I agree with Radd for the most part, but I'm so used to asking questions like that when watching any Asian movie that I'm now prepared to turn that part off for enjoyment sake.
The traumatic childhood excuse was hokey, but that's the explanation they give so not accepting it is kinda useless.
The part where her mom's spirit types the last letter was kinda hokey for me.
But I didn't really come away disappointed. I was really happy to see Guges and Spider Tank Platforms battling it out. The action part and some parts from the manga more than makes up for it. Like I said, I'm so used to most Asian movies being hokey that I can't fault Appleseed's storyline. I didn't sit down expecting Kurosawa or anything. I'm just thankful it's not Oshii.
Some things that did bother me are the "too cool" sequences, like Duenan jumping out of the building to get into the Guges. I'd be too freaked out to do that, especially when the word 'TEST' is written all over it. The scene where it disappears from the eye and all you see is the whater splash is definitely cool though.
I'm looking forward to more Appleseed stuff to watch.