The Long Dark Marathon of the Soul 2022: Memories (1995), directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, Koji Morimoto and Tensai Okamura

 

The Trailer

and

The Appropriate Tune: 'Memories.' by Chromonicci

       Anime is big business these days, and a big part of that big success is in what experts call the ‘anime movie’. Call it cringey or kiddy if you want, but there’s no denying that some of the most successful films in recent times have been animated films from Japan. Didn’t that movie based on Demon Slayer make like a billion dollars at the box office? And those two Dragonball Z movies hit number 1 in the U.S., right? Wild.

       If you were to ask the average person on the street about the directors of these Japanese animated movies however, the only name you’re likely to hear is Hayao Miyazaki. Which is unfortunate, because even though Miyazaki’s reputation is well earned, reducing any segment of art down to a single creator does a disservice to art itself. So how about we use our anthology movie pick of the Marathon to put a spotlight on some new guys, and a guy that loyal blog readers have seen before.

       Released in 1995, Memories was directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, Koji Morimoto and Tensai Okamura, written by Otomo and Satoshi Kon, and produced by Atsushi Sugita, Fumio Sameshima, Yoshimasa Mizuo, Hiroaki Inoue, Eiko Tanaka and Masao Maruyama through Studio 4°C and Madhouse, based on manga by Katsuhiro Otomo. In ‘Magnetic Rose’ (directed by Morimoto) a down-on-their-luck team of salvagers in 2092 respond to a distress signal on an enormous abandoned spacecraft once owned by a famous opera singer, although it seems to be home to something else now. In ‘Stink Bomb’ (directed by Okamura), bumbling scientist Nobuo Tanaka takes an experimental drug to cure his cold only to accidentally become a weapon of mass destruction in the process. Finally Otomo himself takes the lead in ‘Cannon Fodder’, a slice of life story centered around a family in a city so dedicated to warfare that the whole of society is centered around firing cannons, although who exactly they’re firing these cannons at is something of a mystery. Topics such as obsession, the persistence of memory, fascism and how other people at the comic convention feel when you refuse to shower or use deodorant will be addressed.

       When it comes to anthology films, especially those based on the works of one person, it can sometimes be difficult for each story to stand out. Animation helps to alleviate that problem; While all three stories feature a kind of violent morbidity that feel right inside the wheelhouse of the man behind Akira, the fact that each story features a radically different art style really helps to distinguish one from the other. Magnetic Rose uses a more realist style that modern anime fans would find reminiscent of films like Perfect Blue and Paprika, Stink Bomb is brings to mind the work of Naoki Urasawa (‘20th Century Boys’, ‘Billy Bat’), while Cannon Fodder brings to mind Pink Floyd’s The Wall and Monty Python. Of the three Cannon Fodder looks the most unlike what you’d expect from an anime film, with its heavily shaded, heavily stylized people stuck in a fascistic hell of steam and heavy industry, and it’s the one I like the most. Although at the end of the day all three look good, and they’re all animated with the degree of quality you’d expect from Madhouse, which has gone on to become Japan’s premier anime studio.

       Of course in all anthology films there’s always a centerpiece story, whether intentional or otherwise. For the Twilight Zone movie it was NIghtmare at 20,000 feet, and for Memories it’s certainly Magnetic Rose. It’s the longest of the three segments, and certainly the most ambitious in both what it’s trying to say and what it’s trying to show on a visual level. Those coming into this film from Akira will likely find the greatest level of familiarity with Rose as well, high-concept science fiction involving the nature of reality featuring highly fluid animation, and of the three it’s the only one that feels like it could have been expanded into its own feature-length film without much issue. I don’t know if I would have done that though personally, as I think the contrast between Rose and the more comedic, stranger stories really elevates the entire film.

       Diverse art styles pair well with diverse music. Anime fans will be pleased to see the name Yoko Kanno as the composer for Magnetic Rose, who would later go on to score the legendary Cowboy Bebop. Jun Miyake provides a little bit of ska for Stink Bomb, and Fumitoshi Ishino of techno group Denki Groove bookends the film with some hard dance beats. It’s a soundtrack made for vinyl, that’s the thing that comes to mind now.

       Memories gets the recommendation. It’s not a film on the level of Akira, but then most movies aren’t, but it is a showcase of incredible talent and a love letter to the art of animation. Probably not something you’ll want to watch with the kids, a bit too dark for that, but grab a friend or two this Halloween and you’ll have a good time. Although if you’re trying to watch anime on Halloween having any friends at all might be too much to ask.

The Long Dark Marathon of the Soul 2016: Akira (1988), directed by Katsuhiro Otomo

The Trailer
and
The Appropriate Tune: "Kaneda", by Geinoh Yamashirogumi

     As much as Japan has been connected to animation over the years, and despite the vastly differing amounts of diversity and content that medium is given when compared to the West, that’s not to say that Japan has a peerless record on the subject. Indeed, the Land of the Rising Sun can be just as bull-headed and destructive to the creative process as any other country in the industry. Whether it’s putting the animators on a shoestring budget, thus reducing the animation quality (you’ve probably seen enough slideshow animes to know what I mean), or just outright refusing to give people credit for their work, the fact is that artistic integrity doesn’t matter half as much as getting the product on the shelves. It makes a certain degree of sense, when you’ve got a dedicated demographic that doesn’t mind shelling out 50 bucks a pop for a blu-ray, then you probably want to put out as many blu-rays as you can. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t good shows and movies being putting out, but it does mean dealing with a mountain of shovelware, and that this dedication to immediacy can hurt even a good show.

     Still, establishing a legacy through animation is entirely possible. Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli is probably the most famous example, at least when it comes to Western audiences. Shinichiro Watanabe, creator of Cowboy Bebop (the one anime everyone can agree is good), Samurai Champloo and Space Dandy. And, as you might expect from this article, mangaka and filmmaker Katsuhiro Otomo. Although his work in the field seems limited (around half of his work in film seems to be focused on screenwriting), that observation doesn’t seem to matter much when his feature-length directorial debut was 1988’s Akira, based on his 1984 manga of the same name. Akira, a movie that, like Alan Moore’s “Watchmen”, inspired legions of imitators and very few peers.. Akira, a film that managed to carve itself out a spot in Western pop culture in an era when people still called it japanimation and Dragonball Z was still a dot on the horizon. Akira, the film that took the bar set by Cronenberg and Carpenter and raised it as far as it could reach.

     Akira, it’s a movie.

     The year is 2019. 31 years ago, Tokyo was almost completely obliterated in a massive explosion. Upon its ashes Neo-Tokyo was built, yet this new city failed to live up to the reputation of the original. Rampant crime and drug abuse, crippling poverty and severe economic depression, daily protests that threaten to erupt into terrorist attacks or military oppression. Could this be it? Is this how the world ends, with civilization slowly rotting and decaying until it finally collapses in upon itself? At the very least, Japan seems destined to end with a whimper rather than a bang.

     For teenagers Kaneda and Tetsuo, worrying about how shitty the future is going to be doesn’t matter as much as living in the now. They and the other members of their gang spend their days popping pills, trying to get laid, riding around on their motorcycles and beating the hell out of other gangs. School? Finding a job? Fuck that mess man, why bother contributing to a broken system? Biker punks for life bro!

     Or so it would seem, until one night a mysterious boy who looks like an elderly man appears and somehow causes Tetsuo to crash his bike. Before Kaneda and his friends can get help, the military arrives and takes not only the boy, but Tetsuo as well. Who is this mysterious boy? Who is the mysterious girl that seems to be connected to the boy? Why does the military need this boy and Tetsuo? Kaneda is going to find out, but the answer might not be something anyone wants to hear. Because Akira, the ultimate energy, is getting ready to awaken once again. And when he does, no one is going to be safe.

     Leave it to the man with years of experience in sequential art to know how to put a movie together. Akira in motion is a beautiful thing, & Otomo has a gift for crafting scenes manage to stick themselves into your mind. The infamous ‘bike braking’ moment that’s been referenced so many times since, the battle with the military, the climax...hell, every time someone shoots a gun it ends up looking amazing. I dunno, it’s the fluidity of those action that’s most appealing I guess. The smoothness of it. It feels more natural, as if you’re seeing something real rather than animated. One of those you have to experience to understand.

     It’s also not a film that shies away from uncomfortable scenes. Lots of blood, lots of scenes where people get blown away with bullets (and a couple that are pretty much pulped) and of course the end of the film where things upgrade to full-on body horror. Of course this isn’t quite like The Fly or Tetsuo the Iron Man, where we as the audience are forced to watch a man decay in front of our eyes. It’s more like standing up after a long period of drinking or substance use and feeling the world drop out from under you. Suddenly the rules don’t exist anymore, and reality itself descends into utter chaos. Rather similar to 2001: A Space Odyssey in that respect, although I’d say Akira might take the points in the pure bizarre. Which is probably what keeps it from being a truly scary movie, unless you have a low tolerance for things like this. You spend less time being scared and more time watching to see what weird crap they come up with next.

     If you’re a gorehound, an animation fan or if you’re interested in getting into the anime scene, this is just one of those movies you need under your belt. English dub, original Japanese, Neutral Spanish dub, whatever you want to use, it’s (probably) all good. The West may not respect the field of animation as much of animation as much as we could, but we should at least love the gems that we got.

     One more left.