Appleseed

Anime Review

With four movies and a thirteen episode television series many of us must have caught at least a glimpse of Appleseed. Or at leats of one of it's main characters: Briareos. Aka bunny-ears... Just kidding 😇

Manga

It all started with the 1985 Appleseed Manga. Which I - obviously - haven't read, so I stick to the movies and the TV show.

The basic concept is the same: WWIII happened, Briareos is a bionically modified human, and she (Deunan) is still in love with him.

Masamune Shirow created both Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell, and some of the same existential questions permeate both shows. Especially what it means to be human.

1998 Appleseed

The 1988 movie is a typical eighties child art-wise, and the plot is a mess. We got genetically engineered 'Bioroids'. A supertank gets stolen, a super AI gets shutdown, and more like that.

It has some old-fashioned charm though, if you ignore the hairstyles 😏

2004 Appleseed

The 2004 Apppleseed movie is fluid computer animated, or at least computer cell shaded. It's bright and shiny, and that doesn't help the movie. Oh, we got another supertank -- yes -- and a soldier who wants to restore the reproductive capabilities of the Bioriods. The plot isn't much better, and the overly shiny emotionless animation doesn't help things.

2007 Appleseed Ex Machina

At least there is no supertank. The animation is more fluid and shows a few more emotions, and the 'computer cell shaded' look has been touched up to get a a kind of 'pencil stroke make-over'.

Tons of Bioroids are created in Briareos's image -- turns out they cloned him. Deunan has to team up with one of Briareos's clones. The three find out there's a plan to 'unify' humanity by wiping out individuality, oppose a resurrected cyborg scientist, and win.

It's a little more complicated than that, obviously 😎 but this movie isn't too bad, except for some of the cheesy scenes when Deunan, Briareos and Tereus meet up.

Definitely a better watch than the 2004 movie!

2011 Appleseed XIII

Note: the 2011 television series was also recut into two movies.

The art-style is quite different again. Again, faces etc. are static. The plot is a pretzel twisted thrice, and incorporates stuff from the previous movies, and circles around several different factions all having their own opinion of the city of Olympus trying to protect the legacy of humanity (aka Project Ark).

Let's just say the art style takes some time to get used to, and as for the plot... My brain melted and managed to escape through my ears, and I haven't seen it back since.

2014 Appleseed Alpha

Boobs, robots, a super tank, and more post-apocalyptic imagery than any of the previous movies make it - graphically - a vast improvement over the 2011 TV series. The artwork seems a little inspired by Final Fantasy, but in a good way. I'm not sold on the cheesy 'Two Horns' character, nor on the army / crop top look of Deunan.

Car motion still sucks, and it distracts a bit from the otherwise fine animation.

The plot of Alpha is way more simple (is this the all American version of Appleseed?) so in the end I like the 2007 movie best.

I should try the manga, I know...

Dapper / TellTales! 3