[Categories: OAVs, Movies and Full Series]
Casshan the Robot Hunter OAV: no-nonsense robot-bashing
The Casshan franchise is an odd thing for me. Apparently it started in the 1970s as a TV series (which I have yet to see) but its cult status earned it the live-action treatment as Casshern (which I’m still in two minds about in terms of quality, but at least Shiro Sagisu’s musical score was good) and this, a four-part OAV, which was also edited by Harmony Gold (stop that booing and hissing in the back row, guys!) as a feature film. It seems that Japan can’t get enough of its angsty hunter of robots either since there’s a new TV series planned for later this year. As much as it sounds like cash-in, it’ll be produced by Madhouse so I’m not complaining or anything.
So then, this Casshan fellow seems to be quite an enduring icon that has a deep-rooted domestic following, possibly because those in positions of influence in the industry remember the original 70s TV show from when they were kids. The OAV certainly seems like a fond nostalgia-fest since it has such a retro feel and makes no visible effort in certain areas to distance itself from the 70s aesthetic.
Although I haven’t actually seen the original TV show I did enjoy the live action Casshern to a certain degree. The OAV Casshan the Robot Hunter takes a similar, if less serious and cinematic, approach but I still felt at quite a disadvantage due to my lack of background knowledge; in the same way that Michael Bay’s movie about robots that turn into household objects looks weird unless you grew up in the 80s and therefore are aware of how important an institution Transformers has been. To that end, I watched Casshan the Robot Hunter through a rose tinted lens, with a sense that certain merits would inevitably pass over my head; watching it as a piece of trashy nostalgia with that in mind was a wise move so I wound up enjoying it quite a bit.
Cheese is, when slapped onto a slice of toast and chucked under a medium grill with a dash of Lea & Perrins, a welcome addition to a boring night in; and so is the case with this show. Sorry if any hardcore Casshan fans take this the wrong way but it’s as cheesy as they come; I do think that pointing out plot holes of aspects that look silly or derivative is missing the point by a mile, however. The premise is simple: he’s a guy called Casshan who hunts robots. Robots are taking over the world, as intelligent AI life forms do, so the son of the scientist responsible for their development sets out to undo his family’s mistake by transforming himself into a half-human, half machanical warrior. This premise allow for A LOT of battles against robots, a dystopian sci-fi worldview and a hero with a whole truckload of inner conflict and Angst. What can go wrong?
The answer is, not much. Part of the nostalgia thing is the predictable nature of the story and ideas, so it gives you a warm comfort zone when watching because things play out exactly how you expect them to. In fairness to the show, its OAV origins and 90s vintage mean that while the aesthetic is retro the animation isn’t as much so: the fight scenes (especially the finale) are well done without losing the old school vibe. The antagonist is given a suitably bad-ass name of Black King Boss, has plenty of diabolical plans and plenty of inept subordinates that make the hero’s chances of success a bit higher. He even laughs maniacally, adding to the camp silliness of it all and boosts the fun factor still further; this really is something worth considering if you find it going cheap.
The story is actually one notch above the mediocre though - the first episode builds up a nice mythology around the character of Casshan, throwing up the possibility that he’s nothing more than a legend; this makes the appearance of the man himself a little more significant (in the eyes of the other characters) and dramatic (in the eyes of the viewer). There’s his family legacy which drives him and casts doubts on his motives adding a bit to his character, plus there’s a troubled relationship with his sweetheart Luna, a woman who is coming to terms with the fact that the man she once loved is now part-machine.
Moral ambivalence, albeit that of a simple and tried-and-tested nature, also makes an appearance. Fighting against the robots is effectively siding with the species that’s ruining the planet: the third episode (which reminds me a lot of The Bridge over the River Kwai) is centred around Casshan stopping a Neoroid utopia being created, along with inner conflict affecting his actions along the way.
This idea of humans fighting for survival and the right to live as we please being A Good Thing from our point of view and A Bad Thing from the point of view of the rest of the planet has been used in fiction a lot, of course. The AI in I, Robot for instance tries to enslave humans to save them from themselves and there is of course Agent Smith’s view of humanity as a disease of the planet in the first Matrix movie; the same parallel can also be found in Aramaki’s first Appleseed movie and Nausicäa’s worldview too. Hell, what am I saying? Is this supposed to be a Deep and Meaningful piece of philosophy pertaining to humanity’s place on the Earth?
Of course not. It’s all about the Angsty Hero turning up in the nick of time with his busty would-be love interest (the delightful Luna is keeping the concept of the Gainax Bounce™ alive) and cyborg dog to kick robotic butt and fight for humanity’s freedom and survival; when it does this with such a retro, no-nonsense attitude I can’t judge it too harshly. His motives of siding with humans may be questionable but sometimes it’s refreshing to just enjoy a bit of action without Shirow or Miyazaki making me think to hard - he’s humanity’s hero so as a human I felt obliged to cheer him on. Who could do it, if not Casshan? ^_^
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