I haven't watched the original Casshern, but going from the reviewer's tone, I'm starting to become more glad that I hadn't. There are several things that make this a good anime, but it's certainly fair to say that it won't be to everyone's taste.
The most important and extremely gratifying (if you can get behind artistic vision rather than a pure pleasurable aspect) aspect of this anime is it's mood. It's subdued, it's dark, it's depressing -- and best of all -- there's nothing fake about it. A good descriptor word for the anime as a whole would be "uncompromising". An anime that is far too short in supply these days if you ask me (perhaps I haven't been around enough though...). It doesn't play out to a pure action perspective and I think in a lot of ways it's better for it. There's no (or few) whiz-bang explosions to sully the meaning and goals behind the anime which unravel themselves to the viewer as the fight scenes become repetitive. They're not repetitive in that, "Oh, I guess the animators ran out of money," or, "imagination," way, they're clearly trying to depict the fights as being apart from where meaning is to be found.
I can understand the complaints about the animation quality and the length, but really, I think those worked for the tone incredibly well. There are many speechless, quiet, still moments which work towards a goal of asking you to ponder, "What's the meaning of life?", "Why are we here?", "Is this hope worth fighting for?", and "Can we just be satisfied with the here and now?". These points are exemplified with the little girl, whose innocence goes to show that you can be satisfied and yet at the same time (with her showing signs of rust) that hope is worth fighting for. This is without even getting into the more depressing elements of death and unabating guilt.
There a couple of minuses for those who are interested in a thoughtful anime, which may not distract from the vision, but generally will be unsatisfying. While there is a fair amount of narrative (though often subtle) there is not a lot of dialogue and the brooding may get to you. Melodrama does exist, and depending on your immersion, rightfully or wrongfully so. There was some repetition in artwork, but I think if DragonBall (if you're insulting it, that's a big no-no from where I'm coming from) can work with it, a moody apocalyptic(late apocalypse rather than post in this case) anime like this laps it up.
Watching Mobile Suit Gundam(79',85',86') right now, I can say I'm sick and tired of retro-anime and am dying to see another like this. It's just ironic considering the source... guess it's tough to be a fanboy :/
Edit: Typo and language clean-up. Also a shout-out to twaddle: thanks for the word-up, I appreciated your insight and you threw in a couple points I was thinking of amending to mine, especially about the series length.
P.S. Sorry if the last line in my original post sounds a bit snippy, I was just reflecting on my own childhood series' like 80's TMNT and Sonic Sat AM. Really think this anime deserved more of a chance (and a second page's worth of review).
