Customer Reviews

Casshern Sins: Part Two

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

NOTE: This review was copied and pasted from the product page of "Casshern Sins: Part 1," since this is Part 2 of the same anime.

I like Casshern, I really do. But around my area it seems like I'm the only one who's ever heard of this series. I'll give a very brief rundown of the origin of this franchise:

Shinzo Ningen Kyashan, or translated as Neo-Human Casshan, was an anime series created by animation studio Tatsunoko Productions in 1973. This series was never localized since the Japanese super-hero genre was never really that popular here in America. Years later in 2003, the OVA (titled "Robot Hunter Casshan") was subtitled and released on two DVDs (both of which you can find here on Amazon, at the time of this review of course). In 2007, the live-action version was re-cut, subtitled and officially released by Dreamworks here in America, titled "Casshern." In early 2010, Casshan made an appearance as a playable character in the fighting game "Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom" for the Nintendo Wii. I'm really not sure what's going on with the translation of this character's name; they just can't seem to decide which one to use. But anyway, just know that "Casshan" and "Casshern" are the same character.

Now it's mid-2010 (again, at time of this review), and here we have Casshern Sins. Suffice it to say, FUNimation did a fantastic job of localizing this great anime. If you've never seen it before, you don't need to know any of Casshern's back-story to get into it, but I think it's a lot more fulfilling if you do watch the other Casshern material. I won't go into the story, since that would make this review more lengthy than it already is and that's something you can probably find anywhere on the internet, but rest assured that it's one you won't soon forget. All of the English voice actors sound nearly identical to their Japanese counterparts. There are a few misses if you compare it to the Japanese version, but these differences are negligible. The script was also well translated, and I feel it isn't watered down for U.S. audiences, which can be the case for some translated animes. Also, from what I've noticed, no violence, language or any scenes were cut out from the original, which is greatly appreciated for any kind of fan for anime.

*IN SHORT: If you are a fan of Casshern, or have seen the original Japanese version of this anime, this is well worth the investment. If you've never heard of this franchise or anime, you owe it to yourself to pick this up and experience a story you won't soon forget.

This is the second half of the Casshan reboot. Casshern Sins part 2 starts pulling back the viel of unkowns from the first half of the series and closes out very well. The voice acting (including the english dubbing) is good and has some great music to go along with it.

First of all, I'd just like to say: DO NOT TAKE MY MERE 3-STAR RATING FOR FACE VALUE. If I didn't hate the ending so much, this would've easily been a 5.

I'm going to divide this review into two parts. The first is a generic, spoiler-free review to try to sell this to you. The second is going to be a spoiler-heavy reflection of my thoughts and emotions. You should only read it if you've either seen it already, haven't seen it but don't plan on buying it (I hope this isn't you), or don't care about massive spoilers. Don't worry; I'll warn you when the transition occurs.

Okay, so first of all, the voice acting is phenomenal (I listen in English). The actors did a top-of-the-line job, and were one of the things that helped make me really FEEL for the characters. One of the best examples are the times when Casshern cries out in emotional agony. The parts of physical pain are pretty good too, but the emotional agony parts are obviously much heavier. The only problem is that sometimes, the lines just could've been better.

The music is incredible and beautiful. It does an amazing job setting/fitting the mood for certain scenes. My favorite is the song that Janice sings that is repeated a few times later in the series. It WILL make softies cry. The only gripe I have with the music is that the intro(/theme) song is simply out of place: It's way too upbeat, energetic, and happy for the series it represents. The outro songs do not have this problem, however; the one for the first half is particularly good.

The animation style is awesome. It is SO much better than the s***ty, lazy garbage most anime is. The characters are GORGEOUSLY well-done, and the flowers are breathtaking. (You'll know what I mean when you see them.) The scenery and landscaping is perfect. One of the best aspects of the animation in the series is how perfectly done the facial expressions of the characters are--specifically Lyuze (probably my favorite character in the series). Whenever you see her face, you can tell EXACTLY how she's feeling.

Now that the basic face-value stuff is out of the way, on to the story itself. The story is beautifully written, and has a very interesting plot. You can't use the term "emotional roller coaster ride" unless you specify that the roller coaster seems to like hugging the ground. Make no mistake--this series tends to be extremely sad and depressing; although usually, through these sad and emotional scenes, they're trying to make a point. Prime example: The whole friggin' series itself is bittersweet, but through it all--through the pain, loss, and ever-present death--makes the overarching moral point to live life to the fullest.

The emotional involvement and character development are, in my opinion, the two strongest aspects of the series. The series will tug at your heart strings, yes, but sometimes, it feels as though it's just trying to rip them out of your chest. And the happy moments--though less frequent than the sad--are beautiful as well. Obviously, I'm emphasizing the fact that this is a darker series. If you can't live with that (I hardly could) then I don't recommend it.

As for the character development, of course, Casshern's journey of self-discovery takes the cake. It's hard to really pin any of the characters as being one-dimensional (excluding the mindless automatons) unless I take a more cynical eye. One of the reasons the character development is so good is that most of them offer deep philosophical views for you to consider. And Lyuze's developing relationship with Casshern is beautiful.

Some other random points. There are many scenes where Casshern is fighting a horde of robots who are exactly what many people think of when they think of the word: single-minded, blood-thirsty, mindless automatons. Sometimes, he's defending the weak and helpless. Others, because they think devouring him will grant them eternal life. But the rest is just completely random and pointless: I.E., all of a sudden, Casshern is surrounded by robots, and subsequently begins laying waste to them. The line from the song Gematria (The Killing Name) by Slipknot came to mind every time: "Life is just... a killing field. It's all that's left--nothing's real." And it's pretty much the summation of these scenes in lyrical form.

Without breaking my spoiler-free promise, all I can say about the ending is this: It is bittersweet, you will probably cry, and it leaves me feeling strangely unsatisfied/empty.

All in all, this is a superb anime. It is completely worth your time and money. Like I said, don't let my 3-star rating fool you. I just personally have some problems with it that I can't state without MASSIVE spoilers.



! ===( SPOILER ALERT ) === !



I hate how the series continuously introduces characters that are only there for one episode, then they either die, or are just forgotten. One of my biggest problems in this is Janice. She seemed like she could've been a very significant character for the series, right? Instead, the only part of her that lives past her one-episode-wonder is her song. However, I DO see the purpose each of them serves in teaching Casshern things about himself and about life, and vice versa.

I don't like how slowly the plot evolves in the first 12 episodes of the series. This is where most of the one-episode-wonders occur. Granted, there are various reasons for this which I can acknowledge, that doesn't mean I have to like it.

Why does everyone blame Casshern for what he did? As though he just woke up one day and said, "Hmmm... I feel like murdering Luna today." He was only following Braiking Boss' orders, which was what he was made to do. It's not like he had a choice.

Dio is a vain, pathetic thing whose only "purpose" in life is is meaningless and stupid. I actually felt a great deal of pity and sympathy for Leda at the end, even though she was selfish and cold-hearted, she remained loyal to Dio until the end. Casshern should've killed Braiking Boss as soon as he realized it was him. Why did Miko have to die? ='(

Luna's whole character pisses me off. She ends up being a complete and total vain b**** with selfish intentions and an outright evil soul. Why everyone was so sad she died is beyond me. She wouldn't even save Dune simply because he "reeked of death". I wish that when Casshern "killed" her, she actually DIED instead of ruining the world in exchange for rebirth. (But then again, that would mean the series would be pointless.) I wish that Casshern would've at least killed her at the end, and put an end to her precious immortality.

Which is just part of my biggest problem with the series: the end. It's impossible to tell just WHO is really still alive. Are there even enough humans to procreate and rebuild? Did the Ruin ever truly stop? What happened to Janice? What happened to Casshern? (I hate the whole "Casshern was never seen again" thing.) There are just too many unanswered questions and next to zero closure. And finally: LYUZE DIED! >='( Oh how I wish she could have been saved... The love story between her and Casshern was just too beautiful. I would've loved this story sooooo much more if only she could've lived on forever with Casshern. What I REALLY would've loved is for her to gain the ability to procreate like Casshern and Leda. =) I hate bittersweet endings... with all the depression in this series, the least they could give us is a SOMEWHAT happy ending. I don't even know if what it is could qualify as bittersweet; maybe it's just "bitter." What else would he have to live for now, anyways? Life would be extremely boring and lonely.

Damn, I'm a sucker for anime love stories.

In 1973, animation studio Tatsunoku Productions created the anime series "Shinzo Ningen Casshern" (Neo-Human Casshern) which was written and directed by Takao Koyama and was an adaptation of the manga serialized on Kodansha's Terebi Magazine and Akita Shoten's "Boken Oh". The character has sinced appeared in a 1993 OVA and in 2004, a live action film was made.

In 2008, big news was announced that Casshern would be appearing in the video games "Tatsunoku Fight" and "Tatsunoku vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars" but the biggest announcement was that the series would receive a reboot and begin airing on television under the name "Casshern Sins". A series that will be released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment and both parts (featuring 12 episodes each) will be released simultaneously on August 17th.

The new series would be directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi (director for "Dragon Ball Z", "Dragon Ball GT", "Saint Seiya" and "Xenosaga: The Animation"), the series would feature a screenplay by Yasuko Kobayashi ("Galaxy Angel", "Claymore", "Witchblade" and "Yume Tsukai"). Character designs for the series is by Yoshihiko Umakoshi ("Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor", "Zipang" and "Marmalade Boy").

In the original series, the story revolved around a cybernetic neorider named Casshern who turned himself into a Cyborn in order to stop robots from ruling the world. His father Dr. Kotaru Azuma had created robots to serve mankind but the first android known as Braiking Boss escaped and ended up leading the robots and creating an army to destroy mankind.

In the new reboot titled "Casshern Sins", the story is much different as the Braiking Boss has ruled the world and a mysterious girl named Luna was the hope of mankind to save the world from the robots. Because Luna has become a big threat, Braiking Boss sent three cyborg warriors to kill her: Casshern, Dio and Leda.

Casshern ends up killing Luna and ended up creating a catastrophic event which nearly ended the world as the atmosphere was filled with poison, humans were no longer able to reproduce and now humanity is near extinction. But the poison also caused harm to the robots as the poison had eroded their parts and now in order for the robots to survive, they are told that if they find Casshern, they must devour him for eternal life.

But Casshern has been missing since he killed Luna and now he is back, but with no memory of what he did to the world and now is on a journey to learn more about his past and what he was created for.

VIDEO:

"Casshern Sins: Part Two" looks fantastic on Blu-ray. Presented in 1080p the animation style features solid colors but there is a dream-like state to the animation and during the fight sequences, you can pause and just frame-by-frame, look at how cool they made those certain scenes look and how much detail they put into Casshern as he goes for the kill or is just leaping all over the place to defeat the enemy.

It's also important to note of how the animation really pays homage to the original Tatsunoku Productions animation with the look and feel of the characters but then adding the modern spin by the blacks and grungy sequences during the battles. Very good shadowing and definitely one of the better looking anime TV series to be released on Blu-ray ths far.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

"Casshern Sins: Part Two" is presented in English DolbyTrue HD 5.1 and Japanese DolbyTrue HD 2.0 stereo. The good news is that the series does take advantage of the surround channels and you can hear the booms, thumps and the metal breaking through the surrounds and also the clear dialogue through the center and the music and other sound effects through the front channels. I do wish there was more use of the LFE throughout the first 12-episodes. Of course, the English lossless soundtrack has more utilization of the surrounds, while the Japanese lossless soundtrack effectively uses the front left and right speakers during the action sequences and utilizing the panning of sound between the two speakers.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"Casshern Sins: Part Two" comes with the following special features:

* Mini Concert - (3:34) Featuring a live performance of Color Bottle singing the opening theme "Azure's Flowers".
* Original Commercials - (1:06) Featuring two Japanese commercials promoting the Japanese release of the DVD & Blu-ray box sets.
* Textless Opening Song: Aoi Hana
* Textless Closing Song: Reason
* Trailers - Trailers for FUNimation Entertainment titles.

JUDGMENT CALL:

"Casshern Sins" continues its action-packed storyline as it did with the first half of the series but instead of being an anime series of mindless and continuous battles between Casshern and robots, the second series becomes more of a story of morality and the appreciation of life but also death. The storyline is much more deeper, richer and if anything, a fitting conclusion to the end series.

The second half of the series definitely improves in story as we get to see Casshern and his newfound friends as they journey to Luna but to discover something much more different than they have ever expected. That was one surprise but the anime series delivers in more surprises as we get to see how characters such as Dio, Leda and even the Braiking Boss start to have a change of heart and without spoiling the story, the writers did a really good job in developing the characters for the remainder of the final episodes. Well done!

As for which series was better, the 1973 "Neo-Human Casshern" or the 2008 reboot "Casshern Sins", I haven't watched the original anime series but by reading the synopsis of each, both are quite different with the former dealing with the protection of humanity against the robots, while "Casshern Sins"...humanity is pretty much nearly extinct and so the series is more about life and death and appreciating that life, robot or human.

Needless to say, I would assume the newer series is much more darker and deeper than the former but despite all the violence in this newer series, the fact that those who are being killed, impaled, corroding or destroyed are primarily robots. The series can be seen as violent and even though we can see a lot of blood coming out of Casshern at times, we know he's not human and was developed by Braiking Boss, so I believe it gave writers some leeway to show this much violence because the majority of the characters are not humans.

The series has definitely been one of the more artistic and unique looking anime series to appear on Blu-ray thus far. Picture quality is very well done, lossless audio is also well done with its amount of action and fans should be happy to see the addition of a Japanese lossless audio track. Both volumes are not loaded with special features and at least you do get something instead of the typical trailers and textless opening and ending themes.

Overall, I was very content with how this series had ended and how it became a more deeper story towards the end of the series. if you are looking for a beautiful looking anime series on Blu-ray with a lot of action and a very good storyline, I definitely recommend both volums of "Casshern Sins".

The best looking animation I have ever seen in my life..but the story is complex as hell and really slow. But the fights was pretty impressive!!

Segunda parte que al igual que la primera no aporta mas que un desenlace sorpresa al final del ultimo capitulo. No la recomiendo.

Great Story, allot of nice Sakuga "show-case" animation, and its a Real Blu-Ray not a DVD upscale, it looks fantastic. Buy it.

This is the first anime ever to leave me crying at the end. I highly recommend this whole series to anyone looking for a well rounded, thought provoking anime that deals with extremely important timeless issues. Easily the best post apocalyptic story I've had the pleasure of experiencing.

The only thing I can say against this series is the sad fact that Casshern is the least interesting character in his own show.

Ok, this review is for the entire series, btw. I really was mad at myself for spending $80 on this after I watched it. I really don't mean to try to make no one buy it, because obviously there are people out there that will like it very much, I'm just not one of them. I personally found it very boring, frustrating, and a lot of it didn't really make any sense. (moreso than most anime)As it was pointed out before, there is no explination or closure at the end. I still really don't know exactly what was going on. The animation WAS extremely beautiful, I'll give it that, but it seems to me that's what they put most of their effort into when making this. I personally think the storyline could have been much better, it seems very weak to me, and as I said, never really explains much. Also, there could have been better character development, if I wanted to be really picky.

Now I'd like to explain why I hate it: I love anime that is full of action, plot twists, violence, guns...Gantz, Blasssreiter, Guyver, and Gungrave are some of my favorites. So of course to me this one just seemed very dull and boring. At the end I could definately tell it was made with some deep, philosophical meaning, and I just don't watch anime for that. This one has a pretty slow moving plot with a story that focuses on life and appreciating it and other deep meanings that I just don't want to have to ponder when I'm trying to watch anime. If you like these types of stories and don't require action, excitement, and a bit of violence in your anime, then this just might be your cup of tea. To the fans like me who are more into anime like the ones I've listed, don't spend $80 on this. At least rent it or borrow it first.