Anime Review: Memories

From Katsuhiro Otomo, acclaimed creator of Akira, comes an animated masterpiece; three short stories all put together as a series of Memories. Part one is titled Magnetic Rose, a science fiction tale that tells a chilling story of love, loss, and the unwillingness to forget. Part two is titled Stink Bomb - a tongue-in-cheek story of a chemical researcher who is just looking for a way to get rid of his cold... so why is everybody around him dying? Story three is titled Cannon fodder, and is an introspective tale about modern wars and simply following orders. Music conducted by Yoko Kanno, Jun Miyake, Hiroyuki Nagashima, and Takkyu Ishino.

(Source: AniDB)

Memories Genres: Drama, Horror, Psychological, Sci-Fi

Memories Synonyms: Katsuhiro Otomo Presents: Memories, Magnetic Rose, Stink Bomb, Cannon Fodder, Kanojo no Omoide ??????, Saishuu-heiki ????, Taihou no Machi ????

Memories Studios: MADHOUSE, Horipro,

Memories Review

Memories is a visually impressive bundle of movies, but an inconsistent one when it comes to story

Memories is a series of movies released in 1995, consisting of three different short stories that actually don't really have an underlying theme among them. As such, they are of inconsistent quality and execution, though one thing remains in all of them - the spectacular animation.

Katsuhiro Otomo is known for Akira, plain and simple, regarded as one of (if not the) best animated anime to date. But he's not the only one behind this production, which also has Yoko Kanno (known for her work in Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell) and Satoshi Kon (one of the most visually creative directors anime has had). Given the A team involved, it's almost a given how good Memories is supposed to be. However, as the three short movies are very different, they need to be talked about separately.

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Magnetic Rose is the first movie and the one on which the title "Memories" fits the most. A story about regret and escapism shot in space, it has impressive use of holograms and machinery to create a world born of nostalgia and denial of tragedy. Being set in space, one thing in particular that's very impressive is how natural movements feel when it comes to gravity - whether there's none, little, or full. Story and theme-wise, it is the strongest film in the bundle.

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Stink Bomb is, well, a stink. Early on one can know, from the use of the soundtrack, that this is primarily a comedy, and as one, it just isn't funny. While the protagonist is nonchalantly trying to do what he thinks is his job, everyone around him scrambles as fast as they can in order to survive, or even outright try to kill him. It remains just as strong in the visual front - the amount of movement in particular is of note, with several soldiers and citizens in one frame moving at the same, several explosions happening at once, and a small motorbike making its way through all that. The gas visuals are also impressive.

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Cannon Fodder is the most visually impressive of the bunch. I didn't double check, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were less than five 'hard cuts' in this film. The 'camera''s perspective is moving at almost all times, with an incredible range of movement from the foreground and background at the same time. It leads to an unfortunate side effect once or twice of the foreground and background feeling like two different cells altogether, one stacked on top of the other, but it happens so little (and it's so impressively looking otherwise) that it's easily forgivable. The art style is also very different from the other movies, having a more rough drawing style, with lots of lines. Many times it felt like an in-game shot cutscene, complete with first person perspective. Amazing stuff.

As a whole product, Memories feels sort of disjointed. There are some incredible visual strengths at play in all entries, but very little story in most, with only Magnetic Rose really having a noticeable effort in that regard. There doesn't seem to be an underlying purpose for all of these to be packaged together other than being a showcase of the staff's talents, and so, one entry being weak unfortunately affects the whole thing. While Magnetic Rose and Cannon Fodder can stand by themselves as great anime movies, Stink Bomb brings the whole thing down one or two notches, despite still being visually impressive. If you're a fan of animation and direction, you owe yourself to watch this one - even if Stink Bomb sours it a bit.