Appleseed Alpha

The IMDb rating is pretty much on.

For a 3D cgi flick in the tradition of Final Fantasy, it is no slouch, it is fun, it holds attention.

The CGI improves from year to year. When the characters walk off scene for example you would swear these are real people. Other movements, not so much. In 40 years they will be able to recreate any great actor from the past, I think, perfectly.

Hopefully I will not be here to see that.

The problem? Why mess with Appleseed? The thing about the AS franchise was the anime. You tune in for the anime. You get lost in the anime.

I even printed outside an oversize pic of Deunan from the original and keep it on the wall. I don't do that a lot. The point is not that I am crazy. The point is that Appleseed is to anime what Godfather is to live action.

So, no disrespect, but what's the point...?

Lovely bosom

Gorgeous animations

Empty visuals

The camera makes sure that we don't mistake Deunan Knute for a boy for in the opening scene it focuses on her bosom. It is hard to miss anyway as it is packed in a skintight white top that sticks out from her otherwise green combat armor. Guys need something to look at, I guess. The camera will come back to her discerning features at times so we can check if she hasn't been turned in a man somewhere along the line. Just so you know.

Her exposed bosom and belly made me think of this book I once read that reported that most soldiers died from harm to their head and belly, both parts of her body that are not protected in her ridiculous outfit.

That is really odd as Deunan is a mercenary eking out a living in the ruined city of New York, in a world not quite our own as it is devastated by a world war and has cyborgs and other artificial beings as inhabitants. One of those is her cyborg buddy with the fancy name of Briareos. Jack could have been enough because he acts like a human being in every respect. My guess is that it is probably because it is cool.

The whole movie is a puzzle for it serves up all the staple manga ingredients: the little girl with the strange powers, the brooding hero, the loyal servant, the deadly girl and so on and so on.

Deunan herself mostly functions as eye candy, for next to some scenes in which she actually fights, most of the time cyborg buddy, or some other guy, has to rescue her. And she is there so she can show her female side by occasionally breaking down in tears so her cyborg buddy can comfort her as the real man, eh robot, he is.

The script is at times downright baffling. Why does this two horns guy try to kill Deunan and her cyborg? Because someone else tries to kill him because he wouldn't want to give them up or kill them.

It is a movie for people who so dearly love manga that they will swallow any rubbish as long as there is a pretty girl in it and perhaps for those who want to see the latest state of animations that hasn't a big budget like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. The big question is why you would want to make an animated movie that aims to look real? You could have used actors instead and they would have had much more soul than these animated graphics..

The movie is nice to watch but otherwise an empty shell.

I remember little from the Appleseed anime that I saw when I was younger so this is basically me commenting on this movie as standalone. The Third World War came and went, leaving the entire planet in chaos. The story follows two former soldiers that are now working as mercenaries for a thug. They meet a mysterious girl and her cyborg protector and decide to help them out in their mission against some psychopathic bad guys.

The end of the world theme, the political or social commentary usual in Masamune Shirow's work, they are all downplayed, almost not existent. Instead the entire flow of the movie is centered around fighting. The animation is decent, considering it is 3D CGI in its entirety, but when you think about it, they worked with about 10 body models. All the henchmen look alike, for example. They did a good job, but I think the physics looked off for most of the time: nothing gets destroyed unless it explodes, the cars are moving in weird ways and the hand to hand combat is clumsy.

Bottom line: as vaguely as I remember the 1984 Appleseed anime, I remember seeing it. This one will probably be forgotten by the time I save this review. Not bad, but not terribly good either. Animation was decent, but not great, the story simple and the characters formulaic and hard to empathize with. I think the fact that the character I connected most with was the thug, rather than the various heroes and villains, says it all. And I am still waiting for 3D animation to make me feel like a good anime does.

Appleseed is one of my favourite anime series of all time. I think the magic of the series is the relationship of Deunan and Briareos, which is the main "glue" which holds the series together.

This movie cements that with an early look at their pre-ESWAT days, (Especial Weapons & Tactics) for those not in the know.

Unlike the first movie Appleseed and its follow-up Ex Machina, there are no glittering towers of beautiful buildings or people/bioroids living in a harmonious Utopia in the city of Olympus. This is a bombed to Hell urban landscape of mankind's own making and Deunan and Briareos do their best to exist in it while keeping sane and still in love with each other.

The CGI is good, NOT great, but still very good at conveying this while the story, involving stopping a madman cyborg from kick starting another war is involving and action packed.

It's also nice to hear David Matranga and Luci Christian continuing to do the voice acting for these two, I don't think Appleseed would be the same with these two talented voice actors.

Our two heroes do their best and there are moments of real passion of dialogue in the movie, also some fun moments with witty banter while they take down battle droids out in the dust bowls of former cities reduced to dust.

In summation, if your looking for a great intro to the Appleseed story, this is a good place to start, you'll see great action, good anime and a hint at the end of a follow-up movie which will no doubt continue their relationship when they reach Paradise (Olympus).

The oddly named Appleseed Alpha is essentially a series of action sequences punctuated by bland dialogue and weak attempts at character development. First, the story and dialogue are particularly weak and unoriginal. As someone unfamiliar with the comic book series on which the film was based, I was hoping for a little more back story or at least a little more information about the characters and their motivations. Second, the characters are lifeless and unlikeable, and the relationship between the protagonist and her cyborg partner is nearly devoid of humanity--nothing like the cyborg-human relationship in Ghost in the Shell. Strangely, most of the human characters seemed more like cyborgs than the cyborgs did. The animation is the film's saving grace, however, and hardcore anime fans will appreciate the detailed and amazingly lifelike characters and environments. The voice acting is also decent, considering the laughably bad dialogue. Bottom line: I don't recommend it unless you're a serious anime fan who has run out of things to watch.