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Appleseed: Ex Machina (Dub) Status: COMPLETE
Movie
I went out of my way to see Appleseed: Ex Machina as soon as I could after Appleseed because I really wanted to see the same characters again.
Well, Appleseed: Ex Machina does that, but I can't say I like what I got.
Appleseed's name is pretty much another movie with a misnomer title now, since it's not about Bioroid reproduction of human evolution just like Halo: Reach doesn't have anything to do with Halos.
The overall plot is actually a lot simpler than the previous movie in that all it's really about is a mad scientist trying to turn humanity into a hivemind.
Or I could go Borg if you prefer.
Movie
I went out of my way to see Appleseed: Ex Machina as soon as I could after Appleseed because I really wanted to see the same characters again.
Well, Appleseed: Ex Machina does that, but I can't say I like what I got.
Appleseed's name is pretty much another movie with a misnomer title now, since it's not about Bioroid reproduction of human evolution just like Halo: Reach doesn't have anything to do with Halos.
The overall plot is actually a lot simpler than the previous movie in that all it's really about is a mad scientist trying to turn humanity into a hivemind.
Or I could go Borg if you prefer.
We have a sideplot of Briar battling mind control since the mad scientist used to be his doctor and puts nanomachines in him and that's about it.
Honestly whereas the first Appleseed's characters took a back seat to the action, this Appleseed's action takes a back seat to the characters, particularly one: Tereus.
And that's a shame for two reasons:
1.) Tereus sucks.
2.) YOU HAD JOHN WOO ON THIS ****ING MOVIE!
The most "John Woo" we ever get is robot doves. Yeah.
Appleseed + John Woo = Robot Doves
Anyway, my whole problem with Tereus is that Tereus IS Briar.
Apparently where Briar's remaining body was subsumed into his new cyborg body, his tissue was used as a template to build combat-oriented Bioroids which weakly translates to a pre-cyborg Briar walking around with his looks, personality, and mannerisms.
They sell this as the crazy new 3-man team with Deunan as a natural human, Tereus as an artificial human, and Briar as... a cyborg I guess, the trichotomy's kinda weak. Especially when it's not until the very end of the movie that they even work together, Briar gets injured at the start and Deunan's "forced" to partner up with Tereus.
Ummm... military... people? WHY? You don't think it might result in ISSUES if you separate romantically involved partners and replace one of them with a more attractive body double? That's more than a little ****ed up.
So from the get go we obviously have a stock list of themes we're going to desperately try to cover:
Deunan is going to see Briar in Tereus.
Tereus is going to be attracted to Deunan.
Deunan is going to be tempted to fall for Tereus.
Tereus turns out to be evil and/or Deunan resolves to remain faithful to Briar.
Deunan goes back to Briar.
OBVIOUSLY. DUH. The LAST movie was predictable, but this doesn't even try to have any twists, it's just a carousel of stock movie tropes.
I think my least favorite thing about the whole movie is how it treated both Deunan and Briar in general.
Briar wasn't very talkative in the first movie which might have served an interesting contrast to him pre-cyborg and Deunan, but in this movie while he appears to be emotionally distant since he can't emote with a face he TALKS UP A STORM and even has numerous scenes of yelling. I like that his voice actor has an opportunity to do something interesting, but EGH... I liked him better as the strong silent type.
Or is that just me?
Deunan gets royally screwed over big time in the movie. Not that they broke her character or anything, but they undercut it numerous times throughout.
I wanted ACTION GIRL, not DRESS-UP-IN-PRADA GIRL!
YES, that's PRADA, they literally hired PRADA to design her outfit for this movie. They put ACTION GIRL IN HEELS and I hate them for it.
Honestly whereas the first Appleseed's characters took a back seat to the action, this Appleseed's action takes a back seat to the characters, particularly one: Tereus.
And that's a shame for two reasons:
1.) Tereus sucks.
2.) YOU HAD JOHN WOO ON THIS ****ING MOVIE!
The most "John Woo" we ever get is robot doves. Yeah.
Appleseed + John Woo = Robot Doves
Anyway, my whole problem with Tereus is that Tereus IS Briar.
Apparently where Briar's remaining body was subsumed into his new cyborg body, his tissue was used as a template to build combat-oriented Bioroids which weakly translates to a pre-cyborg Briar walking around with his looks, personality, and mannerisms.
They sell this as the crazy new 3-man team with Deunan as a natural human, Tereus as an artificial human, and Briar as... a cyborg I guess, the trichotomy's kinda weak. Especially when it's not until the very end of the movie that they even work together, Briar gets injured at the start and Deunan's "forced" to partner up with Tereus.
Ummm... military... people? WHY? You don't think it might result in ISSUES if you separate romantically involved partners and replace one of them with a more attractive body double? That's more than a little ****ed up.
So from the get go we obviously have a stock list of themes we're going to desperately try to cover:
Deunan is going to see Briar in Tereus.
Tereus is going to be attracted to Deunan.
Deunan is going to be tempted to fall for Tereus.
Tereus turns out to be evil and/or Deunan resolves to remain faithful to Briar.
Deunan goes back to Briar.
OBVIOUSLY. DUH. The LAST movie was predictable, but this doesn't even try to have any twists, it's just a carousel of stock movie tropes.
I think my least favorite thing about the whole movie is how it treated both Deunan and Briar in general.
Briar wasn't very talkative in the first movie which might have served an interesting contrast to him pre-cyborg and Deunan, but in this movie while he appears to be emotionally distant since he can't emote with a face he TALKS UP A STORM and even has numerous scenes of yelling. I like that his voice actor has an opportunity to do something interesting, but EGH... I liked him better as the strong silent type.
Or is that just me?
Deunan gets royally screwed over big time in the movie. Not that they broke her character or anything, but they undercut it numerous times throughout.
I wanted ACTION GIRL, not DRESS-UP-IN-PRADA GIRL!
YES, that's PRADA, they literally hired PRADA to design her outfit for this movie. They put ACTION GIRL IN HEELS and I hate them for it.
That might be bad enough, but they even waste an entire scene denigrating Deunan as a woman further by emphasizing the fact that she gets a PINK MECH.
Sorry, but... no, I'm not sorry, screw that. THAT'S NOT COOL.
Look, I get where this series is coming from, it's coming from Shirow, the same guy who draws porn and put the Ghost in the Shell lead in this:
Sorry, but... no, I'm not sorry, screw that. THAT'S NOT COOL.
Look, I get where this series is coming from, it's coming from Shirow, the same guy who draws porn and put the Ghost in the Shell lead in this:
Say what you will about Kusanagi, she was a mature female character, and I was hoping for an even better one in Deunan and her relationship with Briar.
I mean think about this: Appleseed is a series based on a mature romantic relationship between two characters in their 30s and 40s. 30s and 40s! That's UNHEARD OF in typical anime! Not to mention we got Deunan, the KILLER-OF-STEREOTYPES as one of them.
When you look at the poster from Appleseed, you're inclined to think damsel in distress, right?
I mean think about this: Appleseed is a series based on a mature romantic relationship between two characters in their 30s and 40s. 30s and 40s! That's UNHEARD OF in typical anime! Not to mention we got Deunan, the KILLER-OF-STEREOTYPES as one of them.
When you look at the poster from Appleseed, you're inclined to think damsel in distress, right?
Well it LOOKS like that, but check her outfit and think about it: Briar's a friggen' juggernaut, he can get to places quickly and he can absorb gunfire with minimal risk.
In the original Appleseed I always had the impression that Deunan and Briar were equals where Deunan was naturally designed in favor of doing heavy lifting, fast transport, and being a damage sponge. Deunan was faster, more flexible, and was generally the one to take the initiative.
It almost plays their gender archetypes straight, but it largely averts them in favor of a couple that complements each other strategically, if not personality-wise, while simultaneously separating them to opposite sides of transhumanism (not gender).
I thought we had a really stable foundation for a great team of characters that didn't conform entirely to the norm before Ex Machina came along and ruined it by putting them in stereotypically gender-specific clothing, assigning Deunan equipment just because it's pink, and finally putting the two back to back only to have Briar literally shooting twice as many guns as her with demonstrably better accuracy.
At that point it makes me wonder why Deunan's even in the military if she's outstripped by most men and machines. Why is she there if not to be just be a pretty face?
Well, we haven't got to Appleseed: Alpha just yet, so that remains to be seen:
What in the everlasting **** is she wearing? NOT BODY ARMOR!!!
Alright, let's wrap all this up. Appleseed Ex Machina looks LOADS better than the original with most of the cel shading receding into soft lighting where it's barely noticeable. The characters still look faux-anime, still look great, but now it's more visually consistent and their outfits are more textured and less reflective: Big improvement. Shame that this style looks to take a regression in the televised series.
Another thing is we don't get any plotpoints anywhere near the levels of stupidity as the climax of Appleseed. I forgot to mention that at the end of Appleseed, Deunan's struggling to input the last letter of a password into a computer and it just automatically inputs itself at the last second. THAT WAS STUPID. Thankfully we don't have anything like that here, unless you count the character betrayals.
Also, something that would have kicked up this movie a tick for me?: If it ended with the reveal that Briar had some undisclosed "vibration" feature installed. Woulda been hilarious.
Final Verdict: [Friggen' Awesome][Pretty Good][Meh...][Just... Bad][Irredeemably Awful]
In the original Appleseed I always had the impression that Deunan and Briar were equals where Deunan was naturally designed in favor of doing heavy lifting, fast transport, and being a damage sponge. Deunan was faster, more flexible, and was generally the one to take the initiative.
It almost plays their gender archetypes straight, but it largely averts them in favor of a couple that complements each other strategically, if not personality-wise, while simultaneously separating them to opposite sides of transhumanism (not gender).
I thought we had a really stable foundation for a great team of characters that didn't conform entirely to the norm before Ex Machina came along and ruined it by putting them in stereotypically gender-specific clothing, assigning Deunan equipment just because it's pink, and finally putting the two back to back only to have Briar literally shooting twice as many guns as her with demonstrably better accuracy.
At that point it makes me wonder why Deunan's even in the military if she's outstripped by most men and machines. Why is she there if not to be just be a pretty face?
Well, we haven't got to Appleseed: Alpha just yet, so that remains to be seen:
What in the everlasting **** is she wearing? NOT BODY ARMOR!!!
Alright, let's wrap all this up. Appleseed Ex Machina looks LOADS better than the original with most of the cel shading receding into soft lighting where it's barely noticeable. The characters still look faux-anime, still look great, but now it's more visually consistent and their outfits are more textured and less reflective: Big improvement. Shame that this style looks to take a regression in the televised series.
Another thing is we don't get any plotpoints anywhere near the levels of stupidity as the climax of Appleseed. I forgot to mention that at the end of Appleseed, Deunan's struggling to input the last letter of a password into a computer and it just automatically inputs itself at the last second. THAT WAS STUPID. Thankfully we don't have anything like that here, unless you count the character betrayals.
Also, something that would have kicked up this movie a tick for me?: If it ended with the reveal that Briar had some undisclosed "vibration" feature installed. Woulda been hilarious.
Final Verdict: [Friggen' Awesome][Pretty Good][Meh...][Just... Bad][Irredeemably Awful]