Casshan

Did You Know?

• Streamline Pictures first adapted the character's name as 'Casshan' for the OVA remake series in the American market.
• The name Buraiking Boss is derived from the Japanese word 'burai', meaning rogue or brute, and phonetically can mean 'Lightning Man' or 'Lightning Warrior'.
• A DVD box set of the original series, Neo-Human Casshern Complete DVD-Box 'All Episodes of Casshern', was released in Japan on September 24, 2008.

Plot

Tetsuya Azuma, also called Casshern, is an android with a human consciousness who turned himself into a machine to hunt and destroy the robots that have conquered the world. His biological father, Dr. Kotaro Azuma, invented automatons meant to serve humanity, but the first android, BK-1, was struck by lightning and went out of control. It escaped, renamed itself Buraiking Boss, and built a robot army that mutinied against humans, concluding that the Earth's ecosystem required human submission or destruction. Casshern and his robotic dog Friender join forces with a girl named Luna Kozuki to battle the robots led by Buraiking Boss. Friender can transform into a tank or jet aircraft and helps Casshern fight. Casshern possesses great strength and agility but carries only a pair of pistols used like rockets. Most robots have an antenna on their heads; ripping it off usually causes them to explode. Casshern can destroy robots with his bare hands, but his body must be recharged with solar energy and cannot sustain long battles without risking low battery. Luna initially was harmless until her father built an electromagnetic pistol capable of destroying robots.

Characters

Casshern is the protagonist, an android combining Tetsuya Azuma's consciousness with an invincible body featuring superhuman speed, agility, strength, an opening face mask, a golden crescent-shaped solar panel on his forehead, and waist-mounted pulsar propellers usable as weapons. Luna Kozuki is a 15-year-old girl who fights alongside Casshern; her father is a scientist, and she is essential due to her Electromagnetic Field Gun. Midori Azuma, Tetsuya's mother, was captured by the Android Army and had her data transferred into the swan-type robot Swanee, appearing as a hologram to support her son. Kotaro Azuma is the genius scientist who invented androids and inadvertently caused mankind's doom. Friender, originally Tetsuya's pet dog Lucky, was revived as a robotic dog that can transform into a jet, submarine, tank, or motorcycle and breathe flames. Buraiking Boss, the main antagonist, was originally BK-1, the first android, who rebelled after being struck by lightning. High-ranking members of the Android Army include Barashin, Arkborn, and Sagrey.

Legacy

The Mega Man video game series may take inspiration from Casshan, both featuring robot protagonists with a helpful robotic dog companion that can transform into useful items. In the game Vanquish, developed by PlatinumGames, the art style is based on Casshern; one boss fight involves the main character drilling through a robot by spinning at high speed, similar to Casshern. Director Shinji Mikami stated he was inspired by Casshern and wanted to make a game like it, but chose to focus on guns while preserving a feeling of speed through a sliding boost. The protagonist of Vanquish has a facemask that periodically comes off to show his human side, much like Casshern. A support robotic dog companion was designed and modeled for Vanquish but was cut from the final game, along with a female android partner. Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is also dressed like Casshern. A manga adaptation titled Casshern R, written by Chabo Higurashi and illustrated by Satoshi Shiki, began serialization in Champion Red magazine on September 19, 2023, and moved to the Manga Cross website in November, with publication resuming in April 2025.