Good story. Bad art.
Creative Staff
Story: Iou Kuroda
Art: Iou Kuroda, Scott O. Brown, James Dashiell
Translation/Adaptation: Lillian Olsen, Stephen Paul
What They Say
Before the events of Appleseed, Deunan, a human woman and former SWAT officer, along with her combat-cyborg lover, Briareos, arrive in war-torn New York City. The city’s mayor is a dapper but delusional cyborg, preparing for the UFO invasion he’s convinced is right around the corner. Briareos’s powerful abilities earn the pair refuge, but there are few human comforts to be found in a city catered to cyborgs…
After the couple parts ways, the mayor’s nightmare takes a turn for the worse. Deunan’s group of outcast humans may be just the extra manpower the mayor needs—but can the two factions put aside their differences in time to save the world?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
A prequel series to Appleseed, Appleseed Alpha gives us an adventure with Deunan and Briarios as they help pacify a rough world before taking service with Olympus. With Briarios struggling due to lack of power supplies, he and Deunan take refuge in the ruined society of New York. Controlled by a delusional mayor who keeps a lid on his populace by promoting hysterical conspiracies about the dangers of alien invasion, while in actuality preparing for an invasion from Olympus that is likely to never come. Briarios’s status as a combat cyborg quickly sees him become a celebrity as the mayor uses Briarios’s abilities to enhance his theories. Briareos and Deunan soon find themselves embroiled in a conflict between cyborg and human, where finding a peaceful resolution is the only way to avoid complete disaster.
Appleseed Alpha continues the strong storytelling of Appleseed. We get some really fun secondary characters in this volume, such as the mayor, the little girl that lives below Deunan and Briarios, and the droid that attempts to keep Deunan from entering the city on a number of occasions. In grand Masamune fashion (though he’s not involved in this one), the story is a little convoluted with the introduction of the human farm and all of the various plans of the mayor, but it keeps moving and is overall pretty compelling.
All-in-all, this would be a pretty easy recommendation for me, but I really struggled with the art style. This is really hard to read in a lot of places. It’s very rough and messy, and almost looks like we’ve just been given the storyboarding sketches likely done in the planning phase. The cleaner panels can be difficult enough to see what’s happening, but when the pace picks up, it’s almost impossible to follow. It was a poor stylistic choice.
In Summary
Appleseed Alpha is a tough recommendation. Based purely on the merits of the story, it’s good, and any fan of the series would enjoy it. But the art style is so rough that it ruins much of the enjoyment and makes the story tough to truly follow. If you love Appleseed, then it’s probably still worth a look but be prepared to struggle with it. And certainly don’t let this be your introduction into the series. Thumbs firmly in the middle.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: C-
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: OT – 16+
Released By: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: July 4, 2017
MSRP: $24.99
