Casshan


Casshan, also known in Japan as Neo-Human Casshern, is an anime series created by Tatsunoko Production founder Tatsuo Yoshida in 1973.
The Casshern franchise also includes a 1993 original video animation titled Casshan: Robot Hunter, and a 2004 live-action adaptation titled Casshern. In October 2008, a reboot of the franchise Casshern Sins premiered. In anticipation of the upcoming series, a DVD box set of the original series, Neo-Human Casshern Complete DVD-Box "All Episodes of Casshern", was released in Japan on September 24, 2008. Casshern also appears in Tatsunoko Fight and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom as a playable character. At Anime Expo 2013, Sentai Filmworks announced that they had signed a deal with Tatsunoko to release some of their catalog, with Casshan being confirmed as one of the characters involved. Sentai Filmworks released the series on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in the United States on March 4, 2014.

Plot

Tetsuya Azuma, also known as "Casshern", is an android with a human consciousness, also known as a neoroider. Tetsuya turned himself into an android to hunt down and destroy the robots that have taken over the world.
His biological father, Dr. Kotaro Azuma, was the inventor of the automatons that were originally intended to serve humankind. However, the first android, BK-1, was struck by lightning and went out of control. Despite great efforts to stop it, BK-1 used its great strength to escape from the castle. After some time, it renamed itself Buraiking Boss. The Buraiking Boss then built a robot army against mankind. The robots mutinied en masse when they logically concluded that the good of the Earth's ecosystem required the destruction of the human race.
Casshern and his robotic dog, Friender, join forces with a beautiful girl named Luna Kozuki to battle the robots led by the Buraiking Boss. Friender can transform itself into a tank or a jet aircraft and actively helps Casshern fight the robot army. Casshern has great strength and agility, but he is not armed, except for a pair of strange pistols, which are used more like rockets than weapons. While the robots are huge and robust machines, almost all of them have an antenna on top of their heads; ripping it off usually causes them to explode, so they are relatively vulnerable. Casshern can usually destroy the robots with his bare hands, dispatching a great number in any given battle.
However, Casshern also has some weak points. His body must be re-charged with solar energy and cannot sustain very long battles without risking low battery power. Luna started out as being totally harmless, until her father built an electromagnetic pistol, which was easily capable of destroying the robots.

Characters

;Casshern
;Luna Kozuki
;Midori Azuma
;Kotaro Azuma
;Friender
;Buraiking Boss
;Barashin
;Arkborn
;Sagrey

Episodes

  1. "An Immortal Challenger": written by Jinzō Toriumi, directed by Hiroshi Sasagawa
  2. "Stake Victory on the Moonlight": written by Jinzo Toriumi and Shigekazu Ochiai, directed by Hiroshi Sasagawa
  3. "Find Tomorrow in the Ruins": written by Akiyoshi Sakai, directed by Seitaro Hara
  4. "Channel Anger into the MF Gun": written by Takao Koyama, directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino
  5. "Don't Blow Out the Flame of Battle": written by Tadashi Fukui, directed by Yuji Nunokawa
  6. "Raging Wind Friender": written by Jinzō Toriumi, directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino
  7. "An Oath to the Hero Kikero": written by Tadashi Fukui, directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino
  8. "The Roar of the Wild Beast Robot": written by Jinzō Toriumi, directed by Yuji Nunokawa
  9. "Concerto in the Flames of War": written by Tadashi Fukui, directed by Seitaro Hara
  10. "Stake Life in the Desert of Death": written by Tadashi Fukui, directed by Kazuyuki Okaseko
  11. "Statue of the Demon": written by Hajime Wakamatsu, directed by Yuji Nunokawa
  12. "The Iron Train of Evil": written by Jinzō Toriumi, directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino
  13. "Android 5, the Robot of Betrayal": written by Akiyoshi Sakai, directed by Yuji Nunokawa
  14. "The Town That Doesn’t Need Casshan": written by Akiyoshi Sakai, directed by Seitaro Hara
  15. "Puppy Runs for Vengeance": written by Akiyoshi Sakai, directed by Kazuyuki Okaseko
  16. "Swanee's Wings of Love": written by Harumi Tamura, directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino
  17. "The Robot Lullaby": written by Jinzō Toriumi, directed by Yuji Nunokawa
  18. "Giant Elephant VS. Andro Force": written by Naoko Miyake, directed by Seitaro Hara
  19. "The Clown Robot of Terror": written by Tadashi Fukui, directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino
  20. "Casshan Gets the Death Penalty": written by Harumi Tamura, directed by Yuji Nunokawa
  21. "Robot Hijack": written by Akiyoshi Sakai, directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino
  22. "Runaway Robot, Romeo": written by Masaru Takesue, directed by Seitaro Hara
  23. "Great Escape from the Robot Factory": written by Harumi Tamura, directed by Yuji Nunokawa
  24. "Bounder Robot's Challenge": written by Kiichi Ishii, directed by Kazuyuki Okaseko
  25. "Immortal Casshan": written by Jinzō Toriumi and Takao Koyama, directed by Hiroshi Sasagawa
  26. "Casshan's Secrets": written by Jinzō Toriumi, directed by Yuji Nunokawa
  27. "The Missing MF Gun": written by Naoko Miyake, directed by Hiroshi Sasagawa
  28. "The Calvary of Anger": written by Tadashi Fukui, directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino
  29. "High-Heat Robot Neotaros": written by Toshio Nagata, directed by Yuji Nunokawa
  30. "The Premiere Robot Terminators": written by Takeo Matsura and Hisao Ishihara, directed by Hiroshi Sasagawa
  31. "The City That Creates Newly-Made Men": written by Akiyoshi Sakai, directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino
  32. "The Electric Punch of Tears": written by Tadashi Fukui, directed by Yuji Nunokawa
  33. "Swanee in Danger"!: written by Akiyoshi Sakai, directed by Hiroshi Sasagawa
  34. "Casshan VS. Robot Ace": written by Takao Koyama, directed by Yuji Nunokawa
  35. "The Greatest Showdown on Earth": written by Jinzō Toriumi, directed by Yuji Nunokawa

    Title romanization

was the first to adapt the character's name in the OVA remake series for the American market, providing the title, "Casshan". "Casshern" appears as the romanization for the film adaptation and the English release of Casshern Sins.

Legacy

The Mega Man video game series may take inspiration from Casshan, both featuring "robot" protagonists who are assisted by a helpful robotic dog companion who can transform into useful items.
In Vanquish, developed by PlatinumGames, the art style is based on Casshern. In one of the boss fights, the main character drills through a robot by spinning in place at high speed, similarly to Casshern. Concerning the game's development, director Shinji Mikami is quoted as saying:
I was inspired by Casshern, so I wanted to make a game like that. If I went ahead and made the exact game I wanted, it probably would have been like Casshern, where you punch and kick the entire way through. But obviously if it were a game with only punching and kicking, I already did that with God Hand. So, I'm done with that, something else now. So this time he wanted to make a game where you defeat robots with guns. So now, you're going at it with guns, but he wanted to make sure the feeling of speed is still there, that was really important to him, so that's why he introduced the element of the sliding boost.

In addition, the protagonist of Vanquish has a facemask that periodically comes off to show his human side, much like Casshern himself. According to one of the game's character modelers, Yoshifumi Hattori, a support robotic companion dog was designed to fight along with the main character, including transforming into ability-enhancing armor. Although this dog was successfully modeled, it was cut from the finalized version of the game, along with another female android partner character. Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is also dressed like Casshern.

Manga adaptation

A manga adaptation of the original series, titled Casshern R, written by Chabo Higurashi and illustrated by Satoshi Shiki began serialization in Akita Shoten's Champion Red magazine on September 19, 2023. It anoinced the move to the Manga Cross website in November, with the publication resuming in April 2025.