Neo Tokyo

Neo Tokyo (1987) is an experimental film consisting of three separate sections directed by Rintaro, Yoshiaki Kawajiri and Katsuhiro Otomo (the author and director of Akira).

Even though every segment is quite bizarre, Rintaro's Labyrinth-Labyrinthos is by far the oddest of the bunch. In it, a girl and her cat travel through very surreal landscape only to see a weird circus performance. In my opinion, it explores the psyche of modern children - one sequence reminded me of a video game, and that's how I came up with this interpretation. Kawajiri's The Running Man focuses on a motor racing champion who is driving in a race that becomes his last. Basically it's a psychological story of a man simply "losing it". The final segment, Otomo's The Order to Cease Construction, is the most intriguing one for me. It's a clever yet a bit obvious satire of Japan.

Animation is stunning in each segment - and the art design is fascinating even though it naturally varies in each one because different teams worked on them. I loved the character design in Otomo's segment.

In overall, Neo Tokyo is an interesting collection of experimental anime. It's worth a look for anyone although you shouldn't go in expecting anything traditional.

Score: 9 out of 10