Appleseed (Widescreen) (2004)
by Shinji Aramaki
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Actor: Ai Kobayashi, Akimoto Tsubasa, Asumi Miwa, J?r?ta Kosugi, Yuki MatsuokaDirector: Shinji Aramaki
Producer: Fumihiko Sori
Writer: Haruka Handa
Writer: Masamune Shirow
Writer: Tsutomu Kamishiro
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Japanese (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled)
Format: Animated, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 105 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-05-10
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Geneon [Pioneer]
DVD Reviews of Appleseed (Widescreen) (2004)
DVD Review: a different kind of anime
Summary: 4 Stars
Never did watch this all the way through but did like the story/concept. Excellent sound transfer on any DVD or blue ray the picture (movie) is full of colors meaning you really need to see this on a flat screen lcd, dlp, to truly appreciate it in cinematic scope. I just bought this, so i cannot recall all the characters in terms of Anime this is more then enough to satisfy your needs it has tons of action, drama, intrigue, bland humor, (nothing special tho)I would like to add the beginning of this feature is stunning visually speaking, when Kunte/junte? is being chased in the streets by the cyborgs very cool sequence. the reason it gets 4 stars is because of the 'overly done' 3-d imaging sure it looks cool, but it's not the typical 'standard anime' that has that classic polished feel of animation like say Outlaw Star, Cowboy Beebop, Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D, but to each his own, the CGI Model just does not fit but that's just me. the newer version of this looks amazing but still not my cup of tea - All in All, are their other animes better then this? Yes. Is this worth buying? Heck Yes. DVD Review: `Bore'roids and Humanity
Summary: 3 Stars
The future of mankind is in the hands of a super computer that can detect the way humans feel. Olympus is the last civilized city on our war torn Earth. And humans share half the population of the city with Bioroids (almost too human Androids). While most want to live peacefully in this serenity, there are others who fear the robots. And where there is fear, there is usually a crap load of fighting. Deunan is a female warrior who is brought into Olympus to help save the city from the people who want to destroy it and kill every Bioroid in it. But within Deunan lies a secret that not even she remembers. With the help of her lost boyfriend Briareos (who is now mostly machine), she begins her search for the whereabouts of the Appleseed. The one thing that will help save not only the Bioroids, but also humanity itself.
After many attempts of trying to watch this movie all the way through, I finally got the time and the energy to get through it all in one sitting. The reason I say this is, even though it's a decent story, it can be pretty long winded sometimes. Way to explanatory. I fell asleep once during the scene where Hitomi is driving Deunan to the elders and she begins to just talk and talk. And then I once fell asleep during what I believe is pivotal moment where the elders are telling Deunan some things. Mainly because of just too much talking and explaining.
The animation itself is done really well movement wise. I for one am not a fan of cell shading though. So the `coloring' of the drawings themselves just look, well, kind of stupid to me. Not all the time though. Sometimes I see something and am really wowed by how it looks. Then a minute later something looks totally bland, because of the cell shading. The mix with cg and drawings and cell shading, even though done pretty well, just wasn't for me. I'll take the drawings of Akira or the cg animation of FF7: Advent Children over this type of art any day.
The story was good but sometimes to clich?d. The twists were nothing we hadn't seen before. And even though it was sometimes to drawn out, it was still a lot of fun to watch, once the good parts were going at least.
In the end, I seem to be about 50/50 on this movie after I keep reading my own lines. So with that being said, I would say give it a rent one day if you are into sci-fi or end of the world type of movies. Unless of course you're a big anime fan, then I'm sure you will love this. Both my anime friends love it.
P.S. The gunshot to the forehead was a sweet scene.
DVD Review: Fascinating, Complex...but rough around the edges.
Summary: 4 Stars
Appleseed / B0007OY31G
*Spoilers*
I would really like to give Appleseed a five star review, I really would. The animation is superb, the story is intriguing, and the voice work is flawless. Unfortunately, the movie needs just that little bit of polish on the edges to be truly perfect, or at least truly perfect for beginners who come to this story brand-new, as I did.
I'm unsure how much of the story in this movie will be familiar to existing fans of this anime franchise. The story revolves around a new utopia in the midst of a ruined world, populated in part by genetically modified humans who are incapable of strong human emotion, most notably the hatred, prejudice, and anger that led humanity to destroy the world in the first place. Set in the midst of this is the apparently missing-in-action-for-some-time famed female warrior Deunan Knute.
Deunan Knute is many things. She's one of the best warriors on earth, descended from an equally brilliant warrior and (it will be revealed) a rather important scientist. She's the love interest for the now-mechanized Briarius who was presumed dead and is now more machine than human, and a protector of the new utopia. She is a fantastic protagonist, and a wonderfully strong and sensitive woman, managing to eschew the stereotypes that abound in some other types of anime.
This is where we run into our rough edges that mar the movie. To wit, Deunan is never really allowed to reach her potential. A humorous scene where her "training" ends in the complete and surprising defeat of her numerous laser-tag opponents and a cute quip from her in the end is marred by Briarius' scolding that she shouldn't tease men who may save her life someday. This could work if the scene was meant to show that Briarius is conflicted about Deunan's arrival into his untroubled utopia, but the scene is played straight and Deunan silently vows to be more serious, to my own disappointment. Another drawback here is that the filmmakers do not seem to trust their underlying premise that Deunan is capable and tough - Briarius repeatedly saves her life throughout the film, often over her ridiculously protesting objections, and I cannot think of a single instance where she handles actual trouble without the protection of her imposing metal lover. This is a disappointment, for a character that is supposed to be strong, self-reliant, practical, and battle-hardened.
The film also suffers from exposition issues. There are long stretches of exposition that, should have been arranged differently in order to allow the user to process the convoluted storyline. Exposition is hampered by skipping major plot points and returning to them in retrospect later, if at all - the wire fighting warriors that slice Hitomi's car in half are never explained with regards to who sent them. There are also simply too many coincidences and "gee, that's convenient" plot points, for instance when the multiple automated fighters are converging on the dome and we find that (a) they don't need to stop ALL the fighters, because there's a shut-down port on ONE of them that will shut them all down (convenient!) and (b) they are given the shut-down passcode by a previously comatose Hitomi who announces that her name is the passcode the elders chose to use. It's not really understand WHY she would know this - I can buy that the elders might use her name as the super-secret passcode because they are fond of her, but then they also TELL her the super-secret passcode? Very odd, and again a little too convenient.
Having given all this criticism, I still highly recommend Appleseed as a solid four star movie. The story may be unpolished, but it is still far superior to most movies, anime or live-action alike. The character development and relationship exploration between Deunan and Briarius could have used a great deal of work, but I recognize that this went into the sequel and was handled very well, all things considered. And the movie also contains the most touching "I remember now!" amnesia scene that I have ever witnessed, with a climax that brought tears to my eyes.
One more major gripe: This movie provides closed caption for the hearing impaired. But, and this is a big but, the captions *never* match the actual words being said by the voice actors. Literally, it was not at all uncommon for a caption and the voice text to share only the words "a", "an", and "the". I have to assume that the caption writers and the voice actors were working with different translations which yielded the same intent, but with vastly different words. If you are hard of hearing and you use the captions to follow along and pick up the words that you missed, the discontinuity between what you HEAR and what you SEE is incredibly jarring and annoying. If you are completely deaf, well, you won't be watching the same movie as your companions. There is really no excuse for such shoddy work, but I did not include this in my star rating as it will not apply to all viewers.
I do not own this movie - I rented this through my Blockbuster Online account.
DVD Review: An awesome piece of anime history!
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this in the theater and was very pleased after having seen the original animation on a rented VHS years ago when I was younger. The original animation was confusing for me in terms of plot, but I do remember it being cool visually. This movie really blew me away in the theater, as it was the first time I had seen an anime truly realized in 3D graphics/animation. Also, the characters and the plot where much more refined in this movie than the original animation, and it was much more interesting and captivating for me. The ending is pretty epic as well, with a huge scale scene of destruction taking place.
I felt the creators of this movie had done something really revolutionary for the anime industry by making this decision to make the movie in 3D. Own a piece of anime history with this movie, because its one of the first ever full 3D anime to be made.
The metal case is sweet, but the action figure that came with this special edition is the only thing that bugged me about this product because it is not made very well. It is heavy and the plastic of the body is thick which makes it seem well made, but the arms bend in a really stupid way that is terrible. The sculpting isn't that bad, but again the arms are the real problem, and on mine the arms keep falling off with the slightest pressure.
DVD Review: APPLESEED (DVD)
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the best Anime Movie I have seen in a long time. It is an original.
Description of Appleseed (Widescreen) (2004)
Earth's last city, Olympus, rose from the ashes of a global war on the backs of Bioroids, artificial clones who make up half the city's population. Under the strict guidance of a supercomputer, humanity's last survivors enjoy an idyllic peace, but only on the surface Human terrorists within the military seek a return to power and clash with the government's ESWAT forces lead by the legendary soldier, Deunan Knute, and her boyfriend who is 75% machine. Retrieving the Appleseed will end the conflict, and Deunan alone holds its secret. The outstanding feature film based on the manga by SHIROW Masamune (Ghost In the Shell), directed by Shinji ARAMAKI (Bubblegum Crisis), and produced by SORI (Ping Pong) features a soundtrack by Boom Boom Satelites, Paul Oakenfold, Basement Jaxx and more and will be available from TOFU records. The DVD will feature high quality video encoded directly from the HD master in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen with 5.1 English Dolby Digital and DTS audio as well as the original Japanese 2.0 stereo and 5.1 DTS Dolby Digital soundtracks! This DVD also features commentary from both the director and the producer!The 2004 Appleseed feature is a reworking of the earlier video based on the manga by Masamune Shirow (Ghost in the Shell). In 2131, most of humanity has withdrawn to the glittering city of Olympus after a devastating war. When the curvaceous Deunan Knute comes to Olympus, she encounters her former comrade Briareos, now a cyborg, and the lovely android Hitomi. The fate of Hitomi, Olympus, and humanity rest on the lost "Appleseed" technology that Deunan's mother helped to develop. A standard series of chases, mecha battles, and confrontations leads to a predictable ending. When the original Appleseedappeared in 1988, it felt like a summary of anime's past, while Akira pointed the way to the future. This new version feels like a mishmash of Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Jin-Roh, Evangelion, and other, more exciting works. The motion-capture CG is typically weightless, and the mecha look oddly squat. (Rated R: violence) --Charles Solomon
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