Appleseed Alpha

Set in a different series of events, this story does not follow the previous Appleseed movie canon (despite being directed by the same director of the previous movies); it is an alternate story to their beginnings. Briareos is already a cyborg and did not become separated from Deunan to be later reunited in Olympus to join ESWAT.

Appleseed Alpha depicts the early days of Deunan Knute and Briareos in the 22nd century, as they embark on a journey throughout dystopic ruins of New York in search of the city of Olympus. They are hired by Two Horns, the warlord of the ruined city, to eliminate bipedal combat machines. During the fight, they encounter Iris and Olson, both on a mission. Deunan and Briareos befriend them and decide to join their mission.

Iris is tasked with preventing the malevolent cyborg Talos from capturing a secret weapon humans were building. Talos uses Iris to activate the gigantic war machine.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Knute, Deunan Main

Komatsu, Yuka Japanese

Hecantochires, Briareos Main

Suwabe, Junichi Japanese

Hitomi Supporting

Two Horns Supporting

Genda, Tesshou Japanese

Iris Supporting

Yuuki, Aoi Japanese

Talos Supporting

Touchi, Hiroki Japanese

Nyx Supporting

Nazuka, Kaori Japanese

Matthews Supporting

Hori, Katsunosuke Japanese

Olson Supporting

Takahashi, Hiroki Japanese

Chou, Joseph Producer

Aramaki, Shinji Director

Krawczyk, Marianne Script

Shirow, Masamune Original Creator

Reviews

Sep 1, 2024

PxHC

Recommended

Alpha doesn't have anything to do with the original story, and threw out of the window the themes about society, technology, and humankind, from Appleseed. It's basically an action flick.

I do think it has a better dynamic between Deunan and Briareos, but the whole plot and characters are pretty basic - Deuman design got pretty dumb too, using a tactical gear the protects her back and shoulder, but has a huge cleavage just to show boobs. I find this kind of fan service is quite pathetic.

What really impressed me is the CGI, it's quite an eye candy. This movie has fantastic looks and it kinda ... compensates for all the rest.
I'd give it a 7.5, but since I can't, it's an 8.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Feb 9, 2018

Scientiiaa

Mixed Feelings

Appleseed Alpha, or Appleseed α is a computer-animated military science fiction cyberpunk movie. It had an advance digital release on July 15, 2014. The movie is set in different series of events, so you will not have to watch alternative versions of it, which aired a long time ago, only to understand it.

Appleseed Alpha focuses on the early days of Deunan Knute and Briareos in the 22nd century, as they start their journey throughout the ruins of New York in search of the mysterious city called Olympus. Deunan Knute and Briareos are hired by criminals to help them deal with the robots that seem ... to hinder them a lot. On one of these missions, our duo encounters Iris and Olson, who are on a mission, too. It is later revealed that Iris and Olson’s mission is somehow connected with what Deunan and Briareos are looking for.

Appleseed Alpha’s weakest part is, of course, its story-line. One can write a novel simply by listing things that the story-line of Appleseed Alpha does not explain. And believe me, there are many aspects this movie does not touch upon. Indeed, it has one of the worst story-lines you will ever find, but the good thing is that you will not have to watch prequels, read manga, or look for some additional information only to understand it. No. Appleseed Alpha relies only on a) animation and b) soundtrack.

All in all, I would not argue that this movie has, perhaps, the most stunning animation I have ever seen in my life and that its soundtrack is amazing, too. But a better story-line is something this movie does not have. Of course, if animation is the only criterion you care about, you should definitely watch this movie. If not, do avoid it.

By the way, this movie has superb English dubs.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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May 23, 2024

ChrisDC

Not Recommended

Yikes is the best word to sum up Appleseed Alpha.

This alternative story takes place in what looks to be the most cliché post-apocalyptic world with a cast that is equally cliché in every way possible, from the misunderstood pretentious villain who wants to "control" the world through destruction by justifying pseudo-philosophical beliefs that don't even apply; to the damsel in Distress troupe and most annoyingly the main cast have so much plot armour that it would make a Battle Shonen protagonist envious.

Most combat encounters are also ridiculously scripted, and nothing feels natural. No amount of battle tactics or thought matters because almost every ... combat scenario has some sort of "coincidence" that occurs to either get the main cast out safely or to further push the narrative with villains who apparently can teleport and kidnap characters off-screen.
Typically, animes attempt to hide where the narrative is going to keep viewers excited and on their toes; Appleseed Alpha, however, does the opposite but tries to play off story elements as if they're surprises. This is called bad writing.

Additionally, the main issue with the story and combat scenarios is that many events throughout this movie could easily have been avoided if the characters hadn't been intentionally made dumb, blind, or conveniently deaf to make the plot work.

Honestly, the only good part of Appleseed Alpha is that it is beautiful for its time. It looks like a video game, and its art style is quite unique, but sadly, that is not enough to save the anime from a low score as the music wasn't very good; as we know, music is vital to give scenes emotional weight. Instead, the selection of soundtracks often ruined the suspense of some of the darker scenes and made battle sequences feel dissonant to what was really happening on screen. Whoever thought it was a good idea to have dubstep play during serious and dialogue-heavy scenes needs to reconsider their creative career, as it made their movie a worse product and took away from those scenes; it's a shame.

Conclusion:
While the Appleseed series isn't the best in the story department and is often littered with a ridiculous amount of coincidences and clichés, this one takes the cake. In simple terms, Appleseed Alpha is a bad anime and is easily the worst movie in the Appleseed series. I wouldn't even recommend this anime movie to hardcore Appleseed fans, as it's that bad.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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	Well that was disappointing. ZoneHunter - Jul 13, 2014	7 replies	by removed-user »» Aug 27, 2023 4:26 AM
	Poll: Appleseed Alpha Episode 1 Discussion cyruz - Jul 19, 2014	24 replies	by St0rmblade »» Mar 1, 2023 1:26 PM
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