For the Soul Taker film starring Joe Estevez see Soultaker (film).
The SoulTaker (The Soul Taker 〜魂狩〜 Za Sōru Teikā ~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. Pioneer Entertainment had licensed the series and released it on 4 volumes. In 2004, Geneon (formerly Pioneer) 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.
There is a spinoff sequel OVA featuring Komugi, Nurse Witch Komugi consisting of just six episodes. It is somewhat similar to Pretty Sammy, but shares more in common with Puni Puni Poemi.
Plot[]
After being stabbed in the chest by his mother, Kyosuke Date returns from the dead to find out he has a twin sister, Runa and the ability to transform into the mutant known as the SoulTaker. As he seeks out his 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 is 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 love for Kyosuke.
Characters[]
- Tokisaka "Date" Kyosuke Voiced by: Mitsuki Saiga (Japanese), Brad Swaile (English)
- The main titular character. Serious and determined. After being stabbed by his "mother", he returns to life unscathed to find his long-lost twin sister and discover the secrets concerning his past and family. He has the unique ability to transform into the creature known as "the SoulTaker" as a byproduct of the experiments his parents had subjected themselves to before he and Runa were born. In the end, he absorbs his twin sister, having regressed into a five-year-old again, into himself until the time would come for them to learn the true purpose for their existence as mutant twins.
- In the spinoff sequel, Nurse Witch Komugi, he is a movie star who plays the hero, with physically five-year-old Runa as a child star in a supporting role, who seems to have found a way out of his body someway.
- Date Mio Voiced by: Minami Takayama (Japanese), Ellen Kennedy (English)
- Kyosuke's adopted mother who stabbed him in the heart and buried him alive at the request of her good friend Tusbaki Tokisaka. She was eventually "resurrected" as a mindless puppet of Dr.Dajo Tokisaka who forced her to fight the Soultaker. She then managed to convince him to take her own soul to kill his the remnants of his maternal grandfather, as their spirits were linked.
- Dr. Kyoya Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki (Japanese), Brian Drummond (English)
- The first mutant doctor Kyosuke faces in the first episode.
- Kirihara Yui Voiced by: Akiko Hiramatsu (Japanese), Lisa Ann Beley (English)
- The vice president and head of the Kirihara corporation, and one of the main antagonists. She is ambitious, homicidal elder sister of Shiro. She is revealed to be secretly working with "the Alien" who had first brought the Beta Aplicon virus to humanity many years ago, to finally find Runa Tokisaka and deliver her to him in return for him returning her lover Budd to life with her highly advanced extraterrestrial technologies. She was horrified to discover that "the Alien" she had been working with is, in truth, young Runa herself who was simply using her after she had killed the real alien male for "being mean." Runa then ordered the SoulAnubis to strike Yui fatally. Tears falling down her cheeks, her lifeless form fell right next to her lover's pod.
- In the six-episode spinoff sequel, she somehow appears in a supporting role, even though she had died.
- Mibu-Kirihara Shiro Voiced by: Masaya Onosaka (Japanese), Trevor Devall (English)
- The mysterious man who allies with Kyosuke against the Kirihara corporation, who is revealed to be the younger brother of its leader. It was he who had found Miho as she was dying in the chapel. He wanted to save her, but she adamantly refused as she needed to use what little strength she had left to awaken her adopted son's inherent mutant abilities as "the Soultaker." .
- Misaki Maya Voiced by: Ikue Ohtani (Japanese), Kelly Sheridan (English)
- Kyosuke's friend and savior who was kidnapped and dissected by the Kakihara corporation. Her corpse was later brought back to be a combined form of "the Soulanubis" that was sent to kill Kysouke. She was ultimately released from seventeen-year-old Runa's body and can live her own life however she wants on Earth with Kysouke.
- Nakahara Komugi Voiced by: Haruko Momoi (Japanese), Jocelyne Loewen (English)
- A mutant nurse girl who betrayed the Hospital to help Kyosuke, as she has romantic affections for him and his cause to find his long-lost twin sister. She is the main protagonist in the spinoff six-episode miniseries, Nurse Witch Komugi.
Tsubaki Tokisaka Voiced by: Mako Hyōdō (Japanese); Nicole Oliver (English)
Having died twelve years prior to the anime, Tsubaki was the only child of the director of Takisaka General Hospital Dr. Dajo Tokisaka,wife of Dr. Richard Vincent, and biological mother of seventeen-year-old Kyosuke Date and his long-lost twin sister Runa. She was infected with an unknown illness that threatened her life, which promoted her worried father to inject her with the Beta Aplicon Buster virus to save her. As a result, her twin children were born with extraordinary abilities as the one true superior mutants.
Not wanting to get her only infant son involved with what dangers his twin sister had to face since her birth, she gave him up for adoption to her good friend Mio Date, but visited from time to time as he grew, as she could not stop worrying about his welfare. When her younger daughter was just five years old, she escaped with her into a church pursued by members of her clan. Out of options, Tsubaki turned a dagger on Runa who claimed sincerely that she did nothing bad. Tusbaki assured her that she was genuinely sorry for what she was about to do her own child and asked Runa to forgive her as she stabbed her right through the heart, as it was the only way for Runa to protect herself for the next twelve years and ensure Runa's survival. Tsubaki had seen died, presumably at the hands of her own relatives. In the present, she is mentioned and seen only in flashbacks in every other episode, and had a Flicker impersonating her in Episode Seven "The Last of a Woman" who had her memories and motherly love for Kyosuke.
She had dark brown hair, that Kyosuke inherited.
- Dr.Richard Vincent Voiced by: Masashi Ebara (Japanese), Paul Dobson (English)
- The main antagonist. He is/was Tsubaki Tokisaka's colleague and eventual husband, son-in-law of eccentric Dr. Dajo Tokisaka, Kyosuke and Runa's father who eventually succumbed to the Beta Aplicon virus to turn into "the Soulcrusher" who died from his wounds that were inflicted by his own teenage son.Runa Tokisaka Voiced by: Michiko Neya (Japanese), Brittney Irvin (English)
- Runa Tokisaka Voiced by: Michiko Neya (Japanese); Brittney Irvin (English)
- Kyosuke's long-lost younger twin sister and creator of the Flickers. At five years old, she was stabbed n the chest by Tsubuaki Tokisaka, whom she held a deep grudge and resentment against for killing her own child the instant she became a "nuscience" to her. It is ultimately revealed that young Runa had been hiding at the Kirihara Headquarters masquerading as "the Alien" who Yui was secretly working for after Runa had killed the real alien male for "being too mean" to her, so she could play her game with humans. Once absorbing the Flickers back into herself, she gained her true height as a seventeen-year-old teen to match her twin brother's. She then sent fragments of the Beta Aplicon Buster into the atmosphere to see what it would do to mankind.
- Chronologically, she is seventeen years old but later regressed to being trapped in her old five-year-old form after releasing her Flickers out into the world to live their own lives.
- In the spinoff Nurse Witch Komugi, she is a child actor who plays in movies in which her twin brother is the protagonist hero of the story. Her hair is pale blue and waist-length, her eyes dark blood-red and her skin is tan.
Episodes[]
- The Crest of the Devil (悪魔の紋章篇 Akuma no Monshō Hen?)
- The World is an Illusion (うつし世は夢篇 Utsushiyo wa Yume Hen?)
- The Skull and the Maiden (髑髏と少女篇 Sharekōbe to Shōjo Hen?)
- The Slithering Darkness (蠢く闇篇 Ugomeku Yami Hen?)
- Beyond the Human Realm (人外魔境篇 Jingai Makyō Hen?)
- The Malevolent Stratosphere Castle (成層圏魔城篇 Seisōken Ma Jō Hen?)
- The Last of a Woman (女人果篇 Nyonin Hate Hen?)
- Mask of Hell (地獄の仮面篇 Jigoku no Kamen Hen?)
- Phantom of a Beautiful Dead Woman (死美人の幻影篇 Shibijin no Genei Hen?)
- Sacrifice for Nothingness (虚無への供物篇 Kyomu e no Sonaemono Hen?)
- Demon on a Deserted Island (孤島の鬼篇 Kotō no Oni Hen?)
- Madonna in Black (黒衣の聖母篇 Kokui no Seibo Hen?)
- The Last Inferno (少女地獄変 Shōjo Jigokuhen?)
References[]
External links[]
- The SoulTaker (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
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it:Soul Taker