I finally got to see Appleseed last night (Thanks, Jason!). The whole time I felt like I was watching a hybrid anime of the original Ghost in the Shell, The Matrix and Robotech. I didn’t quite enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I think I enjoyed Ghost in the Sell 2 more than I did Appleseed mainly because of the quality of graphics in Ghost in the Shell 2 (I had trouble following the subtitle while comprehending the rather complicated issues the movie was dealing with).
Nontheless, Appleseed was a pretty cool movie with decent plot lines. I wished the motion capture was more “anime-like”. A lot of it looked “captured” and almost too realistic for the anime-feel of the movie. Jason mentioned something about the toon shade renderer used in the movie, but I didn’t notice anything aweful, just some bad hue choices in a few scenes.
A few days ago I also saw Howl’s Moving Castle with Grace. I think Hayao Miyazaki definitely makes Grace chuckle more than most of the anime directors I like. As much as she enjoyed Howl’s Moving Castle, I think she still prefers Spirited Away and, of course, Totoro. I hope that guy never dies and keeps making more films.
Now I gotta watch Steamboy to satisfy my 2005 anime wishes. Damn it I wish I had money then I can just buy them!