June 18, 2006
Happy Father’s Day, Buraiking Boss!

Buraiking Boss wins!

Hey all! I still don’t have that food piece I promised ready for you (soon, soon!), but here’s the annual Scary-Crayon Father’s Day tribute article. The 2006 honoree? Buraiking Boss — primarily as he’s depicted in the “Casshan” animes, though I do throw a nod to the more human version depicted in the 2004 live action film. You’ve probably never heard of any of this stuff, but I hope you’ll find it to be at least marginally interesting and maybe intriguing enough to give the media a look. 🙂

Considering 2005’s pick of M. Bison, I seem to have a certain affinity for these “evil” environmentalist characters with cool hats.

-posted by Wes | 5:34 pm | Comments (7)
7 Comments »
  • HAIL BLACK KING!!!

    I’ve seen “Casshan: Robot Hunter” many, many times and I never fail to root for both sides at once. I’ve never considered there to be a “villian” in that story. BK’s just trying to save the world and Casshan’s just trying to end slavery. If only they’d find a mutual solution!

    BTW does the live-action movie have ANYTHING in common with the anime? It looks cool but I’ve yet to see anything that’d make it a “Casshan” movie.

    And, I certainly agree about how great a world of beautiful forests and sexy android women would be.

  • Wes says:

    Well, there are definite storyline similarities: Tetsuya’s father plays a role in the creation of a charismatic “villain” who acquires control of a robot army and launches an assault on humankind; Tetsuya dies and is resurrected in part as a result of a super suit that gives him enhanced physical abilities; taking the name Casshan/Casshern, the reborn Tetsuya roams the land with his girlfriend, Luna, using said abilities to chop robots in two and save humanity from being enslaved and/or annihilated. As noted, the depiction of Buraiking is very different and the neoroids have been replaced by advanced humans, but the other developments remain largely intact. The movie has a much different feel to it, though.

  • agustinaldo says:

    Mind you, I seriously did not know anything about that anime before this, butIhave to say that article is a work of art. Serious and inspired, yet funny.

    I think it’s pretty deep that the “villain” is actually trying to save the planet and bring peace and unity, while the “hero” works for corrupt goverment officials that just want to opress people.

    It reminded me of the “X-Men” movies: Magneto is supposed to be evil, but he just want his mutant fellows to be left alone. Humanity is the real villain here.

    It also brings back memories of the Animatrix short “The Last Renaissance”. The robots just wanted their own country when they could live in peace (like in the Fox CGI movie, “Robots”), but the greedy and tyrannical humans tried to exterminate them, and that ended up with the machines declaring war at humanity.

    If the humans would have just left the robots alone, none of the events from the “Matrix” trilogy would have happened.

    It also rings true to reality and a real life situation: the U.S./Iraq War. The Iraqies just want to be left alone and live in peace, but the tyrannical leaders of the U.S. (Led by their evil despot, George W. BUsh) want to exterminate them all and conquer their country simply because they hate them and view them as evil. Just like in “Cassharn”.

    Funny how a cartoon can be so deep and meaningful.

    And by the way, I’m against Bush and his invasion.

  • Wes says:

    Actually, “Casshan” is even more complicated than that! Although the titular character opposes Buraiking Boss and his largely anti-human campaign, Casshan himself isn’t in the employ of the government — he’s a sort of rogue freedom fighter that stands as a symbol of hope for the independent pockets of human resistance. So you’ve got Buraiking, the government, the resistance, and Casshan in a 1-on-3 battle, with all of the groups acting for more or less independent reasons (though Casshan’s deeds do directly serve to aid the resistance, of which his girlfriend is a member). I like the show — and I hope that you’ll be interested enough to track it down and give it a look — but admittedly it’s difficult to discern a clear meaning from the proceedings.

    And if you think that sounds confusing, you should see the live action movie.

    Regarding the X-Men films, I’m not sure I agree with the assessment that Magneto’s not evil or simply wants mutantkind to be left alone. Whereas in the comics he attempted to establish havens for mutants on several occasions (notably Asteroid M at the onset of the X-Men title in the early 90s), almost all of his actions in the movies are decidedly antagonistic and downright vicious. Not that the “good” mutants or humanity (as represented by the government, anyway, since regular people play an astoundingly small role in those films) come across as being all that noble either — one of my biggest problems with the X-Men flicks is that nobody really comes off all that positively.

    There are definite parallels between The Matrix and the “Casshan” media, though I suppose I, Robot is probably a more apt comparison.

    Aaaand the sitch in Iraq is way more complicated than I’m up for discussing at length in these comments ;), but I don’t think it’s really all that simple. Do I think that Iraq was the equivalent of a harmonious, peaceful society that just wanted to be left alone? No. Do I think that Bush overstepped his boundaries and unnecessarily waged war on a country for decidedly opportunistic and just plain deceptive reasons? Oh, hell yes. And do I think it’s disgusting how people have demonized the resistance, labeling everyone who opposes the U.S. agenda as terrorists or terrorist sympathizers and gloat over the corpse of every Iraqi killed in the war? You betcha. I’ve got no respect for the man, but reading some of the comments in the blogosphere in the wake of al-Zarqawi’s death has been exceedingly depressing. Dead bodies do not signify progress.

    Okay.

    Funny how a cartoon can be so deep and meaningful.

    Isn’t it? 🙂

  • I think Casshan also reminds me alot of the 60s American comic-book (ressurected in the 90s) “Magnus the Robot Fighter” the three main differences are…

    1.) Magnus is completely human. (But, with a cool Robot sensei that teaches him to fight on the same level as a robot.)
    2.) Magnus’s sweetheart Leeja is too timid to lead a rebellion, unlike Casshan’s girlfriend Luna.
    3.) In Magnus, there is no leader of the Robots like BK1 in Casshan. Not all the robots are even necessarly against the humans.

    The Casshan Tokusatsu film looks really interesting! I’ll have to check it out.

    And, BTW ditto on what Wes said about Bush amnd Iraq. The whole mess disgusts me.

  • Molly says:

    Interesting stuff. Of course now you’ve got me thinking on Giles. Whatever happened to him? Wasn’t he supposed to get his own TV series in the UK, and that’s why he left Buffy? Did that ever happen? I should look him up.

  • An Eskimo says:

    Hmm…fictional characters aren’t allowed to have control on films.

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