Editor Reviews:

Description:
Earth's last city, Olympus, rose from the ashes of a global war on the backs of Bioroids, artificial clones who make up half the city's population. Under the strict guidance of a supercomputer, humanity's last survivors enjoy an idyllic peace, but only on the surface Human terrorists within the military seek a return to power and clash with the government's ESWAT forces lead by the legendary soldier, Deunan Knute, and her boyfriend who is 75% machine. Retrieving the Appleseed will end the conflict, and Deunan alone holds its secret. The outstanding feature film based on the manga by SHIROW Masamune (Ghost In the Shell), directed by Shinji ARAMAKI (Bubblegum Crisis), and produced by SORI (Ping Pong) features a soundtrack by Boom Boom Satelites, Paul Oakenfold, Basement Jaxx and more and will be available from TOFU records. The DVD will feature high quality video encoded directly from the HD master in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen with 5.1 English Dolby Digital and DTS audio as well as the original Japanese 2.0 stereo and 5.1 DTS Dolby Digital soundtracks! This DVD also features commentary from both the director and the producer!

Amazon.com:
The 2004 Appleseed feature is a reworking of the earlier video based on the manga by Masamune Shirow (Ghost in the Shell). In 2131, most of humanity has withdrawn to the glittering city of Olympus after a devastating war. When the curvaceous Deunan Knute comes to Olympus, she encounters her former comrade Briareos, now a cyborg, and the lovely android Hitomi. The fate of Hitomi, Olympus, and humanity rest on the lost "Appleseed" technology that Deunan's mother helped to develop. A standard series of chases, mecha battles, and confrontations leads to a predictable ending. When the original Appleseedappeared in 1988, it felt like a summary of anime's past, while Akira pointed the way to the future. This new version feels like a mishmash of Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Jin-Roh, Evangelion, and other, more exciting works. The motion-capture CG is typically weightless, and the mecha look oddly squat. (Rated R: violence) --Charles Solomon

Rating : - The limited edition DVD pressing of Appleseed
This is the 2004 Appleseed film directed by Shinji Aramaki, which incorporates some characters from Shirow's Appleseed manga series from 1985. However, the storyline for the film is not connected to the manga.

The main disc in this pressing includes six extras. There is a "Director & Producer Commentary" version of the film. "Music Cues with Scenes" allows you to choose one of the songs that appears in the film, and see the scene that it was used in; you can also see a biography of the artist behind the music. "Staff Profiles" are text writeups for the major staff (producer, director, etc.) There is a commercial for the Appleseed soundtrack, previews of some of Geneon Entertainment's other DVD releases, and the DVD credits.

This limited edition DVD pressing comes with a bonus disc. There is a thirty-six minute documentary called "Birth of 3D Live Anime," which talks about how the Appleseed manga was brought to life with a 3D film. The "Design Archives" credits each person who worked on the various designs. There is an image gallery of characters and mecha. "Appleseed info" includes Appleseed keywords (which is basically a glossary), character profiles, and mecha info. You can also see the music video for Boom Boom Satellites' "Dive for You," two Japanese theatrical trailers and one U.S. theatrical trailer for the film, and a DVD-ROM link for an Appleseed game sneak preview.

I thought Appleseed was an interesting film. The computer animation is done so well, there were times when I thought I was actually watching a live-action film. This is also a well-written story, which combines plenty of action and fighting with character development. By the end of the film, I felt for these characters, and was rooting for Deunan to succeed.

If you want to purchase Appleseed on DVD, I would definitely recommend the limited edition pressing (if you can track it down).