Next Club Meeting:August 15, 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.
ARCANE - Season 2 "Time to turn things upside down."
The award-winning series returns for the final chapter
Arcane is an adult animated steampunk action-adventure television series created by Christian Linke and Alex Yee. It was produced by the French animation studio Fortiche under the supervision of Riot Games, and distributed by Netflix. Set in Riot's League of Legends universe, it primarily focuses on sisters Vi and Jinx. The series was announced at the League of Legends 10th anniversary celebration in 2019, and first released in November 2021. Following the conclusion of the first season, Riot Games and Netflix announced that a second and final season will be released in November 2024.
Dimensionals is an RPG that combines fast paced, action packed tactics with deep rogue-like replayability. Collect powerful heroes and fight epic bosses. Every run is unique, so equip your heroes carefully to pull off insane combos.
Dimensionals is a total reimagining of the rogue-like genre!
Build a party of three and combine hundreds of their unique skills to create insane combos. Fight through an epic story told in the style of voice acted comic book cutscenes. It’s up to you to save the multiverse and beat an army of totally evil bad guys!
Brace yourself for the ultimate Saturday Morning Cartoon adventure!
From the studio that brought you, Shelldon, Thailand's first globally successful animated series, comes Out of the Nest, an animated feature film of epic proportions. As one of only twelve animated films selected from 3,400 submissions for the "Annecy Selects" category at the world's most prestigious animation festival, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2024, Out of the Nest is the pride of Thai creative talent.
Everything is at stake in the long-awaited Season Three of The Legend of Vox Machina. The Chroma Conclave’s path of destruction spreads like wildfire while the Cinder King hunts down Vox Machina. Our lovable band of misfits must rise above inner (and outer) demons to try and save their loved ones, Tal’Dorei, and all of Exandria.
“The canons of narrative in any medium cannot be wholly different; and the failure of poor films is often precisely in exaggeration, and in the intrusion of unwarranted matter owing to not perceiving where the core of the original lies.”- JRR Tolkien
Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 1 is a pathetic slog that completely ruins Sauron as a credible villain, soiling the character and dispelling ANY mystery or awe this once terrifying character ever had. And the rest of it sucks TOO! Here is my detailed analysis of WHY this show fails, and WHY there is no real hope that it can recover! (Note: This review has spoilers, but honestly who cares?)
Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League is an upcoming American-Japanese animated superhero film directed by Junpei Mizusaki and Shinji Takagi, written by Kazuki Nakashima, produced by Warner Bros., and animated by Kamikaze Douga and YamatoWorks, which features the DC Comics character Batman. It is the sequel to Batman Ninja (2018).
Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo's parents have arranged for them to get married. However, there's a problem: whenever Ranma is splashed with cold water, he turns into a girl! The stage is set for a slapstick martial arts rom-com filled with quirky characters!
"Ranma 1/2" starts streaming October 5, only on Netflix.
THE COLORS WITHIN From Naoko Yamada and Science SARU
On a remote island, music brings together three teenagers trying
to find their way in the world in this heartfelt coming-of-age story.
Don't miss the newest film from the acclaimed director of A SILENT VOICE and K-ON! On a remote island, music brings together three teenagers trying to find their way in the world in this heartfelt coming-of-age story.
Coming soon to North America. In theatres - Winter.
Two "Hero" puppets from 1989's "ROBOTJOX" at Propstore
Fifty years after a nuclear holocaust, mankind is decimated and the surviving nations—the American western-influenced Market and the Soviet-Russian-influenced Confederation—have agreed to outlaw traditional open war. In their place, disputes are settled with gladiator-style matches between giant robots operated by pilots called "robot jox" who are contracted to fight ten matches. The Confederation champion is Alexander, who has killed his last nine opponents thanks in part to a spy in the Market leaking information to the Confederation. The Market's champion, Achilles has won nine fights and will fight his final match against Alexander for the territory of Alaska. Achilles is supported by robot designer "Doc" Matsumoto and strategist Tex Conway, the only jox to win all ten of his contract fights.
As Achilles gets the upper hand in the match, Alexander launches a rocket fist at him. The projectile goes out of control and heads toward the bleachers. Achilles intercepts the projectile but his robot takes the full force of the impact and is knocked into the crowd, killing over 300 people. The referees declare the match a draw and order a rematch, but Achilles, shaken by what happened, declares this was his contractual tenth match and announces his retirement. He goes to live with his brother Philip and his family, and finds he is publicly branded a traitor and a coward. Meanwhile, a new jox is chosen to face Alexander, a genetically engineered "gen jox" named Athena, who is the first female jox. Worried for Athena and attracted to her, Achilles returns to the Market and agrees to fight Alexander again, infuriating Athena.
As Achilles' robot is rebuilt, Matsumoto refuses to divulge any knowledge of its new weapons so it cannot be leaked by the spy, and Conway confides in Achilles he believes Matsumoto is the spy. Conway confronts Matsumoto in his office. Matsumoto reveals he has analyzed Conway's final fight and deduced that the "lucky" laser hit Conway claims allowed him to defeat a clearly superior opponent was in fact deliberately aimed; Matsumoto accuses Conway of being a Confederation agent. Conway confesses and shoots Matsumoto, who secretly records the deed as part of the mission briefing. Conway informs the Market leadership that Matsumoto was the spy. On the day of the fight Athena drugs Achilles and steals his jox suit to commandeer the robot. Unable to stop the fight once she takes the field, the Market decides to support her. While watching Matsumoto's briefing on the robot's new weaponry, the footage of Conway killing Matsumoto is played and Conway jumps down the robot's elevator shaft to his death. Alexander takes the field against Athena. Athena takes the early advantage, but Alexander overpowers her and incapacitates the robot. The fight is declared in Alexander's favor and referees order him to stand down. Achilles arrives on the field and takes over the robot from Athena while Alexander smashes the referee hovercraft; the two jox stand to continue the fight. Both robots take to the air and a short space battle ensues. Alexander critically damages Achilles' robot, forcing him to crash land and flee for cover to the arm of Alexander's robot Athena sliced off earlier in the fight. Achilles hotwires the arm to launch its fist at Alexander, destroying his robot. Alexander emerges from the wreckage and the two battle with poles before Achilles finally convinces Alexander a match does not have to end with the death of a jock. Alexander throws down his weapon, and they salute each other with the jox's traditional "crash and burn" fist bump.
Fan Expo Chicago (formerly Wizard World Chicago Comic Con, and commonly known as the Chicago Comicon), is a comic book convention held during the summer in Rosemont, Illinois, United States, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center.
The complete anime series NEON GENESIS EVANGELION is told in stunning live action for the first time. Homemade (sweded) for Maximum Instrumentality. Giant monsters known as "ANGELS" have invaded TOKYO-3. Teenage pilots must use bio-mechanical mecha known as EVANGELION to combat them. This is the story of Shinji, a pilot caught up in the final battle, for both the world we know and the soul within...
New Line Cinema’s original anime feature “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” returns audiences to the epic world brought to life in “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy, based on the revered books by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Under the direction of award-winning filmmaker Kenji Kamiyama (the “Blade Runner: Black Lotus” and “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex” TV series), the talented voice cast is led by Brian Cox (“Succession”) as Helm Hammerhand, the mighty King of Rohan; Gaia Wise (“A Walk in the Woods”) as his daughter Héra; and Luke Pasqualino (“Snowpiercer”) as Wulf. Miranda Otto, who delivered an unforgettable, award-winning performance in “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy, reprises her role as Éowyn, Shieldmaiden of Rohan, who serves as the tale’s narrator. The voice ensemble also includes Lorraine Ashbourne (Netflix’s “Bridgerton”), Yazdan Qafouri (“I Came By”), Benjamin Wainwright (“World on Fire”), Laurence Ubong Williams (“Gateway”), Shaun Dooley (“The Witcher”), Michael Wildman (“Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw”), Jude Akuwudike (“Beasts of No Nation”), Bilal Hasna (“Sparks”) and Janine Duvitski (“Benidorm”).
Set 183 years before the events chronicled in the original trilogy of films, “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” tells the fate of the House of Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan. A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg— a mighty fortress that will later come to be known as Helm’s Deep. Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Héra, the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.
With Kamiyama at the helm, the original feature is being produced by Oscar winner Philippa Boyens, from the screenwriting team behind “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” Trilogies, alongside Jason DeMarco and Joseph Chou, who, in addition to their many separate animation projects, collaborated on the “Blade Runner: Black Lotus” series. The executive producers are Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, Sam Register, Carolyn Blackwood and Toby Emmerich. The screenplay is by Jeffrey Addiss & Will Matthews and Phoebe Gittins & Arty Papageorgiou, story by Addiss & Matthews and Boyens, based on characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien. The team of creative collaborators returning from “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy also includes Oscar winners Alan Lee and Richard Taylor, along with esteemed Tolkien illustrator John Howe.
A New Line Cinema Presentation, a Warner Bros. Animation / Sola Entertainment Production, “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,” will be distributed theatrically worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, released in cinemas nationwide on December 13, 2024, and internationally beginning 11 December 2024.
Set in 1990s Japan, Malcolm Lee has been developing another AI system that is intended to compete with Skynet. As Judgment Day approaches in 1997, Lee finds himself and his three children pursued by an unknown robot assassin, and a mysterious soldier from the year 2022 has been sent to protect him.
Terminator Zero (originally known as Terminator: The Anime Series) is an upcoming science-fiction action anime series developed by Mattson Tomlin and set in the Terminator universe. The eight-episode show was produced for Netflix by animation studio Production I.G and Skydance Television under the direction of Masashi Kudō. It is based on the Terminator franchise created by James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd.
Premieres on August 29th (Judgement Day) only on Netflix
The Willow TV series was so bad that Disney removed it from existence as a tax write-off. The Acolyte was just as bad, if not worse. Will it be erased from Star Wars canon? And Acolyte fans are ticked off, directing their unhinged rage at Lucasfilm and Kathleen Kennedy. What a world we live in.
Did Disney pull down The Acolyte merchandise on the Disney Store after announcing the series cancellation? If so, WHY? Are they preparing for another write-down like Willow? The merch seems to be back... for now... but it seemed odd enough that mainstream media outlets noticed it.
Kathleen Kennedy CAUGHT FIGHTING At Woke Disney
After Acolyte Director FIRED & Cancelled!
Amandla Stenberg wants to take legal action for getting fired and Kathleen Kennedy wants to help her with Leslye Headland as together they want to fight Disney and bring Acolyte back.
Disney has officially CANCELED Star Wars: The Acolyte after only ONE season! There's no denying this thing was a MASSIVE failure folks! Join us as we laugh ourselves silly over the failure of ONE... the failure of TWO... the failure of MANYYYY! The viewership was abysmally low, and the show inexplicably cost $180 million to make. Could Disney be starting to course-correct Star Wars? Can it be saved? And... how many years will Acolyte action figures clog the store shelves at Ollie's Bargain Outlet.
Young Michael and his dog wash up on a remote island when a violent storm sweeps them overboard during a sailing trip. Believing he's all alone, Michael is surprised to discover a mysterious Japanese man who's lived on the island since World War II. Initially suspicious of each other, the boy and the old man must soon join forces when dangerous invaders threaten their fragile paradise.
The last time we saw the mixed-race master of the sword, her hair was unbound and eyes determined as she sailed into the uncharted waters in front of her toward London to find her two remaining potential fathers. She’d already killed one, Violet, before the events of Season 1 began, while Irishman Abijah Fowler (Kenneth Branagh) remained locked below deck as her prisoner. Fowler might not be her father, but why didn’t she kill him, again? Oh yeah, because “he has function, he’s a road map to the others,” said Green. “She fully plans to kill him, but she needs him first.” From Michael Green (Logan, Blade Runner 2049) and Amber Noizumi, comes a masterpiece unlike anything you've seen before.
Disney REBOOTING Star Wars?! Removing Sequels from CANON? What's Going ON Here? Is It Real or HYPE?
A trailer for a Star Wars series was unveiled at D23 that has a portion of former Star Wars fans uncharacteristically excited, believing this series is the first step towards rebooting Star Wars and removing the sequels from canon. I am skeptical about what this means, but it is an unexpected and intriguing development that could lead to big changes in Star Wars, or simply fizzle out as a blip on the radar. In this video, requested by a number of my viewers, I cast a fair but skeptical eye on what's coming, going over the pros and cons as I see them, but make no mistake - this is an interesting development in the train wreck that is Disney Star Wars.
