Next Club Meeting: April 20, 2024, at the Fountaindale Public Library in Bolingbrook from 11:00 am - 5:00 pm

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.

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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Anime Viewing Schedule for Saturday, February 18

Building K, Room 131, Noon to 8:00 pm
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Noon - 12:50   Ben-To 1-2
12:50 - 1:40    Ano Hana 7-8
1:40 - 2:30     
Mirai Nikki (Future Diary) 7-8
2:30 - 3:20      Last Exile: Fam the Silver Wing 5-6
3:20 - 3:45      Fate/Zero 3
3:45 - 4:45      Club Meeting / Announcements
4:45 - 5:35      Gosick 20-21
5:35 - 6:25      Kamisama no Memo-chou 6-7       
6:25 - 8:00      Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail OVA 1-3

Noon - 12:50   Ben-To 1-2
[Source: Wikipedia] While innocently reaching for some half-priced bento, Yō Satō finds himself beaten up on the floor of a supermarket. He soon learns that getting half-priced bento is an all-out brawl between customers. Yō is invited to the Half-Priced Food Lovers Club by one of the top fighters, Sen Yarizui, in order to train to compete in these battles.
Episode 1 "Sticky Natto Okra Rice with Cheese Topping Bento 440kcal": Yō Satō finds himself beaten up on the supermarket floor, the last thing he remembers is going to get some half-priced bento. The next day, he encounters a silver haired girl who warns him not to go to the store again. He goes anyways alongside another student, Hana Oshiroi, and finds himself beaten up again upon reaching for the half price bento. The next day, he decides to act more strategically and witnesses an all-out battle for all the bento that gets marked half-price, which is dominated by the silver haired girl, Sen Yarizui. After the battle ends in total defeat for Yō, Sen tells him to join the Half-Priced Food Lovers club, which is all about finding and fighting for the best discounted bento deals in town.
Episode 2 "Mackerel Boiled in Miso Bento 674kcal": Sen gets Yō and Hana to join the Half-Priced Food Lovers Club and starts training them in the ways of Bento Brawling. During one of the supermarket visits, they encounter the 'boar', a fat woman who raids all the half-priced bentos before a battle starts. The next day, Yō meets Yū 'Wizard' Kaneshiro, who encourages Yō to stand up to the boar so that the bento battle can properly take place. Yō comes to understand the pride of the 'wolves' and comes out with his first victory, obtaining a bento with an honor seal from the 'God of Discounts'. Yō then returns to the clubroom, where Sen congratulates him on his first victory and shows him a scrapbook showing the victories Yū managed to obtain.

12:50 - 1:40  Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai 7-8
[Source: Wikipedia] A group of six childhood friends drift apart after one of them, Meiko "Menma" Honma, dies in an accident. Several years after the incident, the leader of the group, Jinta Yadomi, has withdrawn from society and lives as a recluse. One summer day, the ghost of an older looking Menma appears before him and asks to have a wish granted, reasoning that she cannot pass on into the afterlife until it is fulfilled. Since Menma does not remember what her wish is, Jinta gathers his estranged friends together once again, believing that they are the key to resolving this problem. However, hidden feelings, internal conflicts, and lingering feelings of bitterness from Menma's parents result in complications for the group as they struggle to help not only Menma move on, but more importantly, themselves as well.  
Episode 07 "The Real Wish": Jinta, Naruko and Tetsudō look inside Menma's diary, where they find an entry about how the group wanted to make a firework to send a letter to God to help Jinta's mother, though modern laws prevent them from making one themselves. As Chiriko asks Atsumu why he didn't bring up that Menma called the others on that fateful day, he points out it was something that was to be kept secret from Jinta. Jinta's father points him towards a friend of his that can make fireworks, but it's revealed one would cost 200,000 yen to make. Jinta takes up a part time job in order to help raise the money needed to buy a firework, working at Naruko's game store one day and Tetsudō's construction site the next. When Menma hears of this, she overhears Naruko talking about the firework and sees the work Jinta is doing for her. However, the next day the gang learn that the firework maker is no longer able to make a firework for them, under orders from one of Menma's parents.
Episode 08  "I Wonder": Jinta and the others visit Menma's mother to ask about the fireworks, but she refuses, showing anger and sadness towards them about how they were able to grow up instead of Menma. Afterwards, Atsumu accuses Jinta of forcing his pain onto others, so Jinta decides to try to solve Menma's wish himself. As Jinta's multiple jobs begin to have a negative effect on his health, Naruko urges him to stop. She reveals that she felt happy when Jinta badmouthed Menma back then because she had a crush on him, later saying that if he were to grant Menma's wish, she would just disappear again. The next day, as Jinta goes with his father to visit his mother's grave, the others receive silent calls from Jinta's house phone. Jinta is later visited by Menma's brother, Satoshi, who tells him about his memories of Menma. As the others confront Jinta at the secret base about the silent calls they had received, Menma arrives and makes her presence known by writing a brand new entry in her diary and dropping it on the floor.

1:40 - 2:30    Mirai Nikki (Future Diary) 7-8
[Source: Wikipedia] Yukiteru "Yuki" Amano is a loner who never really interacts with people and prefers writing a diary on his cell phone with his only companion being an imaginary friend named Deus Ex Machina, the God of Time and Space. However, Yuki soon learns that Deus is real when he makes Yuki participate in a battle royal with eleven other people. Within this "Diary Game", the contestants are given special diaries that can predict the future, with each diary having unique features that gives them both advantages and disadvantages. Within the next 90 days, the contestants must try to kill each other and survive until there is only one person standing, the winner becoming the new God of Time and Space. In order to survive, Yuki tries to find allies, with one of them being another diary user named Yuno Gasai, a girl who is madly in love with him. As the game continues, Yuki soon learns that not everyone can be trusted, not even Yuno, whose obsession to keep both of them alive no matter the cost terrifies him. Yet despite her faults, Yuki continues to trust Yuno since he manages to survive the game thanks to her. Originally, Yuki had no desire to win the game and stoop as low as the other contestants who either cheat, lie, manipulate or kill in order to win. However, that all changes when late in the game, Yuki's parents are killed. Yuki suffers a breakdown over his parents death until Yuno seduces and convinces him that if he becomes the new God of Time and Space, he can bring his parents back to life. Now having a reason to win, Yuki becomes a ruthless, backstabbing, and manipulative terrorist who causes the deaths of thousands of civilians and destruction throughout the city in order to kill the other contestants. Yuki's actions shock his friends, in particular Aru Akise, who had suspicions about Yuno and her motives. By the time Yuno and Yuki becomes the last contestants, Aru and the rest of Yuki's friends chastis him on how he has become just as bad as the other contestants. Aru tries to warn Yuki that Yuno is manipulating him and that she has an ulterior motive. Refusing to accept the truth and wishing to bring his parents back, Yuki kills them until Aru manages to stop him and gives Yuki a clue over Yuno's true identity before he is killed by Yuno herself. Eventually, Yuki learns that the Yuno he known is actually an "impostor" as this "Yuno" is actually from a parallel universe who won the Diary Game. In that universe, Yuno and Yuki were the last contestants and Yuki committed suicide so that Yuno will be the new God and resurrect him. But Yuno became distraught and more insane when she learns that while she can resurrect the dead, she cannot bring back their souls. With the help of Muru Muru, Deus' assistant and now Yuno's after she won the Diary game, both of them travel back in time to Yuki's universe and manipulated it where she killed the Yuno of Yuki's universe and took her place so she could play the game again and find a way to bring back "her" Yuki. As Yuno is about to kill him, Yuki is saved by Minene Uryu, one of his allies and another Diary user who he believed died in the game but was saved by Deus, who had suspicions that the Muru Muru in his universe is not the one he knows but the one from the parallel universe working with Yuno, and gave Minene some of his powers before his death. Their plans foiled, Yuno and Muru Muru travel to another universe to start over again but are followed by Yuki and Minene who are trying to stop them. Finally, Yuno and Muru Muru are stopped when the former learns in this new universe, all the terrible things that happen to everyone in the previous universes never happen including one where her parents were never abusive and lead to her insanity. With Yuno's Muru Muru stopped by Yuki's universe's Muru Muru and the help of the new universe's Diary users, Yuki convinces Yuno to come to her senses and surrender as he loves her. Realizing her mistakes, Yuno instead kills herself, believing this is the best for him and making Yuki the new God of his universe. In the end, despite becoming the new God of Time and Space, Yuki refuses to rule his universe as he has lost everything that he ever loved and cared; his friends, parents and Yuno. But in an unexpected Deus ex machina, the Yuno of the new universe arrives and invites Yuki to her universe as Yuki's Muru Muru had given Yuno and the others of the new universe their other universes memories which convinced that universe's Deus not to hold the Diary game and instead make Yuki and Yuno his new heirs. The series ends with Yuki reuniting with Yuno, his friends, parents and the Diary users in a new, happier universe.
Episode 07  "Away Message": Reisuke tries several times to kill Yuki and Yuno, but the two of them thwart his attempts, soon realizing he is a diary owner. Yuki starts searching for Reisuke's diary in vain, while Yuno insists killing him would be faster. While chasing Reisuke with a hammer, Yuno ends up injuring Yuki's mother instead. Yuno figures out that Reisuke has posted his diary to himself in order to hide it and has Yuki intercept the delivery, but he falls prey to a poison gas trap hidden in the envelope. Reisuke challenges Yuno to a hide-and-seek game inside the poison gas filled house, promising the antidote if she manages to capture him. Although Yuno evades numerous traps set by Reisuke, she eventually finds herself at his mercy. However, Yuki intervenes, injuring Reisuke with a dart and giving Yuno the resolve and opportunity to finish him off. Yuno and Yuki collapse before managing to use the antidote, but Uryu, who has been informed about the situation from Keigo, appears and saves them. Before leaving, Uryu tells Yuki not to trust Yuno.
Episode 08  "New Model": Deus calls a meeting of the eight surviving diary holders, one of whom requests to transfer his diary's ownership. Two weeks after Reisuke's disappearance, Yuki and Yuno transfer to a new school, while a series of brutal murders has been terrorizing the area. After school, Yuki and Yuno sneak in one of the crime scenes with Yuki's classmates Hinata, Mao and Kousaka. When Hinata wanders off, Yuki's diary predicts her being attacked. Yuki rushes everyone to the scene, where they find Hinata's body before a pack of vicious dogs. A strange boy called Aru Akise appears and leads everyone to a nearby building. Aru explains that he's one of Yuki's classmates and that he has been investigating the strange events in which Yuki keeps getting involved. Despite Yuno's mistrust in everyone, Yuki decides to reveal the existence of his diary in order to defend the group against the pack's attacks. After the dogs suddenly retreat, Mao takes Yuki's diary at knifepoint and hands it to Hinata, who is alive and well. Hinata reveals she is the holder of the Breeder Diary and that her real target is Aru, whom she reveals as another diary owner.

2:30 - 3:20    Last Exile: Fam the Silver Wing 5-6
[Source: Wikipedia] Taking place two years after the events of Last Exile, Last Exile: Fam, The Silver Wing is set on Earth, the original home world of the colonists of Prester. The new story focuses on Fam Fan Fan and Giselle Collette, two vespa pilots who work as Sky Pirates where they capture and sell battleships for a living. Fam and Giselle get into an adventure when they and the Sky Pirates rescue the Princesses of the Turan Kingdom, Liliana il Grazioso Merlo Turan and her younger sister, Millia Il Velch Cutrettola Turan, from the clutches of mighty Ades Federation. Led by Empress Sārā Augusta and Premier Luscinia Hāfez, the Ades Federation is on an all out war against the nations who are descendants of immigrants who came back to Earth by Exile ships. As Ades was the only nation to stay on Earth when the planet was in state of chaos and ruined, Luscinia believes the immigrants of Exile have no right to return to Earth since their ancestors abandoned Earth when it was in chaos only to return when Earth was viable to live on again and force the original inhabitants of Earth off their lands to form their own nations. To return these lands to their original inhabitants, Luscinia leads the Ades Federation to conquer the immigrant nations and destroy their armies with Turan being one of them. After Luscinia kidnaps Liliana, who has the ability to control an Exile, Luscinia summons an Exile to destroy the capital of Turan, killing its soldiers and the King of Turan, leading to Turan surrendering to Ades. With everything she cared for lost, Millia is given refuge by the Sky Pirates where Fam promises to help Millia regain her kingdom.
Episode 05  "Positional play": Alex Row takes the unconscious Al into custody and leaves with the Silvana. Not wanting to leave Al alone, Claus quickly repairs his damaged vanship and drains fuel from the downed fighter, but Lavie is hesitant about the decision. While in pursuit, they discover that the fuel composition was more pure than what they have used before and suspect that the fighter belongs to the Guild. When Al awakens, the Silvana's executive officer, Sophia Forrester, greets her as Alvis Hamilton. Claus and Lavie catch up to the Silvana, but it opens fire on their vanship as they attempt to board. Short on fuel, Claus is forced to make an emergency landing on the lower deck of the ship as it stops firing. Claus and Lavie make their way to the hangar and find the red vanship they encountered at Minagith. They get into a fight with the flight deck crew, but are stopped by Tatiana Wisla, the vanship's pilot.
Episode 06  "Arbiter attack": Guild members Dio Eraclea and Lucciola discover the downed fighter and its dead pilot in the temple ruins. When reviewing the fighter's video records, Dio takes an interest in Claus. At the Anatoray capital, Tatiana reports to the Emperor that Alvis has been safely delivered. Aboard the Silvana, Alvis is reunited with Claus and Lavie. Claus is taken to meet Alex, who asks him why he wants to protect Alvis and why he flies as a pilot. Before Claus can answer, they are interrupted by approaching Guild fighters. The Silvana, unable to effectively defend itself, is boarded by several fighters. Lavie questions the Silvana's reputation as the safest place in the world. Unable to escape on their damaged vanship, Claus asks that he and Lavie be allowed to join the fight on a spare fighter vanship.

3:20 - 3:45   Fate/Zero 3
[Source: Wikipedia] Fate/zero takes place 10 years prior to the events of Fate/stay night, detailing the events of the 4th Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City.[1] The War of the Holy Grail is a contest in which seven magi summon seven Heroic Spirits to compete to obtain the power of the "Holy Grail," which grants a miracle. After three inconclusive wars for the elusive Holy Grail, the Fourth War commences. Founded by the Einzbern, Matō, and Tōsaka families centuries ago, the Einzbern family is determined to achieve success after three successive failures, no matter the cost. As a result, they have elected to bring the hated magus killer, Kiritsugu Emiya, into their ranks, despite his methods and reputation as a skilled mercenary and a hitman who employs whatever he can use to accomplish his goals. Though Kiritsugu had once wanted to become a hero who could save everyone, he has long since abandoned this ideal upon realizing that saving one person comes at the cost of another's life. For the sake of humanity, he will ruthlessly destroy anything and anyone who threatens the peace of others. However, Kiritsugu finds himself deeply torn between the love he has found for his new family - his wife Irisviel and their daughter Illya - and what he must do to obtain the Holy Grail. Meanwhile, Kiritsugu's greatest opponent appears in the form of Kirei Kotomine, a priest who cannot find any sense of fulfillment in his life and sets his sights on Kiritsugu as the possible answer to the emptiness he feels.
Episode 03  "Land of Fuyuki": Tokiomi's servant Archer, Gilgamesh, shows dissatisfaction of killing Assassin as it is later revealed at Risei's church where Kirei announces his resignation from the war and granted asylum, that the attack was a ruse to fool the other participants as "Assassin" is not one but several dozen people so that Kirei can secretly send the Assassins to scout the others without suspicion. Waver informs Rider of Assassin's demise but the latter is only interested of defeating President Clinton, acquiring his country's military weapons and having a good time. Saber and Iri arrive at Fuyuki City to meet up with Kiritsugu but decides to tour the city after Iri reveals to Saber that this the first time she has ever been abroad. Meanwhile, Kiritsugu meets up with his assistant Maiya Hisau, who informs him the other Masters believe Iri is Saber's master and she has smuggled in the guns they need for the war including his Contender pistol. Kiritsugu fears that he has become too soft due to his daughter but Maiya tells him to focus on their mission and kisses him. As Iri has good time at the beach, Saber detects another servant where they both face the servant at the harbor. The servant Lancer introduces himself and ask for a duel with Saber which both him and Saber prepare themselves.

3:45 - 4:45    Club Meeting and Announcements
-  Preview of New Anime this Season
-  Animation News from around the world
-  Cosplayers/Skits/Masquerade
-  Anime Music Videos
-  And other weird, interesting stuff...

4:45 - 5:35    Gosick 20-21
[Source: Wikipedia] Gosick takes place in 1924 in a small, French-speaking fictional European country of Sauville. The story centers on Kazuya Kujo, the third son of a Japanese Imperial soldier, who is a transfer student to St. Marguerite Academy, where urban legends and horror stories are all the rage. There he meets Victorique, a mysterious yet beautiful and brilliant girl who never comes to class and spends her days reading the entire content of the library or solving mysteries that even detectives can't solve. The series mostly focuses on Kazuya and Victorique getting involved in different mystery cases and their struggle to solve them, at the same time forming important bonds with different people. 
Episode 20  "Guided by the Phantom's Ghost": Finding out that Victorique has been summoned yet again by her father, Kujo races to catch up with her, only for her to disappear again. The Inspector reveals to Kujo that Victorique might not be able to leave, unless she figures the real truth about Coco Rose's death, and thus he starts searching the city for more clues regarding the case.
Episode 21  "The Bells of Christmas Eve Toll at the Heels of Time": Upon investigating the grave of a woman with a striking resemblance to Queen Coco Rose, Victorique manages to put together the truth behind her mysterious demise. The truth of the Coco Rose case and the disappearance of Nicole Lulu is made clear, and Albert frees Victorique when she is unable to conclusively identify the murderer. On the way home to the Academy, Victorique and Kujo encounter a seemingly ordinary couple who are actually the still-living Coco Rose and her son fathered by Leviathan. Cordelia watches over them as they arrive home, and is soon joined by Brian who is revealed not to be one single person, but a pair of identical twins.

5:35 - 6:25    Kamisama no Memo-chou 6-7
[Source: Wikipedia] Narumi Fujishima is an ordinary high school boy who remains isolated from his fellow classmates. One afternoon fellow classmate Ayaka Shinozaki invites Narumi to join the gardening club and introduces him to a reclusive detective named Alice. Alice hires Narumi as an assistant and puts him to work solving the strange mysteries of Angel fix, an illegal drug. Little does he know it could put him and Ayaka in serious trouble. Alice is a mysterious girl who lives on the third floor over Hanamaru ramen shop. Her age is unknown, but looks like a 12 or 13 years-old girl. She is short, pale white and has long black hair. She calls herself Alice (a mixed reading of the kanji for Yūko) and a "NEET Detective". She is a hikikomori and a cracking genius. Her diet is based practically only on Dr Pepper and she suffers a severe insomnia. She always wears bear patterned pajamas and she is always surrounded by a pile of teddy bears. She is the brain of the NEET Detective Team and gathers information to solve the cases with her laptop without stepping out of her bedroom.
Episode 6  "It Seems Like I'll Lose" and Episode 7  "Everything I Can Do": During summer vacations Yondaime is organizing an event and Narumi helps with the promotion of the band. But the other founder of Hirasaka-gumi, the man who gave it its name, has returned to Tokyo. It seems something had happened between Hirasaka and Yondaime. Hirasaka acts friendly towards Narumi but then mobilizes a group to impersonate Hirasaka-gumi and blacken its name, endangering the realization of the event.


FEATURE PRESENTATION:
6:25 - 8:00    Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail OVA 1-3
Roberta's Blood Trail
[Source: Wikipedia] Roberta's employer, Diego Lovelace, was killed, apparently as part of a war between the CIA and the NSA. She vows to punish those responsible no matter what it takes. Fabiola (her understudy), Black Lagoon and Mr. Chang get drawn into the conflict. Rock accepts the offer to find Roberta before she declares war on the US troops. He tries to solve the puzzle of Roberta's whereabouts, by collecting partial information from everywhere. At the same time, the City Ring (Hong Kong Triad, Hotel Moscow, Italian Mafia, and Colombian Cartel) gather to decide upon what they should do next. The decision is kept secret, but we see Mr. Chang goes to the Church of Violence and is filled in by a CIA member (Eda) about the recent movements of NSA commandos (Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie companies). Rock and Revy finally get enough information to find Roberta. They drive to the place where they think Roberta will start the war. Meanwhile, Revy calls Shenhua (the Taiwanese assassin), and asks for backup in return of money. They reach the war zone a bit late, since Roberta has already started the war. Rock gives a letter to Garcia, and asks him to "open it when you can't figure out what to do next." Roberta, as well as Revy, Shenhua, Sawyer, and Lotton the Wizard kill enemies one after another. Meanwhile, Rock receives a phone call from Mr. Chang, asking him to close up the fight before it's too late. He says that Garcia and the maid are pawns on a chessboard, whose sacrifice is necessary for a checkmate. Rock refuses to do so, and Chang hangs up. In a confrontation, Garcia gets separated from the others, and takes cover behind some crates. Roberta passes by, and drops something, which is picked up by Garcia. It is revealed that Roberta is under the influence of some "central nervous system stimulant," given to her by Doctor Hartland. The bottle says it's Ritalin. Roberta continues killing by various martial-art kicks and punches, but she is beaten severely by a commander of the Cuban Special Naval Missions Formation, who admits to "know every single move she knows." He reveals that he does not want to kill Roberta; instead, he wants to employ her to his advantage. Roberta deceives and kills him by shooting and punching his face, while Garcia is watching him. Garcia shouts and asks her to stop, and then collapses. Roberta comes to her senses for a moment, and tries to help Garcia. However, being under drug influence, she suddenly feels that Garcia is just an illusion, and tries to kill this illusion by shooting it. A shot is heard, followed by repeated gunshots. At first, it seems that Roberta has shot Garcia, but Burrows (a member of the US Army) radios and reveals that "Sergeant Major Horner secured a boy."

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