Masamune Shirow’s Appleseed manga has been crying out for a decent adaptation for sometime. Although the 1988 original kept to the manga (comic), visually, even for its time, it was a horrendous to watch. It looked bad then, and it looks terrible now. The 2004 version is a new update, with some new characters but keeping the essence of the manga.

Shinji Aramaki’s third foray into directing, is his first into a full, feature-length based anime movie. Accompanied by first time script writers, Appleseed 2004 centres around the character of Deunan. Duenan is a mysterious soldier that everyone seems to be after, but the reason why becomes clearer later on in the film. She is accompanied by Briareos, her friend during The Great War, and is reacquainted almost immediately after a long departure.

The possibility of another war looms in the balance in a place called Olympus, Utopia. A land where half the population consists of Bioroids and the remainder are humans. The conflict, as is often the case, starts because of the human’s intolerance at change and those that are different to them. “If they’re different, they must be dangerous” seems to be the ethos, and Deunan is the unlikely saviour to restore order and balance between the Bioroids and humans.

For first time viewers, the visuals will be an absolute treat. The mixture of typical glossy CGI and CGI cel-shaded characters is a gimmicky but likable contrast that grows on you, and eventually becomes seamless through viewing.

This technique has been used before; most notably in the two seasons of the (in my opinion) excellent Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex TV series – the most expensive animated TV series made so far. It’s not hard to see why it’s so appealing, as it keeps the 2D flavour of the comic books and traditional hand animation, and mixes it with modern technology to create a 3D figure. It’s the crossing of two styles, and it works incredibly well.

The level of motion capture used in Appleseed 2004 is quite astonishing. Gone are the rigid, robotic movements of the abysmal Final Fantasy: Spirits Within disaster. The characters and movement and of objects are fluid and flowing with realism, just as you would expect an on screen actor to be. From the fast action and complicated movements that take place on screen, it will leave you quite astonished as to how far the lengths of CGI and motion capture have come today.

Although, infuriatingly associated with The Matrix, slo-mo is used, it is taken to new heights and extremes that would perhaps be difficult to accomplish with real actors. The sheer amount of detail on carnage in the first opening ten minutes alone would make The Matrix quiver in its boots like the big girl’s blouse it really it is.

It’s a high octane, furious barrage of bullets after bullets, with debris flying everywhere, walls collapsing with such detail and realism you would swear it was real. It’s only when you see the cel-shaded protagonist running for dear life that you’re reminded it’s animation. Appleseed 2004 has perhaps one of the best action openings that I’ve seen in a while from a film, be it animated or otherwise.

What will perhaps be lost on most audiences is the depth with which the politics and arguments of what it means to be human is addressed in the film. This is also true of the manga, and was also more complicatedly focused on in Ghost in the Shell and Innocence.

Shirow’s work is all about human evolution and what the definition of the soul is. It’s perhaps a question that has influenced him as much as it did Ridley Scott when he made Blade Runner, very loosely based on Philip K Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? It’s also a theme that has been covered before, most notably in Frtiz Lang’s 1927 classic, Metropolis.

The melodrama within the film is not without merit and purpose. As mentioned, Shirow’s work tries to avoid the boundaries of the typical “only humans can love humans” fare. I guess the choice of music when one of the key characters looks likely to meet his maker adds to cringeworthy moment; a moment which is meant to be addressed with empathy.

For the most part, however, the film manages to keep to the question and reality of what it means to be human, and the actual line that defines a human and what they term as the Bioroids. There is a select amount of cheese and corny scripting at times, but ignore the music and take it for the sympathetic scene it’s meant to be.

Appleseed 2004 has managed to set a benchmark in motion capture and animation. It’s also shown it is possible to accomplish something colourful and entertaining with a philosophy that has many more layers than it first appears. This is something that Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within failed at miserably; it had a dreary, unengaging plot; drab and dull, lifeless characters with all the engagement of wet sock.

The soundtrack is perhaps the oddest piece in the film. Rather than bringing in the excellent Kenji Kawai, the producers have opted for a more commercial oriented soundtrack, with artists such as Paul Oakenfold and Basement Jaxx making an appearance. This may be in part due to the US funding that has backed the making of Appleseed 2004, and it’s release is also to be marketed heavily in the US. It’s perhaps little surprise then that the characters look less Japanese than usual, and seem to favour a more wider breadth of nationality, in order to appeal to a larger audience.

All in all, Appleseed 2004 has managed to keep the soul of the manga, and remodel it with a modern edge, and new technology to create a spectacular animated film. The plot does drag now and again, and you may feel slightly confused by the double-cross, triple-cross nature of the plot sometimes, but everything does make sense at the end.

Even if you don’t want to understand the deeper philosophy behind Shirow’s work, at the very least, the film is delicious eye candy and offers some breathtaking action scenes you’re unlikely to find anywhere else.

Verdict: Visually stunning, philosophically probing, but highly accomplished animated feature