| Casshan | |
| 新造人間キャシャーン (Shinzō Ningen Kyashān) |
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|---|---|
| Genre | Science fiction |
| TV anime | |
| Shinzō Ningen Kyashān | |
| Directed by | Takao Koyama |
| Written by | Tatsuo Yoshida |
| Studio | Tatsunoko Productions |
| Network | Fuji TV |
| Original run | October 2, 1973 – June 25, 1974 |
| Episodes | 35[1] |
Casshan also known as Shinzō Ningen Kyashān (新造人間キャシャーン lit. Neo Human Casshern) in Japan, is an anime series created by animation studio Tatsunoko Productions in 1973, which was based on a serialization in Kodansha’s Terebi Magazine and Akita Shoten’s “Boken Oh” (Adventure King).[1]
The Casshern franchise also includes a 1993 original video animation simply titled Casshern, and a 2004 live action adaptation of the same name. In October 2008, a reboot of the franchise titled Casshern Sins premiered; in anticipation of the upcoming series, a DVD box set of the original series, titled Neo-Human Casshern Complete DVD-Box "All Episodes of Casshern", was released in Japan on September 24, 2008. Casshern also appears in Tatsunoko Fight and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars as a playable character.[2][3]
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Tetsuya Azuma (東鉄也 Azuma Tetsuya), also known as Casshern, is an android with a human consciousness neoroider (新造人間 Shinzō Ningen, lit. "neo-human"). Tetsuya turned himself into an android for the purpose of hunting down and destroying robots that have taken over the world. His biological father, Dr. Kotaro Azuma, was the inventor of the automatons that were originally intended to serve humankind. However, the first android, BK-1, was struck by lightning, and went out of control. With its great strength, it escaped from the castle despite attempts to stop it. After some time, it renamed itself as Buraiking Boss (often mistranslated in English as "Black King Boss"; derived from 無頼 or burai, meaning rogue or brute), and was able to build a robot army against mankind; the robots mutinied en masse when their cold logic concluded that the good of the Earth Ecosystem required the destruction of the human race.[4] [5]
Casshern and his robotic dog, Friender, join forces with a beautiful girl named Luna Kozuki to battle the robots led by the Buraiking Boss.[6] Casshern has great strength and agility, but he is not armed, except for a pair of odd pistols, used more like rockets than weapons. Friender is capable of transforming itself into a tank or a jet aircraft and actively helps Casshern to fight the robot army. While the robots are huge and robust machines, he is usually able to destroy them with his bare hands, dispatching a great number in any battle. Casshern has also some weakpoints: his body must be re-charged (with solar energy), and cannot sustain very long battles without risking low battery power. Luna was totally harmless, until her father was able to build an electromagnetic pistol, easily capable of destroying the robots. Almost all the robot machines have an antenna on top of their heads, ripping it off usually causes them to blow up, so they are relatively vulnerable.
When Streamline Pictures adapted the OVA remake series to the American market, they romanized title "kyashān" (キャシャーン) as "Casshan" instead of "Casshern". "Casshern" is the romanization used in Japan and in other countries, and is used as the romanized title of the film adaptation.
The influence of Casshern can be seen in various video games. Starting with the third game, Mega Man featured a robotic hero with a dog as a partner which could transform into different vehicles. Continuing in the vein of Capcom influences, Mega Man Zero of the Gameboy Advance Mega Man spin-off franchise bears a strong resemblance to Casshern (of the reboot series) himself. The entirety of the Megaman X series story is closely based on Casshern. The design and background of its main antagonist, Sigma, also closely resembles Braiking Boss. Also, In Viewtiful Joe, the protagonist's outfit bears a strong resemblance along with the V shaped headpiece and the retractable mask. The character M. Bison from Street Fighter II also bears a strong resemblance to Braiking Boss. In Metal Gear Solid 4, Raiden wears a bio-suit and fights with a sword which can discharge electric energy.
In Vanquish, developed by Platinum Games, the art style is based on Casshern. In one of the boss fights the main character drills through a robot by spinning in place at high speed, similar to Casshern. Concerning the game's development, director Shinji Mikami is quoted as saying: "I was inspired by Casshern, so I wanted to make a game like that. If I went ahead and made the exact game I wanted, it probably would have been like Casshern, where you punch and kick the entire way through. But obviously if it were a game with only punching and kicking, I already did that with God Hand. So, I'm done with that, something else now. So this time he wanted to make a game where you defeat robots with guns. So now, you're going at it with guns, but he wanted to make sure the feeling of speed is still there, that was really important to him, so that's why he introduced the element of the sliding boost."[8] In addition, the protagonist of Vanquish has a facemask that periodically comes off to show his human side, much like Casshern himself.
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