Appleseed

-Details-
Genre: Action
Company: SORI
Format: Movie; 94 minutes.
Dates: 17 Apr 2004

-Visuals- 8.5/10
A very interesting looking anime. The characters are cel-shaded (and actually modded on real life people using motion sensors to capture their movements) and the backgrounds are all extremely clean and very, very well done. At times this is actually one of the best looking anime i have ever seen, at other times I find myself having small issues adjusting to the style. One the one hand it's very realistic looking and on the other the cartoon aspect is certainly rather prominent, due in large part to the realistic look of the characters imposed on the more traditional anime backgrounds. Like the style and you will love it, dislike it and you may have some issues, even having said that I cannot imagine anyone saying the visuals are sub-par. Where the game really shines is in the battle sequences. The battle scenes themselves are especially fluid and well rendered and actually appear to have been choreographed using actual fight simulations. Combine these scenes with the excellent backgrounds and you have a gorgeous world.



-Sound- 8.0/10
The sound is solid. At times that is a plus as it fits the mood without being obtrusive. At other times this is a negative as it adds little or nothing to the show. And at times it's simply there. That is how I feel about the music here. It's nothing groundbreaking although it sounds nice and fits the mood, and at the same time it's nothing I found jarringly bad. It's motivating where it needs to be, sombre where it needs to be and loud and in your face where it needs to be. Unfortunately it just didn't leave much of an impression on me one way or another.

-Characters- 7.5/10
Character definitions can often become caricatures. This is not always a bad thing but seldom, unless the personalities are so over the top that they defy the caricature, is this a good thing. Here...it is certainly not a good thing. The characters seemed defined by their personalities, and while culture determines personality personality equally determines culture. here the personalities are static and they are definitely a product of their culture/environment. Unfortunately this restriction allows for little growth and also unfortunately allows for little empathy on the viewers part. I enjoyed the people, I enjoyed the story, but I had little vested interest in what was going on. In fact I pretty much knew what was going to happen before it did as the story and characters left little room for change or growth.

-Story- 7.5/10
World War III has destroyed the land. The last bastion of civilization is the city state of Olympus. Here the powers remaining are attempting to control the world and insure civilization continues. The issue is that they have created Bioroids, hybrid human machine androids in order to help humans survive. Various factions resent the bioroids and their place in society. These factions basically start a civil war, into which the main characters are enveloped. Honestly, as I stated before there were basically no surprises and while I enjoyed it the story was cliche and predictable.

-Overall- 8.0/10
Enjoyable...? Yes. Great...? No! Bad...? No as well. What it is is an enjoyable romp into a realistic, yet unfortunately too often used, world were battle continues to wage even after the war that devastated most of the world has occurred. Enjoy it for what it is, simply do not expect a mind blowing epic.