Customer Reviews

Armitage III Poly-Matrix (Geneon Signature Series)

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have seen many anime's (and own a lot as well) and I must say that this one definately suprised me. I thought it had great animation (definately theater quality) As for the dubbing, you got some big names doing the voices. I feel that kiefer sutherland did great at doing his part. As for elizabeth berkley, it took me a while to get use to it, but while the story unfold's, you realize how great her voice fits the role as well. Not to mention, this movie has great re-viewing properties, I was more than happy to watch this movie twice in a row (which I did!) Not to mention, it can get a little confusing, but the plot by the end is easy to understand, and the movie stays in your mind. It's hard to compare, but it's easy to prove that's it's good. You should for sure buy this if you are a anime fan. If your trying out the genre, this is a great start to your collection along with akira and ghost in the shell. Also, there definately is violence, but when the rating says "brief nudity" they mean it, there really wasn't much nudity at all, maybe 1 or 2 scenes that I can remember, which lasted for a few seconds. Not to many extra feature's, but the menu screen is put together very well. This movie is all around good, I don't know if the best, but definately on the top row of my collection!

The first time I had seen this movie I enjoyed it. But it wasn't until I'd seen it for the second time that it struck me what a wonderful movie Armitage 3 is. The animation is superb. Berkley and Sutherland were absolutely perfect for the voices. the plost comes across confusing at first, but it all comes together quite nicely by the end.The characters are well written and you find yourself empathising with the heroes, so that by the end you are right in the movie. Great for a first time anime expierience. (The soundtrack to this film is something I'd love to get my hands on. It pumps the movie along quite nicely. You'll sit down and watch the credits just to listen to the ending theme!)

I rented this DVD expecting a typical anime movie. What I got was a wonderfully animated film -with no plot whatsoever! The reason that I even sat through the entire thing was because the Japanese AND English voice acting was good, a rarity for anime. Don't get me wrong, the animation is top-notch, and the DVD has crystal clarity. However, there is one thing that absolutely shoots this movie into the toilet. Armitage III was originally a series of 4 original animation videos (OAVs), all of which added up to about 2 hours 20 minutes of animation. Well, on the DVD there is only 1 hour 30 minutes worth of animation. That's nearly an hour that was hacked off! This does not do wonders for the storyline, which resembles a movie that has been spliced and re-spliced about 20 different times with incongruous scenes. In fact, the movie's only saving grace is the fact that some of the good elements from the OAVs, such as the voice acting and animation, are still present.

Do yourself a favor. Do not, under any circumstances, buy this DVD! It does the OAV series, which is absolutely wonderful, no justice at all. Get the original series as it was meant to be seen, and I guarantee you will be much happier. I am, because I now own all 4 OAVs and have never again set my eyes on the Poly-Matrix "movie". I suggest that you do the same.

I had rented the first volume of the original Armitage III series several years ago, and fell in love with this series. I purchased "Polymatrix" this summer, and was a little dissappointed by how much was cut from the original series. Since then I have purchased the original 4-volume series (30 minutes each, except for volume 1, which is 50 minutes). After watching the original four volumes, I can say without hesitation that they are far superior to the condensed and redubbed motion picture version. If you watched this movie and found the story and plot a little confusing, get the original volumes instead; you will enjoy this great series much more if you do!

Why did they do this? Armitage III the series was a 4 part classic, relatively low-key, release from Pioneer. Featuring one 50-minute episode and 3 thirty minute episodes it told the story of Armitage, a robot trying to help other Third types in a future Mars colony. But, the series was hacked up and assembled into this shambles of a movie featuring dire voice-overs by Kiether Sutherland (who is a good actor) and Elizabeth Berkley (who is not). Neither actor or actress seemed to give much of an effort and the original series, with it's increased length and full scenes and low-key voice actors give Armitage a much better run.

Alas, it is virtually impossible to find.

There are tons of great reviews for this movie. That's understandable if none of them have seen the original OAV series this came from. See, back in 1994-1995, a 4-part OAV series called "Armitage III" came out in Japan. "Poly-Matrix" takes that 140-minute series and hacks it down to ~90-minutes. Thus this 1997 dub-title is born. So a lot of the story gets cut and things aren't nearly as good as the original. If you've seen the original, you'll be annoyed at all of the cuts and poor edit choices.

As to the dub cast (there is no Japanese cast on a dub-title as they simply re-edit an original Japanese product for American consumption), having big stars lend their voices makes it a better dub than a lot of anime titles/series. But it doesn't make up for the complete and utter hack job the series was given to form this movie.

Bottom line: If you thought this was good, the OAV is tons better. If you haven't seen this, get the OAV instead.

I have been into Anime for the past six years, when Armitage III was first came out it was four tapes running apx. 45 min. each. The story was full and compleat and left you with a few questions.

In 1996 I attended Anime-Expo '97 the largest Con of its type in the US. It was here that I saw the premer of "Armitage III Poly-Matrix". I was very disapointed with it, they cut 45 min. out of the origanl film making the plot even more diffaclt to understand. And changed the ending leaving it open which made you think "There is more right?!?".

If you can find the older VHS tapes I would recommend that you pick them up.

These are just my feeling about the movie and nothing more.

Otaku 4 Life.

The beginning of this video is quite slow. For about 25 minutes i wasnt impressed at all but once the plot kicks in a little bit things get a whole lot better. I didnt like how weak they conveyed Naomi to be though. Anyways the fight scenes are great and the animation isnt bad at all. The plot isnt to loose either. When i first saw it I was quite impressed and actually remembered the title only to buy it a year later. Still awesome. Naomi is hot too.

I'm not a big anime fan, but I really liked this movie. It has a futuristic setting on Mars, cool animation, and terrific voice acting by Kiefer Sutherland and Elizabeth Berkley. I also like this anime because it makes you think, you can always go back and find something you missed.
The story follows an earth cop named Ross who is transferred to Mars where he is partnered with an enigmatic police woman named Armitage. Together, they try and track down the person who is destroying "thirds" (robots with advanced artificial intelligence who begave like humans). The civil unrest and political storyline add an element of realism to this anime. I am looking forward to the sequel.

I recently saw the uncut Bladerunner after 10+ years. It triggered a desire in me to rewatch Armitage III after a couple of years. A3 was one of my first anime, when I caught it on television. I thought it was good then, but didn't watch more anime because of it's lack of availability and my lack of further exposure.

Vivid animation. Great action. Strong emotions. Famous, good voice actors (may be easier convince non-anime friends to watch). [Side note, I really liked Keifer Sutetherland in "Dark City"]

After seeing it again, I must say there are strong resembelences to Bladerunner's vision of the future. Human-like, thinking and feeling androids are being systemically persecuted and assasinated. A human cop who's partner had been killed by an android is assigned to investigate, with his new partner, Armitage. She is very strong willed and emotional, but is also revealed to be an android. I really felt for Armitage, who is a good person, when she suffers an emotional breakdown because she thinks she is a worthless because she is an artifical life.

The story moves at a much faster pace than Bladerunner. I enjoyed it the second time as much as the first, since you then understand the fairly complex story from the beginning.

If you like Bladerunner, you'll love A3.