Appleseed
Science Fiction films are always trying to push the boardaries of visuals, transporting us to new and fantastic locations. The story for these films tend to come from the settings, and likewise the characters. 'Appleseed', the second filming of Masamune Shirow's best selling Japanese comic book (also known as Manga) series, follows the same trend as most Science Fiction films....
Science Fiction films are always trying to push the boardaries of visuals, transporting us to new and fantastic locations. The story for these films tend to come from the settings, and likewise the characters. 'Appleseed', the second filming of Masamune Shirow's best selling Japanese comic book (also known as Manga) series, follows the same trend as most Science Fiction films, and fans are likely to feel a loss of many things from the original Manga, while newcomers are likely to find not very much different from other Science Fiction films.
Set after the Third World War has ended without any clear victors, a new society is built from the ruins of the old: the city of Olympus, a lavish and beautiful metropolis built to be a perfect utopia after the chaos of war. With this perfect city, perfect people called Bioroids are created. Essentially highly enhanced clones, they are made to run the city and maintain a balance between themselves and the humans. The government itself is made up of Bioroids, human elders and a super computer called Gaia who makes decisions on the running of the city based on the events around it.
As things stand, there is tension between the humans and the Bioroids, and it is in this our heroes enter the field. Deunan Knute, a highly skilled soldier who was left with others to fight in the war and never brought back, is found by Bioroid Hitomi and her former lover Briareos, who's been so badly wounded in the war that he has a whole new cyborg body. Deunan may only be a soldier, but people are scrambling to get her on their side.
The city of Olympus itself is absolutely beautiful. The entire Anime is done by a new CGI process called '3D Live Anime', a mixture of current CGI processes and cell-shading as seen in video games like 'Jet Set Radio'. The mechanics and backgrounds are stunning to look at. The title sequence, with the pumping sounds of Basement Jaxx's 'Good Luck', is a wonderful montage of the city. Such care was taken to build Shirow's image of a future paradise.
The characters are another matter. For those who've read the original mangas, I can only imagine they will be disappointed by the bland character designs. On the page and to a lesser extent in the 1988 direct-to-video Anime, Shirow's character designs, though basic with the usual large eyes and small noses and mouths as is common in Anime and Manga, show so much depth and emotion. These characters are constantly going through so many emotions because of the conspiracies and intrigue they are constantly thrown into: suspicion, anger, exhaustion, frustration, hysteria and warm affection. There's even comedic moments where the faces become simplified and deformed as they flirt and tease each other. The artists' hands are free and easy. With the CGI, they've decided to make the characters realistic while still keeping the prime Anime qualities. Motion capture was used to get the movements of the characters right, and it does look good, but Shirow's original designs have been sacrificed for it. While in a usual Anime you get a lot of characters standing still, here there is a lot of movement from the motion capture actors. That's fair enough, but sometimes the Anime style feels more realistic than having characters move around all the time. There is less freedom of expression for the characters, and in the film there is certainly a lot less humour going around. You soon get use to the character designs and movements, and it is not that big an issue in the end, nor should it be, but for fans of the original work this won't be warmly received. The character design and the warmth they exuded is a major part of the Manga, which is sadly missing.
Story-wise, it is more or less the standard conspiracy story of past Science Fiction films. The original Manga dealt with political and philosophical issues about living in an automated city like Olympus. Naturally the film cannot accommodate all of these, so settles for a glimpse of these issues, while others are put in the centre stage. In the end it is a simplified version of events, but it’s necessary to fit in everything that is going on, include action scenes inspired by films like ‘The Matrix’. The action certainly survives from Shirow’s novels, and it fits in well with the 3D Live Anime technology, looking spectacular.
The visuals are excellent and very well presented on the TV. The cityscapes and the battle scenes are presented very well, and the sound quality is excellent; dialogue in both the original Japanese and the reasonable English dub (a decent job with no frills), sound effects and the pumping musical score sound crisp and clear.
The special features on the second disc are an excellent package, often detailing the immense work taken to bring the characters, the robots and backgrounds to life. A Japanese commentary by Director Shinji Aramaki and producer Sori details the project and the use of the 3D Live Anime systems, and is very informative and entertaining. The making of feature called ‘The Birth of 3D Live Anime’ goes into even more detail and goes behind the scenes of the filming of the motion capture actors and the voice recording sessions. The Design Archives take us from conceptual art to the finished product, though original images from Shirow’s comic are sadly lacking. Text based biographies and three trailers round off an impressive disc. Considering it’s an important Anime and the new technology needed to bring the images to life it’s a worthy disc.
I think my enjoyment of the novels has tarnished this review. It could have been a grand Sci-fi epic if the characters were allowed to be more expressive. Wire-framed graphics can only do so much. Newcomers are likely to be amazed by the graphics and the story is serviceable to kill a little time. This action Anime in the end does what it always promised, and we cannot complain about that. Still, it could have been so much more.
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