Appleseed Alpha (2014)

Hands down, 'Alpha' is the best interpretation for the original Manga to date.While many bemoan Alpha as being 'Westernised' or not Animé, the reality is that the 5 'book' Manga series (originally published in English by Marvel's offshoot, Studio Proteus, and then later by Dark Horse) was never overly Japanese in its styling and indeed, most of the central characters are not Japanese but rather from 'all over'.The 2004 Appleseed movie, with Studio IG on production, was quite successful at blending 3D and Animé. Using the crispness derived from 3D but keeping it to a stylised rendering style, it delivered a nicely balanced form of 3D Animé. Films like 'Ex Machina', and even the 'Appleseed XIII' mini series (which was a Studio IG production) failed (in my mind) by departing with this style and trying to create what could best be described as a realistic Animé, and ultimately not succeeding on any front - Ex machina not helped by the fact it was just a poor film all round.Where Alpha succeeds, is that it creates a realistic interpretation of Shirow's character and hardware design, in a way is so much closer to the Manga series than anything to date. Where the 2004 Appleseed was Animé at the next level, Alpha takes Appleseed out of the Animé realm and moves it to pseudo reality; the world depicted in the pages of the Manga have become real enough that you could walk outside and touch it.There is no doubt that the technical mastery of the CG space here gives the viewer moments where one has to really stop and ask themselves if what they are seeing is real or CG. Shirow himself said when talking about Alpha:"The challenge with CG production is that, as you get more photo-realistic, you lose the ability to use over-the-top anime-style expression without being unnatural. And if you go too anime, the realistic expression becomes out of place. Mr. Aramaki showed great skills for the previous films with anime style, but I was very excited to see the realistic textures with damages (the post-war environment visuals) and lighting effects. (My) first impression was, in a positive way, that it looked like today's state-of-the-art video games."Story wise, Alpha is an interesting interpretation of the first book of the series. Characters and events have been drawn out of the Manga and reassembled to form a new story. So if you know the Manga, there will be more than a few moments where you will recognise a scenario or character but realise they are not where they should be. Regardless, Alpha is entertaining enough, maybe more so if you are intimate with the Manga series, to provide an enjoyable experience.But it's not all trumps. Why is Deunan running around in combat armour/gear with her bust hanging out? Does Iris need to be in that skin suit? And the very sultry combat cyborg?? There is more than a slight smack of 'boyish' sexism going on here that, while on the surface seems harmless, really just reeks of the 'boys club' that's being talked about all over in regards to the movie industry. There was zero purpose to portray Deunan in the manner that has been done and in fact, I found it to a 'jolt', preventing me from being fully immersed into the movie. In this aspect, Alpha disappoints in a big way. What could have been really good was let down by some guys not getting away from their screens enough.Overall though Appleseed Alpha is worth watching once, twice, maybe even three times, something I could not say of Ex Machina.

Appleseed Alpha is described as a computer-animated military science fiction cyberpunk film on Wikipedia. With so many different genres applied to this film, what could possible go wrong?The film is based on the manga Appleseed by Masamune Shirow and functions as a reboot for the 2004 film. It has changed a couple of things both from the original manga and the film, but the basic premise stays the same. It's the 22nd century and the World War Three has left the world in tatters. Deunan and Briareos are two mercenaries eking out a living in the dystopian city of New York where they find themselves trapped in all endless of loop of debt and jobs. Until a clean-up gig crosses their paths with a young girl and her lone protector.What I like the most about this film is the world of Appleseed it introduces me to. The basics of the world are not terribly exciting, what with a dystopian future, cyborgs and all that old stuff, but the details are what make it work. All the cyborgs have great designs and personalities. They're not just your generic robots with human brains. They all show the differences between their builders and the unique tastes of the persons within. Deunan as the more human protagonist is also a fun character and works very well with Briareos, her cyborg mate and partner in crime. This film made me interested in reading the original manga, which is a huge point in its favour.On the other hand, the story is pretty dull and clichéd. It's your typical "fallen empire" slash "hidden super weapon" storyline, with very few deviations from the norm. You can pretty much tell how it's going to go as soon as Deunan and Briareos meet Iris and Olson. Which is a shame because the world itself has such a personality.Even still, the film has its definite upsides. The animation works pretty well, the characters are a lot of fun and even the story is merely clichéd instead of awful. Not for everyone, but I don't personally regret seeing it at all.

I'm not too knowledgeable about Appleseed. What I did know is that it's from Japan and that there's a guy running around in a very cool cyborg suit. Enough reasons to watch! The movie left me a weird taste. It's from Japan but overly trying to be American in the story department. An attempt to appeal to the overseas market? Or is it intrinsic to Appleseed since it's origination? I don't know why they chose New York as location. Tokyo would've felt more appropriate for a cyborg with bunny ears. Furthermore the design of the main villains feels really different (read: Western) from the classic Appleseed design of Briarius. Designwise it felt they were from a different movie. It has to be said they look pretty awesome though. Other things gave me flashbacks to legendary video game Metal Gear Solid, like the hidden super weapon, the big elevator leading to it, the design of the sentry robots. Apart from the clichéd plot the characters did feel lifelike enough to sympathize with them. Ultimately it's a movie that mildly entertains but fails to impress apart from the cyborg designs.

I remember little from the Appleseed anime that I saw when I was younger so this is basically me commenting on this movie as standalone. The Third World War came and went, leaving the entire planet in chaos. The story follows two former soldiers that are now working as mercenaries for a thug. They meet a mysterious girl and her cyborg protector and decide to help them out in their mission against some psychopathic bad guys.The end of the world theme, the political or social commentary usual in Masamune Shirow's work, they are all downplayed, almost not existent. Instead the entire flow of the movie is centered around fighting. The animation is decent, considering it is 3D CGI in its entirety, but when you think about it, they worked with about 10 body models. All the henchmen look alike, for example. They did a good job, but I think the physics looked off for most of the time: nothing gets destroyed unless it explodes, the cars are moving in weird ways and the hand to hand combat is clumsy.Bottom line: as vaguely as I remember the 1984 Appleseed anime, I remember seeing it. This one will probably be forgotten by the time I save this review. Not bad, but not terribly good either. Animation was decent, but not great, the story simple and the characters formulaic and hard to empathize with. I think the fact that the character I connected most with was the thug, rather than the various heroes and villains, says it all. And I am still waiting for 3D animation to make me feel like a good anime does.