Armitage III - Polymatrix

For those of you that haven't seen Armitage III before, here is a quick summary. Mankind has colonised Mars to such an extent that it has now become an independant colony. Into all this, a company called Conseption has released android creatures. The first primitive robots succeeded with the seconds, a superior technological but still very unintelligent humanoid. Things would have been fine if a little uneasy until the company developed the "third", an android that was every bit as good as a human. Maybe too good. And into this was sent Danclaud, who passed into Mars colony, destroying the thirds with such zeal that bordered on madness. However, the Mars colonists knew little of thirds until they started getting killed, including some that had become fairly famous yet never suspected of being not human. So what started out as a normal homicide for Naomi Armitage and seconded Earth cop Ross Sylibus became something far more far reaching, especially when Armitage started figuring things out about her own past in a story that eventually ties the thirds together with some pretty high powered politics with Mars and Earth.

This is a film version of that story, the original four OAV's hitting the UK market a couple of years back. It has much cut out from the OAV's but a lot replaced by new footage and (in the dub at least) a lot made of new voices Elizabeth Berkley and Kiefer Sutherland in the title roles.

The animation doesn't technically vary much from the original, but then the original was fairly well drawn anyway. The dub is good, but then anything less than that would be very embarrassing for the folk involved. I enjoyed it, for what that is worth. It has plenty for all; a good all round anime!

[5 stars]

written and maintained by Chika.

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