Appleseed

I bought Madman Entertainment's special edition DVD of Appleseed today and I've just finished watching it. The art is absolutely beautiful — equalling, if not surpassing, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex which is the current top of my ooooh-pretty-shiny-art list.

One thing that struck me while watching it is that while the mecha and environments were absolutely gorgeous, the characters had a rotoscoped look to them (especially the shadows and hair) which seemed a little strange at first but definitely grew on me.

Another thing that noticed (though it took until I watched the trailers afterwards) was that the scene where Deunan leapt from the top of a building to mount her Landmate bears quite a strong resemblance to the scene in Ghost in the Shell when Major Kusanagi leaps off the top of a tower wearing optical camouflage. I'm not sure if it was homage to GitS, a coincidence, or Masamune Shirow likes that shot enough to have it used in this film too; but I'd prefer to think it the homage.

In short, this is yet another kick-ass film based on Masamune Shirow's work. If you liked the art in GitS:SAC, the philosophy of GitS and MMI, the watch-ability of Dominion Tank Police and want it mixed with more mecha action than you can shake a stick at, you'll love Appleseed.