Appleseed

Ahhhh, Appleseed… the first anime movie I watched and enjoyed. While some may say that it isn’t anime since it has 3D graphics, but I call it an anime movie. And a damn good one at that. First of all, what attracted me are 2 things: sci-fi, which I enjoy the most, and some fast-paced action. I didn’t expect anything more than this. If you want to know if this is for you, then read on.
The story is set in the year 2131 AD. Appleseed stars Deunan Knute, a young, legendary female soldier and a survivor of the Third World War, which brought Earth to the brink of destruction. While fighting a number of unknown figures, a platoon of tall, white-armored soldiers fly in from overhead and just when it looks like Duenan is out of escape options they open fire on the enemy whom she has been fighting. Then they take her to Olympus, a Utopian city. Here she joins the prestigious ESWAT organization to serve as the city's guardian. So there the true story begins, with a threat to humanity being uncovered and Duenan is the only one with the key to save humanity. So as you can see the plot is very linier and the only real mystery you’ll have is who the real bad guy is. So the movie isn’t made for those who seek deep plots and hidden messages or such. The plot is here just so there wouldn’t be any randomness and so the action would have some purpose. What I like is the sci-fi setting, post world war, high-tech cities and armor and weapons, all that good stuff. I mean when I first saw this movie I thought that they read my mind. How did they know that I wanted to see stuff like that? Because I didn’t want to absorb myself in the story, I didn’t want to absorb myself in the drama… I wanted to rot my brain with fast-paced action and NOT give a shit about anything else. It’s not to say that the plot is senseless and makes the movie retarded. No. It just isn’t the type of plot that will absorb you.
There is also a good character cast, but it’s nothing special, most are military type, some are more civilian like, one is a cyborg, but in the end it’s nothing original. They gave more attention to the characters than they did to the plot, like they paid attention to character development, but it still doesn’t change the fact that the cast is just above average.
The presentation… gorgeous. One might say that the 3D graphics ruin it, but I say it is one major plus. Character animation gives emotion and personality to each individual and also makes the action more enjoyable. Voice cast is believable and the music, while maybe not memorable, fits everything perfectly.
Overall, this movie isn’t quite a masterpiece, but I still recommend it to those that just want fun and not waste time thinking about every plot element, and trying to figure things out. If you’re like me, enjoy action and sci-fi put together like a match made in Heaven, then this is one you don’t want to miss.


p.s. There are speculations that Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell take place in the same universe due to the nature of the 3rd World War and some of the sci-fi elements presented here, but I will have to decline that cause: 1) The story here takes place in 2131 AD; 2) They’ve only had WW 3 while in Ghost in the Shell they’ve also had WW4. There are also other differences, but you get the picture… they are NOT in the same universe.