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Reviews & Ratings for
 Appleseed (V) More at IMDbPro »Appurushîdo (original title)

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4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Not as good as the manga..no Snake Pliskin..COUGH!, 15 June 2007
9/10
Author: Calon Mausolos from United States

Pretty decent for his early work and no Kokaku Kidotai without it, and gets an 2 points extra for the easter eggs. For Shirow definitely a rung in the ladder. I am biased as a Shirow fan but this was a big step from Dirty Pair which was what I knew of him. Violent fun with a porno soundtrack! You cannot help but notice that. I know people appreciate him for Ghost in the Shell..but all of the deep spiritual overtones were dealt with in Appleseed. ESWAT killing terrorists, the struggle for humans to stay viable as bioroids phase them out, and Deunan staying thin despite her intake of junk food. Definitely like the characters even the traitor..and I do not know why.

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3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
In this futuristic Japanse anime film, the experimental metropolis of Olympus is plagued by an elusive terrorist organization., 19 October 2010
8/10
Author: I B from Mars

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Masamune Shirow's best-selling manga is packed with political, ecological, technical, and literary references and subtexts, but it's also an enjoyable science-fiction adventure. Although this version was made on a limited budget, and is showing its age, it's still worth its shelf space. Gainax, whose artistic success with Royal Space Force: The Wings Of Honneamise (1987) the year before had established their reputation for excellence, made the video adaptation, although the quirky design touches they brought to their own film are absent in Appleseed. Olympus is 1980s Japan with robots, which nicely highlights many of the concerns Shirow is expressing. References to US shows and the classic science-fiction film Blade Runner (1982) are easy to spot.

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6 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Adequate adaptation of a manga classic, 7 September 2003
7/10
Author: Sentinel-15 from Antwerp, Belgium

Based on the manga (comic) of well-known artist Masamune Shirow, this animated feature was a slight disappointment to me.

The story is good, but the animation is merely "OK" while it could/should have been mindblowing. The movie is IMO adequate, but seems somehow flat & uninspired, if you know what I mean. A wasted opportunity, if you consider that another work by Shirow, "Ghost In The Shell", is considered a classic in many respects. It set new standards for Japanese animation, and spawned, among other things, a brilliant series called "GiTS: Stand Alone Complex".

I consider this worth a rental, unless you're a fan of Shirow and want it all. Do check out the original manga, which comes highly recommended.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Great Fun and Loveable Characters, 16 May 2004
Author: MARVELMANIAC69

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

***SPOILERS***SPOILERS***SPOILERS***

Appurushido is based on a Manga in which I have'nt read yet. The animation in this Anime is beautiful it is a great story with great action and has its fair share of humour my favourite scene is definitely when the cops bust into the apartment to bust some thugs its great stuff.

The only downside to this anime is that it didn't run any longer, it should've lasted at least 90 minutes but aside from that its a great piece of film and anime buffs will love it. Sadly though I saw it on video and didn't get to experience the new special edition DVD of it. But I've been meaning to buy it

Adam's Rating - 8/10

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Fine CP action, 10 April 1999
Author: Nitefly from Denmark

Being an avid reader of manga and very interested in the fascinating genre that is animé, I have always enjoyed the work of the masterful Shirow Masamune. The original manga behind this movie is far more complex and a lot of the suspense has been left out during its transition to animation, but a lot of the character interaction and stylish action remains.

Very accessible for all viewers with really great backgrounds and scenery throughout the movie, not as spectacular as e.g. 'Ghost in the Shell', but definately pleasing to the eye.

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7 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Tired but watchable, one to borrow rather than buy, 21 February 2004
7/10
Author: SteveRaccoon

The animation quality here is decidedly below par IMO, regardless of the age of the OAV. The plot itself makes sense, but the characters don't.

This might sound picky, but considering that the city of Olympus is almost exclusively populated by living machines, would YOU feel comfortable there as a human? Would any machine ever emulate human arrogance, short-sightedness and greed quite so effectively? I doubt it. There are some pointers towards this in the movie, but only when the team can be bothered to put them in, by and large the 'bioroids' (or whatever they are) are interchangeable with human characters. Seems sloppy to me.

The main characters seem to have some kind of emotional entanglement, though no light is shed on this. Little light is shed on the backstory at all, a great pity. The short length of the film coupled with the focus on mecha and the crime means that we don't see any character depth. The groundwork's all down, yet we're left with no finished product. A cropped version of this OAV would have made a great TV episode, once some character sub-plots had been established.

The highlights of this short film are the mecha designs and the action/espionage.

The flaws really start to show through once you've had a chance to digest all the goings-on, so I couldn't recommend this for owning, but it's certainly worth a watch or two! Whilst this review is mostly negative, I really do think it's worth your time to watch this, but it's not something to rush out and buy.

In a nutshell: A watchable wasted opportunity.

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Despite silly moments, overall, very enjoyable, 28 February 2012
10/10
Author: lunchboxxx666 from United Kingdom

Before you watch this film, I suggest you read the manga first, or at least get a good idea what it's about, otherwise you'll probably be lost. Though the plot between the original comics and this adaptation differs, the characters and setting stay the same and it's a good start to get an idea of what it's about.

Also, another recommendation: watch it in Japanese with the subtitles on if possible. In my time I've heard some pretty bad dubs, but 'Appleseed''s English dub is just appalling.

At least in my point of view, this was a very enjoyable film. During action sequences and chatter between characters I laughed and smiled constantly. I don't think there was a point in it where I felt bored, it's pretty entertaining the whole way through.

But the main thing I loved was the music and animation style. It really reminds you of old 80s cartoons, and I loved the nostalgia. The music, a kind of synthy, jazzy-type score, was constantly engaging and enlightening. I really loved that too.

The story, too, may seem a bit silly, but it had a few interesting twists, and was often engaging too.

10/10 from me. Fans of the manga will love it like I did, and for anime fans it's a must, but it probably isn't for everyone.

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1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Appleseed video can't hold a torch to the manga, 17 August 2006
Author: akira625 (akira625@comcast.net) from Columbia, MD

I saw this OAV in the early 90's, mainly because I was such a fan of the original Appleseed manga. Fortunately for me, I decided to rent the video as opposed to buying it. These days, I don't remember a great deal from the OAV, which is probably understandable, since there really isn't much that IS memorable. The things that had attracted me to the manga are simply missing in the OAV. Gone was the manga's overall grittiness, graphic violence, and occasional tinges of humor to keep the story from being too dark and nihilistic. When I watched the OAV, I felt as though I were watching some sort of weird animated security tape The pacing of the story was too slow for my taste, and the characters themselves lacked detail, as they were often were far away from the camera and placed neatly in the center of the frame. And then there's Olympus itself, it just seemed too antiseptic, I didn't get much sense of the city's dark underbelly as I did with the manga.

I haven't seen the recent Appleseed movie yet, I can only hope it did the manga justice, this OAV sure didn't.

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1 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
LOL funny, 19 December 2007
Author: Edward Park (drpark@sbcglobal.net) from Orange County, California

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This movie is (unintentionally) hilarious.

There is more swearing than any other genre of movie I know (including Tarantino and Sam Kinnison concerts.)

The 80's genre is crippling in its obviousness. It's all here: shoulder pads, jazzercize, and women with really big hair.

Think of it as a cyberpunk NC-17 version of the original 80's Transformers TV show.

The archetypes are ham-fisted and the character relationships are nebulous at best, farcical at worst. And the dialogue is on the nose the way a really angry 14 yo would write it.

Appleseed (1988) So bad...it's good. May want to watch under the influence of something, however...

In closing I leave you with this pearl excerpted from the scene where the villain is slain:

BAD GUY: "What the f.ing hell?! Christ...The f.ing c..cksucker!"

(move over Shakespeare... move the f.ck over!)

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4 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
HiGH-TeCH HYJiNX FRoM THe CReaToR oF 'GHoST iN THe SHeLL'***8/10***, 5 September 2002
Author: framer94 from Rochester / NY

This anime is unique on the grounds that it explores more 'science-fact' rather than 'science fiction,' and makes the viewer believe much of what is being viewed is a factual prediction of the future earth.

Appleseed, which is based on the 1985 manga of the same name, is set in the post-apocalyptic aftermath of WWIII. A new breed of governemnet and scraped what remains of the world's government to put together an experimental utopia, 'Olypus' suposidly free of the past-world's troubles and strives. Deunan Natt, and Buliareous Heckatonickles are two of the best in the Police Force, and just when they thought they couldn't get more bullets coming their way, they're asigned to takeout a camatose terroist, AJ Sebastian, who's goal it is to destory Olympus. on the gorunds of it 'enslaving' human destiny.

Firstly, anyone who watches this can see how cheesy it is, but despite this, theres is alot more to consider about it than meets the eye. For stance, your confussed into believing who is the real bad guy-- the terrorist's moral values outway those of the Police & Government, yet what they're doing is rightly good also.

The animation goes from strength to strength, and isn't anything like AKIRA, but it's moderate for 80's B movie OVAs. The mecha design is seemingly bizzare, but factual and controversial. There are also references to make us aware of the physics side of the technolodgy used. One thing which puzzled me about this anime were that there were contious references towards greek mytholodgy, especiallin the characters names.

The analogue quality of the film though, doggs the whole thing from start to finish, with poor lighting, and fuzzy AV-recording.

All around, it's a highly enjoyable watch, with some laughable scnes in place, if your into anime of cause. ***8/10***

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