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 scifi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label scifi. Show all posts

Friday, September 12, 2025

A Journey Through Time to Save Our Future...

A R C O
A magical and beautifully animated journey through time, Arco is a dazzling adventure about a 10-year-old boy from a peaceful, distant future who accidentally travels back to the year 2075 and discovers a world in peril. As Arco develops a charming and touching friendship with a young girl named Iris, they band together and along with her trusted robot caretaker Mikki, set out on a quest to get Arco home, while the two children may also be the only ones who can save our planet. A wondrous odyssey filled with hope and optimism for our future, Arco is an enchanting fable from breakout filmmaker Ugo Bienvenu, produced by Remembers’ Bienvenu and Felix de Givry, and mountainA’s Natalie Portman and Sophie Mas.
In Select Theaters November 14

Tuesday, September 9, 2025

It's like Returnal meets Metroid Prime...

METAL EDEN
Metal Eden, a first-person sci-fi action shooter developed by Reikon Games. Players will set out as ASKA, an android created on the basis of the human mind, to free the lost colony of Moebius. Take up arms with a suite of different weapons and abilities to dispatch enemies, gain upgrades, and save humanity in Metal Eden, available now for PlayStation 5 (PS5), Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam).

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:

Sunday, August 31, 2025

"Lulu and Stitch..."

XENO
A teenager makes a terrifying extraterrestrial her friend after it crashes nearby in the desert. The youngster manages to deal with her sad mother and the mother's violent boyfriend while simultaneously protecting her dangerous new buddy.

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.

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.

Tuesday, August 19, 2025

"Make Aliens on this planet Happy!..."

Takopi's Original Sin
A squid-like creature, known as a Happian, leaves his home planet with the desire to spread happiness across the universe. He lands on Earth, but quickly finds himself in danger of captivity by its inhabitants. Fortunately, he is found by an unsmiling little girl named Shizuka Kuze, who feeds him and names him Takopii. Feeling indebted, Takopii decides to do everything in his power to bring a smile to her face. The task is easier said than done, however. Shizuka is bullied by her classmates, she does not have a father, and her mother is never home—though the gravity of these issues flies over the naive Takopii's head. Even so, Shizuka does have one source of happiness: her dog Chappy. The connection Shizuka and Chappy share only increases Takopii's desire to make the girl smile. While Takopii's attempts to lift Shizuka's spirits lead to unintended consequences, he is determined to take things into his own tentacles, test his understanding of human beings, and achieve his goal of spreading happiness.

Monday, August 18, 2025

A Perfect Mixture of Magic and Science...

Dungeons & Television
Episode 1, "We Are Television"
After fleeing from monsters, the young wizard Marda encounters a strange group led by an elf named Syi. They introduce themselves as the Royal Broadcasting Guild (OHG) Dungeon Location Team, who use a "magic picture box" to televise their adventures to the world, but there are others with conflicting ideas...

Thursday, July 24, 2025

Meet the Machine Girls...

Full Metal Schoolgirl
See them in action in this Full Metal Schoolgirl announcement trailer for the upcoming action shooter from the developers behind Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2. Full Metal Schoolgirl will be available on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC (via Steam and Epic Games Store) on October 23, 2025.

Set in the year 2089, Full Metal Schoolgirl throws players into a dystopian Japan where the nation’s economy is dominated by Meternal Jobz, a corrupt corporate superpower whose zombified cyborg labor force, the “Working Dead,” are capable of working nonstop. As a fully armed cyborg schoolgirl heroine, players must ascend Meternal Jobz’s ever-shifting 100-story skyscraper, dismantling waves of undead salarymen, the dastardly CEO, and twisted security systems on a mission of personal revenge before their evil plans come to fruition.

Saturday, July 19, 2025

"It's Clobberin' Time!..."

The Fantastic Four: FIRST STEPS
Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world. The film follows Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm as they face their most daunting challenge yet. Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus' plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren't bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.
Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps arrives in theaters July 25.

Thursday, July 17, 2025

It's a Surprise Hit!...

KPop Demon Hunters Success is SHOCKING!
KPop Demon Hunters is a MASSIVE success, and the soundtrack topped the charts here in the USA. Geeky Sparkles talks about the movie, and some of her other recent KDrama picks.
 

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, July 6, 2025

"Whether the target is alive or dead... is irrelevant."

Virgin Punk: Clockwork Girl
Conditions for Receiving Bounty:
Bring the brain of a wanted criminal possessing illegal Somadea to authorities. Whether the target is alive or dead… is irrelevant. 
The year is 2099. Humanity has advanced, overcoming all injuries and illnesses with the development of the Medical Android Technology “Somadea.” However, along with the development of Somadea, crimes misusing said technology have rapidly increased. Somadea grants physical abilities far superior to those of normal flesh and blood, and by illegally modifying it, Somadea can be misused for criminal purposes. To deal with these Somadea crimes, the government established the Bounty Hunter System. Civilians registered as bounty hunters are permitted to kill illegal Somadea users designated as wanted criminals by the police. In return, they are rewarded with large amounts of bounty money. In this unforgiving world, Ubu Kamigori makes a living hunting down criminals as a bounty hunter. But one day, when she returns home from a job, she finds the man with whom she has a sordid history waiting there – Mr. Elegance. And so, her destiny begins to unravel. A tale woven by mechanical girls and the smell of gunpowder smoke, this suspenseful action begins!
A Yasuomi Umetsu X SHAFT Collaboration
Yasuomi Umetsu is an incredibly talented writer, director, and character designer from Japan who has captivated fans from all over the world with his unique worlds from works such as KITE (1998) and MEZZO FORTE (2000), among others. In recent years, he has worked in multiple capacities, including directing the opening and ending sequences of various popular titles and working as an animator. This occasion marks his return as animation director, for the first time in 10 years, with the title VIRGIN PUNK.

Animation studio SHAFT joins forces with Director Yasuomi Umetsu to animate the visuals for this title. The studio has created and gifted the world with much-loved titles such as Puella Magi Madoka Magica and the Monogatari series.

VIRGIN PUNK is the progeny of Yasuomi Umetsu and SHAFT, an entirely original animation series created and planned by this talented team.

Yuya Takahashi, a screenwriter known for his work on the Kamen Rider series and drama Mountain Doctor, takes the reins of the script. Maximizing the unique animated expressions found in VIRGIN PUNK, he depicts the anguish experienced by Ubu, the story’s protagonist, who must live her life as a bounty hunter, painting a story of the intense characters that draw her in with their desires and chaos, interwoven into her life.

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Korean AVENGERS Assemble!...

H I - F I V E
After receiving mysterious organ transplants, five strangers awaken with extraordinary abilities. Banding together, they become an unlikely superhero team known as the “Hi-Five.” Directed by: Kang Hyeong-cheol Cast: Yoo Ah-in, Oh Jung-se, Park Jin-young, Ahn Jae-hong ,Lee Jae-in, Ra Mi-ran, Kim Hee-won, & Shin Gu.

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

One chance to save us all...

PROJECT HAIL MARY
Based on Andy Weir's New York Times best-selling novel, starring Academy Award® nominee Ryan Gosling, and directed by Academy Award® winning filmmakers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.
Only in theaters and IMAX - 3.20.26
In the near future, scientists observe a global dimming event coinciding with the formation of a bright line from the Sun to Venus. The exponential rate of dimming will cause a catastrophic ice age within 30 years. The world's governments cooperate and appoint former European Space Agency administrator Eva Stratt unilateral authority and legal immunity to solve the problem. A space probe is sent to Venus, and it is discovered that the line contains alien microbes.

Stratt appoints Ryland Grace, a junior high (middle) school teacher and former molecular biologist to study a sample of the organism recovered from Venus. He discovers that the single-celled organism consumes electromagnetic radiation and uses radiant energy to move, naming it "Astrophage". Grace also discovers that Astrophage reproduces by feeding on the heat of the Sun and carbon dioxide on Venus. Other scientists discover that Astrophage can be mass-bred for use as rocket fuel.

Astronomy data reveals that Astrophage has also infected and dimmed nearby stars, but one star, Tau Ceti, has resisted the infection. An Astrophage-fueled starship, the Hail Mary, is created to travel to Tau Ceti and obtain information about Astrophage resistance. There is only enough time to breed enough Astrophage for a one-way trip, so the crew are tasked with returning the findings to Earth with unmanned mini-ships called "beetles". Grace trains the science experts for the mission, but they are killed in an accident shortly before launch. With no time to train a comparably-skilled replacement, Stratt forces Grace to join the mission. Grace threatens sabotage, so a sedative is administered to him before launch, with a temporary amnesia-inducing drug set to be administered shortly before he awakens.

Years later, Ryland Grace emerges from his coma aboard the Hail Mary with no memory of his identity or situation. Grace finds that his crew members have died and gives them a space burial. Hail Mary reaches Tau Ceti and is approached by an alien starship, which Grace names "Blip-A". The other ship indicates that its home system in 40 Eridani is also plagued by an Astrophage infection. Blip-A docks with Hail Mary, and the two ships establish first contact. Grace develops a system to communicate with the spider-like five-legged alien, whom he names "Rocky". Rocky, a skilled engineer, has been in the Tau Ceti system for 46 years and is the last survivor of his crew.

Unfamiliar with the concept of relativity, the Eridians greatly overestimated the amount of fuel needed for a round-trip to Tau Ceti, and Grace learns that the Blip-A has enough Astrophage fuel for both ships to return to their planets. Grace and Rocky discover Astrophage's home planet in orbit around Tau Ceti, which Rocky names after his mate and Grace names "Adrian". The planet's atmosphere is found to contain a natural predator of Astrophage. The predator is found to live in the upper atmosphere of Adrian, forcing Grace and Rocky to construct a 10 kilometer chain made of xenonite, an Eridian xenon compound with extraordinary tensile strength and heat resistance. While collecting a sample, a hull breach occurs, and Grace and Rocky risk their lives to save each other...

Monday, June 16, 2025

Fight your way out of the Pit...

Gachiakuta
Crawl back from the abyss of Hell to change this lousy world!
Rudo lives in the slums of a floating town, where the poor scrape by under the shadow of the rich who live a sumptuous life, simply casting their garbage off the side, into the abyss. Then one day, he’s falsely accused of murder, and his wrongful conviction leads to an unimaginable punishment—exile off the edge, with the rest of the trash. 

Down on the surface, the cast-off waste of humanity has bred vicious monsters, and if Rudo wants to have any hope of discovering the truth and seeking vengeance against those who cast him into Hell, he will have to master a new power and join a group known as the Cleaners who battle the hulking trash beasts of the Pit!

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.

Tuesday, June 3, 2025

The fight isn’t over yet...

STRANGER THINGS
Get ready for the epic series finale of Stranger Things.
Volume 1, November 26, 5pm PT* 
Volume 2, Christmas, 5pm PT* 
The Finale, New Year’s Eve, 5pm PT* 
 
* (Releasing worldwide all at once, date may vary based on your local timezone)

Sunday, June 1, 2025

"Only Monsters Play God..."

FRANKENSTEIN
Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, FRANKENSTEIN is on Netflix this November. Starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Felix Kammerer, with Charles Dance, and Christoph Waltz. Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro adapts Mary Shelley’s classic tale of Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist who brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.

Friday, May 9, 2025

Death, Rebirth, Repeat...

ALL YOU NEED IS KILL
The story is told from the first person point of view of the protagonist Keiji Kiriya. Keiji is a new recruit in the United Defense Force, fighting against the mysterious creatures called "Mimics" which have laid siege to Earth. Keiji is killed on his first sortie, but through some inexplicable phenomenon wakes up having returned to the day before the battle, only to find himself caught in a time loop as his death and resurrection repeats time and time again. Keiji's skills as a soldier grows as he passes through the time loops trying to change his fate.