Appurushdo (2004) Appleseed

Directed by Shinji Aramaki

An anime film of a new generation with fully realised 3 dimensional backdrops, rendered on computers and cel shaded characters based on the movements and characteristics of live actors.

First the good news, this is an improvement over the original Appleseed anime in every department, the landscapes, buildings etc are beautifully rendered while the cel shading for the characters is very stylistic. The action scenes are outstanding with terrific sound and visual effects. The story makes sense and is easy to follow (unlike the original) and all in all this is a positive step.

Now the not so good news, while the action scenes are riveting and astounding, the plot is a little too simplified, adapted and compressed from a long running manga, the double crossing and politics are taken to base level. You get the feeling that all the time and effort was put into the look of the film rather than developing a more complex story which is a shame because its basically ended up as mouth watering but vacuous eye candy that at times feels as though you should be playing it as a game instead of watching it.

The story picks up after a series of long wars have wiped out most of the human race; the plot follows one of the survivors, female soldier Deunan Knute. She is recruited to help protect a utopian society which is a mixture of humans and bioroids (clones) in a form of futuristic police force. Problems arise because of mans inability to trust each other and the bioroids in particular, the regular army forces plan a revolt that will oust the governors of the city and wipe out the clones. The plot twists and turns as you realise that most people have their own agenda and are busy double crossing each other with Deunan Knute caught in the middle unsure who to trust. 

Its only a shame that the plot is dealt with so lightly, films such as Ghost in the Shell and series like Evangelion prove that you can have more depth and still entertain the masses. Its not a failed experiment but it could and should have been so much more.

See it for it's visual styling (though hopefully this type of anime will never replace the hand drawn beauty of a Miyazaki film) but don't expect a deep storyline.

Cheers Trev.

BBFC rating 12.