Appleseed (2004) — anime dvd review
Beginning with a barrage of bullets, debris flying everywhere, and a hard techno beat… Appleseed starts very promising. At first it seems like the humans are doomed, as the far superior robots take them down one by one. And just when our hero Deunan begins an assault on the bioroids, her whole team is fragged and a gigantic tank gives chase to her. Of course, this isn’t a spoiler. In fact, all it does is give her background as a kick-ass bioroid killing machine.
The film centers on the strange love story between Deunan and the cyborg Briareos, why humans hate bioroids, and the mystery of Appleseed. It’s nice to see that there are some plot twists in the film, but for the most part there are just a few, and the placement thereof is typical. There are subplots, but I won’t say that they are intricately woven into the larger story. As a discussion piece on bioroids (robots) and humans, this film fits in well. It has all the major elements of a love-hate relationship between the emotional humans and calculated bioroids.
The army hates the bioroids. The elders love the bioroids. All the while, Deunan deals with her pent up sexual frustrations. But we all know the point of an anime like Appleseed, and why the plot isn’t extremely mixed-up and overturned. The action, that’s why. Each battle is different, and brings in something new every time. The explanations for the technology don’t drag on, and the battles are high tension. It’s also easy to feel the scale of the battles, because they are entirely CGI.
The only problem I have, visually speaking, with Appleseed is the use of cell-shaded animation. Don’t get me wrong, it is done very well, but when compared to the absolute dead-on realism of the CGI, it can be kind of mind-boggling. Viewers will either love it, or hate it. I will say that it definitely points the film out as an anime, instead of letting it get lost into the ranks of sci-fi like Final Fantasy did. It gets easier to believe as the film goes on, but at first it can be a stark contrast. However, some of that trouble is deflected by the use of the music.
Tying the two together from the first frame to the last, the soundtrack of Appleseed does not disappoint. Big names like Paul Oakenfold and Basement Jaxx give their musical talent to the film and give a very strong presence to the world created in Appleseed.
In a genre that has done everything, twice most times, it is hard to be original. Appleseed takes some of the best elements of anime and uses them to its advantage, while adding a few interesting bits into the mix. Definitely worth the watch for all anime fans, this movie is a look into the technology filled future that we’re all dreaming about.
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