Animatrix Network

Next Club Meeting: April 28, 2018, at the Wood Dale Public Library from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The Animatrix Network is an anime & manga fan club located in the Southwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. We usually meet on the fourth Saturday of each month (except when holidays or conventions coincide). The meetings are free and open to the public. Join us for a day filled with anime.

This site provides news, reviews, commentaries, and previews of the world of anime and everything it inspires, such as live-action films, comics, music, art, and other weird things to enjoy and contemplate.

Monday, April 23, 2018

Next Club Meeting is April 28, 2018

A N I M A T R I X N E T W O R K

Let's get everyone's attention... with rockets!

Wood Dale Public Library

520 N. Wood Dale Road

Wood Dale, IL 60191

Main Meeting Room

Saturday, April 28, 2018

10:15 AM - 5:00 PM

Map
Public Transit Options

Our next club meeting will be at the Wood Dale Public Library,
Main Meeting Room (on your far right as you enter the front doors),
from 10:15 AM to 5:00 PM
(until the library closes).

There is public transportation available.
A Metra train-stop is located within walking distance.

Please note: If you are driving, please park your car
on the south side of the building (not the front) in order to
make room for other library patrons.

A Viewing Schedule will be posted soon.

Hope to see you all there!

(Click below for maps)

Bleach Live Action Movie Full Trailer

B L E A C H

An upcoming Japanese film produced by Warner Bros, based on the manga series of the same name by Tite Kubo, and directed by Shinsuke Sato. The film will star Sota Fukushi, best known for portraying the protagonist of Kamen Rider Fourze, as the main protagonist, Ichigo Kurosaki. It is set to be released in Japan on July 20, 2018.

Gunsmith Cats are back!

Gunsmith Cats Explosive Edition

The famous manga by Sonoda Ken'ichi comes to life in this action-packed Anime mini-series, available for the first time in stunning HD!

Go to Kickstarter for more info!

Friday, April 20, 2018

Ever have Bubble Tea?

Thursday, April 19, 2018

The works of Masaaki Yuasa

Masaaki Yuasa (湯浅政明) Directed Sakuga MAD

A compilation of some favorite animation from works directed by Masaaki Yuasa (湯浅政明).

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Welcome to a Hotel for Criminals...

H O T E L A R T E M I S

Behold, the trailer for HOTEL ARTEMIS, written and directed by Drew Pearce (MARVEL ONE SHOT: ALL HAIL THE KING) and starring Jodie Foster, Dave Bautista, Sterling K. Brown, Jeff Goldblum, Sofia Boutella, Kenneth Choi, Charlie Day, Brian Tyree Henry, Evan Jones, Jenny Slate, and Zachary Quinto.

After a heist gone bad in a near-future L.A., three armed robbers (Brown, Henry, and Choi) run to The Nurse (Foster) at the Hotel Artemis for medical attention, where membership is required and rules of conduct are strictly enforced. After arriving, they discover that a seemingly low-value fountain pen stolen in the course of the robbery turns out to be worth many times what was taken in the heist—and is, of course, uninsured criminal property. Now, the patience of the hotel management is tested as killers convene to get back the pen and kill the trio.

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

If The Avengers Were Cast in the ’90s

Perfect casting or what?

Monday, April 16, 2018

C2E2 2018 Cosplay Video

C2E2 2018 Cosplay!

C2E2 was incredible! Here are some of the amazing cosplayers last weekend!

Sunday, April 15, 2018

If Adventure Time Were Made in China...

The Legend of Lucky Pie

Episode One: "Who Makes That Voice?"

This is the first episode of our animation series, was released in Jan 2015. We are a small team from China, there are two full-time and one part-time. We love animation, especially the American style. We hope that we can make some story fun, humorous and full of Chinese philosophy. We sincerely hope that you will like the animation and the adventure story of Lucky and Pie. We also hope that you will follow us although the update is very slowly. Hahahaha..

"Pleased to EAT you!"

T H E M E G

A deep-sea submersible, part of an international undersea observation program, has been attacked by a massive creature, previously thought to be extinct, and now lies disabled at the bottom of the deepest trench in the Pacific…with its crew trapped inside. With time running out, expert deep sea rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) is recruited by a visionary Chinese oceanographer (Winston Chao), against the wishes of his daughter Suyin (Li Bingbing), to save the crew—and the ocean itself—from this unstoppable threat: a pre-historic 75-foot-long shark known as the Megalodon. What no one could have imagined is that, years before, Taylor had encountered this same terrifying creature. Now, teamed with Suyin, he must confront his fears and risk his own life to save everyone trapped below…bringing him face to face once more with the greatest and largest predator of all time.

Slated for release on August 10, 2018

Friday, April 13, 2018

"UPGRADE" - Official Trailer

U P G R A D E

Not Man. Not Machine. More.

Thursday, April 12, 2018

"True love may fly into your heart!"

The Satellite Girl and Milk Cow

GKIDS proudly presents SATELLITE GIRL AND MILK COW, an action-comedy like you have never seen before.

An out of commission satellite picks up a lovelorn ballad on her radio antenna and descends to Earth to find the source of such sincere emotions. But on the way she is caught in the crossfire of a raging magical battle and is transformed into Satellite Girl, complete with Astro Boy-like rocket shoes and weapon-firing limbs. Meanwhile, the balladeer in question - a loser 20 something at a café open mic - meets the fate that befalls all broken-hearted lovers: he is turned into a farm animal. But love knows no bounds, and aided by the wise and powerful Merlin - a wizard who has been turned into a roll of toilet paper - our duo must evade the all-consuming incinerator monster, the wily pig witch, and other nefarious adversaries in an attempt to be together. From the brilliant and slightly twisted mind of writer/director Chang Hyung-yun, SATELLITE GIRL AND MILK COW is a heartfelt and wildly entertaining commentary on the possibility for human connection in the crazy, mixed-up, post-modern world we live in.

Recommended Anime

MADE in ABYSS

The Best Anime of 2017

Made in Abyss is centered around an orphan girl named Riko who lives in the town of Orth on an island in the sea of Beoluska. The city surrounds a strange, giant hole going deep into the earth, which is commonly called the Abyss. The Abyss harbors artifacts and remnants of a civilization long gone, and is therefore the popular hunting spot for so-called Cave Raiders, who undertake arduous and dangerous descents into the mist-filled pit to recover whatever relics they can find. However, the deeper one goes into the Abyss, the more they are afflicted by a progressively fatal malady called the Curse of the Abyss once they ascend back; few who have descended into the lower regions have returned to tell of their experiences. Some legendary Cave Raiders earn the title of White Whistle, one of them being Riko's mother Lyza.

Riko's goal is to follow in her mother's footsteps and solve the mysteries of the Abyss. One day she explores the caves and discovers a robot named Reg who resembles a human boy that she and her friends befriend. Some time later, Riko is informed that some items sent by Lyza were recovered, including a message to her, telling her to meet in the bottom of the Abyss. Riko then bids farewell to her friends and departs to the Abyss with Reg in search for her mother, despite knowing of the risks and the fact that due to the Curse of the Abyss, she will never be able to return.

Characters
Riko is a trouble-prone 12-year-old girl who wants to emulate her late mother, a legendary Cave Raider named Lyza the Annihilator who disappeared in the Abyss ten years ago. Riko is currently a Cave Raider-in-training at the Belchero Orphanage, and as a rookie bears the rank of Red Whistle. She has secretly taken possession of one of her finds, the Star Compass, which she hopes to use in her exploration of the Abyss. Her poor eyesight stems from the Curse of the Abyss, which she caught when her mother gave birth to her during a mission in the Abyss.

Reg is an amnesic robot in the shape of a human boy. Having no memory of his own name, he was given the name Reg after a dog Riko used to own. Surprisingly, he can consume organic food despite being classified as a machine. His mechanical arms extensible, and can also fire a deadly energy beam capable of melting even stone, which Riko dubs the "Incinerator".

Flashback Corner - Remember This?

THE DIRTY PAIR is a series of sci-fi comedy light novels written by Haruka Takachiho and illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko that was later adapted into anime and manga versions. The franchise has bounced across multiple formats and production companies, resulting in (so far) eight novels and a few shorter stories, a television series, two OVA series, two OVA features, a feature film, a number of graphic novels, and two short Japanese radio series. The 1985 television series won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize for that year.

The stories take place in the years 2138-43, by which time humanity has spread across some few thousand star systems. A corporation called the World Welfare Works Association (WWWA or 3WA) helps member systems of the United Galactica (UG) federation deal with various planetary-scale problems, for profit, by sending agents called "trouble consultants". The series focuses on a team of trouble consultants in that section, named Kei and Yuri, who have a reputation for leaving a trail of destruction behind them, for which they are known publicly as the "Dirty Pair".

Kei and Yuri are the two members of Trouble Consultant team 234, code named "Lovely Angels". Almost every mission they are involved with ends up in disaster, but not failure (they'll catch the crook, but a city may be destroyed in the process), and thus they are more generally known as the "Dirty Pair", a nickname they hate. They are always cleared of any wrongdoing by the 3WA's Central Computer because the extreme collateral damage is never actually their fault (though their mere presence has been known to make things worse). In some but not all continuities, they have joint ESP powers, usually limited to precognition. This talent was the reason they were recruited in the first place.

Kei is a hot-headed tomboy with red hair and tanned skin who wears a silver-white uniform. She favors large weaponry and prefers to "shoot first, ask questions later". The more aggressive of the two, she is also the bustier of the pair and is attracted to manly, muscular men. Yuri is of Japanese ethnicity, and wears a golden-yellow uniform. She often uses non-gun weaponry such as energy whips or throwing cards. While the more feminine of the two, she is known to become very violent when crossed. She is the more bottom-heavy of the team and is also a coy flirt who prefers cultured, refined men. Her most recognized weapon is the Bloody Card, a technologically enhanced throwing card that can be used to take down several people at once.

Gaming Corner

NIER: AUTOMATA is an action role-playing game in which players take the role of combat androids from the YoRHa units across an open world environment. In addition to standard navigation on foot, using a special item allows the player to summon a wild animal to ride, and in some scenarios pilot a flying mech to fight enemies. As with the previous game, during navigation in some environments, the camera shifts from its standard third-person view to an overhead or side-scrolling perspective. Some areas also include platforming elements, requiring the player to navigate via jumping between platforms or over obstacles. The player can complete side quests for non-playable characters found throughout the world. Shops available in hub locations allow the player to purchase items, including consumables which recover health.

Combat is action-based, with the player fighting enemies in real-time in a variety of in-game environments. During battle, the player can use light attacks—which are fast but weak—and heavy attacks—slow and more powerful. The player can evade enemy attacks, and with successfully timed button presses, can gain temporary invulnerability and launch a counterattack which deals heavy damage. The player is also assisted by a Pod, a flying robot assistant which launches customizable ranged attacks varying from simple gunfire to heavy-hitting hammer attacks. Players can access four different weapon types in battle: short swords, long swords, bracers, and spears. While attacking, the player can alternate between both weapon types and attacks to create combination attacks. Attacks with different weapon types can also be charged and launched for increased damage. Weapon Stories, a recurring element in both Nier and the Drakengard series, where weapons found throughout the world have unique stories attached to them, are also featured.

As the players progress, they gain experience levels, increasing their health, defense, and attack power. Character progression is handled through chips, items installed onto the player characters that modify their attributes; these chips provide benefits ranging from altering the HUD, to granting status buffs. The number of chips that can be installed at once are limited by how many slots are available. Chips can either be purchased from shops, or picked up from defeated enemies. If the player dies, they will respawn at their previous save point. The player can then find their original body, and either retrieve items and experience left with it to gain a bonus, or attempt to repair it. Depending on the player's success, the body is either resurrected as a temporary ally, or as an enemy the player can defeat for an extra bonus. With online features enabled, the bodies of other players can also be retrieved or resurrected at the location in which they died.

Mighty Orbots - Remember this?

MIGHTY ORBOTS

In the future, Earth is threatened by various enemies, but none worse than the organization called Shadow, lead by the cybernetic menace known as Umbra. Against this, the Galactic Patrol strives to protect Earth, but the mild mannered young scientist, Robert Simmons, does more. In times of peril, he secretly fights as the leader of the Orbots, a team of unique artificially intelligent robots each equipped with their own unique capabilities that are invaluable in this war. Together, whether individually or united as parts of a giant combined robot, they represent Earth's most powerful defense.