I first saw the name "Appleseed" two months ago. Since I love sci-fi anime, I decided to check it out. Having no money at the time, I had to wait. Then, I learned of a future UMD version, and decided to wait for it. Here is my review of Appleseed for UMD-Video.
Appleseed is the story of Deunam Neut and her quest to save humanity... from itself. The latest global conflit has left Earth in shambles. The last remaining humans who aren't fighting, have banded together to create a utopia known as "Olympus." To stabilize the government, the group of scientists led by a female leader create the "Bioroids", human-like creatures that lack reproductive systems by default and have suppresed emotions like anger, love, and aggression.
The movie has several big plot-twists one would not expect. Like most anime titles of similar genres, it is confusing to the very end. I will not spoil the story for you, but it is great. The action is well-done and the best thing about the movie is the animation. It uses CG that is apparently blended with some other mapping to create a CG Anime look. It looks great. The music is also excellent, as are the sound effects.
In terms of value, the UMD version lacks the special features of the DVD version, and doesn't have scene-selection (WTF?), although it mirrors the DVD version in terms of quality very well.
If you want a great anime for the road, buy the UMD version. The action is excellent, and the story will keep you (and your friends) guessing. The DVD version has several cool special features, but I would buy the UMD version for ease of portability. Of course, you could just rip the DVD and copy it to a memory stick.
Overall, I recommend this to anyone who likes anime like Ghost in the Shell or Neon Genesis Evangelion or just the sci-fi fanboy. It's excellent.
Very good review! ...I own the DVD version, but I wouldn't mind owning the UMD version as well. I agree, audience who love anime or sci-fi will enjoy the plot-twists and depth. For audiences looking for the simpler stories of Final Fantasy: Spirits Within or any Pixar movie, its fairly easy to get lost or frustrated with the deep subjects (humanity, violence, and a whodunnit on par with any Sharkespearean tragedy).
I'd recommend it to others. Even if you get frustrated with the plot, it's some great CGI. Other reviews talk about "stilted English", but within the movie it makes sense, bioroids are genetically engineered to supress emotion, a side-effect of which makes them speak like "that is correct." rather than "yeah, that's right!" It's a fun movie, great story, and great visuals.
I personally thought the plot+story in this movie was dull, and i'm normally into these types of things. I was sort of frustrated with the "music video" aspect to anything that had actioni in it, and while the actions scenes were all just 'ok' (except the alley scene), the music itself I found to be extremely bad.
guess it really just matters if you've never seen a 3d cg full feature before.. to be honest, I thought that they relied too much on the fact that it was 3d to carry the "done before" idea.
@ digi
It's all in preference, bro. No big deal. It is actually the first "major" movie in the US to use that type of CGI exlusively. It's going to take time before they get it perfect.
Have you seen the FMV in the new Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance for the Gamecube? It uses the same type of CGI and it looks INCREDIBLE.
yeah i know it's preference, I thought I would have liked it when I sat and watched it with my wife, but when it ended we kind of just looked at each other like "....... um, ok."
I mean there were certain things that were extremely well done, but I can't agree that it is "the 1st" to exclusively use 3d, ever see final fantasy? Although FF wasn't "anime------ish" it was entirely cg, using some custom designed software and alias:maya.
The thing that bugged me about it, was that a few scenes were flawlessly executed and everything about it was beautiful.... then another scene, someone would be walking and the animation of it, would drift, or wouldn't work, textures would be all messed up, it would just be wierd... and for some reason, that bugged me a lot, (not enough to hate the movie, because i DONT hate it), but it bugged me enough to think they could have done a lot to make the overall feel of it that much more gritty and believable.
again, just my opinion, I can see though, why someone could enjoy it..
Well, there's a reason it all seems to have been 'done before'.
It was, it's a remake of a much much older anime, back when a lot of the themes were still new. The original was also called Appleseed, and was one of Masamune Shirow's (of Ghost in the Shell fame) first works. It came well before Ghost in the Shell.
Apparently you young whipper-snappers don't remember the classics :P.
Apparently you young whipper-snappers don't remember the classics :P.
No, actually I remember it, but that isn't what I was saying now was it? There is nothing new about philip k style sci fi stories about post dystopian planets trying to reform humanity. It just gets old after, you know 40+ years of people writing the same kind of ish.
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