[Manga Review] Memories – Katsuhiro Otomo

I’m really glad to have gotten ahold of this, though it’s not what I expected. Otomo is eclectic, to say the least. It’s quite a strange collection, with the quality ranging widely from good to bad to distasteful.

Despite Otomo’s anthology film adaptation being of the same name as this collection, there is little relation as far as I can gather. Otomo released many short story/manga collections, and Memories is the only one currently available in the West. Magnetic Rose is collected here under the title “Memories”, but the other two parts (Stink Bomb, Cannon Fodder) are not. I’d love to read them someday, but sadly they aren’t currently available in English.

Each story has been individually rated below:

Sand – 3.5

Short and sweet sci-fi horror.

Hair – 3

Amusing at points, but rather silly. This is a self-spoof on Otomos story “Fireball”, which for some reason comes before the latter. If you’d prefer to read “Fireball” first then you can find it towards the back of the collection.

Electric Bird Land – 3.5

An amusing little episode, inspired by the jazz classic “Birdland” by Charlie Parker. Short and sweet.

Minor Swing – 2.5

Strange and preachy.

That’s Amazing World – 3

Amusing, but unoriginal.

That’s Amazing World: Part 2 – 4

A funny parody of Noah’s Ark.

Memories (Magnetic Rose) – 4

The title story and basis for Otomo’s first Memories segment, “Magnetic Rose”. It’s a good story, but Satoshi Kon’s screenplay improved on this tenfold.

See my review of the film here.

Flower – 3

Bizarre, but interesting. Written as a tribute to French artist, Moebius. The Art conjures up images of Dahli, Geiger and Barlowe.

Farewell To Arms – 4

Quite good. There’s a mix of art, some of which comes from the westernised version, and then a few pages partway through that were Otomos own doing – the colour is particularly gorgeous on these.

Story-wise, it would have been nice to have developed the characters a bit more before kicking things off, especially as it gets hard to discern who’s who in certain shots. It’s quite engaging though, especially considering that the reader is given little to no context.

The ending is excellent.

Chronicle of the Planet Tako, Parts 1 & 2 – 2

This didn’t do much for me. If you’re reading Memories in chronological order, then it’s worth bearing in mind that part 2 of this precedes part 1 in the collection.

Fireball – 4

This was a rushed work – which shows – but despite that, it’s pretty good. Unfortunately, due to deadline issues, it doesn’t really have much of an ending (just an epic shot from space). It reads like an early version of Akira, but it stands well on its own and despite its flaws, makes for a very enjoyable read.