Next Club Meeting:April 18, 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.
As maidens from the Five Clans battle for the Crown Prince’s heart, jealous Keigetsu uses forbidden magic to swap bodies with the beloved Reirin. Switching places does not guarantee happiness for Keigetsu with her new body's ill health leaving her hanging on the verge of death. Meanwhile, Reirin, now wearing the face of a scorned outcast, must answer for Keigetsu’s crimes in a dangerous trial. The unlikely pair become increasingly entangled in each other’s lives and they will need to work together to survive after discovering the dark conspiracies brewing beneath the palace's genial surface. To confront the deadly threats lurking in the shadows, Reirin must embrace her new identity and defy their expectations of the court's inept villainess.
Takuya Seo, a loner student, is a fan of anime series targeted towards young girls, but is embarrassed about others finding about this interest. He sits behind two gyaru classmates, Kotoko Ichiji and Kei Amane, whom he sees as belonging to a different caste. However, after accidentally dropping his eraser and overhearing them talking about anime, he realizes that they actually share similar interests. The three set up a relationship, bonding over their shared fondness for anime.
Goodbye, Lara is an upcoming original Japanese anime television series created and animated by Kinema Citrus for the studio's 15th anniversary. It is directed by Takushi Koide and written by Anna Kawahara, with Shiori Tani designing the characters and Yuma Yamaguchi composing the music. It is set to premiere in July 2026. The opening theme song is "Sayonara Lara" performed by Ikimonogakari.
Goodbye, Lara was announced at the 2024 Anime Central convention in Chicago, Illinois, alongside another original anime project titled Ninja Skooler.
Lara, a mermaid princess who is beloved by her father, the Sea King, and her sisters, enters into a forbidden love with a human prince and aspires to live with him on land. She drinks a potion created by Grace to become a human, only to be tricked into drinking a potion that turns her into bubbles. She vanishes into the sea and would only be reborn if she finds true love. 200 years later, Lara is reborn in Lake Biwa, and she sets out to find her true love.
In a dystopian neon metropolis of 2150, a rogue bio-weapon known as Subject "J" fights to uncover the truth behind a forbidden experiment— while becoming the most hunted entity in the city.
GODZILLA MINUS ZERO picks up in 1949, two years after the tumultuous events of Godzilla Minus One, and continues the story of the Shikishima family as they face an all-new calamity. Additionally confirmed out of CinemaCon, Ryunosuke Kamiki, the hero who faced Godzilla’s terror in Godzilla Minus One, returns as Koichi Shikishima, and is joined by Minami Hamabe as Noriko Oishi, who miraculously survived Godzilla’s first attack on Tokyo.
In the sprawling slag heaps of NiiroCradle, a fugitive android visits the Patchwright, an unlicensed body mechanic, begging him to trace a fragment of a childhood memory.
DreamWorks Animation, the studio that brought you unforgettable bonds between a boy and a dragon in How to Train Your Dragon, an ogre and a donkey in Shrek, and a robot and a gosling in The Wild Robot, now welcomes a dazzling and emotional story about two lifelong best friends who must come together before they drift apart in Forgotten Island.
The new original film is written and directed by Academy Award® nominee Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado and is produced by Academy Award® nominee Mark Swift, the filmmaking team behind Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
Grammy and Academy Award® winning supernova H.E.R. and Liza Soberano (Lisa Frankenstein, Alone/Together) star as high school graduates Jo and Raissa, who have been best friends since grade school but are now about to embark on separate life paths.
While celebrating their last night together, Jo and Raissa stumble upon a mysterious portal that transports them to the fantastical island of Nakali, packed with magical and mythological creatures they grew up hearing stories about from their Filipino families.
Some of these figures will become friends, some foes. Joined by well-meaning-but- hapless weredog Raww (Dave Franco) and a small-but-mighty pack of pals, Jo and Raissa must face The Dreaded Manananggal (Tony winning icon Lea Salonga), the most feared creature on the island. When they discover that the memories of their entire friendship are the price for returning home, Jo and Raissa will race to find a way to leave the island before they forget each other forever.
The film’s all-star voice cast also includes Emmy nominee Jenny Slate (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Dying for Sex), Manny Jacinto (The Good Place, Top Gun: Maverick), BAFTA nominee Dolly de Leon (Triangle of Sadness, Ghostlight), global comedy superstar Jo Koy (Haunted Mansion, Jo Koy: Live from Brooklyn) and Emmy winner Ronny Chieng (The Daily Show, M3GAN).
Forgotten Island - In Theaters September 25
Every Filipino Reference in Forgotten Island Trailer
Bhan explores how the unique economic and regulatory landscape of the 1980s and 90s allowed for the creation of experimental OVAs and films. This era fostered bold, niche storytelling and distinct animation styles that are rarely seen in today's mainstream anime industry.
For twelve years, the Earth Federation has ruled with an iron fist. Its ministers live in luxury. Its people live in fear. Hathaway Noa knows this better than anyone. The son of legendary commander Bright Noa, he grew up in the shadow of a war that was supposed to bring freedom — and watched that promise rot from within.
Now he leads MAFTY, a resistance movement willing to do what others won't.
But as the Adelaide Conference draws closer and Federation forces close in, Hathaway finds himself pulled toward something unexpected: Gigi Andalucia, a mysterious woman whose cryptic words cut deeper than any weapon. Her presence stirs something in him — something he's spent years trying to bury.
The mission is set. The enemy is ready. And nothing is what it seems.
