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.
"Secrets of the Silent Witch" is an anime series that follows Monica Everett, a shy mage who can cast spells without speaking, as she navigates her new role protecting a prince while dealing with her social anxieties.
The story centers around Monica Everett, known as the Silent Witch, who is the only mage capable of using unchanted magecraft. Despite her extraordinary abilities, Monica is extremely shy and prefers to avoid speaking in public. Her unique talent stems from her desire to escape social interactions. The plot thickens as she is tasked with infiltrating a prestigious academy and protecting the kingdom's second prince, leading to various challenges that test her abilities and confidence.
Morihito Otogi leads a peaceful, ordinary life—until his childhood friend Nico Wakatsuki, a witch-in-training, moves in with him and chooses him as her familiar! Based on the Weekly Shonen Jump manga by Kenta Shinohara, puppy love meets magical mischief and danger in WITCH WATCH, premiering worldwide this April on Netflix.
A girl wakes up in a secret laboratory and meets Kyung-hee, who is trying to protect her from a gang. When the gang finally finds the girl, they are overwhelmed by an unexpected power. Now streaming online.
‘Earwig and the Witch,’ Gets English-Language Oscar Qualification“
Earwig and the Witch,” the first CG-animated feature from Studio Ghibli, directed by Goro Miyazaki (“From Up on Poppy Hill,” “Tales from Earthsea”) — and son of legendary Hayao Miyazaki — will get an English-language release for Oscar qualification from GKIDS. The feature is slated to air on NHK in Japan December 30, 2020. GKIDS will release the film theatrically in North America in early 2021.
The voice work is headlined by Oscar nominee Richard E. Grant (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”), Kacey Musgraves (“Golden Hour”), and Dan Stevens (“Legion”). The six-time Grammy-winning Musgraves will also record an English version of the theme song, “Don’t Disturb Me.”
Based on the children’s novel “Earwig and the Witch” by Diana Wynne Jones, the fantasy concerns the young Earwig (Taylor Paige Henderson) growing up in a British orphanage in the countryside with no idea that her mother (Musgraves) possessed magical powers. Her life changes suddenly she’s forced to live with a selfish witch, Bella Yaga (Vanessa Marshall), and her associate, The Mandrake (Grant). As the headstrong young girl sets out to uncover the secrets of her new guardians, she discovers a world of spells and potions, and a mysterious song that holds the key to unlocking her family’s secret identity.
“Earwig and the Witch,” an official 2020 Cannes Film Festival selection, is produced by Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki and scripted by Ghibli vet Keiko Niwa (“From Up on Poppy Hill,” “Tales from Earthsea”) and Emi Gunji, an assistant director on “From Up on Poppy Hill.”
“Earwig and the Witch” obviously represents uncharted territory for the hand-drawn studio. In fact, at a press conference earlier this year, Miyazaki said that he was on his own with a young staff because of his previous expertise in CG with the anime series “Ronja, The Robber’s Daughter.” As for the heroine, he added that she marks a Ghibli departure because “she’s a strong girl who does every conceivable thing to live how she wants to live.”
Disney'sTHE OWL HOUSE is coming to Disney Channel!
Welcome to the Boiling Isles! Luz takes you on a tour of her new (terrifying) fantasy world! The Owl House premieres Friday, January 10th 2020!
Luz, a self-assured teenage human girl, accidentally stumbles upon a portal to a magical new world where she befriends a rebellious witch, Eda, and an adorably tiny warrior, King. Despite not having magical abilities, Luz pursues her dream of becoming a witch by serving as Eda's apprentice at the Owl House and ultimately finds a new family in an unlikely setting.
For a limited time only, don't miss the breathtaking opening scene from MARY AND THE WITCH'S FLOWER, the dazzling new adventure from Academy Award-nominated Hiromasa Yonebayashi, animator on Spirited Away and director of When Marnie Was There and The Secret World of Arrietty! The film opens in select cinemas nationwide on January 19, with a special premiere event on January 18 in select locations with exclusive filmmaker interview. Many premiere shows are already selling out. Get your tickets now at www.fathomevents.com/events/mary-and-the-witchs-flower
Theater listing for the full run will be available shortly at:
Mary is an ordinary young girl stuck in the country with her Great-Aunt Charlotte and seemingly no adventures or friends in sight. She follows a mysterious cat into the nearby forest, where she discovers an old broomstick and the strange Fly-by-Night flower, a rare plant that blossoms only once every seven years and only in that forest. Together the flower and the broomstick whisk Mary above the clouds, and far away to Endor College – a school of magic run by headmistress Madam Mumblechook and the brilliant Doctor Dee. But there are terrible things happening at the school, and when Mary tells a lie, she must risk her life to try to set things right.
Based on Mary Stewart’s 1971 classic children’s book The Little Broomstick, MARY AND THE WITCH'S FLOWER is an action-packed film full of jaw-dropping imaginative worlds, ingenious characters, and the and the stirring, heartfelt story of a young girl trying to find a place in the world. Featuring the voices of Ruby Barnhill and Academy Award®-winners Kate Winslet and Jim Broadbent.
[Source: ToonZone] Netflix has announced they will be the exclusive streaming home of Studio Trigger’s Little Witch Academia television series, and the first season will begin showing up there by the end of next month. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Netflix holds the rights, as they currently offer the two preceding shorts starring the characters.
Little Witch Academia began as a 30-minute short released online back in 2013. Response was strong and Studio Trigger announced a follow-up short, but only if it was backed through crowdfunding. They wound up earning over four times the amount they asked for — there was a clear paying audience and a hunger for more.
Both shorts and the series are basically an animated version of The Worst Witch, with klutzy main character Akko serving in the Mildred Hubble role. She idolizes celebrity witch Shiny Chariot and wants to follow in her footsteps. When she starts going to class at Luna Nova Academy, the same magical school that Shiny Chariot graduated from, she finds it’s much harder than she anticipated. But she has her pals Lotte and Sucy to back her up.
The first season of Little Witch Academia is still running in Japan, and 20 of the 25 ordered episodes have aired so far. Netflix will be getting the first thirteen, with the remaining twelve presumably on their way later. They’ll be available June 30 exclusively on the streaming service.
