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.

Sunday, March 31, 2024

HAPPY EASTER!

"When I walk in the Valley of Shadows..."
Get uplifted with this moving song (entitled "23") by Brandon Engman, from the series Young DAVID by Angel Studios and Minno. The Young DAVID miniseries is a precursor to DAVID, a full-length feature film about the future king set to be released in 2025. “23” is an early look at the caliber of music that will be included in DAVID.
Watch Young DAVID Episode One: Warrior

Saturday, March 30, 2024

Journey to the "Edge of the World" and Beyond...

AFK JOURNEY 
a free-to-play ethereal fantasy RPG coming to PC and mobile platforms
You will experience a blend of AFK gameplay with new strategic layers and storytelling set in the world of Esperia. Download now to embark on this captivating journey and discover the secrets of Esperia.
We are happy to announce the world premiere of the official release trailer for AFK Journey at this year's PAX East event. PAX East is the ideal venue to debut the trailer, connecting fans and players with the magical world of Esperia--"Anywhere You Go, Magic Follows." AFK Journey is crafted for both fans of the AFK franchise, and those who are new to the series, offering an RPG experience that is both approachable for beginners and satisfying for avid gamers.
Join us for this captivating journey and discover the secrets of Esperia.
Download Now: https://afkjourney.farlightgames.com/

Friday, March 29, 2024

Disney Faces ANOTHER D.E.I. Legal Bombshell...

America First Legal Sends Letter to Board of Directors
of The Walt Disney Company, Alleging Unlawful
Discrimination and Misleading of Shareholders
America First Legal (AFL) sent a letter to The Walt Disney Company (Disney), notifying the Company’s CEO, Bob Iger, the Board of Directors, and the management team of their alleged fiduciary duty breaches and federal securities law violations that have led to an approximate forty percent drop in Disney’s share value since February 2021. This letter arises from the Company’s civil rights violations in employment and contracting and the damage to Disney’s brand, properties, and commercial reputation by management’s manufactured misalignment between its woke political and social agenda and the vast majority of the Company’s customers.

In February, AFL revealed Disney’s perverse system of discriminatory race and sex quotas in front of and behind the camera by filing a federal civil rights complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

  • All Disney General Entertainment productions are required to comply with Disney’s DEI “Inclusion Standards.” Some of the standards explicitly provide that fifty percent of the following jobs must be filled by members of “Underrepresented Groups:” Regular and recurring actors and characters in Disney content, producers and writing staff, overall crew or project staff, line producers and/or production department heads – including, for example, the director of photography, composer, costume designer, editor, production designer, and music supervisor.
  • Disney, along with Sundance Institute, runs a grant program that provides $25,000 to  “Underrepresented Directors,” which it defines as “women, AAPI, Black, Indigenous/Native, Latinx, LGBTQIA+, disability-identifying, and religiously marginalized individuals.”

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Tim Burton Resurrects his Ghost With the Most...

BEETLEJUICE 2
After 36 years, Beetlejuice has finally come back to haunt you.

Warner Bros. has released the trailer for Tim Burton’s follow-up to his 1988 cult classic horror-comedy “Beetlejuice,” with Michael Keaton reprising his role as the ghoulish title character. The sequel, officially titled “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” is set for release on September 6.

In addition to Keaton, original “Beetlejuice” Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara are back as Lydia and Delia Deetz, respectively. Jenna Ortega rounds out the family as newcomer Astrid Deetz. Monica Bellucci plays Beetlejuice’s wife and Willem DeFoe stars as a “police officer in the afterlife” and former “B movie action star,” whose acting skills help him as an afterlife detective. Justin Theroux also joins the sequel in a new role.

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Justice Takes a Dark Turn...

JUSTICE LEAGUE: Gods and Monsters Chronicles
This web series takes place in the alternate reality of Justice League: Gods and Monsters. Each of the initial three episodes showcases one of the film's major characters: Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.
Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles is a 2015 animated superhero web series featuring Justice League characters from DC Comics. It first aired on June 8, 2015, on Machinima, a multi-channel network, and was developed by DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation, and Blue Ribbon Content. The series serves as a companion to the animated film Justice League: Gods and Monsters. The first season consisted of three episodes and concluded on June 12.
Although Machinima and Warner Bros. announced that the series was renewed for a second season, which was scheduled to be released in 2016 and have ten episodes, series creator Sam Liu reported that the series was shelved until things are worked out and that he is working on other projects.

Monday, March 25, 2024

This space warfare game is now an ANIME...

P H A N T O M GALAXIES
Five years before the Phantom Galaxies game begins, Ensign Maya Nalini joins the ranks of the Ranger Corps. Alongside her new lieutenant, she ventures into perilous Frontier Space to battle deadly pirate hijackers - but crosses paths with something much worse, a threat older and more powerful than any pirate…
Watch the first episode of the Phantom Galaxies anime series.

Sunday, March 24, 2024

They are hiding among us...

PARASYTE: THE GREY
When unidentified parasites violently take over human hosts and gain power, humanity must rise to combat the growing threat.
Only on Netflix, April 5

Saturday, March 23, 2024

STAR WARS is Dead...


In the trailer STAR WARS: The Acolyte, it was stated that this was about power and who is allowed to use it. That's meta, because that's exactly what is happening behind the scenes of Lucasfilm as well, where no one loyal to George Lucas's STAR WARS is allowed any power, not even George Lucas...

So The Acolyte trailer is out and it might have been intriguing were it not for the fact that we already know what this series is namely Kathleen Kennedy's rewrite of all Star Wars In-Her-Image. That is what Leslie Headland is doing here, as it was said in the trailer, it's about power and who is allowed to wield it, and that would be Kathleen Kennedy and her acolytes that have reshaped Star Wars into a female-centric brand by and for activists. John Favreau fought hard to make Star Wars for everyone with the Mandalorian, but Kathleen Kennedy made that a shadow of itself, when she got rid of the load-bearing pillar to his plans that was Gina Carano. The whole Mando-verse kind of crumbled after that. At this point I don't even know how much interest there is in that Mando and Grogu movie. That in whole, or in part, will be replacing season 4, but after what can only be described as a very peculiar development history, we will now be getting the series the fan base has been dreading and actively rooting against, namely The Acolyte.

To go with the trailer release, The Hollywood Reporter dropped a puff piece with showrunner Leslie Headland where it was stated Star Wars: The Acolyte Creator Leslie Headland is currently putting the finishing touches on a 4-year Journey that started with Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy buying her overall series pitch in the room. At the time her hook was Frozen meets Kill Bill and now the first trailer provides a few more of the puzzle pieces set a century before Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Amandla Stenberg's mysterious character appears to be hunting Jedi during a time of Peace near the end of the High Republic era. Jumping forward a bit the show will be taking a page out of Rashomon’s Playbook exploring different perspectives on the same events. That could have been cool were it not for the fact that we already know what this series is and how it intends to shape Star Wars into something else. To wit, the puff piece continues with praising the destroyer of Star Wars, namely The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson and pushing the link between him and Leslie Headland.

The article reads Russian Doll co-creator Headland's first job as a writer was on FX short-lived cult classic series Terriers from 2010, and her first produced TV script Manifest Destiny happened to be directed by Star Wars: The Last Jedi filmmaker Rian Johnson. Headland was not only inspired by Johnson's work
[uh oh, Red Alert right there], but also his demeanor on set.

“I love Rian. He was the first director I ever watched work. So getting to see him work on that show was, oh my God, it was just a dream!” Headland recalls. He was so kind and so quiet, and yet, he was so clear about what he wanted. He never seemed stressed out, and I wish I was more like him. He's like the patron saint of calm directors.”

Calm he may be, but he was still the one who buried the past, meaning George Lucas’s Star Wars and killed it. Since he had to, so Kathleen Kennedy could replace it with her Star Wars. And up to this, Kathleen Kennedy’s Star Wars in its purest form, has been the High Republic publishing initiative, which naturally. will be referenced and canonized on screen in The Acolyte.

The Hollywood Reporter asked, or were instructed to ask, at any rate, “Fan service is always a complicated subject with Star Wars. Some people want to see as many familiar faces as possible. While others prefer Uncharted Territory by taking place a century before the Phanthom Menace. Does that inherently mean that the show won't be loaded with cameos?” To which Headland answered, “That's right, but for example you will see a little bit of Vestra Row, I guess that's how you pronounce it, from the High Republic novels. She ends up being live action for the first time. So that's definitely a cameo for that audience, I would say. That audience being the High Republic audience, amounts to what, I don't know 112 or so, but that's the audience for Kathleen Kennedy Star Wars, and Bob Iger signed off on that. And with George Lucas bending the knee to Iger, then you might be getting a lot more of that.

As we have covered extensively in past videos, there is a proxy fight going on with Nelson Peltz’s Trian group who demands two seats at Disney's board, or what presently passes for Disney's board at any rate, you see as a general thing the purpose of a board is to hold the CEO accountable to the shareholders, but Disney's board doesn't do that. As everyone on it has been handpicked from Iger’s friends and acquaintances, meaning that Disney doesn't actually have a board. As rather than holding Iger accountable to the shareholders, what passes for a board enables and signs off on everything he wants to do and protects him from the shareholders, when that goes to hell. If Peltz and the Trian group were to get those two seats at the board, Iger's reign of questionable fiduciary legality would be at an instant end. So team Iger will stop at nothing to prevent that from happening, and to this end George Lucas just sided with the likes of Black Rock and Vanguard and State Street, as he bent the knee and kissed the ring.

Our good friend Valiant Renegade speculated that one reason Lucas may have done that is because his wife sits on the board of JP Morgan Chase, and JP Morgan Chase are very much so in bed with Black Rock. In fact, it was only a few days ago that the CEO of JP Morgan Chase publicly endorsed Iger, because Iger runs Disney the way that they want Disney run, and they couldn't care less about the Disney Legacy or any of the other shareholders. None of which changes the fact that Lucas still signed off on this. The statement credited to him, which no doubt came straight from Disney marketing, reads, “Creating magic is not for amateurs.” (Which is a dig at Peltz and the Trian Group which are no Amateurs.) “When I sold Lucasfilm just over a decade ago I was delighted to become a Disney shareholder because of my longtime admiration for its iconic brand and Bob Iger’s leadership.”

Well that was grandiose, but I don't blame Lucas for feeling that way a decade ago. Though I do blame him if he still feels that way today, after both Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Willow have all been killed on Kennedy's watch, which Bob Iger Sat by and allowed to happen. George Lucas has in the past indicated how disappointed he's been with some of the choices made and backing Nelson Peltz was his chance to actually bring about meaningful change even if that might have annoyed his wife, but instead he blew it! The statement continues, “When Bob Iger recently returned to the company during a difficult time, I was relieved no one knows Disney better. I remain a significant shareholder because I have full faith and confidence in the power of Disney and Bob's track record of driving long-term value. I have voted all of my shares for Disney's 12 directors and urge other shareholders to do the same.”

We would love to know what motivated that because again voting for Disney's current board is voting against their being a board, as the only thing this board does is give Bob Iger personal Supremacy over all things Disney, which has not worked out very well this past decade. Although we've only really seen the effects of Iger’s mismanagement, this past half a decade it's true that creating magic may not be for amateurs but the supposed professionals working under Iger have positively killed it as The Acolyte will no doubt demonstrate once again Iger’s Disney is now the place where magic goes to die and that is what George Lucas just voted for…

Friday, March 22, 2024

Is the ISEKAI Realm ready for these guys?

SUICIDE SQUAD ISEKAI
In the crime-ridden city of Gotham, Amanda Waller, the head of A.R.G.U.S., has assembled a group of notorious criminals for a mission: Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Peacemaker, Clayface, and King Shark. These Super-Villains are sent into an otherworldly realm that’s connected to this world through a gate. It’s a world of swords and magic where orcs rampage and dragons rule the skies—an “ISEKAI”!
With lethal explosives planted in their necks, there’s no running or hiding, and failing the mission means a one-way ticket to the afterlife! Can Harley Quinn and her crew conquer this perilous ISEKAI realm?! Brace yourselves for the pulse-pounding saga of the elite task force known as the “Suicide Squad” as they embark on a jaw-dropping adventure!
US Air Date: 2024

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Paranormal romance at its BEST...

DANDADAN
A nerd must fight powerful spirits and aliens all vying for the secret power of his “family jewel,” so who better to fight alongside him than his high school crush and a spirit granny?!
Momo Ayase and Okarun are on opposite sides of the paranormal spectrum regarding what they’ll believe in and what they won’t. Their quest to prove each other wrong leads them down a path of secret crushes and paranormal battles they’ll have to participate in to believe!
Momo Ayase strikes up an unusual friendship with her school’s UFO fanatic, whom she nicknames “Okarun” because he has a name that is not to be said aloud. While Momo believes in spirits, she thinks aliens are nothing but nonsense. Her new friend, meanwhile, thinks the exact opposite. To settle matters, the two set out to prove each other wrong—Momo to a UFO hotspot and Okarun to a haunted tunnel! What unfolds next is a beautiful story of young love…and oddly horny aliens and spirits?
Premiere: October 2024

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

In an age of light, a darkness rises...

THE ACOLYTE
The Acolyte is an upcoming American television series created by Leslye Headland. Set at the end of the High Republic era before the events of the main Star Wars films. Amandla Stenberg and Lee Jung-jae star in the leading roles.
Two-episode premiere of The Acolyte, on Disney+, June 4

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Those girls are crazy!

BABY ASSASSINS 2
After the agency suspends its top assassins, aspiring hitmen decide to eliminate them—leading to a lightning-fast showdown between trained killers.
Watch On Digital & Blu-ray April 2, 2024
Stream on Hi-YAH! starting July 5, 2024: https://www.hiyahtv.com/

Monday, March 18, 2024

Mokkori, mokkori, mokkori...

CITY HUNTER
The legendary manga "City Hunter" gets its first Japanese live-action adaptation! Unflappable yet excitable, silly but cool, this notorious protagonist descends upon modern-day Shinjuku in Tokyo. The origin story of "City Hunter" begins now! Starring Ryohei Suzuki, this film follows the number one "sweeper" Ryo Saeba, who cleans up trouble in the underworld, on a thrilling, action-packed adventure in modern-day Shinjuku.

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.

"City Hunter" starts streaming April 25, 2024, only on Netflix!

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

"Lucky the Leprechaun's loss is our loss. When Lucky's cereal is taken from him, who is really getting robbed? We are. Raising children to turn a blind eye to petty crime steals our future from us. But we can get it back. We can fight for our future. Our lucky charms are: hope, compassion, family, and hard work. That ... that is what's really lucky."         - Don Draper

Friday, March 15, 2024

Make Room for New Emotions...

INSIDE OUT 2
The little voices inside Riley’s head know her inside and out—but next summer, everything changes when Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” introduces a new Emotion: Anxiety. According to director Kelsey Mann, the new character promises to stir things up within headquarters. “Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke, might be new to the crew, but she’s not really the type to take a back seat,” said Mann. “That makes a lot of sense if you think about it in terms of what goes on inside all our minds.” A trailer, poster and film stills are now available for what promises to be the feel-good (or feel-everything) film of Summer 2024. Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” returns to the mind of newly minted teenager Riley just as headquarters is undergoing a sudden demolition to make room for something entirely unexpected: new Emotions! Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust, who’ve long been running a successful operation by all accounts, aren’t sure how to feel when Anxiety shows up. And it looks like she’s not alone. Maya Hawke lends her voice to Anxiety, alongside Amy Poehler as Joy, Phyllis Smith as Sadness, Lewis Black as Anger, Tony Hale as Fear, and Liza Lapira as Disgust. Directed by Kelsey Mann and produced by Mark Nielsen, “Inside Out 2” releases only in theaters Summer 2024.
Disney & Pixar's Inside Out 2, only in theaters June 14

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Decode the Universe…

KAIJU DECODE
A major disaster <Skyfall> that destroyed the space colony in orbit and crashed on Earth. The monsters began to inhabit the crater due to the fall. Ray came to the place as an avatar without knowing anything. The purpose is to collect scattered seeds, where he meets a mysterious girl...
"Kaiju Decode - SUPER MULTIVERSE MR" Game is now on sale

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Anime Viewing Schedule for March 16, 2024


 A N I M A T R I X   N E T W O R K
Saturday, March 16, 2024
Fountaindale Public Library
VIEWING SCHEDULE
          11:15 - 12:05   The Apothecary Diaries 9-10
          12:05 - 12:55   Metallic Rouge 3-4
          12:55 - 1:35     Club Meeting
          1:35 - 2:25       Solo Leveling 5-6
          2:25 - 2:50       Frieren 4
          2:50 - 4:40       Maboroshi [Movie]
 
"Until we meet again..."
 
Fountaindale Public Library
300 W. Briarcliff Road
Bolingbrook, IL 60440 
Peggy J. Danhof Board Room
(Second Floor)
 
From 11:15 AM to 5:00 PM

All anime presented are fan-subtitled unless otherwise noted.
Don't miss these exciting anime series: Solo Leveling and Frieren
* ANIME DESCRIPTIONS ARE BELOW *
 
11:15 - 12:05   The Apothecary Diaries 9-10
The Apothecary Diaries
Plot Summary: The series is set in a fictional country modelled after Ming-era China. Maomao, a young girl who works as an apothecary in the red-light district, is kidnapped and sold to the Imperial Palace as a servant. However, she still retains her curious and eccentric personality and plans to work there until her years of servitude are over, without drawing the attention of anyone. One day, after hearing the rumors that the emperor's children are critically ill, she begins to investigate the cause, using her experience as a pharmacist, and successfully solves the mystery of their illness. Even though she intends to remain anonymous, her actions eventually catch the attention of an influential eunuch, and soon finds herself solving various mysteries in the royal court.
 
 
12:05 - 12:55   Metallic Rouge 3-4
M E T A L L I C   R O U G E
Plot Summary: In a world where humans coexist with androids called Neans, a group known as the Immortal Nine rises up against society. Tasked with disposing of the revolters, a Nean named Rouge Redstar (aka Metal Rouge) and investigator Naomi Orthmann head to Mars to track them down… but first, Rouge wants some chocolate.
 
 

12:55 - 1:35     Club Announcements
"That's amazing!" 
DUNE - Part 2
Kung Fu Panda 4
Dismal Disney
The Last Airbender
Fallout
Video Games


1:35 - 2:25   Solo Leveling 3-4
SOLO LEVELING 
Plot Summary:  In a world where hunters — human warriors who possess supernatural abilities — must battle deadly monsters to protect mankind from certain annihilation, a notoriously weak hunter named Sung Jinwoo finds himself in a seemingly endless struggle for survival. One day, after narrowly surviving an overwhelmingly powerful double dungeon that nearly wipes out his entire party, a mysterious program called the System chooses him as its sole player and in turn, gives him the extremely rare ability to level up in strength and turn anyone he kills into a loyal minion called a shadow. Jinwoo then sets out on a journey as he fights against all kinds of enemies, both man and monster, to discover the secrets of the dungeons and the true source of his powers.


2:25 - 2:50   Frieren 4

FRIEREN
Plot Summary: The story follows elven mage Frieren, a former member of the party of adventurers who defeated the Demon King and restored harmony to the world after a ten-year quest. In the past, the heroic group included Frieren, human hero Himmel, dwarven warrior Eisen and human priest Heiter. Before they part, they observe the Era Meteors together, a meteor shower that occurs once in fifty years. Frieren agrees to see them again and offers them a better view the next time the celestial event occurs. Frieren then departs and travels the world in pursuit of magical knowledge. Frieren returns to the capital fifty years later; however, humanity has changed, and her former companions have distinctly aged. After one last adventure to see the meteor shower, Himmel dies of old age. During the funeral, Frieren expressed guilt for not attempting to learn more about him. Frieren then pays a visit to her other former comrades. She accepts an offer to teach and care for Fern, an orphaned child adopted by Heiter. She also receives an invitation to travel far north, to the resting place of souls, and see Himmel again to bid the hero a fitting farewell and express her feelings. To fulfill those requests, Frieren embarks on a journey together with Fern while still pursuing her passion for learning magic. Frieren's elven nature grants her an extremely long lifespan, causing her to view periods of years or decades as ephemeral (this perception of time makes her consider the ten-year adventure with Himmel's party a fleeting experience). The story thus takes place across a long time, with periodic flashbacks accompanied by the physical and mental development of characters apart from Frieren herself. 
 
 
2:50 - 4:40    Alice and Therese's Illusory Factory [Movie]
M A B O R O S H I
[Alice and Therese's Illusory Factory]
Plot Summary:  In January 1991, third-year high school student Masamune Kikuiri lives in Mifuse, a steel mill company town in rural Japan. Masamune's father, Akimune Kikuri, and uncle, Tokimune Kikuiri, both work at the mill. Masamune is studying for an entrance exam with his friends in his home until an explosion suddenly occurs at the mill. Since then, the town has been has completely isolated from the outside world and the seasons no longer change. A man named Mamoru Sagami, who also works at the mill and also serves as the head priest of the town's Mifushi Shrine, claims that the incident was a punishment from the gods for mining out the local mountain, which has been said to be their sacred home. He also claims that the townspeople were imprisoned by the mill, which had become a "sacred machine". According to Sagami, once the mood of the gods improve, the townspeople will be able to return to the real world however until then it is necessary for them to remain unchanged from what they were before the explosion. The townspeople heed Sagami's advice and they are required to periodically submit an biographical identification form in order to prevent any inconsistencies as soon as they return to the real world. Fissures in the night sky open up occasionally and smoke coming from the steel mill would close them up.

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...