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Story: Like Appleseed, the story was relatively standard fare. However, this time, the overall tone and presentation felt much lighter. At the same time, I felt that the story overall was actually quite weak. No plot holes, but at the same time, very little plot twists.

Art: Being much newer CGI than Appleseed, Appleseed Ex Machina looked absolutely dazzling. I have never seen Advent Children (having of never played any FF games, I figured I would be totally lost), I would not know exactly how good it looked compared to that industry standard. However, I liked to think of it as Halo 2 is to Halo ... 3 in terms of graphics as Appleseed is to Appleseed Ex Machina: the first one looked fine, if not a bit dated, while the second one was a sheer orgy for the eyes.

Sound: I have not yet DLed the actual OST yet, but I enjoyed the inserts very much. The BGM was also well done, usually matching the mood quite well.

Character: Like the story, the characters were relatively standard fare, nothing bad, nothing amazingly great. The designs were quite good, personalities were for the most part fine, although there were some points where I cringed a bit, as the characterizations came off as rather heavy handed. It is worth noting that Briareos seemed much more lively in this film than he was in Appleseed; however, I had chalked it up with the fact that now Deunan's safety was more or less guaranteed, and that Briareos himself had nothing left to hide, which caused the shift in personality.

Enjoyment: Appleseed Ex Machina fought its way into an 8 instead of of a 7 only because of the sheer beauty of the CGI. Even more so than Appleseed, this was purely an action movie, with little deep philosophical implications. This aspect was rather disappointing, as there was even further opportunity to explore the problems of human identity in this film. However, these thoughts came to me only after finishing the movie; during it, I was simply too entranced by the CGI to really care.

Story: The story was relatively standard fare: tried and true plot twists, no huge gaping holes (except for an incident at the end that left me scratching my head; a deus ex machina of sorts that saved the day). Having of never read any of the mangas, I would not know exactly how faithful it was to the original storylines.

Art: Being CGI, the problem is that it looked rather dated. The designs overall were excellent; it was merely that being 4 years old, the shadows, reflections, shading, etc. really showed itself, especially if you watch Appleseed Ex Machina right afterwards. Still, being old enough to ... remember when Nvidia was releasing 4000 series cards while ATi was in the 9000s (what a reversal of times), I could remember a time when this would of been considered cutting edge.

Sound: I have not yet DLed the actual OST yet, but I enjoyed the inserts very much. The BGM was also well done, usually matching the mood quite well.

Character: Like the story, the characters were relatively standard fare, nothing bad, nothing amazingly great. The designs were quite good, personalities were fine.

Enjoyment: For unknown reasons, I really enjoyed the film. It was easy stuff to digest, wonderful eyecandy, not much thinking involved, but hardly vapid. There was potential for a true masterpiece, something along the lines of the GitS series, but alas, it was merely standard action stuff, albeit very well done action.