Casshern
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Casshern_movie.jpg
Casshern is a 2004 tokusatsu sci-fi movie written and directed by Kazuaki Kiriya. The film is based on a 1973 anime series Shinzo Ningen Casshan from animation studio Tatsunoko Productions. Along with contemporary films Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Immortel: Ad Vitam, and Sin City, it was among the first feature-length live action movies to be shot on a "digital backlot," with the actors performing in front a bluescreen and all but the simplest stage elements added digitally after the fact.
In general terms, the movie is a fairly complex dystopian tale always trying to operate on 2 levels. Several scenes are very stylishly laid out and the visuals of the movie are designed to impress. The Japanese release contains a 6.1 channel soundtrack and English subtitles, which while not as bad as many subtitling efforts complicates the understanding of the plot for English speakers.
The theme song was written and sung by the director's wife, Japanese pop superstar Utada Hikaru.
Tagline: Reincarnated with an invincible body to fight an iron devil. If Casshern does not do it, who will?
Trivia
- The helmet in the middle of the shelf in the scene shot in Dr. Kozuki's lab is a reference to the helmet shown in the original Casshern television show, an integral part of Casshern's armor. While it is never worn in the movie, it's originally found almost constantly in the source material.
- The bed that Midori remains in for much of the movie is also a reference to the original Casshern source material. Tetsuya's mother was originally imprisoned in a robotic swan, which helped him somewhat in his quest to defeat Burai. Notice that the headboard of the bed is a massive metal swan with wings spread and neck craned.
- Another point of note can be found when Luna enters Burai's locked room near the end of the movie, and finds the small plants growing there. Originally, the Neo-Sapiens (Shinzo Ningen), a race of androids (At least, in the source material), were built by Dr. Azuma to guard the plant life growing on Earth and defeat the prevailing pollution. However, Burai sees the easiest way to protect plants as annihilating the root of the problem, humanity. While this is a small point at best, it's interesting to note.
- The Eurasian Zone 7 Professor who shelters Luna and Tetsuya in the second half of the film owns a large dog, named Flender, or Friender. This dog, while just a basic cameo in the movie, is originally named for Casshern's dog "Lucky", who is killed early on in the anime, and later ressurected as his robotic attacking sidekick "Friendar", or "Friender", a dog with a flamethrower in his mouth and with several modes of transformation.
- Shinji Higuchi was the storyboard artist for the action scenes.
External links
- Casshern.com Official Site (http://www.casshern.com)
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- Casshan.com (http://www.casshan.com)
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- Trailer at Apple.co.jp (http://www.apple.co.jp/quicktime/trailers/casshern_large.html) (Quicktime required, in Japanese only)
- Casshern U.S. Official Homepage (http://lime.gofishpictures.com/casshern/casshern_main.html)ja:CASSHERN