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.

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

"It don't cost nothing to dream..."

BEAT & MOTION
As a child Tatsuhiko dreamed of being an animator but gave up that dream after relentless teasing from his classmates. His friends later started a band and music became his new passion. The band eventually breaks up pushing Tatsuhiko to become cynical and double down on his view of dreams being useless. However, while demeaning a friend's dreams, an unknown drunk woman calls him out on this cynical outlook, angrily yelling at him in the streets. This chance encounter revives Tatsuhiko's childhood passion for animation, and he begins again by uploading a short two minute animation online. He is then contacted by Nico, an independent artist he has long been a huge fan of, who wishes to work with him to create an animated music video for her latest song. To his horror, when finally meeting the artist, he learns that she is the same drunk woman who had berated him about dreams before. She appears to not remember their previous encounter and the two agree to work together. They begin to growing closer, encouraging each other throughout the process.

Nico is eventually contacted by a major record label to have her sign on with them. This unfortunately puts her project with Tatsuhiko on hold since the label will hold the rights to her song. Tatsu instead works on creating a different animation for a local contest and also befriends a couple other aspiring animators at his college.

Nico is shocked when the record label has to put her debut on hold due to an influx of artists from another label that had to close down. Nico asks if in the meantime she could write and compose songs. She submits a song to a competition which may lead to a collaboration with a popular pop artist Miyu. Nico's song is chosen but she discovers that Miyu is her childhood best friend, Miu, who shared Nico's passion for music. The two had a falling out and drifted apart after Nico gave up on music. At first Miyu pretends she does not know Nico, but later pulls Nico into another room demanding an answer for why Nico initially gave up on music.
Coming 2027 Only on Netflix

Tuesday, September 22, 2026

"I was reincarnated into an Otome game..."

ABOUT EVEN THOUGH I'M A SUPER TIMID NOBLE GIRL,
I ACCEPTED THE BET FROM MY CUNNING FIANCÉ 
Pia Rockwell is a minor villainess in the game Caroline and the Rainbow Magic Sweets. At the end of the game, she's destined to be judged at her graduation party, see her engagement broken off, and be banished from the kingdom. Realizing she's doomed, Pia offers to end her engagement with Rufus Stan…but this only inspires the proud chancellor’s son to make a bet with her about their future!
Coming October 4th

Monday, September 21, 2026

An iconic isekai and magical girl series is remade...

MAGIC KNIGHT RAYEARTH
Hikaru Shidou, Umi Ryuuzaki, and Fuu Hououji aren't from Cephiro. While on a school field trip to the Tokyo Tower, the three girls' minds are on anything but different worlds filled with magic and wonder. That is, until Princess Emeraude, the Pillar of Cephiro, cries out for the Magic Knights to save her world--and that just happens to be those three!
Magic Knight Rayearth is coming October 7th!

Sunday, September 20, 2026

"A power lies dormant in every human..."

P S Y R E N
Originally serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump (published by Shueisha) from 2008 to 2010, PSYREN is a psychic action battle manga by Toshiaki Iwashiro. Nearly 15 years after its conclusion, the series continues to enjoy enduring popularity, having been nominated three times for the "MANGA WE WANT TO SEE ANIMATED" poll.

Now, the long-awaited TV anime adaptation has officially been announced!

One day, high schooler Ageha Yoshina picks up a mysterious "red phone card" left behind in a public telephone booth.

A few days later, his childhood friend and classmate, Sakurako Amamiya, who possessed the same card, suddenly vanishes without a trace. In search of her, Ageha finds himself drawn into the rumors surrounding a nationwide string of mysterious disappearances, said to be the work of a secret organization known only as "Psyren."

When he accesses the group, a deadly game begins, one that will change his fate forever.

Saturday, September 19, 2026

Armies rise... Worlds collide...

WILDWOOD
When Prue McKeel’s baby brother is taken into the mysterious forest beyond Portland, she sets out to bring him home and discovers a hidden world on the brink of war. From LAIKA, the studio behind Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings, and ParaNorman, comes Wildwood, an epic new fantasy adventure directed by Travis Knight. 
Experience a world beyond your imagination, only in theatres October 23.

Friday, September 18, 2026

Your best friendship is worth fighting for...

FORGOTTEN ISLAND
(I love the number of Filipino clichés & stereotypes shown in this 4 minute clip.)
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

Thursday, September 17, 2026

Masamune Shirow's New manga...

GLITCH WITCH
"Glitch Witch", a new "Ghost In The Shell" manga by Masamune Shirow (story) & Naoki Azuma (art). A parallel story set in the same world and during the same timeline as the 1989 manga.

Wednesday, September 16, 2026

Beautiful Retro Art Style...

I R O N  H E A V E N
Episode 1: The Sky Knows His Name
She found him broken in an alley.
A stranger with technology she barely understands, wounds that look anything but accidental, and no interest in explaining where he came from.
She repairs him anyway.
By morning, he’s gone.
But when their paths cross again, she begins to realize the man she pulled from the rain is something far more powerful than he appeared to be.
And somewhere above the city, something is looking for him.

Tuesday, September 15, 2026

Monday, September 14, 2026

Sunday, September 13, 2026

The Monster Doctor is In...

Ward Seven: Hospital For Monsters!
Meet Aya, the only human nurse brave enough to work at Ward Seven the world's only hospital for monsters, demons, and fallen gods. While they can end worlds, they still can't handle a simple flu shot.

You asked for the full story, and it's finally here. This is the official teaser for the upcoming "Ward Seven" anime series. If you enjoyed the Shorts, subscribe to STOICSTIC to see every episode as it drops!

In a world where the supernatural is reality, Aya keeps the peace (and the health) of the creatures that go bump in the night. From giant structural demons to ancient gods with splinters, she's seen it all. But in Ward Seven, some secrets are better left buried.

Saturday, September 12, 2026

"The Avatar Has Returned!"

Avatar: Seven Havens
Avatar: Seven Havens is an all-new series from creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. Set in a world shattered by a devastating cataclysm, a young Earthbender discovers she's the new Avatar after Korra. In this dangerous era, that title marks her as humanity's destroyer, not its savior. Hunted by both human and spirit enemies, she and her long-lost twin must uncover their mysterious origins and save the Seven Havens before civilization’s last strongholds collapse.
Avatar: Seven Havens premieres October 9 only on Paramount+.