Regular Price $29.98

Starring: Ai Kobayashi,  Jûrôta Kosugi,  Yuki Matsuoka,  Asumi Miwa,  Akimoto Tsubasa, 
Directed By: Shinji Aramaki, 
Rated: R (Restricted)
Release Date: 2004
Studio: Geneon [Pioneer]
Format: Animated,  Collector's Edition,  Color,  Dolby,  DTS Surround Sound,  DVD-Video,  Special Edition,  Widescreen,  NTSC, 

Editorial Reviews and DVD Information about Appleseed (Limited Collector's Edition)

Description
Earth's last city, Olympus, rose from the ashes of a global war on the backs of Bioroids, artificial clones who make up half the city's population. Under the strict guidance of a supercomputer, humanity's last survivors enjoy an idyllic peace, but only on the surface Human terrorists within the military seek a return to power and clash with the government's ESWAT forces lead by the legendary soldier, Deunan Knute, and her boyfriend who is 75% machine. Retrieving the Appleseed will end the conflict, and Deunan alone holds its secret. The outstanding feature film based on the manga by SHIROW Masamune (Ghost In the Shell), directed by Shinji ARAMAKI (Bubblegum Crisis), and produced by SORI (Ping Pong) features a soundtrack by Boom Boom Satelites, Paul Oakenfold, Basement Jaxx and more and will be available from TOFU records. The DVD will feature high quality video encoded directly from the HD master in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen with 5.1 English Dolby Digital and DTS audio as well as the original Japanese 2.0 stereo and 5.1 DTS Dolby Digital soundtracks! This DVD also features commentary from both the director and the producer!

Amazon.com
The 2004 Appleseed feature is a reworking of the earlier video based on the manga by Masamune Shirow (Ghost in the Shell). In 2131, most of humanity has withdrawn to the glittering city of Olympus after a devastating war. When the curvaceous Deunan Knute comes to Olympus, she encounters her former comrade Briareos, now a cyborg, and the lovely android Hitomi. The fate of Hitomi, Olympus, and humanity rest on the lost "Appleseed" technology that Deunan's mother helped to develop. A standard series of chases, mecha battles, and confrontations leads to a predictable ending. When the original Appleseedappeared in 1988, it felt like a summary of anime's past, while Akira pointed the way to the future. This new version feels like a mishmash of Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Jin-Roh, Evangelion, and other, more exciting works. The motion-capture CG is typically weightless, and the mecha look oddly squat. (Rated R: violence) --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews for Appleseed (Limited Collector's Edition)

The limited edition DVD pressing of Appleseed
This is the 2004 Appleseed film directed by Shinji Aramaki, which incorporates some characters from Shirow's Appleseed manga series from 1985. However, the storyline for the film is not connected to the manga.

The main disc in this pressing includes six extras. There is a "Director & Producer Commentary" version of the film. "Music Cues with Scenes" allows you to choose one of the songs that appears in the film, and see the scene that it was used in; you can also see a biography of the artist behind the music. "Staff Profiles" are text writeups for the major staff (producer, director, etc.) There is a commercial for the Appleseed soundtrack, previews of some of Geneon Entertainment's other DVD releases, and the DVD credits.

This limited edition DVD pressing comes with a bonus disc. There is a thirty-six minute documentary called "Birth of 3D Live Anime," which talks about how the Appleseed manga was brought to life with a 3D film. The "Design Archives" credits each person who worked on the various designs. There is an image gallery of characters and mecha. "Appleseed info" includes Appleseed keywords (which is basically a glossary), character profiles, and mecha info. You can also see the music video for Boom Boom Satellites' "Dive for You," two Japanese theatrical trailers and one U.S. theatrical trailer for the film, and a DVD-ROM link for an Appleseed game sneak preview.

I thought Appleseed was an interesting film. The computer animation is done so well, there were times when I thought I was actually watching a live-action film. This is also a well-written story, which combines plenty of action and fighting with character development. By the end of the film, I felt for these characters, and was rooting for Deunan to succeed.

If you want to purchase Appleseed on DVD, I would definitely recommend the limited edition pressing (if you can track it down).Appleseed (Limited Collector's Edition)

Great backgrounds, extremely uninspired character designs
There are some very nice CGI backgrounds in this movie and the mechanical visuals are good too, but the human character designs are very bland and uninspired. Perhaps this kind of high tech backgrounds and lazy character design are the future of modern anime? This would make it much like Vexille, although Vexille's character design's are a little better - although I don't like Vexille's use of the lazy man's form of anime, ie: paint over motion capture with pastel-like human faces. The story here is nothing special.Appleseed (Limited Collector's Edition)

Appleseed: Futuristic CGI - Good Action, Drama, and Story
At first glance, one sees a movie with Japanese manga style animation combined with advanced CGI graphics; lot of action scenes. But taking another look, and one sees the development of a pretty decent story line. In terms plot, the story is done well in attaching emotion to the story of the main antagonist (Deunan, a butt-kicking heroine). It shows her development as she fights a nameless (and objective-free) battle and then finds reasoning to continue to fight (for humanity, for her mother, and for her lover). The movie serves a means of developing the identities and the backgrounds of the characters as they appear in the sequel Appleseed:Ex Machina. if you liked this, then you definitely will love Appleseed: Ex Machina as it is packed with even more action, better graphics, and a more believable/realistic story.Appleseed (Limited Collector's Edition)

Visual eye candy
I recently discovered the Appleseed movies a month ago. I had seen the film VEXILLE which was made by the same person who did the 2nd and 3rd Appleseed films. After I was blown away by the mix of hand drawn animation and CGI, I knew I had to check out his other film work. I was even more blown away by APPLESEED and APPLESEED EX MACHINA.

It is 2131, there is one city left remaining on Earth called Olympus. Humans and bioroids (artificial clones) appears to co-exist peacefully. All is not well underneath the idyllic surface. The existence of bioroids have angered some humans thus leading to the destruction of a government building that contained third generation bioroids. The destruction of the building also means doom for bioroids who needs a life extension like Deunan's friend Hitomi.

Deunan Knute, a tough as nails female soldier and her ex-boyfriend Briareos, who is 75% machine and the other members of the ESWAT team needs to retrieve the lost Appleseed technology to help Hitomi and the rest of Olympus, and put a kibosh on the growing threat of the military.

I personally loved this film. The action was non-stop. The animation was awesome. I love the combination of hand drawn animation and CGI. The techno soundtrack fits perfectly into the setting of the film. I personally enjoyed the storyline.Appleseed (Limited Collector's Edition)

All Action, No Story
By the end there just wasn't enough to keep me entertained and I found myself growing bored with it very quickly. The break neck action and interesting concepts were fun at first but by the end, I really felt like I needed more and this feature wasn't going to provide it. If you were a fan of the manga, you'll probably be a fan of this feature as well but otherwise this is really just a release for people who are looking for some decent mech action without much story to bog you down.
Appleseed (Limited Collector's Edition)