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.
Friday, July 31, 2020
San Diego Comic-Con @ Home 2020 Cosplay Video
Thursday, July 30, 2020
They're back to Save or Destroy the World AGAIN!
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
News Just Dropped For Spider-Man 3
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
A Special Rick and Morty Anime Short
Monday, July 27, 2020
Batman: The Animated Series Documentary
Sunday, July 26, 2020
First Look at Rick and Morty Season 5
That's where the cold open ends. While it doesn't necessarily give away anything about the new season, Harmon noted that for practically the first time ever, the show is ahead of schedule.
"We're basically done writing it. The only exception is I get on these Zoom edit sessions where we're kind of finalizing the finale of Season 5," he explained. "It's a crazy situation to be in because this show has notoriously kept everyone behind schedule."
Saturday, July 25, 2020
Star Wars Leak - Lucasfilm Upheaval
Friday, July 24, 2020
The New Mutants are Finally Here...
- Maisie Williams as Rahne Sinclair / Wolfsbane: A Scottish mutant who can turn into a wolf and is struggling to reconcile this with her religious beliefs. Williams was convinced to join the film after discussing the character's religious background with director Josh Boone, who identified with the comic book character due to his own strict religious upbringing.
- Anya Taylor-Joy as Illyana Rasputin / Magik: A Russian mutant with sorcery powers, she can manifest the Soulsword and use teleportation discs to travel. Illyana is the sister of Colossus, a member of the X-Men seen in previous films in the series. She has a purple dragon companion, Lockheed, in the film.
- Charlie Heaton as Sam Guthrie / Cannonball: An American mutant who can propel himself into the air, and is invulnerable while doing so.
- Alice Braga as Cecilia Reyes: A mentor to the group and a medical doctor who can generate protective fields around herself.
- Blu Hunt as Danielle Moonstar / Mirage: A Native American mutant who can create illusions based on the fears and desires of other people. The film includes a love story between Rahne and Dani which Williams felt was a natural extension of the comic book characters having a telepathic connection. Boone described this as "the spine and focus" of the film's "character-driven stuff".
- Henry Zaga as Roberto da Costa / Sunspot: A Brazilian mutant who can manipulate solar energy.
Thursday, July 23, 2020
EVERY Gundam Timeline Explained
Gunpla makes up 90 percent of the Japanese character plastic-model market. Academics in Japan have viewed the series as inspiration; in 2008, the virtual Gundam Academy was planned as the first academic institution based on an animated TV series.
The Gundam franchise had grossed over $5 billion in retail sales by 2000. By 2014, annual revenue of the Gundam franchise reached ¥80 billion per year, ¥18.4 billion of which was retail sales of toys and hobby items. As of 2018, Gundam is one of the top 15 highest-grossing media franchises of all time, estimated to have generated more than $20 billion in total revenue.
Mobile Suit Gundam was developed by animator Yoshiyuki Tomino and a changing group of Sunrise creators with the collective pseudonym of Hajime Yatate. The series was originally entitled Freedom Fighter Gunboy (or Gunboy) for the robot's gun, with teen boys the primary target demographic. Early production had a number of references to freedom: the White Base was originally "Freedom's Fortress", the Core Fighter was the "Freedom Wing" and the Gunperry was the "Freedom Cruiser". The Yatate team combined the English word "gun" with the last syllable of the word "freedom" to form the portmanteau Gundom. Tomino changed it to Gundam, suggesting a unit wielding a gun powerful enough to hold back enemies like a hydroelectric dam holding back water. In keeping with the concept, Gundams are depicted as prototypes or limited-production, with higher capabilities than mass-produced units.
Most Gundams are large, bipedal, humanoid vehicles controlled from a cockpit by a human pilot. The cockpit is located in the torso, while the head serves as a camera to transmit images back to the cockpit. Most of the series protagonists are Newtypes, genetically advanced humans adapted for space. Newtypes have psychic abilities that enable them to sense each other across space and to utilize special mobile suits.
The series itself has been described as a space opera.
Most of the Gundam animation (including the earliest series) is set in what is known as the Universal Century (UC) calendar era, with later series set in alternate calendars or timelines. Although many new Gundam stories are told in their parallel universe with independent timelines (giving them greater creative freedom), the original UC storyline continues to be popular. It established the series, setting the standard for hard science fiction in anime; the original Gundam marked the maturing of the giant-robot genre. Nostalgia for the oldest Gundam shows (and its status as a pop-culture icon in Japan) is a factor in its continuing success.
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
Comic-Con @ Home Schedule Now Available
With the exception of Warner Bros., which is hosting its own online jamboree, all the usual studios, networks, creatives, and actors have signed up for the three-day digital bonanza. To help you navigate these unprecedented waters, SYFY WIRE has put together a list of everything you need to know about the content coming to Comic-Con@Home.
The general con schedule of events can be found right here. All times are PT. Starts today, July 22, at 3:00 PM. Don't miss the fun!
Here are some highlights:
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Remember the Movie Everyone Loves to Hate?
Monday, July 20, 2020
Frozen 2 DELETED SCENES You Never Got To See
Sunday, July 19, 2020
What did early 1900's Japan look like?
- FPS boosted to 60 frames per second, I have also fixed some playback speed issues;
- Faces are enhanced too – I have added to the pipeline of algorithms a neural network which is specially designed for facial restoration.
- Image resolution boosted up to 4k – with digital artifacts, but some parts are improved noticeably;
- Removed noise and fixed some damaged parts.
- Colorized – please, be aware that colorization colors are not real and fake, colorization was made only for the ambiance and do not represent real historical data.
Saturday, July 18, 2020
If Mortal Engines were an Anime....
Denizens of Deca-dence fall into two categories: Gears, warriors who fight the Gadoll daily, and Tankers, those without the skills to fight. One day, Natsume, a Tanker girl who dreams of becoming a Gear meets surly Kaburagi, an armor repairman of Deca-dence.
This chance meeting between the seemingly two opposites, the girl with a positive attitude who never gives up on her dreams and the realist who has given up on his, will eventually shake the future course of this world.
Friday, July 17, 2020
Watch the First Episode of CLOSE ENOUGH
- J. G. Quintel as Josh Singleton, Emily's husband and Candice's father who is a video game developer and works for a company based on Geek Squad. He is modeled and based after his voice actor.
- Gabrielle Walsh as Emily Ramirez, Josh's wife and Candice's mother who works as an assistant for a food corporation and is part of a Guitar duo with Bridgette.
- Jessica DiCicco as Candice, Josh and Emily's five-year-old daughter.
- Jason Mantzoukas as Alex Dorpenberger, Josh's best friend and Bridgette's ex-husband who works as a community college professor and is a Viking enthusiast.
- Kimiko Glenn as Bridgette, Emily's best friend and Alex's ex-wife who is a Japanese-American social media influencer that often gets frequently arrested by the LAPD.
- Danielle Brooks as Pearle, a retired LAPD cop who is the landlord of the duplex and the adopted mother of Randy.
- James Adomian as Randy, Pearle's adopted son and the building's property manager.
Thursday, July 16, 2020
The George Lucas Cut of Rise of Skywalker EXISTS!
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Grant Imahara from Mythbusters Has Died...
Grant Imahara was born in 1970 and studied electrical engineering and robotics at the University Of Southern California, which he managed to turn into a visual effects career by landing a job with Lucasfilm after college. He worked with the THX and Industrial Light And Magic, working on effects for major movies like the Star Wars prequels (where he somewhat famously updated and operated the R2-D2 robots used in filming), the Matrix sequels, and cult classic Star Trek homage Galaxy Quest. He was also a competitor on BattleBots, helped design the modern Energizer Bunny, and built Craig Ferguson’s robot sidekick Geoff for The Late Late Show.