Deunan Knute is one of main protagonist along with her SWAT partner Briareos Hecatonchires. Deunan is human and a survivor of the outside world which is used to describe the wasteland left from the last global war.
She was rescued by Hitomi who has soft side towards humans even though she is a bioroid. When Deunan came to the City of Olympus she joined the police force and teamed up with Briareos. The relationship shown in the 1988 anime is based on friendship but in the Manga and remade Appleseed film released in 2004 Deunan and Briareos were once lovers.
Deunan is passionate about here job and loves life in the City of Olympus and what the city has given her. Her main rival who is the antagonist of the film is A. J. Sebastian who threatens to destroy the utopian society of Olympus.
The second protagonist in the film is Briareos Hecatonchires also a member of SWAT but nearly completely cyborg the only remaining human part of him is his mind. Most of his natural body was lost during the last war. Like Deunan he came from the badland ruins outside the city.
Briareos in the 1988 Anime is very close to Deunan but never goes beyond friendship where in the Manga and 2004 version they have been lovers but keep a distance from each other in the 2004 release.
Athena is a bioroid who is in charge of the city’s administration. She has a stereotypical distrust of most humans as she believes they are threat to the city’s utopian society. Her main concern is Sebastian and his terrorist cause.
Sebastian is the antagonist whose goal is to free mankind from the bioroid run administration as he believes bioroids were there to serve humans and not to imprison them in their utopian society.
He enlists the help of SWAT team member Calon as his own personal experiences have driven him to become a terrorist.
Calon another human survivor after the last war, he and his wife were rescued and brought to Olympus. Calon’s wife was unhappy with the belief of human imprisonment in the city so she kills herself leading Calon towards the terrorist movement after the city’s administration made him a subject.
Calon is not discovered to be a terrorist until the end of the film but is able to complete his mission before dying for the terrorist cause.
One of the main characters is Hitomi who is another bioroid who has charitable personality with human surviours from the last Global War, she rescued Deunan, Briareos and Calon from the wastelands. Hitomi is also a pacifist and loves the city but the terroists discover she has the ability to interact with the supercomputer Gaia and able to shut it down.
