Appleseed

2 reviews - 3.5 total score (Explanation of the rating system)
avg. score: (1.8)

2. Bugmaster

I actually don't have a lot to say about the original Appleseed movie; it's not much of a movie. The art is very dated, even by 1980s standards (that's when the movie was made); for some reason, it reminds me of Speed Racer. The mecha designs are still very good, of course (this is Masamune Shirow we're talking about), but it's hard to take the movie seriously when one of the main characters looks like a big cyber-bunny.

The setting of this anime is quite promising: after the near-destruction of the world due to nuclear war, the General Management Control Office has created a prototype city, named Olympus, which should serve as the template for the future. The city is a populated mostly by "biodroids": an offshoot of humans which is genetically engineered by the Tartarus labs to exist in this Brave New World. However, it seems that not everyone is happy with the security and prosperity that Olympus provides: the movie centers around two cops who pursue a terrorist organization which is bent on destroying Olympus.

The movie attempts to raise many interesting issues, dealing with security, liberty, and morality. Unfortunately, the movie simply doesn't have enough plot to explore any of these questions in detail. Watching Appleseed feels as though someone slammed on the "fast-forward" button: you get a feeling that there might be something happening, but you don't have enough time to see any of it. Even the action scenes flash by in a blur (except for the very first one, which had that Ghost in the Shell air of excellence about it).

Essentially, this movie feels like a clip show of the original manga -- which is exactly what it is, come to think of it. The manga itself is probably pure gold, but the movie is simply not worth watching.

1. Mechaman

Based on a part of Shirow's still unfinished manga, this is a complete waste of time. It's hard to point out exactly what's wrong with it. Maybe it's the lackluster soundtrack, the boring characters, the plain animation or simply the fact that it's too short to handle the original story. If you want to see a good anime based on Shirow's works, see Ghost in the Shell.