Where Does The Appleseed Anime End In The Manga?

Appleseed and it’s CGI tech stumbled and fell all over itself as it tried to walk so current CGI anime can run.

Where To Start The Appleseed Manga After The Anime?

TL;DR – The only answer as to where to start the Appleseed manga after any of its anime projects is Chapter 1.

Appleseed is both interesting and frustrating in that the manga, OVAs, movies—anything Appleseed aside from Ex Machina, all has its own standalone story continuity.

What this means is that they all explore the a similar story about Deunan and Briareos being invited to join the ESWAT team in utopian Olympus—but none of them have the same story or are adaptations of the manga’s interpretation.

Since the answer as to where to start the Appleseed manga was an easy one, let’s list the anime and examine their differences and spare few relations to each other, shall we?

Appleseed (1998)

If you read the manga, you can see bits and pieces from the first two volumes in the story of the original OVA. It largely follows an original plot to destroy Olympus that could fit into the police-esque procedural that the manga was, but is not a canon manga story.

Appleseed (2004) and Appleseed Ex Machina (2007)

Appleseed 2004, alongside being Final Fantasy Spirits Within-levels of early CGI, diverges greatly from the manga story. Instead of being brought to be ESWAT in Olympus, the main duo is separated before that and reunite with each other as they deal with a racist faction war between humans and bioroids.

Appleseed Ex Machina is the only anime project that you couldn’t just go watch as a standalone story, as it is a sequel to the original 2004 movie story.

Appleseed XIII (2011) (AKA Appleseed XIII: Tartaros and Appleseed XIII: Ouranos)

While this shares the basic concept with the manga where they go to Olympus, the duo becomes ESWAT, and they just deal with crimes—Appleseed XIII still doesn’t adapt much, if any, of the manga story.

It creates its own crimes for the pair to bust up as well as greatly expands the purpose of Olympus.

This was originally a TV anime with 13 episodes, but it was also re-cut and released in two movies, Appleseed XIII: Tartaros and Appleseed XIII: Ouranos.

The story of the anime was adapted by—not based on—the three-volume manga series of the same name.

Appleseed Alpha (2014)

Appleseed Alpha is notable as its original story is actually a prequel to the base story they keep playing with—and yet, it fits in with none of the continuity of the other anime projects or manga.

The story of the anime was adapted by—not based on—the two-volume manga of the same name.

Is The Appleseed Manga Over?

The Appleseed manga is complete. Technically, it was abandoned by the author Masamune Shirow as he moved onto Ghost in the Shell, and was fully abandoned when he lost his notes for the story in an earthquake in 1995.

Shirow did return briefly in 1992 with Appleseed: Hypernotes, a standalone story in the world using the main characters as well as providing technical information about the world. It was a one volume, 4-chapter story.

The Appleseed XIII manga is also complete. It ended in 2013 with Volume 3. It was also not written or drawn by the original author.

The Appleseed A manga is also complete. It ended in 2014 with Volume 2. It was also not written or drawn by the original author.

Will There Be More Appleseed Anime?

Perhaps someday if the author returns to the manga, we might get a decent anime.