Next Club Meeting: September 20, 2025, 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.
Showing posts with label animation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label animation. Show all posts

Sunday, September 7, 2025

The Superheroes are now the Undead!

Marvel Animation’s Marvel Zombies
Marvel Zombies, an animated horror installment to the Marvel Cinematic Universe distributed by Marvel Studios. This series re-contextualizes the Marvel Universe as Earth's mightiest heroes go head-to-head against a zombie outbreak, turning even the strongest of them into undead nightmares. 
 
Marvel Animation’s Marvel Zombies will be a four-part event on September 24, streaming exclusively on Disney+. After the Avengers are overtaken by a zombie plague, a desperate group of survivors discover the key to bringing an end to the super-powered undead, racing across a dystopian landscape and risking life and limb to save their world. 
 
Marvel Zombies stars Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Tessa Thompson, Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Hailee Steinfeld, Wyatt Russell, Randall Park, Iman Vellani, Dominique Thorne, and more. The series is executive produced by Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Brad Winderbaum, Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt, Bryan Andrews, and Zeb Wells, and is produced by Danielle Costa, Carrie Wassenaar.

Friday, September 5, 2025

"See you on the Other Side..."

The Worlds Divide
In this solo animated feature by Denver Jackson, Natomi (Breanna Pearl) is living a fearful life in a post-apocalyptic world consumed by war, when her father, Terric (Phillip Sacramento), transports her to a magical world called Esluna. There, Natomi encounters the queen, Idena (Chelsea Krause), who fears Natomi will take her place as ruler. Guided by her childhood companion, a stuffed bear named Miito (Max Lindsey) and a mysterious old warrior, Bataar (Andrew Lander), Natomi must face Idena and find the god of this world, her father.
PRE-ORDER TICKETS:

Wednesday, September 3, 2025

Rest in Peace NELVANA!

Legendary Animation Studio Suddenly SHUTS DOWN?!
Nelvana is no more. The legendary Canadian animation studio behind Droids, Ewoks, Care Bears, Rock & Rule and so many, many more suddenly and quietly closed its doors on Friday with zero fanfare. People are blaming Corus' monetary woes and even The Orange One cutting funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Tuesday, September 2, 2025

This should be Real!

Live Action Demon Slayer
Made by A.I.
In this live-action-inspired cinematic teaser for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Movie (2026), the Hashira reunite to confront a growing demonic threat that shakes the very balance between humanity and darkness. From the blazing resolve of Rengoku to the silent strength of Giyu, each Pillar brings their own fire to the battlefield.

Wednesday, August 27, 2025

An All-New Series Now on YouTube...

M I C R O N A U T S
S01E01 - Strangers On A Space Bridge
A rag-tag group of Microsian misfits are brought together to pursue Microsia’s most wanted villain, Baron Karza, after he breaks into a prison and forces an imprisoned Time-Traveler to create a Space Bridge that sends him to Earth. Once there, the evil Baron uses his dark Micronergy-fused powers to control a human teenager (Cameron), who builds a mysterious piece of technology for the villain, which he will use for a soon-to-be revealed nefarious plot.

Monday, August 25, 2025

This has become a HUGE cultural event!

KPop Demon Hunters DESTROYED the Box Office?!
KPop Demon Hunters Sing-Along was #1 at the box office this weekend, taking out Weapons. Not bad for a WEEKS OLD Netflix release, eh? We talk about how KPop Demon Hunters seemed to tap into the desire to experience a movie together like Star Wars and Marvel USED to...

Sunday, August 24, 2025

"If there was a magic way to get me to walk again..."

F L E A K
All 12-year-old Thomas wants is to hang out with his older siblings, who both would prefer not to deal with their over-eager younger brother. One day, when attempting to prove himself, Thomas is injured and loses the ability to walk, but his adventures are only just beginning! He is about to be visited by a small furry creature from another dimension who allows him to visit a magical fantasy world where he might find the ability to heal himself. However, like many things in life, there are consequences for his actions, and Thomas must face an all-consuming monster created from his own shadow, which threatens to eat everything.

Saturday, August 23, 2025

"Humanity has a future with animation this good"

COSMO PRINCESS - Teaser
"This is a small teaser I did for a story I'm aiming to bring to life someday — a fantastic space odyssey about fate and freedom, purpose and identity. A tale of stars and memories, and the fragile blue planet that ties it all together."
- Quentin Rgx

Thursday, August 21, 2025

Travel to Another Universe...

EWILAN'S QUEST
At just 13, Camille’s life takes a dramatic turn when she is accidentally hurled into the world of Gwendalavir, inhabited by creatures as extraordinary as they are dangerous. She and her friend Salim discover her real name, Ewilan. She learns the truth about her roots and her fate: a native of Gwendalavir, she has inherited a prodigious talent, designing. This turns out to be a decisive weapon in her people’s struggle with the terrible Ts’lich. Ewilan’s arrival brings fresh hope for saving an embattled world. Imagination will be her only limit.

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

One of the Most Important Films of Our Time...


The Breadwinner
OSCAR® nominee 
An 11-year-old girl in Afghanistan disguises herself as a boy in order to support her family in this inspiring tale about the power of stories to carry us through dark times.

The Breadwinner is a 2017 animated drama film from Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon, directed by Nora Twomey. Based on the best-selling novel by Deborah Ellis, the film was an international co-production among Canada, the Republic of Ireland and Luxembourg, and received a limited release on November 17, 2017.

The film had its world premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival in September.
The Breadwinner received a nomination for Best Animated Feature at the 90th Academy Awards, but lost to Coco.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
In 2001, Parvana is an eleven-year-old girl who lives in Kabul under the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan just as the War on Terror is beginning. Her father, Nurullah, is a former school teacher who became a hawker after losing his left leg in the Soviet–Afghan War. One day, during supper, he is unjustly arrested after Idrees, a young and volatile Taliban man, thinks he insulted him earlier while the two were selling goods in the market. Because the Taliban forbids women from going out without a male relative, Parvana's family is left without someone to support them, as her elder brother Sulayman died years ago, leaving her, her mother Fattema, her elder sister Soraya, and her youngest infant brother Zaki. When Parvana and Fattema try to go to the prison to appeal Nurullah's arrest, a man beats Fattema, while other men watch, after she shows him a photograph of Nurullah and threatens to arrest them if they go outside again. Parvana comforts Zaki by telling the story of a boy on a quest to retrieve his village's seeds from an evil elephant named the Elephant King.

Later, Parvana tries to buy food for her family, but the hawkers cannot sell her any due to fear of the Taliban. A few men spot Parvana and chase her, and she drops the bag Fattema gave her while running. Parvana eventually makes it back home. To support her family, she decides to cut her hair and dress as a boy. She starts calling herself "Atesh", claiming to be Nurullah's nephew. The plan works, and Parvana is able to get both food and money. On the advice of a friend named Shauzia, who is another young girl disguised as a boy called Delowar, Parvana tries to bribe a prison guard so she can see Nurullah, but the guard sends her away, and so she works to save up more money for a larger bribe, taking on hard labor jobs with Shauzia, who is trying to save enough money to escape her abusive father. Meanwhile, Fattema is forced to write to a relative in Mazar, arranging marriage for Soraya in exchange for shelter and protection. Parvana also meets Razaq, the former patrol partner of Idrees; the illiterate Razaq pays her to read him a letter informing him that his wife was killed by a land mine. He befriends her and continues to meet with her so that she can teach him how to read and write.

Parvana and Shauzia take a hard labor job where Idrees was also present. He makes fun of them for their weakness when Shauzia rests, and shoves Parvana onto the ground. Looking into her eyes, he recognizes her, and after being hit abruptly by Parvana with a brick, tries to kill her as she flees with Shauzia. Parvana and Shauzia manage to hide, and Idrees is abruptly called away to fight in the United States invasion of Afghanistan. When Parvana returns home, Fattema pleads with her to stop the dangerous plot, telling her that her relatives accepted Soraya and that they will be collected the day after next. Parvana agrees on the condition that she gets to visit Nurullah in prison to tell him where they are going, as Razaq has a cousin who works there that will let her in. She tearfully bids farewell to Shauzia, promising that they will meet each other again sometime in the future, which she predicts will be in exactly twenty years. However, as Parvana travels to the prison, Fattema's cousin arrives early and forces them to come with him without Parvana, as the war is starting and the roads will soon be blocked. Fattema eventually stands up to her cousin in a furious manner, refusing to let him take them further, and he leaves the family stranded on the road.

Parvana arrives at the prison, where she finds Razaq. After Parvana reveals that she is Nurullah's daughter, Razaq informs her that his cousin has left to fight, but he will retrieve Nurullah. Parvana witnesses the execution of weak prisoners who are unable to fight. Terrified, she gathers her courage to stay by finishing the tale of the boy, who she turns into Sulayman, revealing that he died after picking up a toy he found in the middle of the street, which was actually a land mine, and it exploded when he picked it up. Razaq is shot on the shoulder while rescuing the weak Nurullah, but the wound was not fatal and he reunites the two. Parvana takes Nurullah away, where they will soon reunite with the rest of the family and escape from Afghanistan together, as the two continue the story they were telling each other at the start of the film.
 
 

Monday, August 11, 2025

It's All or Nothing!...

S c a r l e t
By Studio Chizu
After failing to avenge her father's murder, Princess Scarlett wakes up in the "Land of the Dead." In this world full of madness, she must take revenge on her sworn enemy. If she does not avenge her nemesis and reach the "Endless Place," she will become "nothingness" and cease to exist.
Episode 1 to be released November 21, 2025 

Thursday, August 7, 2025

Partners in Crisis...

Zootopia 2
After cracking the biggest case in Zootopia’s history, rookie cops Judy Hopps (voice of Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (voice of Jason Bateman) find their partnership isn’t as solid as they thought when Chief Bogo (voice of Idris Elba) orders them to join the Partners in Crisis counseling program. But it doesn’t take long for their partnership to be put to the ultimate test when they find themselves on the twisting trail of a mystery tied to the arrival of a venomous snake in the animal metropolis. The trailer, poster and trailer stills are now available to download and share.
Only in theaters November 26
While “Zootopia 2” introduces Gary De’Snake (voice of Ke Huy Quan), Nibbles (voice of Fortune Feimster) and quokka therapist Dr. Fuzzby (voice of Quinta Brunson), the upcoming feature film also welcomes back a herd of characters who made their debut in the Oscar®-winning film “Zootopia.” “It’s been an absolute joy to reteam with so many actors who made the first film so special, and so exciting to expand the world with our phenomenal new cast members,” said director/writer Jared Bush (chief creative officer for Walt Disney Animation Studios). “I can’t wait for audiences to see what other surprises we have in store in this brand-new adventure.”

Friday, August 1, 2025

"This is nothing like Avatar!"

H O P P E R S
An animal lover uses technology that places her consciousness into a robotic beaver to uncover mysteries within the animal world beyond her imagination.
Arriving in theaters March 6, 2026

Sunday, July 13, 2025

Mr. Sandman, where are you?

IN YOUR DREAMS
In Your Dreams is an upcoming American animated musical adventure fantasy comedy film directed by Alex Woo, and co-directed by Erik Benson from a script by Woo and Benson and a story by Woo, Benson, and Stanley Moore. The film stars Simu Liu, Craig Robinson, Cristin Milioti, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, Elias Janssen, Gia Carides, Omid Djalili, SungWon Cho, and Zachary Noah Piser. Produced by Netflix Animation and Kuku Studios, it is set for release on Netflix on November 14, 2025.

Stevie and her little brother Elliot journey into the wildly absurd landscape of their own dreams to ask the Sandman to grant them the perfect family.

Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Our Favorite Space Girls are in Trouble Again!...

MILKY☆SUBWAY THE GALACTIC LIMITED EXPRESS
Episode 01 "All Aboard!"
Freshly arrested, Chiharu and Makina are sentenced to scrub the Milky☆Subway.
It was supposed to be simple. Spoiler: it’s not.
Arrested for reckless space driving, super human Chiharu and cyborg Makina are sentenced to clean the Milky☆Subway—an old interplanetary train. Easy enough, right? Wrong. When the train suddenly takes off, they are thrown into a high-speed space-train spectacle packed with chaos, no plans, and zero strategy. Just pure momentum!

Sunday, June 15, 2025

Happy Father's Day!

Father and Daughter
Director - Michael Dudok de Wit
A father bids farewell to his young daughter; she grows up longing for his return.

This short film won 24 awards, including:
* Oscar / Best Short Film, Animated / Academy Awards, USA, 2001
* BAFTA Film Award / Best Short Animation / BAFTA Awards, 2001
* Jury Award / Best Film / Anima Mundi Animation Festival, 2001
* Cartoon d'Or / Cartoon Forum, Europe, 2001
* Best Animation / International Competition
* Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, 2001

Friday, June 13, 2025

Every death echoes, and the sea never forgets...

BLOODSHORE
BLOODSHORE is a cinematic dark fantasy short set in the heart of an endless magical war. A legion of battle-worn wizards storm a cursed coastline, where steel meets sorcery, and time itself bends under the weight of bloodshed. Arcane rituals, collapsing ships, and forgotten gods clash in a grim spectacle of magic and fate.

Thursday, June 5, 2025

Take me to your "leader"...

E L i O
For centuries, people have called out to the universe looking for answers—in Disney and Pixar's all-new feature film Elio, the universe calls back! The cosmic misadventure introduces Elio, a space fanatic with an active imagination and a huge alien obsession. So, when he's beamed up to the Communiverse, an interplanetary organization with representatives from galaxies far and wide, Elio's all in for the epic undertaking. Mistakenly identified as Earth's leader, Elio must form new bonds with eccentric alien lifeforms, navigate a crisis of intergalactic proportions, and somehow discover who and where he is truly meant to be.

Monday, May 26, 2025

We Remember...

WAR GAME
Based on the picture book by Michael Foreman, WAR GAME tells the story of Will, Lacey and Freddie – three young Suffolk lads who leave their idyllic country lives to fight in the trenches of World War I. Surrounded by the chaos and confusion of war, they can only dream of their football team, their friends and the families they have left behind. 

On Christmas Day 1914 however, a football game is started between the Germans and the English. Scrambling onto No Man’s Land, the men come face to face with the enemy they have never seen and the true futility of their fight. For a brief moment - differences are forgotten, the men unite and the seeds of hope are planted. But joy has no place in war and the men are soon recalled to the trenches to continue the battle. 

From a football game in the fields of Suffolk to a football game in the heart of Flanders - WAR GAME follows the realisation of three young men’s ambitions to play for England and the ability of the human spirit to exist even in the harshest conditions. Featuring a powerful and moving sound track from the composer Julian Nott, and including Kate Winslet on the voice track. 

WAR GAME has 18 won awards worldwide including: The British Animation Awards; The Pulcinella Award, Italy; Best Television Special - Annecy International Animated Film Festival, France; BANFF International Television Festival, Canada; Tokyo Kinder Film Festival, Japan; Best Animation Prize, ANIMA, Argentina.

Friday, May 23, 2025

Pilot Episode...

Spice Frontier: Escape From Veltegar
Their search for Earth's lost spices just crash-landed them into a world of trouble! 💥 When the six-member crew of the Serrano wrecks their ship; Kent, C-LA, Ada, Eloy, Mod and Nexus must race against time and some mysterious planet inhabitants to escape before they become the main course.
What’s next for Spice Frontier?
Steamroller Animation is an independent studio that has thrived in a competitive industry for more than a decade. While we've built a successful business providing high-quality animation services, our budget for original content is limited. Spice Frontier: Escape from Veltegar marks our first pilot-length episode, created with a new real-time pipeline in Unreal Engine.

Over the past 3.5 years, we've invested our profits into developing this technological framework that will support a future range of incredible stories. Spice Frontier is our industry calling card, and we're seeking investment, co-production partners, broadcasters, and distributors to bring future episodes to life. Support independent filmmaking so we can share more Spice Frontier with the world!