Labyrinth Labyrinthos

Neo Tokyo is an interesting, often surreal work of anime. It covers two rather dark science fiction pieces through the framework of a young girl's imaginings. Each piece was made by a different filmmaker, making for very different animation styles and narrative approaches.

The first piece "Labyrinth-Labyrinthos" is frankly surreal, and follows the daydreams of a young girl and her cat as they look into a mirror. The short is very imaginative, with borderline psychedelic imagery. Overall, it's a good piece, though the animation is at times headache inducing.

The second short, "The Running Man," has a much more obvious narrative structure, although very little dialogue. Following the story of a futuristic race car driver with some interesting abilities, it represents a 180 degree turn from Labyrinth. The animation is excellent, with very realistic and at times disturbing renderings of car accidents. However, the lack of dialogue in this short makes it somewhat difficult to follow, a matter compounded by the fact that parts of the film are dream sequences.

The third, and best, piece is "Order to Cancel Construction," which follows the attempt of an executive to shut down a robotic construction site. The robots, which have been programmed to follow a rigid schedule, defy the executive. What makes this piece good is the subtle irony that the executive ultimately becomes as single-minded in his task as the robots are in theirs.

Ultimately, this film is good, although not great, and worth a rent.

I really enjoyed this. It had everything that Robot Carnival did not – vibrancy, humour, charm, originality, and something interesting to offer. It also does not make the mistake of being too long. Though I wouldn't really call the majority of this OAV "experimental", this style of films, with quirky, avant-garde direction tend to get boring and repetitive over time. The three shorts that make up this collection keep it snappy, and sacrifice none of their brilliance for doing so.

The opening feature, directed by the infamous Rintaro, sets the scene for a child's fantasy, only to twist in a morbid direction near the end to present the following two, darker tales.

What is it about cats and anime/manga? They must surely be the most common animal/sidekick. The fat black example in this piece reminds me of the bad-ass star of the Legend of the Galactic Pirates, not to mention the brilliant What's Michael manga by Makoto Kobayashi. The piece presents a dreamy neko-fantasy world of childhood imagination and modern art. I was reminded of more of Rintaro and Madhouse's work, for example Doomed Megalopolis or CLAMP's Tokyo Babylon. I liked it a lot, though it did almost seem out of place in light of the second two episodes.

The middle piece is easily the weakest, though not without it's charm. A well-used scenario in manga and anime forms the basis of Yoshiaki Kawajiri's (The Cockpit, Barefoot Gen) effort – high-speed, deadly races. Think Battle Angel Alita/Ashen Victor, Venus Wars, etc. It is good, however. In fact it is almost terrifying in places. The plot revolves around a seasoned pilot of superstar status. He has stayed alive longer than most, and suffers terrible stress as a result. He also just happens to have extraordinary mental abilities. The idea is stupid and the plot is tired, but bear in mind that this is more than 20 years old now, and the scenery designs are poetic Japanese visions of the future at their best. Characters resemble the best aspects of The Legend of the Four Kings or Golgo 13, and the music is fitting, and good.

Katsuhiro Ōtomo's short finishes the OAV. A lot of people go mental about this film from what I've read. It is indeed good, but comments like "a shorter Akira!!!" are wrong. The only real similarities are in the designs, and that's what happens when an anime director makes two films, dumbass.

The Order to Stop Construction, as it is called, concerns another well used concept in Japanese media – the tool becoming independent. Robots are employed to construct an immense complex in inhospitable climes, but someone gets their wires crossed (get it?) and the robotic interpretation of commands is not up for negotiation. Again, the scenery designs are fantastic – intricate and gritty in typical Ōtomo style, and the characters and robots also carry his trademark blocky look. Scenes of rainforest are not often featured in Ōtomo's work, preferring as he does visions of the concrete jungle, but here they are beautiful, and sit comfortably with the huge structures of the project as the endless process of growth and regrowth characterized by the dumb robots as well. So beautiful, in fact, that I'm reminded of Kunihiko Yuyama's awesome Windaria. No small praise indeed.

I was reminded of the existence of Neo Tokyo whilst researching Robot Carnival. Both are supposed to be "experimental anime" of a similar variety. That is wrong. The only thing the two anthologies have in common is the involvement of Katsuhiro Ōtomo. Robot Carnival sucks.

Something else which Neo Tokyo achieves which Robot Carnival cannot, is that it hasn't aged. Whilst Robot Carnival had a soundtrack of 80s disco and designs of frumpy 80s Japan, Neo Tokyo has managed to avoid such rubbish, despite being made before the former. One thing it didn't get right, or rather we in the West didn't, was the dubbing. It's bloody awful, and I was thankful for the dual-language file. The acting is bad, and the actors are miscast. Douchebags.

Is there a connection between these shorts? Do they take place in the same universe? No. Do they share a theme? No. Are they all sci-fi? Well, two are, but the first one isn't. The first two take place at night, but the last mostly during the day. Nothing on the surface is shared, although they each have a similar style and sense of imagination.

There's not much to say about this short movie. The stories are quite simple, although one is silent and vague. They're just quick glimpses into other worlds. But I liked each one of them. They're interesting, mysterious, and well-animated. There are better anthology films, but this is perfectly fine for a watch. If it interests you, give it a shot. There aren't too many movies like it.

I enjoyed these shorts, especially the Otomo one, but the first two were a little too strange for me. I give them extra points for being original and the animation in all three was stellar (I wish more TV anime was as impressive). It just didn't leave as much of an impression as Memories did. But if you're an anime or animation freak, it's worth checking out.

I can't say I always knew why was going on, but I had a good time watching Neo Tokyo.

The first of three short films inside this anthology had more of a fantastical spin than a sci-fi one, the second was a kind of grim and gritty sci-fi story that I think I connected with the least, and then the third and final part was like a blend of sci-fi and comedy. It looked at the madness of a world where robots enforce rules too strictly, having a bit of a Kafka feel, owing to the human protagonist at its centre who's slowly driven mad.

It's short and maybe not the kind of thing that'll stick with me, but I really liked two out of three shorts here, and didn't mind the other. Plus, the animation is surprisingly great throughout the entire thing.