Casshan: Robot Hunter

"Cashaan: Robot Hunter" is a 90s retelling of a 70s animation. The once-human Tetsuya, after being mortally wounded, climbs into a device constructed by his father and transforms into the cybernetic organism Cashaan, and sets out for revenge. Themes from "Robot Hunter" would ripple across western cinema like rings from a rock tossed into a pond: a world overrun by artificial intelligence after a vain war, an apocalyptic aftermath landscape where human remnants toil in slavery to machine overlords, the human resistance on the run and commanded from a lurking submarine, and a "Neo" human shouldering the burden of redeeming and restoring humanity to its prior glories. Sound familiar? Some critiques of "Robot Hunter" point to its treatment of women, and it's true: only three are shown. Tetsuya's dead mother, one of the Black King's cold lieutenants, and Luna. But Luna acquits herself in the first act, acting more brave and powerful than any of the men languishing in the robot prison work camp. The '93 installment of Cashaan may lack the timeless animation of "AKIRA" and its befuddling mythos, and it may lack "Ghost in the Shell"'s depth of exploration of where machines abut humanity, but it's an easy 7 and a staple of 90s anime.