|
After the devastation of World War III, the scattered governments
of the world have engineered a modern utopia - a refuge governed
by artificially created half-human, half-robot Biodroids.
However, the carefully controlled and heavily monitored life
inside Olympus is not for everyone. Unable to cope with life
inside the gilded cage, a rash of suicides among citizens
relocated from the exterior wastelands heralds a desperate
plot by a dedicated band of terrorists to destroy Gaia - Olympus'
near-omnipotent central computer, and restore freedom to mankind.
It's up to Olympus' SWAT team leader Deunan Knute and her
fellow officers to unravel the terrorists' plans and preserve
paradise...
Appleseed
(or to give it it's original Japanese title, Appurushîdo)
from 1988 is an artful, but not 100% accurate adaptation of
Shirow's best-selling manga, and a clear visual and thematic
precursor to Shirow's later, and much more well known Ghost
In The Shell.
Call
me an old cynic... but do you think that this version, from
1988, is being released to cash in on the 2004 reworking that
was also released this year (2005)? Manga has already released
this version on DVD (in 2002) and I can't say that I noticed
any real difference with this reissue - there's certainly
no extra content on the disc.
Extras
include an exceptionally high quality audio commentary by
Jonathan Clements (co-author of The Anime Encyclopaedia)
and Larissa Murray (English dub voice of Deunan), photo gallery,
characters biographies and trailers. Audio options include
English 2.0, English 5.1 and Japanese 2.0.
I'm
going to talk a little bit about the audio commentary - something
I rarely do, as the majority are so dull these days. This
has to be about the most interesting commentary I've heard
yet on any DVD release. Clements (Hang on a mo! Is that the
same Clements that was responsible for writing some of Big
Finish's classic Judge Dredd audios?) certainly knows
his onions when it comes to Manga. There wasn't a wasted minute,
as he reeled off interesting facts and comparisons between
the original manga and the movie adaptation. It was fascinating
to hear, amongst other things, why the character of Briareos
was changed to Bularids for this feature.
In
fact, I felt a little sorry for Murray - who contributed quite
a bit at the start, but was then left to agree and laugh her
way through the rest of the commentary. This wasn't her fault.
She dubbed her lines years ago and, when Clements explains
how dubbing works in the UK, you soon realise that Murray
would probably have known nothing about the movie before she
went into the studio to record her lines (actors are not usually
given a script before hand) and the whole process of recording
wouldn't have taken very long.
As
I mentioned before, it seems a little odd that this has been
re-released without any extra content, but if you don't already
own this, it's well worth getting hold of.
Nick
Smithson
Buy
this item online
We
compare prices online so you get the cheapest
deal!
Click on the logo of the desired store below
to purchase this item.
|
|
|
£7.49
(Amazon.co.uk) |
| |
|
|
|
£9.49
(Thehut.com) |
All prices correct at time of going to press.
|
|
