So here we are, watching this old OVA for the first time despite having seen all the other offerings since. The politics and philosophical aspects of the reimagined 'Appleseed' 2004 offering and its sequel, 'Appleseed Ex Machina' which had a Western flavour. And then the prequel to those movies, 'Appleseed Alpha' which had possibly the best CGI. This 88 OVA however, is totally original and is in no way connected to those other three movies. This is where it all started.
Sooo the plot is what you might call, a bit generic, a bit unoriginal, truth be told. As I've probably mentioned in my reviews of the other movies, director Kazuyoshi Katayama clearly took MUCH inspiration from a set of classic American sci-fi movies of the era. It's quite easy to see a lot of influence from movies like 'Blade Runner', 'Aliens, and 'The Terminator' straight off the bat. After WWIII, the powers that be construct a city for humans, cyborgs, and bioroids: the city of Olympus. The bioroids are essentially worker robots that take care of admin duties, civil operations, diplomacy, and governance. Above everything is the supercomputer Gaia, which is like a robotic brain, naturally.
However, not everyone is happy in the city, and one disillusioned cop, Charon, is secretly plotting with a foreign merc cyborg terrorist (whose second mission is to pinch a super flying tank mech thing to deliver to an outside force also intent on destroying Gaia) to destroy the supercomputer Gaia via another bioroid's DNA. This particular bioroid has been encoded with a shutdown override to prevent Gaia from being taken out directly.
The reason? Well, Charon's wife killed herself after growing depressed living within a city where humans had no control. Charon obviously holds the city, and Gaia, responsible. Same for the outside force; they also hate the artificial control and the fact that artificial bioroids control humans. So, it's down to the humble city of Olympus police force to stop all this, or more specifically, ESWAT (Enhanced SWAT or Extra Special Weapons and Tactics). A heavily armed anti-terrorist unit with top operatives Deunan Knute and Briareos, a cyborg with a human brain (I can't pronounce those names either).
Seems like some hypocrisy there though. Charon and the outside military force are all unhappy with genetically engineered bioroids and supercomputer Gaia essentially controlling humans (seems understandable). They refuse to accept artificial life ruling; however, they are quite happy to utilise a cyborg to get their way? One wonders if they would turn on any cyborgs once they gain control back from Gaia.
The basis of the story is a bit basic, which surprised me; this did feel like a bit more of an all-out action affair rather than an insight into the issues of mankind being run by artificial life. The basic building blocks of Asimov are there, but that's as far as it goes. You could almost be forgiven for rooting for the one cop who wants to fight back against the machine; but needless to say, his methods are extreme, and he gets entangled with the wrong people. Obviously , on the other hand, you could ask yourself why any human would want to fight back against a society run by an artificial life system whose entire aim is to make life as easy and pleasant as possible. Classic dilemma, the humans are comfortable, but are they free?
As for the actual anime side of things, well you can tell this is an older feature. The animation is a bit rough but lovely, in that classic Saturday morning kinda way. Think along the lines of those classic 80's kids' action cartoons that had that anime vibe: Bionic 6, Thundercats, Galaxy Rangers etc...Appleseed fits right in amongst these cartoons, but just add some death and blood. I liked it a lot; it has that retro 80's vibe running through it. It looks a bit rough around the edges, but at the same time a bit gritty and more realistic. I love how weapons in anime always look really detailed and accurate to their real-life counterparts. I also loved the unique futuristic designs on the mech suits and augmented humans, a now very classic cyberpunk look that runs through this franchise. The sound effects they use for the weapons are also really kick-ass and meaty, love it. Anime tends to really nail weapons, especially real ones.
For the actual soundtrack, this is something that Japanese anime loses me on. Many anime have such odd choices in music for different scenes. You could have an epic firefight, mech battle, or monster mash, yet in the background you'll hear some dainty, lighthearted tune that is completely wrong for that moment. Either that, or you get some silly jingle, again, straight out of a Saturday morning kids' cartoon. The music can be really hit or miss in anime, if you ask me. So many times something kick-ass is happening, and I'm sitting there thinkin', this would be so much better with a rock tune in the background.
It's strange to say this, but overall, for me, this is one time where an original anime doesn't quite live up to the later remake, sequel, and prequel. Heck, even the CGI is pretty good in those later features. Whilst this is obviously a classic anime that is very enjoyable to watch, I just felt the story wasn't fleshed out as well as the later features. I adore the somewhat janky dated visuals, but this first offering just felt a bit hollow and generic; nothing really jumped off the screen at me. This might be down to the fact that this anime isn't that faithful to the original manga graphic novel. I can't compare the two as I haven't read the original source material. This does kinda feel like a simple 80's action flick, but animated. Not a terrible sounding I know, but I just expected this to be a little deeper.
7/10
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