Audience reviews
19 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
FAKEANIMEGIRL
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Originally written on January 11, 2017 4:13 am EST
Appleseed is Masamune Shirow‘s non-Ghost in the Shell baby. I was lukewarm towards the 2004 CG movie, and my appreciation for this franchise hasn’t grown after this OVA. I recall the movie having more action than this OVA, which is a plus in this OVA’s favor, if you ask me. This focuses a lot more on the dynamic and banter between Deunan and Briareos, and I’m more of a “script” guy than an “action” guy.
For some reason, I also expected this to be the same story as the movie, but it’s entirely different. From what I remember, even the setting is significantly different. Deunan and Briareos are already working together, and Deunan’s clear…
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There's nothing here to really dislike - it's just that this work never goes as far as it could have with anything if it had picked a lane and went balls to the wall with it - whether it was action, philosophical morality, mecha, or fanservice.
Character designs, animation, and voice acting are all pretty good. The setting is reasonably interesting, insofar as much as we learn about it. The best parts about about Appleseed are really the promotional artwork, and I found the antagonist very non-standard and sympathetic in motivations. He will be remembered.
I think this is worth seeing at least once, especially if you are a fan of things like Bubblegum Crisis, Venus War, Crusher Joe, Riding Bean... Those all came to mind while watching, but they are all better in their totallities than t…
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If you came in expecting the cool-looking robot guy to have some awesome sakuga action scenes, I am so sorry to disappoint you, but that's not what you're going to get. Appleseed is very middle of the road at everything it tries to do. The action is so short you can blink and miss entire scenes, its nothing compared to the likes of angel cop, Patlabor, or basically any other anime that came out at the time. It lacks music, art direction, animation, intriguing plots, and for a sci-fi anime where the main character is a 6'9 giant robot, most characters are bland and forgettable. If you've seen one 80s OVA anime, you've seen Appleseed 10 times over. The one thing it does right is the character Karon Mousoros and how the story explores the philosophical and political themes of complacency and…
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Appleseed is definitely a step up from most of the 80s OVA slop that's out there. Running for roughly one hour, the OVA introduces a post-World War 3 utopian world mainly populated with genetically engineered humans called 'bioroids.' This interesting setting paves the way for a lot of potential themes to be explored, and for the most part, Appleseed does. Briefly.
The antagonist of Appleseed, Calon, introduces the idea that in creating bioroids to serve humanity, humanity ended up serving them instead. He also describes the utopian world the characters inhabit as a zoo, pointing out that the civilians, being bioroids, are programmed not to rebel and are thus complacent. These are simple yet effective, thought-provoking ideas that the OVA presents—but unfortunately, they never go beyond b…
Read at the sourceWatch100Animes
Appleseed is a good but not particularly memorable and short OVA about a dystopian police state, but one that has a strangely compelling subtext for what it is. The story, taken at face value, is very basic. However, it manages to have a little subtlety and moral ambiguity that makes it pretty interesting and a villain with a legitimate point. Overall, it’s easy to recommend this OVA, even if it’s nothing stellar.
To get it out of the way, yes, the story is nothing to write home about and has been done many times before and better. It’s a typical buddy cop deal with Deunan, the plucky young female cop, and Briareos, the hard-edged, in this case robotic or ‘biodroid,’ partner. They have a hard-ass boss, Athena, who I grew to like pretty well despite being really cruel at times, which was,…
Read at the sourceDISKOWN
Appleseed is a decent Ova. Most of the characters fall into their generic stereotypes with one exception. The antagonist is well motivated and thought out, standing above the other characters, and is the star of the anime. The Ova is well paced overall and never feels too rushed. The animation does not look dated and holds up well. Appleseed only has one real shortcoming, the story. The overall narrative while not unique is sufficient. But, there are moments when character agency takes a backseat in favor of a plot driven narrative. This happens infrequently but is rather annoying. Appleseed remains extremely watchable.
Read at the sourceKamuiX1999
I haven't seen this since I was a teenager in the '90s, and I remember being pretty underwhelmed after all of the hype surrounding it back in those early days. Having revisited it, my feelings haven't changed. This is only the second film animated by Gainax, and when compared to their first, Royal Space Force Honneamise, it's pretty obvious where all the money went. Appleseed looks like amateur hour, with a lot of stilted animation and just an overall bland look, which considering this is based on a manga by Masamune Shirow, is a massive problem. All of the characters are weakly defined, and it also has some of the most inappropriate music as well, which manages to lull one to sleep rather than excite. Every other Appleseed adaptation is far superior in literally every aspect, and when tak…
Read at the sourceKryptonot_7471
Based on the manga from Masamune Shirow and directed by Kazuyoshi Katayama (who would later go on to direct "The Big O"), Appleseed (1988) gives us a sci-fi thriller plot that moves at a break-neck space, with wonderfully stunning animation, characters that are easy to get invested in and while also providing social commentary on the idea of utopianism and the role of chaos within in an orderly setting. All the while, it makes it so that it does not come across as preachy, since the characters through which the 'more' philosophical dialogue is introduced are speaking in context of their own experiences making the employment or use of the themes to be coherent and well-related to the story as well as open to criticism by other characters.
The Movie opens up with somewhat of a tragic event…
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At best Appleseed is fair.
The story line to Appleseed is fairly simple. Yet at the same time, it seems almost too simple and cliche. The story is easy to follow and has times where it can cause frustration, which I appreciated.
Art is average given it's age and for the most part I enjoyed the styling.
Sound is also average. I found acting (English) to be good, which is certainly more than I can say for many dubs.
Characters were it's best feature. Through their portrayal, you had characters you disliked and liked and they were all appropriately placed.
Overall, I did get some enjoyment out of Appleseed, I just believe there are much better choices out there.
Read at the sourceThe_Namer
I dug out my old VHS copy for this one. Manga Video promoted the hell out of this OAV circa 1995, and what a disappointment it was. I'd only been watching anime for a couple of years at that point, and every new tape I bought felt like a revelation, something that immersed me and made me rewatch it dozens of times. Until this one. It's not that the magic of being a freshly-minted otaku had worn off by that point; this OAV is just that bland.
It certainly doesn't look that way in trailers, since the one thing it has going for it is its technically impressive action animation. The trouble is that this one-hour OAV feels like a bunch of clips from a two-hour movie. All the big action scenes are there, but everything inbetween gets rushed through in a rote and dull fashion, like it bored the…
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I don't feel like saying to much about this, and that's about how much this anime did for me. The premise sounded cool enough, plus I don't mind older animes although I haven't seen that many, but this felt super bland.
I struggled to sit through the whole thing because it simply did not keep me interested.
TL;DR watch if you really like the premise and older anime hits your sweet spot, you should be entertained enough by something, if you want a decent story that keeps you engaged, don't bother.
Story: 4/10
I liked the premise, which was what got me interested, although the villain(s) were revealed quite early on which felt too quick and left the middle to the end rather dull and little suspense. It got dull, which felt disappointing. The ending also felt a bit random but that may hav…
Read at the sourceProject-Exodus
Its a cool as hell premise, but executed in the most medicore way possible. The design is cool but nothing special in my eyes. The robot guy is cool as hell. Under the sheet of a old school 80s like anime.
I did enjoy it, and it was nice too look at. However in comparison to the other titles, I think this one is the best. The CGI in the other films are horrid but at least here we get more of the same (in compassion to the franchise) but in old-school 2-D animation. And I very much prefer that.
I cant say I hated it, but I don't love it either. But that doesn't mean it's not worth your time. It's a nice bite sized OVA that you can extract some enjoyment out of. Especially for someone who adores the production of the time.
Read at the sourceherbeey
Alright, I am the trash queen and the 80s animation style is one i love automatically. also, this has robots and cyberpunk stuff in it. so i really tried hard to find ways of loving this. and my god do i love this. my reviews tend to be primers for the anime so, yeh, here goes.
*go watch the 2004 appleseed film to get an idea of who and what everyone and everything is... it actually explains what 'appleseed' is and has a lot of shining moments even if it is a little patchy*
oh god the dubbing is awful (but a million times more entertaining than the sub) (listen to the dvd commentary to find them talking about how the voice actors for this never even met), the animation uses really uninteresting angles and colours, and the music is kinda unmemorable and sedate. the co-main character has a…
Read at the sourcejyagan0
Straightforward and easy to understand solid plot. The art and animation is pure old school. The dub is good. After watching more modern anime, it sounds odd to hear so much cussing, but it adds to the flavor. Especially because combat units are generally pretty raw. I love the relationship between Briareos and Deunan. It's not developed as much as in the 2004 and 2008 movies, but the companionship and a sense of something more underneath the surface is still there. Deunan is drawn very cute and Briareos has a unique sense of style. Recommended for fans of cyberpunk and well told tales.
Read at the sourceShura-shurato
Saw it the 1st time on tape i got from a friend in 1997, AND I LOVE IT, little that i knew i came fron 1988( tape was the 1994 eng dub), but overall, u either love or hate the animation, but the mecha citydesigns an character development overall is an very enjoyable thing for the likes of oldskool anime, and i LIKED the policeaction scenes although some stuff can be repetitive, the music .... well its just from that time so yeah!
Read at the sourceGoodEnoughForMe
Appleseed is a work that seems to show up every now and then, after many of us have forgotten it, usually in the form of a reboot or remake. As it stands, the original 1988 anime is the best of the anime versions, so far, but it is not without its flaws.
Appleseed is one of a minority of animated works that can lay claim to being too short. There's is just way too much going on for a single 1 hour film, but, to director Kazuyoshi Katayama's credit, he manages to keep the threads of storyline together enough to make this a largely enjoyable fare.
One thing that Appleseed, this 1988 version, does much better than the 2004 version, is moral ambiguity. This sci-fi is ripe with it. Earth is introduced to us having recently suffered catatrophe through World War III. Olympus, a protoype "utopia…
Read at the sourcekekekeKaj
This anime lacks a certain... something... Nothing seems to be horribly wrong, but at the end of the day, it's no more than mediocre. The best word to describe this anime is "bland". It's like drinking water - I don't hate it, but it just doesn't really leave much taste behind. I had a really hard job trying to get excited when watching it because, frankly, there's nothing about it that's very interesting.
Going through everything categorically: the animation... not bad, but not amazing. Music... so bland I can't even remember much about it (though I guess that must mean it can't have been bad at least). The story didn't really inspire. They failed miserably to engage my emotions with their boring dilemmas because they couldn't put together a convincing case about why I should give a tos…
Read at the sourcekarasawa
I really liked this. Even at only 70 minutes it captures what the story is about very well and has all the characteristics of the great old school 80s animé movies but with more depth than you usually find. The remake is far less meaningful and is basically a platform to showcase impressive CGI - as I see it. It looks basic so might put some of the newer animé fans off, but to me this is a very special film.
Read at the sourcexMatronxMalicex
Given that the newer versions of Appleseed have become popular, I figured that I might as well write a review for the lesser known film. It was created in '88 by the man who I believe created Big O. For some strange reason, it took damn near a decade to bring it from Japan to the US.
The story is similar to many other Olympus outings: terrorists trying to bring down the Utopian society so that humanity doesn't become like a caged animal. Generally, this means destroying Gaia, which is the main goal of our two terrorists. The story's decent, and it picks and chooses parts from the 1st and 2nd volumes of the Appleseed series to have in the film. Ultimately, the story satisfied me, so I have no complaints about that.
My main complaint is with whoever they got to do the voice over work. My g…
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