Casshern
Encyclopedia
is a 2004
Japan
ese tokusatsu
film adaptation
of the anime series of the same name. It was written
and directed
by Kazuaki Kiriya
. It stars Yusuke Iseya
as Tetsuya Azuma/Casshern, Kumiko Aso as Luna Kozuki, Toshiaki Karasawa
as Burai, Mayumi Sada as Saguree, and Jun Kaname
as Barashin.
rises in Zone 7 and the Federation mobilizes its military. However, the war and heavy industry have exhausted the Federation and polluted the environment
.
In the Federation Health Ministry, Dr. Azuma presents his discovery of Neo Cells
, human cells that, in theory, can be converted to regenerate human tissue. The Neo Cells are only found in the genome
of "a primitive ethnic group." He states that he can develop the Neo Cells for human use, but is quickly denounced. But Kaoru Naito, from Nikko Hairal Inc., offers Dr. Azuma sponsorship. Azuma is persuaded when Naito insinuates that accepting will also help Dr. Azuma cure his wife, Midori.
A photo shoot at the Azuma Residence follows, commemorating Tetsuya's (Azuma's son) engagement to Luna. They argue about Tetsuya joining the military. One year later, Tetsuya is deployed to Eurasia Zone 7. He kills civilians, and is killed by a booby trap
.
Azuma invites Luna's father, Dr. Kozuki, to his lab. They are rivals, since Azuma's cell research makes Kozuki's armor research redundant. However, although organs have been grown from the Neo Cells, they are not usable. Meanwhile, Midori, now almost blind, is visited by Tetsuya's ghost
. Shortly after she is told of his death. His body is sent to Azuma's lab.
Tetsuya's ghost sees the body. A lightning bolt strikes the facility and stimulates the Neo Cells, causing the limbs and organs to restructure into humans. Naito calls for the military to kill them. But a few escape and encounter Midori in her car, which they hijack.
Azuma carries Tetsuya's body into his lab. Tetsuya is resurrected, but his condition is unstable, and he is brought to Kozuki's residence. Kozuki puts him in prototype battle armor.
The Neo humans travel to Zone 7, sheltering in a derelict castle, where they discover a robot army. Calling themselves "Neo-Sapiens," they vow revenge and reactivate the robots to wage war upon humanity.
Kozuki's residence is attacked and Tetsuya is awakened. He kills a female Neo-Sapien, Saguree, but cannot save Kozuki. He escapes with Luna but is confronted by a robot battalion. After eliminating them Tetsuya battles the leader, Burai only to lose consciousness. When he comes to, he and Luna go to Zone Seven, but the route is contaminated, and Luna falls ill.
Tetsuya is found in the forest by a doctor and led to a nearby village in Zone Seven, where the doctor treats Luna. It is revealed the people of Zone Seven aren't terrorists at all, but have been slaughtered for decades because of the government's discriminatory policies. The doctor, in conversation, informs Tetsuya of a local legend of a protective deity named "Casshern"-a deity whose statue makes numerous appearances in the movie. Tetsuya fights Barashin as the village comes under attack by the military and Neo-sapiens, and it is here that he first refers to himself as Casshern. While both suffer injuries in the fight, Casshern is the victor and Barashin is killed. Fighting Barashin has caused Tetsuya to lose Luna, who escaped with a Neo-sapien and eventually found her way to a train full of captured villagers from Zone Seven. Here, Luna and the Neo-sapien are confronted by a bereaved scientist who blames the Neo-sapiens for the loss of his daughter. Luna is rescued by Dr. Azuma, but the Neo-sapien is injured.
A coup d’état takes place and General Kamijo's son takes over, while in the laboratory Naito reveals that Neo Cells are not what they seem. The Neo Cells were acquired from the slaughtered "original humans" of Zone Seven for the purposes of prolonging General Kamijo and his cohorts' lives, and the Neo Cell culture did not in fact create the Neo-Sapiens. It simply rejoined the body parts that were harvested from the victims of Zone Seven after being struck by the stone lightning bolt. Even though Dr. Azuma had been spearheading the macabre experiments, he is unable to explain what has happened. As they talk, the stone lightning bolt crumbles and Casshern appears to fall from the sky into the laboratory, which is now in ruins.
Burai arrives with an airship and abducts Luna, Casshern and the dying Neo-sapien, leaving a now fatally wounded Naito, Dr. Azuma and General Kamijo's son alone. Burai gives his reasons for hating humanity, and Casshern finds his mother, but she's apparently dead. Burai launches a giant machine that appears to be set to self-destruct, which slaughters countless soldiers. Casshern uses all his strength to stop the machine, although it still detonates, albeit away from any urban or heavily populated area.
In the finale, the General's son kills Burai with a grenade after revealing he was human all along, and it is learned that Tetsuya, during his military service, slaughtered Burai's family. Casshern stops his father from resurrecting his mother, so Dr. Azuma retaliates by shooting Luna in the head. Luna is revived by the blood of Burai, only after Casshern kills his father. The souls of the dead come onto Casshern as he and Luna embrace each other. Luna rips out Tetsuya's containment suit and a pillar of light fires into space. It ends with a monologue by Tetsuya while the screen alternates between the pillar of light making its way through space & crashing down onto another planet and flashbacks of happier times for the characters.
The film ends with home footage of the characters in happier times.
television series
, Shinzō Ningen Kyashān
(translated as "Neo-Human Casshern" and known as just Casshan in the United States
) from animation studio Tatsunoko Productions. Along with contemporary films Able Edwards
, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
, Immortal, and Sin City
, it was among the first feature-length live action films to be shot on a digital backlot
, with the actors performing in front of a greenscreen and all but the simplest stage elements added digitally after the fact.
As well as being influenced by Shakespeare's Hamlet
, director Kazuaki Kiriya
states that he drew upon Russian Avant-Garde
for visual inspiration.
European influences are also shown in the battles and some stage settings that are designed to resemble the World War II Nazis. The first robot battles, however, were less performed by the original cast, and more by the Euro-Japanese duo of stunts and choreographers, Orinosuke Funakoshi (オリノスケ フナコシ) and Motoori Chinatsu (チナツ モトオリ), thus making the feature more influenced by mixed history of European part of the world. The set also features vast number of Russian, Serbo-Croatian and Bosnian writings, calling out for peace, hence holding a unified message of people who were devastated with civil wars post WWII.
Accoding to Kiriya, in an interview with Joblo, it took 2 months to shoot the film and a further 6 months of post-production work. The film's look was achieved through a combination of means, from CGI (supervised by Haruhiko Shono
), matte paintings to even Kiriya's heavy involvement with the cinematography.
The Japanese release contains a 6.1 channel soundtrack (Dolby Digital
5.1 on the PAL
Region 2
release) and English subtitle
s.
The theme song, "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro
", was written and sung by the director's ex-wife, pop
singer Hikaru Utada.
1,530,216 in 181 theaters. Staying within the top ten for five weeks, the film went on to make under US$
13 million. The production cost was estimated at US$
6.6 million.
On Rotten Tomatoes
Casshern has acquired an overall approval rating of 69% from 9 reviews by critics. Empire gave it 3 out of possible 5 stars and described it as "flawed and messy, but a hell of a looker" while IGN
reviewer, Hock Teh, gave the recent American DVD release 8 out of 10 stating that "without any doubt, Casshern is a compelling piece of filmmaking". Variety
reviewer Derek Elley notes that while not entirely original in its content, its execution and inventiveness are impressive.
The DVD received an official Region 1 Release on October 16, 2007. The US release is a full 24 minutes shorter than the original. It features both a Dolby Digital
5.1 and Dolby Digital
stereo Japanese soundtrack, as well as English subtitles. The subtitles are almost universally criticized by fans for being enormously incomplete. On several occasions they are lacking entirely; when they do appear they often completely differ from the dialogue or oversimplify it to such a degree that key plot elements and the overall force of the story are diminished. This is a common practice for foreign movies in Japan, though, and is done purposefully by studios to localize the film for the target audience.
Another album titled CASSHERN ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK: Complete Edition was released. This album is Composed and Arranged by Shiro Sagisu with several tracks composed by Tomohiko Gondo and arranged by Yuichiro Honda.
2004 in film
The year 2004 in film involved some significant events. Major releases of sequels took place. It included blockbuster films like Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Passion of the Christ, Meet the Fockers, Blade: Trinity, Spider-Man 2, Alien vs. Predator, Kill Bill Vol...
Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese tokusatsu
Tokusatsu
is a Japanese term that applies to any live-action film or television drama that usually features superheroes and makes considerable use of special effects ....
film adaptation
Film adaptation
Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
of the anime series of the same name. It was written
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Kazuaki Kiriya
Kazuaki Kiriya
, born April 20, 1968 in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, is a Japanese photographer and director of films and music videos. His birth name is .He made his feature film debut writing and directing the live action film adaptation of Casshern in 2004. In 2009, he wrote and directed his second film,...
. It stars Yusuke Iseya
Yusuke Iseya
is a Japanese actor.He was born in Tokyo, Japan. With his modeling career , Yūsuke is known for Loreal , Men's Nonno magazine, Prada , and Asahi Aqua Blue....
as Tetsuya Azuma/Casshern, Kumiko Aso as Luna Kozuki, Toshiaki Karasawa
Toshiaki Karasawa
is a Japanese theatre and film actor. He made his theatrical debut in the play Voice Review Stay Gold in 1987. He specialises in theatrical action sequences such as swordplay and fighting...
as Burai, Mayumi Sada as Saguree, and Jun Kaname
Jun Kaname
is a Japanese actor. He was born in Mitoyo, Kagawa. He made his drama debut as an actor in 2001 in the Tokusatsu Series "Kamen Rider Agito". He appears not only in TV dramas but also in movies, commercial messages, variety TV programs, plays, and music videos.-TV:...
as Barashin.
Plot
A fifty-year war between the Eastern Federation and Europa ends, with the Federation taking control of the Eurasian continent. A resistance movementResistance movement
A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to opposing an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign state. It may seek to achieve its objects through either the use of nonviolent resistance or the use of armed force...
rises in Zone 7 and the Federation mobilizes its military. However, the war and heavy industry have exhausted the Federation and polluted the environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
.
In the Federation Health Ministry, Dr. Azuma presents his discovery of Neo Cells
Stem cell
This article is about the cell type. For the medical therapy, see Stem Cell TreatmentsStem cells are biological cells found in all multicellular organisms, that can divide and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and can self-renew to produce more stem cells...
, human cells that, in theory, can be converted to regenerate human tissue. The Neo Cells are only found in the genome
Genome
In modern molecular biology and genetics, the genome is the entirety of an organism's hereditary information. It is encoded either in DNA or, for many types of virus, in RNA. The genome includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA/RNA....
of "a primitive ethnic group." He states that he can develop the Neo Cells for human use, but is quickly denounced. But Kaoru Naito, from Nikko Hairal Inc., offers Dr. Azuma sponsorship. Azuma is persuaded when Naito insinuates that accepting will also help Dr. Azuma cure his wife, Midori.
A photo shoot at the Azuma Residence follows, commemorating Tetsuya's (Azuma's son) engagement to Luna. They argue about Tetsuya joining the military. One year later, Tetsuya is deployed to Eurasia Zone 7. He kills civilians, and is killed by a booby trap
Booby trap
A booby trap is a device designed to harm or surprise a person, unknowingly triggered by the presence or actions of the victim. As the word trap implies, they often have some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. However, in other cases the device is placed on busy roads or is...
.
Azuma invites Luna's father, Dr. Kozuki, to his lab. They are rivals, since Azuma's cell research makes Kozuki's armor research redundant. However, although organs have been grown from the Neo Cells, they are not usable. Meanwhile, Midori, now almost blind, is visited by Tetsuya's ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
. Shortly after she is told of his death. His body is sent to Azuma's lab.
Tetsuya's ghost sees the body. A lightning bolt strikes the facility and stimulates the Neo Cells, causing the limbs and organs to restructure into humans. Naito calls for the military to kill them. But a few escape and encounter Midori in her car, which they hijack.
Azuma carries Tetsuya's body into his lab. Tetsuya is resurrected, but his condition is unstable, and he is brought to Kozuki's residence. Kozuki puts him in prototype battle armor.
The Neo humans travel to Zone 7, sheltering in a derelict castle, where they discover a robot army. Calling themselves "Neo-Sapiens," they vow revenge and reactivate the robots to wage war upon humanity.
Kozuki's residence is attacked and Tetsuya is awakened. He kills a female Neo-Sapien, Saguree, but cannot save Kozuki. He escapes with Luna but is confronted by a robot battalion. After eliminating them Tetsuya battles the leader, Burai only to lose consciousness. When he comes to, he and Luna go to Zone Seven, but the route is contaminated, and Luna falls ill.
Tetsuya is found in the forest by a doctor and led to a nearby village in Zone Seven, where the doctor treats Luna. It is revealed the people of Zone Seven aren't terrorists at all, but have been slaughtered for decades because of the government's discriminatory policies. The doctor, in conversation, informs Tetsuya of a local legend of a protective deity named "Casshern"-a deity whose statue makes numerous appearances in the movie. Tetsuya fights Barashin as the village comes under attack by the military and Neo-sapiens, and it is here that he first refers to himself as Casshern. While both suffer injuries in the fight, Casshern is the victor and Barashin is killed. Fighting Barashin has caused Tetsuya to lose Luna, who escaped with a Neo-sapien and eventually found her way to a train full of captured villagers from Zone Seven. Here, Luna and the Neo-sapien are confronted by a bereaved scientist who blames the Neo-sapiens for the loss of his daughter. Luna is rescued by Dr. Azuma, but the Neo-sapien is injured.
A coup d’état takes place and General Kamijo's son takes over, while in the laboratory Naito reveals that Neo Cells are not what they seem. The Neo Cells were acquired from the slaughtered "original humans" of Zone Seven for the purposes of prolonging General Kamijo and his cohorts' lives, and the Neo Cell culture did not in fact create the Neo-Sapiens. It simply rejoined the body parts that were harvested from the victims of Zone Seven after being struck by the stone lightning bolt. Even though Dr. Azuma had been spearheading the macabre experiments, he is unable to explain what has happened. As they talk, the stone lightning bolt crumbles and Casshern appears to fall from the sky into the laboratory, which is now in ruins.
Burai arrives with an airship and abducts Luna, Casshern and the dying Neo-sapien, leaving a now fatally wounded Naito, Dr. Azuma and General Kamijo's son alone. Burai gives his reasons for hating humanity, and Casshern finds his mother, but she's apparently dead. Burai launches a giant machine that appears to be set to self-destruct, which slaughters countless soldiers. Casshern uses all his strength to stop the machine, although it still detonates, albeit away from any urban or heavily populated area.
In the finale, the General's son kills Burai with a grenade after revealing he was human all along, and it is learned that Tetsuya, during his military service, slaughtered Burai's family. Casshern stops his father from resurrecting his mother, so Dr. Azuma retaliates by shooting Luna in the head. Luna is revived by the blood of Burai, only after Casshern kills his father. The souls of the dead come onto Casshern as he and Luna embrace each other. Luna rips out Tetsuya's containment suit and a pillar of light fires into space. It ends with a monologue by Tetsuya while the screen alternates between the pillar of light making its way through space & crashing down onto another planet and flashbacks of happier times for the characters.
The film ends with home footage of the characters in happier times.
Production
The film is loosely based on a 1973 animeAnime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
, Shinzō Ningen Kyashān
Casshan
Casshan also known as in Japan, is an anime series created by animation studio Tatsunoko Productions in 1973, which was based on a serialization in Kodansha’s Terebi Magazine and Akita Shoten’s “Boken Oh” ....
(translated as "Neo-Human Casshern" and known as just Casshan in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) from animation studio Tatsunoko Productions. Along with contemporary films Able Edwards
Able Edwards
Able Edwards is a 2004 film directed by Graham Robertson. Able Edwards follows the clone of a Walt Disneyesque entertainment mogul created to revive the glory days of his deceased predecessor's corporation...
, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a 2004 American pulp adventure science-fiction film written and directed by Kerry Conran in his directorial debut. The film is set in an alternative 1939 and follows the adventures of Polly Perkins , a newspaper reporter, and Harry Joseph "Joe" Sullivan ,...
, Immortal, and Sin City
Sin City (film)
Sin City, also known as Frank Miller's Sin City, is a 2005 crime thriller film written, produced and directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez...
, it was among the first feature-length live action films to be shot on a digital backlot
Digital backlot
Digital backlot is a term used to describe motion picture sets that have neither genuine location shoots nor practical sets on the soundstages; the shooting takes place entirely on a stage with a blank background that will have an artificial environment put in during post-production...
, with the actors performing in front of a greenscreen and all but the simplest stage elements added digitally after the fact.
As well as being influenced by Shakespeare's Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, director Kazuaki Kiriya
Kazuaki Kiriya
, born April 20, 1968 in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, is a Japanese photographer and director of films and music videos. His birth name is .He made his feature film debut writing and directing the live action film adaptation of Casshern in 2004. In 2009, he wrote and directed his second film,...
states that he drew upon Russian Avant-Garde
Russian avant-garde
The Russian avant-garde is an umbrella term used to define the large, influential wave of modern art that flourished in Russia approximately 1890 to 1930 - although some place its beginning as early as 1850 and its end as late as 1960...
for visual inspiration.
European influences are also shown in the battles and some stage settings that are designed to resemble the World War II Nazis. The first robot battles, however, were less performed by the original cast, and more by the Euro-Japanese duo of stunts and choreographers, Orinosuke Funakoshi (オリノスケ フナコシ) and Motoori Chinatsu (チナツ モトオリ), thus making the feature more influenced by mixed history of European part of the world. The set also features vast number of Russian, Serbo-Croatian and Bosnian writings, calling out for peace, hence holding a unified message of people who were devastated with civil wars post WWII.
Accoding to Kiriya, in an interview with Joblo, it took 2 months to shoot the film and a further 6 months of post-production work. The film's look was achieved through a combination of means, from CGI (supervised by Haruhiko Shono
Haruhiko Shono
is a Japanese computer graphics artist. He has served as director for numerous computer games and has provided CG work for motion pictures with , where he serves as corporate representative...
), matte paintings to even Kiriya's heavy involvement with the cinematography.
The Japanese release contains a 6.1 channel soundtrack (Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
5.1 on the PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
Region 2
DVD region code
DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
release) and English subtitle
Subtitle (captioning)
Subtitles are textual versions of the dialog in films and television programs, usually displayed at the bottom of the screen. They can either be a form of written translation of a dialog in a foreign language, or a written rendering of the dialog in the same language, with or without added...
s.
The theme song, "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro
Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro
is Hikaru Utada's 13th Japanese-language single and her 1st and only Japanese single for 2004. She released 2 versions of Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro: CD and DVD. It was released on April 2, 2004. Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro is also included in the "Our Last Days" - "Casshern" OST as the...
", was written and sung by the director's ex-wife, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
singer Hikaru Utada.
Reception
Casshern debuted on April 24, 2004 premiering in fifth place with a total gross of US$United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
1,530,216 in 181 theaters. Staying within the top ten for five weeks, the film went on to make under US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
13 million. The production cost was estimated at US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
6.6 million.
On Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
Casshern has acquired an overall approval rating of 69% from 9 reviews by critics. Empire gave it 3 out of possible 5 stars and described it as "flawed and messy, but a hell of a looker" while IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
reviewer, Hock Teh, gave the recent American DVD release 8 out of 10 stating that "without any doubt, Casshern is a compelling piece of filmmaking". Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
reviewer Derek Elley notes that while not entirely original in its content, its execution and inventiveness are impressive.
The DVD received an official Region 1 Release on October 16, 2007. The US release is a full 24 minutes shorter than the original. It features both a Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
5.1 and Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
stereo Japanese soundtrack, as well as English subtitles. The subtitles are almost universally criticized by fans for being enormously incomplete. On several occasions they are lacking entirely; when they do appear they often completely differ from the dialogue or oversimplify it to such a degree that key plot elements and the overall force of the story are diminished. This is a common practice for foreign movies in Japan, though, and is done purposefully by studios to localize the film for the target audience.
Cast
- Yusuke IseyaYusuke Iseyais a Japanese actor.He was born in Tokyo, Japan. With his modeling career , Yūsuke is known for Loreal , Men's Nonno magazine, Prada , and Asahi Aqua Blue....
as Tetsuya Azuma/Casshern - Kumiko Aso as Luna Kozuki
- Akira TeraoAkira Teraois Japanese musician and movie actor.-Career:In 1966, he debuted as a bassist of Group Sounds band, The Savage. As an actor, he debuted as Kenichi in Chikadô no taiyô made, a film directed by Kei Kumai in 1968....
as Professor Kotaro Azuma - Kanako HiguchiKanako Higuchiis a Japanese actress. Her credits include film, television, and radio dramas, stage, commercials, and voice roles. She married Shigesato Itoi in 1993 and has a dog named Bouillon....
as Midori Azuma - Fumiyo Kohinata as Professor Kozuki
- Hiroyuki MiyasakoHiroyuki Miyasakois a Japanese actor and comedian, and plays the boke in Ameagari Kesshitai. He won the award for Best Supporting Actor at the 28th Hochi Film Awards for Thirteen Steps and Wild Berries.-Filmography:*Thirteen Steps *Wild Berries...
as Akubon - Jun KanameJun Kanameis a Japanese actor. He was born in Mitoyo, Kagawa. He made his drama debut as an actor in 2001 in the Tokusatsu Series "Kamen Rider Agito". He appears not only in TV dramas but also in movies, commercial messages, variety TV programs, plays, and music videos.-TV:...
as Barashin - Hidetoshi Nishijima as Lieutenant-Colonel Kamijo
- Mitsuhiro Oikawa as Kaoru Naito
- Susumu TerajimaSusumu Terajimais a Japanese actor who has appeared in over 100 films, 15 television commercials, three PVs, and numerous television dramas in a career spanning over 20 years. He rarely is the star of the films he is in but he is widely respected for taking every job seriously and diving into his work,...
as Sakamoto - Hideji Otaki as President Kamijo
- Tatsuya Mihashi as Professor Furoi
- Toshiaki KarasawaToshiaki Karasawais a Japanese theatre and film actor. He made his theatrical debut in the play Voice Review Stay Gold in 1987. He specialises in theatrical action sequences such as swordplay and fighting...
as Burai - Mayumi Sada as Saguree
- Tetsuji TamayamaTetsuji Tamayamais a Japanese TV and film actor. He was born to a Korean father. He joined modeling competitions and was active in Checkmate and other fashion magazines. In 2001, Tamayama debuted in Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger as GaoSilver...
Soundtrack
A 2-disc soundtrack was released on April 23, 2004 titled OUR LAST DAY -CASSHERN OFFICIAL ALBUM-.Another album titled CASSHERN ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK: Complete Edition was released. This album is Composed and Arranged by Shiro Sagisu with several tracks composed by Tomohiko Gondo and arranged by Yuichiro Honda.
External links
- Casshern review on SubReview (English)
- Trailer at Apple.co.jp (QuickTimeQuickTimeQuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...
required, in JapaneseJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
only)