Next Club Meeting:October 17, 2026,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 in today's pop culture, such as live-action films, comics, music, art, and other weird things to enjoy and contemplate.
"You think you understand? All the lies? All the needless atrocities?... No. There is reason, and I want to show you..."
Deep in the heart of Autodale lives their Mayor. As old as the town itself, a once great inventor, now a gangly and decaying but undying thing which the townsfolk have long forgotten, but continue to echo his machine-obsessed beliefs. This film follows Autodale's Exceptional Woman as she journey's deep down the rabbit hole of the Mayor's Immortal Machine.
Polybius is an urban legend that emerged in early 2000, concerning a fictitious 1980s arcade game. The legend describes the game as part of a government-run crowdsourced psychology experiment based in Portland, Oregon during 1981. Gameplay supposedly produced intense psychoactive and addictive effects in the player. These few publicly staged arcade machines were said to have been visited periodically by men in black for the purpose of data-mining the machines and analyzing these effects. Eventually, all of these Polybius arcade machines allegedly disappeared from the arcade market.
The urban legend has served as inspiration for free and commercial video games by the same name. "Polybius" is also the name of a classical Greek historian born in Arcadia, who is known for his assertion that historians should never report what they cannot verify through interviews with witnesses.
The story tells of an unheard-of new arcade game appearing in several suburbs of Portland, Oregon, in 1981, something of a rarity at the time. The game is described as proving popular to the point of addiction,
with lines forming around the machines often resulting in fighting over
who would play next. The legend describes how the machines were visited
by men in black, who collected unknown data from the machines, allegedly testing responses to the game's psychoactive effects. Players supposedly suffered from a series of unpleasant side effects, including amnesia, insomnia, night terrors and hallucinations. Approximately one month after its supposed release in 1981, Polybius is said to have disappeared without a trace.
The company named in most accounts of the game is Sinneslöschen. The word is described by writer Brian Dunning
as "not-quite-idiomatic German" (a word constructed outside the norms
of German-language usage and grammar) meaning "sense delete" or "sensory
deprivation"; if it were a German term of actual use, "Sinneslöschen" would be pronounced like [zɪnəs'lœ:ʃn̩]. The word's meanings are derived from the German words Sinne, "senses" and löschen, "to extinguish" or "to delete", though the way they are combined is not standard German.
Due to the viral and anecdotal nature of the legend, an exact origin
is unclear. Some anecdotal accounts claim that the legend originated on Usenet
in 1994, or earlier through offline word of mouth, though no recorded
evidence exists for either claim. The earliest confirmed record of the
legend is an entry for the title added to arcade game resource
coinop.org on February 6, 2000;
although Coinop lists the page as originating in 1998, it appears to
have defaulted to that time due to a database error caused by a lack of
input. The entry mentions the name Polybius and a copyright date of 1981, although no such copyright has ever been registered. The author of the entry claims in the description to be in possession of a ROM image of the game, and to have extracted fragments of text from it, including "1981 Sinneslöschen". The remainder of the information about the game is listed as "unknown", and its "About the game" section describes the "bizarre rumors" that make up the legend.
Some time prior to September 2003, Kurt Koller, the owner of
coinop.org (the Web site featuring the earliest known description of the
supposed game), submitted a message to the video game magazine GamePro about Polybius. Polybius then appeared in the September 2003 issue of GamePro, as part of a feature story on video games called "Secrets and Lies." This is the first known printed mention of the game, exposing the legend to a mass-market audience. The article declared the existence of the game to be "inconclusive", helping to both spark curiosity and spread the story.
Following the appearance in GamePro magazine, a number of people claimed to have some involvement with Polybius. In 2006, a man named Steven Roach claimed he had been one of its original programmers and that his company developed a game with very intense and cutting-edge graphics. However, according to Roach, a boy experienced an epileptic seizure while playing, and the cabinets were withdrawn by the company in a panic. Although Roach offered no proof for his claims, his story added details on the gameplay, which later inspired Rogue Synapse's game based on the legend.
We examine the idea of mortality in a children's classic movie, The Last Unicorn.
It took Peter S. Beagle "close to two years" to write The Last Unicorn, and he states that "it was hard every step of the way". Beagle came up with the idea for the novel in 1962 while on an "artistic retreat" in Berkshire Hills after Viking Press rejected his novel The Mirror Kingdom. He stated that though the idea for the novel was "just suddenly there", he also said that he had "read tons of fantasy and mythology" from childhood, and that his mother told him that he had shared a story about unicorns during a visit to one of the elementary school classes she taught. He also mentioned that he loved the book The Colt from Moon Mountain by Dorothy Lathrop (a story about a unicorn in Kansas) as a child, and that Spanish artist Marcial Rodriguez had given him a painting of unicorns fighting bulls when he was seventeen. Once he had the idea, he did research on unicorns at the Pittsfield Library. The 85-page manuscript that Beagle first wrote differs greatly from the current version of the book. Though the unicorn "is much the same", the story is set in modern times, and the unicorn is accompanied by a two-headed demon named Webster and Azazel. This original version was published as a limited edition hardcover by Subterranean Press titled The Last Unicorn: The Lost Version in 2006. Beagle stopped working on this initial manuscript in 1963, stating that "[i]t was a dead end", but picked the project up again in 1965.
Paris, 1941. A family of scientists is on the brink of discovering a powerful longevity serum when all of a sudden a mysterious force abducts them, leaving their young daughter April behind. Ten years later, April (voiced by Academy Award® nominee Marion Cotillard) lives alone with her dear cat, Darwin, and carries on her family’s research in secret. But she soon finds herself at the center of a shadowy and far-reaching conspiracy, and on the run from government agents, bicycle-powered dirigibles and cyborg rat spies. Also features a new English dub with the voices of Paul Giamatti, Tony Hale, Susan Sarandon and J.K. Simmons!
"This underrated, independent animated series is filled with dark, twisted adult humor that deceptively hides a surprisingly deep emotional take of love, life, and everything. Plus the musical numbers are very creative! Highly Recommended!"
- anim8trix
--- WARNING: MATURE THEMES ---
Helluva Boss is an American adult animated musical black comedy web series created by Vivienne "VivziePop" Medrano. Despite taking place within the same universe as Hazbin Hotel, also created by Medrano, the series features a different cast of characters and storyline. As Medrano described it, while both shows share the same setting, Hazbin Hotel is about redemption and consequences, while Helluva Boss follows "characters and societies that already exist in Hell" with the main focus on the interpersonal relationship between characters. The pilot was released on November 25, 2019, while the first episode of the first season, produced by SpindleHorse Toons, was released on October 31, 2020. The first season was released exclusively to Medrano's YouTube channel like Medrano has done for other animations.
The series follows the employees of I.M.P. (Immediate Murder Professionals), an assassination company in Hell, on their many different jobs. The members of I.M.P. include Blitzo (the 'o' is silent), the boss of the venture, along with weapons specialist Moxxie, powerhouse Millie, and receptionist hellhound Loona. With the help of an ancient book obtained from a Goetial demon of Hell named Stolas, they manage to make getting their jobs done, and together they attempt to keep their business running.
The enthusiastic imp Blitzo and his subordinate employees—Moxxie, Millie (Moxxie's wife), and Loona (Blitzo's adopted daughter and the I.M.P. receptionist)—run an assassination agency called the Immediate Murder Professionals (I.M.P.). The first scene depicts the group discussing how to drum up business again after an incident in one of their missions have them a bad rep. Some backstory is provided in the form of a flashback, where Blitzo steals a book that he uses to make a portal to the living world from Stolas, one of the Goetial demons of Hell, after having sex with him. Later, the group is shown accidentally shooting a small child named Eddie while aiming for someone else. However, I.M.P. kills and dismembers Eddie after discovering he was the right target their client wanted them to kill after all, and drops off his dismembered body in a bag to his mother on live TV.
An affable kindergarten teacher named Mrs. Mayberry (Mara Wilson) video calls her husband on his birthday, only to realize that her husband has been cheating on her with another woman named Martha (Jinkx Monsoon). In a fit of explosive rage, she attacks Martha, and kills her husband with a shotgun, before committing suicide after realizing she had done so in front of her students. However, it is revealed that Martha survived and is praised as a "hero" for surviving the attack, becoming rich off of charity proceeds resulting from the publicity. Mrs. Mayberry, now a demon condemned to Hell for her act of murder-suicide, hires I.M.P. to kill Martha. During the first attempt on the assassination, Moxxie, hesitant about killing a mother and ruining a seemingly innocent family, causes Blitzo to miss his shot, alerting Martha and her family, who then reveal their true, villainous nature as Satan-worshipping cannibal murderers and proceed to chase them. Blitzo and Millie flee, but Moxxie is captured by the children. Millie attempts to kill Ralphie (Maxwell Atoms), Martha's husband, only to be knocked out. Blitzo initially evades a shotgun-wielding Martha, but his location is revealed by an unexpected and raunchy phone call from Stolas (Bryce Pinkham), and he is captured. Moxxie escapes from Martha and Ralphie's children's grasp, fatally shoots Martha from behind, and rescues Blitzo and Millie while a shocked Ralphie runs away in fear. Moxxie stays behind longer than the others in order to kill Ralphie and the kids as well. However, despite calling them monsters, he decides not to kill them and that they should still have a chance at a life and a purpose, so he instead calls the local authorities to deal with them and have them answer for their crimes. Right before he heads back through the portal to Hell, the police (who've surrounded the house) blow up the family along with their house. Moxxie witnesses all of this before being dragged back by Blitzo. Back in Hell, Blitzo, Millie, Loona, and Mrs. Mayberry celebrate over a cake, while a traumatized Moxxie sits in complete shock over causing the whole family's death.
Following a fight with his wife (Georgina Leahy) resulting from the discovery of his affair with Blitzo, Stolas, wanting to get out of the house, decides to take his daughter Octavia (Barrett Wilbert Weed) to Loo Loo Land, an amusement park that she enjoyed as a kid, and he hires I.M.P. to ostensibly serve as their bodyguards. During the trip, Blitzo takes over the first watch over Octavia and Stolas to allow Moxxie and Millie to enjoy themselves at the park, but Stolas' flirting with Blitzo irritates Octavia. Meanwhile, Moxxie tries to win "a thing" for Millie in a carnival game, but his efforts are thwarted by the game operator who attempts to woo Millie, much to Moxxie's irritation. Stolas takes Octavia to watch the show of circus performer Robo Fizz (Alex Brightman), who both Octavia and Blitzo hate due to personal reasons. Octavia, fed up by Stolas' flirtations towards Blitzo runs away from the show. Stolas follows after her, leaving Blitzo to get into a fight with Robo Fizz, interrupting Moxxie and Millie when he crashes into the game operator. Stolas follows Octavia to the funhouse ride, where they talk about how things have changed; Octavia is upset that her home doesn't feel like home anymore, and Stolas tries to explain his failing relationship with his wife but cannot find the right words to do so. Octavia expresses that she feels Stolas will leave her behind in favor of Blitzo, and Stolas assures her that that would never happen and decides it is time to leave the park, just as I.M.P.'s fight with Robo Fizz causes Loo Loo Land to burn to the ground. As a reconciled Octavia and Stolas discuss where to go next, Moxxie informs Blitzo of the park's destruction, to which Blitzo replies that it was "Worth it! That slutty toy clown had it coming!"
Broken
In order to get his company's parking space back from his pop-star ex, Verosika Mayday (Cristina Vee), Blitzo and the rest of I.M.P. challenge her and her posse of succubi to a demon duel; if I.M.P. can kill more people than Verosika and her team can have sex with in one day, Verosika will have to return the parking space to Blitzo. With partying spring-breakers as targets, Loona disguises herself as an attractive human goth girl and lures victims to obscure spots for the rest of the team to kill them. However, she catches feelings for Verosika's hellhound, Vortex (James Monroe Iglehart), and becomes distracted by talking to him instead. Blitzo tries to intervene, only for Loona to yell at him. She tells him to stop treating her like a child and let her make her own choices. A heartbroken Blitzo becomes upset and storms off, also abandoning the challenge. Meanwhile, Verosika sings on a stage, and uses her siren-like voice to turn the attending humans into sexual deviants, which her team subsequently seduces. Moxxie and Millie take the challenge into their own hands and continue killing people, but some humans catch Moxxie and throw him into a beer barrel, getting him heavily intoxicated. As Millie rescues Moxxie from the barrel, a fish mutated by a beer can Verosika threw into the water starts attacking the beach, scaring away the humans. Millie kills the monster, and Blitzo uses the incident to blackmail Verosika into giving I.M.P. their parking space back. The episode ends with Blitzo and the others returning to Hell to reclaim their parking space once again, while Verosika and her team are arrested by the human police because of the chaos they caused on the beach, forcing them to sexually bribe their way out.
I.M.P. is hired by a crazed inventor named Loopty Goopty (Rogers) to kill his old business partner Lyle Lipton (Michael James Ruocco) for taking credit for their aging machine. Just when Lipton is about to kill himself as I.M.P. watches, the cherubs of C.H.E.R.U.B., led by Cletus (Don Darryl Rivera), come to convince him that life is worth living. However, I.M.P. sabotages every attempt in order to get their job done, much to C.H.E.R.U.B.'s irritation. In a theater, I.M.P. and C.H.E.R.U.B. fight each other for Lipton, and seeing them getting so worked up over him, Lipton decides to live only to be indirectly killed by Cletus. C.H.E.R.U.B. is then exiled from Heaven by their superior, Deerie (Vivienne Medrano) for actions resulting in the death of a human. I.M.P. returns to Hell, and just as they were about to face the wrath of Goopty for failing their job, Lipton is sent to Hell for experimenting on the poor and reconciles with Goopty. The two inventors are then hired by another inventor, Wally Wackford (Rivera), who then makes fun of Blitzo.
In the last years of Victoria’s reign, London is beset by the “Touched”: people — mostly women — who suddenly manifest abnormal abilities, some charming, some very disturbing. Among them are Amalia True (Laura Donnelly), a mysterious, quick-fisted widow, and Penance Adair (Ann Skelly), a brilliant young inventor. They are the champions of this new underclass, making a home for the Touched, while fighting the forces of… well, pretty much all the forces — to make room for those whom history as we know it has no place.
They, themselves are not called that [The Nevers] in the show. It's a phrase that's meant to evoke a sort of reaction to their oddity, to what is considered unnatural. The idea that you should never be like this, you should never have existed. Something is not the way it should be, and you don't have the right to have whatever weird power or ability that you have. And that idea, that some people are not of the natural order, is fascinating to me. I don't agree with it. But to me, it's one of those things where you take something negative, and you wear it as a badge of honor, basically. Certain things could never happen - they're happening. And the people they're happening to are taking their place in the world.
Bitch Pudding (voiced by Katee Sackhoff) - A fictitious addition to the Strawberry Shortcake
universe of Robot Chicken, Bitch Pudding is a foul-mouthed, crass and violent
18-year-old girl and the former resident of Pastryville who has a
penchant for insulting, tormenting, and sometimes even killing others.
In Season 7, Bitch Pudding became the first of the series' recurring
characters to have their own special, titled the "Bitch Pudding
Special".
Let's examine the entire "Bug Theme" that runs throughout the movie "Coraline" to find the hidden deeper meaning of the role of insects in this stop-motion animated masterpiece.
Jaiden Animations is an American YouTuber, animator, storyteller and comedian who draws and animates various stories about her life and personality, and random things that happen in her life, especially with her pet parrots Ari, and Tofu. Jaiden was born on September 27th, 1997.
Enjoy the video... and Go Konnichiwa yourself! ^_^
Amazon continues to inexplicably ban anime toys, according to Twitter. Any "underage" looking toys seem prime targets to get the axe. We talk about that and the continued attack on anime and manga from an army of Karens.
A troubled child uses the roleplaying game ‘Fantopia’ to liberate himself from the real world and learn an important lesson along the way. As the players embark on their quest, we are transported to their imagined world of Fantopia.
Master follows the story of Olivia, a once-promising martial arts champion who is on a journey to guide her family to what she believes is a better life. Along the way, Olivia discovers that the life she is leaving behind is the one she should be fighting for.
In the future, a team of astronauts are sent on a ten year journey to a distant planet to find new life. On their way, they encounter a large, abandoned spaceship that is drifting in the orbit of a mysterious planet. They board the ship with anticipation of the great discoveries to uncover inside. However, they do not know what terrible secret this spacecraft keeps -- a nightmarish threat which is far bigger and scarier than anything they could have imagined.
In bustling human world, magical spirits and goblins live peacefully with mankind. Luo Xiao-Hei, the cat demon, begins his journey of wandering, because his forest home is destroyed. With his sympathetic goblin friends and earnest human master appearing one after another, Hei must solve the dilemma regarding which side will be his true attribution.
[Source: Yahoo News] Yaphet Kotto, an actor known for his performances in “Alien,” the James Bond film “Live and Let Die” and the television series “Homicide: Life on the Street,” has died, his agent Ryan Goldhar confirmed to Variety. He was 81.
Kotto’s wife, Tessie Sinahon, first posted about Kotto’s death on Facebook Monday night.
“I’m saddened and still in shocked of the passing of my husband Yaphet of 24 years. He died last night around 10:30pm Philippine time,” she wrote. “…You played a villain on some of your movies but for me you’re a real hero and to a lot of people also. A good man, a good father, a good husband and a decent human being, very rare to find. One of the best actor in Hollywood a Legend. Rest in Peace Honey, I’m gonna miss you everyday, my bestfriend, my rock.”
In 1973’s “Live and Let Die,” Kotto pulled double-duty portraying the corrupt Caribbean dictator Dr. Kananga as well as his drug pushing alter ego Mr. Big. Described in the novel as a monstrously obese kingpin with yellow eyes, gray skin and a head twice the size of a normal man, Kotto’s dapper version of the character dispensed with the physical grotesqueries and added a charismatic dose of stylish villainy.
Kotto also famously played technician Dennis Parker in 1979’s “Alien” and William Laughlin alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1987 action film “The Running Man.” He had a strong career in television as well, playing Al Giardello in the NBC series “Homicide: Life on the Street” from 1993 to 1999.
Kotto was born in New York City on Nov. 15, 1939, and began studying acting at the age of 16 at the Actors Mobile Theater Studio. By 19, he made his professional theater debut in “Othello,” and continued on to perform on Broadway in “The Great White Hope.” Kotto’s first few film projects included “Nothing But a Man” in 1964 and “The Thomas Crown Affair” in 1968. In 1969, Kotto held a guest-starring role as Marine Lance Corporal on “Hawaii Five-O.”
After landing the role in “Live and Let Die,” Kotto also nabbed roles in 1974’s “Truck Turner” and 1978’s “Blue Collar” as Smokey. Following his starring turn in “Alien,” Kotto went on to hold a supporting role as Richard “Dickie” Coombes in “Brubaker” in 1980 and starred alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1987 action film “The Running Man.” Kotto’s other TV roles include an appearance on “The A-Team” in 1983, “For Love and Honor,” “Murder She Wrote,” “Death Valley Days” and “Law & Order.”
One of Kotto’s last and longest roles was that of Al Giardello on “Homicide: Life on the Street,” for which he also holds several scriptwriting credits. He also starred in “Homicide: The Movie” in 2000, and most recently voiced Parker in the “Alien: Isolation” video game.
