Memories aren't an escape

Today I watched Otomo Katsuhiro's Memories, three short films based on separate manga.
The first called 'Magnetic Rose' is absolutely brilliant. An archetypal science fiction story with brilliant early 90s artwork, all backed by music from the outstanding Yoko Kanno. It really is a great display of how good anime can be, and has seriously made me want to watch Akira again.
The second, named 'Stink Bomb', is a comedic number with a jazz soundtrack, sort of feels like it was a bit ahead of its time.
And the third and last is a highly stylized short called 'Cannon Fodder'. It tells a steampunk story of an entire city covered in artillery, and every day the populace of the city go to work manning these weapons, firing at a distant unseen enemy. They hint towards the possibility that the enemy has been fabricated in order to keep the economy running, much a parody of the modern war efforts of certain nations, and very reminiscent of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Memories reminds me of the brilliance of directors that don't make films with the sole purpose of making money or attracting audiences, they did both of these things as a side effect of simply creating an amazing piece of artwork and storytelling. It's just such a shame how hard you have to look to find these things.