Appleseed: Ex Machina
Entry posted by Ka-Chan
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Okay, while I'm not going to do regular anime reviews like Wrack/Ooh-Kamen-Rider-Hime-Sama! does, I wanted to point this one out to people. Ironically I could have drawn out a lot of interesting credential info and whatnot because one of my old Newtype magazines had an article on this movie and is in fact what encouraged me to rent the DVD off of Netflix. Unfortunately, I can't find the issue :/ So I'll give you what I, a casual anime fan, would know.
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Appleseed: Ex Machina-Directed by Shinji Aramaki, PG-13, released on October 2007 and in America during March 2008.
Personal Thoughts
I would like to start off by saying this one well made anime. Well, actually, I don't know if it counts as an anime, judging by the fact that it's done in a type of CGI. Usually I loathe CGI type films/shows because they lack the same feeling as a cartoon, and it seems like nowadays the only cartoons still around are Japanese anime or the crud you see on Nickoledeon or Cartoon Network *sparing a few of them like Transformers Animated* . But this time around, I actually enjoyed the CGI in Appleseed because you could tell they did it on purpose and put effort into it, unlike many companies that do CGI because it's cheap and a faster way to crank out movies for the box office. At first glance, it seems a lot like the animation in the Final Fantasy movies, but once you watch it you'll realise it does have a unique sort of anime'ish feel to it- they're deeply detailed but yet has a sort of simplistic feel when it comes to lighting and texture. All in all, it looks great.
The action and romance plots are well excecuted, too. It's hard to classify the action- it's a cross between mech *not giant robots, though. More like mechanized battle armor* battles in the sky and on-foot firefights *the first firefight in the movie is probably one of the best scenes in my opinion*, and even a few hand-to-hand combat sequences, so you get a little bit of everything. Oh, and did I say the love triangle plot was well done, too? Okay, cool, because while it adds some nice depth and character development to the plot, I personally couldn't care too much about the romance in itself.
And it doesn't get all it's props from simple eye candy and adrenaline-pumping battles, either. It's a well woven tale of a future in which mankind struggles for peace amongst their fellow humans but find themselves having to fight off terrorists who wish otherwise. The contrasts and blurrs between man and machine, love and violence in this tale merge together beautifully, making Appleseed hard to sum up. All in all, you need to see it for yourself to truly understand how well made it is. And that is why I made this following review!
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The Story Of Appleseed:Ex Machina *Warning, some minor spoilers, read after the first paragraph in this part at your own descretion*
The year is 2135 A.D, 2 years after a non-nuclear World War III that devastated all of human civilzation and extinguished millions of lives. Now, nations prosper in isolation from one another, yet still suffer from a lack of unity that leaves under constant attack at the hands of terrorists. This is not the case of the city nation Olympus, though. Along with survivors of WWIII who were turned into cyborgs for their health's sake, the utopian metropolis has been creating a race of genetically altered humans called Bioriods, just like us except with DNA that represses strong, agressive emotions. With half of Olympus' population consisting of Bioroids, peace and stability is easily maintained. But qouthe Duenan's narration at the begining *which also explains the title of Appleseed, Olympus was a "seed" mankind created* : "Like any Garden of Eden, there will be it's serpents that wish it's destruction."
After the brief narration that sets the stage for Appleseed, our story begins with E.S.W.A.T forces closing in on an abandoned chapel in the city of Olympus. Cyborg terrorists have kidnapped E.U Officials and are holding them hostage from within. It is here we are introduced to the main characters, Duenan and Braireos. Duenan is a skilled but somewhat impulsive, infiltrating the chapel and sparking off the E.S.W.A.T's firefight against the terrorists before they were even ready. She alone deals a massive amount of damage in a very cool opening combat sequence, but when she finds herself going head to head against a heavy Cyborg terrorist and ends up surronded by his goons, Brairoes breaks through a stained glass window and the two team up, quickly taking the group down and defeating the leader. When attempting to question the fatally wounded terrorist, he self-destructs, and Brairos shields his parter from the explosion at his own expense.
Now that her partner is wounded and out of duty, Duenan finds herself off-duty, but even then she finds herself in the line of duty soon enough, rescuing a group of construction workers from a disgruntled co-worker who took control of a Landmate construction mech after being fired and goes on a rampage. Shortly after, she is called back to E.S.W.A.T and introduced to her new partner, Tereus, who is the first of a new breed of Bioroids designed for combat. But what's the problem? The template used for the creation of his kind was none other but Duenans old partner whom she has strong feelings for, the cyborg Braireos.
The story elevates from thereon after a International Conference at Olypmus is being held about a new Olympus satellite system that would unite all of the nations and finally achieve global peace. E.S.W.A.T forces, along with a recently recovered Braireos *who strongly dislikes Tereus, a clone of himself that is now his close friend Duenan's partner!* are assigned to keeping everything safe while the conference goes on. But things quickly take a disturbing turn when one of E.S.W.A.T's own elite Aeacus suddenly turns on them and humans and cyborgs in the streets suddenly become zombie like and start riots heading towards the Conference hall...
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All In All
That about sums up the first 20-25 minutes of this hour and 48 minute long movie! I hope I've piqued your curiosity and that you do decide to rent, if not buy, this movie! If you're a fan of science fiction, anime, or romance, or anything in betwen these three genres, I would more then reccomend adding this DVD to your collection, it is more then worth it. Be cautious, though, despite being PG-13, the movie does have some strong language at points, but there isn't much to worry about in the way of blood and gore, just fast-paced stylized action.
And Braireos is awesome. Go buy it. Seriously.
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