Casshern 2004

In a war-scarred future, the Eastern Federation conquers Europa, seizing Eurasia as a hard-won prize. A stubborn resistance rages in Zone 7 while the Federation strains under the cost of decades of conflict and pollution from heavy industry. The narrative follows a web of science, power, and vengeance as scientists push the boundaries of life, while a society bruised by prejudice and warfare teeters on the edge of another catastrophe.

Dr. Kotaro Azuma unveils a controversial breakthrough: Neo Cells, a form of human cells rumored to regenerate tissue. He believes these cells could be harnessed for healing, but his claims land in controversy when many dismiss them as dangerous or unethical. A corporate sponsor, Kaoru Naito, from Nikko Hairal Inc., steps forward with funding, insinuating that backing Azuma could also help heal his wife, Midori Azuma. The possibility of medical miracles clashes with the brutal reality of war, creating uneasy alliances as the clock ticks toward a new crisis.

A celebratory moment at the Azuma residence marks Tetsuya Azuma’s engagement to his girlfriend, Luna Kozuki. The mood shifts quickly when they clash over Tetsuya’s draft into the front lines, foreshadowing the heartache to come. A year later, he is deployed to Zone 7, where the grim toll of battle reveals civilians caught in the crossfire. Tetsuya’s life ends when he triggers a deadly booby trap, and his death ricochets through the lives of those left behind.

The plot intensifies as Azuma extends an invitation to Dr. Kozuki, a rival whose armor research has been eclipsed by Azuma’s cellular experiments. While organs have been grown from Neo Cells, they are not yet usable, leaving a disquieting question about the true potential—and the true cost—of this technology. Meanwhile, Midori Azuma faces a creeping blindness, and her world becomes entangled with the uncanny visitation of Tetsuya’s ghost, who returns bearing the tragedy of his death.

A dramatic twist occurs when a lightning strike strikes the laboratory, sending shockwaves through the Neo Cells and triggering a radical transformation: body parts and organs reorganize into living beings. The military under Kaoru Naito orders the slaughter of the newly formed beings, yet a portion escape, finding shelter in a desolate path that leads them toward Midori in her car. Azuma drags Tetsuya’s body into the lab, and the revived figure is placed into prototype battle armor worn by Dr. Kozuki’s forces.

As these “Neo-Sapiens” migrate toward Zone 7, they discover a hidden army of robots and declare their new identity. A vow of revenge spills into the world as the Neo-Sapiens awaken machines of war and prepare to strike at humanity.

The fortress of Luna Kozuki becomes a focal point as the Neo-Sapiens breach [Kozuki’s residence], waking Tetsuya and forcing battles that reveal the fragility of loyalties. The encounter with a rival Neo-Sapien named Sagurê Sagurê turns deadly, and although Tetsuya defeats Sagurê, he cannot save Kozuki. Luna escapes with a non-verbal Neo-Sapien, pursued by the mechanical army and the moral weight of their shared history.

A coup d’état reshapes the power balance: General Kamijo’s faction is destabilized when his own son takes control, and Naito’s revelation undercuts the foundation of Neo Cells themselves. The discovery—that the cells were harvested from the slaughtered “original humans” of Zone Seven to extend the lives of the powerful—shatters the foundation of the Neo-Sapiens’ genesis. The storm crescendos as the stone-like lightning bolt fractures and the figure of Casshern appears, descending from the skies into a ruined laboratory.

Burai arrives with an airship, abducting Luna, Casshern, and the dying Neo-Sapien, while Naito remains gravely wounded alongside [General Kamijo’s son], who grapples with the moral complexity of his own past. Burai’s motives—rooted in a deep-seated hatred of humanity—are laid bare as Casshern searches for his mother, discovering she may be beyond saving. A colossal machine built by Burai is unleashed, and Casshern strains to halt it, but the device detonates away from densely populated areas, leaving devastation in its wake.

In the denouement, [General Kamijo’s son] kills Burai with a grenade, revealing that he was human all along and that Tetsuya’s wartime rampage had claimed Burai’s family. Casshern acts to stop his father from resurrecting his mother, a moment that triggers a final act of tragedy: Azuma shoots Luna in the head, only for her to be revived later by the strange life force of Burai. Through the carnage, the souls of the fallen bodies converge with Casshern as he and Luna embrace, a last echo of humanity resisting annihilation. Luna tears away Tetsuya’s containment suit, and a pillar of light surges through space, landing on a distant planet, signaling a new, bittersweet horizon.

The film closes with a montage of the surviving characters in moments of quiet happiness, a counterpoint to the violence that preceded it. The story weaves science, memory, and power with questions about what it means to be human when the line between life and death is rewritten by extraordinary discovery and the costs of war.

• Note: Throughout the summary, character names linked to their actors appear when first introduced: Dr. Kotaro Azuma, Luna Kozuki, Tetsuya Azuma, Sagurê, Barashin, Burai, Kaoru Naito, Dr. Kozuki, Midori Azuma, General Kamijo. Other appearances are noted in context, with additional names referenced as needed.