Appleseed Alpha
The remnants of a post-apocalyptic world, mercenary soldiers Deunan and her cyborg partner Briareos attempt to scratch out a living in the ruins of New York City. Briareo's cybernetic implants needs constant upkeep or else his systems will fail, thus he and Deunan must work for the ruthless warlord Two Horns who promises constant repair services. To the pair's dismay, Two Horns barely keeps Briareos at an operating level; operational enough to get the job done, but never tuned up to full capacity to strike out on his own if he so desired. During an operation to clean up autonomous attack ostrich tanks left over from the war, Deunan and Briareos encounter Iris and Olson, citizens from the utopian city of Olympia with a top secret mission. Taking the two into their protection, Deunan and Briareos must protect Iris and Olson from a scheming cyborg named Talos and a greedy Two Horns. Little do they know that that the fate of the world rides upon this mission.
Appleseed Alpha was an action packed joy ride from beginning to end. You'll enjoy high energy gun fights as techno tracks pump in the background. You action fans won't be disappointed. There's enough fire fights and explosions to please even the most hardcore of action nuts.
The plot was engaging. For those familiar with the Appleseed franchise, you'll recognize that Appleseed Alpha is a prequel to the other CGI movies. We get an interesting perspective of how things were before Deunan and Briareos discover Olympus. Olympus is merely a dream that Deunan can only fantasize about (Briareos makes it a point to convince her that such whimsical day dreaming is a waste of time). You'll get a taste of how evil and cruel humanity can be, or what's left of it any way, but you'll also see the good side as well. Just keep in mind underneath all of the cold precision of the cyborgs and machines in this movie lies the humanity that engineered it all. Also, this movie gets to be dreary and depressing at times, but the constant action and high energy tracks keeps the plot from completely crossing that line.
It was refreshing to see Deunan in a slightly more vulnerable emotional state in this movie as opposed to the super woman with the cyborg like relaxes as she's typically depicted. Sure, she's still the well oiled killing machine that we all know and love, but there are a few scenes where we can see the stresses of war wearing on her mental state. She still loves Briareos and ultimately wishes to find Olympus so that they could live out their days in peace. I've always loved the dynamic between Deunan and Briareos. I just love the fact that Deunan is still so madly in love with a guy who has a full cybernetic body. Call me a hopeless romantic if you will.
The animation in this movie is the smoothest that it has ever been (then other movies). Beautifully rendered 3-D character models and back drops makes Appleseed Alpha the most visually stunning Appleseed to date. I recommended watching this movie in Blue-Ray or hi-defintion to truly appreciate it in all of its visual glory.
All in all, Appleseed Alpha was an enjoyable watch. You'll have fun watching it, that's for sure. I give Appleseed Alpha 8 out of 10. I recommended this anime to the action nuts and fans of the Appleseed franchise.
