Kita ze Inbou! - キタぜ陰謀!

Movie Information

ANN Encyclopedia | AniDB | AnimeNfo
OP: [Rescue] by HASYMO
Production: Digital Frontier Inc.
Appleseed Ex Machina official website

You know you have a good woman by your side when she sticks with you even after receiving a fully cybornetic body.

I just received my review copy of Appleseed Ex Machina in the mail after a long day of riding around town and a job interview. I decided to sit down and watch the movie with my father even though I was supposed to be studying a few chapters for an exam I have this afternoon. So, I went into Appleseed Ex Machina with one expectation: to have my eyes assaulted with gorgeous graphics. Well, I was pretty overwhelmed in that area especially since I watched it on our big screen television rather than on my computer. The production values for Ex Machina are pretty high and the effort of big names such as John Woo and Shinji Aramaki definitely shine through.

The graphics are amazing and some of the prettiest you’ll ever see. The music is amazing and I had the opportunity to listen to a few sample tracks prior to receiving the movie. It’s not the best soundtrack I’ve ever heard but it fits Appleseed really well and is used quite intelligently throughout certain scenes in the movie, especially those involving action. The story itself is pretty simple to follow. Deunan ends up with a new partner, Tereus, after Briareos ends up in the hospital after taking the brunt of an explosion (he saved Deunan by covering her). It’s funny though that it almost parallels the way he first saved Deunan when he was still a human. The central plot involves both humans and cyborgs being controlled by an unknown force using a new and popular gadget. From there the reasons behind this plot is slowly revealed and it turns out to be pretty engaging and entertaining.

Deunan is as great as ever and her spunk hasn’t declined one bit since the previous Appleseed movie and OVA. She was very beautiful as always. Briareos was his usual tough self and had a really hard time throughout the film for various plot reasons, one of them involving the invasion of his body from the antagonist. The newest character, Tereus, was a great addition to the cast. The funny thing about him is that he looks exactly like Briareos. Well, like his former human self anyways. I had initially thought he’d be an obstacle or possible antagonist for some reason but he turned out to be a great guy and really stood out as an individual even if he is supposedly a copy of Briareos. Those there were pretty much the focus of the entire film with some time being allocated to the Prime Minister of Olympus: Athena. She’s a pretty strong leader and quite a looker to boot if you ask me. I pretty much identified the antagonist rather early but I won’t spoil it.

Overall, I enjoyed Ex Machina a lot. I particularly loved the latter half of the film as that’s where a lot of the character development took place. I’d recommend this to anyone looking to see a film with beautiful CG animation, engaging characters, and a decent story. Watching the past film and OVA isn’t needed to fully enjoy Ex Machina but I would recommend that you do after seeing this. When purchasing Ex Machina I’d suggest getting the 2-disc collector’s edition as the bonus disc has a historic feature titled The Appleseed Chronicles which walks you through the series since the beginning and also includes an East Meets West feature that compares and contrasts how different cultures enjoy the art form.

Lastly, I would like to thank ADV Films and Warner Bros. for sending me a review copy of Appleseed Ex Machina!