Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Three amazing short films from true legends of the genre, October 10, 2004
I'm still pretty new to this wide new world of anime, so I can't really compare Memories to other works in the genre. I can say that it is a most interesting and impressive production made up of three very different short films from some of the leading names in anime. I don't think the visuals are quite as dazzling as that of more recent anime films, but the artistry of these three episodes certainly does help define the very different worlds in which the action takes place and demonstrates the compelling, visceral powers of anime. We have the celebrated Katsuhiro Otomo to thank for this project; each of the three films, if I'm not mistaken, was adapted from a short manga piece in Otomo's graphic novel Memories.
Episode One is Magnetic Rose, directed by Koji Morimoto of Animatrix fame. This is a beautiful, haunting tale of a most unusual space rescue mission. The crew of a space garbage collection ship responds to a distress signal from a dead part of space. Two crew members board the debris-shrouded vessel and enter a completely different world, one fueled by the memories of a beautiful young opera singer who apparently retreated to the isolation of space following a tragedy in her life. I won't pretend to have understood every thing about this story, but it is wholly captivating. The men encounter lavish rooms including opera houses and living quarters fit for a princess, holograms and other visual artifacts of "the young Madam" Eva entertaining guests and audiences, and decayed artifacts that sometimes come to life in front of their eyes. Each man is soon drawn into the vivid, colorful world of Eva's memories, but only one recognizes the unreality behind the vivid scenes he encounters - in his case, though, memories of his own wife and child serve as fuel for the increasingly realistic episodes he experiences. Much of the story takes place to a soundtrack of beautiful opera music such as that of Puccini, and the combination of such grand music and the amazing visual miracles that define anime of the highest caliber make this a most powerful film indeed.
Episode Two, Stink Bomb from director Tensai Okamura, goes in a completely different direction. Existing in some nebulous space between dark comedy and grim political satire, Stink Bomb is certainly entertaining but much less powerful than the other two films. In this story, a young scientific researcher takes an experimental fever pill that turns out to be something else entirely. He awakes to find everyone in the building comatose or dead (it's never really clear to me), and panicked company executives order him to find the pills and the secret documentation related to them so that he can bring everything to them in Tokyo immediately. He does just that, but he comes across death and destruction everywhere he goes. He does not understand that he has become a biological weapon emanating deadly gas from within his own body. It's almost comical to see the military firepower brought to bear - quite fruitlessly - against him as the military seeks to stop the spread of the noxious gas. The ending is also somewhat comical, on a dark level.
The last and shortest of the films comes from Katsuhiro Otomo himself. Cannon Fodder is an extremely dark film that vividly portrays a day in the life of a militaristic society along the lines of a post-modern day Prussia (i.e., pointy helmets are big in this world) dedicated solely and completely to the continued firing of gigantic cannons against some nebulous enemy. The obvious interpretation is one of the insanity of warfare, and the dark tones and grimly drawn characters bring the message home in a powerful fashion. Interestingly, the entire action seems to consist of one continuous shot that moves fluidly from one scene to another.
Memories dates back to 1995, but it is certainly an impressive example of anime's unique strengths and possibilities. The music, I should mention, plays an integral role in each film, especially Magnetic Rose - I think this DVD is worth owning just for this first amazing film alone. Otomo, Morimoto, and Okamuro are the same masters of anime who gave the world such wonders as Akira, Animatrix, and Ghost in the Shell, so anime newbies can rest assured that Memories will not disappoint.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly recommended for anime as well as sci-fi fans, January 15, 2004
I first saw a trailer for "Memories" in 1996 while watching "Sabrina" at a theater in Nagasaki. I thought the bits of animation shown, along with the music were amazing and I was back in a theater when it came out. I've seen it several times since and I still regard it as one of the better anime films out there. Top rate animation, a fantastic score - I highly recommend trying to find the Victor Japan 1 1/2 disc original soundtrack (comprised of one full sized CD and a CD single sized disc 2, in some really cool packaging) - and great stories. The animation style of the three, like the different stories, are all different. Magnetic Rose is my favorite, and some of the imagery, paired with the haunting music (combining electronic music with Puccini arias and choral works), have had a lasting effect. Stink Bomb, touching on biological/chemical warefare as well as the military, is pretty damned funny, and even more relevant in today's current global climate. The final installment, Cannon Fodder, by Otomo-san, is the most original, both in terms of the animation style/character design and in the narrative. There is a weird "child's story" feel mixed with a Pink Floyd's "The Wall" vibe. I am just really excited that this is finally out on Region 1 DVD. This is a work of anime that is definitely more accessible to mainstream audiences (especially those who dislike the big, "saucer-eyed" style of anime). I am glad that I resisted buying the much more expensive Region 2 set. And did I mention how great the music is? Utte kimasu!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Artistic Genius at work, August 22, 2004
Of the three works in "Memories", each is extremely different and contribute to a very entertaining and thought-provoking work as a whole.
"Magnetic Rose" combines beatiful artistry and harrowing audio and visual effects to create an ambience like something from a work by M. Night Shaymalan. The masterful audio score by the musical genius Yoko Kanno contributes greatly to the short. Both chilling and provocative, "Magnetic Rose" is the overall best from the three works in "Memories"
"Stink Bomb" is purely entertaining. Right from the start, we as viewers connect with the poor pharmaceutical researcher we see before us and his plight throughout this very comical and incredulous short. The music as well helps keep a "groove" as the movie flows smoothly throughout.
"Cannon Fodder" is easily the most under-appreciated work of the three. Much reminiscient of the WWII "Maus" comic written by a Jew after his experiences in Nazi-occupied Germany, "Cannon Fodder" takes us to a world that is not full of ghosts and spaceships, nor unbelievable biochem weapons, but a world not too much unlike our own- where people are vulnerable and controlled by unseen forces. It is the most thought provoking, and its style is completely apart from popular animation styles of today. The most intersting part is that the movie is one cut- meaning the backrground flows entirely throughout the movie without the scene in front us chaging suddenly.
As a whole, "Memories" offers something for everybody- from the scary moviegoer to the saturday night funny flick watcher to the ponderous artist- definitely worth 2 hours of your time.
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