Review of Casshern Sins

The first time I registered watching an episode of Casshern Sins here on MAL was all the way back on the 16th of October, 2008. Almost 13 years ago. Holy wow. For some reason I kept coming back to the show time after time after time, never being able to finish it. I got a few episodes in. A couple more then next time. Even 16 episodes in. Every single time I stopped. It's hard to put a finger on why, though I certainly have my own theories, which I'll get into. Recently I gave it another shot from episode 16 and onwards in an attemptto finish it off once and for all, and I felt like I had to write something after finally finishing it. I'll try to keep it as spoiler-free as possible. In short:

Casshern Sins is a good anime.

***Maybe the most important thing to bring up when talking about Casshern Sins is the fact that its a very melodramatic series that moves at a glacial pace. I do NOT recommend watching this if you're already feeling down - while the show does have a tendency to display beauty, it is often quite a depressing watch.***

You probably know of the central conceit of the show, so I'll run through it quickly. Casshern Sins opens up with a flashback of Casshern seemingly in the middle of killing someone called Luna. In the now - a world fallen into disrepair due to the Ruin - an amnesiac Casshern struggles to find a purpose as he alone is undying in a world of absolute death. On his way, he finds a group of on-and-off travelling companions that help him along and show him different sides of the world. This is complicated by most of the robots Casshern runs into claiming that him killing Luna is what brought Ruin to the world.

The future Earth of Casshern Sins is inhabited almost solely by robots. Humanity appears to be long dead and buried. Most robots are in an advance state of turning to rust due to the Ruin. Many are envious of Casshern as he remains unscathed - and can even heal his wounds - from the Ruin.

Much of Cassherns Sins' running time is spent on philosophizing about the nature of life and death, and what they do to the robots of the world (the robots being obvious stand-ins for our reality's humans). Casshern's travels lead him to meet a wide array of different robots who fight or embrace the ruin for their own reasons. Some wail and gnash their teeth at the unfairness and uncaring nature of death. Some try to find love. Some seek some overpowering purpose - a final fight, creating a lasting artwork, and more. Some never cease looking for a way to escape the Ruin - whether that is by attempting to kill Casshern and eating his heart, or by trying to find a being rumoured to be able to stop the Ruin and grant eternal life. As the series runs on, it explores life and death through the lens of different characters and their reactions to the Ruin. This is done almost entirely episodically, with few episodes having anything to do with the others, besides Casshern and friends (and enemies). As previously stated, this is a very slow series of anime. Most episodes have a fight scene - these tend to be very brutal - but crawl along at a snail's pace. Eventually it leads into a more structured story arc to close the series out.

Most of these struggles regarding life and death are mirrored by Casshern's travelling companions. Friender is a robotic dog who initially clashes with Casshern. Upon being confronted by death, it follows Casshern seemingly to observe his impending demise, but develops a sense of loyalty to him and becomes a constant companion at his side. Ouji and Ringo is and old-looking man and a young girl (robots, all the same) that run into Casshern every now and then. Their meetings always appear to be out of chance, though I took this as an example of showing time passing. They move around the same parts over a long amount of time - of course they'd run into each-other every now and then. Ouji is a tired old inventor whose Ruins has been staved off by replacing parts of himself with fresher parts. He found Ringo after she was seemingly abandoned long ago and is raising her. Ringo is a curious little tornado of energy - imagine a normal child of 5-7 years of age. Ouji's distrust stands in contrast to Ringo's liking of Casshern. Ouji is haunted by old demons of his past and chases a sense of purpose and safe places to spare Ringo from the cruelty of Ruin-time life. Ringo herself has an endless passion for life and discovering new things. The final main character is Lyuze, a former bodyguard of Luna whose life was thrown into turmoil after Casshern killed Luna. These characters all develop over the series' 24-episode run and change significantly. I understand why some may think of them as very wooden, but they do open up with time - I'd definitely call most of the emotional core of the show to be very subtle, with the viewers themselves having to keep up and figure out why the characters slightly change throughout the story. The recurring villains that eventually show up add even more spice to the theme, but I'll let you discover them for yourselves. The entire cast is superbly written and you learn to care deeply for them if you afford them time to develop.

While Casshern Sins is a mostly very heavy show, it has a couple of episodes dedicated to the beauty of the world. These stand out in tone and theme, naturally, and are always a treat. There are also some very experimental and trippy episodes (the Lyuze-centric one is an incredible, oddball stand-out). They are fine palate-cleansers in contrast to how heavy some episodes get.

Casshern Sins features a rather dated art-style. That's not to say it's bad, necessarily (though I wouldn't call it especially good as a whole). Most of the characters are very well-drawn, but a lot of the background work makes the show feel quite cheap at times. The animation during the fight scenes is adequate and fit the show quite well. Usually the characters themselves and why they fight are in focus, rather than cool moves and the like.

The sound design of the series is tremendous. All the sound effects are terrific and perfectly accent the actions of the characters. The soundtrack is lovingly crafted and heighten emotional and melancholic scenes both. The OP is an absolutely wonderful bop of a tune and bears listening to everytime you start an episode. The EDs are mostly whatever. There is however a special ED for a middle-part episode that is absolutely terrific, and it boggles my minds that it never shows up again.

All in all, Casshern Sins is a carefully crafted, slowly moving look at life and death in a robot-filled world. It takes you on a tour through most emotional experiences on the human spectrum and leaves a lasting impression. If you have the patience, I highly recommend giving this rewarding experience a try.