker". The show was Tatsunoko's first attempt at a more adult (even by Japanese standards) series. It originally ran for 13 episodes (4 discs in North America).
It originally aired in the United States on TechTV as part of Anime Unleashed, and later aired on G4 after the TechTV merger.
There is a spinoff OVA featuring Komugi, Nurse Witch Komugi. It is somewhat similar to Pretty Sammy, but shares more in common with Puni Puni Poemi.
[edit] Plot
Kyosuke is seeking out his twin sister, Runa. Meanwhile he is being pursued by the strange mutant doctors and nurses of the Hospital, led by his own father, as well as the evil Kirihara corporation who are also tracking down Runa for their own malevolent purposes.
Assisting him along the way are the mysterious Shiro Mibu and the strange mutant girl Komugi, who betrayed the Hospital out of love for Kyosuke.
[edit] Episodes
Below is a list of all the episodes of the series:[1]
- The Crest of the Devil
- The World is an Illusion
- The Skull and the Maiden
- The Slithering Darkness
- Beyond the Human Realm
- The Malevolent Stratosphere Castle
- The Last of a Woman
- Mask of Hell
- Phantom of a Beautiful Dead Woman
- Sacrifice for Nothingness
- Demon on a Deserted Island
- Madonna in Black
- The Last Inferno
Some time in the no too distant future, the Kirihara Group, a powerful corporation, has gained control over most of the world. Most of the governments have fallen, either due to nuclear war, or some other dark force. This is the world which bred the SOULTAKER.
Science has advanced enough to make things like "orbit elevator" and moon colony a reality. Tokisaka General Hospital in the moon colony has been secretly conducting an "experiment." The unexpected consequences of the experiment have altered the courses of many innocent people's lives.
17 years have passed...
Kyosuke Date
A well-adjusted and determined 17-year-old who suddenly finds himself killed and awakes with the unwanted ability to transform into a monster The Soul Taker!
Unyielding in his search for the truth, no matter what the cost, he travels to the land searching for his twin sister, Runa, and her Flickers.
The SoulTaker
The form that Kyosuke takes when he is transformed. The name comes from a code name coined by the Kirihara Group. With his Sonic Cross, he is able to bend space and suspend the enemy in crucifix form in mid-air. His Lightning Breaker is the ultimate weapon, able free the light of a soul to pulverize an enemy.
Shiro Mibu
Enemy? Ally? All Kyosuke knows is Shiro suddenly appeared and began to follow him on his journey. Shiro also seems to know quite a lot about Kyosuke’s secret. A hardboiled character that mainly uses a knife or a steel baseball bat as his preferred weapons, he is aggressive and adept in various martial arts.
Mio Date
Kyosuke’s mother, who stabs him. He learns later the act was to prompt his mutation into the SoulTaker, and that Mio was not his biological mother.
Maya Misaki
The mysterious young nurse who exhumed Kyosuke from a grave. She is one of the few who is aware that she is a Flicker, and shares Kyosuke’s ability to resonate. She has a distinct crush on Kyosuke.
Asuka Sakurai
A Flicker in Episode 3
She makes her appearance taking the name of Runa. She tries to use Kyosuke in order to destroy the Kirihara Group. She is quite militant for a young girl: perhaps embodying the aggressive dimension of Runa’s soul. She studies martial arts philosophy and is capable of using variety of weapons. Rather than travel with Kyosuke, she takes an independent road, but?
Runa Tokisaka
Kyosuke’s twin sister is being down by the Hospital organization and the Kirihara Group. She survives by spreading the fragments of herself, the Flickers, throughout the world. What kind of secret could she be hiding?
Richard Vincent
The leader of the Hospital organization, he leads the pursuit of Kyosuke’s twin sister (Runa). Yet, he is also the Director of the Medical Division of the Kirihara Group. He hides a fiery spirit under his cool exterior but the true mystery is why he wants to use his real son, Kyosuke, to kill Runa?
Dr. Kyoya
An insane mutant assassin of the Hospital organization. He can move through matters at ultra high speed.
Komugi Nakahara
A 17-year-old mutant nurse of the Hospital organization. Her main role is in acquiring intelligence. She uses her hair to create scalpels and hypodermic needles. In the course of seeking out intelligence around Kyosuke, she begins to fall for his kindness.
Yui Kirihara
Vice President of the mega-corporation Kirihara Group, which virtually controls the world. Her true intentions shrouded in mystery but she actively seeks the Flickers, possibly a shortcut to finding Runa.
Olivia Carlisle
The young genius working in the bioengineering section at the Kirihara Group. Her specialty is in Flicker research.
Edo
The Commander-in-Chief of Fantasy World.
Orbit Elevator
This is a building suspended 36 kilometers above earth’s surface from space, and aimed toward the surface. The highest extremity of the building acts as a space station while the lower atmosphere portion serves as the foundation for a planned “Eternal Stage” biosphere development.
There are a few facilities on the other planets, all of them operated by the Kirihara Group.
ES (Eternal Stage Project)
Based on human fears of destruction of nature and culture on Earth, the purpose of the project is to build a new biosphere that can replicate Earth’s environment.
Killer Satellite
Armed Satellite secretly owned by the Kirihara Group.
Moon Colony
A city on the moon’s surface constructed by the Kirihara Group. This complex building was built to service the illuminate mining plant. An artificial life-support-system of advanced technology simulates Earth-normal gravity.
Due to a mysterious biohazard accident a decade ago, over half of the colonists have died over time.
Although a transport ship carrying Helium 3 as fuel for the nuclear fusion reactor on the colony makes regular trips, the living quarters of all other the plant itself have been closed.
Flicker
Mysterious, fragmentary beings that Kyosuke’s twin sister Runa generates. None are quite the same as the original; not clones, but mere glimmers of her existence that she created from conjecture.
The Kirihara Group
An international conglomerate, the Kirihara Group is also secretly searching for Runa. Although the reason for doing so is totally unclear, they gather the Flickers and carry out repeated experiments on them. For some reason, the Group’s core Kirihara Heavy Industries came to possess the world’s most advanced technologies. How did they acquire a technology for which the scientific principles are completely unknown?
And is Vice President, Yui Kirihara, really the one who is running the show?
Hearse Robo
Transforming T Doll.
The Hospital
A loose, shadowy organization of mutants who desire to be normal, they have taken on the name “Hospital,” and seek to “cure” the world medically.
Seemingly incapable of teamwork, the “doctors” display supreme confidence in their own abilities, and ten to act independently. Their primary mission is to kill Runa.
To this end, they attempt to use Kyosuke’s ability to sense Runa and her Flickers (by telepathic resonance). The Hospital may share a previous connection with the Kirihara Group and Shiro Mibu.
Marionette
Mechanical dolls developed by the Kirihara Group to meet labor requirements for space development. The scientific principles behind them and how they work are unclear.
One theory is that several can be manipulated at once through the amplification of one puppeteer’s will. The combat marionettes are called T (Technical) Dolls, and there are many varieties. Such as A (Assault) Doll---A superior model with more powerful weapons.
SoulCrusher
The form that Kyosuke’s father Richard Vincent takes when he is transformed. He possesses vast powers, but is close to reaching the end of his life, as he is not compatible with the Beta Applicon.
Sayaka Tachibana
A Flicker appears in Episode 4.
Sayaka attends the Seiho Girls School, a boarding school, but is kidnapped by Narugami after she is traumatized by her boyfriend’s death. Narugami wants to make her one of his fans.
She is saved by Komugi, who takes on the form of her best friend, Yuko. But the Bandaged Man then takes her captive.
Blue Phantom
A shadow of Sayaka’s dead boyfriend that was generated by Narugami’s hallucination attack.
Psycho Dr. Narugami
A singing mutant psychotherapist from the Hospital who is always in search of an audience. He can emit super-sonic waves from his voice, and generate nightmarish hallucinations from the traumatic memories of his victims. He can mutate himself into a bat-like form.
Zabo
A Hospital mutant assassin once called The Knight of the Morgue. He stays with Megumi, a Flicker. In order to have the opportunity to battle with the greatest warrior, SoulTaker. The stratosphere castle is a product of his brain waves.
Kasumi Shiina
A Flicker appears in Episode 5.
She is rescued by Kyosuke from imprisonment in Kirihara’s facility, but ends up getting caught by the Bandaged Man in the battle between Kyosuke and Richard.
Megumi Akiba
A Flicker appears in Episode 6.
She travels with Zabo. Despising her circumstances, she tries to kill her mother and Kyosuke. She is rescued by the Bandaged Man from the rubble of the castle resulting from the death of Zabo.
Bandaged Man
A mysterious monster that appears before Kyosuke on many occasions. His age and objective are unknown.
He takes Flickers captive, one by one. What is his true identity?
Beta Applicon
A nano-machine genetic converter.
It radically changes the genetic code of those through infection, and transforms them into female organisms capable of breeding. Although this process affects both males and females, random variations in the genetic material creates the potential for each victim to vary significantly, creating a variety of life forms as a result.
The Beta Applicon had spread throughout the world several thousand years earlier, giving rise to the legend of monsters.
Tsubaki Tokisaka (Flicker)
A Flicker that appears in Episode 7.
She is a product of Runa’s imagination of an ideal mother. Even though she is a Flicker of Runa, she possesses the memory and desires of Tsubaki Tokisaka, Kyosuke’s biological mother.
She strips Kyosuke of his ability to resonate with the Flickers and Runa to free him from his fate. She is killed in a sniper battle with the Kirihara Group, and her body gets used to create the SoulAnubis.
Umon and Sanae
Richard’s loyal assistants. Both are mutants.
The last survivors of the Hospital who escaped from the SoulAnubis’ fatal attack. They follow Richard to his final fate.
SoulAnubis
A man-made mutant made out of Flickers the Bandaged Man kidnapped. Possessing abilities beyond that of the SoulTaker, she takes the role of “Runa Searcher.” Her main weapons are light beams and shock waves that emanate from both hands. Her right arm can also take the form of a sword. Her actions and thoughts were programmed by the Kirihara Group, but as the battle progresses, she begins creating her own agendas.
Zombie Nurses
Mutant nurses of the Hospital. Battle as a group. Uses acid syringes and clinical thermometer bombs as weapons.
Saki
A Flicker. Shiro once loved? Terminated by Yui to create the SoulAnubis, apparently, triggering the conflict between Yui and Shiro.
Daigo Tokisaka
Tsubaki’s father and Kyosuke’s grandfather. He is the initiator of all these terrible events. He holds the key to solving all of the mysteries.
He tries to pay for his original sin, but the means he deploys us questionable…
Aliens
A wandering species whose females reached the end of their evolutionary cycle, dooming them to extinction.
Arriving on Earth a millennia ago, it applied the use of Beta Applicon to create breeding females to revive their species, but failed. Lost and forgotten by history, it is unknown how many remain.
Ancient Aliens
An alien species who arrived on Earth even earlier than the Aliens. The Ancient Aliens resembled humans and were to naturalize and assimilate into the planet. Their genetic material theoretically possessed supernatural powers.
They established a prehistoric civilization and led the way for the establishment of humanity. However, as they became deeply involved with humans, they began to lose their special abilities.
Applicon Buster
A deadly antidote created by Daigo Tokisaka to wipe out Beta Applicon. It is so powerful that it also can be used as a deadly missile to terminate mankind on Earth.
== References ==
[edit] External links
- Official website (Japanese) and (German)
- The SoulTaker (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
