Ai Kobayashi Movies
Veteran action filmmaker John Woo produces this sequel to the 2004 film Appleseed. Partners both at home and on the battlefield, Deunan, a young but skillful warrior, and Briareos, an experienced cyborg soldier, protect the utopian city of Olympus, where the last of humanity dwells in peace following a war that's killed off the rest of the world's population. As members of the elite police squad E.S.W.A.T., they take their orders from Gaia, an artificial intelligence that governs the city through the use of biologically engineered humanoids called Bioroids. Trouble stirs when Gaia engineers a new member for E.S.W.A.T. based on Briareos' DNA. The new team member, Tereus, looks and acts eerily like the old Briaros, before so much of his body was replaced with robotics following the war. Even more disconcerting, Tereus seems to have the same feelings as Briareos for Deunan! ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ai Kobayashi, Kouichi Yamadera, (more)
Masamune Shirow's celebrated manga of the fusion of humans and technology in a world devastated by war has been given a new and visually impressive adaptation in this anime drama. In the year 2131 A.D., Deunen Knute (voice of Ai Kobayashi) is a female warrior for hire who, after encountering her former lover Briareos (voice of Jurota Kosugi), discovers he's not the man he once was -- he's now part human and part robot. As Deunen and Briareos venture into the high-tech city of Olympus, they meet Hitomi (voice of Yuki Matsuoka), who is a member of a genetically engineered race of strong and intelligent beings who have taken over rule of the city. They have not done so without resistance, and Deunen and Briareos join forces with Hitomi and her cohorts when rebels launch an attack on the city. But while she defends Olympus, Deunen begins to suspect she has a greater alliance to those who wish to defeat Olympus than those who defend it. Appleseed (aka Appurushido) was previously filmed in 1988; this version incorporates new digital animation technology which combines the look of rounded, three-dimensional images with the visual style of the traditional pen-and-ink process. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ai Kobayashi, Jurota Kosugi, (more)
