Katsuhiro Otomo Presents: Memories

Katsuhiro Otomo, the creator of a little anime/manga known as AKIRA, made this anime anthology film, Memories. Like other anthology movies such as Neo-Tokyo and Robot Carnival, each chapter in it has a sci-fi element to them.

The movie is split into three segments. The first is Magnetic Rose, set in the late 21st Century where some space salvagers recieve a distress call from an abandonned station inside an asteroid belt. Two of the crew go in to investigate, but find out that it is either haunted by the spirit of a famous dead opera singer, or a deranged computer believing that it is her. The next is Stink Bomb about an employee at a pharmaceutical company who unknowingly takes a drug that makes him to give off an odor that he himself can't smell, but which causes anyone within several yards of him to die of poisoning. The Japanese government along with the U.S. military pull out all the stops to try to prevent him from reaching Tokyo, which makes for some seriously great comedic action sequences. The last one is a steampunk story titled Cannon Fodder set in an alternate world where from the point of view from a small boy, his in entire city exists to make cannons and fire them out on some unseen enemy outside their borders. The highpoint of this that it appears to be done in one continuous take.

Memories has recieved acclaimed criticism throughout the world, and seen as one of the pinnacle anime movies alongside the works of Hiyao Miyazaki, and as one of Otomo's best works outside of Akira. The animation in each chapter of it is distinct onto itself. Magnet Rose give off the erie presence of a ghost story in space, Stink Bomb is just pure thrilling hilarity, and Cannon Fodder blends the concepts of a children's tale and a George Orwell fantasy. The movie was picked up a while ago by Sony Entertainment on DVD, but in Japanese with subtitles only. If you count yourself as any kind of a fan of animation or great science fiction storytelling, then you must see this movie before you die!

For whatever reason, I ordered Memories but wasn't totally looking forward to seeing it after I got it in the mail. But partway through Magnetic Rose, I knew I was crazy and should have watched it the night I got it. I didn't know it was in Japanese with subtitles upon ordering (it's probably mentioned several times here, I just didn't pay attention to that) but I don't mind that.

Magnetic Rose seemed like an odd one to start out with, I probably would have made the order as Stink Bomb, Cannon Fodder, then Magnetic Rose. Mostly because Magnetic Rose is a the best and effecting you emotionally. It allowed enough time for an amount of character development, kept the pace up without feeling rushed, and managed a great atmosphere. It's like an animated space-opera-horror type thing, but not horror in the conventional sense. It might just be my imagination. But either way thoroughly enjoyed it

Stink Bomb, to me, was like a catchy song in visual form with its constant forward motion. The Japanese military's absurd antics to stop the chemist from bringing the toxin into Tokyo, and his absent-mindedly carrying the deadly gas all over the place. It's just the right length, never lulls or bores, and doesn't try to be anything it's not. The movie doesn't grab your shirt collar and whisper political agendas in your ear, as something with the plot could have done. It's just a fun little animated romp.

Cannon Fodder's animation style kind of put me off, keeping me from enjoying it as much as I could have. And although it had some interesting themes and a detailed world exposed in its short length, it didn't really get much done. Not much actually happened in it. Kind of a weak finisher to me, but still not bad.

Each given a star rating:
Magnetic Rose - *****
Stink Bomb - ****
Cannon Fodder - ***

All in all, a great package of three interesting anime shorts. A worthy experience.

'Memories' is a great anime that comprises three video shorts. The first two are very good, but the last video short is somewhat weak and not very interesting. The first video short, 'Magnetic Rose', is dramatic, poignant, and touching, and is in the style of the old Twilight Zone tv series. The second, 'Stink Bomb', has it's own unique gut-wrenching humor and drama and has a killer ending. I highly recommend this anime title.

this is absolutely a movie to watch. It consist of three short stories titled : Magnetic rose, stink Bomb and cannon fodder. In fact, I will not spoil the surprise by telling you much. All I can say is this; get ready to be amazed, shocked, surprise and laugh till you drop on the floor. I love to rate this movie 10 or more. But since, the rating starts from 1 to 5, I'll settle for 5. This is a movie to own and watch. And finally, I am not going to sit here to tell you not to watch this movie. Please go ahead and buy and watch it. You will not be dissappointed.

I had long suspected that the American geeky infatuation with Japanese animation (aka Japanimation or anime) stemmed from the same impulses that veered Western Intellectuals into the Eastern Mystical religions. To me, anime was merely the new name for the poorly animated cartoons that proliferated in this country back in the 1960s wave of cartoons that began with such fare as Gigantor the Space Age Robot, Kimba the White Lion, & Speed Racer. By the 80s & 90s the filmic equivalents had spawned such `classics' like Akira, & Princess Mononoke. I was wrong.... it is heartening to see a film of such daring, even when it fails, getting made & released in Japan, as well frustrating to note that no American animators would dare pick up the gauntlet this film drops- opting instead for numbingly simpleminded Disney fare, which is far more like the watered down Mysticism I expected from this anime film. Instances like this are those times I love being proved wrong. In fact, I only hope my artistic presumptions are more routinely proved wrong. I strongly recommend this DVD to both hardcore anime buffs & mere filmic afficionados. I doubt you will be disappointed.

Particularly "Stink Bomb" Ep. 2, very funny and clever. This reason I did not give a 5 star is that this DVD should have been overdubbed too. We now have a broad enough anime to USA market that most of these films should and could get good voice acting talent done to them...

Even though I was not a huge fan of "Akira", I could see that the work Otomo did with the animation was outstanding. In this production, the legendary artist and director, delivers three stories (directed by others) that are not as spectacular in terms of the graphics, but that more than compensate for this with the quality of their plots.

In Magnetic Rose, a spaceship that is ready to return home after one of their typical and uneventful missions gets a distress signal and has to provide assistance. Upon arrival, they find a strange ship, inside what looks like an asteroid. Thus starts a wonderful story, that makes us use our brain throughout its duration and leaves us thinking afterwards. The beautiful Opera music brings an emotion to the action that I have seldom seen in the genre. This was my favorite piece of this set.

Stink Bomb has a completely different flavor; it is highly entertaining, but consists of a much more linear story. A scientist fighting a cold is looking for relief and takes a pill from his boss' office thinking it is an experimental cold medicine. To his surprise it is a bio weapon that has some pretty nasty effects on humans and animals around him. This is definitely an original view on a doomsday scenario.

Finally, in Cannon Fodder we find a society dedicated to waging war. Kids in school study trigonometry to understand how to find the theoretical location of the target and aim accurately. Men work manning the cannons, which are present all over the city. Women are in charge of manufacturing the bullets. The story is interesting but compared to the other two I found it to be too slow at times. The message is conveyed loud and clear though.

The common denominator across these stories is that they make you think. This is not the typical anime, with a hero fighting against the evil guys. Instead we find stories that have many layers and messages for the viewer to discover and ponder. As I mentioned before, the graphics are not the best I have seen, but they are still pretty good. Those that are looking for a more meaningful and complex anime experience should definitely investigate this collection.

Otomo is able to break away from the juggernaut that is Akira in this three-part mastery. MEMORIES itself is three films in one, all overseen by Katsuhiro Otomo, but each possessing its own distinct self. I had originally seen Otomo's own animated portion called "Cannon Fodder" on YouTube. I was absolutely enthralled.

All three animes in MEMORIES are based upon their own respective manga. Each has a distinct visual style and the motion within each piece is uniquely fascinating.

If you are a newcomer to anime, this is the perfect introduction to what anime can do. The films are based around a narrative structure (as most anime film is), and this will help anchor down western-raised audiences who might be skeptical concerning the "validity" of an animated feature. The major hang-up that many of us get in to is that anime and animation in general is a kid's toy. This is mainly due to the fact that almost all animation in the US and western Europe is directed at children. Asia, and more particularly Japan, has been on the forefront of serious animated features almost since animation's inception.

MEMORIES is also a strong addition to avid anime enthusiasts. I can't recommend MEMORIES higher. It's an amazing production and I am very proud to say I have it.

I found this little gem in a used bookstore going for a couple of bucks. I'm glad I purchased it! The stories were engaging, the level of quality of the animation is on par with the constantly evolving nature of Japanese anime.

The three installments were an excellent blend of stories, giving this film real depth.

If you find this film as I did, languishing on a shelf somewhere, pick it up! Even if you are predisposed to buying new, this is one film you should DEFINITELY see!!!!

I really liked this 3 short stories, all are great but my favourite is Magnetic Rose, If you like watching anime, you should watch this and enjoy the very best.

I watched Memories back in the 90s when it was still hard to come by here in the US. Arriving in the US nearly 10 years after it was made, the film stands among the best of the current crop of anime, as it should being produced by some of Japan's masters. And while the animators are different on each of these pieces, the constant is Otomo, providing the stories for all three and himself directing the final segment.

The first segment is the beautiful and somewhat horrific Magnetic Rose, where a ship's crew stumbles upon a world produced by a girl's memories. Imagination in designed is paired with a beautiful soundtrack, heavily based on Madame Butterfly. Despite the scifi aspect commonly found in anime, this piece has a certain elloquence and beauty to it that just doesn't find its way into modern anime. I love the way the girl's memories start preying on the ship's crew with some of their own.


The second piece, entitled Stink Bomb is right at home on Otomo's Resume. Produced by Madhouse studios, the story revolves around a man who contracts a certain odor from a lab that kills whoever smells it. With tongue firmly in cheek, the story follows the government's folly of trying to contain it. It reminds me a lot of Otomo's own Roujin Z. It's the lightest segment on Memories, preparing the viewer for the conclusion.

Otomo directs the final segment, Canon Fodder, which shows a dark dystopic world where the inhabitants fire canons at each other all day. While some of the artwork seems almost comic, the mood of the story is not. Otomo again provides a satire criticizing the very thought of going to war and the sometimes ambiguous reasons for fighting.

After watching Memories, I couldn't help but feel that Otomo has positioned himself as something of a satirist in the world of manga and anime. He did it with Akira, though quite subtly, and moreso with Roujin Z and even in Steamboy. It's nice to see one of the masters still at the top of his game, producing meaningful works high above the sex and violence fare of lesser anime titles.

Memories lived up to my expectations, as did the shipping. It is worth the price for this classic masterpiece. If you like anime of any sort, this is the DVD for you.

The movie is really three different short works. The first is "Magnetic Rose" where the crew of a space garbage collection ship answers a distress call. The two men who go into the wreckage to find the beacon get separated and confused by holographic programs, automated systems, and an AI of the original owner of the ship -- who believes she is alive. In "Stink Bomb" a young man gets a flu shot and goes to work where he takes a dose of an experimental drug rather the cold medicine he thought he was taking. The mix of drugs in his system has an strange and catastrophic effect on those around him. Then there is "Cannon Fodder" where we spend a day with a family who live in a city fighting a war. A war that they've fought so long that no one remembers who they are fighting anymore or even why.

All of these are beautifully rendered and each has their own unique look and mood from the dark, dreamy, chaotic feel of "Magnetic Rose", to the buccolic "Stink Bomb", and the urbanized, regementation of "Cannon Fodder". Each of the three pieces in some way hinge on memory -- to one degree or another -- but that link it sort of up to the viewer to make as they process the film after viewing.

Like most anime, you're dropped into the story and must make your own leaps of logic to pull it together and add the meaning to what is going on. They don't spoon feed you the 'message' of the film, it's for you to determine what it is.

Possibly the finest compliation of pieces ever put together. There is not a second of this DVD or its 3 movies that I am disappointed with. Magnetic Rose being my favorite of the three. Im not sure I could say it any better then some of the other reviwers on here. Just wanted to toss my two cents in.

Memories actually puts together not just three, but four of the greatest anime talents ever because Satoshi Kon (of "Perfect Blue" fame, and more recently "Paranoia Agent") is the writer for the first episode, "Magnetic Rose". With these guys at the helm, I was pretty confident that Memories was a good investment the moment I ordered the DVD.

First off, we have "Magnetic Rose", which is hands down the most striking of the three. A group of space salvagers zero in on an SOS signal from a nearby ship. Two men are dispatched to the scene, and it is discovered that the ship belongs to Eva, a famous opera star from the distant past. Although mathematically impossible, it would seem as if Eva is still alive somewhere in the ship. As the men search for her, they are somehow absorbed into her memories as various events in her life flash before them. All of this take place amidst the ruins of a grandiose palatial ship, while Eva repeatedly sings the Madame Butterfly aria "Un Bel Di Vedremo" in the background. Magnetic Rose is a haunting and emotionally compelling tale which showcases Satoshi Kon and Koji Morimoto's penchant for blurring the line between fantasy and reality. I found it creepy in a good way, such that I felt my hairs standing on edge as I took in the stunning visuals and lingering operatic theme music.

Next in line is "Stink Bomb", which I found rather difficult to classify. It's not serious, but it's too morbid to be considered a comedy. A regular joe named Nobuo works in a research lab somewhere in the mountains. He comes in with a rather bad cold, and downs one of the capsules he finds on his boss' table. He thinks it's a new fever-reducing drug, but it's actually something else. Nobuo wakes up and finds everyone around him dead, not knowing he is actually the cause. Nobuo is so oblivious to everything that's happening around him that it gets really irritating watching everyone literally drop dead whenever he approaches. However, the story progresses to such an incredulous level of unrealism that one can't help but be truly entertained. Somehow, combining an exasperating main character with ridiculous premises works for Stink Bomb. The art and animation don't have as strong an initial impact as those in Magnetic Rose, but Stink Bomb's visuals are no less meticulously detailed to perfection.

Last of the three is "Cannon Fodder", which I consider the weakest and my least-liked piece. Cannon Fodder is mainly about a society which thrives on war. Citizens spend each day loading and firing cannons at an unknown enemy for the sake of patriotism. One family in particular is focused on. The father is a cannon loader, while the son dreams of being the one to fire the cannon when he grows up. Father, mother, and son interact just like any other family -- except that they live only to fire cannons. Nothing really special happens in the story, it's simply a slice of a very peculiar yet boring life. The visuals resemble highly stylized pencil sketches that one would expect to see on display in museums, and not in anime. I didn't really care for the unsightly character designs but Cannon Fodder's overall look exuded a certain sophistication that was impossible not to appreciate.

With these three masterworks in tow, Memories is truly a memorable collection well worth a spot on any anime collector's shelf.

Memories consists of three seperate Anime stories, all with their own style but with themes that are very alike, that being technology and its effect on humanity. Each story takes its own direction, with "Magnetic Rose" taking the horror side, "Stinkbomb" taking a comedic side, and "Cannon Fodder" taking a side somewhere between the both of them, with an emphasis on animation rather than story. When put together, Memories makes one great Anime film to sit down and watch all at once or seperately. This is a great film for introducing people to Japanese Animation. It's never too violent, there's no nudity, and it's not so serious as to strangle you with tension.

I loved Stink Bomb! It's on the scale of the classic Twilight Zone episodes! Great story with a great ending! Everything else is so high quality that it really makes you appreciate animation when it's done well.

Memories is made up of three seperate stories. In the first, Magnetic Rose, two space travlers are drawn into an asteroid world created by one woman's memories. In Stink Bomb, a young lab assistant accidentally transforms himself into human biological weapon set on a direct course in Tokyo. The final episode, Cannon Fodder, depicts a day in the life of a city whose entire purpose is the firing of cannons at the enemy.

Another favorite of mine is Memories, a lavish omnibus written by Katsuhiro Otomo creator of Akira.

The first, and longest of the shorts is Magnetic Rose, directed by Koji Morimoto.

An old tank roams deep space in search of Junk. The Corona is home to a four-piece salvage crew; a grizzled pilot named Ivanov; his wisecracking assistant, Aoshima; an irrepressible skirt-chaser, Miguel; and an estranged family man named Heinz. The ship's alarm is triggered by Puccini's Madam Butterfly and a SOS from an asteroid of swirling debris in Sargasso, the graveyard of space.

Heinz and Miguel are dispatched from Corona in a key-shaped pod and maneuver through the orbiting field of debris. There's a spectacular shot of the pod free falling. Huge doors usher Miguel and Heinz into a massive French ballroom. A cherub statue quickly whisks away after greeting them. They explore the rooms of the palace and discover a shrine, dedicated to opera diva, Eva Friedel. In another room, Heinz's flashlight spots a little girl at the edge of a table. The statue tips and shatters on the floor before he can reach it. In a darkened corridor, his flashlight glimpses a familiar child tumbling out of the ceiling. Heinz enters a room and finds himself center-stage with a beautiful woman. When her knife plunges into his chest, painful memories in his past are awakened.


Miguel has memories of his own. Everything he touches is destroyed. Fine silk dresses become dust. Vibrant roses blacken and shrivel at the slightest contact. Miguel tumbles down broken steps into a lake of oil. There's a decaying pavilion and a piano beneath it. He touches one of its badly broken keys and, in an instant, everything becomes new. The beautiful, French singer whose images adorn every wall of the palace falls into his arms.

Magnetic Rose is the tale of an egotistical diva, her glory, and her undying love. This anime is probably the standout of the three, although by a very narrow margin. The technical side of Magnetic Rose is staggering. Shipmates float around each other in zero-g. The Corona is a cylindrical vessel with detailed underbelly propulsion systems, rear solar panels, airlock hatches and cameras. Reconnaissance pods have reversible cockpits and mechanical arms. Small robots transport pods and payload along truss-like structures. The spacesuits (Loaders) resemble tanks with arms.

The palace depicted in Magnetic Rose mirrors the baroque excesses of its queen. Classical columns line vast rotundas, bronze and marble balustrades compliment monumental staircases. Grand arches frame every door. Cherubs and allegorical figures embellish every vase and plinth, tray, bowl and candleholder. Ornamentation accents every window. Pillars frame a huge, jeweled entablature with Eva's portrait. Corridors are lined in rich, red carpet. There is no surface of the palaces' interior that is not decorated and though only snippets of her life are recalled, the sheer scope and flamboyance of the palace seem to imply a very sad woman. Magnetic Rose is a bittersweet tragedy set in the isolation and darkness of deep space.

The second tale of this trilogy is Stink Bomb, directed by Tensai Okamura.

The tale is set in the prefecture of Yamanashi Japan, home of Mount Fuji. It begins inside of a crowded clinic. Nobuo Tanaka has a serious nose-drip. The doctor gives him a shot, a prescription and sends him on his way. In the following scene a bus drops him at the bottom of a hill. Recognized by a security guard, Nobuo slugs up the hill to his job, Nishibashi Pharmaceutical company.

Nobuo can't stop sneezing. Wads of tissue and empty medicine bottles overflow his wastebasket. A concerned co-worker recommends the new fever medicine the company recently developed; it hasn't been diluted for sale to the public yet. And they're on the chief's desk. The blue capsules in the red case.

The Chief is out of his office. Of the two bottles on his desk, Nobuo recalled what his co-worker said and took the blue case with the red capsules. The Chief is livid when her returns and discovers that the pills on his desk have been bothered. Reluctantly, the co-worker that told Nobuo about the fever medicine steps forward. What's the big deal over a little fever medicine? The Chief is furious.

Meanwhile a strange, curious smell permeates the facility: was it something someone ate? Perfume? Rats scramble in their cages. Nobuo wakes up in the lounge. Those fever pills were strong. He checks his watch. A day had passed! Why didn't someone wake him? The halls are empty. The receptionist is slumped over at her desk. Every room's a state of helter-skelter, his co-workers, the lab animals in all of their cages, all lay out. Nobuo grabs the phone and dials the ambulance. The Chief's office is ransacked. Boxes that had covered the wall were scattered around the Chief. His outstretched finger is frozen over the BIOCOM alarm, a control panel the boxes concealed. Nobuo depresses the button. The console pops from the wall, warning lights flash, sirens wail, heavy steel doors fall down separating the compartments of the facility. Monitors light up the wall. Kyoichi Nirasaki of the New Medicine Development glares down at Nobuo. Nobuo explains that he woke from a nap and found everyone unconscious. Nirasaki's scowl softens. He leans to the camera with instructions that Nobuo bring certain papers and medicine to him personally, at Tokyo Headquarters. The medicine is actually a biological weapon the pharmaceutical lab was developing for the military. Ingested, it transforms the ordinary soldier into a toxic weapon, harmless only to himself. Nirasaki orders Nobuo to bring the medicine and all related research to him immediately.

Nobuo sets off on his bicycle with the bundle containing the medicine and research. The ambulance he called is gathered in a smoldering pile of wrecked vehicles. Birds fall out of the sky. Sunflowers and Cherry Blossoms bloom together.

A secret meeting of military leaders is hastily convened in the SITUATION ROOM beneath Tokyo headquarters. Bright maps line a massive rotunda. Tiers of computers fluoresce. On a plateau, Generals gather around a map of Japan. Mr. Narasaki, head of Nishibashi Pharmaceuticals and Nirasaki of Development brief them of the situation, that an employee named Nobuo Tanaka is bringing the drug and all related materials to the Headquarters. He is the only survivor of the pharmaceutical company. The Japanese General scolds Mr. Narasaki loudly. Nobuo Tanaka is the lone survivor and he is bringing the samples directly to Headquarters?

All westbound traffic on Chuoh Freeway has been cut off. Eastbound traffic is at a standstill. And sensors in the disaster area have indicated that the center of the disaster is moving towards the heart of Tokyo. To make matters worse, all the chaos and death is making Nobuo nervous and the drug he took reacts to his metabolism; the more afraid he gets, the more dangerous he becomes. No matter what, he must be made as calm as possible, which is not an easy thing to do with the Japanese Forces bearing down. They must stop the cloud of stench from reaching Tokyo at all costs.

Of the three episodes on Memories, Stink Bomb is the lightest in terms of execution and mood, a black comedy in the tradition of DR. STRANGELOVE. Here the `Doomsday Device' is a young chemist with lethal B.O. Stink Bomb seizes on the Anthrax scare by creating the ultimate biological weapon, a scared human.

Stink Bomb is unabashedly stereotypical. The Japanese General is short and feisty while the U.S. General is a cool and constructed on a massive scale. The Japanese would like to destroy the weapon's courier, America would prefer to capture the subject. Ground zero is the WAR ROOM, not map coordinates or the general populace.

There is an awesome display of detail in the movie's military hardware. There are tanks identical to the Type 90 MBT (main battle tank) of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. A scene on national route 20 shows a convoy of these machines; steel sprockets rotate caterpillar tracks. When the commander in one of the tanks spots Nobuo, the turret rotates in the center of the hull and the main gun pivots on the target. This sequence affords a 3D view of the tank's armature: the 120mm main gun; grenade dischargers mounted on the sides of the turrets; co-axial machine guns mounted above and behind the main gun and overhead views of the hatches, periscopes and cupolas. A scene inside one of the tanks shows the commander and gunner in the front section of the hull, on either side of the Main Gun's enormous breech. Profiles show the steel `skirts' overlapping the caterpillar tracks.

And jets are also on display including the F15J, the Japanese variant of the U.S Air Force's F15C. The engines are shown starting up, turbine vanes rotate, nozzles expand and afterburners feed white-hot exhaust blasting out the back. In flight there's a panoramic view of other jets, the sky and clouds. A transparent display (HUD) grid is projected on the cockpit window. The pilot pulls and pushes the center-mounted joystick and adjusts the throttle with the left joystick. Rudders tilt in opposite directions and the wings become vertical offering a view of the plane's underside. Radar pods are mounted near the inlets and sidewinder missiles are clustered against its plate-welded belly. Flaps on the vertical and horizontal portions of the tail pitch the nose in every direction.

The American spacesuit in Stink Bomb is modeled after AX-5, a NASA prototype. It is similar to NASA's current EMU except that the limbs and torso are `hard' spheres articulated by basketball-sized joints (bearings) to allow free movement.

Astronauts are transported by Naval helicopter to the Takao Mountains where the Japanese army has Nobuo trapped in a partially collapsed tunnel. The U.S. officer gloats that the astronauts' suits are impregnable from all types of radiation. In this scene every feature of a real space suit is duplicated. Oxygen hisses out of elbow ducts. They have sleeve-mounted keypads. High-pressure hoses slither out of their bodies into huge backpacks equipped with helmet lights. Their hinged, iron feet plant solidly with each step and a metallic tint crackles over their visors as they enter the tunnel.

The final episode of Memories is a very brief tale called Cannon Fodder, written and directed by Katsuhiro Otomo.

A canon on a medieval castle shatters a kingdom, the broken pieces come together and the process is restarted. The camera pulls back from the clock shaped headboard. An iron-colored boy throws the covers back.

The child hops up, slips into a green army jacket and a red helmet. In the hall he pauses to gaze up at an enormous portrait, that of a Prussian commander posing beside a cannon. The interior of the home is a riveted, airtight cave. Pipes run parallel, branching, knotting and twisting, dividing and subdividing from floor to ceiling. Hot steam is sneezed out of safety valves. The family-- father, son and mother are almost invisible. Their complexions are as dull as the solder linking the pipes around them. Mom hands them both steel lunchboxes. Dad dons his helmet and pulls on his pale-blue tunic. The open frame of the elevator shaft provides a citywide view. Every steel and stone building is scorched, every rooftop near and far has a cannon.

A haze of acrid smoke dissipates, consecutive doors on a giant train pop open. Gray men dismount and trudge down the pier in double file behind sections of propaganda. The slogan: NO CONQUEST WITHOUT LABOR is plastered on every surface with the `s' spelled with Waffen double lightning bolts. They clock in one by one and pull on respirators.

In another scene, children in pickelhaubes listen vaguely as the teacher lectures them on cannon shooting. The son gazes out the window, longingly at a small, gray planet. It is, in fact, the domed turret of cannon number 17. The long barrel extended through the turret slot where inside it is mounted to an enormous edifice. The workers on it are specks. A hasty gun-loading drill is called. An army of laborers scramble to their tasks. An elephant-sized bullet is rolled out. A crane hoists it to the platform where it is carefully lined up and rammed into the breech. A rail platform rolls out with the charge canister. The crane hoists it to the platform and rams it in behind the projectile. The temperature of the charge is checked, also the air temperature and wind currents. A circular platform rotates the enormous carriage as the barrel is elevated.

The loaders hustle off the floor and gather at the observation window. A round, dignified officer appears from one of the tunnels. His chest is decorated with medals. His pickelhaube is golden and his red cape is flowing behind him.

He stops beside the cannon and a lift rises out of the floor and sets him up on the cannon's platform. He strides past the breech and up to the plateau along the shaft, up to a small pedestal labeled 17. A panoramic scene shows the dome's interior walls, the laborers at the observation window and the turret slit, down the cannon and back to the shooter. The long muzzle aimed at the empty sky. The shooter tosses his cape and snaps on his facemask. He draws the switch and BOOM! A cloud of fire and smoke explodes over the city. Female laborers in military formation salute the cannon from a nearby factory. Acids burn the air.

Another scene shows the father being punished for a mistake on the loading platform. He and his team are ordered to stay out in the shooting area. Again, the shooter appears, indifferent to the laborers lined across the platform. The energy released from the cannon is awesome. A scene falls from the scorched clouds. Down stratified buildings with turrets on every level and cannons aimed in all directions. Along tarnished networks of lead ducts and plumbing to the stiff atmosphere of the world below. The view floats through the window of a family resting from a day's labor. Propaganda blares from the radio. Cannon blasts of the day are tallied. Dad and son are at the kitchen table. Son is applying crayons to a crude drawing of an Imperial Shooter. Dad is engrossed by the small, metal television. Mother, who's at the sink calls out. It'll be lights out soon. The iron-colored boy asks his father one last question: who were they shooting? He'll understand, his father tells him... when he's older.

Cannon Fodder depicts a Reich society where ideologues and machines rule tiny people. War and paranoia occupy every moment. Valves, gauges and primitive machines are aesthetic. Home is a pressurized hull. And rooms are modular units separated by bulkheads.

Life is dull. But each member of the unit has a purpose: mom works in an assembly line in an ordnance factory. Son studies cannon shooting physics in school. And father's job is loading.

Coal and steam pollutes everything. Giant locomotives belch thick, dirty clouds onto crowded platforms. Respirators are fashion accessories. Cobbled streets and stone buildings are smoked with ash. Faces are grim and eyes are stamped with hard rings.

Cannons blossom over the streets daily. From the tallest structure and longest muzzle the scene beyond the kingdom is a pocked wasteland. By the end an air raid siren is completely ignored.

Cannon 17 in Cannon Fodder is a slight exaggeration (very slight) of the `Gustav Geschutz' siege gun that Hitler employed ordnance maker Alfried Krupp to construct. He wanted a `super-gun' that could pierce a meter of steel, seven meters of concrete and thirty meters of compact earth!

Alfried Krupp's company was the epicenter of German rearmament during World War 2. In Essen, an industrial city in northwest Germany, he owned some of the biggest machines in the world. Piercing presses weighing 1,500 tons, 2,500-ton drawbenches, turning lathes, furnaces, in-house electrical and water plants. In 1941 Krupp produced a gun capable of firing 8-ton shells and hitting targets thirty miles away! The tube and breechblock encompassed half a football field. A giant axle gear pivoted the 800mm muzzle, and a carriage, two twenty-axle bogies and two parallel sets of tracks supported a machine weighing 1,350-tons, four stories off the ground.

Hitler's original plans for the gun was to crush the network of bunkers along the German frontier France had built between 1920-1936 following the Versailles Treaty. But Germany's panzer divisions, under General Erich von Manstein, plowed through the harsh Ardennes wilderness and outflanked France.

Crimea, a peninsula south of Ukraine and north of the Black Sea, became a suitable target for the Gustav weapon. Hitler used it to destroy Russian fortifications at Sebastopol and Kerch. A spur of four semicircular tracks was attached to the Simeropol/Sebastopol Railway. The gun's muzzle was pointed at the line of forts around Sebastopol Bay. When the shelling ended, Sebastopol's population of 80,000 had been decimated to 200 by 30,000 tons of artillery, 50 tons day and night for 25 days. Of this, 300 eight-ton shells came from the Gustav. Sebastopol was obliterated and on July 1 '41 Germany seized this important Russian position.

But in Cannon Fodder an enormous gun fires at an unknown enemy. Fluffed clouds lie like bunkers on the horizon. Cannon Fodder's main gun becomes a giant metaphor for technology and ideology. Its laborers are reduced to gunpowder, a blind, potent, unthinking force.

In Cannon Fodder war is God. A boy stands beneath the portrait of a Prussian Commander, profiled heroically beside a cannon. Bare metal walls are devoid of color and art. War movies play inside of rifled gun tubes. Workers march in file. Giant guns are worshipped with straight-arm salutes. Music is dangerous. In one scene, a small boy is punished and taken away for having a music helmet. War slogans `no conquest without labor' and `KO to the enemy' plaster public buildings. All schooling and labor is centered on the war effort.

Cannon Fodder is an analogue of Nazi Germany. Stairs running parallel zigzag at wide angles like those in Ludwig's villa. A cobblestone circle is almost identical to Karlsplatz Square and there's a junction that is very similar to the East-West axis Hitler planned for Berlin.

The Neoclassical style of architecture was used in Cannon Fodder. Hitler was fond of this style for public buildings and commissioned architect Albert Speer to design them on Roman models of permanency, of granite and marble and scaled to monumental proportions. Throughout Cannon Fodder people are juxtaposed with mountain-sized buildings and machines and showed from distances to give the impression of insignificance in relation to the whole as Hitler intended for German citizenry. The philosophy of both Nazi and Roman architecture was to use size to overawe and intimidate. In Cannon Fodder the facade of a train platform becomes a Roman Temple.

SA eagle motifs are squeezed inside montages interlacing each scene. There's a scene where architecture from each period of history is stacked like a pyramid. The apex is represented by bulky, squared-off structures of steel. Further down, widening angles are sewed together with pipes, conveyors and ducts. Metal gradually becomes stone. Roman pavilions and medieval castles extend across the base with cannons aimed in every direction. At the very bottom, wheezing in the shadows, humans suffocate in airtight homes.

Cannon Fodder is brief, running only ten minutes. Layers of insight and artistic skill make it the heaviest of the three segments. Not so much about Reich Germany as it is about the culture of fear. Nazi motifs are used to amplify the extreme state of jingoism. The enemy isn't Russia or France. Throughout the fable there's never any indication that the city is even being threatened, just senseless shooting. And individuality is outlawed in several instances. No one knows who the enemy is yet daily the senses are assailed from all directions by every medium. Even the scene near the end with all the buildings piled together is ambiguous. Sometimes it looks like a pyramid or Babel, or even components of a battleship thrown together. Cannon Fodder is a great little Anime... and a warning disguised as low-calorie entertainment.

5 stars! and that's just for Magnetic Rose, the first of three stories told in Memories. With three different directors all putting their own specialities into Otomo's work, it creates an amazing and diverse experience in watching.They are put in an order that i found to be the order in which i liked them. I was blown away by Magnetic Rose, so just buy this set and watch them.