Appurushîdo

Being an avid reader of manga and very interested in the fascinating genre that is animé, I have always enjoyed the work of the masterful Shirow Masamune. The original manga behind this movie is far more complex and a lot of the suspense has been left out during its transition to animation, but a lot of the character interaction and stylish action remains.

Very accessible for all viewers with really great backgrounds and scenery throughout the movie, not as spectacular as e.g. 'Ghost in the Shell', but definately pleasing to the eye.

A good anime and faithful (loyal, adequate) to the manga.

This animate movie, from the manga of Masamume Shirow "Appleseed", remains faithful. It includes the design, the characters and theirs characters, the tone and his comic, and one of the major story lines of the world of "Appleseed" are developed . Namely, through the city Olympus, the new world created for humans after the major global conflicts and their management by broods race created to manage and keep safe the humans. This "golden cage", as it's call in the animate movie, poses ethical problems through governance for the human world by non-human entities.

We can be a little unfortunate (disappointed) that the introduction out of the Olympus from the manga, is deliberately set aside to penetrate directly into the film's plot and probably to be consistent with the desired duration. But this shelving (lack) is recovered by a sequence in the film where the role (part) of Hitomi is explained about it.

The action, intrigue and pace (rhythm) of the film is very consistent. It's a very satisfactory achievement for this time and probably his budget.

The soundtrack is unobtrusive (discrete) but perfectly accompanies the action. A good and faithful manga.

The film is short (a little bit more than 1H) with a very good "rythm".

I don't really know about this one. Appleseed is watchable thanks to how appealing anime from this era looks and feels. There are some ideas here that are broadly interesting (not a lot's done with the premise or world; even less than you'd expect in something that's only about an hour long), and all the character designs are really cool. The music's definitely not bad either; the aesthetics are all there, and I think I would've dug this overall if the story had been a bit more interesting. I don't know if it's a good or faithful adaptation of the source material, but I do think that whatever storytelling was on offer here in this anime take on the story, it could've been done better.

Probably worth it for anime die-hards, but otherwise I don't really feel it's super worthwhile.

Pretty decent for his early work and no Kokaku Kidotai without it, and gets an 2 points extra for the easter eggs. For Shirow definitely a rung in the ladder. I am biased as a Shirow fan but this was a big step from Dirty Pair which was what I knew of him. Violent fun with a porno soundtrack! You cannot help but notice that. I know people appreciate him for Ghost in the Shell..but all of the deep spiritual overtones were dealt with in Appleseed. ESWAT killing terrorists, the struggle for humans to stay viable as bioroids phase them out, and Deunan staying thin despite her intake of junk food. Definitely like the characters even the traitor..and I do not know why.

In a future where much of the planet has been devastated in the Third World War the mega city of Olympus has been created. It is run by bioroids... part human, part robot cyborgs and Gaia, a powerful central computer controls all of the city's functions. It is meant to be the perfect place to live but not everybody is happy there; as the film opens we see police officer Calon Mautholos dreaming about his wife who killed herself as she felt trapped. Other humans are rising up against the system. When a group of these terrorists seize a building police, including protagonists, Deunan Knute, a human, and Briareos Hecatonchires, her cyborg partner, raid the building. Most of the terrorists flee but A. J. Sebastian, a cyborg, escapes. It will be their personal mission to tack him down; in the process they will come under suspicion, uncover traitors and ultimately face a threat that could destroy Gaia and the city.

It must be admitted that this OVA is showing its age a bit; the character designs are dated and the music is pretty terrible... however the central story is solid and provides plenty of action. I liked the futuristic setting and the slightly ambiguous feel... early on I was unsure whether the system running Olympus would ultimately be exposed as something oppressive, benevolent or morally neutral. Enough was shown of the villains to ensure they weren't too unsympathetic. As stated earlier the character designs are dated but that isn't much of a problem; it is just a different aesthetic to more recent anime. The animation itself is pretty good, nicely capturing the action. I can't say how it compares to the original manga as I've not read that. Overall a solid cyberpunk anime that fans of the genre should check out.