Appleseed: Ex Machina

The long awaited sequel to Appleseed

The author of sci-fi classics Ghost in The Shell and Appleseed, Shirow Masamune, has teamed up with producer John Woo (Face/off) and Director Shinji Aramaki for the sequel to cyberpunk CG Anime Appleseed: Appleseed Ex Machina. Once again we join Deunan and Briareos in a computer generated, action packed, sci-fi romp – no school girls or tentacles here folks, it’s mecha action all the way. Appleseed Ex Machina introduces Tereus, a bioroid (clone) based on Briareos’ human body and bioroid Hitomi returns briefly to provide the obligatory yuri-innuendo with Deunan.

The story tells the tale of a corporation and their cover-up of a project it had supposedly canned - which was still in full operation, setting up a network to enslave an army of humans and cyborgs via the latest fashion trend: an advanced PDA headset. Overall it’s paced well, with battles split with the story and a social scene when Hitomi has a birthday party. It was a key scene that helped break the ice between Deunan, Briareos and their new partner, Tereus.

This leads to them working well together and one of the more interesting fight scenes: a sparring session between Briareos and Tereus. Both were evenly matched, despite the supposed strength advantage that comes with Briareos’ cybernetic body - it really shows the advantage of bioroid bodies in Tereus’ skills.

In terms of character design they have all undergone a slight transformation to make them look more three-dimensional, while Briareos has changed the most. Twenty minutes in he gets a smaller, more humanoid body, to replace the hulking mech body he had in the first film. Another change you will notice is the environments are much more detailed in Appleseed: Ex Machina; you won’t see any trees repeated hundreds of times or blurring backgrounds like in the first movie.

The voice cast is different from the original. Although overall the new cast suits the main characters, Hillary Haag (Angelic Layer, Azumanga Daioh) didn’t suit Hitomi straight away, while Luci Christian (Gunslinger Girl, Azumanga Daioh) did a great job on Deunan, as did David Matranga (Steel Angel Kurumi, Elfen Lied) on Briareos and Illich Guardiola (Kaleido Star, Gantz) as Tereus.

After you have seen the movie - be it dubbed or subbed - you can watch it again with a commentary track featuring one of the English dub producers and Jerry Beck from Cartoonbrew.com discussing the production of Appleseed: Ex Machina.

The second disc features four big extras. First up is Team-Up: John Woo and Shinji Aramaki where they talk about the different aspects the producer and director bring to the movie. They talk about their different roles in the production, although Shinji Aramaki doesn’t speak English, so everything he says is dubbed over - it’s a welcome change from the subtitles they usually add to these ‘making of’ features.

Next we have Revolution: Animating: Ex Machina, a making of discussing the ins and outs of the animation, such as details in the backgrounds and the new character designs. Third we have The Appleseed Chronicles, where Shirow – through text – talks about his history with the first work he brought to the west: Appleseed. Coupled with expert commentary this is a solid look at the background of the cyberpunk and modern anime cultures. The fourth extra, East Meets West, is a historical look at past western attitudes towards Anime culture. After those we have the usual slew of trailers for other Madman products and Appleseed: Ex Machina to fill up the disc.

Appleseed: Ex Machina is one of those movies that will appeal, not only to fans of the saga, but people who like cyberpunk movies such as the Matrix trilogy and Fifth Element. Coupled with the extensive extras disc this release is great value for money and it’s out just in time for Christmas.

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