The Animatrix

From The Wachowski’s, the Creators of The Matrix Trilogy, and seven of the greatest storytellers in all of Anime, comes a journey far deeper into the rabbit hole than ever before.  Behold nine stories from across the Matrix Mythology: tales of origins and expansions, of love and betrayal, belief against reality.  From the scorched wastelands of the Real World to digitized, gravity defying landscapes never before seen, this is one journey into the Matrix that will change everything you know about one of the greatest scifi epics of all time, all in Anime form. 

2003 is often thought of as The Year of The Matrix for a reason.  In addition to two sequels (The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions) and a tie in video game (Enter The Matrix), a special Anime Anthology series was put into production.  This endevour, one of the first of its kind, would see The Wachowskis collaborate with some of the best minds and studios and Animes to expand the world of The Matrix.  The end result of this is a pretty amazing feat of storytelling that actually dwarfs anything Reloaded and Revolutions ever could. 

First off, let’s do a quick rundown of the offerings: First up is Final Flight of the Osiris, a direct prequel to The Matrix Reloaded and one of the final projects of the short lived Square Pictures; The Second Renaissance is a two part tale from Mahiro Maeda, the director of Blue Submarine No.6, focusing on the downfall of mankind, the rise of the Machines and the birth of The Matrix itself; Kid’s Story, one of two entries directed by Cowboy Bebop director Shinichiro Watanabe, details the origins of one key player in The Matrix sequels; Program, from Ninja Scroll director Yoshiyaki Kawajiri is basically Ninja Scroll in The Matrix…nuff said; World Record sees a track runner force his way out of The Matrix through sheer will and is directed by Takeshi Koike of Redline fame; Beyond finds a group of kids exploiting a dangerous glitch in The Matrix for fun, a wild mind trip from Koji Morimoto, the director of Magnetic Rose from Katsuhiro Otomo’s Memories; A Detective’s Story, the second offering from Shinichiro Watanabe, finds an old school private eye on the hunt for Trinity; and finally Matriculated, from Aeon Flux creator Peter Chung, finds surface based rebels trying to convert machines to their rebellion.  Of these nine stories, four of them (Osiris, Renaissance and Kid’s Story) are written by Matrix creators The Wachowski’s themselves.

The most immediate thing that stands out about each entry of The Animatrix is that everything is different.  No two stories share the same art style and they’re mostly all done by different Anime studios.  So, in a way, not only is this a good demo for exploring The Matrix universe, it’s also a good way to sample the creative talents of the world of Anime at large as well.  It’s a good partnership if you ask me and I wonder why this kind of experiment wasn’t done more with other film properties (the closest anthology project I can think of to this degree was 2008’s Batman: Gotham Knight, which tied into the then upcoming release of The Dark Knight).  And can you believe some of those directors they recruited to the project?  Watanabe, Kawajiri, Chung, Morimoto are pioneers of the Anime genre, everyone involved in this is.  Best yet, while some stories stand out more than others (more on that in a sec), this doesn’t feel like a simple Matrix cash grab.  Unlike the clearly rushed and unpolished Enter The Matrix video game, each tale from The Animatrix has so much time, effort and heart poured into each frame of its existence.  One can only imagine how good and generally better the sequels would have been if this much care had been given to them as well.

Ok, the shorts themselves.  Of the 9 offerings…I really liked five of them, three were good and one was not my fav due to an opinion of artsytle and time.  That not fav is Matriculated.  I’m not a big fan of the way Peter Chung draws his characters and as the final short it is a bit longer than it needed.  The story has a good premise and the visuals on the digital plane are just as good as everything else in this series.  Like I said, it’s just me on this one.  I know a lot of other people who like Peter Chung and Aeon Flux so this one will please them just fine.  The Second Renaissanse doesn’t hold back detailing how brutal humanitys war with the machines ended up becoming.  Some of the imagery in Part 2 especially is not for the feint of heart and I know I was cringined.  It’s horrific but effective and there’s still plenty of scifi action and cool mecha designs to balance the scales.  Beyond was trippier than I expected but makes sense given the guy who directed also directed an equally trippy and visually amazing Anime short for Katsuhiro Otomo.

My favs are my favs for a number of reasons.  Kid’s Story’s handdrawn artstyle reminds me of “Breaking the Habit” by Linkin Park and the centerpiece skateboard chase is so freaking cool to watch (with a cool tune to match to it…actually the entire Animatrix soundtrack is incredible).  Program is Ninja Scroll meets The Matrix…seriously do you need any more reason to know why it kicks so much ass?  World Record and A Detective’s Story are two of the most unique tales of the bunch for their setups and executions.  To see a human push his body well past the breaking point and enable himself to break into another reality is one of the cooler concepts World Record brings to The Matrix mythology.  Plus the build up to poor Dan Davis’ brief escape is expertly done, as is the ambiguous and kind of hopeful epilogue.  A Detective’s Story adds a huge and welcome dose of Film Noir to The Matrix, complete with Blade Runner esque narrarations, a cool as hell lead character and even a glimpse of some old school repurposed tech from the 20’s and 30’s used to hack like a modern day hacker, it just oozes cool.  And last there’s the one short The Animatrix is most known for.  Final Flight of the Osiris is the swan song of Square Pictures, aka that division of Square responsible for that expensive box office bomb that was Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.  For a short prequel to a larger tale, Osiris is pretty good, showcasing what Square Pictures could have done if it had been given more of a chance to try other features in the wake of Spirit Withins failure.  Also blind ninja sword fighting in a Matrix simulator with the super sexy Jue is worth the price of admission.

The Animatrix is a rare kind of experience.  Not only is it far superior to either of the Matrix sequels, it’s a perfect sampler plate of what the world of Anime has to offer as a whole: stylish action, pristine and mind bending visuals, exploration of dark and unknown territories and exactly what Neo promised at the end of the first film: worlds where anything is possible.  I know I had my favorites from the bunch and others will have their favs and dislikes as well.  As a whole, The Animatrix is a one of a kind experience that im thankful is just that but am also sad this kind of team up hasn’t been attempted more since it came out.  Sure we’ve had some shody Anime-esque direct to video tie ins to blockbuster films like Van Helsing and The Chronicles of Riddick but neither those or others have come even close to matching The Animatrix experience.  Truly, these are the sequels that The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions should have been.

9/10

Summer 2019 Check In

Greetings Dear Readers.  Well the clear signs of summer are upon us…in other words it is getting pretty damn hot outside.  And it looks like things have been steadily heating up right here at the Anime Corner too.  K-ON! Kicked off the month of June in spectacular fashion and we’ll be wrapping up Matrix Week with The Animatrix over the next couple of days.  Now normally I do a special review for the 4th of July holiday.  Well since the holiday falls during my next big series and I don’t want to interrupt it, not only are you getting Matrix Week but a special bonus review this Sunday, June 30th.  I think you’ll like what I have in mind.

Which takes us into July.  It’s that time of year again, the time of rapid fire reviews and the countdown to another Otakon.  And what is this years Extended Series Review?  Well since I just so happen to do a Gundam series every other year, how about TURN A GUNDAM!!!  That’s right.  Mobile Suit Gundam’s 20th Anniversary series also turns (no pun intended) 20 itself this year and I’m ready to take it all on.  That means 50 episodes and two compilation movies (Earth Light and Moonlight Butterfly)  coming to your screens during normal reviews days aka Monday as well as Wednesday and Friday.  Also expect a split in the Top 5’s during the month of July: Two Gundam and Two Anime Convention themed entries.  It’s going to be fun.

As is normal tradition, I usually take a break from reviews the Monday I return from a weekend long convention.  But while there may be a review I sneak in later that week, the week after Otakon 2019 returns us to business as usual and we’re closing out Summer 2019 with a special world tour with Ryu an Ken.  That’s right, those guys from that game you might know.  As recommended to me by a good friend, I’m doing Street Fighter II V, kicking off Mid August and taking us to Mid September (I wonder if ill like it more than Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie).  We’ll also see the return of First Impression Fridays and they’ll be powering through almost uninterrupted until the end of the year…or until we reach the landmark 100th FIF in and around November…and I still don’t know what title will fill that incredible spot but hey ive got time and a ton of fun first impressions waiting in the meantime.

And that’s about it for this little update.  Next time I do one of these the weather will be cooler and fall with be right around the corner and ive got some major plans to close out 2019 on, including the epic conclusion to The Year of The Slayers with Slayers Revolution and Slayers Evolution R.  Hope everyone is having a fun summer in the meantime.  Keep checking in and ill see you guys around Dear Readers. V.

The Matrix Revolutions

It is Humanity’s darkest hour.  The Machine Empire’s invasion army nears the walls of Zion and there is little Humanity can do to stand against it.  Trapped inside The Matrix, Neo must unlock his true potential to defeat the real threat: a chaotically insane Agent Smith.  War begins on two fronts with the fate of two races hanging in the balance.  Neo, Morpheus, Trinity and their remaining allies will be sorely tested.  Will they find Humanity’s salvation or ultimate downfall at the end of road?  Everything that has a beginning, has an end.

The Matrix Reloaded might’ve had some saving graces with its bigger action set pieces, but overall, the long awaited sequel to one of the biggest movies of all time disappointed big time.  There was still hope that the conclusion of the trilogy, The Matrix Revolutions, would make up for Reloaded’s shortcomings and end the saga on a high note.  Oh no…no it did not do that at all.

The biggest sin against The Matrix Reloaded was its long and overbloated scenes of philosophical debating and existentialism.  Well apparently, the Wachowskis were so in love with these scenes that they fill up the bulk of the films opening act and more.  Seriously, when the action finally got going, before it abruptly ended, I was already bored.  There should have been far more urgency with the fate of Zion and the impending arrival of the machine army.  Nope, we can waste more time talking about choice and cause and effect some more cause YOU LOVED THAT SO FREAKING MUCH!!!  There isn’t a chance or any kind of effort to make these scenes entertaining or interesting.  It’s just more Professor talk and YES it will all be on the final exam.

But there’s no chance of anyone passing that exam because anyone talking, moving, even breathing in Revolutions just feels so damn tired.  It’s like they put their all in the (believe it or not) much better opening act that was Reloaded and then realized they were in trouble and just wanted this entire film shoot over and done with.  It’s not quite watching the walking dead but everyone feels lifeless in their performances, their action scenes, and, of course, their delivery philoexistenz passages of sheer boredom.  The redeeming factors are incredibly minimal when your movie feels like its on total autopilot.  Even worse, the film tries to explain the replacement of the Oracle and fails (even with the additional supplement of the Enter The Matrix video game).  Gloria Foster passed away shortly after filming her scenes for The Matrix Reloaded.  Actress Mary Alice plays a new version of the character (think Doctor Who regeneration I guess) but feels just as unexcited to be here as anyone else, which makes me sad.

And what of the action that defined The Matrix in the first place?  Gone are elaborately conceived hand to hand fight sequences and in for the final act are a slew of CG heavy action fests that feel more in line with Michael Bay’s Transformers than The Matrix.  To be fair, the much anticipated Siege of Zion is visually impressive and it makes sense why this film was delayed from being released a month after Reloaded to six (or so).  However, Neo, Morpheus and Trinity are nowhere near the action and thus its hard to care about any of the new characters, who got no time to shine in Reloaded, to hold down the dwindling Zion fort.  It also goes on for a bit, definitely the action centerpiece of the film.  And what about the big promise of Neo vs over a million Agent Smiths?  Well trade the One Million for just One and throw them into a hugely ripped off poor mans Dragon Ball Z match off and…well it’ll make you long for the simpler days of fighting in an abandoned subway station.  Lesson learned: bigger scale isn’t always the best thing to close out a franchise on…unless youre gonna do it right like Star Wars.

Sigh, let’s just wrap this up.  If The Matrix Reloaded was one of the most disappointing sequels of all time, then The Matrix Revolutions is one of the worst sequels/conclusions of all time.  All of the magic of the original has been sucked dry, replaced by the worst Psych 101 Summer Course imaginable with the occasional gun shot, kung fu kick or CG squid being fried.  It’s sad.  This franchise was supposed to be an all around game changer this side of Star Wars or any James Cameron scifi epic.  Instead, the original Matrix will live on as the best of the best and many, myself encouraged, will try to forget it had a Part 2 or 3.  The Matrix Revolutions had a chance to go out with a bang.  But it went out with less than a whimper and more of a…whatever.

3/10

And now that those are all out of the way, let’s see how The Matrix gave back to the world of Anime that inspired it.  We close out our trip down Matrix road with The Animatrix tomorrow.

T5W#202-Top 5 Rebuild of Evangelion Moments

This weekend was a bit of a doozy.  I doubt anyone missed the news that, at long last, Neon Genesis Evangelion is now back in our lives thanks to Netflix.  Conviently (?) Netflix forgot to mention that they decided to go with a brand new dub of the entire series, as well as Death (True)2 and The End of Evangelion.  Reception to that has been…more one sided negative than mixed from the fanbase, particularly in regards to the fact that Netflix didn’t try to use any of the original ADV voice actors like Spike Spencer, Alison Keith and Tiffany Grant as Shinji, Misato and Asuka just as Funimation has done for their dubs of the Rebuild of Evangelion movies.  I feel I could do a Top 5 rant on Netflix’s Evangelion Dub but I only watched the first two episodes and Death (True)2 (btw that one is just the “Death” half of Death and Rebirth, so only the character recap of Episodes 1-24).  In other words, despite my own fury at it, judging it without watching it in full would be unfair.  SO, I’m going to do something else.  Rather than count down my Top 5 moments of Eva in general, I’m gonna focus on the Rebuild era of movies, which have had just as many ups and downs as anything Evangelion related (Evangelion 3.33 holding most of those downs). Also, I just heard that at Anime Expo this year we’ll FINALLY get to see the first 10 minutes of Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 aka the final chapter of the Rebuild Quadrilogy…so that’s cause for excitement.  So, without further ado, I present this weeks Top 5 Wednesday: my Top 5 Rebuild of Evangelion Moments

#5-Kwaoru’s First Appearance (Evangelion 1.11-You Are (Not) Alone)

Evangelion 1.11 isnt the bold new retelling that most fans were promised with the premise of Rebuild.  Matter of fact, the bulk of the film feels like an HD compilation film of the first six episodes of the series.  It’s not bad at all, it’s actually better than you think.  However, the movie does introduce some clever tidbits towards the close of the film, showing us that this isn’t going to be the Evangelion weve seen before.  And who better to herald that promise than a brief appearance by our favorite Angel, Kwaoru, who is chilling out on the moon with the Lance of Longilus and a buried Evangelion unit while surrounded by the SEELE moniliths.  It is a very brief moment to close out 1.11 but it was effective as hell and easily stole the show despite the credits coming immedietly after it.

#4-Eva Unit 01 vs. The Third Angel HD Edition (Evangelion 1.11-You Are (Not) Alone)

As I said above, Eva 1.11 is more of a compilation movie than an out of the gate new telling of the classic Eva story.  Still, the movie looks gorgeous and the first twenty minutes are a near beat for beat retread of the first two episodes, right down to the music cues.  That means when Evangelion Unit 01 reactivates and goes berserk against the Third Angel, the music kicks in and the rush of excitement at watching that classic scene reborn can be felt in full.  As I said in my review of 1.11 last year, this movies purpose isn’t to reinvent the Evangelion wheel but rather to assure old school fans that this project can work with some familiar ground being covered as well.  By the time Angel 3 explodes and Unit 01 walks through its inferno, you know that the legend has returned and it looks better than ever.  Its an assurance that this 4 part tetralogy could work after all.

#3-Mari’s 1st Battle (Evangelion 2.22-You Can (Not) Advance)

Mari, Mari, Mari.  Glasses, snarky and go getter attitude, looks good in a pink plug suit, she was the first newly major piece of Evangelion lore introduced into the Rebuild series and she did so in the most epic fashion.  The opening of Evangelion 2.22 sees the bespectacled cutie riding in an unfinished Eva ready to kick some serious ass.  Mari sings, hardly flinches and is way more cheerful than even Asuka was during her debut as an Evangelion pilot.  Mari was quickly established as a mysterious Evangelion fan girl who got the biggest thrill piloting her giant robot and hardly loses her smile.  Her introduction was the perfect way to kick off Evangelion 2.22 aka the strongest of the Rebuild movies to date.  It sucks they haven’t done any character exploration with her yet and relegated her to just action sequences…but hey there’s still one more movie to correct that.

#2-Battle in the Sky (Evangelion 3.33-You Can (Not) Redo)

Evangelion 3.33 is easily the weakest of the current three Rebuild films.  I felt like it took all the good will and strong strides of 2.22 and took a huge step backwards, confusing the hell out of the audience and making us all feel just like Shinji: lost, confused and just begging to scream, “WHAT THE F*** IS GOING ON!!!???”  However, you wouldn’t expect the movie to head in that kind of direction considering it opens with Asuka and Mari in a low orbit freedive battle with an Angel to retrieve a dormant Shinji and Eva Unit 01.  Not only do we get to see two of Evagelions greatest kickers of ass in battle again, but it also is a massive feat of animation that feels like a true progression on the awesomeness of Evangelion 2.22.  It also shows off Asuka cool eyepatch sporting redesign.  3.33 opened with the best potential possible…too bad the rest of the movie never matched it, no matter how hard it tried.

#1-Shinji risks all to save Rei (Evangelion 2.22-You Can (Not) Advance)

In all the years ive watched Evangelion, it hasn’t been often ive heard many cheering for Shinji Ikari to save the day.  Considering how much grief the poor kid goes through in the TV Series and End of Evangelion, it’s easy to see why he is so broken and no one wants to help him.  Evangelion 2.22 sought to try and do something different with the Eva pilot everyone loves to hate.  In what ends up being a damning choice, Shinji decides to risk even the end of the world to rescue Rei Ayanami from the Angel that has absorbed her.  It’s a powerful and beautiful sequence that shows that Shinji has actually grown over the course of these two Rebuild films.  Even Misato and Mari cheer the kid on to do what his heart tells him to, and that’s to save Rei.  It may have meant the start of Third Impact but the finale of Evangelion 2.22 is easily Shinji Ikari’s shining moment in the entire franchise.

The Matrix Reloaded

A slew of victories against the Machines forces the hand of Humanity’s mortal enemy.  Now an army of 250,000 sentinels is burrowing straight down through the planet to Zion: Humanity’s last refuge.  There is only one hope to stop them: Neo.  However, in order to stop this oncoming invasion, Neo must travel deeper into The Matrix than ever before.  Together with his mentor, Morpheus, and his love, Trinity, Neo will meet new allies and more powerful enemies, some different and some familiar.  All roads lead to a startling revelation…that for all the fighting it may already be too late to save the human race.

When The Matrix arrived in 1999, it brought a hurricane of change and innovation that everyone wanted to jump and expand on.  This went doubly so for Warner Bros. who put not one but two sequels into production, to be shot back to back and released in the same year.  Come 2003, The Matrix Reloaded (at least) was one of the most hyped sequels ever.  No one could wait to see where Neo, Morpheus and Trinity would take us next, especially since Neo could now fly.  And then we got the actual movie and…boy what a major step backwards.

There are certain rules some feel all sequels must follow.  Generally, what made the original film work should continue except it should be done bigger, louder, have more epic stakes, more memorable action and maybe even be a bit sexier than ever.  The Matrix Reloaded tries to do all of this and only succeeds at doing right by a handful of these rules.  The action definitely takes things up a notch with Neo fighting more than one person in multiple fights.  There’s also that fifteen minute car chase sequence that no one will argue sucks in the slightest.  Cars get trashed, programs phase like ghosts, Morpheus slices up a van with a samurai sword then uses said sword to fight an Agent on a moving truck, its hands down one of the best car chase sequences ever put to film.  Oh and Neo fighting more than one person, try neo fighting over 100 Agent Smiths due to his old nemesis gaining the ability to copy himself.  When things get too over the top, it can look cartoony (some of these effects haven’t aged well sadly).  But when the action is on the flesh and blood actors, it blows you away, maybe not as much as the original film but its still worth tipping your hat in respect.

The same cant really be said for the rest of the movie.  The Wachowski’s skill for balancing deep philosophy with mind bending action seems to wain here as they try to do too much on both ends.  As you saw above, the action is fine.  But quieter scenes are bogged down by dialogue that threatens to put viewers into a long slumber until its time for the next fight.  Cause and Effect, the meaning of life, the dilemma of choice, all of these would make good topics for a Matrix sequel.  However, they lack the interest, urgency and wonder of anything spoken in the original.  New characters the Merovingian and the Architect are two of the main reasons these scenes fall flat.  After a couple of minutes, it just feels like youre listening to two philosophy professors who know way more than you do, don’t break down the bigger details and promise that everything they say will be on the final exam.  While the Merovingian has a smarmy charm to him, the Architect’s big scene with Neo towards the end feels like it takes up half the movie and halfway through that, I felt like I was begging for the movie to either get exciting or end, I didn’t care which one came first.  If Reloaded was just “ok” until this point, the Architect scene is what really robs the film of having any chance of standing on the same pedestal as the original film.

There’s also wayyyy to much going on in the film itself, though the Philosophy lectures are battling them for your attention.  There’s a handful of new characters with potential like Morpheus’ rival Locke and his ex girlfriend Niobe.  They don’t really get to do much, as does anyone else who isn’t Neo, Morpheus or Trinity in this film.  And poor Niobe and her cool as hell partner, Ghost, only get mere seconds of action time in (for more of their adventures you can go play Enter The Matrix).  There’s also the reveal of Zion that serves to really dent any initial momentum and serve as the staging ground for a rave orgy that really didn’t need to happen and serves no purpose.  In fact, that could sum up The Matrix Reloaded perfectly, there’s a lot going on that doesn’t need to happen and serves no purpose.  Probably the only non action scene that does serve a purpose is Neo’s reunion with the Oracle, which considering this was Gloria Fosters last film makes the scene itself very poignant and special.

Jeez, Neo promised us he’d show us a world the machines didn’t want us to see at the end of The Matrix.  But it looks like the joke was on him.  The Matrix Reloaded might look bigger and prettier and boast some impressive action.  The sparkle only lasts so long and the light and spirit of the original is dim the further you get into Reloaded.  Dialogue is coma inducing, new characters don’t have much time to do anything, the mystery isn’t as grabby as “What is The Matrix?” and worse yet, Reloaded ends on an intended cliffhanger…that left me say “ok…so what?”  The action and Gloria Fosters wonderful last round as The Oracle are the only redeeming factors of this otherwise highly disappointing sequel.  It was less “whoa” and more “zzzzz”.

6.5/10

And if they shot this back to back with a third film, is there any hope of redemption for the legacy of The Matrix? Ohhhh boy.  We’ve seen the good, we’ve seen the bad.  Check bad tomorrow for the conclusion of the Matrix Trilogy, The Matrix Revolutions, and we’ll get to see the ugly.