Armitage III: Poly-Matrix

Having seen both the 4-episode OAV version of Armitage III and the Armitage III Polymatrix DVD, I note some interesting differences between the versions. Particularly interesting is the fact that the Polymatrix cinematic movie version was done _only_ in English, and subsequently subtitled for Japanese viewing--that's how the Japanese wanted it. There is no corresponding subtitled version of Polymatrix; it's an English-only film.

Polymatrix alters the storyline of the OAV series slightly, cutting a few scenes and adding a bit of new animation. It also adds two new voice actors, replacing the OAV dub cast: Kiefer Sutherland and Elizabeth Berkley as the two leads. For the most part, these cuts are acceptable; they improve the pacing of the movie at the cost of some additional story and characterization. While I was watching, I hardly missed what was cut. (For those who are concerned with seeing the whole story, the four OAV episodes should be viewed, preferably in the subtitled versions.) The ending is also changed slightly, and seems to me to make more sense in this version.

The storyline of Armitage III is set on a colonized Mars, and concerns itself with a new third generation of robots ("Thirds") that can actually think and create. A madman by the name of Renee D'anclaude has found out about these Thirds and is going around killing them. What is less clear, and somewhat confusing even when it is explained late in the movie, is _why_. It took repeated viewings of the OAVs, then finally the movie itself, for me to figure out the full political motivations behind the murders--and why it was that the Thirds stood in the way of an important political treaty between Earth and Mars.

Although Armitage III becomes somewhat confusing in the last twenty minutes, it nonetheless is an interesting and thought-provoking movie that should not be missed.

Armitage has long been one of my favorite animes. It's hard to describe much of the story without giving away at least small bits of the plot, I'll be rather brief. The basics of the story is about a cop, Ross, who travels to Mars and meets a female officer named Naomi Armitage. They get involved in solving a murder case involving a famous country singer.

The singer is found to be, shockingly, a machine. Issues are brought up about robots and the rights of machines. The robots are divided into various types, Seconds and the rumored mysterious Thirds take center stage. Many questions are raised and debated as the story progresses, it's very well written and thought out.

Ross himself is pretty much a normal Earth cop. He's calm and calculating where Naomi is quicker to act and fight. They make quite a great team. Ross pretty much gets dragged into the whole mess and keeps things well grounded. He stays cool under pressure and generally makes for one tough cop. Naomi is from the very outset a hardcore energetic fighter. She gets the job done using her own methods and lets no one stand in her way. If you make it through this movie without a soft spot for Naomi, you need to watch it again.

As the story progresses, clues appear and we dig deeper into the backgrounds of Ross and Naomi. The characters forge a friendship with new characters and enemies become clear and yet mysteries shroud everything. It will keep you guessing all the way through.

All in all, It's a very interesting anime that has managed to stay one of my absolute favorites for many years. It's well written, has plenty of action, and very memorable main characters. If you've never seen it, give it a shot. You'll have a great time.

• Rirath_com

I've often heard comments about how much anime "rips-off" other sources, usually blatantly. I can often see influences of other movies and tales in anime, but rarely is it such that the anime loses its soul... ...but then I saw Armitage III and understood.

Granted, I saw (1) the compiled "movie" version, and (2) the English dub version (neither qualities that I enjoy in my anime), but Armitage is just a rip-off of Blade Runner, and not a very good one at that.

I wasn't that thrilled with the animation- it reminded me of American "serious" animation, rather than anime; the voice-acting is bad, too; Elizabeth Berkeley is the saving grace (!) of the whole thing, providing a nice distraction from Kiefer Sutherland's wooden dialogue. As Armitage, she is tough, vulnerable, sexy, and naive at the same time. Kief is like one of the voice actors for the English-dialogue version of Megazone 23 part II... emotionless, and sounds like an automatic reading machine. Bleah.

Not recommended.

Alright a full length feature of Armitage III, all the episodes on one tape and in wide screen. Well not quite. Wide screen is a good thing, and the voice actors for Ross and Armitage were alright, I've seen the actors do better though. Although this movie was watchable and still somewhat entertaining the original 4 episodes were much much better. The problem with the full-length feature was that it was cut down around 30 to 40 minutes shorter then what it would have been if all the episodes where put together. I don't even understand why this was done its not like the movie would have been unduly long, just around two hours. This creates problems and big plot holes. The characters get shallow due to cutting as well, In the movie version it doesn't get into the big reason why Ross hates robots, or why Armitage gets so mad when she's called a monster. If you get any chance to rent or buy Armitage III get the 4 episodes and not the movie.

My rating on the episodes 8.

I hate to make a comment on this movie, as I just watched the obviously butchered movie version. I have not seen the original version, and I can see some signs of greatness in the chopped to pieces version I saw, but over all it was a huge mess. no pacing, no plot cohesiveness, bad dubbing. Do yourself a favor, and watch the original 4 tape version, it has to be better than this crap. Now, if I can just find a copy of it.