Appleseed?

Fenian

Is Appleseed worth getting? Has anyone seen it?
Any input is welcome, thanks.

Laguna

I personally think it's ****. The visuals are all spangly and the soundtrack is all that jazz, but the storyline, characters and narrative arc are pure dogs muck. If you're taken in by bright lights and snappy sounds, by all means watch it. If you like a bit of substance with your anime, it's sadly lacking. It's a very, very poor mans Ghost In The Shell.

^CwAzY^

I watched it, jaysus it's **** but you have to admit the visuals are amazing, watch the gunfight (first 10 mins) where she's running away and then switch it off because that's the only good bit in it!

Crash

Its really, really pretty. really.


...and thats where i stop talking about the rest of it

Liquorice

I've only seen the older version...do not touch it with a ten-foot pole. Do not go near even out of curiosity about how bad it is.

I can't say anything about the newer version though.

Raziel

I liked that, actually. I hav'nt seen 'The Movie' yet!

Fenian

well thats cleared that up.
Thanks lads

Laguna

Liquorice wrote:

I've only seen the older version...do not touch it with a ten-foot pole. Do not go near even out of curiosity about how bad it is.

Have you ever seen the Manga entertainment advertisement for it?, it's got the cheesiest soundtrack ever to it.. badaa bat dad badaa! lol, it makes me laugh every time I hear it whilst checking out the trailers on an anime published by Manga.

honru

I saw it in teh cinema awhile back.

I agree with most of what has been said here. It wasn't completely awful, but its weak points (such as poor plotline) were more forthcoming than its flashy visuals. There just wasn't much substance to the thing.

sharingan

That said, people are blown away by the visuals (2 of my mates anyway). I didn't go into it with High expectations, as I am a fan of the manga, and know how difficult it was to adapt.

The plot was extremely simplified down, and characters simplified in order to make the film work.

That said I enjoyed it. It looks great when its all in motion, but somehow the technology isn't up to the task of the more mundane stuff like expressions and such. All the main voice actors had their facial patterns motion captured, but they still come off blank. Once you start to approach realism you really need to go all the way in order for character performances to look well.

I thought the ending sequence was really good, and I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I see Deunans landmate done properly and Briareos laying the smackdown on some cyborgs.

Zen 2nd

I didn't think it was that bad, but of course I watched it in Japanese with English subtitles by mistake (Because I just pressed play and it was in Japanese as default so I assumed there was no English setting that was till I checked the back of the box). So I guess if I watched it in English it would have been better.

Fenian

I prefer watching anime in Japanese. Dub's in my opinion ruin an anime.

Zen 2nd

I just prefer it in English as I just can't stand to read subtitles and it can be hard to pick up vocal expressions like sarcasm.

Eeeper

I liked the movie and I've seen the original OAV! The newer version, while it takes liberties with the story, doesn't confuse like the original. And GAINAX helped plan and animate the original! Shame on them. Oh, getting back to the new version it's going to be a good starting point for newcomers to the story for when the sequel and TV series is released. I've put a link to them all here.

Laters, oh check out my blog. It's here

sharingan

Appleseed Movie 2 & 3 as well as a TV series were announced as being in production. Thats about the only detail on them (and frankly I would treat movie 3 as pure wish fulfillment until the other other productions air).

Shirow himself has announced that Movie 2 & the TV series are in production. News which is warmly received by me. I wish he would collaborate with the producers like he did with GITS SAC. Personally I am eagerly awaiting the TV series, and I hope it goes back to basics, animating the manga, and providing a platform for a real ending.

Oh BTW, whats the status with site pimping around here?

psicic

Sorely disappointed with 'Appleseed' (the 2004 movie) - ironically this thread only resurfaced the day after I bought the thing, otherwise I would have thought twice. :rolleyes:

When I saw the OAV on Sci-Fi I reacted with a resounding 'Huh?'. My reaction to the 2004 movie, however, was a deafening 'Meh!?' - tempered by the fact I just spent €18 on the DVD. :eek:

The OAV had a butchered storyline and that - in conjunction with every second otaku on the internet swearing the original manga was a 'classic' - kept my expectations for this new movie artifically high. And, in all fairness, there is a much deeper storyline with the movie, and some of the visuals are pretty good. The animation style, however, looks like it belongs in a PS2 game. Don't get me wrong, it would(will??? ) be a great game, but the 'lifeless-ness' in some of the characters (as opposed to the superb backdrops/mecha) got to me.

The story looks like it could get deep - but always seems to cut character/backstory development a bit too short, and seems a rushed in places. Perhaps if it had had a multi-episode OAV format, the whole thing would have been much more satisfying. As it stands, the whole thing felt like it sacrificed plot development and intelligent backstory to make itself into an action-piece, and in doing so failed to make the most of the very thing that would set it apart.

Instead of this, watch Vampire Hunter Bloodlust (the 2000 movie) if you're looking for a quick action fix that's pretty good in English(:eek:).

If you want action with a philosophical thrust that's even deeper, but comes from the same stable, watch some of GITS: SAC(with subs, not the English version). I'm on episode 8 and I am really impressed ...

sharingan

The original Appleseed manga is a classic and it is excellent. It would require at least a 13 ep TV series to fully tell the existing story (and thats not even finished). The characters were changed a lot to make the movie plot work. Which was a highly simplified affair.

In the movie, the nature of the Appleseed was completely contrived. In the manga, the 'appleseed' in question is an allegory for technology dependence. Olympus' high technology makes it the most supreme and dominant culture in post-WW3 earth, yet it becomes it's undoing when Gaia goes self-destructive. Deunan fires an appleseed into Gaia's backup power circuit to sabotage it so that they can end the destruction.

Theres lots of other changes too. Angst suits Briaerios about as much as Gucci shoes on a pig. The concept of anyone getting the jump on him, or playing him, just doesn't fly. The only thing that stopped him, or even slowed him down was anti-landmate weaponry or combat bioroids. He is totally comfortable with being a cyborg and is continually upgrading his subsystems.

Lantis

BRIAREOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I loved the movie a huge amount, and I'm not generally one who goes gaga over visuals.

the_syco

I liked it, but I'm into that style of manga. The storyline was not the best, the plot did kind of suck, but I have watched it twice, so yeah, its good.

carbonkid

Think theres been a few threads about this movie now and everytime the only good thing people can say about it is the visuals are amazing...i really regret buying it but i was bored in HMV and it had a shiny metal case ^_^

...of course i had'nt heard about what a pile a pants it was at that stage.

We should probably move on...for most this movie sucks

omegoku

While it was really dumbed down, and doesnt do the manga justice(finish it you bastard!), I still really enjoyed it.. Might be coz I didnt pay for it and coz it was on a big screen though.. Anyone who plays Tau from warhammer 40k should be impressed by the suits that GW 'borrowed inspiration' from..

Raziel

It's going for €17.99 in HMV, Dublin. I might pick it up.

Laguna

Raziel wrote:

It's going for €17.99 in HMV, Dublin. I might pick it up.

I really wouldn't if I were you, it'll be €17.99 spent on something you'll only watch once and not enjoy.

psicic

Raziel wrote:

It's going for €17.99 in HMV, Dublin. I might pick it up.

Don't.

Laguna has hit the nail on the head....Plus HMV has lots of other anime you'd be better off with.

Raziel

Hmmm....I'm being swayed, here!!