Katsuhiro Otomo garnered worldwide attention in 1988 for his cyberpunk classic
Akira, featuring a fully realized dystopian future that rivaled
Blade Runner. In this animated triptych, all written by Otomo, he once again gazes darkly into the future. The first segment, called "Magnetic Rose" and directed by Koji Morimoto, is set in the year 2092 and centers on a quartet of futuristic losers on a orbiting garbage ship, collecting junked satellites. While trolling about the heavens, they encounter a massive rose-shaped structure. Venturing into one of its petals, the two crew members suddenly find themselves in a European-style opera house adjoining a sun-dabbled garden. They hear the sound of a soprano diva in mid aria. As the section progresses, the crew members learn that this idyllic though bizarre satellite was the refuge of an early 21st century opera singer whose ghost still haunts its metallic halls. The second segment, titled "Stink Bomb," is directed by Tensai Okamura. A nerdy research assistant finds himself the unwitting center of a civic chaos and panic when he accidentally swallows a chemical that renders him a human stink bomb. Unable to smell the stench himself, he is baffled as to why humans and animals alike keel over at the very sight of him. Trying to meet a deadline of delivering vital info to government organ, he blithely causes a national incident when he hops and his scooter and heads to the downtown Tokyo. The final segment, directed by Otomo, is titled "Cannon Fodder." Set in a bleak Orwellian future in which a forest of massive cannons fire at an unseen enemy, this section focuses on a man who crew of cannon number 17 and his son who worships his dad and his grim profession. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide