Appleseed: Ex Machina Blu-ray

Appleseed: Ex Machina

 (2007)

Anime



Following the non-nuclear war that killed half the world's population, the city-nation of Olympus stands as a beacon of hope in a world of chaos and conflict. The utopian metropolis is governed by Gaia, a vast artificial intelligence, and administered by genetically engineered humanoids known as Bioroids, whose designer DNA suppresses strong emotions. With Bioroids being half of its population, peace and order are easily maintained. Deunan, a young female warrior, and Briareos, a veteran cyborg-soldier, are both partners and lovers. As members of E.S.W.A.T., the elite special forces serving Olympus, they are deployed whenever trouble strikes. The two fighters find their partnership tested in a new way by the arrival of a new member to their ranks — an experimental Bioroid named Tereus. Created by Gaia using DNA from Briareos, Tereus uncannily resembles Briareos before the wartime injuries that led to his becoming a cyborg. Not only does this trouble Deunan, but Briareos's DNA gives Tereus more than top-notch fighting skills; this battle-ready Bioroid is like Briareos in another way — he has also strong romantic feelings for Deunan!

For more details about Appleseed: Ex Machina on Blu-ray, see the Appleseed: Ex Machina Blu-ray Review

Starring: Ai Kobayashi, Kouichi Yamadera, Yuji Kishi, Miyuki Sawashiro, Naoko Kouda
Director: Shinji Aramaki

Appleseed: Ex Machina Blu-ray, Video Quality

 


Warner Brothers delivers this futuristic thriller onto the next-generation Blu-ray format in a stunning 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 framed transfer. Being unfamiliar with Anime, I only have cursory knowledge of how they tend to look. This is a CGI-rendered film and as such, it translates very well to Blu-ray. Several scenes appear soft or slightly out of focus, almost as if a very fine film covers those frames. Again, not being familiar with the style, I cannot comment for certain if this is how it's supposed to look, but judging on how great the vast majority of the film looks, I would go with "intentional." Appleseed Ex Machina on Blu-ray appears very highly detailed. The animators have pulled out all the stops to make this one a top-notch visual feast, rendering everything from backgrounds, cityscapes, and vehicles to helmets, flesh, and hair with stunning attention to detail that makes for one of the finest animated experiences I've seen. Blacks are wonderful, and shadow detail is great. Dark scenes are just as vivid as bright ones, and detail and clarity is just as high, both providing clear, distortion and artifact-free images. Color reproduction is excellent. Although much of the film is dark in nature, colors really jump of the screen. The green of Briareos' eyes, for example, looks natural, bright, and vibrant. The brushed metal look of his helmet is also beautifully rendered, wonderfully detailed, and clear. Near the end of the film, a shot of Xander's eyes reveals stunning color detail in the iris, making for a small yet stunning example of the depth, color reproduction, and detail of this image. I did note a miniscule amount of contrast wavering in a few select shots, but its certainly nothing to be overly concerned with. There is no denying that this VC-1 transfer from Warner Brothers looks fantastic, and newcomers to anime and this series, as well as veterans of both, should find themselves most pleased with this transfer.

Appleseed: Ex Machina Blu-ray, Audio Quality

 


Warner Home Video delivers Appleseed Ex Machina to Blu-ray with both its original Japanese language track and an English dub track, both in Dolby Digital 5.1. Several other language options are available in 2.0 stereo. Unfortunately, this dynamic, engaging mix does not offer viewers a lossless mix. While the Dolby Digital tracks are very, very good, the lossy mixes are somewhat lacking in fidelity and strong, deep bass. This track is, however, an excellent example of a well-done lossy mix. Surrounds are active throughout, creating a sound field replete with swooshes, explosions, music, gunfire, and any other number of fun, engaging sounds. Dialogue in both the Japanese and English mixes is crystal clear and never lost underneath effects or music. Both versions sounded identical to me in volume, effects, surrounds, bass, everything, save for the language, of course. Perhaps the one misgiving I had with these lossy tracks is the lack of deep, powerful bass. While there are some scenes that rumble and work the subwoofer, others sounded a bit weak and tiny. Gunfire is mildly subdued, and scenes such as one near the end showing the collapse of a structure sounded tiny and muted compared to the shaking and rumbling seen on-screen. Overall, this is a very good track but, as usual, I am subtracting a full point for the lack of a lossless, high definition option.

Appleseed: Ex Machina Blu-ray, News and Updates

• Appleseed Ex Machina Gets Detailed - February 21, 2008


• Appleseed Ex Machina Comes to Blu-ray - November 26, 2007

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