In 2004 the manga classic Appleseed was revived and reimagined into a cutting edge CGI anime feature film. It fused cel-shaded animation characters with sharp hi-res backgrounds. In late 2007, director Shinji Aramaki revisited this world, this time with an all-new star-studded production team including the likes of international super-star John Woo.
Sometimes its difficult to separate the entertainment from the philosophy. Masamune Shirow is well-known for his thought-provoking themes in his masterpiece manga creations. But sometimes an action story is an action story and while there's plenty of intrigue in Ex Machina, at its heart is an adventure story.
Several months have passed since the story in the 2004 film. Duenan is a full-fledged member of ESWAT now and carries on a relationship with her partner, the cyborg Briareos. The movie follows Olympus City's attempt at networking the world's many defense systems into one, thereby making ESWAT a world-wide counter-terrorist force. But something's afoot: cybrog terrorism is on the rise... coincidence?
While the film is a direct sequel, it does take the opportunity to fine-tune the look of Appleseed. If you haven't seen the first movie in a while, the changes can be subtle. But if you have, then the changes become very noticeable. For one, Woo's fingerprints are all over the movie. The fight scenes are choreographed in a distinct Hong Kong-Shooter style. But above this, the cel-shading has much finer lines than before. Whereas the previous films' characters all had a reflective sheen to them, skin tones in general are much more real this time. But not enough to give that eerie real-not-real look found in many photo-realistic CG (I'm looking at YOU, Final Fantasy!). Indeed, the characters remain unmistakeably anime.
An observation I made while watching was that Duenan seemed somewhat sexier as well. I couldn't quite put my finger on it until I checked out the bonus features. And interviewed creators pointed out that they had simply shrunk her eyes slightly. No longer is she a wide-eyed cartoon, but now has slightly more real facial proportions. I think it allows her to emote better than before.
And while the humans have a new look, so do the mecha: it's still awesome.
Sometimes its difficult to separate the entertainment from the philosophy. Masamune Shirow is well-known for his thought-provoking themes in his masterpiece manga creations. But sometimes an action story is an action story and while there's plenty of intrigue in Ex Machina, at its heart is an adventure story.
Several months have passed since the story in the 2004 film. Duenan is a full-fledged member of ESWAT now and carries on a relationship with her partner, the cyborg Briareos. The movie follows Olympus City's attempt at networking the world's many defense systems into one, thereby making ESWAT a world-wide counter-terrorist force. But something's afoot: cybrog terrorism is on the rise... coincidence?
While the film is a direct sequel, it does take the opportunity to fine-tune the look of Appleseed. If you haven't seen the first movie in a while, the changes can be subtle. But if you have, then the changes become very noticeable. For one, Woo's fingerprints are all over the movie. The fight scenes are choreographed in a distinct Hong Kong-Shooter style. But above this, the cel-shading has much finer lines than before. Whereas the previous films' characters all had a reflective sheen to them, skin tones in general are much more real this time. But not enough to give that eerie real-not-real look found in many photo-realistic CG (I'm looking at YOU, Final Fantasy!). Indeed, the characters remain unmistakeably anime.
An observation I made while watching was that Duenan seemed somewhat sexier as well. I couldn't quite put my finger on it until I checked out the bonus features. And interviewed creators pointed out that they had simply shrunk her eyes slightly. No longer is she a wide-eyed cartoon, but now has slightly more real facial proportions. I think it allows her to emote better than before.
And while the humans have a new look, so do the mecha: it's still awesome.
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