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Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:36 pm
by Jeni Nielsen
So I just got my copy in the mail and watched it. And I was surprised to find that I really really enjoyed it. They clearly gave much more attention to character development, which already made it leaps and bounds above the previous movie. The voice acting was not a disappointment at all, though there were times when I thought the VAs for Bri and Tereus were being a little too gruff for their own good. And even though I wasn't a big fan of the recasting to begin with, I realized that for some reason they recast the Japanese Briareos too, so it was fine.

The music was awesome. Haruomi Hosono was a great choice. There's one scene where Briareos and Tereus are fighting and rather than have really annoying techno music they have very parred down almost ambient music. If you've ever heard of Yellow Magic Orchestra Hosono was one of the founding members along with Ryuichi Sakamoto.

I wondered about why they seemed to have slimmed Briareos down for this movie and I realized it was probably because they had to make the audience believe that he and Tereus could have been the same person at one point. I'm not sure the old Bri would have been believable.

In the end though what really irked me was the translation.

SLIGHT SPOILER ALERT


So at the very end of the movie the guy from Posiedon says

"ii no kai" (are you ok with that?- referring to Bri and Deunan being together and hugging)
And Tereus says " "iin desu. Ore mo sagashimasu mamoritai dareka wo ne" (That's fine. I'm also going to find the one who I want to protect)

this gets translated as
"are you ok?" (it irked me that there was no "with that" since Tereus is clearly injured and this isn't clear otherwise)
"Yeah I'm alright. He was her partner first. She'll have him and I'll find my own girl."

And how do you get that from the first part?! I have no idea. There were a lot of little things like that that irked me in the translation and what sucks is that these little things can make a big difference in how you view a character. (I have a soft spot for Tereus if you can't tell)

Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 10:14 pm
by Epiphany
I'm not that cridical yet. First time through it is just for the watching 8) Visually it is fantastic. I don't speak or read japanese so the point you made had escaped me. It does make more sense with your translation :shock: Your also right about the soundtrack 8) Anyone that likes quality anime should see this. In many ways it far outshines the first one :D

Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:35 am
by Saito
Oh cooool :D I can't wait to get my paws on the DVD... when it eventually gets to the UK.. in a bout 2058... maybe :P

Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:47 am
by Jeni Nielsen
Epiphany wrote:I'm not that cridical yet. First time through it is just for the watching 8) Visually it is fantastic. I don't speak or read japanese so the point you made had escaped me. It does make more sense with your translation :shock: Your also right about the soundtrack 8) Anyone that likes quality anime should see this. In many ways it far outshines the first one :D
You really don't need to know Japanese to understand the fact that the original and what they came up with are pretty different. The point of a translation is not to completely change the original, but yeah all in all I thought it was pretty awesome even though sometimes the translation just made me go "huh?"

Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 8:43 pm
by GhostLine
i watched half of it last night. It seemed pretty good.

//Spoiler//
Complaints: Poor Deunan with the godawful hat at the party...i'm glad i'll be dead by the time those styles come in.
I'm also a little peeved at the obvious GitS SAC lifted story of puppeteer hacking where average citizens unexpectedly attack the conference.
I'm also still not digging the clunkiness of motion capture, but at least the characters were rendered better. Briareos is still my favorite cyborg-hero...sorry Batou.
I still wish I could own my own Landmates or Guges. The standard police ones were awesome.
//End//

Like I said, I only saw half, so I hope the climax matches or exceeds the first film, because the octopus fortresses tearing up Olympus was sweet!

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:45 pm
by GhostLine
Alright, i finished it. Although the first CG Appleseed utilized a cool-looking cell-shaded style, I think I prefer the standard 3D CGin Ex Machina. The story was light and lacking, but it was tighter than the first...I thought the first wandered and got boring at times. I'm also still not cool with the Landmates' ability to fly by whatever those glowy wings do...repulsors.

//Spoiler//
The supervillain at the end, tentacle lady, she just is not something you would see in a Masamune Shirow story...that I'm aware of. I think she is pobably a little indicative of trying to appeal to a world audience. I was hoping the puppeteered crowd would eat or dismember the riot squad like zombies, but they were just human bombs...i guess which is cool enough.
//End Spoiler//

Despite my complaints, I still loved it and will watch it many times. Nothing is cooler than Duenan, her buddy Briareos, and some cool utility mechas kicking butt. Really, I hope someone starts making these things...Landmates that is.

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:23 am
by marto_motoko
Well, I watched it, but I still like the first movie better.

To be honest I was far more in favor of the more lively soundtrack. This one just didn't appeal to me as much.

I will admit, the graphics in this one were amazing, but something just struck me about the previous one. I thought the camera angles were done well in Ex Machina, but the opening of the first film was just spectacular.

It didn't feel like Appleseed to me.

SPOILER:

At the end, the body of Xander was just laughable to me. I mech-mega-god-like nano machine being that controlled people through head pieces inside of a floating cube, with cheezy short-gasped aria-like voices singing ominously as her background music? O____o No.

/SPOILER


The action in the first one to me was far more memorable. The androids (technically gynoids) that Deunan fought when they attacked Hitomi and her, and then Bri's appearance was something that far outdid ex machina. This movie just didn't feel like Shirow's stuff to me at all.

The only thing, I have to say though, is that this one seemed to do very well in integrating the worlds of Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell:

The mention of the Puppetmaster program from the war, the character designs (specifically for the Poseidon Representative), and even Poseidon itself which is a major pillar of importance in the Man Machine Interface manga. The movie look like Man Machine Interface would had it ever been a movie.

Oh, and there was too much corny lovey-dovey dialogue. Spanish-sounding music while Bri nurtures to dizzy Deunan?

First one wins in my book, despite its flaws. (the horrible shoes that Hitomi wears....creepy red high heels that looked plastic.)

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:36 pm
by Epiphany
Theres not a better 10 minutes in anime films than the first 10 in Appleseed. No way they could compete with that. I think I've watched that 30 times. 8) 8) 8)

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 12:08 am
by marto_motoko
Epiphany wrote:Theres not a better 10 minutes in anime films than the first 10 in Appleseed. No way they could compete with that. I think I've watched that 30 times. 8) 8) 8)
Weeell, there ARE the openings to the two Ghost in the Shell films, so I'll dare to quite honestly disagree with you on an impeccable proportion.


marto

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:32 am
by Epiphany
marto_motoko wrote:
Epiphany wrote:Theres not a better 10 minutes in anime films than the first 10 in Appleseed. No way they could compete with that. I think I've watched that 30 times. 8) 8) 8)
Weeell, there ARE the openings to the two Ghost in the Shell films, so I'll dare to quite honestly disagree with you on an impeccable proportion.


marto
I'm not saying anything against GITS Movies. I love them. They are my favorite movies. But the first 10 minutes of the first appleseed is intense and the lack of dialog adds to that. I stand by what I said. To me they are the best 10 minutes in anime

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 10:35 pm
by marto_motoko
Epiphany wrote:
marto_motoko wrote:
Epiphany wrote:Theres not a better 10 minutes in anime films than the first 10 in Appleseed. No way they could compete with that. I think I've watched that 30 times. 8) 8) 8)
Weeell, there ARE the openings to the two Ghost in the Shell films, so I'll dare to quite honestly disagree with you on an impeccable proportion.


marto
I'm not saying anything against GITS Movies. I love them. They are my favorite movies. But the first 10 minutes of the first appleseed is intense and the lack of dialog adds to that. I stand by what I said. To me they are the best 10 minutes in anime
If for a second I could stop being the biased MoFo that I am, I would agree whole-heartedly. I just adore the first few minutes of the two Ghost in the Shell films far more than the Appleseed intro. Especially Innocence! The Gynoid's eeried noises, and the creepy movements are just traumatizingly beautiful!


marto

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 10:30 am
by GhostLine
in Innocence, i like how Batou's cyber-readout claims the name and ID of the headless cop, then ID's the cops head in the sexaroids hands.

as for appleseed, good opening. but i really like in Ex Machina--

//Spoiler//
when deunan shoots the dude on the cathedral roof with the grappling hookie thing and he falls, and she then uses his weight to pull her up. as thet pass each other she "blap!" shoots him, then she dismounts at the rooftop. sweet.
//End//

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:23 am
by Elmo_Redux
People often like to see a bit of themselves in leading characters, If your main audience is going to be Japanese then it makes sense for your main characters to at least look Japanese-ish.

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 6:48 pm
by Jeni Nielsen
Elmo_Redux wrote:People often like to see a bit of themselves in leading characters, If your main audience is going to be Japanese then it makes sense for your main characters to at least look Japanese-ish.
That's more like what I meant, but I'll respond more to Sylphi's post when I'm not tired and at risk of posting something stupid. :)

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 9:05 pm
by GhostLine
I don't have a beef that Deunan looked a bit more asian-ethnic in the new one...I just hated her party attire...I don't care that it was designed by Prada...I think I've said this before. Must be a glitch in the Matrix.