Appleseed Review: A Soldier and Her Partner Enter the Perfect City — and Find What Perfect Costs
by Masamune Shirow
*Affiliate link — I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Quick Take
- Masamune Shirow's utopia story — a post-war world where a perfect city exists, and the work required to keep it perfect
- Appleseed is cyberpunk's political cousin: concerned with governance, bioethics, and what kind of human future is worth building
- 4 volumes complete; Shirow's densest and most worldbuilt work
Who Is This Manga For?
- Readers who want science fiction manga that engages seriously with political ideas
- Fans of Ghost in the Shell who want Shirow's earlier work
- Anyone interested in cyberpunk concerned with governance and bioethics rather than just aesthetics
- Readers who can work through technically dense content
Content Warnings & Age Rating
Age Rating: M (Mature) Content Warnings: Violence and some adult content; technical and political density that requires active reading
Not for passive readers. The M rating is earned.
Yu's Rating
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Story Depth | ★★★★★ |
| Art Style | ★★★★☆ |
| Character Development | ★★★★☆ |
| Accessibility for Non-Japanese Readers | ★★★☆☆ |
| Reread Value | ★★★★★ |
Story Overview
After a devastating world war, humanity's survivors have gathered in Olympus — a city designed to demonstrate that human civilization can be done correctly. The city is governed by a council that includes bioroids: genetically engineered humans created without the biological drives that produce war and conflict.
Deunan Knute, a combat veteran, and Briareos Hecatonchires, her partner (now mostly cybernetic after severe injury), are recruited into ESWAT — the city's special enforcement division — and find themselves between the political factions that disagree about what Olympus's future should be.
The series is about governance: who gets to make decisions, what the bioroids' existence means for human definition, and whether a city designed for peace can maintain itself without violence.
Characters
Deunan Knute — A soldier who has known nothing but war, placed in a city that was built to not need soldiers. Her adaptation, her relationship with Olympus's contradictions, and her partnership with Briareos are the series' human center.
Briareos Hecatonchires — Severely injured, his body now mostly mechanical. His existence as something between human and machine makes him the series' physical representation of the bioroid question.
Nike — The city's administrator whose role in the political machinations reveals the compromise at Olympus's foundation.
Art Style
Shirow's art in Appleseed is extraordinarily detailed — the mecha, city architecture, bioroid character designs, and action sequences are all drawn with obsessive specificity. The technical density of the art matches the technical density of the ideas. The footnotes — Shirow's explanatory notes throughout the volumes — are themselves a reading experience.
Cultural Context
Appleseed appeared in 1985, before Ghost in the Shell, and established many of the themes Shirow would refine in his later work. The specific Japanese postwar anxiety — what a society built on genuine peace rather than suppressed conflict would look like — is the series' founding question.
What I Love About It
The appendices. Shirow adds extensive explanatory notes — about the political structures, the bioroid genetic systems, the city's governance — that turn reading Appleseed into something resembling reading a textbook for a future that hasn't happened yet. The notes are often as interesting as the manga.
What English-Speaking Fans Say
Western readers who came to Appleseed from Ghost in the Shell consistently describe it as more politically dense and less immediately accessible — which is accurate — and more rewarding on reread, which is also accurate. The series's concern with governance structures rather than individual action is unusual enough in cyberpunk to make it distinctive.
Memorable Scene ⚠️ Spoiler Warning
The scene where the nature of Olympus's founding compromise is revealed — what the bioroids gave up to exist and what humans gave up to accept them — is the series' political thesis in its sharpest form.
Similar Manga
- Ghost in the Shell — Same author, similar themes, more cyberpunk aesthetic
- Blame! — Post-human world, similar political implications
- Nausicaa — Post-catastrophe society, governance questions
- Planetes — Space policy, similar concern with institutional structures
Reading Order / Where to Start
Volume 1 — the world establishes through Deunan's discovery of it.
Official English Translation Status
Dark Horse Comics published the complete 4-volume run. All volumes available.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- The most politically substantive cyberpunk manga in English
- 4 volumes — complete and dense
- Shirow's detailed world-building rewards multiple reads
- The bioroid question remains philosophically current
Cons
- The technical and political density requires active engagement
- The footnotes, while valuable, interrupt narrative flow
- Less action-focused than Ghost in the Shell
Format Comparison
| Format | Notes |
|---|---|
| Individual Volumes | Dark Horse; with Shirow's extensive notes |
| Digital | Available |
Where to Buy
Get Appleseed Vol. 1 on Amazon →
This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
*Affiliate link — I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Written by
Yu
Manga Enthusiast from Japan
I grew up in Japan and manga literally saved me during a tough time in elementary school. My English isn't perfect, but my love for manga is real — and I want to share it with you.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.