Appleseed: Alpha

Appleseed: Alpha_360P

so interesting

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.

I do not watch a lot of anime but I really enjoyed this movie. I liked it. No sex, no gore, no cursing, and a lot of action with a reaffirming message. You can read the plot to see what the movie is about, but if you simply want to put on something different and enjoy watching it, and feel good after it is over then I recommend Appleseed Alpha.

I really liked a lot about this movie. The animation was wonderful and I liked a lot about the characters and mood of the story. The writing was terrible, though. The characters' decisions, dialogue and actions come from nowhere and I was left scratching my head why they did what they did. I wish the production team had spent as much time on story as they did on image.

This film is very true to it's niche in that the story and characters are exactly as you ought to expect. There's absolutely nothing original or remarkable about the plot or characters when compared to anything similar. That's not really a criticism specific to this film but rather of the whole genre. What it has going for it is generally decent animation, there are some exceptions to that though, and a story that moves on at a nice pace. It's not just action and it's not just spaces between action scenes, there is an effort to tell the story properly. Whilst the plot and characters are standard fare the film manages to avoid feeling too formulaic which is a neat trick. The exceptions in the animation I mentioned revolve mainly around the mouths. It must be difficult to animate for several languages in this area and it shows. Other areas are ground vehicles are noticeably less well animated and given the male oriented genre and the fact the heroine's chest is on prominent display the whole movie her breasts are utterly rigid - perhaps she has an excellent bra! A strange omission or perhaps choice by the animators seeing as her hair is well animated. There are also a few interactions of the characters that are slightly perplexing and I can only suggest that such times work better when in other languages. They aren't enough to spoil matters but you do spot them. If you like the genre there's no reason you won't like this and if you don't you're probably not reading this anyway. I'd watch a sequel if made.

I was curious about the movie, because of the high rating. I was really really disappointed. I never wrote a review, but after this movie it had to... I will start with a positive thing. I liked the graphics and look of the surrounding and machines and stuff. Great ambiance. But, i was very disappointed about the rest. The inhuman look of the human-characters and the related bad acting made it hard for me to connect with these characters. The dialogs felt like a hodgepodge of cliché film quotes. With the consequence that it was hard to empathize with the characters. The storyline wasn't original, a little superficial. Last thing.. why the overgrown * and decolleté of the girl... why? Just because it's sexy? It doesn't make it more credible or deep what she says.

www.tgchan.pl ( I have seen the first "Appleseed" but it was years ago and I don't remember it at all ) Action from the very first minutes of the movie, accompanied with outstanding visuals! I must be very lucky, because it is my third post-apocalyptic movie in a pan of a month lol Cyborgs, robots, mechs, wanzers, whatever, this movie got lots of them and they all look great! The story seems to be interesting after 30min of watching, but the real thing is the eye candy animation. 55minutes have passed and the only thing I really disliked so far is the music... it really doesn't fit to the movie... And I have finished watching it... Overall it is a decent thing to watch, great visuals, OK story, a little mismatched music choice but it all keeps you entertained for an hour and half. As I have mentioned before, I have seen the first part of the Appleseed and even though I remember only bits of it, I think the first one was much better. Oh! one more thing, there is a little extra after credits so make sure you don't miss that! tgchan's rating: 6/10

It's another computer animated movie that's as stiff as a video game. The plot is lackluster; it's just another action movie! This is nothing like the first one. I have nothing against computer animated films, but this series should stick to ye olden tyme hand drawn style. It serves it well. And they really should work on a decent story with depth. This lacked everything.

Appleseed was always one of my favourite Manga series growing up along with the Appleseed (1988) Anime movie which is still one of my all time favourite Anime movies to this day. Appleseed Alpha is yet another let down in the series much like the previous attempts made to renew the Appleseed series first was the god awful Appleseed (2004) remake that was given a wide release in the USA and Europe so much so that every Anime section in every DVD rental store and movie store had so many copies of it that were never rented or sold. Then Appleseed Ex Machina (2007) was released and while the animation was certainly better the movie was still a let down that tried way to hard. Appleseed Alphas main problem is it doesn't really have a storyline or any real character development there's no backstory for the two main characters Deunan and Briareos the audience is just given some basic character information and a few traits that's all. The audience isn't given any real reason to care about these characters other than they are the focus point of the movie so unless you have read the Manga or have watched one of the previous movies then this movie might aswell be called Cyborg and Fan Service Girl because by the movies end you will have forgotten their names and forgotten this below average movie. The only good thing about this movie is the animation style used is colourful, bright and looks fantastic. The style used is similar to the (2004) Appleseed movie only much better. I wouldn't recommend watching this movie even if your a fan of the Appleseed Manga series or the Original 1988 movie because it's just not worth your time or money if you have never seen an Appleseed movie then do yourself a favour and watch the 1988 original movie and read the Manga it's a thousand times better than this crap.