(L) Appleseed CG Film

[Mephisto03]

Originally Posted by Lord Raiden

Muhahahaha. I finally got to watch this film yesterday (thanks to a friend of mine who bought it) and even though we watched it without subtitles (couldn't get his stupid media center to load the sub files. T_T) the movie was bloody awesome! The fight scenes were great and I just LOVED those 40mm gatling tanks! Oh gauds, and those huge city crushing robots? Two thumbs up!

Now this was definately an enjoyable film. hehe.

Um, the dvd doesn't come with subs. Unless you bought a stupid hkdvd that might be out.

[Za Paper]

Hey I just watched the movie but my Japanese sucks so I was hoping someone could give a brief synopsis of what happens in the film.

[Lord Raiden]

Originally Posted by Mephisto03

Um, the dvd doesn't come with subs. Unless you bought a stupid hkdvd that might be out.

Well if you had read my comment I didn't say that I had bought it. I watched my friends copy. His was an unsubbed R2 dvd. If you remember my statement too that you happened to quote, I stated "even though we watched it without subtitles" and made mention that the sub file wouldn't work, hence why we watched it without subtitles. I honestly don't know where he got the subs from and don't care because they didn't work. What I do care about is that we got to watch it so quickly after release and enjoyed it thuroughly.

[Mephisto03]

Originally Posted by Za Paper

Hey I just watched the movie but my Japanese sucks so I was hoping someone could give a brief synopsis of what happens in the film.

The year is 2131. A non-nuclear war has left the earth barren. Deunan Knute roams the badlands, one of the many soldiers who, with lines of communication cut, continue to fight, unaware that the war has ended.
Deunan is never one to take things lying down: a highly trained soldier with police and SWAT experience, she is prepared for nearly anything—but not for the heavily armed helicopter that assaults her without warning. Before she realizes what’s going on, Deunan is losing consciousness: her last thought is a hazy realization that she’s been hit by a tranquilizer. Not only that, but one of the perpetrators is her old love Briareos. He has arrived with the beautiful Hitomi to intercept Deunan and take her back with them to the enigmatic utopia, Olympus.
Deunan, now safe in the futuristic city, is awakened by the comforting voice of her ex-lover. But Briareos is not as she remembers him: indeed, he is now hardly human. He tells her the sobering events that occurred in her absence: after suffering a grave injury on the front lines in North Africa, his only chance for survival involved a dramatic surgical process – or more accurately, a full overhaul that involved a replacement of all his broken parts. In other words, he became a cyborg—in his case over 75% mechanical. And the city of Olympus—Deunan soon finds out—is now the head of a new world order. When the non-nuclear war ended, and no single superpower came out on top, the orderly, utopian city filled the role of leadership in the ensuing political vacuum. Globally, the status of Olympus is now such that the “unsupervised countries” actually depend on its assistance to survive.
The next day, Deunan files her immigration papers, becoming the most recent arrival to the oddly serene city. Hitomi insists on taking Deunan to the legislature, and shows her the sights of the city on the way. When Deunan sees the contented looks on the faces of the citizens of Olympus, she feels tranquil, even at peace. But the sensation is quickly interrupted by Hitomi’s matter-of-fact revelation: that over half of the “model citizens” that inhabit Olympus are precision clones called Bioroids, of which Hitomi is one herself. The Bioroids were purportedly created for the benefit of humankind, “to encourage stability in human society,” but nevertheless, the alarming news plants a seed of doubt within Deunan.
When Hitomi and Deunan arrive at the legislature, they are greeted by the members of the Council: seven sage-like elders whose ongoing conversation with the supercomputer Gaia collectively forms the “will” that controls Olympus. But effectively, Bioroids are in political control, and they are quietly advancing a plan that could affect the fate of the human legacy.
Add to this the fact that Briareos, despite his romantic past with Deunan, now hardly gives her the time of day, it’s no wonder that Deunan feels a little nostalgic about life in the badlands, despite the utopia right around her.
Why has Briareos changed? Can the Bioroids be trusted? Does Olympus represent an ideal, or a nightmare? Deunan must face her own tortured past, and overcome the disorienting present, in a battle over the future of humanity itself!

[Lord Raiden]

Well, that's the manga summary, but it's very, very close to the storyline of the movie. Thanks for providing that.

[TronDD]

Originally Posted by Lord Raiden

Well, that's the manga summary, but it's very, very close to the storyline of the movie. Thanks for providing that.

That's not a manga summary. The movie is very different from the manga.

I assume that's the movie summary.

[Lord Raiden]

Well, the "tranquelizer" they used was most certainly not a tranquelizer, well unless you call knocking someone out cold with a riot control device a tranquelizer. hehe. And even if the movie is different from the manga, it's actually not all that different. There's a lot from the manga I saw portrayed fairly accurately in the movie. Then again I read the manga when I was a kid, so I may be forgetting a lot by now too, so take that statement with a grain of salt. ^_^;;

[Za Paper]

Well Hitomi did say masui which means tranquilizer judging by my dictionary. Maybe it is supposed to be taken in a different context.

[Mephisto03]

Originally Posted by Lord Raiden

Well, that's the manga summary, but it's very, very close to the storyline of the movie. Thanks for providing that.

thats not the manga summary, thats straight from the appleseed movie website. The spider like creatures I think are activated by the council cause of respected differences. Hopefully I'll also have my dvd in a few days since there shipping is so slow, or unless they just shipped the limited editions late.

[Mephisto03]

HAHA awesome. todays my birthday and today I recieved my appleseed dvd.

[Shay]

Originally Posted by Mephisto03

Um, the dvd doesn't come with subs. Unless you bought a stupid hkdvd that might be out.

Are you sure about this?

[Mephisto03]

Originally Posted by Shay

Are you sure about this?

Well since i ordered it in september and just watched the official dvd today and so did someone else. Yea, the R2's don't come with subs.

Ohh man! the third dvd with the limited edition gives you awesome pics of everything and everything and even CHARACTER PROFILES!!!!!!!! I'm modelling all these "mechs" asap!

[Lord Raiden]

Originally Posted by Mephisto03

thats not the manga summary, thats straight from the appleseed movie website. The spider like creatures I think are activated by the council cause of respected differences.

Yeah, as I remember in the manga athena told the council that they had to evolve slowly and they couldn't suddenly become the master race and subjugate all the humans overnight, so they got all pissed and tried to release the virus in the Dtank but instead the release button was either disabled or destroyed (can't remember which) and thus since Gaia had been disabled or somehow made to serve the council, it couldn't stop it.

This of course brings to mind a question involving the D-Tank. Supposidly in D-tank there's a virus that destroys the reproductive capacity of all humans. Given what I know about the doctor and her desire to help mankind I really don't see her ever making this virus. Especially since even the slightest leak could set the virus to work effectively destroying the entire human race, either by accident or intentionally. Having several hundred gallons of the virus would be a bonus, but as viruses go, only a drop would be required to kick the whole thing off. Thus I think that either there is no virus in the D-tank, OR the virus destroys all bioroids based on their genetic makeup. That honestly would be something I could see her doing.

The other interesting thing I see is that if Gaia controled the city and the defence guns (those multi-legged things) and if the elders took it over, wouldn't there also be a failsafe system to disable or shut down gaia or even take control of it in the event that gaia was hijacked in this way? Seems kinda silly not to have a backdoor with a system like this. One that only humans of a certain group could use.

And lastly, I don't think this was every clearly explained in the movie or the manga, but whatever happened to the elders after the fight? I remember Deunan asking about the elders at the end and Brielos shaking his head, then they changed subjects. Given what they talked about before Deunan bailed out to go fight the walking guns, I'd be lead to believe that the elders died because they didn't have their life extending procedure, of which I would suspect they either didn't take willingly and thus were now on their last leg when they sent the cannons a walking, or they self terminated to avoid punishment shortly afterwords. I don't think Athena would have done anything to them simply because it didn't seem like something she'd do. She'd do all she could to stop them, but she certainly wouldn't kill them.

Well, that's my thoughts on it.

[Za Paper]

Originally Posted by Lord Raiden

Yeah, as I remember in the manga athena told the council that they had to evolve slowly and they couldn't suddenly become the master race and subjugate all the humans overnight, so they got all pissed and tried to release the virus in the Dtank but instead the release button was either disabled or destroyed (can't remember which) and thus since Gaia had been disabled or somehow made to serve the council, it couldn't stop it.

This of course brings to mind a question involving the D-Tank. Supposidly in D-tank there's a virus that destroys the reproductive capacity of all humans. Given what I know about the doctor and her desire to help mankind I really don't see her ever making this virus. Especially since even the slightest leak could set the virus to work effectively destroying the entire human race, either by accident or intentionally. Having several hundred gallons of the virus would be a bonus, but as viruses go, only a drop would be required to kick the whole thing off. Thus I think that either there is no virus in the D-tank, OR the virus destroys all bioroids based on their genetic makeup. That honestly would be something I could see her doing.

Well the elders were also in charge, she was probably under pressure from them to create the virus. Since the elders accidently killed Dr Gillian, I dont think it is too far off from the realm of possibilities. I personally believe D-tank contains the virus.

The other interesting thing I see is that if Gaia controled the city and the defence guns (those multi-legged things) and if the elders took it over, wouldn't there also be a failsafe system to disable or shut down gaia or even take control of it in the event that gaia was hijacked in this way? Seems kinda silly not to have a backdoor with a system like this. One that only humans of a certain group could use.

Well if the elders were making some of the decisions in the design of the city, they probably had a hand in the design of Gaia. The fact that they could exploit a backdoor into Gaia isnt all that surprising. Another failsafe was the fact that the elders life support was tied into Gaia so in order to hijack Gaia they would have to essentially commit suicide. There was also the shutdown code on cannon no7 as another failsafe.

And lastly, I don't think this was every clearly explained in the movie or the manga, but whatever happened to the elders after the fight? I remember Deunan asking about the elders at the end and Brielos shaking his head, then they changed subjects. Given what they talked about before Deunan bailed out to go fight the walking guns, I'd be lead to believe that the elders died because they didn't have their life extending procedure, of which I would suspect they either didn't take willingly and thus were now on their last leg when they sent the cannons a walking, or they self terminated to avoid punishment shortly afterwords. I don't think Athena would have done anything to them simply because it didn't seem like something she'd do. She'd do all she could to stop them, but she certainly wouldn't kill them.

Well, that's my thoughts on it.

I thought the elders were humans. I remember one line where they said, "We humans have to step out of the way." Correct me if i am wrong. I'm thinking they committed suicide after their plan failed.

[Briareos]

Note: My answers contain manga spoilers ***

Originally Posted by Lord Raiden

Yeah, as I remember in the manga athena told the council that they had to evolve slowly and they couldn't suddenly become the master race and subjugate all the humans overnight, so they got all pissed and tried to release the virus in the Dtank but instead the release button was either disabled or destroyed (can't remember which) and thus since Gaia had been disabled or somehow made to serve the council, it couldn't stop it.

There was no virus in the manga. In the manga, GAIA decided to wipe out future Bioroid populations since they posed a threat to the humans. She was to do this by a physical attack on the birthing place of all Bioroids via the robotic gun platforms. Deunan fired a literal appleseed (genetically made fully spherical in the future) on the head of a low powder bullet to block a backup circuit so that GAIA could be shut down. She was controlling the robotic platforms, and when she went off-line, they went silent.

The film is completely different.

Originally Posted by Lord Raiden

This of course brings to mind a question involving the D-Tank. Supposidly in D-tank there's a virus that destroys the reproductive capacity of all humans. Given what I know about the doctor and her desire to help mankind I really don't see her ever making this virus. Especially since even the slightest leak could set the virus to work effectively destroying the entire human race, either by accident or intentionally. Having several hundred gallons of the virus would be a bonus, but as viruses go, only a drop would be required to kick the whole thing off. Thus I think that either there is no virus in the D-tank, OR the virus destroys all bioroids based on their genetic makeup. That honestly would be something I could see her doing.

We don't have enough info about Deunan's mother's motivations to make that judgment. The virus is a humane euthanasia, since all living humans will be able to live out their lives. It's a slow, non-violent genocide.

By the way, we only find out a bit about Deunan's mother in the manga. She was a journalist who met Deunan's father in the field. She was killed (as Deunan describes in volume 3) in a racially motivated hate-crime. [QUOTE=Lord Raiden]

Originally Posted by Lord Raiden

And lastly, I don't think this was every clearly explained in the movie or the manga, but whatever happened to the elders after the fight? I remember Deunan asking about the elders at the end and Brielos shaking his head, then they changed subjects. Given what they talked about before Deunan bailed out to go fight the walking guns, I'd be lead to believe that the elders died because they didn't have their life extending procedure, of which I would suspect they either didn't take willingly and thus were now on their last leg when they sent the cannons a walking, or they self terminated to avoid punishment shortly afterwords. I don't think Athena would have done anything to them simply because it didn't seem like something she'd do. She'd do all she could to stop them, but she certainly wouldn't kill them.

Well, that's my thoughts on it.

In the film, the elders cut off their own life support systems when they shut down whatever they shut down (GAIA?). (It was Hitomi who shook her head, which presumably means they expired.) I'll bet they watched the goings on as long as they could. The elders (or Grandpas as Hitomi calls them) are highly (non-combat) cyborged humans. They don't need/get life extension treatments.

I wish they hadn't rewritten so much of the Appleseed world for the films. It's almost as if the writers didn't comprehend the Appleseed manga fully.

In the manga, the elders were detained by Athena for trying to propose the forced evolution of humanity -- not by exterminating them, but by genetically modifying all of them to make them more docile (which is so much better IMO than the quick and dirty ideas of the film). The spider gun platforms were used by GAIA because she -- as a giant calculator -- was free from the intervention of the elders. It was actually the elders who initiated the plan to stop GAIA. They had figured out what she was going to do before she took over the spider platforms.

The elders in the manga are alive and well, by the way. They show up again in the Appleseed chapters found in the Databook (which follows volume 4).

[Lord Raiden]

Wow, I guess it has been a while since I read it because I had forgotten all about that stuff. I think I need to go dig out my copies and read the manga again.

[arias]

Watched the movie today, with english subs.

Fantastic animation, cutting edge technology here folks. It's also great in direction and general artistic merit. The plot is pretty cliche. Having read much of science fiction, the whole master race/coexistence thing has been replayed many many times, and this instance isn't a particularly outstanding one of it.

In general it's a wonderfully entertaining movie, with MUCH to look (and drool) at. The heroine Deunan looks GREAT, the mechs look great, and the animation (with help from motion sensors) is fantastic. I wish they could've milked more from the emotional ties of Deunan/Briareos, it was much more romantic in the manga. The "I want to be a mother" line was removed; it was strange because I was waiting to listen to it throughout the whole movie. Perhaps it was a mistranslation? I have no idea.

Regardless; it's a great watch. I don't feel very complete after watching it, it still feels lacking... in a way that I would have wanted a more wholesome ending I guess. Still, I really enjoyed it. Watch, even if only for Deunan. <3

[TronDD]

Originally Posted by arias

Regardless; it's a great watch. I don't feel very complete after watching it, it still feels lacking... in a way that I would have wanted a more wholesome ending I guess. Still, I really enjoyed it. Watch, even if only for Deunan. <3

It's supposed to be a trilogy so hopefully you'll get your fullfilling ending eventually.

What happened to Hitomi's looks? She was so cute in the manga.

[Mephisto03]

Originally Posted by arias

Watched the movie today, with english subs.

Fantastic animation, cutting edge technology here folks. It's also great in direction and general artistic merit. The plot is pretty cliche. Having read much of science fiction, the whole master race/coexistence thing has been replayed many many times, and this instance isn't a particularly outstanding one of it.

I hope your remembering this is a anime from the 80's

[Lord Raiden]

Mephisto03, the one we're talking about is the 2004 version of it. Not the original 1988 movie. And TronDD, what do you mean she's not cute?? I thought Hitomi was very cute. ^_^