148 replies to this topic

[olvidado]

I admit, I know this is a reboot and I never saw the original, but this anime just smacked me upside the head, pulled my eyelids back and compelled me to watch. Something about the world slowly disintegrating before our eyes while a little cyborg dude with amnesia—who may have set all this in motion himeslf—beats the hell out of huge robots who are, themselves, slowly falling to pieces in their own decay and corrosion, really resonated with me. Some metal parts get scattered about like shrapnel while others fall harmlessly to the ground and in the middle of all this decomposition, there comes a little girl, wise beyond her years, who loves to collect seashells and play in the tide, there are some Biblical allegories...anyway, I loved this about thirty seconds in, I'm glad Adult Swim has the rights to it, I hope people are watching and I pray that they don't yank it.

Edited by olvidado, May 27, 2012 @ 9:34 AM.

[runningoutofnam]

Yeah it's different enough from my usual anime fare that even though I read the wiki on it, I will watch it.

Edited by runningoutofnam, May 27, 2012 @ 9:26 AM.

[Last Time Lord]

It's a Yasuko Kobayashi series, so I'm predisposed to love it.

Off to a good start so far, can't wait to see how it develops.

[ttso20]

Ohh this is on AS now? I watched the sub version awhile ago, I really did like it and it has some great fight scenes, what time is it on?

[Last Time Lord]

It was on 1:00 AM, I think, as part of the Toonami revival.

[runningoutofnam]

It appeared several times on Toonami on the 27th on the east and west cartoon network channels. it airs every toonami.

[Homerlicious]

What kind of sick sob would make a robot that emulated a human child? There is something deeply disturbing about an entity that is stuck forever with infantile behaviour. To me the converse is equally bad, an entity that looks like a human child but has adult behaviour.

Edited by Homerlicious, May 27, 2012 @ 3:04 PM.

[olvidado]

What kind of sick sob would make a robot that emulated a human child?

I thought Ringo was a human child...?!?

[runningoutofnam]

Nope Ringo was a robot. She said she was repaired and showed off the not human bits under her hair. Plus the robot was trying to crush her head and was shown succeeding.

[Sandman87]

This first episode didn't really grab me. I think the problem is that Casshern himself seems just plain boring so far. Yeah the other characters are more interesting, but they're not the ones that the show is focused on.

Also Ringo was just a little too cutesy for me. See Ergo Proxy for an example of a much better executed kid robot.

Maybe it'll pick up in later episodes.

--------------------------------

To the tune of "Nobody Likes Me":

Nobody likes me
Everybody hates me
Guess my name must be Casshern

(chorus)
A skinny pretty 'bot
Amnesiac fighting 'bot
Skinny, pretty, emo Casshern


I met a kid named Ringo
And some old guy named Oji
They're scared of me 'cause I'm Casshern

(chorus)

I killed someone named Luna
Now the world is screwed up
So the bots all want to eat Casshern

(chorus)


First I kick their heads in
Then I rip their wires out
Then I let them rust away

(chorus) x 4

Edited by Sandman87, May 27, 2012 @ 7:35 PM.

[lathspel]

Ringo was not my favorite since she was the over-cute kid. You'd think in a post-Ruin wasteland, kids would be more careful who they glom onto.

I think the jury's still out on whether she's a robot. She has a metal headband, but a human could wear that as well. And, a human kid could easily decide they are a robot and were fixed up in the past - my five year old has decided that from time to time.

I like the shades of Big O here - not really sure who's a robot and who's a human, and of course the title character has a lack of memory. I was originally a little put off by the animation style - if this is really 2008, they're doing a good job of harking back to an earlier era. The seaside was nice, though.

[Vermicious Knid]

[snip] I thought this was absolutely terrible. I'll watch it because it's on but I already hate the characters and the stupidity of the storyline. The 80s style animation looks cheap rather than retro.

Edited by TWoP Howard, Jun 1, 2012 @ 8:08 PM.
Boards on boards

[olvidado]

I think the jury's still out on whether she's a robot. She has a metal headband, but a human could wear that as well. And, a human kid could easily decide they are a robot and were fixed up in the past - my five year old has decided that from time to time.

The Wiki for the show offers two different hypotheses:

From the episode guide:

01 "At the End of the World" Original airdate 1 October 2008 English airdate 27 May 2012
"Shuumatsu no sekai de" (終末の世界で) 
In the near future, an amnesiac Casshern fights anti-human robots on a desolate Earth. Most of the humans were killed in an apocalyptic war when he was serving under the direction of Braiking Boss after he assassinated a girl named Luna. During his quest to find out who he is, Casshern befriends a robot girl named Ringo. However, Ringo finds herself to be scared of Casshern after he kills a robot who was trying to attack her. Not long after, he faces against an anti-Casshern mercenary named Lyuze. 

From the character guide:

Ringo (リンゴ?)
Voiced by: Yuko Minaguchi (Japanese), Monica Rial (English)
A young girl who befriends Casshern, she manages to maintain her innocence despite growing up in a destroyed world. Despite witnessing Casshern mercilessly destroying a robot in order to save her and hurting her feelings, she continues to have faith in him. Being cared for by Ohji, the two come across Casshern regularly, and witness his endeavors.

Spoiler

Devastated, Ringo grows up into a young woman, knowing and accepting death, waiting for Casshern's return.

and:

Ouji (オージ Ōji?)
Voiced by: Yūichi Nagashima (Japanese), Jerry Russell (English)

A robot technician who spends his time maintaining robots, he is Ringo's guardian. Originally a scientist working under Braiking Boss, he is the creator of Casshern, Dio, and Leda. Stricken by guilt of what he has caused, he attempts to kill himself, but finds Ringo as a baby and continues to live for her. After finding Casshern, he follows and watches over him.

Spoiler

Near the end of the anime, he also loses interest in Luna's "salvation" and decides to live with the others, trying to make Ringo happy with anything he can do, until his ruin comes, devastating Ringo.

[Homerlicious]

I don't remember the name of the robot series in the past that had the same art syle but they were all obsessed with having robots acting more human than humans. There was one series where the robot protagonist fell in love with a human women and even had sex with her. The Japanese do seem to have a fetish about creating robots with sexual organs which is really freaking weird unless said robots were created as sex toys which is not the case in the series I've seen with that plotline.

[weyrbunny]

I already hate the characters and the stupidity of the storyline. The 80s style animation looks cheap rather than retro.

My reaction was the opposite: Every aspect of this appealed to my Blade Runner-enthralled heart. And Casshern looks like the offspring of Speed Racer and an elf, which I just love!

Homerlicious, it's likely on the TV Tropes Robosexual page, under Anime and Manga.

[runningoutofnam]

Casshern helped inspire certain parts of the Megaman game franchise as well as certain other game franchises from Capcom. It's why Tasunkto vs Capcom came out for the wii and you can play as Casshern.

Casshern Sins is on netflix instant streaming but you should dvr or watch it on toonami so they can get more anime series and keep the block going.

Edited by runningoutofnam, May 30, 2012 @ 2:37 PM.

[Last Time Lord]

Is it already fully dubbed on Netflix?

[runningoutofnam]

Yep fully dubbed and the songs are shown in english subtitles and the romanji subtitles both play at the same time. English on the bottom romanji at the top.

Each episode also plays more of the Casshern/Luna meeting bit at the start so you get more of what happened if you don't skip ahead.

The Sun Named Moon. Do not watch several episodes in a row it is very depressing series. So far Toonami didn't edit anything out so you don't really gain anything watching it on netflix instant streaming.

[runningoutofnam]

All right everybody did you get depressed again on the second episode?

[InternalParadox]

Saw the show for the first time tonight. Here are some first impressions:

-It's a good thing everybody's bangs are transparent!

-I don't know who that girl is, but I agree with her. If Casshern really did something horrible, killing him when he doesn't remember what he did would be pointless. Wait 'till he figures it out (or, y'know, she could have just told him what went down. But that would shorten the show, wouldn't it?)

-Is that robot woman implying that she has a sexual relationship with that robot man? Yeah? Okay, then...

-This show would be greatly improved by Bender from Futurama. He could be Casshern's wacky sidekick! I'm just going to mentally put Bender in the show. Now the show is funny! :D

-Skull Head reminds me of Barry the Chopper from FMA. Less funny, though.

-Casshern, you should take your helmet off more often. You have a great head of hair! What an awesome, retro anime-style! With convenient transparent bangs, too!

-Dude, you were just told that you are the main course on the menu. Why won't you leave already?

-Good, you saved them again. Now, leave!

-Still not sure what this show is about.

-How would they have "eaten" Casshern, anyway? How can a robot eat another robot? Is that even possible?

-You are surrounded by determined, desperate, sad, pathetic, dying cannibalistic robots who want to eat you. What are you going to do?

-You're...you're going to kill them all? That girl was right! You are a killing machine! Monster!

-No, not the dog! How can you kill the dog! His name was "Friender"!

-Why didn't you leave when you had the chance???

[runningoutofnam]

Friender ain't dead. Third episode which is next episode will depress you even more even though even the body count is

Spoiler

only one human being and a lizard that the guy needed to eat

[InternalParadox]

The dog lived? Okay then, all is good! :)

Did Casshern really kill all those bots in self-defense, though? I got the impression that he went into some kind of overdrive mode and completely lost control over what he was doing.

[runningoutofnam]

Yeah he lost his mind once their fluids ie blood got on him. The robot doc didn't want to kill him and in fact wanted Casshern to flee.

[olvidado]

Third episode which is next episode will depress you even more

This show does not depress me at all. I can totally relate to it.

[lathspel]

Bah, someone caught the Barry the Chopper reference first.

Guy in the Ep 3 preview is quite Roy Fokker-esque.

Agreed - Casshern should've left sooner. He's the Jack Bauer of this show - bad things happen to the people around him.

Edit: was aiming for Jack Bauer in that reference.

Edited by lathspel, Jun 3, 2012 @ 11:25 PM.

[Homerlicious]

So I assume this series will be one sunny episode after another? Unless I'm a masochist why the hell would I watch such a downer series especially when it's paired up with another series full of fucked up people?

[Sandman87]

Is there somebody in this show that I'm supposed to identify with? The amnesiac who decides to kill a bunch of pathetic, dying robots when he could have escaped them by moving away at a leisurely stroll? The pathetic, dying robots who might as well be moaning "braaaaaiiinnnnsss" as they lurch forward? The annoying twit who shows up and hates on Casshern, and then leaves? Bah, I choose the dog-bot. At least he doesn't talk. So far. And I suspect that he's going to get killed eventually, just because it seems like that kind of show.

-Is that robot woman implying that she has a sexual relationship with that robot man? Yeah? Okay, then...

You can see how having certain body parts rust and break off would be a problem.

-This show would be greatly improved by Bender from Futurama. He could be Casshern's wacky sidekick! I'm just going to mentally put Bender in the show. Now the show is funny! :D

I vote we bring Kryten from Red Dwarf and the Tachikomas from GitS too. Funny and cheerful!

ETA: And what are those things on Casshern's hips supposed to be? The android equivalent of a tail to help with acrobatics? Weapons? A jet pack? Something to help him sit comfortably without a backrest?

I wonder if he's ever going to figure out that maybe, just maybe, some unobtrusive clothes that don't have a big "C" on the front might make him less recognizable. A touch of rust colored paint to simulate The Ruin wouldn't hurt either.

ETA again: And why do all the robots seem to be held together with wood screws? Wouldn't machine screws work better?

Edited by Sandman87, Jun 4, 2012 @ 1:13 AM.

[Last Time Lord]

This show is just so beautiful.

This was like an old school Twilight Zone episode. When people (or robots)are placed into a situation in which they are uncomfortable with, like imminent death they will do anything it takes to live, no matter how "at peace" they may claim they are with it. It played out in a way that was so hauntingly beautiful

Well done, Yasuko Kobayashi!

ETA: And what are those things on Casshern's hips supposed to be? The android equivalent of a tail to help with acrobatics? Weapons? A jet pack? Something to help him sit comfortably without a backrest?

Those are laser blasters. According to TV Tropes Casshern used them as a jet pack at times in Neo-Human Casshern, the 1973 original anime this is a continuity reboot of.

Check out the original's Opening.. The upbeat music, and seeing Casshern just tear through those robots, really outs this one in a new light.

Makes it rather disturbing.

Edited by Last Time Lord, Jun 3, 2012 @ 9:16 PM.

[runningoutofnam]

ETA: And what are those things on Casshern's hips supposed to be? The android equivalent of a tail to help with acrobatics? Weapons? A jet pack? Something to help him sit comfortably without a backrest?

Pulsar propellers that can also function as weapons at least in the original series.

[Homerlicious]

Not that I want any reveals, but is there any reason I should continue watching this series? I'm not into relentlessly depressing shows.