Although Masamune Shirow is known primarily for his exquisitely detailed illustrations of scantily clad women and his high-tech fetish, he should be equally recognized for his thought-provoking writing. Like director Mamoru Oshii (who, by the way, tackled Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell twice, to great effect), Shirow spends a lot of time ruminating on the human condition, the intersection of man and machine through cybernetics. , and the future that technology makes possible.
Perhaps Shirow’s second best-known work, Appleseed has been translated into film once before as a traditional anime by director Kazuyoshi Katayama (Argento Soma, Those Who Hunt Elves). This 1988 production was a worthwhile endeavor, but it didn’t really tap into the manga’s strengths the way Oshii would seven years later with his adaptation of Ghost in the Shell.
However, last year, Shirow’s manga was adapted once again, this time with much better results. Like Shirow’s body of work as a whole, this new Appleseed (led by Bubblegum Crisis vet Shinji Aramaki) dazzles the eye but doesn’t forget its ‘brain core’. Without a doubt, the main attraction here is the wonderful cell-shaded animation that creates the look of a moving manga, but with the sense of reality that you get from live-action movies. It’s certainly beautiful to watch, but ultimately what makes the film such a delight is its ‘richly realized story’. In this sense, it is not entirely different from Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, and indeed the movies are wonderful themed bookends.
Deunan Knute is a lone soldier fighting among the ruins of a future Earth that has been devastated by several years of conflict. Unaware that the war has been over for some time, Deunan is captured by her former lover Briareos (whose war-ravaged body has now been transformed into a powerful cyborg shell) and taken to a nearby utopian nation-state called Olympus. There, a council of men has envisioned a perfect society in which humans preside over their domain along with a race of designed beings called ‘bioroids’. To keep them in check, bioroids are deprived of their ability to reproduce and their most passionate emotions … love and hate. In this way they serve as a balance to humans, who are prone to all kinds of emotional outbursts, which on a large scale result in wars and all that. The oversight of this society is the aforementioned council and an Artificial Intelligence called Gaia that was created to make decisions in cooperation with the council. Although this society seems truly utopian on the outside, there are forces working to upset the balance. Deunan soon discovers that she was not brought to Olympus by chance and that her past is the key to the future of Olympus and humanity.
While Appleseed has many thematic ties to Ghost in the Shell, Aramaki’s film is much more action-oriented. While I prefer the more measured pace of Oshii, Appleseed is more exciting, and on that basis it succeeds. The action quickly escalates until the final apocalyptic confrontation that pits Deunan, Briareos, and the rest of Olympus’ E-Swat squad against an army of mobile fortresses the size of office buildings. Over the top, maybe, but there’s no denying it’s a real white-knuckle ride. It’s quite a simple anime pathos that goes for the jugular in its attempt to touch the heartstrings. Fortunately, Aramaki knows there is no need to dwell on the subject, and the movie recovers quickly.
In truth, Appleseed is very faithful to Shirow’s manga, discarding only those elements that would get in the way of a straightforward narrative … most notably Shirow’s weird sense of humor. I am not at fault with this approach; Shirow’s sloppy jokes work well on paper, but they tend to get tiresome when brought to life (as anyone who has seen his Dominion: Tank Police anime will know). Shirow’s fetishistic attachment to high-tech weaponry, mechas, and attractive young women is still very much in evidence, and should satisfy Shirow fans who are drawn to his work by these items.
Much has been made of the film’s unique animation style, and there’s no question that Appleseed is truly eye-catching. The movie looks just beautiful. If you managed to catch the recent Korean feature Wonderful Days, you will have an idea of what to expect. The main difference is that the characters have been rendered with cell-shaded graphics instead of traditional hand-drawn cells. This actually helps to integrate the styles more elegantly … a problem many people had with the aforementioned movie. Personally, I didn’t have a problem with that, but Aramaki’s approach is less jarring.
Another aspect of the film that attracted a lot of attention was the soundtrack, which features contributions from two electronic music giants, Paul Oakenfold and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Both gentlemen are living legends in their respective fields, so it is only natural that a score that includes new material from them attracts attention. To be honest, your footage is expected to be wonderful, but once the movie starts rolling, you don’t really pay too much attention to it. It plays much better on the original soundtrack (now available on Tofu!), Where the music can be heard separate from all shots. In addition to Oakenfold and Sakamoto, the film also features themes from Basement Jaxx, Carl Craig, and the Boom Boom satellites from the Japanese technical act Boom Boom.
Timed as one of Geneon’s biggest releases this year, the Appleseed DVD is a good package. For those of a collector’s bent, there are a number of issues (too many, I’m inclined to argue), but for the purposes of this review, we’ll focus on the single-disc version, as that’s what we get to review. Even in the basic edition, the packaging is quite nice. The Monkey Disc Snapper comes encased in a cardboard sleeve; I know some people release these the moment they rip the plastic off their DVD, but I must admit I look for cardboard sleeves on my DVDs, and this one is pretty good. It’s engraved and looks great on your shelf.
As for the content itself, Geneon offers a top-notch album. The video quality is impressive, although that is to be expected from a digital film. The same goes for the soundtrack, which sounds great in any of the available options: English and Japanese 5.1 Dolbly / DTS or Japanese 2.0. The English dubbing actors are pretty good, so going with the dubbing over the subtitled version is just as rewarding.
Although it is simply a non-special single disc edition, the standard version offers some advantages for those who are not willing to leave the extra cheddar behind. The best bonus is a commentary track from director Shinji Aramaki and producer Fumihiko Sori, though it suffers from the same difficulties as many Japanese commentary tracks. First of all, the participants are extremely friendly … you could even say that they are harmless. Also, it is a very technical comment. Although some plot points are mentioned, Aramaki and Sori mainly explain and apologize for minor flaws that would otherwise go unnoticed if not pointed out. It’s a pretty decent listen, although it’s not the kind of thing you’ll release on a regular basis. Still, considering this is apparently a ‘basic’ edition, it’s good that it was included. The only other special feature that can be found is an index to the movie broken down by musical cue, so if you want to see what scenes were scored by Paul Oakenfold, or see where that Carl Craig song ended up, you can. It’s a bit neat, although it’s not really that necessary as it takes you to the relevant point of the movie.
So far when it comes to Masamune Shirow anime adaptations, I’ve only liked Ghost in the Shell. Tank Police, Black Magic M-66, and even the original Appleseed didn’t really do much for me. However, Appleseed sets all my expectations. It’s not exactly the accomplishment that, say, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence is, but all things considered, it’s a very good movie, and it does justice to its source material.