History YMMV / Memories

* TheWoobie: Eva Friedel had a perfect life; she was born into royalty, was a renowned opera singer with critics calling her "the diva of the century", and was engaged to a fellow opera singer. Tragically, she lost the voice that made her famous, and her career suffered despite trying to pantomime her roles; if that wasn't bad enough, Carlo Rambaldi, her fiance, planned to leave her. [[spoiler:Eva killed Carlo and fled to space, where she built a space station to live in seclusion with nothing but the memories of her past. After Eva's death, the central computer on the station went insane, taking on her identity and brainwashing visitors to the station to live out her master's delusional dream: a world based on her memories where Carlo never left her]]. Despite the horror of ''Magnetic Rose'', you can't help but feel sad as all of it originated from tragedy.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: All three shorts have incredible soundtracks, courtesy of Music/YokoKanno, Hiroyuki Nagashima, and Jun Miyake. Special mention goes to the acid jazz freakout that plays over the military's futile assault on Nobuo in "Stink Bomb".

** The first two parts, particularly "Stink Bomb", after the coronavirus pandemic. There's an airborne "disease" that looks disturbingly like the common cold at first in "Stink Bomb" which causes mass exoduses through lockdowns, after all. Meanwhile, "Magnetic Rose" is about being stuck in the past and memories, which people certainly felt after being locked down. The real kicker is how the ship in "Magnetic Rose" is called the "Corona"[[note]]like the beer, the ship is probably after the Latin word for "crown", but the point still stands[[/note]].

* SuperlativeDubbing: When Discotek Media got the rights to release the movie in North America, they commissioned two dubbing studios—NYAV Post and Sound Cadence Studios—to dub it, echoing how the movies were made by two different production studios. The dubs for all three movies have received high praise since Discotek premiered it on their Twitch channel, with many calling Creator/MarcSwint's performance as Heinz the absolute highlight of Magnetic Rose. With Discotek being such a small company, they were under no obligation to dub the movie, nor did they have to go to the lengths they did to put so much effort into the dub, but the fact that they did only elevated Memories' overall quality and accessibility in the States.

* HarsherInHindsight: "Stink Bomb", after one delves into the story behind the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant disaster of 2011. The problem in "Stink Bomb" escalates because [[CorruptCorporateExecutive the Japanese]] [[ObstructiveBureaucrat higher-ups]] try to [[HonorBeforeReason save face]] by obfuscating the truth, fudging data, and keeping secrets, which is ''exactly'' how the Fukushima situation was allowed to get to the point it reached; the power plant might have shut down safely had it not been for the decades' worth of bureaucratic bullshit and buck-passing that hid the plant's weaknesses (like outdated equipment) from the government and the public alike.

* TheWoobie: Eva Friedel was a famous opera singer called "the diva of the century" who was engaged to Carlo Rambaldi, another singer. Unfortunately, she lost her voice, and her career suffered despite trying to act out her roles; if that wasn't bad enough, Carlo planned to leave her. [[spoiler:Eva killed Carlo and escaped to space, where she built a space station to relive her happy memories alone. After Eva's death, the central computer on the station went mad, taking on her identity and brainwashing visitors to the station to live out her master's delusional fantasy: a world based on her memories where Carlo never left her]]. Despite the horror of ''Magnetic Rose'', you can't help but feel sad as all of it originated from tragedy.

* {{Tearjerker}}: "Magnetic Rose" has more than a few moments that can bring tears. The worst may be [[spoiler:finding out that, for cute little Emily, getting the spacesuit costume she always wanted... [[KillTheCutie ended in]] [[HarmfulToMinors her tragic death]] ''[[DeathByFallingOver falling from the roof of her house]]'', because she was eager to help her daddy and show off her new space-suit]]. No wonder [[spoiler:Heintz]] spends so much time out on space missions. And just for good measure, [[spoiler: he gets to watch his daughter fall to her death both from on the roof and, later, from the ground, where she literally passes through him, only able to interact with her hologram after she'd already hit the ground and "died" again.]] And, as Sage pointed out in his review of it, none of Heintz's coworkers knew about it.

* IdiotPlot: The entire plot of "Stink Bomb" only occurs because basically everybody involved is either incredibly stupid, incompetent, or negligent.
** Nobuo himself sparks events when he shows up to work sick and somehow mixes up flu medication with a ''bioweapon''. And subsequent events fail to clue him in to the fact that he's become a walking bioweapon.
** Nobuo's lab staff are next since even though they know they're working on a bioweapon, their lab security is so lax that they leave said bioweapon sitting on a desk where anybody can grab (and in Nobuo's case, ingest) it.
** The company that owns the lab should have known better than to order Nobuo, the sole survivor of a suspected bioweapon containment breach, to leave the lab and head straight for Tokyo. However, their greed overrode their common sense.
** The JSDF are shown to be enormously incompetent trying to stop Nobuo's movements. Granted, some of it is handwaved away by the fact the gas he's emitting disrupts electronics, but that doesn't explain why manually aimed weaponry like gravity bombs and artillery cannot seem to hit him, either. The JSDF also suffer casualties to easily preventable friendly fire.

* IdiotPlot: The entire plot of ''Stink Bomb'' only occurs because basically everybody involved is either incredibly stupid, incompetent, or negligent.

** The JSDF are shown to be enormously incompetent trying to stop Nobuo's movements. Granted, some of it is handwaved away by the fact the gas he's emitting disrupts electronics, but that doesn't explain why manually aimed weaponry like gravity bombs and artillery cannot seem to hit him, either. The JSDF also casualties to easily preventable friendly fire.

* {{Anvilicious}}: As "''Stink Bomb''" elaborates if you're ill, and have the option to stay at home, '''stay at home'''. You're worse than useless to your colleagues showing up to the laboratory sneezing over everyone, and not getting any work done.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: In Russia, ''Cannon Fodder'' is best known from a fanmade music video to the Music/NautilusPompilius song "Скованные одной цепью" (Bound By One Chain), to the point some commenters on Website/YouTube state they were unaware this wasn't made specifically for the music video. The song touches the same topics of dystopia, collective responsibility and hopelessness, only applied to the USSR rather than fantasy UsefulNotes/WorldWar1-esque setting.

** The [[spoiler:Rampant [=AI=]]] in "Magnetic Rose", haunting [[spoiler: Heintz]] [[MyGreatestFailure with his most traumatic memory]], and using a LotusEaterMachine on [[spoiler: Miguel]] (and countless other corpses).

* {{Tearjerker}}: "Magnetic Rose" has more than a few moments that can bring tears. The worst may be [[spoiler:finding out that, for cute little Emily, getting the spacesuit costume she always wanted... [[KillTheCutie ended in]] [[HarmfulToMinors her tragic death]] ''[[DeathByFallingOver falling from the roof of her house]]'', because she was eager to help her daddy and show off her new space-suit]]. No wonder [[spoiler:Heintz]] spends so much time out on space missions. And just for good measure, [[spoiler: he gets to watch his daughter fall to her death both from on the roof and, later, from the ground, where she literally passes through him, only able to interact with her hologram after she'd already hit the ground and "died" again.]] And, as Sage pointed out in his review of it, none of Heintz's coworkers knew about it.
* DarthWiki/WhatAnIdiot: Many viewers would argue Nobuo from "Stink Bomb" is possibly the ''dumbest anime protagonist'' ever. He is LethallyStupid to such a degree that it turns him into a PersonOfMassDestruction. Not once does he ever consider he is the cause of [[WalkingWasteland everyone dying around him]]. He can't, or won't accept this, and even runs after people trying to get away from him.

* {{Anvilicious}}: As ''Stink Bomb'' elaborates if you're ill, and have the option to stay at home, '''stay at home'''. You're worse than useless to your colleagues showing up to the laboratory sneezing over everyone, and not getting any work done.

* {{Tearjerker}}: "Magnetic Rose" has more than a few moments that can bring tears. The worst may be [[spoiler:finding out that, for cute little Emily, getting the spacesuit costume she always wanted... [[KillTheCutie ended in]] [[HarmfulToMinors her tragic death]] ''[[DeathByFallingOver falling from the roof of her house]]'', because she was eager to help her daddy and show off her new space-suit]]. No wonder [[spoiler:Heintz]] spends so much time out on space missions. And just for good measure, [[spoiler: he gets to watch his daughter fall to her death both from on the roof and, later, from the ground, where she literally passes through him, only able to interact with her hologram after she'd already hit the ground and "died" again.]] And, as Sage pointed out in his review of it, none of Heintz's coworkers knew about it.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: In Russia, ''Cannon Fodder'' is best known from a fanmade music video to the Music/NautilusPompilius song "Скованные одной цепью" (Bound By One Chain), to the point some commenters on Website/YouTube state they were unaware this wasn't made specifically for the music video. The song touches the same topics of dystopia, collective responsibility and hopelessness, only applied to the USSR rather than fantasy steampunk Europe.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: The animation for all three shorts is positively gorgeous. WebVideo/BennettTheSage goes in-depth [[https://youtu.be/tke-cSo39OM?t=11m25s about just how complex some of the animation was]], including that TheOner from "Cannon Fodder" required the use of artwork the size of a wall-mural to capture it.
* FirstInstallmentWins: The first short, ''Magnetic Rose'', is the most well-known -- likely because of Creator/SatoshiKon's involvement.
* FridgeHorror: During ''Magnetic Rose'', Heintz tries and fails to keep a music-box with a blonde dancer from falling off the table. Later, [[spoiler: we watch as his blonde daughter falls off the roof as he tries to save her]].
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: In Russia, ''Cannon Fodder'' is best known from a fanmade music video to the Music/NautilusPompilius song "Скованные одной цепью" (Bound By One Chain), to the point some commenters on YouTube state they were unaware this wasn't made specifically for the music video. The song touches the same topics of dystopia, collective responsibility and hopelessness, only applied to the USSR rather than fantasy steampunk Europe.
* HarsherInHindsight: "Stink Bomb," after one delves into the story behind the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant disaster of 2011. The problem in "Stink Bomb" escalates because [[CorruptCorporateExecutive the Japanese]] [[ObstructiveBureaucrat higher-ups]] try to [[HonorBeforeReason save face]] by obfuscating the truth, fudging data, and keeping secrets, which is ''exactly'' how the Fukushima situation was allowed to get to the point it reached; the power plant might have shut down safely had it not been for the decades' worth of bureaucratic bullshit and buck-passing that hid the plant's weaknesses (like outdated equipment) from the government and the public alike.

** The [[spoiler:Rampant [=AI=]]] in ''Magnetic Rose'', haunting [[spoiler: Heintz]] [[MyGreatestFailure with his most traumatic memory]], and using a LotusEaterMachine on [[spoiler: Miguel]] (and countless other corpses).

** A protest group in ''Cannon Fodder'' is arguing against the use of hazardous materials in the gunpowder used to fire the shells. The father who works at one of the enormous guns is later reprimanded (for something that wasn't even his fault) and forced to stand within the firing chamber that is normally evacuated but for one operator, ''without his mask on''. Given how pallid and haggard the art style makes everyone look, it adds more horror with the ForeverWar slowly killing its population from within (for no reason at all).

* {{Tearjerker}}: ''Magnetic Rose'' has more than a few moments that can bring tears. The worst may be [[spoiler:finding out that, for cute little Emily, getting the spacesuit costume she always wanted... [[KillTheCutie ended in]] [[HarmfulToMinors her tragic death]] ''[[DeathByFallingOver falling from the roof of her house]]'', because she was eager to help her daddy and show off her new space-suit]]. No wonder [[spoiler:Heintz]] spends so much time out on space missions. And just for good measure, [[spoiler: he gets to watch his daughter fall to her death both from on the roof and, later, from the ground, where she literally passes through him, only able to interact with her hologram after she'd already hit the ground and "died" again.]] And, as Sage pointed out in his review of it, none of Heintz's coworkers knew about it.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: In Russia, ''Cannon Fodder'' is best known from a fanmade music video to the Music/NautilusPompilius song "Скованы одной цепью" (Bound By One Chain), to the point some commenters on YouTube state they were unaware this wasn't made specifically for the music video. The song touches the same topics of dystopia, collective responsibility and hopelessness, only applied to the USSR rather than fantasy steampunk Europe.