Appleseed: Ex-Machina (2007)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2007
	Director: Shinji Aramaki (Starship Troopers: Invasion, Space Pirate Captain Harlock)
	Actors (voices): Ai Kobayashi, Kôichi Yamadera, Yûji Kishi
	Country: J
	Genre: Animation, SF, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 14.04.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: In a post-apocalyptic future, the new state of Olympus is the most advanced and part of its inhabitants are cyborgs. We follow a couple of police officers in charge of maintaining order around a peace conference.
Review: I hadn't watched this movie in quite some time and I can now tell that the animation is ten years old. It is indeed not photo-realistic, but actually half-way to a traditional 2D animated film, i.e. we can sometimes see the contour of the characters as a black line. But this gives it a certain style which can be appreciated. It is noticeable that the same director is responsible for Starship Troopers: Invasion (2012) that I liked, and Space Pirate Captain Harlock (2013) that I didn't. There is a lot of action in this movie which is good because then you don't have time to get bored by the otherwise very classical Japanese Animation story of Mechas, world war and virus infecting the Cyborgs, reminding of Ghost in the Shell for the story if not at all for the style. A bit annoying also is the very manga design of the characters (big eyes, long legs, big breast for women...) and the cheesy romance, but I guess this is what one should expect when watching such a movie. On the other hand some Mechas, ships and city design are very innovating (probably coming from the manga from which the movie is adapted). At some point I may watch the two other movies Appleseed (2004) and Appleseed Alpha (2014) or the OAV Appleseed XIII (2011).
Rating: 5 /10