Ranked #1726

Memories: Cannon Fodder

You do not know your enemy. You cannot see them. All you know is that they are out there and you have to protect yourself. No matter what anyone thinks or says, you have to be the one firing and not the one being fired at.

This is the tense atmosphere created in the war inspired anime short Cannon Fodder. This anime is the most thought-provoking, standout story in the Memories collection and is well worth the watch.

The story follows a young boy and his family who live in a dank, smoggy, metal, cramped city. It is learned that this city is at war with another one far off into the distance. Or it seems to be at war. Everyday, a gigantic cannon (which seems to take up most of the city space itself and employs nearly all of the town's adult population) is fired off into the distance. In the schools, the children learn that they live for the cannon and they will die serving that cannon because their enemy is out there, and they must protect themselves.

There is a lot of symbolism and quite a lot of motifs present in this anime. It invokes the entire spirit of modern day warfare and raises so many questions about our own society. Why are we so afraid? Who are our enemies? Why must we keep on fighting?

The art is excellent. It is reminiscent of European animation with a lot of dark, sketchy colours and pronounced facial features. It does seem like the city is European (looks a lot like the anime is set in Eastern Europe), but the origin of these people and the location of the city are never revealed. The art style aids in presenting the steam-punk atmosphere very well with its griminess and dull, grainy colouring.

Sound is good; the score suited the anime and never let things get drab or dull. It helps create the atmosphere that is so important in this anime. Also, the little boy's seiyuu (voice actor) did a very good job with his limited lines (there wasn't much dialogue). His voice manages to be possibly the only sweet sound amidst the screams of men, the blaring of sirens and the noise of machinery.

The characters are well done. Each important character represents a sect of this society. The boy as the innocent children being molded to serve the cannon; the father represents the working class, those who are like ants, toiling away for the cannon; and the one who fires the cannon is the mindless-leader type who doesn't know the repercussions or reason for why he's doing what he does.

Cannon Fodder is an incredible short. It is entertaining and is also very philosophical. There is not a single dull moment and every scene is significant in some way or another. Its short length also means that it does not drag on. If you like anime with symbolism and deeper meaning, then you really should watch this one. It is a great little masterpiece of an anime. The images will really stick with you after viewing.

And there is the ever-memorable concluding statement made by our young protagonist: "When I grow up, I want to be..." I'll not share the rest. But it is a profound statement heavy with childish ignorance. It really makes you think about human aspirations and how warped ideals can become.

In a world where the conditioned, ignorant ideologies of one person is the canon, just how much can someone dream to be different? Or worse: just how much do they want to be the same? read more

Cannon Fodder. Literally. Humans are made to fire cannons. That is their life, their purpose, their reason for being in Katsuhiro Otomo's brilliantly directed tale.

By this point we can successfully call him an auteur; his creative stamp, his identity, is clear in all his works. The unconventional character faces, the extremely detailed backdrops to his stories. The physicality of the technologically advanced society, draped with heavy duty cables and dirty pipes everywhere; bikes and bullets in Akira, steampunk in Steamboy, no clinically clean and sleek holographics in Otomo's worlds.

And its like so in Cannon Fodder. A military-minded society where every human being's life revolves around the habitual firing of gigantic cannons into a far-off indistinct target. Yeah, there's shades of dystopian literature at play, like Orwell's 1984 poking its head. It's not forced or clichéd though; Otomo has made this dystopic nightmare his own creation for us to marvel at.

His direction is brilliant, so good that it might actually pass you by without you even realising it. He's not into blowing you away with over the top theatrics, he doesn’t fling his camera about like a hyperactive child. This is a master of cinema at work here; he follows the action like he was born with a steadicam attached to his hip. We revolve, flow, and pan around his military industrial complex in service of the narrative, not just for style.

Some scenes just go on for over a minute without a single cut. It's like he's channelling Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson, or to be more current Alfonso Cuaron, into the anime medium, always keeping the visuals fresh, inventive but never sacrificing narrative coherency in the process.

All this is never more clear than in the firing of the first cannon. Watch and marvel at the flawless direction. Pay close attention at the movement of the camera, it refuses to cut away, everything is staged to service the story, Otomo makes this long sequence look easy. It's probably one of the greatest scenes in the history of anime.

Then I realised something. After this scene, the camera never cuts away all the way to the end. I went back and watched the movie from the beginning and realised the camera never cuts away during the entire movie. Not one of the greatest scenes in the history of anime after all. Cannon Fodder is the greatest one-take in the history of anime, and if it were in live action then it would be the best in cinema, period.

It's nothing but one ingenious transition to another, creating the feeling of being immersed in a city swarming with life at every corner. Katsuhiro Otomo is one of anime's greatest directors, tragically underrated or brushed off as just 'the guy who made Akira', but he is so much more than Akira, he's a visionary filmmaker continually striving to define anime as a brilliant medium to show us all the wondrous possibilities of the animated moving image. read more