The first story, Magnetic Rose, after repeated viewing, has become my favourite of the 3. It is beautifully presented, entrancing, and rich with symbolism. Imagine a mysterious SOS call in space transmitted as an Aria(Madame Butterfly) originating from a region known as Sargasso.

Another interesting note about this story is its 'Japanised' European setting, which is so typical of many of the Japanese Manga, grand with ostentatious gowns, decors, and furnishings.

The second story, Stink Bomb, is a hilarious parody of the singleminded, doggedness of a typical Japanese 'salary man'. Very cleverly done too.

The third story, Cannon Fodder, features a grim world of warfare and missiles. Every character in this story is grim and ugly from the environment. The teaching of warfare in school, and the little boy's enthusiastism about war, are reminiscent of the militarism in Japan leading to WW2.

This is certainly a great collection that can be watched again and again, and enjoyed even more at each subsequent viewing!

Worh the price
Review date: 2005-03-17 Rating: 6 out of 10

This little anime, or really, 3 anime's can now be had in some bargain basements.
It did'nt get a lot of attention when it appeared, and is a strange mix.
There are three 30+min films on the disc, all very different from each other.
Quote:

Magnetic Rose: Based on a manga short by Otomo, two space travellers following a distress signal are drawn into a magnificent world created by one woman's memories. (Directed by Koji Morimoto)
Stink Bomb: A young chemist accidentally transforms himself into an unstoppable biological weapon set on a direct course for Tokyo. (Directed by Tensai Okamura)
Cannon Fodder: A day in the life of a city whose entire purpose is the firing of cannons at an unknown ememy. (Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo)

Magnetic Rose has some genuinly creepy moments in it, but by the end I was loosing interest in who lived and who died. The revelation at the end was also a real non event as I had taken it for granted that it had happened anyway.

Stink Bomb was very good, and had a lot of humour in it, which does'nt usually translate very well to the west, but in this it did. I really would have liked to see more of just how they planned to stop this biological nerd.

Cannon Fodder had a very different feel to it and a very different animation style as well. The story, though I felt, had been written for just one line at the end when the little boy asks his Dad who they're firing at. The reply comes, "when your older, you'll understand".

All in all for the price this can be had for a good buy. Could easily be watched again, as most anime's can, especially if they are subtitled, as you now have a gist of the story and can sit back and enjoy the artwork more.

Three amazing short films from true legends of the genre
Review date: 2004-11-20 Rating: 10 out of 10

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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