Review of Casshern Sins

I have just recently finished Casshern Sins, so I figured I may as well do a review of it before it leaves my mind and makes my review somewhat shoddy. Starring one of Tatsunoko's more obscured and less popular protagonists, the titular Casshern, this bleak and depressing story of death and despair spans 24 slow-paced and heavy episodes. STORY: 8/10 Casshern, an immortal robot, awakens to windswept scenery and only flashes of his past memories. His name is legendary and infamous due to his apparent bringing about of a worldly calamity known as "The Ruin", which is rusting away and killing robots who once knew eternal life.He wanders the desolate, ruined world, searching only for The Sun Named Moon and a reason for his existence. Along the way he meets those affected by The Ruin, those affected by people from his past and even some who have no relation to him at all.

While amnesia stories are something I usually dislike for their overuse, I found Casshern Sins to use it decently well. During the beginning of every episode, you get hints of the past, whether it be his own or of those around him. Sometimes the short, second-long memory shown relates to the episode in one way or another and it's pretty nicely executed. There are unexpected and interesting twists and surprises around every corner.

ART: 7/10
During the final few episodes, the quality dips just a tad. There are several animations reused several times, so much so it becomes a little obvious and distracting. I also found eyes on characters to be somewhat uncomfortable to look at, especially one of the child characters known as Ringo.

Despite these flaws, however, I love the art. Even if the backdrop is depressing, bleak, and lifeless, there's a beauty to them. They're beautiful to look at, no matter how desolate they are. Shading is beautiful and definitely adds to the atmosphere of any scene. When fight scene animations aren't being overused, they're very cool to look at.

SOUND: 8/10
The songs that this soundtrack does have are very beautiful, but I found them reusing specific songs, especially for the sad moments, too many times to leave as much of an impact as the first time they played. The OP for this show is fantastic, with lyrics that relate to the show for once. The EDs are somewhat boring, but they're not bad, per se.

CHARACTER: 8/10
At the beginning of the show, when characters are first introduced, I felt that they were mostly pretty bland and generic. However, as the show went on they all built upon who they were to become memorable characters I found myself quite attached to. For spoiler reasons I can't dive too deep into this, but the development and introductions of some characters are expertly executed. It takes a few episodes for development to start due to the show's slow pace, but it's very well done once it happens. There's also a LOT of angst from the protagonist, sometimes a little too much. He's still likable and relateable, though.

ENJOYMENT: 9/10
For about half of the show, I would watch it occasionally, maybe an episode or two before viewing something else. However, once it got going, I found myself marathoning the rest of the series in one sitting. I loved the setting, I love robots, I loved the symbolism, the questions, and the statements the show brought up. I was attached to the characters, I wanted to know how they ended up or what happened to them. The twists were great and don't even get me started on the emotional roller coaster...

OVERALL: 8/10
The combination of a slow start and a slow pace overall could turn off those expecting a high-octane and fast-paced action show. If you're looking for something dark, something gritty and depressing, with interesting characters and questions, you should think about picking this one up. It's got depressed robots, a robot dog, robot armies, robot gore... Pretty much a lot of things involving robots. Robots and angst.