Review of Casshern Sins

CS has been one of those shows that I've seen highly recommended by some while hearing warnings about this or that aspect from others (or sometimes the people that recommended it in the first place). After watching it, I understand why. While I really liked the world/character design, thought the animation was great, and didn't even dislike the story once it made it into the latter half of the series. I think my personal issue with it is that for a "slow build" show, the pace of the writing was just a bit *too* slow, and felt like despite all of that build time itsomehow didn't quite develop the characters and relationships to a point that I felt truly invested in them. I understood them, followed their backstories and connections with each other, and saw how the narrative overall was well put together, it just left me wanting it to have pushed that little bit extra so I could connect with them and really feel the impact of the story. Like I said - the story itself was actually pretty well crafted (though the end left me a little wanting), but if you're not invested in the characters, what's the point?

Side note, my one dislike about the show was the sound design for fights and some other general foley work. While the animation aged *really* well (and at points looked like it could've been made in the past few years rather than 10 years ago), I was always taken out of a slick, well put together fight scene when all of a sudden someone hits something and it sounds like the foley artists just lifted a sound bank from an early 90s Saturday morning cartoon.