Appleseed story
Appleseed (Japanese: アップルシード, Hepburn: Appurushīdo) is a 2004 Japanese animated post-apocalyptic action film directed by Shinji Aramaki and based on the Appleseed manga created by Masamune Shirow. Synopsis: A former soldier searches for data that can restore the reproductive capabilities of bioroids, a race of genetically engineered clones.
23 total · 10 major · 13 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| caste system | major | The population of the city-state of Olympus was half-human and half-bioroid (a race of clones that'd been genetically engineered to be emotionless and not be able to reproduce). Each of the humans and the bioroids had their different roles in society, and this functioned to maintain harmony - or at least that was the plan. |
| cyborg | major | The main character Briareos was a more machine than man cyborg. |
| displacement by a rising new species | major | A revelation of the story is that the Seven Elders had taken measures to ensure that the human race would soon exit stage left, leave the superior bioroids to inherit the Earth. |
| genetic engineering utopia | major | The story is set in the futuristic, seemingly utopian city-state Olympus. Peace and harmony was supposedly maintained throughout the city in part because half of the population consisted of human clones that were genetically engineered to be emotionless. The presence of these emotionless clones somehow prevented outbreaks of violence, especially war. |
| human cloning | major | The bioroids were human clones that'd been genetically engineered to not feel such human emotions as jealousy and anger. |
| human nature | major | The Seven Elders spelled out the recurring theme of humans being violent, warmongering beings who are generally slaves to their emotions. |
| machine regulated society | major | The story is set in the futuristic, seemingly utopian city-state Olympus. Peace and harmony was supposedly maintained throughout the city in part by an all observing computer system named Gaia. |
| out of control AI | major | Gaia was a central computer that controlled society but it was in turn manipulated by a council of elders for nefarious purposes. |
| speculative genetic engineering | major | The bioroids were a race of human clones that'd been genetically engineered to not feel such human emotions as jealousy and anger and also to not be able to reproduce. |
| war of mutual annihilation | major | The story is set sometime after humanity was brought to the brink of destruction by a cataclysmic global war. Much was made of the Olympus city-state society being specially engineered to ensure humans would never go to war again. |