Old School Anime Reviews - Appleseed (1988)

When it comes to the sci-fi genre in anime, there are many, many titles from which to choose. You have a literal anime buffet of sorts, so you can pick your proverbial poison. Some of the more well-known titles include Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Neon Genesis, Evangelion, and, of course, the numerous entries in the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise.

For all the recognizable titles out there, however, there are a dozen that aren't as well-known. Titles like Kekko Kamen and Lily C.A.T. have more or less fallen by the wayside and been buried under the rest of the medium that is sci-fi anime. One such title, and the topic of this review, is Appleseed; a 1988 OVA that seems to have been largely forgotten and is mostly ignored nowadays.

So, here's the question: is Appleseed good, bad, or somewhere in between? Has this OVA truly been forgotten and if so, why? Does it deserve to be ignored by modern fans? Well, let's find out, but first...a bit of history.

Based on a Manga

Ota Masanori aka Shirow Masamune is well-known for his work on Ghost in the Shell, but he did a handful of other titles including Dominion, Orion, Black Magic, and, of course, Appleseed. Nowadays, his work mostly consists of X-rated artbooks...which you couldn't read in polite company.

The Appleseed manga spanned 4 volumes between 1985 and 1989, was met with a largely positive reception, and won the 17th Seiun Award - an award given every year for sci-fi works - in 1986.

Two years later, in 1988, an OVA film was released by Gainax and Manga Entertainment. The OVA was met with a mixed but largely positive reception.

The Plot

Following the end of World War III, the world is left in ruins and a utopian city, Olympus, is built to provide a new home. The city is populated by biodroids (cyborgs) and humans and run by a supercomputer called Gaia.

Deunan Knute and Briareos Hechatonchires are members of ESWAT who end up on the hunt for a cyborg terrorist who wants to destroy the city.

Pros and Cons

Okay, so what works?

• Well, the animation and art style are really nice. The music is also great and the story is conceptually interesting - although, there's a slight issue there which I'll get to in a second.
• There's a fair bit of humor to the film which is mostly thanks to some of the rather...corny dialogue.
• The film also flows relatively well.

When it comes to problems with the film, there are a couple.

• One problem relates to the story. While the ideas and concepts are interesting enough, they've also been done many times over and done better.
• The antagonists have little to no real presence in the film, one is your standard, cookie cutter terrorist. The other has a ridiculously overblown revenge motive - blaming the city for the death of his wife. It's also painfully obvious who the bad guys are in this film, which further reduces their impact/presence.
• Some of the pronunciations are also absolutely terrible!

Overall, it's Not Bad

I can't say that 1988's Appleseed is a bad film. It has it's problems, sure, but the same can be said for all movies. Overall, despite its flaws, Appleseed isn't bad. It's a fun, silly action movie that you watch with a bag of chips and a bottle of Pepsi or Coke - whichever you prefer...

The only catch is that you have to be in the mood for something this goofy. It's not great, but it's not terrible and it deserves more love than it gets. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed the review, thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next one.

Take care!