I have been cataloguing my DVD collection recently and I noticed that I did not have that many anime films despite being a huge fan of the genre. I have therefore been using my review earnings to rectify the situation and as a result I have a much healthier anime section now.
Appleseed is an anime film I had heard about many times but for whatever reason I had never gotten around to watching it so when I saw it on Amazon for only £4.98 I decided to get it and give it a go.
For those of you unfamiliar with the anime genre it is basically a term used, (everywhere apart from Japan), to describe Japanese animation. In Japanese though anime simply means animation, Japanese or otherwise. Many people refer to all anime as Manga but Manga is a specific company, I guess it’s like people calling all vacuum cleaners ‘Hoovers’.
Within the anime ‘genre’ almost all genres of fiction
are covered like love stories, action, comedy and horror. Another common misconception about anime is that they are all for kids; this is patently untrue and whilst there are anime programmes/films for kids a lot of them have very adult themes including sex and violence. One of the reasons I believe animated films are so popular in Japan is that they let you portray much more extreme scenes than live action especially in an age before CG.
The film is set in 2131 and the plot of Appleseed centres around Deunan Knute, (pronounced Doo-Nan Noot), who is a highly skilled fighter on a destroyed, post war earth. Deunan is captured after a particularly awesome fight sequence, (one of the bests starts to any film if you ask me), and she finds herself in the utopian city of Olympus. Olympus is greatly different from the world she was captured in and compromises a 50/50 ration of humans and bionoids, (a kind of cloned race). The purpose of the bionoids is to stabilise society but with humans being humans they still crave violence and war and despise the emotionally neutral bionoids because they are different. It quickly becomes apparent that Deunan’s history and her destiny are more closely linked to that of the bionoids are rearing their ugly heads and Deunan is the only one who can save the day but will she manage on time?
From the off the film looks amazing, it has the kind of beautiful, detailed scenery found in Ghost in the Shell, (it is in fact by Masamune Shirow who also worked on Ghost in the Shell). The film uses beautiful CG for the scenery but simpler animation, for the people and the close ups. The contrast works really well and makes for very enjoyable viewing. As with many anime films, light and shadow play a huge part in creating suitable atmosphere with bright, vivid colours during lighter moments and muted colours and shadow for the darker moments which adds so much to the film as a whole.
The film has a lot of great fight scenes which really show off the skills of the animation team. Most of the time the people fight from inside huge armoured suits with guns, these suits are another thing that seem to crop up a lot in anime films. I always love the ‘mech suits’, (they are so cool), and these are really good ones with so much detail you can almost see how they work.
Even though the film has a deep meaning it is very easy to watch and you are not left confused or wondering if you really ‘got it’ at the end. I like this fact a lot as I don’t always want to have to pay such close attention to a film, sometimes I just want to sit back and enjoy it.
It’s interesting to note that Paul Oakenfold and Basement Jaxx are contributors to the sound track. The music the film is set fits well, so well in fact that I barely noticed it.
Although I am not reviewing the DVD as I hate special features it is worth me telling you that there is a dubbed version on the DVD as well the original Japanese with the option of English subtitles. I watched it in English with the subtitles and the two didn’t match which was interesting.
This for me is a great film that satisfies most of the things I want from a film. It was enjoyable and beautiful from start to finish and had a plot I found easy to follow and interesting. Instead of twists and turns in the plot things were revealed in a timely fashion so I always felt I knew as much as Deunan did. The film is a 12 which for once I think is about right as there is fighting but little else.
For under £5.00 I think this film is a bargain and there are five extras included for those of you that enjoy them.
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Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith
I don't buy into the Animated film genre. This genre has completely changed since I last seen one I know; yet I've baffled why there is no hype in this clever medium.
New media has re-introduced itself into interactive formats, over recent years, yet this genre falls by the wayside.
The term 'If you don't shout about it, you won't hear about it' is proven to be true when it comes to multi-media marketing, and none of us are any wiser.
OnTheChin 10.06.2009 15:05
Only seen a few anime type films and agree with you, they are not just for kids while the artwork has always been very impressive. Nice review
From director Shinji Aramaki (Bubblegum Crisis), Appleseed is based on the best-selling ... more
manga by Shirow Masamune (creator of The Ghost In The Shell). Featuring music from Basement Jaxx and Paul Oakenfold, Appleseed uses state of the art technology and ...
Advantages: The gorgeous, fluid animation, the excellent characterisation, the clever story and perfect sound Disadvantages: Only that the dubbed english language script is different to the english subtitles, not a huge problem!
Advantages: Pretty use of CGI and fine character modelling, DVD has a fair few extras Disadvantages: Dull storyline, unmemorable characters, lightweight next to Ghost In The Shell
Advantages: The gorgeous, fluid animation, the excellent characterisation, the clever story and perfect sound Disadvantages: Only that the dubbed english language script is different to the english subtitles, not a huge problem!
Advantages: Pretty use of CGI and fine character modelling, DVD has a fair few extras Disadvantages: Dull storyline, unmemorable characters, lightweight next to Ghost In The Shell
![Appleseed [DVD]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/79790630.jpg "Appleseed [DVD]")
Jun 10th, 2009
very helpful by (100%):
