• In a world ruled by the evil Braiking Boss and his evil, robotic minionsーbattling these heinous foes is a tremendous burden; with the risk of Casshern foregoing his humanity at the helm, a more accurate description of the cataclysmic fight against the powers that be is more explicitly described in Casshern’s near-episodic catchphrase of, “Who will do it, if not Casshern?” This series doesn’t dive as deeply as a series like Galaxy Express 999 into what makes a person a person, but Casshern is surprisingly complex and melancholic for a jaunty, superhero, action cartoon that is similar, in tone, to Devilman (1972).
• There’s an android dog that is loyal and can transform into practically any vehicle imaginable, so to those of you who have an inner-child side―Friender will be that pet that your internal eight-year-old has always wished for! There’s a love interest, Luna, who actually isn’t useless (like most heroines of the time) and has powers of her own.
• Casshern’s duality and indifference towards Luna while having his manly, single-tear moments might be an annoyance to some viewers, but I found the melodrama quite amusing. The visuals aren’t bad, compared to other series that I’ve seen come out of the early 70’s, and the OP is something that’s a “yes, please” download to your cellphone or something that you save to a secret file―so your friends don’t think that you’re a miscreant geek.
• I won’t write a review for Casshern: Robot Hunter, that unmentionable reimagining of Casshern from the 90’s, that’s pretty much a culmination of every awful OVA that was ever conceived at the time. EDGE, GORE, NUDITY! All the components in the edgelord fantasy, Parasite Doll, without an interesting cyberpunk atmosphere… so: it’s completely skippable! It reminded me of every bad Fist of the North Star OVA that I’ve seen, coupled with X/1999… I definitely do not miss that aspect of Japanese animation in the 1990’s!
• Overall, I would suggest this series to someone who wants something fun and noncommittal, in the vein of Gatchaman and the classic Devilman TV series. Especially if you’re a fan of either Casshern Sins or a video game otaku who’s still obsessed with the Megaman franchise. I give this semiotic action series a 6/10 and Casshern: Robot Hunter a 3/10.
• Blurb & SN: At the time of this review, I hadn’t finished Casshern Sins, so I will be writing a separate review for that TV show―shock! I practically only do franchise reviews! I also bought the BD of this series and while there are little to no special features, I’m glad that I purchased the collection because this series is highly enjoyable!
