Manie-Manie: Meikyuu Monogatari

Manie-Manie: Meikyuu Monogatari is an anthology film composed of three short films by acclaimed directors Rintaro, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, and Katsuhiro Otomo.

Labyrinth Labyrinthos
While Sachi is searching for her cat, Cicerone, they both fall through a mirror and become trapped in a mysterious, mind-bending labyrinth. They follow a clown's shadow into the distance, not knowing where it will lead them.

Running Man
Bob Stone is a reporter working on an article about racer Zack Hugh, the ten-year reigning champion of an extremely popular and deadly automobile race. By the time the two meet, Zack's body and mind are shells of what they used to be. When the next race starts, Bob observes what happens when both man and machine are pushed to their breaking point, and what it takes to be an enduring champion.

The Order to Stop Construction
Salaryman Tsutomo Sugioka is dispatched into the heart of a dangerous jungle in order to halt a construction project after the foreman's mysterious disappearance. There, he discovers the deadly and uncontrollable world created by the automated construction robots. When the chief robot is resistant to his orders, Tsutomo must figure out another way to stop the project before his company's financial losses become too great.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Sachi Main

Yoshida, Hideko Japanese

Sugioka, Tsutomu Main

Mizushima, Yuu Japanese

Hugh, Zack Main

Ginga, Banjou Japanese

Robot 444-1 Supporting

Ootake, Hiroshi Japanese

Department Manager Supporting

Kayumi, Iemasa Japanese

Stone, Bob Supporting

Tsukayama, Masane Japanese

Maruyama, Masao Producer, Series Composition

Rintarou Producer, Director, Script, Series Composition, Screenplay

Otomo, Katsuhiro Director, Script, Character Design, Key Animation

Kawajiri, Yoshiaki Director, Animation Director, Character Design, Screenplay

Reviews

Jun 18, 2026

Nobody4213

Recommended

Robot Carnival, Memories, Neo Tokyo.. how I wish there were a hundred of these. These shorts from Otomo, Rintaro and company have been some of the most affecting animated works I’ve ever seen; atmospheric, haunting, and ephemerally powerful. 

Could not say with certainty if I have a favorite of the three shorts (because of how much I loved each of them) but for now Im giving the edge to the final one directed by Otomo.

I love Akira and certainly appreciate Steamboy but I love Otomo as an artist and truly wish he had more than just the two features so its sort of wish fulfillment watching ... these and seeing his incredible vision in so many stories of different ilk and kind.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Apr 3, 2026

Olorin666

Mixed Feelings

Three short films created by three iconic Japanese directors. The moment when the director was given complete creative freedom to realize any of his desires. A beautiful flight of ideas, where form prevails over substance.
I wouldn't say that every story really made a big impression on me. Still, overall, I enjoyed it. The key is to be in the right frame of mind when watching it. I'd describe it more as an arthouse film—a story where form and visuals take precedence over the plot, something spiritual and very Japanese, leaving a lot unsaid. But it’s still a must-watch for anyone who loves compilation films ... and good old-fashioned animation.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Feb 9, 2021

Adampk

Not Recommended

Once upon a time three well acclaimed directors came together to make a brainwashing program and u get what we see today as Neo Tokyo. Apparently from what I can see it worked like a charm in brainwashing people.

So lets talk what was so dreadful in it that I would call it a brainwashing program.
It has 3 short where obviously are not related to each other written by different people about different things. (Minor spoilers ahead)

Labyrinth Labyrinthos (1st short)-
It was kind of story which cannot differentiate the line between a masterpiece and nonsense. Yep, can take it either ways because ur brain is not gone ... register it anyways. I could seriously tell u, I understood more about the story by reading its summary compared to watching it. It was the most bizarre thing I have ever seen which cannot be salvaged. I would compare it with alien's from mars sending cryptic codes which people of earth misinterpreted as holy text from gods. This was most unexplainable thing out of the three and this was present both at the beginning and at the ending of this movie like as a sign of Hypnotism initiation and completion. "Muddled portrayal of grotesque feature" is the best explanation for it. I cannot tell u any more about art, characters, storyline etc because I cannot read Martian unfortunately. Overall if there is really something called so bad which can only be considered as good by a fanatic, then u have it in form of this 1st short. I just hope whoever wrote it doesn't have such epiphany again, it probably would be matter of life or death for this world next time.
Score-1/10 (as every sane person should)

Running Man (2nd short) -
It was fortunately more understandable. It had a few more lines to offer compared to what preceded it, which makes it more recognizable. But question remains, is any less bizarre than previous short? Answer is no. While I could comprehend it at emotional level, it makes no sense from most of what was shown. From what I got the theme is "stress of work". We got a racer who is yelling and making faces while racing throughout the short and news reporter standing at the stand whose only role is to act as our perspective. Now comes the freakish occurrences. Everything is breaking without any explanation from engines to human faces everything is cracked, exploded and destroyed, but still the racing goes on. A point comes where u cannot differentiate between different racers who are still riding on. There are even more strangeness with pupils disappearing in madness, red streaks of light coming through mouth of yelling protagonist, he appearing both at home and on his cart with an expression of mad rage simultaneously and there Ghosts are still riding on while further racers and their carts are breaking and being destroyed over and over. Everything went haywire just like my spoilers. When finally all was said and done, the last narrative described the incident as "a mystery that no one seem to mind, if it remains a mystery" Probably those are similar to my feeling about this short. Never open a Pandora box, it only looks beautiful as a mystery.
Score-3/10 (for being understandable)

The Order to Stop Construction (3rd short) -
Probably the most sane plot out of the three. But is it? probably, yes. While the characters are insane, plot is still sane. It is ur run-of-the-mill insane robots tropes ( though I am assuming this trope is supposed to be some sort of innovation in 1987). Nothing much is going on, a pretty straight forward story with a wacky ending. So its suppose to be safe, isn't it?... No, never ever fell for that. while plot is still safe, the art and designs is right out atrocious. U could have a migraine after seeing the artstyle. One may argue that it was the similar since the beginning, but u see the ingenuity of it shined the best in the third short. As my saying going the true colors of a art came out in the finale. Remember my warning after brainwashing "horrendous artstyle" probably will be interpreted as "clean animation". So exercise extreme caution.
Score-5/10 (art was pretty similar to final fantasy : legend of crystals, probably scores also should be similar. I am not a guy who will treat unfairly only based on art and animation for a old 1987 work being bad)

Finally...I am surprised at myself, i could attempt to put this obscurity in words. As one of the survivors of brainwashing, I felt a immense duty to make the society more aware. Probably many fanatics will trash me for this, But I atleast tried to warn u all.

Coming to final scores, 3/10 overall (+1 for attempt and for being only a short, +1 for being a old anime and as a respect to its well established directors, +1 for the purpose of this anime - brainwashing works very well)

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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