Neo-Human Casshan * 1973-1974 * Tatsunoko Productions

The first Japanese anime I got into was the American release of BATTLE OF THE PLANETS when I was a kid. For that reason I was interested in checking out NEO-HUMAN CASSHAN. It's also produced by TATSUNOKO PRODUCTIONS, and was released around the same time as BOTP (1973).

The story begins thusly: there is some great catastrophic event that befalls the Earth, affecting the 'green of the forests, and the blue of the oceans'. In response, robotics specialist PROFESSOR AZUMA creates a line of androids to help humanity. They are secretly housed in a medieval style castle that conceals his lab.

In a plot device clearly evoking FRANKENSTEIN a bolt of lightning short-circuits one of the androids (ANDROID BK-1), causing him to break programming and turn against the human race.

He escapes the lab, commits some violence and begins building his own army (ANDROID SQUAD).

The ANDROID SQUAD begins marching on humanity.

PROFESSOR AZUMA's son TETSUYA volunteers to be transformed into a 'neo-human' cyborg in order to combat the ANDROID SQUAD. After the family's dog LUCKY sacrifices itself fighting a robot the hard decision is made.

In the design of the CASSHAN character I pick up properties of earlier TATSUNOKO PRODUCTIONS works like SPACE ACE and SPEED RACER/ MACH GO-GO-GO.

CASSHAN arrives, there's a battle and the hero's journey begins.

He is joined in his efforts by his reborn dog FRIENDER, now a cyborg capable of transforming into a flying jet.

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I enjoyed this anime. It's quickly paced. It gets into the action within the first few minutes, and the storyline is only mildly convoluted.

If you're a fan of BATTLE OF THE PLANETS there's a lot to like. TETSUYA clearly resembles MARK from BOTP. The animation style is exactly the same, as are the special effects and sound effects. The design of the android and robotic villains look like they could be from BOTP. The dog FRIENDER even transforms into a ship that's appears to be a differently-colored PHOENIX.

This cartoon contains graphic violence. A guy dies from having his head split open, and another is choked to death by ANDROID BK-1. LUCKY the dog is electrocuted to death.

The thing I was not expecting but that I enjoyed was the mild influence of classical GREEK/ ROMAN elements. The final battle takes place in an ancient Mediterranean-style amphitheater. Classical elements also show up in the Legionnaire-style marching of the ANDROID SQUAD, and in a scene of boots trampling a child's doll.

I will definitely be adding this to the growing list of anime I like from TATSUNOKO PRODUCTIONS! It belongs alongside SPACE ACE, SPEED RACER, BATTLE OF THE PLANETS, GORDIAN, GENESIS CLIMBER MOSPEADA and more.