Such a frustrating disappointment

Beautiful, moving film.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Kanojo no omoide 4/10 - Some great music, the rest is only okay"Kanojo no omoide" is a Japanese science fiction animated movie from 20 years ago. A couple astronauts hear strange singing from a place they considered deserted. So they go on a journey to find out who or what is the reason for this strange occurrence. The director here is Kôji Morimoto, who is probably a name to animation fans these days as he also worked on a segment of the Animatrix movie. However, I must say that even if I liked the animation in here, I cannot say that i found the story too interesting. The whole tragedy plot in terms of love, fatherhood etc. was a bit over the top the longer the film went and it was also some weird contrast to the horror elements in here. All in all, I can recommend this film only for the beautiful music used in several parts. I think it would not have been the worst decision to keep this at 30 minutes max instead of 45. Not recommended.Taiho no Machi 4/10 - Never tries to make a statement on (anti-)war, but the storytelling perspective is fairly mediocre"Taiho no Machi" or "Cannon Fodder" is a Japanese animated short film from 1995, so this one is also already over 20 years old. At slightly over 20 minutes, it is the shortest by far from the trilogy of films included on Memorîzu and Katsuhiro Ôtomo is not just the writer as usual this time, but also the director. At the beginning and end, the focus is on a boy and his family and how they deal with life in a place that is vastly influenced by the military. In-between there are tons of war action and army references and we even see a character on one occasion who through his beard may have a bit too much resemblance with Adolf Hitler. Anyway, it's not a Nazi film or anything, but it is much more about the mystery who they are fighting and why, which is an idea I like. Still the exact execution here did not seem too memorable to me and the animation style wasn't really to m,y liking either I must admit, but that's just personal preference and not really because it looks older than mid-1990s. The exact plot and attention to detail, especially about the story rather than the animation could have been a bit better too and as a consequence I found most characters really forgettable, even the key players. About the voice acting I cannot say too much as I focused on the English subtitles, but I guess it wasn't too bad. Still all in all, this is not my favorite from the Ôtomo trilogy. But it's also definitely not bad enough to be a negative deal-breaker that may keep you from watching the entire thing. Nonetheless I give it a thumbs-down as a whole, this one here at least. Not recommended.Saishu Heiki 6/10 - What a difference the wrong medication makes"Saishu Heiki" or "Stink Bomb" is a Japanese anime short film from 1995 that runs for 40 minutes and was written by Katsuhiro Ôtomo and directed by Tensai Okamura, both pretty prolific in their fields. This film is easily over 20 years old already now and the story is about a young man who takes the wrong pills and eventually ends up as an environmental and military catastrophe. It is an extremely bizarre story indeed, but somehow it is actually working. Maybe my preference for this one is that I also liked the animation style here and that most of the characters were interesting enough by just being there and without really in-depth exploration and background elaboration. The twists and how a seemingly harmless story initially becomes more and more dramatic by the minute were both well-handled. You actually get curious about what happens next, to the protagonist and in general. This is not typical anime style, but still successful from my perspective. The voice actors did an okay job as well as much as I can be a judge of that as my focus was mostly on the subtitles which yours should be too unless you actually are fluent in Japanese. I am generally not that big actually on anime that isn't particularly recent, but this felt like a well-rounded effort that never drags and succeeds from all production value perspectives. A little film that is as bizarre as it is entertaining. Go see it.

Memories is an anthology film consisting of three segments. They are all sci-fi anime, but elsewise have little in common. They don't even share the theme of memories! But they're all pretty good, sporting fabulous animation and original ideas.I don't like to go into detail over individual segments, because I think people should go in as blind as possible. Half the fun in these films is never knowing what's around the corner. But I do have an odd piece of advice: Watch the shorts in reverse order. The biggest problem with the movie is that it descends in quality: "Magnetic Rose" is amazing, while "Cannon Fodder" leaves you wanting for more. I didn't hate it, but I didn't take away much from it. "Stink Bomb" deserves its place in the middle as comedic relief.Whenever funny, intriguing, or suspenseful, Memories does a general good job. Its one of the better animated movies out there, and a solid recommendation for anime and sci-fi fans alike.

I found this flick to be quite interesting visual show. Though the characters weren't developed and the stories followed the traditional clichés of film. For instance, the first part, which was the highest quality one in terms of animation, looks good but the story has been told a thousand times before, though it has some interesting twists. The other two films are shorter and contain less plot and characterization.Not that this is a bad film, quite to the contrary, I am very rigorous in my ratings: 6/10 is for a very good film, 7/10 is for an excellent film, 8/10 is for a great film, 9/10 is for a masterpiece and 10/10, well, that's reserved for the REAL STUFF.I am still searching for a non-Ghibli anime films that can even approach the level of quality achieved by Miyazaki and Co., but it appears that they are simply on another level of quality.

I saw this movie very recently. And I have to say it's an amazing flick done by 3 masterminds of Anime, including Otomo(who later directed Steamboy).All 3 episodes of this movie are both unique and well thought up.Magnetic Rose: The Date: October 12, 2092 A.D., the scrap collection ship, Corona has recently destroyed an old satellite deep in space. The crew members received an S.O.S. signal from a large heap of scrap. Heinz and Miguel went inside it to locate the source of the signal. But soon discover a world created by the memories of an Opera Diva.Stink Bomb: Nobuo Tanaka, a young chemist has been suffering from a series of colds. He went to meet a doctor who's said to have a special cold medicine to stop colds instantly. The doctor wasn't there, so he helped himself to the pills he believed to be the medicine. The next day Nobuo's wake up realizing that he overslept at his work all night. When he got up and head for his office, he noticed that everyone in the building is laying around unconscious(which he thinks they are). But little does Nobuo know is he became the strong biological weapon in the world. A stench that's so powerful it can kill a person instantly, even if you were wearing a gas mask.Cannon Folder: The everyday life in a fictional,grim,futuristic military city, where cannons are a common weapon and a defense system on every building and facility. The story revolves on a family of 3 who live through this organized and tight society. The son is a regular kid who hopes to fire cannons for a living someday. The mom works at a manufacturing like plant, while the father works with the cannon shells for the Big Cannon. The Big Cannon is the largest cannon in the city and used to fire on the unknown enemy they were fighting with. The entire episode is all done in one take animation(as in no cut scenes at all!).Those who like strange/visual/interesting anime might like this one. Memories is a memorable movie. It's available on Region 1 DVD, only in Japanese with subtitles. So if you like the sound of what this movie is about, then check it out for yourself.