Anime Reviews:

Armitage III

(1995)

While SF anime can be stunning to look at it rarely wins points for originality. One could probably label half of the genre's output as clones and variations on Blade Runner alone. So, just in case you haven't had your fill, there's Armitage III (that's 'the third' as in Richard III).

In 2179, Armitage discovers she is not human after all. She is a 'Third', an advanced cyborg. As she tries to come to terms with her reason for being, Armitage becomes embroiled in an industrial espionage tale that takes her to Mars (shades of Total Recall here) and back with her police officer partner Ross Sylibus. Armitage's emotional search turns into a hunt for a man named D'anclaude who, inexplicably, is single-handedly destroying all the Third-type cyborgs.

The verdict? It's great. Terrific art direction, quality animation that shows touches of real fluidity at times, an emotive dub, characters that receive a lot of delineation and a complex plot that requires full attention. Not full of action, there is as much psychoanalysis in this as there are explosions. If you want originality for your hard-earned pennies, then look elsewhere. If you want quality production look no further. 7/10

Rob Dyer (January 2005)

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