When I was thirteen years old, my Mom dropped me off, alone, at the Galleria one afternoon to catch a matinee of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. The reasons that led up to me being all alone for this should be blatantly obvious, but I was determined to see this movie none the less. Yes, I realize that thirteen was probably a bit old for that franchise, especially it's movie/cartoon incarnations, but I was there, popcorn in lap, ready to feed my young eyes with visions of anthropomorphic reptiles wielding nunchakus and eating pizza while tossing late 80's cliches around with their hip Cali-surfer accents. I suppose being a casual fan of the television cartoon is partially what brought me there, but what really sparked my curiosity was wondering how the creators would be able to transition something that relied so much on being a goofy cartoon into an actual live action film.

It was a similar curiosity that excited me about Casshern. Being a Japanese Sci-Fi movie, which is traditionally made as an animated feature, the creators decided to make it a live action film but retain the stylistic and visual trademarks of a Japanese Anime film (you can view the trailer here). I mean, how do you film somebody karate chopping a 8 foot robot in fucking half without making it look ridiculous? This aspect alone was enough to order it from RedSun DVD, which instead of doing I talked a friend into doing and just borrowed it from him. No offense to him, but I'm quite glad I did.

To their credit, they pulled off the look and feel remarkably, but was the story was way too convoluted to be reading in subtitles. Not to mention that the twists and turns in the plot seemed to be there just so the film didn't appear to be resting all its weight on its visuals. In speaking to Scott, I guess I do see a history of horribly complicated plots in traditional anime movies, so maybe I'm just being hard on the film because I'm a round-eye who won't ever get to enjoy it in its native tongue and native context, but who knows.

I'd have to say that the action sequences alone are enough reason to watch this movie. In fact, I'd almost suggest reading a spoiler-ridden explanation of the plot and then just watch the fight scenes. I know how that sounds, it's just that the story moves so slow it might actually be going backwards in parts.