Stream on Hi-YAH! starting July 5, 2024: https://www.hiyahtv.com/
Animatrix Network
The Anime and Manga Fan Club of Chicago
The Animatrix Network is an anime & manga fan club located in the Southwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. We usually meet on the third 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.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Those girls are crazy!
Stream on Hi-YAH! starting July 5, 2024: https://www.hiyahtv.com/
Monday, March 18, 2024
Mokkori, mokkori, mokkori...
The series follows the exploits of Ryo Saeba, a "sweeper" who is always found chasing beautiful girls and a private detective who works to rid Tokyo of crime, along with his associate or partner, Hideyuki Makimura. Their "City Hunter" business is an underground jack-of-all-trades operation, contacted by writing the letters "XYZ" on a blackboard at Shinjuku Station.
One day, Hideyuki is murdered, and Ryo must take care of Hideyuki's sister, Kaori, a tomboy who becomes his new partner in the process. However, Kaori is very susceptible and jealous, often hitting Ryo with a giant hammer when he does something perverted. The story also follows the behind-the-scenes romance between Ryo and Kaori and the way they cooperate throughout each mission.
Sunday, March 17, 2024
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Saturday, March 16, 2024
Friday, March 15, 2024
Make Room for New Emotions...
Thursday, March 14, 2024
Decode the Universe…
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
Anime Viewing Schedule for March 16, 2024
Saturday, March 16, 2024
2:25 - 2:50 Frieren 4
Masamune and his friends then start playing pain-inducing games. They are completely unaware that they don't actually feel any pain at all. The next day, Masamune is invited by Mutsumi Sagami, a classmate he dislikes, to visit the steel mill with her. Arriving at the mill's fifth blast furnace, they both find a girl there who looked like a teenager just like them but acted like a wild child and could only speak in an infantile manner. Mutsumi, who is the one taking care of the girl by preventing her from going outside, makes Masamune clean up after her. Mutsumi orders Masamune to come three times a week from now on. A while later, one night, he was told by Akimune that fleeing the town was impossible. Akimune then works the night shift at the mill afterward, only to never return.
Masamune visits the steel mill alone and feeds the unknown girl a sandwich before naming her Itsumi. While Itsumi is playing in the courtyard, Sagami and Tokimune both show up. According to Sagami's claims, Itsumi was a woman of the gods and said that if she was presented in front of them, she would be forgiven by the sacred machine someday. Tokimune debunks his claims by recalling that Masamune's father said something different, with Masamune secretly listening. Since then, Masamune has been visiting the same blast furnace alone, bringing books for Itsumi to read. When Mutsumi was absent from school, Masamune returns from the steel mill and meets Yuko Sonobe, Mutsumi's classmate, who is delivering her school documents to her. The two visit Mutsumi's home and meet her. Mutsumi while speaking to them about her relationship with Sagami, reveals to them that he is actually her adoptive father.
Masamune, Mutsumi, Sonobe and their classmates undertake a test of courage in an abandoned railway tunnel near the town. Sonobe, who was paired with Masamune, creates a graffiti drawing to mark the destination on the tunnel wall, drawing a symbol with her and Masamune's names on it. The sight of the graffiti then surprises Masamune. Sonobe explains that she thought Masamune liked her because he let her ride in the passenger seat. When the other classmates arrived, Sonobe starts fleeing towards the tunnel's exit before Masamune and the others chase after her. They make it out, only to see many fissures open up in the sky with Sonobe starting to emit light from her body. Just as Sonobe was explaining about how the blatant reveal of her brief relationship with Masamune was the reason why she fled, the light spreads out like a crack. Immediately after that, smoke rises from the steel mill, and they completely shroud Sonobe, causing her to disappear and close up the fissures in the sky. The townspeople gather at the community center following the incident. According to Sagami's claims, the factory smoke is a "sacred wolf" that fills the fissures in the sky, and that it can also crack people's hearts. Masamune flees the scene and remorsefully sits down in a corner of the town's shopping street. Tokimune, who was looking for him, arrives. Masamune then berates Tokimune, thinking that he and Akimune were hiding the fact that they knew the truth about Itsumi's origins. Tokimune vaguely reveals that Itsumi actually doesn't belong in their world...
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
'The Boy and the Heron' Wins Oscar...
Monday, March 11, 2024
Sweet Baby Inc Employee CROSSES THE LINE...
Akira Toriyama's Grave + Woke Kotaku Implodes
Sunday, March 10, 2024
The Next Club Meeting will be March 16, 2024
Fountaindale Public Library
Hope to see everyone there!
(Click below for maps)
Saturday, March 9, 2024
The Creator of 'Dragon Ball' has Died...
Needing money after quitting his job at the age of 23, Toriyama entered the manga industry by submitting a work to an amateur contest in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine, which he had randomly picked up in a coffee shop. The timing did not line up for that contest, but another shōnen magazine, Weekly Shōnen Jump, accepted submissions for their Newcomer Award every month. Kazuhiko Torishima, who would become his editor, read and enjoyed Toriyama's manga, but it was not eligible to compete because it was a parody of Star Wars instead of an original work. Torishima sent the artist a telegram and encouraged him to keep drawing and sending him manga. This resulted in Wonder Island, which became Toriyama's first published work when it was published in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1978. It finished last place in the readers survey. Toriyama later said that he had planned to quit manga after getting paid, but because Wonder Island 2 (1978) was also a "flop," his stubbornness would not let him and he continued to draw failed stories for a year; claiming around 500 pages' worth, including the published Today's Highlight Island (1979). He said he learned a lot during this year and even had some fun. When Torishima told him to draw a female lead character, Toriyama hesitantly created 1979's Tomato the Cutesy Gumshoe, which had some success. Feeling encouraged, he decided to draw another female lead and created Dr. Slump.
Torishima suggested that, as Toriyama enjoyed kung fu films, he should create a kung fu shōnen manga. This led to the two-part Dragon Boy, published in the August and October 1983 issues of Fresh Jump. It follows a boy, adept at martial arts, who escorts a princess on a journey back to her home country. Dragon Boy was well-received and evolved to become the serial Dragon Ball in 1984. But before that, The Adventure of Tongpoo was published in Weekly Shōnen Jump's 52nd issue of 1983 and also contained elements that would be included in Dragon Ball.
Manga critic Jason Thompson declared Toriyama's art influential, saying that his "extremely personal and recognizable style" was a reason for Dragon Ball's popularity. He points out that the popular shōnen manga of the late 1980s and early 1990s had "manly" heroes, such as City Hunter and Fist of the North Star, whereas Dragon Ball starred the cartoonish and small Goku, thus starting a trend that Thompson says continues to this day. Toriyama himself said he went against the normal convention that the strongest characters should be the largest in terms of physical size, designing many of the series' most powerful characters with small statures. Thompson concluded his analysis by saying that only Akira Toriyama drew like this at the time and that Dragon Ball is "an action manga drawn by a gag manga artist." James S. Yadao, author of The Rough Guide to Manga, points out that an art shift does occur in the series, as the characters gradually "lose the rounded, innocent look that [Toriyama] established in Dr. Slump and gain sharper angles that leap off the page with their energy and intensity."
Thompson stated in 2011 that "Dragon Ball is by far the most influential shonen manga of the last 30 years, and today, almost every Shōnen Jump artist lists it as one of their favorites and lifts from it in various ways." David Brothers of ComicsAlliance wrote that: "Like Osamu Tezuka and Jack Kirby before him, Toriyama created a story with his own two hands that seeped deep into the hearts of his readers, creating a love for both the cast and the medium at the same time." In a rare 2013 interview, commenting on Dragon Ball's global success, Toriyama admitted, "Frankly, I don't quite understand why it happened. While the manga was being serialized, the only thing I wanted as I kept drawing was to make Japanese boys happy." He had previously stated in 2010, "The truth is, I didn't like being a manga artist very much. It wasn't until relatively recently that I realized it's a wonderful job." Many artists have named Toriyama and Dragon Ball as influences, including One Piece author Eiichiro Oda, Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto, Fairy Tail and Rave author Hiro Mashima, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations illustrator Mikio Ikemoto, Venus Versus Virus author Atsushi Suzumi, Bleach creator Tite Kubo, Black Cat author Kentaro Yabuki, and Mr. Fullswing author Shinya Suzuki. German comic book artist Hans Steinbach was strongly influenced by Toriyama, and Thai cartoonist Wisut Ponnimit cited Toriyama as one of his favorite cartoonists. Ian Jones-Quartey, a producer of the American animated series Steven Universe, is a fan of both Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump, and uses Toriyama's vehicle designs as reference for his own. He also stated that "We're all big Toriyama fans on [Steven Universe], which kind of shows a bit." French director Pierre Perifel cited Toriyama and Dragon Ball as influences on his DreamWorks Animation film The Bad Guys.
In 2008, Oricon conducted a poll of people's favorite manga artists, with Toriyama coming in second, behind only Nana author Ai Yazawa. He was number one among male respondents and among those over 30 years of age. They held a poll on the Mangaka that Changed the History of Manga in 2010, mangaka being the Japanese word for a manga artist. Toriyama came in second, after only Osamu Tezuka, due to his works being highly influential and popular worldwide. Toriyama won the Special 40th Anniversary Festival Award at the 2013 Angoulême International Comics Festival, honoring his years in cartooning. He actually received the most votes for the festival's Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême award that year, though the selection committee chose Willem as the recipient. In a 2014 NTT Docomo poll for the manga artist that best represents Japan, Toriyama came in third place. That same year, entomologist Enio B. Cano named a new species of beetle, Ogyges toriyamai, after Toriyama, and another, Ogyges mutenroshii, after the Dragon Ball character Muten Roshi. Toriyama was decorated a Chevalier or "Knight" of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government on May 30, 2019 for his contributions to the arts. He was also a 2019 nominee for entry into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame. Toriyama will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2024 Tokyo Anime Awards Festival. Due to his video game design work, IGN named Toriyama number 74 on their list of the Top 100 Game Creators of All Time.
News of Toriyama's death caused an outpouring of grief among admirers of his works, who took to social media to express their condolences and celebrate his legacy.