Appleseed Ex Machina

Appleseed Ex Machina

Episodes: 1 (Movie)

Aired: Oct 24, 2007

Warning: Spoilers!! Appleseed's second movie, Ex Machina, Is a direct continuation from the first movie. The duo of Deunan and Briareos are back and are still active members of E-S.W.A.T. After a mission which left Briareos injured, Deunan was assigned a new partner, a Bioroid name Tereus, who is the splitting image of Briareos when he was still a human.(Tereus was a bioroid designed from Briareos' DNA). After recovering from injury Briareos himself was assigned a new partner, half human half cyborg Aeacus.

The improved graphics is awesome

The animation is fluid

After peace was achieved in Olympus, Prime Mister Athena was looking for bigger scale peace,she held a conference with other world leaders for the discussion of the creation of a unified satellite system which will aid in issues regarding international peace. Without any sign,  Robots, citizens and even E-S.W.A.T. members (Aeacus) tried to terrorize the on going meeting. It was found out later that the individuals involve in the terrorism were all infected by a virus which affects cyborgs and half cyborgs alike.

Briareos meets Tereus  who looks like his human self

Half-man Half-Cyborg E-SWAT member Aeacus

During the demonstration of the unified satellite, Briareos, who was wandering in the city, loses control. From a some kind of a computer terminal in the streets, Briareos was able to connect and hack the unified satellite command center. (Indirectly, he actually just crashed the system since the virus was installed on the back up module which will then install itself after the system failure)

Hitomi Returns as the new Minster of Political Affairs

Still Prime Minister Athena

Briareos was detained and was put under surveillance. Connecting the Briareos and Aeacus individual cases, Briareos, with the help of Hitomi, was able to deduce that the doctor(Richard Kestner) that he and Aeacus shared was somehow involved. They were able to learn that Kestner was a former doctor of a laboratory named "Halcon" which was based on another utopian city called Poseidon. Briareos eventually escaped and hunted for the doctor.

Briareo's Innards

Duh!

The doctor admitted to his involvement in using Briareos to hack the satellite, and spilled the plans to use the satellite to expand the mind control through Connexus (Device that citizens wear, kinda like a computer you wear on your head). The Doctor also justified the mind control actions as a means of achieving peace by eliminating individuality which is the source of human conflicts. After the Doctor committed his suicide, Briareos escapes from soldiers who were able to track him, he then lost control again but was luckily saved by Tereus and Deunan with the help of a vaccine.

Zombies err...Mind controlled citizens

Infected Briareos

The three then met up with Poseidon officials, and asked for help regarding the mind control and Halcon. The three found out that Halcon was a former leading laboratory which was led by Doctor Elizabeth Xander and Doctor Richard Kestner. The Lab focused on helping war veterans to regain mobility with the help of cyborg and artificial intelligence. However it turned for the worst when the doctors became obsessed with "mind control" which led to the Laboratory's downfall. The three then with the assistance of Poseidon, sets to intrude the the ruins of the Halcon Laboratory and find out the secrets within it's walls.

Unknown creature appears!

The Unified Satellite system demonstrated that it can project cool holograms of olive trees. lol

My Review:

The plot was okay, it was again complex and well made, but not a masterpiece. While the First movie focused on the issues of the co-existence of Humans and Bioroids (Artifical Humans who can't feel anger nor hatred) this time the movie focused on the vulnerability of our cyborg friends through mind control. It was stated by the enemies in the film that mind control can erase individuality which will then eliminate, again "self-will", which is the root of greed, anger and other bad stuff. The show also focused on ethical issues with bioroid again when a new character named Tereus was introduced. Tereus is designed from the DNA of briareos which makes him the mirror image of the human Briareos. Tereus' introduction also stirs up things for the relationship of Deunan and Briareos, specially when Briareos was replaced by him as Deunan's new partner. The art is a lot better that the first film (should be because they were about 3 years apart.) The 3D graphics is extemely good, detailed and more beautiful. The whole film is a great eye candy. If you liked the first film and you like sci-fi or just plain 3D movies, im sure you'll love this sequel.

E-S.WAT

The Landmates (should be airmates) are back!

My Personal Rating: 8/10

Appleseed

Appleseed

Episodes: 1 (Movie)

Aired: Apr 17, 2004

Appleseed is a sci-fi anime based on a manga of the same name which was written by the "Ghost in the Shell" author Shirow Masamune. A global war has just ended and the world is left as a big wasteland. Deunan Knute, our main heroine, is a very skilled soldier who participated in the global war. Having no knowledge that the war was already over, she was still fighting (with fellow fighters) against androids trying to survive on ruins of what was once cities. She was rescued by E-SWAT (Extra-Special and Weapons Advanced Tactics) members along with Hitomi which is a 2nd gen Bioroid. Bioroids are like artificially created humans that were based on the DNA of Deunan's Father, Carl, effectively making them clones. She was taken to an advanced city called Olympus, Olympus is a Utopian city in the middle of ruins and wastelands.  In a hospital Deunan planning to escape, encounters Briareos, Deunan's former lover who is now turned into a cyborg. She then decides to stay and join E-SWAT to accompany Briareos. The plot focuses on the issue of creation of artificial humans or clones.

Deunan performing her acrobatic feats

Sweet bioroid Hitomi

The bioroids are human like, they possess limited emotion making them always act rationally, unlike humans who can sometimes act illogically due to emotion, making them devoid of human error and also some free will. Bioroids may be above humans but they can only live for a very limited amount of time compared to the humans because of their lack of reproductive functions. They cannot bear offspring and must periodically undergo a "life extension process".

Briareos Hecatonchires our resident terminator.

The 7 elders and the Gaia System

The City of Olympus is a very advanced one (with flying vehicles and other stuff). Half of it's population is composed of Humans while the other half is composed of Bioroids. At the middle of the city are two superstructures called Tartarus and Daedalus which provides the city its power (through solar panels installed on both structures). At the top of the structures contain D-tank, a tank containing a virus that is meant to wipe out the bioroids (Humans' built this for security). At the core of the Tartarus and Daedalus resides the biological supercomputer Gaia which monitors the whole city specially the bioroid and human interactions (maintaining the balance between the two races).

Now inside this somewhat peaceful Utopia, tensions and conflicts still exists, specially between bioroids and humans. General Uranus, the leader of the Olympus regular army, is an extremist who sees bioroids as threat to humans. The governing body including the Prime Minister Athena are all composed of bioroids. The highest authority however still belongs to the supercomputer Gaia. The Gaia is accompanied by the council of 7 elders. (Gaia's "decisions" are based within debates of the computer itself and the 7 elders) These 7 elders provide Gaia's only lacking component, emotion. The conflict between humans and bioroids hit its peak when a group of androids destroys the breeding grounds effectively destroying a lot of 3rd generation bioroids and disabling them access for life extensions as well.

Cute chibi-Deunan

Deunan doing her usual stunt as she, in mid-air, enters the "Landmate"

The story focuses on Deunan and Brioreos' efforts to save the bioroids (and Hitomi) by searching for the technological data called "Appleseed" which will restore all bioroid reproduction functions making them a new race of humans. A lot of plot twists and role reversals is in store, from Deunan's mothers' (Dr. Gilliam Knute) past to Deunan and Brioreos' relationship towards each other as human and cyborg. Everyone has their own secret schemes and a lot will take you by surprise. The plot is intelligently well made, just what you would expect from Shirow Masamune. The art is good, it is 3D animated and it its well done for its time. The action scenes are detailed and are fluid! If you liked "Ghost in the shell" you'll surely love this. A true sci-fi classic that'll make you think and be amazed of it's plot and will also please your eyes with its good and detailed 3D animation.

the former lovers

The Landmates are really awesome

the MAJOR SPOILERS!!

It is later revealed that the 7 elders are the masterminds on destroying the bioroid breeding facility, prompting Deunan to remember the whereabouts of the appleseed (her mother left it to her hands when she was a child) in order to force the activation of bioroid reproduction functions. Another revelation is that the D-tank contains a virus that doesn't kill bioroids but instead inactivates the humans' reproduction system. The elders manipulated General Uranos to destroy the breeding facility and the D-tank which will slowly kill-off the human race and will let the bioroids replace them and become the new humankind. The 7 elders came to this conclusion when Gaia predicted that humans will destroy itself and the world within 3 generations. They figured that the bioroids will be better suited to live and restore the world than the humans.

My Personal Rating: 9/10

Akira (Anime)

Akira

Episodes: 1 (Movie)

Aired: July 16, 1988

My Summary: WARNING!! SPOILERS!! (Skip to Review) Akira is set on 2019, tokyo which is now "Neo-Tokyo", a futuristic-dystopian-post-WW3 version of Tokyo. The image of Neo-Tokyo is that it's chaotic, there is tension between the army and the anti-government factions, bike gangsters are everywhere and violence are a common occurrence.  Our story begins in the middle of a night with our main characters(A group of teenage bike gangsters) having a fight with another gang. Not far away, a man with a pistol and an "old-looking child, Takashi" are making their way through the shadows of the city trying to avoid their pursuers. The man was eventually spotted and was shot by the soldiers. The boy, (who was able to hide in the shadows with the help of the man who is now dead) from great shock ,seeing a man in front of him get rained down by bullets, suddenly unleashed supernatural powers resulting in the breakage of glasses and structures.

Shotaro Kaneda riding his ultra cool Motorbike

Yamagato and Tetsou

The biker gangs, the kid and the army eventually encounters each other at one point. Tetsou, one of the teen bikers, got to an accident when he accidentally hits the "old-looking-kid"(who was wandering in the middle of the street!) with his bike. The kid was safe, but Tetsou's bike suddenly was blown up (He hits an invisible barrier instead of thekid LOL) The army accompanied by another "old-looking fat kid, Masaru" captures the one who tried to escape and they also took Tetsou with them. The biker gang who is led by Shotaro Kaneda (The Main Protagonist along with Yamagata and Kaisuke) were eventually arrested by the police (Eventually they will be released).

The Old Looking Kid with Psychic Powers, Takashi

Ok! I'll stop calling him Old now

In some secret army lab, Colonel Shikishima and a doctor were examining Tetsou and discovers that he has the potential to be on par with a supernatural being they call Akira. The Doctor reveals that his powers were possibly awakened due to exposure from the power of the old looking kid (Takashi). Tetsou escapes from the lab and meets up with Kaori (A timid shy girl who is obviously someone special for Tetsou) and invites her to run away. They went to the school and stole Kaneda's red motorbike and ran away until for some reason the bike stopped and unfortunately another biker faction was on the same area. Tetsou was beaten up and Kaori was attempted to be raped until Kaneda and the others saves them. After the incident Tetsou showed frustrations for not being able to do anything and being saved by Kaneda again. His frustrations however led to headaches and then to strange delusions such as the ground breaking and his guts spilling out of his stomach, being monitored by the doctor who feared something wrong is happening, the army and some doctors again took Tetsou back to the hospital.

Tetsou being experimented on the Lab

Tetsou and Kaori

Kaneda will help a young female terrorist "Kei" (They met in the Prison) avoid soldiers (Unfortunately they killed one). Kei eventually let Kaneda join her group of rebellions to help them uncover the governments secrets and rescue Tetsou. Kaneda and Kei with fellow terrorists infiltrates the secret lab. The infiltration proved to be fatal as the terrorist were taken by surprised by flying machines (mounted with machine guns yikes!).  Kei and Kaneda barely escaped and did managed to steal one of the machines which they used to proceed further in the lab.

Tetsou playing with his new friends

Tetsou Ate Something Bad

During the infiltration Kei displayed powers of telepathy as Kiyoko used her to tell Kaneda directions to reach deeper inside the lab. Eventually they find Tetsou in the middle of a fight with the Experimental Children (Takashi, Kiyoko and Masaru). Kiyoko reveals to Tetsou that Akira is the one who is messing with his head. Kaneda tried to convince Tetsou to come with them but Tetsou's stubbornness prevailed and with his new found powers he wanted to do things by himself without the help of others, specially Kaneda. He escaped and flew out of the lab and was headed to a secret underground facility below the Olympic construction site in search for Akira. 

Keisuke, Kaneda and Kei

The Psychic Children: Masaru, Kiyoko and Takashi

The angry Colonel Shikishima (he disobeys the executive councils command to strip him of his duties and started a coup d'etat) ordered the army to hunt for Tetsou. Yamagata and Keisuke had an encounter with Tetsou in their hideout. Tetsou took a detour at the hideout to get drugs, he killed Yamagata but let Keisuke escape. By this time the whole country is in chaos as the army tries to take control against the government. Tetsou leaving trails of destruction in his path made way through the city and eventually reached the secret underground lab, there waits a somewhat possessed Kei. The two battled (Super Saiyan Style!) and eventually Tetsou won and he was able to acquire the special containers containing human organs (Akira is revealed to have already died). Kaneda confronts him and had an arguement with him (Turns out Tetsou is tired of Kaneda always bossing and telling him what to do).

Possessed Kei vs Awakened Tetsou

L-R: Akira, Akira, Akira, Akira, Akira, Akira, Akira & Tetsou

As the argument heated up a fight between the two ensued. The fight between Kaneda and Tetsou was one sided, not even lasers from satellites can stop Tetsou by this point, though he did lost an arm before he went outer space and blasted the whole thing. Kaneda with the help of Kei and Kaisuke barely escapes. During this time Tetsou gradually loses control of his powers, he was visited by Kaori and the Colonel. Again, even with obvious pain Tetsou's stubbornness took over as he refuses the Colonel's advice to come back to the lab and take medicine. The colonel shot him, he retaliates and almost kills the Colonel until Kaneda comes to the rescue. By this time Tetsou finally loses all control when his body mass expands to large proportions, he accidentally kills Kaori (squished within his growing body). The three experimental children kneeled down before the organ containers (They were saying something like "Akira is here").

Tetsou Lost his arm...

...and messes up replacing it.

As Tetsou's growth uncontrollably progresses, the containers suddenly breaks, and a big white orb (turns out its an explosion) pops out of nowhere and pulls Tetsou inside of it.. Takashi, Kiyoko and Masaru tries to prevent the growing explosion by going inside of it too. During the explosion (in mid air) Kaneda experiences glimpses of Tetsou's past and the experimental children's past. The explosion wasn't really entirely prevented as it blew a substantial amount of land but Kaneda somehow survived (Probably with the help of the Children) and the other side characters did too except for the doctor who got squished in his lab. The Children with Tetsou and Akira disappeared but they did hinted that something had just begun and that Kei will play an important role with things that are about to happen.

Tetsou Loses Control (Poor Kaori T_T)

The Great Explosion

Now who the hell is Akira? Akira is also an experimental child who is the strongest of them all. He holds supreme God-like powers and for this reason he was sealed in a cryogenic chamber. (his body parts were sealed in special containers). Kiyoko explained that Akira's power actually existed in every single human just waiting to be awakened.

Review: The Art for an 80's film was superb, very very detailed, the animations are very fluid and nothing is ever kept still. The backgrounds were all moving and alive. It's beautiful but there's a lot of gore and guts too so watchers beware. Even by today's standards only a few can match the art of Akira. Now the plot is complex but well made and is very imaginative, the anime did a great job of showing that to the film. The only problem with the plot is its fast pacing which kinda ruined the character development, maybe because they have crammed a lot of manga material into a 2 hour film. I'm sure the manga is better and will explain things a lot better (more character development and on what happens after and before the movie) and I'm hoping that I can read it one of these days. The Concept of having God-like powers is explored quite well, they showed that with greater power, the more isolated someone will be. He/she will transcend into something not human, and might view humans as mere animals or insects.(Of course his/her perspective will change they way Tetsou's did as he was able to kill one of his friends without hesitation). Overall I am very pleased with the movie and was amazed by the art and plot. If you like Psychological, Scifi and Thriller then this one is for you, The plot is kinda heavy but if your like me (who loves seinen btw) you'll enjoy this.

My Personal Rating: 9/10

30-sai no Hoken Taiiku

30-sai no Hoken Taiiku 
"Health Education for 30 year olds"
Episodes: 12

Aired: Apr 7, 2007 - Jun 23, 2011

This is one crazy and outrageous anime. From the title alone I expected something a bit normal like a comedy or education anime within the bounds of reality. But this show defies logic and sense with all its craziness and weird antics.

(Daigorou The God of Sex, can't believe i typed that)

Plot: The story starts off with our main protagonist ,30 year old male virgin (Hayao Imagawa) ,trying to have intercourse with momoko-chan (a sex doll, that's just sad really), when out of nowhere pops out a naked guy (Daigorou a pervert.. err.. the God of Sex). And in Hayao's shock he turns Momoko-chan into the God Board.

(First ep and we already have a casualty, R.I.P. momoko-chan)

(Daigorou teaching things about $#% and @&% and stuff)

At first Hayao was defiant but when Daigorou forces him to do something bad.. really really bad like an %@$& Vacuum, Hayao unsurprisingly quickly had a change of heart.

(Daigorou can't return to heaven unless he accomplish his mission)

(A scene right out of our worsts nightmares)

 The plot revolves around Daigorou and little brother Macaron's weird and creepy antics as they try to help Hayao avoid becoming a wizard. The Female protagonist Natsu Andou a virgin herself is in the same boat as our male protagonist as she too gets accompanied by two female Sex Gods. Both pairs of Gods and Goddesses kinda isn't fond of each other.

(The first time our two protagonist meet)

(From Left to Right: Momoko-chan, Daigorou, Hayao, Macaron, Kuu-chan, Andou, Pii-chan)

Our hero and heroine will have to face many challenges before they could become "one". At one point Hayao's hopes of getting past the virgin stage will hit rock bottom when he succumbs to giving up and ended becoming the virgin prince and Andou will let herself really go due to insecurities and stresses of her own.

But all's well that ends well, as the four Gods and Goddesses settle their differences and joined forces to help our two lovebirds muster up the courage to do what they had to do.

(Happy Ending! Hoooray!)

(Hayao and Andou's "fruit" of labor)

Review: It's an okay show to watch if you want a good laugh, the topics aren't really for children but no "ecchi" here, and a lot of things are hilariously censored, muted and blurred. The plot itself is straightforward and light with heavy doses of weirdness and outrageous stuff. If you liked the first episode then expect the same thing for the rest.

My Personal Rating:7/10

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♡♡♡

ED: Learn Together - AiRI

The Legend of the Virgin King! (Virgin Ball)