Overview: Released the same year as Akira, this Masamune Shirow story is far more an artifact of 80s Anime, whereas Akira points the way to how anime will look in the 90s. This early Mecha movie is violent, profanity laden and action packed, with a really nice story and interesting philosophical undertones. And interestingly, this is one of the very few animes where the English track is actually the best one.

The Story: Appleseed takes place in a dystopian future, in which a city called Olympus has been engineered to be a created as a perfect refuge from the rest of the world. Many of the inhabitants have been bio-engineered “biodroids,” which are half-human, half-cyborgs designed to serve specific roles in the society. An all-powerful computer named GIA controls all city functions, and is just now starting to become responsible for the defense systems. Olympus is so controlled that there is little diversity or struggles required from its inhabitants.

A cyborg terrorist named Sabastian has made it his mission to destroy GIA. He finds a kindred soul in a disenchanted police officer, who’s wife committed suicide after she couldn’t stand living such a controlled existence. They plot to take over the prototype impenetrable tank in order to kill Gia and destroy Olympus. The movie centers around the mecha-laden Swat police force aligning their forces to stop them. In addition to heavy violence, we get MASSIVE amounts of F-bombs dropped here. Its actually rather cool seeing the amount of profanity that is used here - far more than one would expect from an anime such as this.

Deunan, a hot police chick and Briareos, a bug-like looking cyborg are Swat team members assigned to stop the terrorists. Incidentally, these two are clearly the precursors for Major Motoko Kusanagi and her cyborg partner, Bateau. While Deunan keeps her clothes on and doesn’t have Motoko’s intelligence, she definitely fills the same roll. Spunkiness is her middle name. The rest of the group, including Sebastian the terrorist, and the rest of the police force all provide decent support.

The animation here is still mostly 80s american style. Additionally, unlike the anime of the 90s, the backgrounds are often single, simple colors. While some animation scenes are rather cool, others are really more simple than you’d want. Definitely, the majority of the animation effort is about highlighing Dunan - she definitely looks better than everything else around her. Also, the sound is 80s keyboard music. Sometimes it works, but mostly its just distracting.

There are a number of messages that Appleseed puts forth. Looking at it today, the most disturbing message deals with Olympus’ rather extreme attempts to protect and inculcate itself from outside terrorists. The symbol for this is a bird in a cage. Considering that the US is in the throws of working this exact issue, Appleseed gives us a stark reminder that we can easily lose the soul of our society while attempting to protect it. Additionally, there are somewhat brief inquiries into what “life” is when examining whether biodroids should be valued similar to humans.

The Bottom Line: Appleseed is a good example of very early Japanese Anime. While its nowhere near the top in terms of animation, the Masamune Shirow’s story is high quality. Truly, the story is why you want to watch this. While the 2004 version definitely wins out on superior graphics, I think the 1988 version is a tighter, more interesting storyline. And if you’ve read the Applesead Manga, then the story, especially the beginning, works far better. You will find yourself becoming connected to the lead characters. But most impressive is the pacing. Appleseed packs an incredible amount of story in 68 minutes - truly, there’s very little fat here.

Yes, the top graphic doesn’t line up right now and looks stupid with the tag line hanging out. Please bare with me. I’m working on this. Don’t be surprised if you see the top and layout change on a pretty regular basis today.

UPDATE: Please tell me if in viewing this page, the header graphic doesn’t line up with the left side of the green navigation table. I’m viewing this in Firefox (my preferred) and in Internet Explorer, and it seems to line up right. I need to know if this looks hoaky in other browers.

And yes, I’m still trying to figure out how to eliminate the space between the header graphic and the navbar, not to mention the space on the top of the graphic. Also, I have credits for the header graphic listed in my footer.

There has been a movement afoot to create a new sub-genre called post-cyberpunk. I’m not sure where this all started, but Wikipedia claims it started with an article by Lawrence Person, titled “Notes toward a Postcyberpunk Manifesto.” The essence of the distinction appears to be that in cyberpunk, the future is seen as bleak and largely caused by technology, whereas in post-cyberpunk, technology IS society. Post-cyberpunk proponents claim that their heroes fight truth, justice and the postcyberpunk way (enhancing the established social order versus destroying it), whereas in cyberpunk, the heroes are at best, neutral.

While Person’s article is a good read, and while this may have been a relevant distinction after the initial burst of cyberpunk works in the 80s followed by the relative lull of the early 90s (which also prompted an update to the “Paul is Dead” chant, then known as “Cyberpunk is dead”), I have serious doubts about its applicability today. At this point (2006), I think its usefulness as a term has past. Most who use this term seem to just “naturally” assume that post-cyberpunk means all cyberpunk-like things that were created after 1989. As the genre has progressed, it seems to me that post-cyberpunk has become a distinction without meaning. Cyberpunk has long since expanded past its literary roots, and has invaded most every form of media possible. From a myriad of muscial examples such as Rammstein to RPGs such as cyberpunk 2.0, to various video games such as Half-life and Deus Ex, to fine art such as the DarkArt’s site, to graphic novels like Transmetropolitan, cyberpunk has emerged as a far greater holding bin than was originally conceived. With this in mind, as the self-appointed keeper of all that is good and right in cyberpunk (this is what others are doing, no?), I’m officially raising the bullshit flag on this term. In other words, “It’s dead, Jim.” This emperor has no clothes. More…