Appleseed: The Promethean Challenge

アップルシード [Appleseed] #1

by Masamune Shirow

World War III is over, and nomad soldier Duenan Knute and her cyborg partner Briareos struggle to survive in the abandoned cities and demilitarized zones of the post-war wasteland, the "Badside." Matters appear on the upswing, however, when they are found and brought to Olympus, an urban utopia and centerpiece for the reconstruction of civilization. Duenan and Bri join the Olympus police, a force that seems hardly necessary in such a paradise. But, like in most pretty pictures, perfection is an illusion, and Olympus's peaceful facade hides a dark secret, a violent struggle between human and cyborg that could once again plunge the world into war...and genocide.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels, Cyberpunk, Fiction, Dystopia

Paperback

First published February 20, 1985

About the author

Masamune Shirow is an internationally renowned manga

Masanori Ota, better known by his pen name Masamune Shirow (Japanese: 士郎正宗), is a Japanese manga artist renowned for his influential contributions to the cyberpunk genre. Born in Kobe in 1961, he studied oil painting at Osaka University of Arts, where he developed an interest in manga. His early work Black Magic led to the critically acclaimed Appleseed, which won the 1986 Seiun Award for Best Manga. Shirow achieved global recognition with Ghost in the Shell, a groundbreaking manga that inspired multiple anime films and series, a live-action Hollywood adaptation, and numerous video games. His stories are known for blending action with philosophical inquiries into AI, post-human existence, and the ethics of technology. He has collaborated with Production I.G on projects like Ghost Hound and Real Drive. Shirow’s distinctive style and thought-provoking narratives have left a lasting impact on manga, anime, and science fiction worldwide, influencing creators including the Wachowskis of The Matrix fame.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the aftermath of a world war, Deunan and her cyborg companion Briareos are living in a deserted, ruined city until Hitomi, a woman from Olympus, brings them to her city on behalf of the Central Management Bureau. Olympus is a utopia at first glance but there's a power struggle brewing in the shadows and Deunan and Briareos are about to be dragged into the middle of it...

Manga was really hard to come by in those hazy times before the internet. I read a few issues of Appleseed back in the day but lost track of it. Mail order was a bitch. Anyway, Dark Horse reprinted Appleseed a few years ago so I figured it was time to catch up.

Utopia isn't all its cracked up to be is the central message of Appleseed. Deunan and Briareos come to Olympus and find maybe the wastelands weren't so bad. There aren't a lot of jobs for people from the badlands and Hitomi, their host, is clearly up to something. The cyborgs running the city have their own game going, as does Athena, one of the brass from the Central Management Bureau.

That's what I gather, anyway. I have to think some things were lost in translation.

Anyway, the art is great. The backgrounds are hyper detailed at times, as are the landmates, the mecha of the series. Briareos, with his rabbit ears, had to be part of the inspiration for the Commissioner Gordon Batman during Scott Snyder's run.

Shirow has a knack for drawing action, although it was a little unclear at times which landmate was which, partly due to the gray tones. I realize manga aren't usually in color but some color would have cleared things up a bit.

I found Deunan and Briareos to be sympathetic characters, finally having arrived at paradise but finding out they don't really fit in there. By the time shit hit the fan, I was pretty attached to them. It was somewhat cathartic when Deunan climbed into her landmate and started kicking ass.

While I wasn't sure what was going on some of the time, The Promethean Challenge was very enjoyable experience. I'm glad I have the other three volumes on deck. Four out of five stars.

[Dylan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly I’m not sure why I bothered finishing this, and I certainly won’t be continuing with the series.

I did like the art for the most part, but beyond that I found nothing here to like.

I never really got attached to the two main characters, and I didn’t really understand who any of the side characters were.

The plot is incredibly confusing and only serves to set up a conflict between several factions, but there’s zero justification for the conflict and no information given about who the different factions are.

[Diz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The drawings of machines and buildings are wonderful, but the storytelling is a bit hard to follow. Also, the character motivations are not entirely clear other than they really like guns.

[CaliGirlRae · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of the new Appleseed CG movies directed by Shinji Aramaki and I had to pick up the original manga series that started it all. Both are not exact copies of each other which is great and the manga seems to take more time in expanding the conflicts between the bioroid council and the humans.

Deunan and her partner/lover Briareos have already moved on after the war as they settle in safe yet desolate parts of the wartorn city. Hitomi is sent to find them and bring them to the utopia of Olympus supposedly to settle in with the rest of the population but the true reasons lie under the surface as Athena, the prime minister of Olympus in a way, zeroes in on Deunan herself.

There's a lot intrigue here coupled with great action and effects, some genuinely funny moments due to some great dialogue and enough future tech that'd make any sc-fi lover happy.

I'm glad I finally got to check out Masamune Shirow's work. His artistry is breathtaking in the way he's designed his cities and the biosuits. I love the character expressions to go with the snappy dialogue at times and I couldn't help flipping through the pages as the story played like it's own movie in my head.

This is a great addition to any Appleseed fan's shelf. I'm definitely going to get my hands on the rest of the series and also check out Shirow's more famous manga, Ghost in the Shell.

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a bunch of good things this story has going for it: the art is great - it's Shirow, after all - the characters are decently fleshed out and their relationships feel deep and real, the action is good, and the plot has some promise to it with its future settings and intrigues. But it's pretty hard to follow what's going on: there's not nearly enough established or exposited, pretty much just throwing the reader right into the deep end without a paddle. You can't tell friend from foe when the battle is joined - not who is on whose side, not who wants what, nor why they're fighting at all.

But I do want to see where it goes from here, so it does enough right. Two and a half stars it is.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

حدود دوران ابتدایی_راهنمایی بودم خوندمش.
اون موقع دوستش داشتم.
الان نظری براش ندارم.

[Ludwig Aczel · Rating 4 out of 5]

7.5/10
I am starting to explore the work of Masamune Shirow only now. I find a bit hard to condense my feelings on it into words. It is great material, for sure, deserving its fame of 'seminal cyberpunk work'. On the other hand, it is inevitable to get out of this first book with a certain degree of confusion.
Visually, the immediate reference is Otomo. Like the latter, Shirow creates urban environments in outstanding details, and provides action scenes with a lot of 'body weight'. At the same time, he can be more 'cartoony' than the author of Akira, exploiting a wider range of characters's designs and expressions. In fact, his art will reach higher levels of sketchiness in his following series, Ghost in the Shell. But I would say that Appleseed is not yet completely 'liberated' from Otomo's shadow.
The storytelling is masterful. Shirow uses a lot of little visual tricks to represent this techno-militaristic world and the feelings of the people populating it. Pages flow one after the other smoothly, and each panel has a purpose. However, following the fight scenes is a bit hard at times. In this volume there are two such scenes. One is in chapter 1, which is basically the prologue of the series, and that one is fine. The second big fight is the climax of the book and it involves robotic/mecha exoskeletons. This one is less easy to follow, although undeniably beautifully drawn.
So, let's address the key point. The peculiariarity of this manga is its world building. Shirow clearly has a kink for near-future technologies, no matter if applied to vehicles, weapons, housing or human body engineering. He must have read a lot about these subjects and then stuffed his comics with ideas inspired by such readings. Characters are constantly talking about the technology that surrounds them, as if they were sharing the kink of their creator. But not in an expositionary way. Actually, if you are going to read any Shirow, prepare yourself for the inverse: the other narrative kink of the mangaka is to set his stories in socially, technologically and politically sophisticated worlds and then throw the reader into them with no parachute. Again, this tendency will become prominent later in Ghost in the Shell, but the seeds are already here. It is not bad for me. It actually makes sense, narratively. But you will get out of this first tome of Appleseed thinking: 'ok, great...but who sent who to do what?'.

[Gavin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty confusing. Might be a translation thing, but more likely it's the setup of four conflicting factions with no names or clear goals.

Shirow really thinks about the physics and design of his fake machines. (e.g. a robot jumping at 5g making the human it's carrying black out) I'm no gearhead but I really like gearheads.

[Paul Spence · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wonder if Shirow saw the classic movie "Things to Come"... And I mean the 1937 version. This movie has similar themes.

After a nuclear war a scientific elite (of cyborgs/androids in this one) begin the process of recreating the world and society. Unlike most fictions this does not include the enslavement or genocide of humanity. They welcome mankind with open arms and find a place for him in their society at great social cost and inviting the risk of danger in their gates.

The two main characters are a pair of hardened mercenaries/soldiers who are amazed at the generosity offered to them by this new utopian society and eagerly become cops to help them keep their peace. They fight terrorists who are mostly humans born inside this new civilization but have turned disillusioned with it either from boredom through luxury or paranoia at not having a direct say in the benevolent government of the androids. In short, paradise is threatened from within and these two become the enforcers because they've lived through mankind mostly killing himself and can't understand why people who live in such luxury and security they thought they'd never see again can try to destroy it and hurt innocents in the process.

It's a longer work, and less well reviewed than his other stuff. I think it was his most thoughtful work.

[Burt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had originally read these piecemeal in my college and high school years but got around to reading these again recently. It's a solid story with good characters and of course features the art of Masamune Shirow in his formative years.

It's the story of two soldiers fighting a war that's been over for years. They're retrieved by a new world superpower, Olympus, and introduced to their 'utopian' society. Even this society has a use for soldiers and they are drafted into the city's defense corps, ESWAT. Once they join, they find out that not all is well as the city planners and bioroid populace would lead one to believe and quickly discover consipracy on the part of the artificial intelligence that runs the city. The first book is half of that particular story arc and is one of my favorites on the basis of artwork and nostalgia.

[Max · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, screw it, I give up on Masamune Shirow's manga, at least for right now. I got through about 3/4 of this, and suddenly I just lost all ability to follow the plot or understand what is going on. His artwork is nice, but in any combat scene it quickly becomes difficult for me to tell any of the characters apart or determine the flow of action. Plus, there didn't seem to be much of a plot so far, and given my experiences with Ghost in the Shell, I'm not sure I'd enjoy whatever the plot proves to be.

[David Dalton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this series. Especially love it on Blu-ray! Kind of origin story. Took me a while to get used to reading it in the Manga style. Looking forward to more Appleseed sci-fi action!

[Juan Lobos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Y aun así, me la voy a a leer más veces.

[Alexander Engel-Hodgkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, it's the aftermath of World War III, and a good chunk of civilization is in ruins. We open up with Deunan Knute and Briareos Hecatonchires (Masamune couldn't have picked names that were any harder to spell, could he?) living among these ruins as an isolated couple, only to have their fun times rudely interrupted by a girl sent from a newly established utopia assigned to bring them back--a mission that just happens to coincide with an attack by remnants of some fallen army from the war. Of course, Deunan, Briareos, and the girl, a bioroid named Hitomi, survive the ordeal and end up travelling back to this utopia, called Olympus. Of course, like every post-war utopia where humans and robots (or bioroids in this case) co-exist in harmony, things aren't quite what they seem.

Now let's face it--Masamune's artwork has always been better than his writing, which is often clunky, hard to follow, choked with exposition dialogue, and chock full of philosophical passages and techno-babble that doesn't always make sense. But even his art has its downfalls, primarily during action sequences of bigger scales, where often it's hard to figure which freaking side is which when everybody's stuffed themselves in a robotic suit to duke it out for their religious beliefs or political views. When members of three different sides of one battle are fighting it out in the same battle suits, with only the odd 'x-ray' shot to give you a clue of who's who, it tends to get a little tedious.

I made this book sound bad, and that's not the intention. The artwork is still fantastic, the battle scenes (while confusing sometimes) dynamic and exciting, and the ideas introduced by the plot and each character's individual views are interesting enough to keep you going. It's a flawed book, for sure, but it's not bad at all. Far from it.

[Zare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deunan and Briareos are nomads in the dystopian landscape of post WW3 Earth. While trying to survive in abandoned city contaminated by serious chemical weaponry their paths will cross with Hitomi, mysterious agent from Olympus, de facto new Earth government and unknown mercenary group.

This continues even as they move to Olympus. Their arrival seems to trigger internal conflict between various city fractions and situation is not made more tolerable when Briareos finds out the city secret, that majority of population are bioroids, artificial humanoid life forms. Soon they will find themselves in crosshairs of police forces, city paramilitary (respectively run by competing city political forces) and strange force aiming to destroy city's command Gaia, force made up of people brought to city from the desolate areas ( aka rest of planet Earth). Action scenes are excellent, both with Deunan and Briareos taking opposition one on one or combat using battle suits called landmates.

Excellent thriller, and as in every aspiring thriller, not everything is explained in the first book. I can see this is something few readers are mzrking as a bad thing. For me, this is serialization as in case of tv show. You cannot expect that everything will be made clear in the episode 1 of planned several episodes. I am looking forward to follow up books.

Highly recommended to fans of SF, cyberpunk and action thrillers.

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was first introduced to the world of Appleseed by 2004 CGI-fest, which I rather enjoyed, and the 2007 sequel Ex Machina, which fell flat for me.

I'm finally getting around to catching up on a very long list of classic manga that I need to read, including this story. I liked it. I don't think it was great--the action sequences are hard to follow sometimes, and even with a general knowledge of the world and the characters, there are times when the dialogue is impossible to parse and the transitions are jarringly abrupt.

But it was good. Enjoyable. The world is interesting, and I look forward to exploring it further in the next Appleseed book. The characters are interesting and play off each other well, although it looks like some of the jokes and jabs between Deunan and Briareos proved difficult to translate. The idea of an attempted utopia ruled by artificial humans is interesting and leads to some compelling questions that I hope are explored further.

[Andy Zeigert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because another comics creator that I really respect has often cited it as an influence.

It's good! I'm not really much for manga books, though. And as with most translated works, there's often a stilted feeling to the dialog that makes you wonder if you're really following what's happening.

That being said, it's a picture-driven story, and you could ignore the speech bubbles altogether and still probably get the gist of it: Two post-apocalyptic wanderers end up in a supposed utopian city, only to discover there is some weird shit going on. Meanwhile, one of our protagonists decides she wants a mech suit for... reasons. And right about when she gets it, she needs to use it to help stop a group of thieves/terrorists from doing... something.

Shirow's sharp black & white artwork is beautiful and worth the read if nothing else. I might pick up another volume at some point.

[Johnathon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid beginning to this science fiction series that finds Deunan Knute and her cyborg companion, Briareos, finding a rebuilt city called Olympus in the post-apocalyptic waste of World War III. Things seem good, until naturally not all is what they appear. Masamune Shirow does a great job setting up the world and the relationship between Deunan and Briareos. However, like with "Ghost in a Shell", his tone is a bit uneven, with strange comedic bits mixing in with serious drama. That said, his art is second to none, with fantastic futuristic settings and first rate action. Definitely worth checking out from the manga legend.

[Rally Soong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually like this better than ghost in the shell. Tight story, good action, and a workable model of how to operate a robot suit if we ever go that way. You can see the proto-type characters for Ghost in the shell here. But Deunan is to me more interesting. I like the Snake (from Escape from New York) reference, as this manga is old.

[Aaron Humphres · Rating 5 out of 5]

Appleseed was one of the first comics I read as a kid. I fell in love with the mecha design and world setting. I have been recently re-reading the series and still find the books just as amazing as I did when I was a kid. Shirow has inspired so much of my art and design sense over the years. Great stuff:)

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautiful artwork and an interesting setting from Masamune Shirow, but the story and characters just didn't resonate with me. The tone was all over the place and the action sequence towards the end had so many moving parts it was hard to keep track of what was even going on.

I can kind of see the appeal, but I don't see myself continuing the series.

[Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two great action sequences and incredible futuristic urban and robot black and white art (I dislike color, it obscures what might be fantastic lines). Story transition from 'badside' to utopia city is abrupt. Occasional lazy blank background panels.

[David Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Japanese manga. Just like the American comic books, Japanese comics deliver something very unique to the Japanese way of thinking and telling a story from the unique perspective. Getting my hands on Masamune Shirow's Applesseed manga series was one of the best decisions I ever made. The story has four volumes and has inspired a creation of several magnificent anime movies. Applessed Vol 1 The Promethean Challenge, tells a story of a world trying to put itself together after devastating World War III, where every weapon except nuclear has been used with lethal effects, resulting in the death of half of the world population. Warrior survivalists Briareos and his companion Deunan Knute fight for survival in the ruins of civilization, fighting off bands of hostile rogues, bandits and anarchists. But the war is already over, and from the ashes of the previous ruined civilization rises a city state known as the Olympus. Populated by humans and advanced artificial humans called bioroids, Olympus becomes a shining beacon of order and prosperity. Separated by a violent explosion, Briareos and Deunan end up in a city of Olympus, where they must adapt to the new society the best they can.

The story arc is very simple, believable and logical. The artwork is superb and delivered in unique style that only Japanese manga artists are capable of. The main characters, Deunan and Briareos are a superb fighting team as well as good friends and lovers who fight as one when their lives are in danger. The unique perspective is given to every character in the story to protagonists and antagonists, whose motivations are very clear even if they are wrong. The artwork is superb. The rendition of futuristic technology and vehicles is done in a unique style that gives life even to inanimate objects. The story's main emphasis is on survival of human mind and personal definition of happiness. Olympus is a high-tech paradise for the resurrected humanity that comes into conflict with artificial life forms with their own visions of the future. Life in Olympus is good but not everyone is willing to live in a golden cage... If you like Japanese manga and cyberpunk, this is a story for you!

[Saya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Conseguí los tres primeros tomos a principios de milenio, pero solo me hice con el cuarto hace un par de semanas. Por eso vuelvo a leerlos ahora. Y ya no recordaba lo críptico que puede ser Shirow, y aunque el worldbuilding es maravilloso y los personajes están bien creados, la obra me pierde en las confusas escenas de acción, en las que ya no sé quién es quién. Las motivaciones no se entienden demasiado, tampoco, pero entiendo que eso forma parte de la trama (lo leí hace 20 años: al igual me iba a acordar de algo!). No es mi estilo, la verdad, pero hace dos décadas Shirow te tenía que gustar, total... Le gustaba a todo el mundo, y eso será por algo, ¿no?

[Fenko · Rating 4 out of 5]

World war three is over, with humanity reduced to a scarce few. Soldier Deunan and cyborg Briareos have survived in the 'bad lands' for as long as they can remember, until they're contacted about a reformed government in the modern city Olympus. There, weaponry is illegal and life feels like a peaceful paradise. But conspiracies are brewing and (as in most things Shirow) politics and philosophy mix when we learn that at most 20% of the city is actually human. The thin varnish of civilization is soon broken by violence.

This is a book to quickly look for the next installment, and reread at your leisure later on.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

All Deunan and Briareos want is a job doing what they know best: security. The problem is they find themselves in Olympus, which, being a paradise of post-humans, has little need for their battle-honed skill set. Fortunately, the ruling council has a solution for that.

Love the art, the late 80s cyberpunk hair, and the chonky feel of the tech. But like Ghost in the Shell, the story is more of a fractal lattice your brain has to interpolate... or not, and just enjoy the ride.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off, I'll just say that the art is terrific. The story though is often unclear. I have a feeling that this may not be the best translation to English. The story is about a woman and a cyborg who have been hiding out in the ruins of a city after World War III. They find a city, Olympus, that is still thriving. They decide to become police to earn their keep and the woman gets a mech suit. There's a bunch of other stuff going on but I missed a lot of it. The constant footnotes for special effects was really distracting. I don't need those translated and they kept shifting my attention away from the panels.

[W Wong · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the same author as Ghost in the Shell, but with better developed and more likable characters. Deunan and Briareos' relationship is great. The world building, as typical of Shirow, is unique and thorough. Shirow revels in details that some readers will love, and others will find overwhelming. However, the characters make up for that if it's not your thing. The themes around AI and it's relationship with mankind makes this book feel modern and relevant despite being published in 1988. This book as been one of my favorites for years.

[Cara Patel · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a 3.5*
I think if I hadn’t watched the movie I’d be far more confused. Some of the panels are quite busy and it can be hard to tell what’s going on at times. I did enjoy this, but if I want to experience it again I’ll probably just re-watch the movie. This plays with the issues concerning a utopian society.

[RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lamento meter a Shirow en un hediondo saco... Porque al menos este primer recopilatorio de serie me ha chiflado. A su conocido y estudiado imaginario sci-fi futurista de corte rustpunk, con increíbles escenas de acción con tiroteos o explosiones o intervenciones robóticas, lo que de verdad destaca de Apleseed es la genial dinámica romcom de "amiguetes" cariñosones de su dúo protagónico.