Memories

Memories conveys three of the best anime segments ever done, even if so many anime fans don't know about it. The first time I saw Memories in a film festival in 1998 left me with such an impression that I never forgot about it. Now that finally I own the DVD, I can say that it's the same as I remembered: magnificent.

The "Magnetic Rose" segment feels at times like an homage to Kubrick's "2001 : Space Odissey", and now I could say it's a straight antecedent of the sci-fi tendency about the human mind in a simulated space which we have seen in "Dark City", "Matrix", etc. How a simulation program triggers the memories of the explorers and gets mixed with synthetic memories is done in a very intriguing form. The opera music plays a most important role, since it's the soundtrack what gives depth to the happenings here told.

"Stink Bomb" is funny as hell, taking the typical idiot hero in the Nintendo kind of plot (thhink Koji in Mazzinger, or Seya in Knigths of the Zodiac) as for what he should be (an idiot, every day man with the flu) , the story revolves around on the accidental creation of a human stinking bomb who treat hens the whole island of Japan. Real funny in a way most kid's animes aren't.

Finally, "Cannon Fodder" is the segment which I feel is the true masterpiece in this little anthology. A metaphorical world where a country is in a war against an unknown (and probably inexistent) enemy, and how the cannons are not only weapons, but the complete essence of the cultural, economical and social layers of this surreal "totalitarian" country. Some reminiscence of Orwell's 1984 is present, but the execution is really like anything I have ever seen or read before. It's a one shot segment, so I can hardly imagine the size of some background panels and the animation logistics of this. The music accentuates this strange feeling (very much like in Aeon Flux), and the unusual rendering style makes this a little strange jewel, not only from anime, but from all styles of animation.

As I said before, most movie and anime fans don't seem to know, or don't have any memories about this surreal collection of animated storied. I'm glad I'll never forget them.

Memories (3/3) - Cannon Fodder - 6.5/10

The most visually unusual of the three, Cannon Fodder also stands out because it runs for 20-something minutes, while the other two shorts are both approximately 40-45 minutes each. As much as I can gather, it's about the meaningless of war, all done with a futuristic slant that bleakly suggests the human race will never change, and firing increasingly advanced cannons will always just be a thing.

It feels satirical, but not in a truly funny way. It's kind of feel-bad and has a vibe that feels off, but that feels intentional, and I think it makes for an offbeat and sort of fitting end to the overall anthology movie that is Memories.

Amazing anime trilogy from AKIRA's Katsuhiro Otomo, who presents three unrelated sci fi stories directed by different directors (he did the last one, writers/first-time directors Tensai Okamura and Koji Morimoto did the other two). They are amazing vignettes with some stupendous animation in three different styles. Otomo's is especially unique in that there are no cuts – the "camera" moves fluidly through every scene without a jump or a stop. Morimoto's 40-min "Magnetic Rose" is stunningly animated, the most amazing of the two, telling of a space ship's investigation of a distress signal discovering a magnificent world created by a woman's memories – the music takes advantage of the operatic aria, Madame Butterfly, arranged by Yoko Kanno, who also supplies an excellent original score. "Stink Bomb," the middle segment, is clever and funny and fast-paced; Otomo's anti-war statement in "Cannon Fodder" closes out the film with a subtle bit of thought-provocation about a city whose entire purpose is the firing of cannons at an unknown enemy.

Magnetic Rose has the air of a science fiction classic about it. The plot starts out simple : a space waste collection crew receive a mysterious SOS signal, and set out to attempt a rescue mission. But what they discover exceeds their wildest expectations, and the operation spirals out of control.

The short's ambiance is allegedly inspired by Ridley Scott's Alien, and the story by Katsuhiro Ohtomo is reminiscent of other SF classics when it approaches the psychology of dreams (Solyaris) and the dangers of AI (2001), but it also approaches the subject of virtual reality in a unique and interesting way. This might seem like an odd mish-mash, but in the end it all fits together perfectly.

The thick and menacing ambiance in this short is helped by beautiful, fluid animation of a rare caliber and an excellent soundtrack that deftly combines Madame Butterfly (a story element) with electronic ambiances and its own instrumental score. Once again, Yoko Kanno delivers a masterful composition.

I'm normally not a fan of Japanese animation, but this soars above the anime landscape in terms of quality and attention to detail. In fact, after having re-watched it, it's become a favorite of mine in the realm of SF. Magnetic Rose is published as part of the compilation "Memories", but I preferred to review it by itself.

I am usually not a big fan of anime, in fact for the most part I am generally adverse to it. I ended up seeing clips of this video during a music remix on youtube and decided to check it out because it seemed to have common themes I like. The setting is a abandoned space craft drifting aimlessly that has been detected by a salvage crew. We follow two of the primary characters as they explore a very haunted house like landscape that constantly morphs from decrepit and aging to beautiful and scenic as they follow a mysterious woman in red. The story/plot was rather good for a short film being executed at a good pace and not over stuffing itself or falling short. The artwork and animation was very well done creating a wonderfully spooky atmosphere with the music supplementing it perfectly. If you are not a huge fan of anime, but enjoy horror films and good artwork this might be worth looking at. If you are a anime horror junkie you should really not pass this one up.