is a 2011 Japanese
CGI anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
adaptation of
Masamune Shirow's science fiction
manga
Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...
series ''
Appleseed''. Composed of 13 episodes, the series retold the exploits of E-S.W.A.T. member Deunan and her cyborg partner
Briareos. The series was produced by
Production I.G and under the direction of
Takayuki Hamana
is a Japanese animator and director known for directing ''The Prince of Tennis''.
Career
Upon graduating high school, Takayuki Hamana joined Ajia-do as an in-between animator for four years. Hamana left Ajia-do and joined I.G Tatsunoko, where ...
with Junichi Fujisaku as script supervisor. All 13 episodes were compiled into two feature-length films. The first feature film titled was announced by Shochiku and released on June 13, 2011. The second film, was released on October 24, 2011.
A North American release of the TV series was released in June 2013. It was licensed by
Funimation
Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...
.
Plot
Setting
Following World War III, a global-scale conflict fought with non-nuclear weapons that almost halved the earth's population, the city-nation of Olympus stands as a beacon of hope in a world of chaos. The utopian metropolis is governed by Gaia, a vast artificial intelligence, and administered by genetically engineered humanoids known as bioroids.
Although Olympus seems like a peaceful city on the surface, racial (human vs. bioroids vs. cyborgs), religious, and political conflicts lurk underneath, threatening to overturn the delicately balanced peace of this so-called utopia.
Story
Deunan, a young female special agent, and Briareos, a veteran cyborg soldier, are both partners and lovers, as well as members of E-S.W.A.T., the elite special forces serving Olympus. They are deployed wherever trouble strikes. Conspiracy, terrorism, deadly military weapons technology, greedy corporations, and power-hungry politicians: these are just some of the threats that Deunan and Briareos must contend with as they fight to protect Olympus and conduct their personal quest to find Eden in the wasteland.
As Olympus is carrying forward the Ark Project, aimed to preserve the future of human kind under bioroids' supervision, the Human Liberation Front is strongly opposing the plan and the very existence of the bioroids. The Front is supported by a radical fringe known as the Argonauts, a terrorist group hiding inside a legendary self-propelled city-fortress. But very little is known about the Argonauts, and their leader, Alcides is a man who reportedly died when the maritime industrial nation of Poseidon bombed the Argonauts' fortress, 20 years before.
Characters
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:Deunan is a young woman of both African and Caucasian descent and the daughter of an American Securities officer named Carl Knute. Her mother was gunned down for crossing a street designated for white people. After that day, her father began drilling her in combat and survival skills to the point where she became a mercenary. During her training, she encountered Briareos, a former puppet for a KGB linked terrorist group. The two began training together and eventually became lovers.
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:Originally, an African man from the Mediterranean, Briareos was used as a terrorist by the KGB while still a child. He sought political asylum in the former USA after killing the unit's commander of operations - for which he was put on the international "most wanted" list as an assassin. After meeting an agent from Special Security Forces, he began operating as a partner with the man's daughter, Deunan Knute. Caught in an explosion, the 31-year-old survived only by undergoing a full cyborg body replacement - and has been making modifications ever since. Briareos is a
Hekatonkheires
In Greek mythology, the Hecatoncheires ( grc-gre, Ἑκατόγχειρες, , Hundred-Handed Ones), or Hundred-Handers, also called the Centimanes, (; la, Centimani), named Cottus, Briareus (or Aegaeon) and Gyges (or Gyes), were three monstrou ...
Combat Model cyborg.
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Media
Anime
Takayuki Hamana
is a Japanese animator and director known for directing ''The Prince of Tennis''.
Career
Upon graduating high school, Takayuki Hamana joined Ajia-do as an in-between animator for four years. Hamana left Ajia-do and joined I.G Tatsunoko, where ...
directed the anime at various companies in cooperation with Production I.G. Junichi Fujisaku supervised and co-wrote the scripts, and Takayuki Goto designed the characters based on Shirow's original work. Atsushi Takeuchi led mechanical design efforts.
''Appleseed XIII'' was released in Japan as a 13-episode
OVA series and was compiled into two theatrical feature films. The first feature film titled ''Appleseed XIII: Tartaros'' was released on June 13, 2011. The second, titled ''Appleseed XIII: Ouranos'' was released on October 24, 2011. During the release of the feature films, limited edition first Blu-ray volumes were being sold in theatres and the episodes were being streamed online.
A 2-disc soundtrack was released under
catalog number KICA-3146 on October 26, 2011, by
King Records (Japan)
, commonly known as King Records, is a Japanese record company founded in January 1931 as a division of the Japanese publisher Kodansha. It initially began operating as an independent entity in the 1950s. It later became part of the Otowa Grou ...
.
The names of episodes 1 to 12 are a direct reference to the
Twelve Labours of Hercules.
Manga
A manga adaptation titled by Akira Miyagawa was published by
Kodansha
is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', '' Afternoon'', '' Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' ...
and was serialized in ''
Monthly Afternoon
is a Japanese monthly ''seinen'' manga anthology published by Kodansha under the ''Afternoon'' line of magazines. The first issue was released with a cover date of January 25, 1986. ''Afternoon'' has spawned many successful manga series such as ...
'' magazine from October 25, 2011 to April 25, 2013. The manga was collected into three volumes released on April 23, 2012, December 21, 2012 and May 23, 2013.
References
External links
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{{Production I.G films
2011 anime ONAs
Japanese adult animated films
Appleseed (media franchise)
Funimation
Kodansha manga
Production I.G
Science fiction anime and manga
Seinen manga
ja:アップルシード