The 2004 Appleseed feature is a reworking of the earlier video based on the manga by Masamune Shirow (Ghost in the Shell). In 2131, most of humanity has withdrawn to the glittering city of Olympus after a devastating war. When the curvaceous Deunan Knute comes to Olympus, she encounters her former comrade Briareos, now a cyborg, and the lovely android Hitomi. The fate of Hitomi, Olympus, and humanity rest on the lost "Appleseed" technology that Deunan's mother helped to develop. A standard series of chases, mecha battles, and confrontations leads to a predictable ending. When the original Appleseedappeared in 1988, it felt like a summary of anime's past, while Akira pointed the way to the future. This new version feels like a mishmash of Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Jin-Roh, Evangelion, and other, more exciting works. The motion-capture CG is typically weightless, and the mecha look oddly squat. (Rated R: violence) --Charles Solomon
(31 votes)
2.
Urban Combat In The City Of Dreams
After the devastation of World War III, the scattered governments of the world construct the perfect city administered by perfect Biodroids - artificially created half-human half-robots. Life in Olympus is carefully controlled and monitored - and some of its human population have had enough. A dedicated band of terrorists plot to destroy Gaia, the central computer, and restore freedom to mankind. After a daring raid of a high security facility, they have the weapons and information they need to complete their mission - including the key to the end of Gaia. Will they be stopped before they ruin the dream of paradise?
Appleseed takes us into the explosive world of the Extra Special Weapons and Tactics Squad of the Olympus Police Force, as they battle against those who would destroy their utopia. Join two of the finest (and most reckless) officers on the force in this high-tech animated thriller. Based on the internationally successful comic series by Masamune Shirow, Appleseed is a high-octane, action-packed race against time as the future of a civilization hangs in the balance.
(34 votes)
3.
The year is 2131. A non-nuclear war has left the earth barren. Deunan Knute roams the badlands, one of the many soldiers who, with lines of communication cut, continue to fight, unaware that the war has ended. Deunan is never one to take things lying down: a highly trained soldier with police and SWAT experience, she is prepared for nearly anything -- but not for the heavily armed helicopter that assaults her without warning. Before she realizes what's going on, Deunan is losing consciousness: her last thought is a hazy realization that she's been hit by a tranquilizer. Not only that, but one of the perpetrators is her old love Briareos. He has arrived with the beautiful Hitomi to intercept Deunan and take her back with them to the enigmatic utopia, Olympus.
Deunan, now safe in the futuristic city, is awakened by the comforting voice of her ex-lover. But Briareos is not as she remembers him: indeed, he is now hardly human. He tells her the sobering events that occurred in her absence: after suffering a grave injury on the front lines in North Africa, his only chance for survival involved a dramatic surgical process -- or more accurately, a full overhaul that involved a replacement of all his broken parts. In other words, he became a cyborg -- in his case over 75% mechanical. And the city of Olympus -- Deunan soon finds out -- is now the head of the new world order. When the non-nuclear war ended, and no single superpower came out on top, the orderly utopian city filled the role of leadership in the ensuing political vacuum. Globally, the status of Olympus is now such that the "unsupervised countries" actually depend on its assistance to survive.
The next day, Deunan files her immigration papers, becoming the most recent arrival to the oddly serene city. Hitomi insists on taking Deunan to the legislature, and shows her the sights of the city on the way. When Deunan sees the contented looks on the faces of the citizens of Olympus, she feels tranquil, even at peace. But the sensation is quickly interrupted by Hitomi's matter-of-fact revelation: that over half of the "model citizens" that inhabit Olympus are precision clones called Bioroids, of which Hitomi is one herself. The Bioroids were purportedly created for the benefit of humankind, "to encourage stability in human society," but nevertheless, the alarming news plants a seed of doubt within Deunan.
When Hitomi and Deunan arrive at the legislature, they are greeted by the members of the Council: seven sage-like elders whose ongoing conversation with the supercomputer Gaia collectively forms the "will" that controls Olympus. But effectively, Bioroids are in political control, and they are quietly advancing a plan that could affect the fate of the human legacy.
Add to this the fact that Briareos, despite his romantic past with Deunan, now hardly gives her the time of day, it's no wonder that Deunan feels a little nostalgic about life in the badlands, despite the utopia right around her.
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