Customer Reviews

Appleseed

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a classic, don't get me wrong. I absoultly love this DVD and purchased it without even thinking twice... However I think it could have been 2 or even 3 times as long. At just over an hour it feels a bit rushed.
Also you should be made aware that there is an abundant almost unending supply of adult language in this movie.
I won't go into the story too much because that's half the fun. I will say that this anime has some of my favorite anime action scenes in it and I fall in love with it every time I put it in the DVD player. I rank it up there with Akira, Ghost in the shell, Iria and Robotech...
Oh and there is a hidden trailer for appleseed on the dvd version. Go to special features section. at the bottom you'll see it lists "play movie" "Menu" and to the right will be the MAGNA symbol. move to the right and highlignt the symbol. press enter and enjoy the "music video/trailer" for Appleseed. It's pretty cool.

I'll confess that I am a Shirow fan and I've enjoyed reading Appleseed. I was looking forward to the anime, but I was a bit disappointed by it. This anime is based on Appleseed: Book 2, but to condense that lengthy volume into a one hour movie, some sacrifices had to be made.

One of the major things which suffered in the conversion was the characterization. The same familiar characters of Deunan, Briarios, and Hitomi are still there, but they are very watered-down when compared to the rich characters they were in the manga. They have very little character depth or personality in the anime.

The entire storyline is also somewhat different. While the overall plot is the same, the complexities are toned-down. It essentially follows a typical "police versus terrorist" storyline, with a little political intrigue from the manga thrown in. For those who find Shirow's works confusing, then this may be a blessing, but for those who enjoy the rich depth of his stories, then this will be a bitter disappointment.

The animation is of pretty average quality. The characters look the same as the manga, but it's generally not too flashy. While I haven't seen the dubbed version, I heard that excessive swearing was added in. The subtitled version has almost no profanity in it.

Appleseed does have some entertainment value. If you've never read the manga before then you'll probably get some enjoyment out of this. Fans of the manga should probably give it a pass, though.

To see a music video style ad for the DVD release of Appleseed (which, oddly is ON the Appleseed DVD), go to the special features menu, scroll down the options until you rerach the bottom of the page where "Play Movie" and "Back" are located. Press right toward the Manga logo but it won't be highlighted. Presse enter to view the egg.

This movie has several things wrong with it. For one, There is no character development what so ever. Two, The animaton ain't all that great, plain and bland, not to much detail. Third, get subtitled, The dubbed is a sacrilege to the entire movie which isn't a very long running film to begin with. The dub degrades the entire flow of the film. It's terrible acting with misplaced words.The F word(not fornicate but the other one) is said mindlessly throughout the entire pic. The plot really was a bad one. I hoped it would develope more but it didn't.

Good side is that i was in the hospital at the time. I had my appendix removed and my brother came in and handed me some movies. It helped pass the time away. That was the dubbed. Later i got it subtitled, and to my amazement nothing much changed except that i had to read it.

Based on the slick Masamune Shirow manga series, I had big hopes for this one. Did it live up to them? I would say yes - and no.

A story about humans trapped in the perfect city, and how when life is easy to live, it's almost pointless. Sadly, the plot is bogged down by bad directing and a lack of imagery. We have two "villains" and neither ever make the audience feel threatened. Unlike in the mangas, Dedune and Bariarieos are pretty clean cut (read: uninteresting) characters, a far cry from the mean, violent, and profesional SWAT officers they where in the mangas. The plot is roughly based on the second manga, but so roughly that fans will find a new, and fairly interesting, story. The characters will just get in the way...

The animation is pretty bad, but the flat colors and sad, sad art hurt this anime the most. It's very two dimensional and uncreative.

The dub is poor, Bariarieos's totally incorrect voice being the worst part. The character designs are terrible, and it's too bad that the animators didn't mimic Shirow's style better. It looks more like the "Gall Force" designs, without any of the charm or the great hair, than they look like Shirow's stuff. The villainous villain (not to be mistaken with the villain we are expected to pity ^_~) has a place on my "Top 10 Ugliest anime characters list", especially when he's in his landmate. A word on the landmates, they are THE ugliest mechas, ever. Why did the animation team not use Shirow's designs? Beats me, because these landmates, which look like something out of "Inspector Gadget" or "Duck Tails", are awful. Asuska Langly would kill herself before she set foot in one of these ^_~.

Overall, though I was harsh on this anime in the review, it's not the worst Sci-Fi anime I have seen, by far, and this makes a fine rent for fans of the mangas. Because the plot is still advanced in nature, this can be an enjoyable experience. Buy? Well, I don't know... you better not look for beautiful animation and art as a standard in your anime, for one, and you should make sure copies of "Ghost in the Shell" "Battle Angel" and "Armitage III Polymatrix" are on your shelf already, second. Still, you could do worse...

Masamune Shirow is a wonderful writer & artist. The appleseed comic series is really wonderful: both intelligent, funny & beautifully drawn, everyone I've lent this to or bought it for has LOVED it..

The video is interesting, but might dissapoint. The story is well done, but lacking the details and beautiful art of the comics. It is not as good as his other stories on video (M-66 Black Magic, about escaped battle droids that need to be recaptured) and Ghost in the Shell (about intelligence in the robot and computer systems and what is a soul, anyways?) ...

But: I still recommend this! =)

Shirow, Shirow, Shirow what were you thinking! Allowing Appleseed one of the greatest cyber punk story lines of all time becomeing a 50 min Anime! Not only that but the main story line is taken mostly from the second book in the manga series, published by Dark Horse. The voices are absolutly annoying and the animation is average. If you want to get the true value out of your money pass on this and get the manga by Masamune Shirow, author of Ghost in the Shell.

Based on manga by one of Japan's greatest manga creators, the secretive Msamune Shirow (a pen-name with no photos of the man made public because he likes his private life), Appleseed is presented with the original theme of the creator's manga. This is the strongest point of the film because the animatuion is not quite what one fan would expect from such a popular title. First of, there is this pastel color scheme that robs the movie of any realism and impact. Secondly, it contians poor animation and doesn't match anything on the Ghost In The Shell video. Third, there is one scene that is unintentionally funny because of a misspelling and the characters outside the main two characters, don't seem as alive, or involved as the original manga portrays them. However, the philosophical aspects are present in this release and newcomers to Shirow's manga will be cognitive of them, but any fan of Shirow will be quick to point out the obvious lack of the creator's touch. My advise for anyone whom sees this video is to read the comic book tradepaperbak translated by Studio Proteus and published by Darkhorse. Trust me after you read the manga you'll wonder why this video is only a decent representation of Shirow at best.

I bought Appleseed today at some comic book store because they didn't have anything else I was interested in. I wasn't expecting much, but this 68 minute anime is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. They swear like there's no tomorrow and say degrading things about themselves that I don't think I can repeat here. I've spotted at least five typos (mostly on signs) throughout the movie. ROFLMAO! The animation is fine, but it's irrelevant. Buy Appleseed without hesitation. It's a riot. :) :)

This is the original cell animé and should in no way be confused with the glorious 3D CGI creation of the same name. The animation is shoddy and doesn't compare well with many of its contemporaries, Akira this is not.
Plot, xenophobic terrorist and sappy police traitor plot to destroy Olympus ( Spelt incorrectly in the signposts.) The defence is lead by Deunan a female SWAT cop and her Cyborg sidekick Brearios, who looks more like a robotic rabbit than the formidable man-machine he's supposed to be. Much shooting and running around in circles ensues until right prevails, Hurrah !
If you've seen the latest Appleseed CGI masterpiece and are considering watching this one, don't. It's simply not in the same league and the character relationships, such as they are, are nonsensical when compared with the more recent version. It's almost guaranteed to disappoint.