Next Club Meeting: April 20, 2024, 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.

Monday, May 31, 2010

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World - New Trailer

Miracle Train - Episode 1: Labyrinth 42.3

Crisscrossing deep under Tokyo is the subway system. Among those subway lines is a train filled with handsome young men known as the Miracle Train. Passengers are met by the six human manifestations of Oedo Line stations Roppongi, Tocho-mae, Shinjuku, Tsukishima, Shiodome, and Ryogoku. Finding and resolving the troubles of their passengers is their calling. Today's stop is Roppongi station. Who will be their first passenger?

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Batman: Under the Red Hood

Trailer for Batman: Under the Red Hood, featuring the voices of Bruce Greenwood, Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Isaacs and Jensen Ackles. In the new home video release, coming July 27, the Dark Knight finds himself being stalked by a mysterious criminal who seems to know all of his secrets.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Voltron Producer Peter Keefe Passes Away

American producer Peter Keefe passed away due to throat cancer in Rochester, New York on Thursday. He was 57. Keefe is best known for producing Voltron, the 1984 redubbed and edited adaptation of two different Toei anime series — Hyakujuu Ou Golion and Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV. According to The Hollywood Reporter trade newspaper, Voltron was the top nationally ranked series in kids syndication during the 1984 and 1985 broadcast seasons in the United States. 

After Voltron, Keefe adapted Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs from the Studio Pierrot robot anime series Seijuushi Bismarck (Star Musketeer Bismarck). He then worked on the American-French animated series Denver, the Last Dinosaur. Keefe, business partner Brian Lacey, and the British company Central Independent Television formed Zodiac Entertainment in 1989. The production company released Widget, The Mr. Bogus Show, and Twinkle

Before he passed away, Keefe was working with Earthworks Entertainment on the creation of Z~Force, a kids entertainment property that centers on 12 young heroes based on the Chinese Zodiac. [Source: AnimeNewsNetwork]

Friday, May 28, 2010

Red Line - Trailer

An Anime News Network reviewer of Red Line calls it "the most insanely exciting, visually exhilarating anime film you've seen in decades. Incredible fun." Check out the trailer to see for yourself...

Monday, May 24, 2010

 Annecy2010 - International Animation Film Festival
Over the last four months, animation fans on YouTube have been hard at work creating videos to celebrate the festival's 50th birthday as part of a global competition. Now it's your turn to watch some of the best entries and vote for your favorites at youtube.com/annecyfestival. The winning animator will be honored at the festival this summer (June 7-12, 2010).

The Winners!

First Place: Pop 
From: squetch


Second Place: Projeter magies dorées 


Third Place: Food about you - 50 ans Festival d'Annecy


Fourth Place: Il était une Frog

Sunday, May 23, 2010

 La Maison en Petits Cubes
As his town is flooded by water, an old man is forced to add additional levels onto his home in order to stay dry. But when he dives into the deeper parts of his house, he discovers the precious memories of his life are built into each cube of his home. A truly beautiful work of art.  
Academy Award Winner for Best Animated Short Film in 2009.
Part One


Part Two

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Tomohiko Ishii to appear at Anime Expo 2010

  "Eden of the East" Producer Tomohiko Ishii named Official Guest of Honor at Anime Expo 2010

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

 Next Club Meeting is Saturday, May 22, 2010
 Here are the titles we will be showing this weekend.

Anime Viewing Schedule
Noon- 12:25    Kiddy Girl-and (episode 1)

Twenty-five years after Éclair and Lumière, (from the flagship Kiddy Grade series), rescued the galaxy from destruction's doorstep, the GTO (Galactic Trade Organization), created after the defeat of the GOTT (Galactic Organization of Trade and Tariffs), act on behalf of universal peace by combating criminal activity. Their special ES division mirrored after the GOTT's ES (Encounter of Shadow-work) force, now includes publicly acknowledged ES member candidates. The series follows three such trainees, Ascoeur, Q-feuille, and Di-air as they work their way to ES membership.

12:25 -12:50    Senkou no Night Raid 2

Set in Shanghai in 1931, the Imperial Japanese Army has been dispatched to mainland China due to the relatively recent First Sino-Japanese War, Russo-Japanese War, and World War I. In this cosmopolitan city of intrigue, there is a special military spy organization called "Sakurai Kikan" that has since been buried in history. In this episode, Sakurai requests the group to investigate a Jewish Russian violinist named Sergei Krainev, who the Kwantung Army suspects is a foreign spy that has been leaking out classified military information to an unknown benefactor.

12:50 - 2:05   Umineko no Naku Koro ni 16-18 (end Episode III story arc)

After the bodies of Rosa and Maria are found, Rudolf, Kyrie, and Hideyoshi go to retrieve food from the mansion, only to be trapped inside by Eva-Beatrice. Two Stakes of Purgatory, Leviathan and Belphegor, are sent to kill Rudolf and Kyrie, though they manage to outmaneuver and defeat them. Eva-Beatrice summons more powerful furniture, the Siesta Sisters, who successfully kill Rudolf and Kyrie. Hideyoshi confronts Eva-Beatrice to knock sense into her, but is killed by her as well. Beatrice berates Eva-Beatrice for ignoring her advice, but Eva-Beatrice tells her off, revealing she knows that acting dignified is only a means for Beatrice to get back in Battler's good graces in Purgatory. However, Battler is convinced to continue playing with Beatrice if he is to make any progress, though he still refuses to forgive her. Virgilia, meanwhile, meets with Beatrice and encourages her to act more passively if she is to make Battler accept witches. 

2:05 - 2:50    Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari 2
Kenshi Masaki is a 15 year old boy that unwillingly traveled from his homeland on Earth to the alternate world of Geminar. In Geminar, the countries usually wage wars against each other by using the Seikijin, humanoid weapons that were originally discovered within ancient ruins. After being deceived by a mysterious organization to participate in an attempt to assassinate Lashara Aasu XXVIII, the young princess of the Streya Empire, he ends up captured after he relucts to kill her when he had the chance. After Lashara and her servants figure about his situation, they decide to give him aid. Disguised as Lashara's servant, Kenshi moves with her to the Holy Land, a virtually impregnable fortress that serves as an academy to train Seikijin pilots selected from around the world. With his kindness, tenacity, and being gifted in a wide range of skills that vary from cooking and cleaning to advanced techniques of survival and combat, Kenshi eventually becomes a celebrity in the academy, becoming the object of affection of many female students and making some of the male students envious of him. However, the same organization who deceived Kenshi is secretly working behind the shadows inside the academy, and a widescale conflict which will engulf the entire world of Geminar is about to begin.

2:50 - 3:40    Angel Beats 3-4

Angel Beats! takes place at a high school in the afterlife in a Purgatory between Heaven and Earth where students learn to give up any lingering attachments they still have from life before finally going to Heaven. While the injuries or cause of death is gone, those in the afterlife school can still feel pain or other things as they did when they were alive, as well as dying again, only to awaken with no injures several minutes later. The story follows the main protagonist Otonashi, a boy who lost his memories of his life after dying. Upon awakening in the afterlife, he meets a girl named Yuri who invites him to join the Shinda Sekai Sensen (SSS) (死んだ世界戦線?, lit. Afterlife War Front), an organization she founded and leads which fights against God for the cruel fates the SSS members experienced in life. Their only enemy in the world is the school's student council president Angel, a being with supernatural powers who is in charge of keeping the status quo and fights against the SSS. Yuri believes that anyone who follows Angel's orders and behaves like a normal student at the school will eventually disappear and pass on to Heaven. However, those who fulfill their dreams in the afterlife will pass on as well. In the SSS, there are two sub-divisions which help in the SSS's operations against Angel. The first is a four-girl band named Girls Dead Monster whose objective in the SSS is to cause a diversion from other activities the SSS is engaged in, while on the surface appearing to be a normal all female band. This includes distracting Angel and a large number of "normal" students and teachers at the school Yuri deems "non-player characters" as they are not human, but look and act the part. Another organization in the SSS is the Guild, located far below the surface of the afterlife world, which serves to supply the weapons the SSS uses against Angel. Anyone in the afterlife is able to create anything out of dirt that they had memories of in life, and the Guild uses this ability to mass produce weapons. Angel uses a similar ability to create her supernatural powers.

3:40 - 5:10    Meeting/Announcements/Strange sightings
Bring in your photos, videos, and stories of last weekend's Anime Central to share with the group. This should prove to be a very interesting meeting! Don't miss it!

5:10 - 5:35    House of Five Leaves 1

Rōnin Akitsu Masanosuke is a skilled swordsman, but his personality often causes him to be let go from his job. One day he encounters Yaichi, the leader of a group calling itself "Five Leaves" and takes a job from him as a bodyguard. Although he is worried about the intentions of the House of Five Leaves, Akitsu feels there is something more to the group and agrees to work with them.

5:35 - 6:35    Katanagatari 2

Katanagatari centers on Yasuri Shichika, the seventh head of the Kyotō-ryū (虚刀流?, literally "swordless style") of Japanese sword martial arts. One day, a girl named Togame arrives on the island where Shichika and his older sister Nanami live with a favor to ask from him. She tells him that she is on a mission to find and collect the final twelve swords forged by a master swordsmith by the name of Shikizaki Kiki and that she needs his help. They both then leave the island together to seek out the swords.

6:35 - 7:55    Eden of the East - Movie I - King of Eden
On November 22, 2010, ten missiles strike against uninhabited areas of Japan, claiming no victims. This apparent terrorist act is referred to as "Careless Monday" and disregarded by most people. The series begins three months later, with a young Japanese woman named Saki Morimi visiting Washington D.C. as part of her graduation trip. When she gets into trouble, a mysterious Japanese man, who introduces himself as Akira Takizawa, helps her through it. The man appears to have no memory and is completely naked, carrying only a gun and a cell phone charged with 8.2 billion yen in digital money.[1] While they are coming back to Japan, they learn that a new missile has hit their country. Akira discovers that his phone is part of a game and that he himself is one of the participants. The game consists of twelve individuals, dubbed Seleção, who are given 10 billion yen to save Japan. The Seleção are able to use the phone operator, Juiz, to fulfill any kind of order for a price. However if the money is used up completely or for selfish purposes, the individual will be eliminated. As the series progresses, Akira discovers that one of the Seleção was the one who ordered missiles to be fired in Japan and the reason he erased his own memories was linked to Careless Monday. The same Seleção member decides to launch missiles towards Japan again but is intercepted by Akira who orders missiles to intercept the incoming missiles. Akira decides that the only way to save Japan is to lead it and uses his money to crown himself as the King of Japan and erase his own memory.
 It's that Gundam Phone!


[Source: Gizmodo.com] Just in case you weren't aware that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the Gundam figurines, Bandai has teamed up with Japanese network Softbank for a limited edition Gunpla phone.
 
Each phone comes with a 1:100 scale Gundam model kit, a Gunpla phone cradle, and decals. The phone itself? A 12.1MP OLED flip-whopper, something Gundam himself wouldn't feel too ashamed using. [Gigazine via Kotaku]