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Appleseed World Preview Minireview
darrellberry writes "We went to see the World Sneak Preview of Masamune Shirow's Appleseed at the ICA tonight. Complimentary sake and sushi, a loving but silly flipchart presentation from the producer about the politics of the world in which it is set, then the film. The animation is amazing the rendering of the city of Olympus is beautiful, the battle set-pieces are fluid and very well choreographed, and the fine line betwen genre conventions and attempts at hyper-realism is treated with respect. Although the first few minutes owe too much to The Matrix-meets-Avalon, and in parts (to my eye) the human characters suffer somewhat from traditional anime styling, Appleseed is something genuinely new in animation. Detail everywhere, lovingly rendered. Way too much exposition, in the style of some Russian epic from the 60s, and music supervision that was entirely wrong: it was nice to see Basement Jaxx turning up for the premiere, but their music and that of Oakenfold and the rest on the soundtrack made no sense thematically or emotionally. I can see that they are going for a big international release with Appleseed, but the music is just wrong. On the plus side, the motion capture-based character animation is very convincing, and the Mobile Fortresses out-scale any other city-stomping weapons platform I can remember. And lovely to see anime at a high frame-rate, not jumping in triples. Go see it at a big cinema with decent Dolby when it's on release next month, or get it on DVD (evidently on release in July) and turn up the sub-woofer." I don't know if we linked to the official site in our last story.
its pure eye candy!!!. Last thing i've ever seen like this is ONI FPS game. Cant wait to watch it, although it means i have to wait like 8 months till it gets to Chile. 2 years if you are thinking of a legal copy.
"The quality of life is inversely proportional to the number of keys on your keyring."
Anyone got Bittorrents for the Trailer(s)?
I don't need a compass to tell me which way the wind shines.
IMO ... Appleseed was the beginning of the wave of bad anime that unfortunatly became the dominant style of the 90s. Everything about it is just as boring and contrived as American superhero comics. The last Appleseed movie nearly put me to sleep 10yrs ago, I assume this will be no different.
Im hoping they include the trust Gong 10-gauge pistol from the original in this one. That thing was bad-ass (Though in reality would result in broken wrists).
"Hand me the bullet-shooty-thing and a box of little hurts" -Overheard on a USMC Rifle range
They decided to do a remake of the original all in CGI. I don't know I kinda liked the original even thou it sucked this remake doesn't look that good I'm not a huge fan of pure CGI so I am biased.
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Those that fart in elevators with other people should be shot.
Although the first few minutes owe too much to The Matrix-meets-Avalon
Um, you do realize that Appleseed was conceived long before The Matrix, and The Matrix stole much of its styling from Anime in the first place, right?
the human characters suffer somewhat from traditional anime styling
HAhahah. The next thing you're going to tell me is that film noire is just too dark and brooding. I mean, seriously, "This Anime is too Anime-ish!"
Way too much exposition, in the style of some Russian epic from the 60s
Part of what makes Anime in general and Shirow's work specifically interesting is the utter depth of the universe in which it takes place. I wouldn't put too much stock in this review at all.
Pretty pictures, pretty girls, and entirely empty. At least The Matrix was filled with something which captured the imagination; was filled with human reactions.
They presented a flow chart to explain the politics in the story? Oh dear. That sounds like an exciting time.
Don't get me wrong. I'm a fan of Shirow's art and design. I loved the early Appleseed books, (which actually HAD some story and some interesting characters. For a little while, anyway. .
Frankly, he isn't fooling anybody, and his shyness at just openly loving the stuff which he clearly loves, (Pretty picture of Pretty girls and Big Technology), without trying to justify it through important sounding horseshit, is the very thing which is going to make people look down upon him.
One should leave the ego alone. It'll take care of itself when you follow the things you love without worrying about how others judge you.
And most interestingly. . . I think Shirow actually likes story and character most of all! --Yes, I know, there's virtually none of either anywhere to be found in his work. But I remember reading an old, old interview where he said that when he was young, he preferred reading girl's manga over the boy's manga. And then he quickly promised that there would be no drama or love in his work, as though that were something shameful.
The guy grew up in Japanese society and he's got a repressed personality? Well, there's a shock!
One of the best insights into human nature I ever heard was this:
"Judge the potential by the inhibition."
I hope Shirow grows up soon. He's spent an entire career so far avoiding himself.
-FL
But the junk philosophy behind The Matrix? That's OK to discuss? Anything can containing philosophical lessons, no matter how silly it may look. What is the reason you can have serious philosophical discussions about books or live-action films, but you shouldn't take anime seriously? It all depends on the story in question.
That said, the next person to try and extract any meaning out of Evangelion gets a free lobotomy, compliments of a sharp knife from my kitchen.