Memories (1995 film)

Memories is a 1995 Japanese animated science fiction anthology film with Katsuhiro Otomo as executive producer, and based on three of his manga short stories. The film is composed of three shorts: Magnetic Rose (彼女の想いで), directed by Studio 4°C co-founder Kōji Morimoto and written by Satoshi Kon; Stink Bomb (最臭兵器), directed by Tensai Okamura and written by Otomo, and Cannon Fodder (大砲の街), written and directed by Otomo himself.

Originally released on home video in North America by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Discotek Media acquired the rights in 2020 along with Mill Creek Entertainment. Their 2021 Blu-ray release includes English subtitles and a new English dub produced by NYAV Post (for Magnetic Rose) and Sound Cadence Studios (for Stink Bomb and Cannon Fodder).

Magnetic Rose
The Corona, a deep space salvage freighter, is out on a mission when it encounters a distress signal and responds to it. They come upon a spaceship graveyard orbiting a giant space station. The crew's two engineers, Heintz and Miguel, enter it to get a closer look. Once inside, they discover an opulent European interior and several furnished rooms in varying states of decay, but find no signs of life.

The men learn that the station belongs to a once-famous opera diva named Eva Friedel who disappeared after the murder of her fiancé, Carlo Rambaldi, a fellow singer. Continuing to search for the distress signal's source, the engineers split up, with each experiencing paranormal encounters, including strange noises and visions of Eva. Miguel enters the dilapidated underbelly of the station, and in a cavernous chamber, he finds a broken piano playing the distress signal. He begins to hallucinate and Eva suddenly runs up to kiss him. Heintz finds a theater stage and sees Eva, who stabs him when he approaches. Suddenly paralyzed, Heintz relives a memory of his wife and his daughter Emily. The illusion disappears when Eva takes his wife's form and tells him that he "will never leave".

Heintz rushes to save Miguel, but Miguel disappears deeper into the cavern, having been seduced by Eva into thinking he is Carlo. Eva reveals to Heintz that she murdered the real Carlo for refusing to marry her and has since forced others to relive his likeness. She makes Heintz relive Emily's death, and entices Heintz to stay with his daughter's doppelganger. Heintz resists and shoots the massive computer embedded in the ceiling of the cavern, causing the AI hologram of Eva to malfunction.

Meanwhile, the Corona has been struggling against a powerful magnetic field coming from the station, pulling the ship towards it. In desperation, the crewmen Aoshima and Ivanov fire a powerful energy cannon; gouging the structure deep enough to reach the cavern before leaving on the escape pod. Heintz is ejected into space along with the skeletons of Eva's past victims, as Eva hauntingly sings to a conjured audience. The Corona is crushed and becomes part of the rose-shaped structure around the station. The whereabouts of the real (and long-deceased) Eva is shown, and a representation of Eva is seen talking romantically with Miguel (now fully embracing his new identity as Carlo). Heintz is last seen drifting in space, still alive.

Stink Bomb
Lab technician Nobuo Tanaka, battling the flu, mistakes some experimental pills for medicine and swallows one. The pills were intended to help soldiers counter biological weapons, but it reacts to a flu shot already in his body. Tanaka soon develops a deadly body odor and becomes a walking weapon of mass destruction. While taking a nap, the odor he emits kills everyone in the laboratory. Horrified, he reports the incident to headquarters, who instruct him to deliver the experimental drug to Tokyo.

Meanwhile, the odor he emits grows stronger to where it affects several miles of the surrounding area, killing every living thing that smells his odor, except flowers and plants (which are seemingly strengthened by the odor). The odor is so potent that neither gas masks nor NBC suits offer any protection against its effects. His odor kills everything in the Yamanashi Prefecture, including all 200,000 inhabitants of Kōfu city. Nobuo continues on to Tokyo unaware of the death his smell is causing, but the rest of the country is in a complete panic. The head of the research company and the Japanese military deduce that Tanaka is causing the poisonous gas and order him to be killed. The Japan Self Defense Forces try in vain to stop Nobuo, causing immense collateral damage to the Japanese countryside, but to no avail, as the chemicals in Nobuo's smell interfere with the targeting systems of their weapons.

The U.S. military, who have been observing the situation to that point, utilizes Japanese policy to take over the operation, and calls in a NASA unit with space suits to try and capture Nobuo alive. After Nobuo enters a tunnel, the Japanese army collapses part of the bridge and the tunnel behind him, trapping him with only one way out. They turn on wind generators in an attempt to stop the odor's advance. As the soldiers in space suits approach Nobuo, he becomes scared and more of his odor bursts out of him, disabling the lights and wind generators.

After the cloud settles, the soldiers appear to have subdued Nobuo. One of the suit-wearing soldiers is escorted to the military headquarters in Tokyo and delivers the drug. Then the visor opens, revealing that it is actually Nobuo inside the suit, still unaware of his deadly odor. He then opens his suit, killing everyone.

Cannon Fodder
In a walled city perpetually at war, everyone's livelihood depends upon maintaining and firing the enormous cannons that make up most of the city. Nearly every building in the city is equipped with cannons of varying size, able to fire huge artillery shells over the city walls. The story is animated into one long take, conveying the daily life of a young schoolboy; his father, who works as a lowly cannon-loader; and his mother, a munitions factory worker.

The city is surrounded by a crater-filled wasteland that is covered in clouds of smoke and dust provoked by the cannon fire. Despite propaganda emphasizing the threat of the enemy, there is no visual confirmation that this is true, or even if there is an enemy at all. The boy's father is assigned to one of the city's largest cannons: an enormous red railway gun that is personally fired by a lavishly-dressed officer. The father is blamed for a safety mishap, and made to stand next to the cannon without safety gear while it is fired again.

That night, the family is at home and hears a news report proclaiming the devastation unleashed on the enemy city. The boy then asks his father why they are fighting in the first place, only for his father to tell him that he will understand when he is older. As the boy gets into his bed, he fantasizes becoming the lavish officer who fires the cannons. As he sleeps, a civil defense siren sounds and a blue light sweeps across the window.

Magnetic Rose
Directed by Kōji Morimoto and animated by Studio 4°C. Script by noted anime director Satoshi Kon, based on a story by Katsuhiro Otomo. This episode featured music from Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Tosca. Specifically sampled in the episode was Un Bel Di Vedremo and ''Con Onor Muore... Tu, tu? Piccolo iddio from Madama Butterfly and Non la Sospiri, la Nostra Casetta from Act I of Tosca''.

Music was composed by Yoko Kanno and largely influenced by Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly. It is primarily operatic and highly involved, reflecting the serious, intense nature the film takes on as it progresses.

Stink Bomb
Directed by Tensai Okamura and animated by Madhouse. Script by Katsuhiro Otomo. Music is by Jun Miyake and uses jazz and funk as its main influence, adding to the film's chaotic, comedic nature.

It is mentioned in the interview featurette that the story for Stink Bomb is based on an actual event.

Otomo initially asked Yoshiaki Kawajiri to direct the film, but Kawajiri did not accept because the script was different from his own style. Kawajiri was involved in storyboard revisions as a supervisor, and also worked on the tunnel scene as a key animator.

Cannon Fodder
Written and directed by Katsuhiro Otomo and animated by Studio 4 °C. Music by Hiroyuki Nagashima. The score of Cannon Fodder is difficult to categorize; blending brass band, orchestral and avant-garde compositional techniques.

Through unusual animation techniques, the illusion is created that the film consists of one continuous shot or long take.

Reception
In 2001, Animage magazine ranked Memories 68th in their list of the 100 greatest anime productions. The film was met with positive reviews, although reception for each of the three stories varied. Magnetic Rose has generally been deemed the best episode,  with critics at Anime Meta-Review and T.H.E.M Anime saying it alone made the film worth watching. Anime Academy thought it was "a pure symphonic treat from start to finish” and “running only forty-five minutes, it can still be compared with the greatest anime productions in every single aspect from animation to storyline." John Wallis of DVD Talk called it "a great opener, a strong, moving story of love, loss, haunting heartbreak, and horror chills." Magnetic Rose was also regarded as "a science fiction marvel" by Homemademech’s Mark McPherson, who praised its dialogue and realistic presentation of outer space physics. Chris Beveridge from Mania.com, however, felt that the story had "some feel of being done before to some degree."

Comments on Stink Bomb and Cannon Fodder were less favorable. T.H.E.M. Anime reviewer Carlos Ross stated that "the other two entries don't quite equal the sheer excellence of ‘Magnetic Rose’. McPherson referred to Stink Bomb by saying "compared to the other episodes of Memories, it's the weakest and less creative of the bunch", while Anime Jump’s Chad Clayton thought Cannon Fodder did not "match the complexity of the preceding two films." Stink Bomb was nonetheless praised for its humor and high quality visuals.      Cannon Fodder was viewed as "the strongest work in terms of its allegorical message" by DVD Talk, and visually "inventive" by both Anime Jump and Anime Academy.  Tasha Robinson at SciFi.com described the animation of every episode as "stellar", claiming the film as a whole went "well beyond memorable".