Masamune Shirow's Appleseed manga series enjoys a strong following. While Ghost in the Shell recently stole the spotlight with a feature film, videogame and various figures, Appleseed was put on the backburner, or so it seemed. Then, along came Yamato's three figure set, with a special itme packed in to intrigue fans.

The new Appleseed series includes Deunan Knute in Orc armor, Briaros, and Deunan with her eye patch (circa volume 4). Each figure is fairly well modeled and comes with a weapon or two. Both versions of Deunan are about 6.5 inches in height while Briaros is roughly over 7. The figures are your standard fare when it comes to import figures in terms of quality and detail. They're accurate representations of their hand-drawn versions.

But, the real kicker is that each figure comes with one of three DVDs - each of which has a different 4 minute preview of the upcoming digitally animated Appleseed movie. For fans who were disappointed with the original manga, this is a tempting treat that may make you go out and buy the figures, no questions asked.

Since these figures come with a DVD and are generally available only by import or through a store that gets import figures, they're going to run you well over 20 dollars. So, fans of the original Masamune works may find it hard to buy more than one set, even though you'll be torn between leaving them in the package or breaking them out to watch the preview DVDs. Because of the healthy price and lack of accesories, most people who aren't fans of Appleseed will probably just want to skip this series. I doubt it'll have much in the way of collectibility except for the certain crowd that the manga series attracts.

- - Kinderfeld