Movie Reviews: Director Archives
Shinji Aramaki
Appleseed Ex Machina
Shinji Aramaki’s previous Appleseed movie (my review) was much more than met the eyes. On the surface, it was an ultra-flashy, CG-powered anime movie that utilized motion capture and facial imaging to give the animation—and the countless explosions and mecha battles—a greater degree of realism.
Below the surface, however, was a surprisingly engaging storyline that blended tragedy and melodrama with the exploration of some thorny ethical issus such as cloning. In other words, you could enjoy it simply for the mechanized mayhem, of which there was an awful lot, but there was no need to call it a guilty pleasure on that part.
Appleseed Ex Machina, on the other hand, is a completely different kind of film. And no, that’s not a positive thing. Not at all.
Appleseed
The works of Masamune Shirow hold a pretty special place for me, as they represent some of my very first forays into the worlds of anime and manga. Back in high school, I watched both of the (rather lackluster) Appleseed and Black Magic M-66 movies, and later on, Ghost In The Shell served as my initial exposure to “mature” anime (as it did for a number of people). Looking back, what initially drew me to Shirow’s work was the insane amount of technical detail. Shirow is renowned for having something of a technology fetish, and that’s quite evident in his incredibly complex and realistic designs for futuristic technology—namely mechas.
Appleseed, Shirow’s debut work, is chock-full of this sort of fetish. The mecha and tech designs are taken to extreme limits, from the organic-looking landmates with their insect-like antennae and bulbous protrusions to the apparently limitless variation of firearms. Appleseed doesn’t delve into the issues of humanity and technology in quite the same manner as Shirow’s other popular work, Ghost In The Shell. Rather, it feels more like a fanboy work than a serious philosophical treatise. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s merely popcorn entertainment either.
The original Appleseed OVA that came out in 1988 was rather disappointing. Although the storyline was intriguing, and not too dissimilar from the plot of this movie, it wasn’t fleshed out very well and ended up feeling like several distinct plotlines simply thrown together. And while the mecha designs were quite unique, the animation was nothing to write home about (and would probably seem even more dated now).
This Appleseed movie, however, is something else entirely. Directed by Shinji Aramaki (who has worked with other techno-minded titles such as Bubblegum Crisis) and produced by Fumihiko Sori (who directed the fantastic Ping Pong, one of the best Japanese films in recent years), Appleseed truly delivers on the potential of Shirow’s manga series.