Memories (1995)
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Memories Movie Review
Memories is a 1995 science fiction anthology anime film directed by Koji Morimoto, Tensai Okamura and Katsuhiro Otomo. It’s a solid, but disappointing genre flick.
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“Memories aren’t an escape“
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This is an anthology film consisting of three short films made by three prominent anime directors. In Magnetic Rose, engineers on a spacecraft board an abandoned space station and encounter disturbing paranormal forces. A young lab worker accidentally swallows a chemical weapon and becomes a walking killing machine in Stink Bomb. In Cannon Fodder, a young boy and his father fight for survival in a city functioning on paranoia.
When it comes to science fiction, I prefer hard SF with heady ideas, themes and concepts. This movie is no such thing. All three of these stories belong to that approach to genre storytelling that I do not gravitate toward myself, which is action-heavy, spectacular and militaristic. Every single story here focused on the military at least in some capacity, which to me wasn’t appealing in the slightest. That tone of intensity, action and military jargon quickly grew tiresome for me.
With that being said, Memories still had some solid concepts with Magnetic Rose being particularly original and intriguing in its basic idea. Some scenes in that section were downright exhilarating. The second story was the weakest and most action-oriented while the third one is familiar, but having a solid atmosphere and some fine moments.
The animation is gorgeous and meticulously detailed as expected from these famous anime directors. Some of the imagery was truly striking and the movie was at its best when it focused on intriguing world building and a memorable, creepy atmosphere. The sound and score are also excellent and the movie felt technically polished all-around.
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The voice acting is also solid, but the character development left a lot to be desired as the film had no time to properly develop any of these people. But at least the pacing was brisk, leading to an anthology movie that flies by.
Memories is a solid science fiction anthology anime that is particularly memorable in its first section while the second and third ones are more forgettable. The animation is gorgeous and well detailed while the sound and score are strong too. It’s an engaging and well made anthology, but I didn’t connect to it personally due to the overemphasis on action set pieces, spectacle and military. Its lack of fine characterization also bothered me. It’s a solid, but somewhat disappointing anime.
My Rating – 3.5
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