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.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Events News


[Source: aicn.com] LA's Anime Jungle will host animator Sadao Miyamoto (Astro Boy, Gatchamanm Tom and Jerry) on September 17th.

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Artist/designer Junko Mizuni will have a signing at the Giant Robot San Francisco on September 18th

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East Brunswick, New Jersey's MangaNEXT announced guests Akino Kondoh (Ax), M. Alice LeGrow (Bizenghast), Nina Paley (Sita Sings the Blues), and Lea Hernandez (Texas Steampunk, Marvel Mangaverse) Halloween weekend

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San Francisco's Yaoi-Con will host voice actors Ryotaro Okiayu and Hidenobu Kiuchi and manga authors Hinako Takanaga and Kano Miyamoto, also on Halloween weekend

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Giant Robot regretfully announces that after six memorable years in the East Village, GRNY will be shutting its doors for good. We would like to thank the staff, artists, customers, and friends who helped make our stint memorable. Over the next few weeks, all supporters are invited to view the gallery's final art show, get some good deals, and say their goodbyes.

* Out and About, featuring new art by Susie Ghahremani and Kelly Tunstall, will be the GRNY gallery's final show. The opening reception takes place on Saturday, September 4, and we are proud to showcase the San Diego and San Francisco painters' breathtaking work through the store's closure.
* From September 8-23, inventory will be marked down by 30 percent. Exceptions include artwork (such as Susie and Kelly's) and merchandise related to special events (such as book signings or in-store performances).

* In an effort to make the shop's final days lively ones, other events are in the works. Announcements will be made via Giant Robot's websites, Facebook accounts, and the usual outlets.

Giant Robot was born as a Los Angeles-based magazine about Asian, Asian-American, and new hybrid culture in 1994, but has evolved into a full-service pop culture provider with shops and galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City, as well as an online equivalent.

Publisher and co-editor Eric Nakamura comments here

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Korean movie nights are being presented at New York's Tribeca Cinemas, September 14, 2010 October 31, 2010, courtesy of the Korean Cultural Service
Every other Tuesday @ 7pm
Tribeca Cinemas
(54 Varick Street, on the corner of Canal Street, one block from the A, C, E
and 1 train Canal Street stops)
Price? Free.
All seating is first-come, first served. Doors
open at 6:30pm.


UPCOMING MOVIES
 
Series Three: Documentaries
TUESDAY, September 14 @ 7pm
TURN IT UP TO 11 (2009, 93 minutes, New York Premiere)

Winner of four major film awards, and the documentary that spawned the Korean catch phrase, "I don't think we're gonna make it," TURN IT UP TO 11 is a rambunctious rock n'roll odyssey about Incheon's unlikeliest talent incubator: Ruby Salon. A tiny, hole-in-the-wall club founded by aging punk Lee Kyou-Young, who moved back home to Incheon after accidentally getting his girlfriend pregnant, Ruby Salon is the seed that sprouts two bands: Galaxy Express, a tight, ambitious outfit that dreams of stardom; and Tobacco Juice, a band whose members are so lazy they can't even be bothered to show up for gigs. As one band goes up, and the other goes down, this slacker doc follows them to shows, bars, massive concerts, antagonistic rehearsals and empty clubs in the best movie ever made about the Korean music scene.

TUESDAY, September 28 @ 7pm
DANCE OF TIME (2009, 92 minutes, New York Premiere)

Song Il-Gon is the director of such classic Korean arthouse films as FEATHER IN THE WIND and the one-take-wonder, THE MAGICIANS, and here he turns his attention to the documentary, directing a relaxed, sun-soaked, lighthearted ode to love, dance, music, Santeria and Cuba. Starting at the turn of the century, DANCE OF TIME follows Cuba's tiny community of Koreans from their accidental immigration to the present, along the way surviving wars, revolutions, and tumultuous romances. A little-known part of Cuba, these Koreans have flowered into a vital part of the island's culture that almost no one has heard of. This slick, technically accomplished documentary, throbbing with music, takes care of that problem.


TUESDAY, October 12 @ 7pm
GRANDMOTHER'S FLOWER (2008, 89 minutes)

It's one of the most astonishing documentaries about modern day Korea ever made, but when it begins this documentary sounds terrible. Director Mun Jeong-Hyun is pressured into making a doc about his grandmother, and he's convinced there's no story there, but when he discovers a secret cache of his greatuncle's incomprehensible journals he begins to pull on the threads of his family history, and everything unravels. Ultimately lifting the lid off his peaceful hometown of Naju, he reveals a hair raising history of conflict between intellectual left wingers and working class right wingers who have been at each other's throats since the Japanese occupation. A harrowing family saga, it begins with torture, persecution and secret executions and it ends with self-mutilation, decades of discrimination, threats against the filmmaker, and a family exiled over three countries. A searing look at what history has done to the Korean people, this is the kind of documentary that keeps upping the ante, finding new realms of pain and suffering to inflict as history has its way with its victims.


SPECIAL HALLOWEEN SCREENING
TUESDAY, October 31 @ 4pm
GHOST aka BE WITH ME (2010, 100 minutes, US Premiere)

Every summer it's horror movie time in Korea, but this year, BE WITH ME captured attention not by scaring the pants off its audience, but by offering a fresh take on the omnibus ghost film by some of Korea's hottest young directors who take the traditional horror movie in a funnier, more experimental and more moving direction. These three stories about ghosts star a cast of some of the best young actors in Korea including Kim Kkot-Bi (BREATHLESS) and Kim Ye-Ri (PAJU) and they center around the loneliness of the ghost. From the tale of two best friends (and the boy who got one of them pregnant) competing for a single slot at a top college, to the story of a boy branded as a loser because he sees dead people, this is one of the freshest takes on the genre to come along in years.

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Sunrise announced today that the North America premiere of the movie, Mobile Suit Gundam 00: A wakening of the Trailblazer will take
Trailblazer, place at New York Anime Festival Festival/New York Comic Con on Sunday, October 10, 2:00-4:00pm. The movie will be subtitled in English with Japanese audio.

This movie is a two hour all original sequel to the television series Mobile Suit Gundam 00, which had two seasons and ran for 50 episodes. The movie will premiere in Japan on September 18th and will be released in some other Asian Countries this fall.

The series story was set at the dawn of the 24th century and the world was still torn by conflict, driven by the rivalry between three great superpower blocs. Then the private armed organization called Celestial Being appeared, announcing its intention to rid the world of war and conflict.

In the movie, the year is 2314 AD, two years after Celestial Being's last great battle, and the world faces a new crisis. A derelict Jupiter exploration ship, abandoned 130 years ago, has left its orbit and is approaching Earth. As Celestial Being and its Gundam Meisters begin their final mission to save humanity from an unimaginable threat, Gundam Meister Setsuna F. Seiei is about to discover the true purpose of his evolution as an Innovator, and the nature of the "dialogues" for which legendary scientist Aeolia Schenberg's plan has been preparing the human race.

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VIZ Cinema at New People in San Francisco announced its September schedule
The People I’ve Slept With, September 3rd – September 9th
(Directed by Quentin Lee, 2009, 89 min, Digital, English Language)
The People I’ve Slept With is a sexy comedy about a promiscuous woman who finds herself with an unplanned pregnancy and needs to figure out who the baby daddy is…NOW. Film stars Karin Anna Cheung (Better Luck Tomorrow), Wilson Cruz (My So Called Life) and Archie Kao (CSI). Co-sponsored by Frameline. A special Opening Night Event is scheduled for Friday, September 3rd at 7:00pm and will include a reception and Q&A with Director Quentin Lee. Tickets are now available for $15.00. No discounts apply.

Death Note Day: Death Note Collection Blu-ray Release Special Event
September 4th
(Directed by Shusuke Kaneko, 2006, 120min (Death Note), 140 min (Death Note II), Digital, Japanese with English subtitles)
VIZ Pictures celebrates its first Blu-ray release Death Note Collection with Death Note Day showing both Death Note & Death Note II on the brand new Blu-ray version with the vivid high-def visuals and THX sound at VIZ Cinema. Death Note is a psycho thriller film based on the bestselling manga and anime series. Tickets are $10.00 for each film or $15.00 for both screenings. $35.00 Special Blu-ray Package includes tickets to both screenings, the new Blu-ray and poster!

Paprika, September 11th
(Directed by Satoshi Kon, 2006,Digital, Japanese with English subtitles)
In memory of one of the greatest anime directors Satoshi Kon, who passed away at the age of 49 on August 24th, VIZ Cinema celebrates his work with a screening his masterpiece Paprika. This sci-fi epic centers on a new invention called the DC-Mini. With this revolutionary device, psychiatrists are now able to enter a patient's dreams in a therapeutic setting. But when an unknown assailant steals the devices, using them to manipulate people’s minds and the thin line between the conscious and the unconscious begins to blur. Yes Paprika challenges the same theme as Inception over 4 years ahead, but in incredible and breathtaking world of anime. Tickets are $10.00.

From September 13th to 17th (Mon-Fri), NEW PEOPLE and VIZ Cinema will host films, anime, fashion, music and other forms of J-pop culture in a series of nightly events! Special gift bags will be given to all ticket holders each night.

TOKYOSCOPE TALK, Vol. 6: Bad Girls & Wild Women featuring Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion
Monday, September 13th at 7:00pm (Happy Hour starts at 6:00pm)
? followed by screening of Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion
(Directed by Shunya Ito, 1973, 87min. Japanese with English subtitles)
Join host Patrick Macias (Editor, Otaku USA) for a unique look at sexy Stray Cats, Female Prisoners, Delinquent Bosses and other captivating and sexy bad girl roles from Japanese cinema. The evening will be complemented by a theatrical screening of the lurid prison film Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion. Adults only due to mature subject matter; 18+ General admission tickets for the discussion and film screening are $20.00.
ANIME NIGHT with Anime On Display & Crunchyroll
Tuesday, September 14th at 7:00pm and 8:45pm (Happy Hour and VIP Party starts at 7:30pm)

? 2 Screenings of 5 Centimeters Per Second at 7pm & 8:45pm
Animation On Display, S.F.’s very own anime convention, joins forces with online content provider Crunchyroll for a theatrical presentation of Makoto Shinkai’s 5 Centimeters Per Second. Come meet other anime fans and join the fun with a special evening celebrating anime! General admission tickets are $10.00.

NOISE POP MEETS J-POP: Film Screening of 77 Boadrum
Preceded by Cornelius’ Music Video – Synchronized & Sensurround
Thursday, September 16th at 7:30pm (Happy Hour starts at 6:00pm)
Join Noise Pop, organizers of the leading independent music festival in the Bay Area, for a special theatrical presentation of 77 Boadrum, the official live documentary of the Japanese free-rock group the Boredoms’s live performance featuring 77 drummers at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in Brooklyn, NY. General admission tickets for the film screening are $10.00. 

J-POP SUMMIT DAY – Saturday, September 18th
Detroit Metal City San Francisco Premiere
(Directed by Toshio Lee, 2008, Japan, 104min, 35mm, Japanese with English Subtitles)
Based on the #1 death metal comedy manga series by Kiminori Wakasugi. Negishi (Kenichi Matsuyama) is a sweet and shy young man who dreams of becoming a trendy singer songwriter. But for some reason, he is forced into joining the devil worshiping death metal band “Detroit Metal City” (DMC). In full stage make-up and costume, he transforms into Johannes Krauser II (Sir Krauser) the vulgar-mouthed lead vocalist of the band. Against Negishi’s will, DMC rises to stardom. Now the legendary king of death metal Jack Il Dark (Gene Simmons) himself is challenging DMC to a duel. What is the fate of the innocent Negishi as he climbs to the top of the death metal world? Explicit language, viewer and parental discretion advised.
Also screens September 19th – September 30th

Star driver - New Anime

Star Driver Kagayaki no Takuto is set on an island called Southern Cross, where Takuto Tsunashi arrives one night by swimming ashore. Takuto enrolls in the island's high school academy, which conceals a secret, a giant humanoid figure underground. Via star-driver.net

Monday, September 6, 2010

At Dragon*Con, a new view of 'Akira'

By Ann Hoevel, CNN
Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- Walking through the downtown hotels hosting Dragon*Con, it's remarkable how many costumes on display are influenced by Japanese animation. Dynamic hairdos, gravity-defying clothes and exotic weapons are the hallmarks of the dedicated anime fans who proudly dress up as their favorite characters.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Blade Kitten (PSN) Trailer


Blade Kitten invites players into the world of Hollow Wish where they take on the role of Kit Ballard, one of the best bounty hunters in the business. With her pink hair and tail, Kit is part cat, part girl and fully lethal. As one of the last of her species, Kit commands her unique Darque Blade hovering sword to defeat enemies. Also along for the ride is Skiffy, Kits laid-back sidekick who lends a hand in collecting items, solving puzzles, and when needed, serves as Kits protector. 
 

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Manga News

One Piece is going on a one month hiatus
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Eri Takenashi's magic girlfriend Kannagi will be returning to Monthly Comic Rex
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Ken Akamatsu will be bring back Love Hina for a one shot in Weekly Shonen Magazine
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Following the cancellation of Comic Bunch, Tsukasa Hojo's City Hunter spin-off Angel Heart will move to Comic Zenon 
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A look at the new version of Tezuka's Marvelous Melvo
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Yukito Kishiro blogged that following his fall out with his editor, he will be moving Battle Angel Alita: Last Order from Ulta Jump to Kodansha's Evening
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Bisco Hatori will be concluding Ouran High School Host Club in the next issue of LaLa
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Masahiro Totsuka and Aguri Igarashi's kendo manga Bamboo Blade will be ending in the next issue of Young Gangan
Live Action
Ai Yazawa's (Nana) fashion manga Paradise Kiss will be adapted into a live action film. Cast includes Keiko Kitagawa (live-action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon's Sailor Mars, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift's Reiko), Osamu Mukai (Honey and Clover, Nodame Cantabile, Mei-chan no Shitsuji, Beck), Natsuki Kato, Aya Omasa, Kento Kaku, Shunji Igarashi, and Yusuke Yamamoto.
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Takashi Murakami's manga Hoshi Mamoru Inu will be adapted into a live action movie
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Hana Yori Dango's Shun Oguri and Mao Inoue will star in a TV dreama adaptation of manga series Veterinarian Dolittle
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A third live action TV action of Akira Nagai and Taro Nogizaka's Iryu - Team Medical Dragon will hit Japanese TV in October
Misc
The all female Takarazuka Revue will be performing a stage musical adaptation of Riko Miyagi's popular manga series "Mei-chan no Shitsuji"
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the CD BECK OFFICIAL INSPIRED BY ... is being release in conjuction with the live action adaption of rock manga Beck,
The disc will feature
BECK playlist of the movie ? OFFICIAL INSPIRED BY ...
01. 01. OASIS / Don't Look Back In Anger Oasis / Do not Look Back In Anger
02. 02. Rage Against The Machine / Guerrilla Radio Rage Against The Machine / Guerrilla Radio
03. 03. The Offspring / Come Out and Play The Offspring / Come Out and Play
04. 04. The Clash / I Fought The Law The Clash / I Fought The Law
05. 05. The Black Crowes / Remedy The Black Crowes / Remedy
06. 06. Alice In Chains/ Man In The Box Alice In Chains / Man In The Box
07. 07. Travis / Why Does It Always Rain On Me Travis / Why Does It Always Rain On Me
08. 08. Manic Street Preachers / Motorcycle Emptiness Manic Street Preachers / Motorcycle Emptiness
09. Lauryn Hill / Doo Wop (That Thing) 09. Lauryn Hill / Doo Wop (That Thing)
10. 10. Bob Dylan / Subterranean Homesick Blues Bob Dylan / Subterranean Homesick Blues
11. 11. Kula Shaker / Hush Kula Shaker / Hush
12. 12. Fiona Apple / Criminal Fiona Apple / Criminal
13. 13. Jimi Hendrix / All Along The Watchtower Jimi Hendrix / All Along The Watchtower
14.Janis Joplin / Move Over 14.Janis Joplin / Move Over
15. 15. Jeff Buckley / Hallelujah Jeff Buckley / Hallelujah
Track>
16. 16. OASIS / I Am The Walrus(Live) OASIS / I Am The Walrus (Live)
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Vermilion Pleasure Night/The Fuccons creator Yoshimasa Ishibashi will have new video exhibition at the Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art in Hamamachi Marugame City, Kagawa Prefecture titled "SickeTel: Ishibashi Yoshimasa and KyupiKyupi"

Friday, September 3, 2010

Anime News

[Source: aicn.com] Tatsunoko is producting a Tachumaru Zukan tv series to air on Japanese TV this Fall, starring "Tachumaru" (Tachumals), "small and cute" versions of characters from Gatchaman, Casshern and Gold Lightan
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30-sai no Hoken Taiiku (Health and Physical Education for 30-Year-Olds) is getting an anime adaption
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a Baka to Test to Shokanjyu OVA is slated for 2011
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Cute dinasour anime You Are Umasou will be getting a series of 5 minute shorts
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Production I.G's Singaporean co-production Titan Rain has been cancelled. A stereoscopic 3D film is still being developed
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Yuu Watase's shonen manga Arata is scheduled for an anime adaptation
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Gonzo is planning a sequel to sci-fi series Solty Rei
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the second episode of Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail has been delayed to September 30th
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A second XXXHolic Rou OAD is scheduled for 2011
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The It's a Rumic World short, featuring Rumiko Takahashi created characters from works such as Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura and Inuyasha will be released on DVD and Blu-ray October 30.
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The Japanese video release of The disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is scheduled for December 18th
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Macross Frontier ~ Tsubasa ~ Sayonara no is scheduled for theatrical releasron February 26, 2011
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At this point, pretty solid rumors, suggest a Manglobe (Samurai Champloo) adaptation will hit in 2011
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A 30 finale to the Kara no Kyokai/Garden of Sinners movie franchise will be included with the upcoming Blu-ray set, set to be released February 2, 2011.