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SUMMARY

There are many worlds in this universe.  Some places only exist in the mind of a computer.  Others are threatened by a military experiment gone horribly wrong.  There are even worlds where their whole life is built around military service.

In all of these places, the drive of the human spirit is what keeps people going.  Every day of their lives brings new memories to share and treasure with everyone they encounter.

This is the world of "Memories".  Be prepared!

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: The DVD quality is excellent. On all three of our video systems, there was nary a pixel, color bleed, or wrinkle to be found.  On our Samsung, I magnified it X4, and it still was flawless.

AUDIO: This DVD has an excellent 5.1 Japanese audio track.  It has a full bodied sound, with great directionality.  During the action segments, the sounds are so clear, you will find yourself ducking for cover.

EDITS: No edits at all.  This is clean and uncut.

EXTRAS: Pretty thread bare when compared to their "Cowboy Bebop: The Movie" DVD.  All you get is a 22 minutes interview segment and some liner notes.  You get some trailers of other Anime releases from Columbia/Tri-Star, but that really doesn't count as extras.

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

STORY: While "Memories" was directed by three different people, it's "Akira" creator Katsuhiro Otomo (along with settings writer Satoshi Kon) who is presenting these three stories.  Each one is very different in tone.  One is a pure science fiction drama, one is a military farce, and the last is feels a lot like "Wings of Honneamise", with it's parallel world of development.

ACTING: The entire cast is fantastic.  With such a large group, it would take a whole page just to cover them all.  Each actor is able to bring you totally into their world, and won't let you go.

FAN SERVICE: Untouched, clean and pristine.

CONCLUSION

"Memories" is one of those titles you are afraid to pick up.  Considered one of the classics of anime film, it has a very lofty premise, and Katsuhiro Otomo isn't known for his "simple" stories.  After watching this movie, I realized that I had nothing to fear.

The first story is Magnetic Rose.  It first starts off as straight Science Fiction story, following the crew of the salvage spaceship Corona.  While heading back to their home base, the receive an SOS from a giant ship.  When they arrive, strange things start to happen.  Like the "Twilight Zone" episode "Ghost Ship", the two astronauts are forced to confront their own demons, and deal with memories of a very angry specter.

I found myself really sucked into "Magnetic Rose".  Towards the end, I was so into the character of Heinz, I was screaming at him to put on his damn helmet before something bad happens.  The way that both Otomo and Kon make this segment about the characters, not about the ghost in the ship, is beautiful.  This one is the most intense, with any parent's worst fears realized in just 30 seconds.

Next up is Stink Bomb, an epic comedy.  Centering around an office dork named Nobuo, he takes what he thinks is an experimental anti-cold medicine.  As it turns out, it's a bio-weapon designed to stink everyone into a coma.  Totally unaware of his lethality, he begins a trek to the home office in Tokyo with documents about the project.  This doesn't sit well with the Japanese or US Military, and they send a massive army to stop him.  Like the military in "G.I. Joe", none of them can shoot straight.

This one is just plain funny.  It's so over the top, you can only sit there in awe as our poor protagonist is attacked in every possible way.  There are some clever visual touches and the punch line will have you going damn!

The third and final story is "Cannon Fodder".  Taking place in a alternate world, this "memory" focuses on the day in the life of a true military town.  Their job is simple, fire one of many giant cannons at the enemies "moving city".  We see a young boy at school, learning how to fire the cannon, while his father is responsible for loading the huge shell into the cannon.

Sort of a cross between "Heavy Metal" and "Wings of Honneamise", "Cannon Fodder" is the least interesting of the three.  I was expecting to see that the boy figures out that there is no real enemy.  Instead, it is one day in the life of a family who work on a cannon.  The animation in this one is radically different from the other two, so you might be in for a shock.  You can also see where some of the inspiration for "Steam Boy" came from.

Simply put, this movie is impressive.  I was totally in awe at the three stories presented.  Each is so different in tone and style, it truly was like watching three movies at once.  It has comedic highs, spirit crushing lows, and manipulates your buttons very well.

Not only was the writing fantastic, the animation was too.  Two premiere animation studios, Studio 4C and Madhouse, produce some of their best work in this 1995 film.  The motion is smooth, and the detail is amazing.

Music plays a huge part in the film as well.  Each story has it's own unique style.  In "Magnetic Rose", music auteur Yoko Kanno utilizes classical music pieces to help augment the dire tone of the story.  Jun Miyaki in "Stink Bomb" use both reggae and "disaster movie of the week" to provide the right amount of comedy or danger to the scene.  Channeling Ryuchi Sakamoto from "Wing of Honneamise", Hiroyuki Nagashima presents a very militaristic sound along with some eclectic musical choices.  At the end of the movie, there is a techno tune is awesome.  I bet some DJ has it in their selection.

"Memories" is one of the finest anime features of the modern age.  Thanks to the wonder of DVD, future generations can share in the memories of this classic film.

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