Next Club Meeting: December 14, 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.

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, December 31, 2019

Top 10 Best Anime of 2019

Top 10 Best Anime of 2019
We' had a lot of popular anime this year – and we wanted to cover the best ones in 2019. So sit back, relax and get ready for an epic recap. This list is just our opinion so feel free to let us know about your thoughts in the comment section below.

Monday, December 30, 2019

Watch Season 4 of 'The Bravest Warriors'

THE BRAVEST WARRIORS - Season 4
Episode 1A: Whispers In The Morning 
The Bravest Warriors attempt to battle their way out of a Mechacat Battleship, but are captured by Captain Meow, who means to drown them in kitty litter. Chris must use his emotion lord powers to set them free. 
Episode 1B: You've Grown So Tall You've Grown So Fast 
The Emotion Lord leads Chris on an emotion-expanding ‘vision quest’ through the space/time calliope when they are interrupted by an urgent red honk from the 2-dimensional beings, the Chillaxians. The Bravest Warriors must take care of Chris (who is still tripping crazy colorful blocks) while they attempt to solve the Chillaxians bi-dimensional offspring crisis.

Full episodes of the new season available on AMAZON PRIME! 
Sugar peas for EVERYONE!

Sunday, December 29, 2019

''Avatar: The Last Airbender'' Recap Cartoon

''Avatar: The Last Airbender'' Recap Cartoon
Get all caught up on the original Last Airbender series before the live-action Netflix adaptation!


Saturday, December 28, 2019

Peanuts producer Lee Mendelson dies at age 86

Lee Mendelson
[March 24, 1933 - December 25, 2019]
Executive-producer of 'A Charlie Brown Christmas', dies at age 86
Lee Mendelson, the executive producer behind a multitude of Charlie Brown animated specials, passed away Christmas day in his San Francisco Bay Area home. He was 86.
 
Mendelson's son Jason confirmed to CNN the cause of death was congestive heart failure after a battle with cancer.

As an executive producer, Mendelson helped bring some of the most famous newspaper comic strips into the animated world. They include Mother Goose and Grimm, Cathy, and Garfield and Friends.

His most well-known work was with Charles Schultz and the Peanuts gang. In 1965, he helped bring their first animated special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, to the small screen. He also co-wrote its classic song “Christmas Time is Here” with Vince Guaraldi.

He also produced another seminal classic, It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, and through 2015 spearheaded approximately 50 Peanuts specials and series.

Jason Mendelson told CNN, “We are very sad to lose our wonderful father, but Lee would have said it was serendipitous to pass on Christmas when the song he wrote with Vince Guaraldi is being heard everywhere and the program he created with Charles Schulz and Bill Melendez is being celebrated around the world. "While it was not a great time for us, it was not a bad time for him to pass.”

Mendelson was also given a tribute by the Charles M. Schultz Museum, who tweeted the following on December 27th.

Friday, December 27, 2019

Promo for the TV anime of Sun Takeda's 'Gleipnir'

Gleipnir
Shuichi Kagaya an ordinary high school kid in a boring little town. But when a beautiful classmate is caught in a warehouse fire, he discovers a mysterious power: he can transform into a furry dog with an oversized revolver and a zipper down his back. He saves the girl's life, sharing his secret with her. But she's searching for the sister who killed her family, and she doesn't care how degrading it gets: she will use Shuichi to accomplish her mission …

Thursday, December 26, 2019

Crisis On Infinite Earths - Batman Trailer

Crisis On Infinite Earths
Crisis On Infinite Earths - Batman Trailer, Batman v Superman Scene Easter Eggs. Michael Keaton Batman Scene, and Batman Beyond.

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL! 
AND HAVE A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

What if Superman landed in Stalinist Russia...

SUPEЯMAИ: ЯED SOИ
Superman: Red Son, the new animated movie from WBHE, based on the classic 2003 Elseworlds comic. The new film features the voice talents of Jason Isaacs as Kal-El, Amy Acker as Lois Lane, Diedrich Bader as Lex Luthor, Phil Morris as James Olsen, Phil LaMarr as John Stewart, Vanessa Marshall as Wonder Woman, Sasha Roiz as Hal Jordan, Roger Craig Smith as Batman, Paul Williams as Braniac and William Salyers as Joseph Stalin. Based on DC’s famed Elseworlds tale from 2003, Superman: Red Son takes place in an alternate reality where the spaceship bearing the last survivor of Krypton crash lands – not in rural Kansas, but in Stalinist Russia. Can this Cold War-era Earth survive the coming of a Soviet Superman?

Monday, December 23, 2019

George Lucas Goes to See Rise of Skywalker

George Lucas Camps Out
Deepfake George Lucas is back and he can't wait to see Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, to see the conclusion to his Star Wars Saga. Unfortunately he wasn't invited to the premiere, so he's camping out the old fashioned way. Luckily he's got some special cookies from Harrison Ford and Baby Yoda to keep him company.

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Return to a Quiet Place for more Mayhem

A QUIET PLACE - PART II
Following the deadly events at home, the Abbott family (Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe) must now face the terrors of the outside world as they continue their fight for survival in silence. Forced to venture into the unknown, they quickly realize that the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path.

Saturday, December 21, 2019

Ryan Reynolds is FREE GUY!

FREE GUY
In Twentieth Century Fox’s epic adventure-comedy “Free Guy,” a bank teller who discovers he is actually a background player in an open-world video game, decides to become the hero of his own story… one he rewrites himself. Now in a world where there are no limits, he is determined to be the guy who saves his world his way… before it is too late.

Friday, December 20, 2019

One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows

One Punch Man Video Game
The opening movie for ONE PUNCH MAN: A HERO NOBODY KNOWS is here! Watch Saitama and fellow heroes take on your favorite villains to JAM Project's high energy song "Freaking Out!" The game will be released on February 28, 2020 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

Thursday, December 19, 2019

How to Live on Mars

MARS the Next FRONTIER
The HASSELL design for a Mars Habitat has reached the final 10 of NASA’s 3D Printing Centennial Challenge. This NASA competition sought perspectives from outside the traditional aerospace industry, to explore how a human habitat could be designed and delivered on Mars using autonomous 3D printing technologies. HASSELL partnered with Eckersley O’Callaghan to design the external shell which could be constructed entirely by autonomous robots using Mars’ natural regolith. Final film has been made in collaboration with the team at LightField London.

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Anime Viewing Schedule for December 21, 2019

A N I M A T R I X   N E T W O R K
Saturday, December 21, 2019
Fountaindale Public Library
VIEWING SCHEDULE
                    11:15 - 12:05   Golden Kamuy 19-20
                    12:05 - 12:55   Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 17-18
                    12:55 - 1:20     Club Meeting / Announcements
                    1:20 - 2:10       Dororo 18-19
                    2:10 - 3:00       The Rising of the Shield Hero 15-16

                    3:00 - 4:35       Black Fox [TV Premiere]
"This is what we think of George's Ideas for the new movies."
                                                  - Disney Co.


Fountaindale Public Library
300 W. Briarcliff Road
Bolingbrook, IL 60440
Board Room on Second Floor

From 11:15 AM to 5:00 PM


All anime presented are fan-subtitled unless otherwise noted.
 
Don't miss the exciting anime series: Dororo and Golden Kamuy
ANIME DESCRIPTIONS ARE BELOW

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

STEAM SPEED

The Great Steampunk Race! 
Only the best of the best race steam trains have reached the final. Red Arrow accept a challenge of Iron Shark. Black villain is ready to do everything just to get to the finish line first. But his opponent is brave and courageous. 
Steam up your engines, gentlemen!

Monday, December 16, 2019

GHOSTBUSTERS AFTERLIFE Official Trailer

Ghostbusters: Afterlife
From director Jason Reitman and producer Ivan Reitman, comes the next chapter in the original Ghostbusters universe. In Ghostbusters: Afterlife, when a single mom and her two kids arrive in a small town, they begin to discover their connection to the original ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind. Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2020) is the new science fiction movie starring Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, and Paul Rudd. Release Date: 30 Jun 2020.

Sunday, December 15, 2019

The refreshing awfulness of Rick and Morty

RICK and MORTY
[Source: yahoo!News] In the most recent season of the hit Adult Swim animated series Rick and Morty, the mad scientist Rick Sanchez and his teenage grandson Morty Smith face off against one of Rick's deadliest creations: a sentient super-robot that has synthesized the plots of every twisty heist movie ever made. The out-of-control "Heist-o-Tron" can predict — and out-maneuver — nearly any attempt to defeat it, with maximum efficiency. At one point, it executes an especially clever con as an evasive maneuver, and in the process obliterates an entire planet.

That's one grimly funny gag — like slapstick comedy on a global scale. But it's not wrong to consider the joke horrifying, too. It's an example of what the critic Jonathan Rosenbaum once called the trend in post-Star Wars action movies toward treating human beings (or aliens, in this case) as "garbage to be gleefully fed into a garbage disposal," as the plot demands.

Then again, the push-and-pull between no-holds-barred comedy and all-consuming nihilism is (pardon the pun) what animates Rick and Morty. This astonishingly imaginative, ruthlessly hilarious science-fiction parody — which airs the mid-season finale of its fourth season this Sunday — has always framed flippancy as a kind of enlightenment.

Co-created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, Rick and Morty had its origins in one of Harmon's pop culture incubator projects, Channel 101. Initially conceived as a filthy, juvenile parody of the movie Back to the Future, the show's concept was refined once Roiland and Harmon drew interest from Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming bloc. The writers developed it into a savvy, smart-aleck riff on classic science-fiction themes, steeped in knowing cynicism.

It's the "knowing cynicism" that has sometimes gotten Rolland and Harmon into trouble. The series is ostensibly about Rick's casually monstrous selfishness, as he drags his grandson across time and space, often over the objections of Morty's mother Beth, who's never quite recovered from growing up with a warped genius for a dad. Rick embarks on these missions in part just for the hedonistic pleasure of using science and technology to dominate others, and in part to persuade Morty that life is meaningless.

Rick and Morty fans differ on what message Roiland and Harmon expect viewers to take away from the heroes' picaresque misadventures. For some, this series is just a font of especially edgy humor, not meant to be taken too seriously. But for others, it represents a coherent and reasonable worldview, one which implicitly rebukes any "social justice warriors" who want genre fiction to advocate for real-world change.

The creators have pushed back against the faction of their fan base that has embraced Rick Sanchez as a truth-telling antihero. In an interview with GQ last year, Harmon called that phenomenon "a huge bummer," adding, "Once the title of your show becomes a way of describing a demographic, that is toxic."

Still, it's hard to argue that the lead character is intended to be a bad example or to embody a critique of anything in particular. Rick and Morty stories by design push familiar science-fiction and fantasy plots to their logical ends. They're grand "what ifs." What if the most powerful man in the universe was a bored old man, with no particular moral code and no overtly villainous inclinations?

Roiland and Harmon haven't backed away from their show's central premise, no matter how much they've been criticized for fostering a "nothing matters" attitude — and at perhaps the worst possible time in the world's history, too. Global warming, spreading economic disparity, the rising tide of authoritarianism: To Rick and Morty, loss and misery are just inevitable parts of existence, so why do anything?

This perspective isn't just potentially damaging to impressionable Adult Swim viewers, but — in a way — to storytelling itself. So many Rick and Morty plots (including the aforementioned heist parody, credited to writer Caitie Delaney) are like that famous scene in the movie WarGames where a super-computer rapidly runs through simulations of tic-tac-toe, chess, and global thermonuclear war, until it realizes none of these "games" are winnable.

Roiland and Harmon and their talented writing staff keep running their characters through new scenarios and coming to the same conclusion: that the universe is cruel, and that heroism is more or less a waste of time. The Rick and Morty creative team will keep following its cranky muse, so long as it results in entertaining, popular television. (Which, I should reiterate, it does.)

Harmon has been here before. He created the cult-favorite NBC sitcom Community, which started as a kooky college comedy and then became more sophisticated and self-aware, commenting on the mechanics of network television itself. And at a certain point in the show's run — not long before Harmon was fired — it took a turn from playfully meta to somewhat despairing, as the characters pondered the limitations and even the ultimate pointlessness of TV. It's like Harmon can't stop his mind from wandering in this direction.

Granted, Harmon and Roiland haven't shied away from Rick's destructiveness or his vulnerabilities. Superman can be bested by Kryptonite and magic; Rick Sanchez's mental acuity is affected by his alcoholism and by his need to keep Morty as a sidekick. Many of the duo's missions start with Morty wanting to try something cool he read about in an old pulp fantasy novel, which Rick goes along with because he gets desperately lonely without his grandson tagging along.

In a more conventional TV show, Rick's dependence on Morty would soften him, allowing him to see the wonders of the universe with fresh eyes. Here, the opposite happens. Rick indulges Morty's whims in hopes that the boy will see firsthand that the awesome things he wants to do aren't really worth doing. Rick and Marty is the kind of show where an episode opens with a friendly alien getting shot through the brain while helping Morty retrieve a rare artifact for his grandfather, who then tosses the object aside because it wasn't quite what he wanted. Perhaps the best word to describe this is "pitiless."

Even in the heist episode, it's eventually revealed that everything that happened — from the activation of Heist-o-Tron to the demolition of an entire world — has been part of Rick's elaborate plan to burn Morty out on the very concept of heists, so he won't abandon Rick to follow his dream of becoming a screenwriter. That is bleak. If this show weren't so great, it'd be awful.

All of that said, it's undeniably refreshing for a television comedy to have such a confident and consistent point of view — and especially one that's so unapologetically dispiriting. Too much popular entertainment panders to its audience's desire for comfort. Rick and Morty stubbornly refuses to do so.

That's what makes this show so fascinating: the extremes to which Roiland and Harmon will push their premise, even at the risk of exposing their own weaknesses ... or of inspiring a generation to be smugly apathetic. They've constructed an astoundingly intricate machine, and they've set it in motion, knowing full well what it may destroy.

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Next Club Meeting is December 21, 2019

 A N I M A T R I X   N E T W O R K
Yeah! Let's Celebrate! The Holidays are Here!

Fountaindale Public Library
300 W. Briarcliff Road
Bolingbrook, IL  60440
Board Room (2nd Floor)
 
Saturday, December 21, 2019
11:15 AM - 5:00 PM
 

Our next club meeting will be at the Fountaindale Public Library
Board Room (Second Floor), 
from 11:15 AM to 5:00 PM.

 
A Viewing Schedule will be posted soon.
 
Hope to see you all there!

(Click below for maps)

Friday, December 13, 2019

POV Experience of Galaxy Edge's Newest Ride

STAR WARS
RISE of the RESISTANCE
Here's the FULL Ride-Through of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Walt Disney World's Star Wars Galaxy's Edge on opening day, December 5, 2019.

The attraction is located in the area of Galaxy's Edge known as the ancient ruins on the outskirts of Black Spire Outpost, which includes a Resistance encampment. Its entrance is marked by a turret that leads guests — acting as new recruits — to a path heading into ancient caves that house a Resistance control center where they are given a mission by BB-8 and a hologram of Rey. The briefing also includes Poe Dameron, Nien Nunb, and Mon Calamari Lieutenant Bek, all appearing on video screens. Guests then walk past ships, including Dameron's X-wing fighter, and board a transport ship for the first portion of the ride. Onboard, Bek speaks to guests as Nien Nunb pilots the ship, which is escorted by Dameron and other X-wings. Dameron is forced to go for help when the transport and fighters are attacked by a First Order Star Destroyer which appears to capture the guests' ship and pull it inside a hangar bay filled with stormtroopers. The recruits then are brought into a cell where Kylo Ren and Armitage Hux discuss their interrogation. Then with help from Finn, disguised as a stormtrooper, the recruits board a hijacked First Order Fleet Transport (an eight-seat ride vehicle) piloted by an R5 unit to travel to an escape pod.  

The ride begins with Finn explaining how to get to the escape pods. The two transports exit the loading station where they pass two other empty transports heading into the loading station, with Bek speaking to the riders through the vehicles' radio. They enter another room where a probe droid nearly spots them. However, when about to reach two lifts, two stormtroopers do. The stormtroopers attempt to blast at the transports but fail as the transports escape. They enter the next room which includes two AT-ATs. The door leading out of the room closes before the transports can pass through. The stormtroopers spot the transports again and attempt to blast at them. An audio-animatronic Finn in a stormtrooper suit helps the guests as the transports split up and enter two lifts. Finn tells them to go down, but they go up instead. One of the vehicles is spotted by an AT-AT pilot and is almost blasted. 

In the next room, Kylo Ren and General Hux are seen atop the ship's bridge discussing the situation. Suddenly, a Resistance ship fleet appears and Kylo notices the transports. The riders attempt to escape, but Kylo jumps down in front of them and ignites his lightsaber as the transports enter two lifts, though the doors close in front of them before he can get to them. As the lifts go down, Kylo's lightsaber suddenly cuts through the ceiling as they escape. The riders then enter a room with three cannons firing at the Resistance, which they pass under and make it into the next room where Kylo uses the Force on the transports, demanding that they tell him the whereabouts of the Resistance Base. Suddenly, a hole is blasted into the wall, which attempts to suck Kylo into space as debris falls over him. The transports enter the next room and enter the escape pods, where the ride turns into a motion simulator. After seeing two other pods ejecting, the riders' pods drop and escape back onto Batuu. The transports exit the simulator and enter the hangar, where an animatronic Bek is seen in his escape pod, having just crash-landed in the base. They then enter the unload station where the ride ends.

Thursday, December 12, 2019

The Boys Season 2 - Official Teaser

THE BOYS - SEASON 2
The Boys is an irreverent take on what happens when superheroes, who are as popular as celebrities, as influential as politicians and as revered as Gods, abuse their superpowers rather than use them for good. It's the powerless against the super powerful as The Boys embark on a heroic quest to expose the truth about "The Seven", and their formidable Vought backing.

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Wonder Woman 1984 Trailer

WONDER WOMAN 1984
Fast forward to the 1980s as Wonder Woman’s next big-screen adventure finds her facing two all-new foes: Max Lord and The Cheetah. 

With director Patty Jenkins back at the helm and Gal Gadot returning in the title role, “Wonder Woman 1984” is Warner Bros. Pictures’ follow up to the DC Super Hero’s first outing, 2017’s record-breaking “Wonder Woman,” which took in $822 million at the worldwide box office. The film also stars Chris Pine as Steve Trevor, Kristen Wiig as The Cheetah, Pedro Pascal as Max Lord, Robin Wright as Antiope, and Connie Nielsen as Hippolyta.

Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, Zack Snyder, Patty Jenkins, Gal Gadot and Stephen Jones are producing the film. Rebecca Steel Roven Oakley, Richard Suckle, Marianne Jenkins, Geoff Johns, Walter Hamada, Chantal Nong Vo, and Wesley Coller are the executive producers.

Patty Jenkins directed from a screenplay she wrote with Geoff Johns & David Callaham, story by Jenkins & Johns, based on characters from DC. Joining the director behind the scenes are several members of her “Wonder Woman” team, including director of photography Matthew Jensen, Oscar-nominated production designer Aline Bonetto (“Amélie”), and Oscar-winning costume designer Lindy Hemming (“Topsy-Turvy”). Oscar-nominated editor Richard Pearson (“United 93”) is cutting the film. The music is by Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer (“Dunkirk,” “The Lion King”).

Warner Bros. Pictures Presents an Atlas Entertainment/Stone Quarry Production, a Patty Jenkins Film, “Wonder Woman 1984.” Set to open in theaters on June 5, 2019, in 2D and 3D in select theaters and IMAX, it will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

René Auberjonois Dies at Age 79

René Auberjonois
(June 1, 1940 - December 8, 2019)
‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’ and ‘M*A*S*H’ Star, 
Dies at 79
[Source: yahoo!news] René Auberjonois, star of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” the “M*A*S*H” movie, and “Benson,” died of lung cancer at age 79 on Sunday, according to the Associated Press. He was 79.

Born in New York City in 1940, Auberjonois began his acting career in theater in the 1960s, eventually finding his way to Broadway in 1968 with roles like the Fool in a production of “King Lear” and starring alongside Katherine Hepburn in the Coco Chanel play “Coco.” His performance in the latter as Sebastian Baye, the first-ever openly gay role on Broadway, won Auberjonois a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He would go on to earn three more Tony nominations over the course of his career.

In 1970, Auberjonois made his first appearance in a film from director Robert Altman, starring as military chaplain Fr. John Mulcahy in the iconic “M*A*S*H” The actor ended up providing one of the most famous lines from the films in an exchange between Mulcahy and Margaret Houlihan about Dr. Hawkeye Pierce.
“I wonder how such a degenerated person like that could reach such a position of responsibility in the Army Medical Corps,” said Houlihan, to which Mulcahy responds, “He was drafted.”

Later in his career, Auberjonois added his voice to the long history of Disney movie songs as Chef Louis in “The Little Mermaid,” singing the song “Les Poissons” as the chef chops up a fish while a horrified Sebastian looks on.

He joined the cast of “Benson” in 1980, playing the role of Governor Gatling’s snobby chief of staff Clayton Endicott III. He received the first of his three Emmy nominations for the role.

But Auberjonois’ most famous role came in 1993 when he joined the cast of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.” In it, he played the gelatinous changeling Odo, who served as the head of Deep Space Nine’s security. For five years, Auberjonois played the ornery officer who was required to return to liquid form in a bucket to rest, becoming a key character in the show’s third season when Odo discovers that he is related to the leaders of the Dominion, the regime that the Federation wages war with over the course of the series.

Auberjonois is survived by his wife, Judith, and their two children, Tessa and Remy.