Appleseed Review
In 2013, a non-nuclear World War has just ended leaving the major cities in a wreck. Mankind's last salvation lies in a floating city, Olympus. However, citizens of this city are living in an environment of self-created ignorance and bliss. Half the city's population are biorods ( artificially-created, short-life, humans who cannot reproduce and have no emotions). One day, the only life-extension facility for the biorods is destroyed by terrorists. This threatens the very existence of the biorods and humans in the social fabric which weaves the whole city together. Can Deunan Knute and her compatriots save mankind's last city from a social meltdown?
The first thing you would notice about this movie is its incredible sophistication of its virtual characters and environment. They are just simply superb. This is best illustrated at the city flyby in the 2nd chapter, showcasing the level of detail one can expect throughout the movie.
Deunan's character is richly animated with her wide variety of facial expressions that are simply mesmerising to any anime lover, male or female alike. One notable feature is the use of slow-motion action sequences throughout the movie. I will not elaborate much here except that it is just like Matrix deja-vu. In the graphics department, Appleseed triumphs over many movies before and after it, in terms of artistic complexity.
Much effort has been put into sound as shown by the inclusion of renowned artists such as Paul Oakenfold and Basement Jaxx in the soundtrack. These tracks were specially crafted to complement the mood of the moment in time.
Story:
The main characters of focus are Deunan Knute and her bionic boyfriend. The opening sequence is set in a deserted city as if the Chernobyl accident had just occurred there. It is there when viewers are first shown the idea of an ideological war set in a futuristic world. The fight that occurred here is unreasonably bloody, which probably earned it the NC16 rating.
The next part of the story just chugs along as would any Japanese anime would until when the action starts, when the all-important facility is destroyed. Deunan has to get the magical cure “Appleseed” to save all boirods and her only true friend Hitomi who is a biorod too. In the race for the potion, Deunan discovers her past memories which she has suppressed all along.
Conclusion:
Watch Appleseed if you want to be wowed by awesome graphics and want to have an early glimpse of the future of movie-making. The story itself is unoriginal if compared to other productions. However, considering the effort put into it, this film deserves a place in any anime lover’s collection.
By: Yeo Kheng Meng
Pictures courtesy of www.appleseedthemovie.com