Best described as a sci-fi series that began in 1985, spanning four graphic novels (manga), two encyclopedias, and soon, five movies (animes), Appleseed somehow manages to be both a well-known and an undiscovered work of fiction. Uniquely, it popularized early cyberpunk, and the concept of volume published manga, featured a female soldier as a lead character, tackled sociological issues as entertainment, and later pioneered a new form of motion-capture animation which now sees use in Hollywood. Unlike most of its contemporaries, it mixed drama and dry humour, in a formula which most critics find to be well-done.