Armitage III: Poly-Matrix

I hate to make a comment on this movie, as I just watched the obviously butchered movie version. I have not seen the original version, and I can see some signs of greatness in the chopped to pieces version I saw, but over all it was a huge mess. no pacing, no plot cohesiveness, bad dubbing. Do yourself a favor, and watch the original 4 tape version, it has to be better than this crap. Now, if I can just find a copy of it.

I am a relative newcomer to Anime having only seen about 9 or so feature length films and episodes from about 6 different TV shows. Someone recommended Armitage I'm glad I saw it. Although not as popular as Ghost in the Shell or Akira it is the best I've seen after those two. Like most anime Armitage is set in the near future. In this case probably about 2050, on Mars.

Armitage suffers from a few minor plots holes and some visual problems but not too much worse then any movie. Armitage herself sometimes has some inhuman facial expressions (like most anime, think Dragonball Z but not ass exagerated as Slayers) This movie has a great plot and although, yes, it is a similar plot to Blade Runner, by definition so does any cop and androids movie. Besides Blade Runner wasn?t even the first with that plot? just the first really popular one. No one says Under Siege ripped off Die Hard just ?cause they are both about the good guy being in the right place to beat on some terrorists. (Sorry I just hate when people think that anything with a simlar plot HAD to have ripped it off) Anyway...

The plot is a little more developed then some anime but again, not as good as Ghost in the Shell although that may come from being put together from a miniseries with some scenes removed. Someday I?ll have to see the original four episodes. Armitage has a great sound track that goes well with the animation and plot. Visually it is average, not as nice as Ghost, or Akira but better than Dragonball Z or Titan AE.

I've often heard comments about how much anime "rips-off" other sources, usually blatantly. I can often see influences of other movies and tales in anime, but rarely is it such that the anime loses its soul... ...but then I saw Armitage III and understood.

Granted, I saw (1) the compiled "movie" version, and (2) the English dub version (neither qualities that I enjoy in my anime), but Armitage is just a rip-off of Blade Runner, and not a very good one at that.

I wasn't that thrilled with the animation- it reminded me of American "serious" animation, rather than anime; the voice-acting is bad, too; Elizabeth Berkeley is the saving grace (!) of the whole thing, providing a nice distraction from Kiefer Sutherland's wooden dialogue. As Armitage, she is tough, vulnerable, sexy, and naive at the same time. Kief is like one of the voice actors for the English-dialogue version of Megazone 23 part II... emotionless, and sounds like an automatic reading machine. Bleah.

Not recommended.

Here's why: Armitage is awesome!!She's soo totally in-your-face Ross is kinda good looking for a cartoon character. It keeps you thinking & questioning things all the way through. It's got everything a great show needs: corruption, murder, romance, mystery, suspense,Great fight scenes,Cool outfits.....need I go on?? The ending rocks.

Now THIS is what I call anime! Great artistry, good plot, and one heck of a cool battle sequence at the end.

I loved the way that the plot gradually developed from a simple murder into a plot for ....well, you'll have to see the movie to know. And trust me, IT'S WORTH IT!