In the first Appleseed movie, we were introduced to Shirow Masamune’s creation that featured Deunan Knute, Briareos, and the city of Olympus where cyborgs and engineered Bioroids walk side by side with human beings. In this latest installment of the saga, a crisis has hit Olympus. A virus has infected a technological gadget that a vast majority of the population uses almost constantly.

This virus is transmitted through an unknown frequency, turning its wearer into a violent zombie. Though hardly a heavy-hitting storyline, it is much easier to follow than the previous film. Appleseed: Ex Machina continues to improve on what was given with an even higher grade of animation, a clear plotline, and exquisite music.

When I first started watching this film, my jaw dropped with the opening sequence of the E.S.W.A.T. deployment. Where the CG is still a bit clunky outside the action sequences, the level of detail in the design is astounding. The opening scene takes place in a cathedral where you can see the individual stones in the walls, segments in the stained glass windows, even the nuts and bolts in the armor and cyborg attachments. In later scenes you can see the texture of the characters clothing like the grain in Briareos’ leather jacket or in Deunan’s high heeled shoes. In one touching scene it is raining and you can see the condensation on Briareos’ head.

This layer of texture is only accentuated to a greater effect during sequences using producer John Woo’s signature tactics such as the slow motion, flying doves, falling shell casings, and the unique gun battles which look more like a ballet than a standard gun fight. All in all I was well impressed with the quality of the artistry in the movie.

Character development is much more prevalent in this film in both the story and the animation. A new character is introduced in the way of Tereus, a Bioroid created from Briareos’ DNA, making him practically a clone of what Briareos used to look like. This makes relationships a bit strained when he is paired up with Deunan. As for the animation, not only is body capture CG used but also facial capture. This means there is more definition to a character’s facial expressions. For example, when someone talks their jaw moves along with their lips. This makes it quite difficult for the dub actors and translators to match the “lip flaps” since each word is more distinctly pronounced by the lips. Dub fans, though, will be happy with the actors chosen to portray the characters. With such staples from the industry as Luci Christian (Full Metal Panic!, Negima?!, One Piece [Funimation’s version of Nami]) as Deunan, David Matranga (Saiyuki, Orphen, Chevalier D’eon) as Briareos, and Illich Guardiola (Saiyuki, Chevalier D’eon, Pretear) as Tereus, the movie has a quality to the dub.