Casshern Sins: Difference between revisions

 

Made its US television debut on [[Cartoon Network]]/[[Adult Swim]]'s [[Toonami]] block on May 26, 2012. Is also available (in some countries) on [http://www.youtube.com/show?p=peSwVWfwoXY Youtube].

* [[After the End]]

* [[Always Second Best]]: Dio, towards Casshern

** Though depending on your take on the ending (see below), {{spoiler|it eventually becomes a [[A World Half Full]]}}.

* [[Cry for The Devil]]: Both {{spoiler|Dio and Leda}} get a lot of sympathy from both protagonists and probably audience by the end.

* [[Darker and Edgier]]

** An impressive feat, given that the original ''[[Neo Human Casshern (Anime)|Neo Human Casshern]]'' was already set in a postapocalyptic world with an army of robots/cyborgs hellbent on wiping out humanity. (It's still more upbeat than the [[Live Action Adaptation]], though.)

* [[Despair Event Horizon]]: Some robots are so far beyond this that anything even remotely hopeful only serves to piss them off.

* [[The Determinator]]: Dune especially, but also Dio and Casshern.

* [[Does Not Wear Shoes]]: Ringo.

* [[Doting Parent]]: Ohji. Lyuze put it best:

{{quote| '''Lyuze''': He'd probably research a way to change the color of the sky if it would make Ringo happy.}}

* [[Double Entendre]]: The entirety of episode 4

** {{spoiler|It's also implied that Ringo has healed from the Ruin by herself, and will have a ''normal'' lifespan (neither immortal, neither dying from the Ruin), thus giving hope that the world can return to the normal balance of life and death, which along the flowers seen on various spots through the world, and particularly those grown by the main cast, grants a way for the planet, and life on it, to be returned to normal.}}

*** {{spoiler|And while this is neither mentioned nor even implied, it’s highly likely that Casshern and Ringo (once she completely grows up, of course) can repopulate the earth.}}

{{quote| '''Dio''' : {{spoiler|"If there is a meaning to life, then you are the meaning to mine, Casshern!"}}}}

* [[Genki Girl]]: Ringo.

** Meanwhile, [[Toshiyuki Morikawa]] is Dio, Casshern's rival.

* [[How the Mighty Have Fallen]]: Braiking Boss. Once the leader of the robot army that conquered the world, now just another robot [[Walking the Earth]] and slowly succumbing to the Ruin just like everyone else. {{spoiler|For added irony, he was the one that ordered Luna's death to begin with, making his eventual fate his own fault.}}

** He does legitimately get {{spoiler|defeated on his final match against Dio}} though, where {{spoiler|neither of them is holding back and Dio manages to deliver a blow that would’ve been fatal}} had Casshern not been {{spoiler|immortal}}. The fact that {{spoiler|Dio is also dying from the Ruin by this point}} makes it even more awesome.

* [[Jigsaw Puzzle Plot]]: The truth behind the assassination of Luna, her true purpose, the origin of the Ruin, Casshern’s immortality and pretty much anything else that happened before the beginning of the story is revealed very little by little, forcing the viewer to pay attention through the whole series and fit the pieces together, with some elements even being only implied and never outright stated as such. In fact, a second viewing is almost guaranteed to grant newer insight into the plot as a whole, since random elements that appeared unimportant upon first watching will suddenly gain a new meaning.

* [[Left Hanging]]: Leda’s past, her connection to the {{spoiler|lab where Luna was created}} and whatever happened to her while {{spoiler|she was pregnant}}, as well as the fate of her {{spoiler|unborn child}} are never explained, aside from it all having been fairly traumatic. It’s very heavily implied that {{spoiler|Ringo is actually her child}}, but how exactly did {{spoiler|she end up where Ohji later found her}}, is also for the viewer to imagine.

* [[Living Forever Is Awesome]]: All of the robots that want to eat Casshern are this trope. They're pissed because they were enjoying immortality and now they can't because of the Ruin.

* [[Mauve Shirt]]: Do yourself a favor and don't get attached to any of the one-shot characters (of course, most of them are written so well that [[Tear Jerker|it's hard not to.]])

* [[Mechanical Lifeforms]]: robots became [[Ridiculously Human Robots]], but they still couldn't breed (meaning that newer robots had to be built, either by humans or other robots) nor grow (so if a robot is created as a child or baby, they remain so forever). For this reason Braiking Boss asked {{spoiler|Ohji}} to create robots that could actually function as an actual specie and thus, {{spoiler|Casshern, Dio and Leda}} where created, being heavily implied that {{spoiler|Ringo}} is actually {{spoiler|Dio and Leda's child}}.

* [[Mind Screw]]: Episode 18. Lyuze experiences some pretty abstract dreams of her dead sister Liza, {{spoiler|along with repeated photographs of a live action woman who may or may not be Lyuze's voice actress.}}

* [[No Antagonist]]: Apart from loads and loads of [[Mooks]], all of the main characters are sympathetic to at least some degree. Dio and Leda are the closest thing to [[Big Bad|Big Bads]], but [[White and Gray Morality|their ambitions are rather petty to consider them as truly evil]].

* [[No Body Left Behind]]: Robots turn to dust when they die.

* [[No Immortal Inertia]]: While the ruin moves much slower than how this trope is usually applied, it can still be shown to affect robots much faster than rust would affect machinery in real life. At one point a robot strong enough to choke the life out of another is suddenly blown away by a strong wind. Suffice to say, [[Transformation At The Speed Of Plotthe|ruin moves at the speed of plot]].

* [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You]]: Dio to Casshern, to the point of obsession.

** Lyuze shows some hints of this, at least at the beginning, and she even goes so far as to {{spoiler|save Casshern from Dio once}}, citing this as her reason.

* [[Snow Means Death]]

* [[Stock Footage]]: Some battle scenes are reused a few times during the course of the show.

* [[Surprisingly Good English]]: The songs Janice sings in episode 8 are performed in perfectly recognisable English.

* [[Team Pet]]: Friender (of the useful, kickass variety), who can generally be seen helping Casshern fight and/or waking him up from his [[Unstoppable Rage]].

** This is also what {{spoiler|Casshern}} decides at the ending, promising to travel the world {{spoiler|forever}} in order to become {{spoiler|''death''}} for those who don't {{spoiler|know}} of it (mainly {{spoiler|Luna’s immortals}}). To quote his parting words:

{{quote| {{spoiler|'''Casshern''' (to Luna)}}: {{spoiler|“If they can live, then it's better than just dying. I won't oppose you. But… If you… if any of you ever forget about death, then I’ll be back”}}.}}

** To elaborate, Bolton is {{spoiler|an injured robot Casshern left behind with the promise that he would get Luna to heal him. We never hear of him again}}.

** And for that matter, whatever happened to every single character, human or robot, that Casshern meet through the first half of the series and wasn’t dead by the end of its episode or didn’t fulfill their goal? Does {{spoiler|Sophita}} ever meet Casshern again as she promised?, is {{spoiler|Janice}} still bringing hope to humans and robots through {{spoiler|her songs}}?, Does {{spoiler|Jin}} and his {{spoiler|group}} ever find Luna? Does {{spoiler|Toro}} ever get to repair {{spoiler|Gido}}? We will never know. And while they aren't the focus of the story, all of humanity could be included here as well, since after the first half of the series, no human appears ever again on the story, and the fate of humanity by the ending is anyone's guess.

*** Actually, it is implied that {{spoiler|Janice}} dies since she dedicated her {{spoiler|'''final''' song}} to Casshern.

** The first one to accept his death, rather than become {{spoiler|immortal}} was {{spoiler|Dune}}. {{spoiler|Dio}}, and eventually, {{spoiler|Leda}}, also count, both deciding to {{spoiler|die from the Ruin}} in the end. Same thing with {{spoiler|Braiking Boss}}, who despite bringing plenty of robots to {{spoiler|drink Luna's blood}} to be {{spoiler|saved from the Ruin}}, decides not to do it himself and {{spoiler|dies fighting Casshern}}, as a way to repent for {{spoiler|his role in the current state of the world}}.

** {{spoiler|Originally, Luna granted both immortal humans and robots alike the gift of a natural death, until Braiking Boss sent Casshern to kill her.}}