Review of Casshern (2004) by Drew Y — 18 Oct 2009

The visuals alone deserve the four stars, the plot was...well I guess if you look at it, you get kinda this steampunk/cyberpunk dark Pinnochio feel from Casshern...that's about the best way I can put it.

I don't really know how to describe it but here goes, basically a doctor creates "Neo Cells" and these Cells can supposedly be used to heal any disease known to man by being able to produce any human organ/limb/bone structure. However, while creating these cells the lab is attacked and somehow, via a very cool looking futuristic lighting bolt/mecha-pillar that flashes these cool arcane circles, all the limbs he had produced with the Neo Cells form into humans that are hunted down and killed like animals, save for four that escape the military. The four grow immense hatred for the human race that tried to kill them despite creating them and wage war on them, claiming to be "Neo-Sapiens". They are armed with humanoid robots that had since been deactivated since the end of the Fifty Year War and super human strength. Of course, they also take the protagonist's mother giving him ample reason to go after them for his own reason.

Azuma, the creator of the Neo Cells, must revive his son who had died in the recent war with Neo Cells and his son has become immensely powerful due to his contact with the Neo Cells and the body armor his father's friend/co-worker, also Luna's father, has just developed make him stronger still. Casshern is the last hope of the human race and must find a way to stop the Neo-Sapiens.

It also has a decent soundtrack to it, when Azuma gives his son like...a baptism in the Neo-Cells? I love that track so much. When the Neo-Sapiens have to bury one of their young atop a snowy cliff because it died from the cold? Awesome track and scene.

Yeah...that kinda sums up Casshern in a nut shell without giving away anything too major. Not too easy to follow plot wise, but with all the amazing visuals it doesn't even matter if you totally get it or not, it's still entertaining as hell. Not the most brilliant movie you'll ever find, but it damn sure is the most aesthetically pleasing.