I intended to get into the Appleseed universe for quite some time, since I first saw the 2004 Anime, but somehow never got around to watching the rest of it. Until now. So prepare for a four part series of fluff pieces. Since at least 10 years have passed since I originally saw Appleseed , I started by watching that first.
Appleseed is a dystopian cyberpunk action anime set in a fictional far future after a global war. It is centered around Denuan Knute, a legendary warrior who is not even aware that the war is over. She is retrieved by a bioroid, a bio engineered human, from the utopian city of Olympus. Founded as a last ditch effort to bring stability and an end to wars.
Bioroids who are exact copies of humans, except their emotions are suppressed and reproductive capabilities are disabled are introduced as counter balance to human unpredictability. More than half of Olympus's population is made up by bioroids. Olympus is governed by Gaia, an artificial intelligence, in conjunction with a board of advisors called the elders.
In Olympus Denuan is reunited with her former lover Briareos, who now has a cyborg body due to a fatal injury sustained in the war. It is revealed that Denuan was retrieved to join the forces of ES.W.A.T. a kind of counter terrorism police unit. At least that's the official narrative, but there are also other forces at work too.
There are many similarities to Ghost in the Shell, but I think Appleseed still very much its own thing, it doesn't feel like a copycat or second rate. In some regards I think it is even better than GITS: More action focused, less dragging its feet. If you like anime this is certainly a must watch.
The visuals are digital, but mostly hand drawn 2D, so it is somewhere in between traditional anime and modern CGI.
There is no obvious flaw that I could point to, the worst you can say that it is a bit generic, so this is why I only rate it 8/10.
To be continued...
