Welcome, adventurer, to today’s Cold Classics segment! We will be discussing the first part of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Memories animated trilogy from 1995, Magnetic Rose.

The story of Magnetic Rose follows a team of space debris salvagers who intercept a distress signal from a mysterious, derelict ship floating amid a field of wreckage. Curious and duty-bound, two crew members, Heintz, a weary engineer with a painful past, and Miguel, a brash young crewmate, venture into the source of the transmission, only to discover a colossal, decaying structure unlike anything they’ve encountered.

Inside, the ship transforms into a surreal opera house suspended in space, filled with the echoes of grandeur and sorrow. The walls are adorned with holographic tapestries of a bygone age, each flickering image revealing fragments of opera singer Eva Friedel, whose beauty and voice once captivated the world. As the salvagers delve deeper, the ship’s AI, powered by Eva’s consciousness, draws them into a hallucinatory web of memories. Reality bends as Eva’s longing for her lost lover and for her own former glory ensnares the well-meaning crew members, merging illusion with the cold machinery of the vessel.

For Heintz, whose own memories of family tragedy haunt him, the experience becomes a deeply personal confrontation with guilt and grief. Magnetic Rose transforms from a space rescue into a psychological descent, revealing how memory can be both sanctuary and prison. By the time the final aria swells, the line between man and machine, dream and death, dissolves completely and leaves behind only the lingering resonance of love lost to the void.

Of the three parts of Memories, Magnetic Rose absolutely stands out as a chilling testiment of the lingering pain and beauty memories provide. The animation was stunning and I truly enjoyed the English dub. This is a must-watch for any sci-fi or psychological thriller lover.

Have you ever seen Memories, particularly Magnetic Rose? What are your thoughts? Comment below and share on your socials to keep the convo going!