Leave your mark on the world.
Episode 9
It seems like the creators of this show really want us to feel pathos for every character that Casshern comes across as he seems mostly to meet people who are dying/broken/in need of saving. That’s by no means a bad thing but I wish they would lighten up on the drama a bit; it’s a stupid thing to say about this sh0w which seems primarily based around the destruction and ruin of the world but would it be too much to ask to have a minor character that isn’t in any of the aforementioned states? It’s also slightly repetitive and it seems like a cheap tactic to use to evoke pity in the viewers, wasn’t part of this show the fact that hope still remained despite the bleakness of the entire situation? Showing us an adorably simple robot who’s death sentence was pretty much guaranteed when she started making flower crowns and talking to an inanimate object is justĀ cheating.
Therer was some relevance to the main storyline with Nico being a.. caretaker of Luna (I have no idea what else she’d be of use for) and the mention of “Dio’s Army”; I don’t remember learning about any of that in the previous episodes so maybe I just missed something, but I’m assuming this is an army meant solely for the purpose of killing Casshern. Let’s not forget the fact Luna might still be alive, which would be welcome news as it seems the creators have completely abandoned their tactic of revealing the events behind Luna’s murder little by little and have resorted to simply showing the same damn 3 seconds of footage over and over again.
Oh yes, and the whole “cold robot’s/any-other-being’s heart melted by the kindness of a young girl” part was just cheesy.
Episode 10
Leda and Dio show up and get some much deserved developement. What intrigues me is their motivations and goals for their actions. Leda is like the the devilish whisperer in Dio’s ear, entrancing him with ambitious visions of becoming, well, King of the Pirates robots, but I don’t really understand what her own stake is in all this. There’s no doubt that her interests, though at the moment they coincide with Dio’s, lay far from the interests of the robot race as a whole.
Dio himself is shown to be less of the calm, calculated person he seemed in episode 6 and more of an obsessive madman. His obsession with Casshern seems to stem from Casshern’s attaining of supposed “immortality” so it could simply be jealousy, and though I’d rather think Dio’s more complex than that, the way Leda influences and at times even puppets (I think that’s a word) him leads me to believe that Dio’s simply determined to conquer Casshern and the world.
As for other aspects of the episode, the fight scenes were amazing and just the standard that I’ve come to expect from the series. Dune himself with his praying mantis-like swords was kind of uninteresting due to the fact all he did was fight, remain, well, imprisoned by the past and then leave. There’s no doubt in my mind he’ll be making a return, though, and perhaps then we’ll get a bit more information on what his relationship with Luna and that mysterious red-haired woman was like. Noticeably, it seems like rather than be emo and try to die in any way possible, Casshern’s actually trying to FIX his mistakes. That’s a huge improvement, in my book.
By the by, it’s interesting to note they finally changed the tidbit of information we get at the start of each episode after weeks of repetition. Now it’s become about blood and vampires. Also, all these generic robot grunts/thugs are starting to annoy me, their only reasons for existing are trash-talking then becoming cannon fodder.
Episode 11
Meh, I left right in the middle of this episode to fix curtains for an hour so I forgot half of what had happened and what was going on, so my attention wasn’t really grabbed unti l there was an explosion and even then there was nothing that particularly stood out. Basically the same thing the series ahs been touting for ages (must eat Casshern, shouldn’t eat Casshern because cannibalism is bad) only with humans and a lone wolf called Jin thrown into the mix. I use the term “lone wolf” aptly to describe Jin as he even has a leather coat with fur/fluff around the collar. There was even a track at the end that kid of evokes images of the lone cowboy traveller and the wanderer’s open road which, though it suited the situation, just seemed kind of corny.
It’s kind of annoying that absolutely npthing happened to add to the overall plot, or even the world the series is set in, in this episode. In fact, just replace Jin with Dio and you’d have the end of episode 6. A fillerish episode but nonetheless a solid one, and it was interesting to see Jin somehow stand toe-to-toe with Casshern. There was also something intiguing brought up, that Friender and Jin hadn’t been ruined since they had string conviction. Perhaps it’s the mindset of the robots that causes them to be susceptible to ruin: whereas all other robots are simply struglling for survival, Jin and Friender seem to have a purpose for living that they are dedicated to and something in them won’t let them be ruined as of yet.
The best part of the episode, though, was the fact they used Terminator music somewhere half way through. Watch both videos and I dare you to deny that there are unmistakable similarities between them.
Casshern – From 1:50
Terminator 2 – From 3:20
Episode 12
See, now if you’re going to try an create a meaningful and heartfelt episode in a show, this is how it should be done. Introduce a new character, new perspective and a new message and then make it emotional and, most importantly, unique. Some of the best moments in the show is when it tries to convey something to the viewer, and this time I thought that the dialogue, the presentation, hell, just about everything was spot on. I admit that I love the battles in Casshern, but it’s episodes like this that keep me watching the series.
The city itself had an exquisite combination of the traditional dirty dreary cities we’ve seen so far and Margo’s colour; the colour of silver, of hope and an urge to live life to the fullest. The contrast of Margo’s and the other robots approach to life was interesting too, though I think I’d be more on Margo’s side since he didn’t wish to destroy any sort of hope that was surfacing in the city.
The main message was that nobody wishes to be forgotten. Just as the kings left behind the colours of their own era, so should we all leave behind mementos of our own existence. Not a revolutionary theme, to be sure, but presented in such a way that really touched me. So much that I didn’t mind that what initially seemed like a girl was a trap.
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