Review for Casshern Sins - Part 2 (3 Discs)

Introduction

I find that my enthusiasm for Casshern Sins has waned since the release of part 1, although it has nothing to do with the content of the discs. The reason is that I'm reviewing the DVD release of part 2, and not the Blu-ray release. The series is dark and nihilistic, but the Blu-ray was a thing of beauty, bringing out the show's watercolour tones, bold outlines and energetic animation to stunning effect. Then, 36 hours after the release of the first instalment, Manga Entertainment effectively announced the cancellation of the part 2 Blu-ray, citing poor sales of part 1. Just 36 hours, indicating that sales decisions are made on pre-orders not actual sales. It seems the Blu-ray just didn't have a chance. On the Gerald Ratner scale of 'foot-in-mouth-itis' it hardly ranks a 2 or 3 out of a potential 10, but it is annoying nonetheless. Now I just hope that the DVD upscales well.


The world is dying. Society has crumbled, humans are an endangered species, and the robots that once ruled the world are now falling to ruin. That should be Ruin with a capital 'R', as a plague of rust and decay now condemns robots to a rapid death, and they are left to prey on one another for spare parts in desperate attempts to prolong their existences. It all began a hundred years previously, when Casshern murdered the sun that was the moon, Luna, an act that unleashed the death and decay that now pollutes the world. It's into this world that Casshern has now awakened, but he has no memory of his past, no inkling that this affliction is his fault. At the same time, a rumour spreads through the surviving machines; that robot which kills and devours Casshern will gain immortality and immunity from the Ruin. As Casshern travels the land, he battles to stay alive, and fights to regain his memory. The more he learns, the more his sin bears down upon him, and the more he realises that he has to atone.


In the previous instalment, Casshern learns that he isn't alone, that there are two like him, Leda and Dio, and they are raising an army of robots to restore a robot empire, the like of which hasn't been seen since the Braiking Boss. Dio has a desire to defeat Casshern to prove his innate superiority. But in his travels, Casshern also learns that there are some more amenable characters around, particularly the cute Ringo, and her ambivalent guardian Ohji, while at the same time, the vengeful Lyuze seeking to kill Casshern for what he did, finds that she can't harbour the intense hatred for him when he can't even remember the crime he committed. Casshern also picks up a loyal companion in the form of the robot dog Friender. But as the first half of the series progressed, rumours surfaced that Luna wasn't dead, that she was in fact still alive, and still offering the gift of life to humans and robots alike, curing the affliction that is the Ruin.


Manga Entertainment release the second part of Casshern Sins on three DVD discs. All three discs host four episodes apiece, and look to be sourced from the Australian Siren Entertainment release.

Disc 1
13. The Past Rises Before My Eyes
14. The Truth Illuminates the Darkness
15. The Angel of Death, Dune
16. For the Strength to Believe

Disc 2
17. The Glass Cradle
18. The Time I've Lived and the Time I Have Left
19. Believe in the Flower that Lives in Your Heart
20. For Whom Do The Flowers Bloom?

Disc 3
21. The Paradise of Lost Hope
22. A Drop Called Eternity
23. Those Who Return
24. To The Wandering, Blooming Flowers

Picture

Casshern Sins is a complex, visual accomplishment, a veritable moving work of art. There is an old school aesthetic to the character designs, no doubt paying homage to the original series. But Madhouse's superb animation is energetic, vigorous and rich in motion. Topping it all off is the visual aesthetic, the complex colour design, and the rich background art. Casshern Sins is a dark, atmospheric, moody and very stylish anime. Its use of colour is bold, dramatic, yet strictly controlled and carefully considered. You could say in a way that it is a monochrome anime, as themes and emotions determine the predominant colour in a scene, and everything becomes tinted by that colour. There are strong reds, yellows, blues, all hitting the screen like emotional bombshells. It's also a show that relies heavily on darkness, on shadow detail and keeping things cloaked. But this isn't a simple use of colour, this is rich, varied and gradual, with each scene exploring every possible variation of a shade, rather than sticking to a single tone. Like I said, a work of art.


This is an anime ideally suited to Blu-ray, but alas Part 2 only comes on DVD in the UK. I had my reservations about such a visually complex animation on DVD, but Manga Entertainment have come up trumps, sourcing the discs from Australia's Siren Entertainment. Unlike the US DVDs, Siren have stripped the show of its extras, and divided the twelve episodes across three, dual layer discs, not that they really needed to. None of the discs pass 5GB in terms of space used. But the image is clear and sharp throughout, the native PAL transfer eliminates issues like ghosting, judder or low resolution, while compression artefacts are minimal, and colour banding is surprisingly absent. The complex colour design of Casshern comes across without issue. Of course there is slight aliasing around edge detail at times, fine detail does invite moiré, the limitations of the DVD format, and watching the show upscaled, the difference in detail between this and the Part 1 Blu-ray becomes apparent. So does the depth of colour detail. It's such a shame that Part 2 couldn't be released here on Blu-ray.

Sound

The sound comes in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo for the Japanese, and 5.1 Surround for the English, with optional translated subtitles and signs. The Siren discs default to the Japanese stereo and subtitle track on insertion, and if you want the dub, you'll have to remember to select it from the menu. As I always do, I opted for the original language track, and found it to be acceptable enough, the dialogue clear, the music expressive, and the action represented well. The 5.1 Surround does establish more of a dynamic presence though, particularly during the action sequences, and it's a far more solid and vibrant an experience. If you can tolerate the English dub, that is the option to go for, and from what I sampled, Casshern Sins gets one of the good dubs from Funimation, cast appropriately and suited to the tone of the show.

Extras

While the Region 1 release had some nominal extras, a music video and textless credits, this release gets nothing. It does have some nice animated menus though, and while Funimation have a habit of localising the credit sequences, this release maintains the original Japanese credit sequences for the episodes.

Conclusion

I gave part 1 of Casshern Sins the benefit of the doubt a couple of months ago. Part of it was because the show was just so achingly beautiful, an animated work of art that simply captivated through sheer visual aesthetic alone. Part of it was because it was clearly part of a larger whole, one that could only be evaluated in its entirety, not piecemeal. The characters were enigmatic, the story was told unconventionally, with a non-linear narrative, and the blend of individual stories and overall arc, while provocative, was reluctant to yield its secrets. Now that Part 2 is finally here, I can take a look at the bigger picture, evaluate in its entirety, and conclude if Casshern Sins is indeed the stunning revolution in narrative that it promised to be. It's not! I found instead that Casshern Sins fell disappointingly flat in this collection of episodes, and worse, that fall was swift, plummeting, and comprehensive. It went from an enigmatic and compelling piece of artful imagination to a rather clichéd, hackneyed and a simplistic tale, albeit a stunningly pretty one, and it did so in the space of just one episode.


Worse, it was episode 14, meaning that the disappointment set in early, and the deflated feeling persisted for the remaining 10 episodes of the series. Up to this point, mostly through the first half of the series, we followed Casshern as he explored the rundown, wrecked future world, destroyed by the affliction of the Ruin, with only the information that he was responsible. He was the one that killed Luna, and he was the one that released the plague that affected humans and machines alike, causing all to crumble, the robot empire to fall. But he has no memory of this, only the hatred of almost everyone he encounters, and the overpowering guilt that this engenders. He was on a search for his past, for his memories, and for atonement, and when rumours started to abound that Luna was instead still alive, offering a cure for the Ruin, this only added to the mystery.


Episode 14 is where the Braiking Boss, who led the Robot Empire, returns and it's where we get a heap load of exposition, answering some of the mystery of the show, and filling in the gaps in Casshern's memory. That's most of the mystery of the main character gone, dealt with. All that remains from this point forward is to resolve the enigma that is Luna. That is what the rest of the series is devoted to, a whole lot of travelling, all to find where Luna is, whether the rumours that she can cure the Ruin are true, and for Casshern to face the mistakes of his past. It's slowly paced, it's quite frankly interminable, and the pay off when it does come at the end of the series is unfulfilling.


Worse, what in the first half looked like thin characterisations masking inner depths, is revealed in this half to be just solely thin characterisation. Each character sticks firmly to his or her mission statement throughout. Casshern must expiate his guilt, Ohji must protect Ringo, Ringo must be cute, Lyuze must kill Casshern, but she loves Casshern, but she must kill Casshern...… Dio has to defeat Casshern, Leda must be beautiful and perfect, Dune must protect Luna, Luna must cure the Ruin. The constant iteration of these basic character traits soon begins to grate. What's more is none of the characters develop, they don't affect each other, they just stick to their basic personality.


The biggest shame is that Casshern Sins could have been so much more, that in this collection of episodes it lays the groundwork for so much more, and it wastes it all. At one point in the story, Ringo and the others encounter some more child robots, who gift them with Luna's nanocells. What does this mean? We never find out. We find out who Ohji really is, it's a major revelation, it should change the character dynamic, but it means not a jot in terms of how the story develops. Ringo bleeds, a robot that bleeds, that's got to mean something. We never find out what. We learn the nature of Casshern, Dio, and Leda, that they are robots created for a unique purpose, gifted with an ability that ought to change the world. Other than adding to one of Leda's self-obsessions, it does nothing for the story.


Casshern Sins is a dumbed down Texhnolyze. It's what you would have if you take the wit, intelligence, the character and the depth out of the story. It's thin, inconsequential and ultimately disappointing, as it promises much, but delivers nothing but its astoundingly striking visuals. That may be its only redemptive point. Works of art don't always have to mean something. All they have to do is just be. That Casshern Sins exists is a testament to pure visual artistry, and I'm fully behind the idea of owning it just to watch it and marvel. As long as you don't expect anything from it, it is fulfilling. It's 24 episodes of pure mood, atmosphere, and ambience. In comparison to the live action feature film, itself a visual frenzy, Casshern Sins has the advantage of maintaining a cohesive tone and style throughout. It's far more pleasing on the eyes. It's just a shame that this second part couldn't be seen at its best, in Blu.