Appleseed ex Machina trailer

[rei]

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...deoid=25693988

It's out March 11 direct to DVD.

[Miramon]

John Woo? Really?

Anyhow, I liked the old anime series in which the characters were more or less established as police already, but the more recent feature that went into the origin of the place, not so much. This trailer looks like it is more reminiscent of the older series to me.

[Andrew Mayer]

It "pushes the limits of CGI animation to the next level".

Good to know that the limits are being increased.

I'd also like to point out that at this point Appleseed isn't really a saga, but more a series of aborted attempts.

[Miramon]

Originally Posted by Andrew Mayer

I'd also like to point out that at this point Appleseed isn't really a saga, but more a series of aborted attempts.

Since Masamune (I think) claims Appleseed is his favorite of all his many works, it is interesting that the Appleseed anime I've seen ranges from mediocre to just good, whereas the various GITS series and features I would rate from very good to excellent. Maybe because GITS is in a more recognizable world, but I doubt that's all there is to it.

It almost makes me want to read the manga, but not quite.

[Machfive]

The first Appleseed movie was visually pretty stunning, but I felt it was kind of dissapointing in the story department.

[rei]

the manga is MUCH denser, with political intrigue and the middle-east. utopian society gone awry with all sorts of moral quandries with lots of mecha violence. i'm not one for the lame woo gunplay.

[tromik]

Originally Posted by Machfive

The first Appleseed movie was visually pretty stunning, but I felt it was kind of dissapointing in the story department.

Yea, it was enjoyable because of the action and stuff, but the story was forgettable.

[Gunmetal]

Hmmm, I think I would have preferred they kept the cel-shading from the first movie (unless the encoding was hiding it). The difference in texture work between the main characters and their environments really sticks out for me.

[Alan Dunkin]

The manga, as rei says, is much denser, but I felt in volume three it really was kind of getting scatterbrained a bit--though volume four kind of brought it back. Some of the stuff in there you'll see in the anime (mostly the first two volumes and a bit of the aborted fifth from what I remember... looks like at some point she gets the eye patch, which is from volume four). Heck you even see bits of it in GITS and Stand Alone Complex as well (like the person with the bomb in the belly, triggered by the teeth and gets their jaw blown out by the good guy).

Haven't seen ex Machina yet but saw the trailer like a year ago. Given what happened with the first cel-shaded anime movie (which is somewhat different from the first traditional anime release twenty years ago) I'm not really giving it high hopes. Visually not bad, storywise not all that great. It totally has the ability to be compelling but the storytelling always falls flat. Not sure how much the Woo influence is in there, I know they pushed the whole Prada angle a lot.

Some cool action figures though:




Another stop-and-restart Shirow dealie is Dominion Tank Police; they just had a cel-shaded short movie dealie too about a year ago. I thought it was going to be the first in a OVA or DVD series but that's the only one I ever saw. Had its moments but...

--- Alan

[Jim Preston]

Originally Posted by Alan Dunkin

Heck you even see bits of it in GITS and Stand Alone Complex as well (like the person with the bomb in the belly, triggered by the teeth and gets their jaw blown out by the good guy).

GitS is one of my all-time favorite anime films (I have very little experience with manga or anime, so it may not be a darling of the aficionados), but do Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed take place in the same universe? I saw the original Appleseed a long time ago, but have little recollection of it.

[Miramon]

Originally Posted by Jim Preston

GitS is one of my all-time favorite anime films (I have very little experience with manga or anime, so it may not be a darling of the aficionados), but do Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed take place in the same universe? I saw the original Appleseed a long time ago, but have little recollection of it.

Separate worlds and futures. There are technologically advanced police and robot gunfights and pretentious philosophy in both, but somehow it all seems to work much better for me in GITS. Despite the tachikomas, the GITS world seems more serious and better thought out to me, with more plausible characters.

[Alan Dunkin]

Correct, they don't take place in the same universe but share some similar mannerisms and ideas (Shirow likes police and special forces stuff). GITS is indeed more fleshed out, through the manga and the anime (both in movies and in the series) and has more links to the real world in essence. Appleseed is much more far future and consists of essentially new societies built on the ashes of old ones. I love it but honestly GITS has rightfully got the brunt of the content and work and is basically much better.

Oh yeah, GITS:SAC also features those "armored suits", which I think uses a suit style that's fairly unique to Shirow's usage in Appleseed (putting your arms into miniature arms, which then mimics larger mech motion).

--- Alan

[unbongwah]

Movie's main website here.

I'm looking forward to this, even though I thought the last movie was so-so. As long as people in power armor are beating the crap out of each other, I'm content.

[Andrew Mayer]

I've read the Manga. It started out strong, but it does eventually fall apart into the usually Shirow mushiness. It was, at best, saga-ish. But there's certainly no animated saga to speak of.

[Dirt]

The Appleseed manga started good, then started to meander and finally even Masamune-san gave up and moved on.

[Zylon]

Originally Posted by Alan Dunkin

Oh yeah, GITS:SAC also features those "armored suits", which I think uses a suit style that's fairly unique to Shirow's usage in Appleseed (putting your arms into miniature arms, which then mimics larger mech motion).

What, waldos?

[Alan Dunkin]

Er, kinda close.



You'll notice the small arms with fingers there, that's where the user's arms go. The motion is duplicated/amplified on the much larger arms of the mech, which is a bit hard to see in that pic (sometimes they don't have fingers, they're just stubs).



--- Alan

[rei]

it's a shame 2nd gig was so badly animated and wildly inconsistent compared to the first season. that episode where that landmate shows up and the major goes batshit 1-arming the cannon was awesome.

[Alan Dunkin]

Whoa.. Ex Machina is... funky. Weird. The rotoscoping and cel-shading seems weirder and funkier than the previous flick. Not sure exactly how to place it or even describe it. I think it's worse, especially when they're focusing on non-important characters and motions. The shading has deeper hues and doesn't seem so pastel-y like the previous movie, but it's still... ugh. I dunno.

I see the John Woo influence (he's listed as Producer) and I don't like it--too much stupid Woo-fu style gunfighting stuff at times. Sound effects again are pretty weak. I actually really liked the Americanized voice-over work, which is a rare compliment from me (I think it might be because I couldn't recognize any of the voices, and it felt like it was pretty well done).

Story is kinda... meh. They bring in Poseidon for a change, but the plot doesn't wring any bells from the manga.

--- Alan

[Miramon]

Originally Posted by Alan Dunkin

I actually really liked the Americanized voice-over work, which is a rare compliment from me (I think it might be because I couldn't recognize any of the voices, and it felt like it was pretty well done).

Are you saying Crispin Freeman isn't in the American voicing cast? I happened to spot his name a couple of times in a row on Japanese game and anime casts, and since noticing the name, it seems like he does practically everything. I thought he might be a generic anonymous alias used by dubbers for a while, until I realized he was a real person.

OK, since I've mentioned him, I've looked him up now. That certainly is a lot of credits.

[rei]

Briareos is supposed to be black. Lance has white/blonde/light hair.

At least Briareos's VA is bad-ass Togusa from GitS SAC.

[Alan Dunkin]

Oh yeah, Arges shows up--as a Poseidon agent (what's the deal with that), and worse, I really dislike the pinkification of Deunan... early on she rides a pink bike and helmet, then at the end she gets a pink Poseidon landmate. Ugh.

--- Alan

[Miramon]

Originally Posted by rei

Briareos is supposed to be black. Lance has white/blonde/light hair.

At least Briareos's VA is bad-ass Togusa from GitS SAC.

Really? But Crispin Freeman does Togusa in GitS SAC.... OK, OK, enough on him, but he certainly does get around.

[rei]

I meant Japanese VA.