English Title: Appleseed
Japanese Title: アップルシード
Writer & Artist: Shirow Masamune
Released: 1985–1989
Length: 4 + 2 volumes, ~180 pages – 200 pages each.
Publisher: Seishinsha (Japanese), Dark Horse (English)
Set in the 22nd century, the world is suffering the aftermath of World War III. Although the conflict did not involve nuclear weapons, conventional weapons nonetheless caused widespread destruction.
The plot follows Deunan Knute and cyborg boyfriend Briareos who are both military-trained and initially fending for themselves until, one day, they are recruited by Hitomi to live in the city-state of Olympus.
The story spans 25 chapters in 4 volumes, each volume is around two hundred pages long.
Book 1: “The Promethean Challenge”, first published in February 1985, sets the scene as expected. This is more interesting than it sounds.
Olympus seems to be a utopia: developed, clean, peaceful and the citizens are mostly provided for and happy. Deunan and Briareos are encouraged to get a job as they settle in and, given their skills, the police force is the convenient choice, specifically ESWAT (Extra Special Weapons And Tactics). Through their eyes, the reader sees life in the city.
Other chapters introduce Athena who is the head of state, the city’s police force, Gaia the supercomputer that helps run the city and a ruling council of elders. Also, Hitomi and Athena, like many others in the city, are “bioroids” which are artificially enhanced humans that help run the city. Since they are more rational and calm, they act as a buffer between humans and thus help achieve and preserve some level of calm.
Of course, there are those who are against such an artificial setup to achieve peace and happiness. Every party has their agenda which leads to conflicts and the plot follows Deunan and Briareos as they are drawn into them.
Cities like Olympus in practice have much autonomy, but they are supposed to be under a global governing body. Despite being far from perfect, the status quo that the main characters end up defending is too simply presented as a good thing, which is not unlike Shirow’s other work Ghost in the Shell. It is as if anyone who goes against that is a bad guy. It is true that every party has their agenda so there is some complexity there, but things are still too simple in this respect and this is one of the main weaknesses of the work.
However one reads it, life in Olympus in its different aspects is presented well. Also, Shirow is very gifted at mechanical design and drawing details in every panel which makes the visual worldbuilding that much more captivating. It does not take many pages to get a feel of Olympus.
The tension continues to build to an action-packed climax in Book 2: “Prometheus Unbound” involving the new massive spider gun platforms. This was first published in November 1985. The 2004 anime film is loosely based on this arc. The main problem is that whilst what is happening is generally clear enough as it happens, some of the specific reasons why certain things happen are not as the resolution does not provide sufficient explanation.
A second arc begins in Book 3: “The Scales of Prometheus”, first published in 1987, and continues into Book 4: “The Promethean Balance”, first published in 1989.
Some agency in Olympus wants to capture this cat-human hybrid bioroid who supposedly is carrying important data. Although Deunan and Briareos are not part of the operation, they are drawn into it once the op goes awry and Briareos picks up a mayday call which he is duty-bound as a cyborg to respond.
This arc shows more of police operations and politics in Olympus since the plot involves international terrorist parties. Interestingly, the Imperial Americana and Israel are involved. Some things never change.
On balance, it is an interesting enough work. The main weakness is that some details regarding the plot—like who may be responsible for such and such—are not always clear. Granted, Deunan and Briareos are the main viewpoint characters and it is the nature of whatever conspiracy they are investigating that some details remain murky.
Deunan is the typical highly-capable hero, perhaps too capable. Thankfully, she is not merely a man in a woman’s body. The author does see to it that she uses her skill and speed rather than raw strength to win fights. Also, as a young lady, she has a certain immaturity about her and Briareos, being older and more mature, has to occasionally tell her off.
As already mentioned, the worldbuilding is generally nice. The technology is quite grounded—everything is recognizable, whether it is cars, aerial vehicles, weapons or the “landmates” (power suits). As cool as the designs are, and although it is standard for ESWAT to operate landmates, they are not overused throughout.
As for how the world functions and the history, if one reads the background notes, then there is a lot more to it. It is good that the author has thought things through and although one wants to avoid chunky background expositions, more of that background could be included in the narrative.
Of course, as is common in manga and anime, there are a few gratuitous panels of females in the bathroom with clunky dialogue as poor justification for the scene. That said, Deunan is generally not drawn in such a way that shows off her figure.
Overall, Appleseed is not some dark dystopian sci-fi even if there are serious issues and themes. It may not deeply explore them but it touches on a lot, everything from the political to the social and technological. The tone is balanced, the plot follows Deunan and Briareos in Olympus without being slice-of-life.
There are two volumes subsequently released. Appleseed ID was first published in 2001. It contains a story titled “Called Game” that was first published in 1990 along with cover-art style illustrations, a few sketches, and background information about the fictional universe such as a brief timeline and history of how Olympus and other powers came to be.
Labelled as chapter 26, “Called Game” is presumably set not long after the end of Book 4 and is a short story at under fifty pages. A bomb is left in the government building, which is traced to a human. Deunan and Briareos go find her and she, of course, is connected to other parties that are more troublesome to apprehend.
Appleseed Hypernotes contains a story that was first published in 1996. In addition, it also contains some notes and sketches of weapons, characters and vehicles but not as much as Appleseed ID.
The story is the unfinished Book 5 set about a year after the end of the main story at about eighty-five pages. It begins with ESWAT trying to intercept an arms-smuggling ship. Not surprisingly, things get messy and Deunan and Briareos try to uncover who is behind it.
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