| Casshan: Robot Hunter | |
| Ja Kanji: | ロボット・ハンター・キャシャーン / キャシャーン |
| Ja Romaji: | Robot Hunter Casshern / Casshan |
| Genre: | Adventure, science fiction, superhero |
| Type: | ova |
| Director: | Hiroyuki Fukushima Masashi Abe Takashi Watanabe |
| Producer: | Hiroshi Kimura Hirotoshi Okura Takashi Yoshida |
| Music: | Michiru Ōshima |
| Studio: | Tatsunoko Production |
| First: | August 21, 1993 |
| Last: | February 21, 1994 |
| Runtime: | 30 minutes (each) |
| Episodes: | 4 |
| Type: | film |
| Casshan: Robot Hunter (American movie adaptation) | |
| Director: | Carl Macek |
| Studio: | Harmony Gold USA (adaptation) |
| Released: | 1995 |
| Runtime: | 100 minutes |
Casshan: Robot Hunter, known in Japan as or simply, is an original video animation (OVA) series that was directed by Hiroyuki Fukushima, produced and animated by Tatsunoko Production and Artmic. The OVA was later adapted into an English-language dubbed film that was directed by Carl Macek. This series is based on Tatsunoko Productions' 1973 anime series Neo-Human Casshern.
Enslaved by an army of rebellious super-robots originally designed to help civilization avert a complete ecological cataclysm, mankind's only hope is Casshan, a legendary hero who wages a solitary war to defeat the Neoroids and restore the Earth to its rightful order. Casshan's father is the scientist who engineered the race of super androids now threatening to destroy all of mankind. On a crusade to save humankind and clear his father's name, Casshan sacrifices his own humanity in order to attain the powers he needs. Haunted by the memories of his murdered mother and forced to deal with a super robot that has absorbed the consciousness of his father, Casshan must put aside his own emotions and fight to preserve the survival of the human race.[1]
Casshan: Robot Hunter was originally released as a four-volume OVA series in Japan between August 21, 1993 and February 21, 1994. The American publisher Harmony Gold USA edited the four episodes into a single feature film for its English-language debut in 1995. In 2003, ADV Films re-released the four-episode series on DVD. The title sequence for the OVA translates the katakana "キャシャーン" as "Casshan". This was repeated in the American adaptation by Harmony Gold.
Helen McCarthy praised the work of top designer Yasuomi Umetsu and says that anime "holds your attention with interesting concept and designs".[2]