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Appleseed Ex Machina (2007)

Appurushido: Ekusu makina (original title)
With Brialeos convalescing after a mission, Deunan is assigned a new and remarkably familiar partner as a strange wave of terrorist attacks plague Olympus.

Director:

Shinji Aramaki

Writers:

Shirow Masamune (characters) (as Masamune Shirow), Kiyoto Takeuchi (screenplay) | 1 more credit »
Reviews
1 nomination. See more awards »

Photos

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ai Kobayashi Ai Kobayashi ... Deunan Knute (voice)
Kôichi Yamadera ... Brialeos Hecatombcales (voice)
Yûji Kishi Yûji Kishi ... Tereus (voice)
Kong Kuwata Kong Kuwata ... Aeacus (voice)
Shinpachi Tsuji Shinpachi Tsuji ... Commander Lance (voice)
Gara Takashima Gara Takashima ... Athena (voice)
Rei Igarashi Rei Igarashi ... Nike (voice)
Rica Fukami Rica Fukami ... Yoshino (voice)
Takaya Hashi Takaya Hashi ... Dr. Kestner (voice)
Miyuki Sawashiro ... Hitomi (voice)
Yasuyuki Kase Yasuyuki Kase ... Yoshitsune (voice)
Takaya Kuroda Takaya Kuroda ... Arges (voice)
Naoko Kouda Naoko Kouda ... Dr. Xander (voice)
Atsushi Imaruoka Atsushi Imaruoka ... (voice)
Ken Yamaguchi Ken Yamaguchi ... (voice)
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Storyline

When a paramilitary task force called E.S.W.A.T. and its operations in the year 2133 Olympus, a futuristic utopia where humans, cyborgs, and bio-engineered human beings called "Bioroids" are attempting to live in perfect harmony. However, a series of random terrorist attacks perpetrated by cyborgs and humans alike threaten to throw Olympus into total chaos. As it turns out, these humans and machines have come under the influence of an unknown electronic signal that hacks into their nervous systems and they then become the unwilling servants of a malevolent computerized entity. Thrown into the action is the plucky female E.S.W.A.T. warrior Deunan Knute and her cyborg lover/partner Briareos as they investigate these bizarre occurrences with the other members of their unit. Things become complicated when a bioroid named Tereus, who resembles Briareous in his human form, joins their unit and threatens to come between their relationship. But these three must put aside their differences to ... Written by Anthony Pereyra {hypersonic91@yahoo.com}

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

Where there's despair, hope comes in threes: a Human, a Cyborg and a Bioroid.


Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for action/violence and brief strong language | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

View content advisory »
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Did You Know?

Trivia

A lot of anime fans don't rate films of this nature as the artwork and motion-capture method of filming are not the traditional forms of Japanese anime. However, the Appleseed films and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) were developed with the hope of opening films like this to international audiences. See more »

Quotes

Briareos: I'll always protect you, even if the world comes to an end.
Deunan Knute: I know you will.
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Connections

Follows Appleseed (1988) See more »

Soundtracks

Rescue
Performed by Ryuichi Sakamoto & Haruomi Hosono & Yukihiro Takahashi
Courtesy of commmons/Avex Records
See more »

User Reviews

 
Fantastic Action & Romance Superbly Captured in Blu-ray
24 April 2008 | by scho2002See all my reviews

I saw this movie on Blu-ray, and it was fantastic!

On the surface, the Appleseed Ex Machina may appear to be a glitzy, shoot'em-up anime mecha action show. And on that, it is fabulously rendered. But there is more, much more in the offerings for those who are willing to appreciate them. For those with open mind and are willing to peer into the multi-thread story lines, they are in for visual delights that are woven with thought-provoking ideas about: the pursuit of utopia leading to dystopia, introspection and what makes us human and authentic, coping with the past and really facing yourself to find a path forward, the self-actuation process of a clone, and (corny as it may sound)­ unwavering love that transcends the human-machine line.

Call me trite simple but I LOVE it!

Those who are highly critical of this 3D anime movie might have missed great offerings from a fairly new medium. There is no need for such innate fears of CGI – it will never replace human actors (those that tried, for instance, the Final Fantasy: A Spirit Within, flopped utterly in such attempts), but it will expand the anime genre and broaden it with fantastic visual appeal.

Regarding the Blu-ray video quality, some "Blu-ray experts" did not think it was crisp enough for Blu-ray. Well, my take on it is that the softness is deliberate, in part to help focus the viewer's eyes on the important parts of a scene, and in part to heighten the human aspects of the story. It says this movie is not all about the CGI glitz but that it has gone beyond that so the viewer can enjoy the highly stylized actions and romantic moments.

The video bit rate is fairly good, generally range from high teens to around high 20s Mbps. It's not the best encoding, however, because you can see some color banding (when the color gradient is supposed to be smooth) and, occasionally, jagged line definitions. There are only a few compression artifacts that I could see. By the way, I thought the CGI rendering STYLE, was excellent – it sort of infuses the feel of cell animation into the smoothness of 3D CGI animation.

Regarding the audio quality, it is excellent in both spatial/channel separation and clarity. The dialogues are fairly easy to pick up. One nick-pick of mine is that I would have liked to hear the techno music pumped up higher during some of the kick-ass action scenes – you know, to let our neighbors know how much we are enjoying watching an incredibly tight futuristic-action flick. The English dubbing was quite good (good enough that it didn't detract from the feel of the movie).

The ending seems a bit hurried, and is far fetched (like so many anime movies). I would love it see the last parts filled-in and polished a bit more so that it's more poignant and warm at the same time.

It is a great 9-star to me. It's worth seeing just for the CGI effect. If you do see it, hope you enjoy it as much as I did.


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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

20 October 2007 (Japan) See more »

Also Known As:

Appleseed Ex Machina See more »

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Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$662
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Company Credits

Show more on IMDbPro »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

| (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (in selected theatres)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
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