OP Theme: Aoi no Hana by Color Bottle
ED Theme: Reason by K^N^
IN A NUTSHELL: Rumors of Casshern begin to spread among other robots. Meanwhile, Casshern finds himself in a degenerate community consisting of ruined robots who have all accepted "death."
Remember your sins
The pink-haired girl confronts Casshern about all his sins -- his bringing ruin to the world. She adds that he brought the ruin by killing "the sun called Moon." But Casshern does not remember anything of his past.
At first, the pink-haired girl is unable to accept this. But then later on, she makes the decision to let him live and suffer. She rationalizes that if she killed him now, it would be like "freeing him."
"Why do robots have to die?" = "Were we even alive to begin with?"
Meanwhile, two robots huddled around a fire discuss the rumor about Casshern. It is said that the one who kills and devours Casshern would become immortal. But one of the robots just dismisses this as a mere rumor with no truth to it. The other robot bemoans their fate of having to die, when they are supposed to be immortals. He resolves that, rumor or not, he is going to find Casshern. After he leaves, his companion rhetorically asks if they were even alive to begin with to warrant a real "death."
In another meanwhile, two robots, Root and Wrench, are hanging out together. Wrench is expostulating than even though they are both robots, she feels warm when she is with Root and that she feels "electricity" when she holds his hand. She adds that as long as they are together she is not afraid of the ruin.
However, a group of marauding robots suddenly appear, disrupting the lovers. One of the robots declares his hatred for robots who act like humans. With this, he starts attacking the two. A robot dog, whom Wrench calls 'Friender,' tries to defend the two but its efforts are in vain. Finally, Casshern arrives and makes short work of them.
gratitude has many faces
Grateful for Casshern's intervention, Root and Wrench bring him to their home. The home turns out to be a cavernous area populated by a handful of robots who are in various stages of ruin. These robots, like Wrench and Root, have all come to accept their deaths and are now trying to accompany each other till their last moments. Casshern arrives there just as they are burying one of their own.
The leader of the group is a "Doctor" who tells Casshern what 'ruin' means for a robot: parts that are previously replaceable can no longer be replaced and their bodies to rust and disintegrate.Casshern sees his first glimpse of the ruin up close and is horrified by what he sees. The Doctor comments that Casshern does not belong in their community and asks him to leave.
That evening, Wrench goes to Casshern alone and asks him to take Friender with him. She says that like Casshern, the ruin does not show in Friender. Their talk is interrupted by the arrival of Root. Casshern witnesses their affection for each other and their apparent faith. He asks them if they are not afraid and Root answers that as long as he and Wrench are together, they are not afraid of ruin. This seems to put Casshern in a move as he makes his way out of there. But before he can get far, the robot from earlier starts attacking the whole community, demanding for Casshern.
survival of the fittest
Mistaking Root for Casshern, the robot turns on him. Friender again valiantly tries to defend its master but to no avail. Casshern then arrives and kills the robot but not before the robot could reveal Casshern's rumored immortality. Upon hearing this, all the other robots in the community begin to light up with a new kind of hope. Root is the first to attack Casshern, much to Wrench's shock. All the other robots follow, spurred on by their desire to survive.
This sudden turn of events forces Casshern into berserker mode and he ends up killing the entire community, leaving only Wrench. But Wrench is already lost to ruin. Only after everyone is dead does Casshern wake up and realize what he's done.
COMMENTS:
First thing first, I don't see any perceptible downgrade in production values. This episode is as superb as the first. I think out of all the titles to come out this season, Casshern Sins has one of the more unique art -- retro and at the same time hip. Apparently, this series is a revisit of a 1993-vintage OVA, Casshern: Robot Hunter. So that actually explains why it looks the way it does.
That said, we finally get to see the OP and ED clips in this episode. All I can say is: interesting. The OP consists of several stills of Casshern rendered in furious sketches, while the ED has the pink-haired girl and Ringo hanging out at the beach.
So in this episode, we find out a little more about the "ruin" and why the world is the way it is now. Apparently, Casshern's murder of Luna caused this, although why he killed her and how all this came to be remains to be seen. Robots aren't just robots in this series. They seem to have gained a level of awareness that put them on par with humans, but seemingly at the cost of their immortality. Now, they have to experience the one thing that separates humans from robots -- that of death.
I think that's very interesting. Everything comes at a cost, after all.
The pink-haired girl needs to be named because it's becoming weird just referring to her as that.
Next up: Episode 3
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment