It isn't guys! It really isn't!
Ric: Well, well well. I honestly can’t believe that it’s been this long since I reviewed Casshern, episode six was it? Oh well, sorry I’ve been gone so long everyone. As Ringo says, it wasn’t Casshern’s fault!
I blame Braiking Boss for all of this.
Anyway, this episode picks up at the exact point the last one ended at, with Casshern still going nuts trying to come to terms with his past, while Ringo uses her superpowers (It’s because she’s cute dammit!) to calm him down, pretty much saving everyone from a horrible, horrible death. Except perhaps the still very suspicious Braiking Boss who I assume will become much more active as a villain character soon, seeing as we’re into the second half now.
Casshern continues his walk to nowhere, his steps being narrated by Braiking Boss and followed by Ringo. During his villainous monologue, Braiking Boss mentions how he had Oji create Casshern to destroy Luna. He also adds what may be some “foreshadowing”, saying that he’s going to ruin faster around this brat, (Ringo) saying that Casshern should be careful too.
Meanwhile, Oji is still looking for Ringo, her having wandered off after Casshern. It turns out that Ringo had lost track of Casshern, being found by a group of robots apparently looking for Luna, or at least someone who is calling herself Luna. From one look at the hand of the one who finds Ringo, I can see just how badly they all have it, as well as just how much they all believe that Luna is still alive, them remaining hopeful even though they’re all slowly falling apart.
Ringo mentions that she’s looking for Casshern and miraculously, it seems that out of all of the possible people she could have run into she finds one of the few people who haven’t decided that “Casshern stew=Immortality”. Which is nice I guess. The character of unknown gender who discovers Ringo actually thinks that Casshern is another injured robot…
On today’s episode, Ringo discovers the rock that these people have been living under. I mean c’mon, really, with the Dio revolution and all that you would have thought that he/she/it would’ve heard something at least! Anyway, [Robot Of Indescribable Gender] thinks that Casshern will probably be heading towards Luna, something that leaves Ringo understandably pleased, having found a lead in her search for our favourite…whatever Casshern is now.
Apparently Luna is in a nearby city and their group are all heading there, hoping to escape the ruin, so Ringo decides to join up with them, seeing as they’re all going to the same place anyway. Of course, Oji is still searching for her, coming across the group of robots who are heading to “Luna”, although Oji doesn’t believe that she is in fact her. I suppose having played an important part in her murder would do that, so of course he follows after them, most likely assuming that at least one of them will have seen Ringo.
Leda and Dio watch over the city that Luna is rumoured to be in and according to Leda, both humans and robots are gathering there. Apparently, Leda is being mischevious, having ordered Dio’s army to attack the city without Dio’s permission. Of course Leda makes the excuse that they all want to be acknowledged by him and that all those who have gathered at the city are humans and useless robots. Of course, being an even better “villain” character than Dio, she uses that as a reason to write all of them off as “ok to kill”.
Dio, consider yourself...UPSTAGED!
Really, Leda makes for an incredible villain. Creepy, mysterious, sexy and downright terrifying; if she isn’t the final boss, at least for a little while anyway, I will be very surprised. Either her or Braiking Boss anyway; Dio really doesn’t feel like the type to end up like that. Leda also seems to believe that the Luna in that town is a fake, saying that Casshern did indeed kill her.
Oji continues on his search for Ringo, walking through the sea of robots and humans shouting to her in hopes that she will answer. Before he can find Ringo, Oji witnesses an attack carried out by members of Dio’s army who are, you guessed it, looking for Luna. Of course, it doesn’t matter what anyone says of does because after all, they’re faceless robots and this is Casshern SINS, so as expected they go on a massive genocide of pretty much everyone there.
As it turns out, Ringo and her new friend have been found by these robots too, one of them actually decapitating Ringo’s helpless and confusing companion, before advancing towards Ringo, who attempts to escape, only to be cornered when she can find no way out.
It seems all hope is lost, even Casshern being too far away to help, but wait! In comes Oji, impaling the offending robot with a pipe he found nearby in a sheer display of pure awesome, anyone that thought that old men couldn’t kick ass; OJI HAS PROVEN YOU WRONG!
Anyway, back to Dio and Leda who are overlooking the carnage, Leda again trying to boost Dio’s ego by saying that his power will exceed that which Braiking Boss once held and that this genocide is the first step towards that. Dio disagrees, saying that it was Leda who made the army fighting in his honour; Leda denies this, saying that they gathered for him, the strongest king.
Dio again denies this, saying that there’s still someone he must defeat before he can call himself the strongest I wonder who THAT could be? Perhaps Oji, after all, he’s particularly awesome this episode.
After a flashback in which Dio discovers Casshern after him having just killed Luna; Dio seeming to be incredibly shocked at it all. This immediately leads to the reappearance of our protagonist, who has been strangely absent this episode, of course he’s still angsting, scared to help out the people in the city because he believes he won’t be able to stop himself. Friender seems disgusted by this, looking angrily (Not that he can really look anything but angry…) at Casshern before running down to the city.
Is anyone besides me suspicious of how "nice" Braiking Boss is being?
Even Braiking Boss tries to talk him into going, saying that the old him would have gone down there without thinking twice, although Casshern brushes this off, saying he doesn’t want to kill anymore. Braiking Boss, still smiling his incredibly creepy grin says that if he doesn’t go down there, even more will die, though of course, everyone dies eventually as he says. Except for Casshern of course, who will live on forever.
Braiking Boss says that it doesn’t matter to him who dies and that whether Casshern saves them or not is entirely up to him. As he leaves he says simply that he couldn’t bare being hated because he said too much, what this means, I don’t know. Perhaps Braiking Boss is looking for some sort of redemption for what he did, or maybe his eternal grin hides some sinister plot to regain the power he lost. Perhaps we’ll see soon, I don’t know, but knowing his position as the primary antagonist in the previous incarnations of the Casshern franchise, I expect him to do something. I doubt that Tatsunoko wouldn’t have something huge planned for him anyway.
Anyway, for Casshern to consider going it takes the appearance of Lyuze too, who tells him that while he stands here, the lives of the people down below are being taken away, even ones of young children. Hearing “young children”, Casshern immediately thinks of Ringo, who is still stuck in the middle of the destroyed town, hiding with Oji.
At the town, Oji and Ringo are cornered by the members of Dio’s army, about to be destroyed by them, only to be saved by, you guessed it, Casshern! Although after his earlier display of GAR, I think that Oji could’ve handled them.
But of course, this isn’t just regular Casshern, this is a dammed angry Casshern with Friender at his side, and when you have that against you, you know you’re screwed! Of course Casshern isn’t doing all the work, as Lyuze is showing just how powerful she is too, taking out several robots in the matter of a second, angered that the only reason that they killed all of those travellers was because they didn’t know where Luna was.
Dio soon witnesses the battle down below, saying that while he does not believe in God, he is thankful for this blessing, that he is pleased to be able to fight Casshern so soon after his wounds have healed. No words are exchanged after this as Casshern and Dio immediately rush into battle, colliding in mid-air at such high speeds that they appear as nothing more than a blur. After several of these collisions, both of them land, slightly wounded from their fight.
Casshern asks whether Dio made these robots commit this act of genocide, Dio saying that he did, if only to see Casshern once more, although this was not intentional, but that this is simply how things have ended up. Braiking Boss watches their battle from afar, musing upon how Casshern and Dio were created as equals, and that he wonders which one of them will “cut their way through fate”.
Dio also mentions how they were created as equals, but somehow, in some way, Casshern was always one step ahead of him, even when he killed Luna. Dio says that he’s tired of looking at Casshern’s back, that from now on he’ll be the one in front, by defeating him and proving his strength. This monologue of course leads to another appearance of the Dio kick, his mighty delayed reaction bullet-foot launching Casshern into a wall and yes, you guessed it, more Casshern angst is on the way!
Casshern asks Dio whether his death will satisfy him, Dio says that it will, that he will finally be able to call himself the strongest being in the world. Casshern asks him that if he is satisfied, whether he would stop killing. Casshern says that if Dio swears to kill noone else, that he would gladly die for him.
Dio takes this as an insult, grabbing Casshern by the collar in rage, Casshern saying that if Dio cannot do that, then he will fight to protect those who can’t protect themselves. THERE is the Casshern I know!
Of course this enrages Dio to new heights as evident when he destroys rocks with his foot, leading to yet another epic “zip through the skies at high speeds” fight, Casshern deciding that this is the only way that he can atone for killing Luna. Dio calls that foolish, saying that no matter what he does, the fact that he killed Luna is something that will not change and neither will his humiliation of Dio.
Casshern really should learn to not talk during fights because it always ends the same way, Casshern with his face in a big rock of pain. The fight causes a few rocks to fall, hitting Oji’s leg and narrowly missing Ringo, something which immediately prompts Lyuze to run to help them, only for her to be attacked by Leda, who quickly knocks Lyuze to the ground, just as Dio had done to Casshern a short time ago.
Dio looks down at Casshern before throwing him into a wall and starting another “zip-fight” for a short time before Casshern manages to get a lucky hit in, reopening his old wound. Leda worries about how soon this was, that if Dio is disgraced, her army will fall apart.
Leda interferes with the battle, alerting Casshern of Lyuze’s wounds and forcing Dio to stop and fall back, saying that today’s goal was to find the one calling herself Luna and that with them not finding her, there is no reason for them to stay in the city. Dio seems to accept this, merely touching the wound that had formed, while Braiking Boss seems to be annoyed that Leda interfered with the fight, though rather than reflect on that, he mentions his confusion over the fact that Leda is backing up Dio.
I get the feeling that Tatsunoko has decided on their official pairing now, and I like it <3
Casshern checks up on Lyuze who, while injured appears to have not suffered any fatal wounds (Yay!) and thanks Casshern for coming to her aid. She says she still doesn’t forgive him, but as he’s willing to protect those who are falling into ruin, that she won’t let him die until the day the world changes. Wait…
LYUZE DON’T SAY THAT, THAT’S A DEATH FLAG DAMMIT!
She says that she’ll make sure that he keeps fighting until everyone is saved, leaving along with Casshern and Friender this time. Oji asks Ringo why she hasn’t told them that she’s going with them, Ringo saying that she can’t leave him there, injured as he is. Oji and Ringo then talk to each other, wondering whether Casshern,Lyuze and Friender will reach Luna. Oji says that he doesn’t think the world will change simply by them finding Luna, though he says that he would be happy if he could just live with Ringo in peace. I love that scene, it’s just too touching to dislike in any way and really shows just how close the two of them are, being almost like father and daughter in really.
Of course Tatsunoko can’t end it there. No, they end with this:
Tatsunoko, you're a bunch of clever, evil bastards. Yet, I can't help but love you.
Tatsunoko, if you don’t explain this next week, I WILL BE COMING FOR YOU ALL!
I mean it, that cliffhanger was just…mean.
Anyway, overall this was one hell of an entertaining episode, as expected of Casshern, the series I voted as “Best of 2008″, I look forward to more, and I will promise to be “on-time” more often from now on.
Ric’s Overall Rating of Episode 14: 10/10
Ric’s Anticipation-o-meter: 4000/10
You read that correctly! Four-thousand!
