Meikyû monogatari

I enjoyed these shorts, especially the Otomo one, but the first two were a little too strange for me. I give them extra points for being original and the animation in all three was stellar (I wish more TV anime was as impressive). It just didn't leave as much of an impression as Memories did. But if you're an anime or animation freak, it's worth checking out.

Neo Tokyo is an interesting, often surreal work of anime. It covers two rather dark science fiction pieces through the framework of a young girl's imaginings. Each piece was made by a different filmmaker, making for very different animation styles and narrative approaches.

The first piece "Labyrinth-Labyrinthos" is frankly surreal, and follows the daydreams of a young girl and her cat as they look into a mirror. The short is very imaginative, with borderline psychedelic imagery. Overall, it's a good piece, though the animation is at times headache inducing.

The second short, "The Running Man," has a much more obvious narrative structure, although very little dialogue. Following the story of a futuristic race car driver with some interesting abilities, it represents a 180 degree turn from Labyrinth. The animation is excellent, with very realistic and at times disturbing renderings of car accidents. However, the lack of dialogue in this short makes it somewhat difficult to follow, a matter compounded by the fact that parts of the film are dream sequences.

The third, and best, piece is "Order to Cancel Construction," which follows the attempt of an executive to shut down a robotic construction site. The robots, which have been programmed to follow a rigid schedule, defy the executive. What makes this piece good is the subtle irony that the executive ultimately becomes as single-minded in his task as the robots are in theirs.

Ultimately, this film is good, although not great, and worth a rent.

I was lucky enough to obtain this film off an online auctions. And this is my review the film displays three short stories all extremely trippy.

The first one involves a girl, a circus, a cat and a mirror and a parade of very odd animals. This one makes you feel like your on acid at one point.

The second on is called the running man about a psionic race car driver who pushes his limits. Very Cool.

The third one contains probaly the most talking out of all three. itis a grim sardonic comedy about a man who can't stop a robot crew from working. it has a very ironic ending.

I can't say I always knew why was going on, but I had a good time watching Neo Tokyo.

The first of three short films inside this anthology had more of a fantastical spin than a sci-fi one, the second was a kind of grim and gritty sci-fi story that I think I connected with the least, and then the third and final part was like a blend of sci-fi and comedy. It looked at the madness of a world where robots enforce rules too strictly, having a bit of a Kafka feel, owing to the human protagonist at its centre who's slowly driven mad.

It's short and maybe not the kind of thing that'll stick with me, but I really liked two out of three shorts here, and didn't mind the other. Plus, the animation is surprisingly great throughout the entire thing.

Is there a connection between these shorts? Do they take place in the same universe? No. Do they share a theme? No. Are they all sci-fi? Well, two are, but the first one isn't. The first two take place at night, but the last mostly during the day. Nothing on the surface is shared, although they each have a similar style and sense of imagination.

There's not much to say about this short movie. The stories are quite simple, although one is silent and vague. They're just quick glimpses into other worlds. But I liked each one of them. They're interesting, mysterious, and well-animated. There are better anthology films, but this is perfectly fine for a watch. If it interests you, give it a shot. There aren't too many movies like it.