The Animatrix - Matrix Meets Anime



In The Animatrix, the storyline of the Matrix trilogy is further expanded with 9 animated shorts by some of the best in the field.

Each of the short films helps to explain a part of the Matrix that was glossed over in the movies, helping to enrich our understanding of what was going on and where these characters came from.


A number of famous anime names were involved in this creation, including
Shinchiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop), Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Ninja Scroll), and Koji Morimoto (Robot Carnival). Because of this, each short has its own style, telling its own piece of the story in a unique way. This also means that some of the shorts are brilliant, but others are not quite as technically stellar.

An example of how the shorts fill in pieces can be seen with Final Flight of the Osiris, created by Square Pictures (the guys behind the Final Fantasy movie). In the movie The Matrix Reloaded, things begin with a mysterious package that "Thadeus" got to a post office, sacrificing his entire crew to do. Pretty much nothing else is said about that - the story focusses on what the package held. To help clarify this background, the game "Enter the Matrix" is all about how Niobe and Ghost managed to get to this package in the post office, and get it out to safety.

But Final Flight of the Osiris takes it one step further. It introduces us to Thadeus and his crew, and explains how they saw what they then felt was so important to tell others about. The only way they thought they could get the news to others was to put it in a package and drop the package into a mailbox - sending it to a secure post office box.

So a character and situation that maybe got one line in the movie now takes on a life of its own - helping to explain further both the movie and the game.

Matrix fans will love all of the extra information they're given by these shorts, and anime fans will love some of the gorgeous work shown by some of the best anime people around.

Yes, they're short. And yes, they're not related to each other. But each is a small work of art that helps show just how amazingly far we've come in anime - and gives a hint of what is yet to come.

--Nyssa

Plots of Each Short
Final Flight of the Osiris
The Second Renaissance Part I
The Second Renaissance Part II
Kid's Story
Program
World Record
Beyond
A Detective Story
Matriculated

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Lisa Shea Author


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