Appurushîdo XIII

I'm a fan Shirow Masamune, his works are usually very good. But XIII was the worst. All it really is is a psuedo retelling of the Labors of Heracles, set in the world of Appleseed. It was long, slow and overwhelming complicated. Even the movie versions of the first twelve episodes were horrible. Pass on this and hope for better in the next showing.

When is Appleseed not Appleseed? When the characters do not act according to their true natures.

First visuals, then plot. The only thing I find positive to say about this anime is that Deunan is as cute as ever. That may sound condescending and sexist, but it's not. In contrast-- they changed the face of Briarios and he looks like a robot rabbit. Not sure what happened there.

The animation is weak and looks rushed. Not the worst I've seen, but does not live up to Appleseed's reputation. Deunan and Briarios both look more cartoonish than fleshed out. The fight scenes and effects are weak and the movie is filled with repeated "stained glass" images that appear to be from Greek mythology. What they have to do with the plot or what makes it necessary to show those scenes over and over (and over and over) is anyone's guess.

Plot: slow moving. Stodgy. Often boring. At times irritating (the repeated stained glass scenes). A real yawner. But most offensive was the attack at the heart of Appleseed: the relationship between Deunan and Briarios. This has always been a relationship etched in marble, on both their parts. Neither one has doubted the other. They have both had full and constant faith on one another. They have always had each others backs.

In this presentation Deunan is portrayed as an emotional tantrum who has lost her sense of who Briarios is and what he has been to her. She accuses him of having eight eyes but still not seeing her (maybe because his other 6 aren't in this movie). Briarios on the other hand questions both her skills and ability to survive, objecting to her going on a dangerous mission. This is so unlike these characters it makes one wince-- and so counter to the core of Appleseed that it spoils the entire film.

If this were by any other name, it would be moderately tolerable anime, but still poor plot and directing (seriously... that Greek stained glass is just too much). But this is Appleseed, and the presentation dropped in our laps is unacceptably lame. I feel I'm being generous in giving it four stars, but it doesn't quite drop into the 3-star-and-under "bad movie" category. It's just disappointing,trite, and disloyal to the Appleseed franchise. The plot is slow and pondering, the relationships questionable. It misrepresents the heart of the series-- and Appleseed without heart isn't Appleseed.

I am not really a nitpicker. If the story is good, I can accept anything from bad acting, bad animation, low budget, etc. to lack of professionalism in any of the fields involved in a movie as long as I enjoy the film and I feel that, as a viewer, I am being treated with respect.

Unfortunately, Appleseed XIII is not even treating their own characters with respect. Deunan is a spoiled girl, making faces, blowing raspberries and always needing help from Briareos. Her role is to dress in things that look like small upgrades to bathing suits, shout "Briareos!" with anguish whenever she needs to act in battle and having her partner clean up her (easy to understand, since she is a woman) mistakes.

Then there is the cheap overuse of Greek mythology. If in the previous movies there were only a few names or connections to this, in XIII you get ancient Greece drawings as scene breakers, everything has to be connected to some name like the Argonauts, Alcide, Poseidon, etc. At least if they were the least bit connected with the plot, but they are not.

Just for this lack of respect I would consider this a dire failure, but wait, there is more! The animation seems to be done by children in cheap 3D tools. Everything moves in jerks, the faces have no expression to talk about and the action scenes are ridiculous. So even worse than a failure.

And then there is the story. There is no story. Just recycled bits from previous movies, idiotic concepts like the bioroids making the world a better place for humans, because humans are too aggressive and destroy the world, but the bioroids can't make decisions without Gaia, which tells them what to do, so basically the only world at peace is run by computers. I totally agree, but I don't think this is what they were trying to sell.

Bottom line: a waste of time, completely dissing viewers with recycled Japanese clichés, badly animated, stupid story, offensive to women, I could go on and on. Just don't go in the pool.