The Animatrix

Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Beyond, Detective Story, Matriculated, Program, The Second Renaissance, Final Flight of the Osiris, World Record, Kid's Story

Japanese: アニマトリックス

More titles

Information

Type: OVA

Episodes: 9

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jun 3, 2003

Producers: None found, add some

Licensors: Warner Bros. Pictures

Studios: Madhouse, Studio 4°C, Square Pictures

Source: Other

Genres: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

Duration: 10 min. per ep.

Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

Statistics

Score: 7.30¹ (scored by 44,898 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #2726²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #2319

Members: 83,511

Favorites: 263

Available At

Official Site

Resources

AniDB

ANN

Synopsis

1. Final Flight of the Osiris
The crew of the Osiris discover an army preparing to invade Zion. While one crew member races inside the Matrix to get the message to Zion, the others try desperately to buy her enough time while fighting off an onslaught of Sentinels they can't possibly defeat.

2-3. The Second Renaissance Part 1 and 2
Humans have created the ultimate AI, which is just as smart as they are. But complications arise when these robots and the humans try to exist peacefully, and eventually all-out war breaks out. The humans ultimately lose the war, and become trapped in the Matrix as seen in the live-action films.

4. Kid's Story
A young man discovers that his world isn't real, that it's a computer-generated fantasy land created by robots using humans for energy. He escapes with the help of the hacker Neo. Based on the Matrix trilogy.

5. Program
Cis and Duo engage in battle in a virtual recreation of Feudal Japan.

6. World Record
While running the fastest race in his life, a champion track star breaks free of his computer-generated world for a small period of time. When he goes back to the real world, he has no memories and is placed in a nursing home. Based on the Matrix trilogy.

7. Beyond
While looking for her lost pet, a young woman meets up with some kids in Tokyo to play in a "haunted house," which is really a glitch in their computer world. Based on the Matrix trilogy.

8. Detective Story
A detective named Ash is called upon by a mysterious organization to hunt down the notorious hacker Trinity.

9. Matriculated
A group of scientists capture a robot and place it in a surreal fantasy world. When the robot's friends come in and kill most of the scientists; however, the robot and the last scientist remaining face isolation in the computer-generated world. Based on the Matrix trilogy.

(Source: ANN)

Edit

Background

The film won the 2003 Annie Award for Best Animated Home Entertainment Production.

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Yoko

Main

Machi, Rie
Japanese

Trinity

Main

Tsuru, Hiromi
Japanese

Davis, Dan

Main

Touchi, Hiroki
Japanese

Popper, Michael Karl

Main

Midorikawa, Hikaru
Japanese

Jue

Main

Yuuya, Atsuko
Japanese

Ash

Main

Tsukayama, Masane
Japanese

Thadeus

Main

Ootsuka, Akio
Japanese

Cis

Main

Kouda, Kaho
Japanese

Duo

Main

Morikawa, Toshiyuki
Japanese

Neo

Supporting

Hirata, Hiroaki
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Arias, Michael

Producer, Special Effects

Tanaka, Eiko

Producer

Takeuchi, Hiroaki

Producer

Watanabe, Shinichirou

Director, Script

Edit

Opening Theme

No opening themes have been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding an opening theme here.

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Ending Theme

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Reviews

Jan 15, 2024

Pentex

Recommended

The anthology to trump all anime anthologies.

The Animatrix is without a doubt, the greatest thing to come out of The Matrix trilogy. (that 4th one isn't real.)

The Matrix itself has a pretty spotty track record. From the masterpiece original, to the flawed, but awesome second, to the forgettable third.

The Animatrix cuts all the fat and gives you what the series always should've been. As much as I like all the existential cerebral thinkpiece essays mouthed off in the movies, Animatrix strips itself to the bare essentials of the plot and concept of the Matrix. The animation varies in quality, (from great, to excellent) due to ...

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Apr 19, 2014

angelsreview

Mixed Feelings

It’s rather hard to talk about a show like this because it’s mostly like a range of different episodes. They may all contain the Matrix like style but there really isn’t much that connects them. From the story to the animation, each part is different and told in its own way. The movie gets more and more confusing as the stories keep going, making it hard to get what is going on. There isn’t an indication of if you are inside the Matrix or outside it. All I could understand was how pretty the animations were at points and how ‘crappy’ they were in others. ...

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May 22, 2015

ratchet573

Not Recommended

I’m not a big fan of The Matrix trilogy, one of the more mainstream science fiction spectacles of the past twenty years. When I was a kid, I loved it. It was my first R-rated movie, it was dark and edgy like any kid is bound to like, and it had neat martial arts action. But as I grew older I finally watched the second and third films and began to hate the series. Anymore, probably thirteen or so years after watching The Matrix for the first time, I think it’s overrated and I can’t see the appeal. It hasn’t aged well and that, on ... top of pretty bad storytelling as the movies continued, led me to neglect the series for years…

Until now. I never watched the Animatrix, I don’t think I had any intention to after Revolutions. So now, years later, allow me to break down the pieces that comprise the Animatrix and tell you which are good and which are bad.

Final Flight of the Osiris-Written by the Wachowski brothers and animated by Square, this nine minute segment looks like the opening cutscene of a PS2 game. It starts with an entirely pointless fight where two characters cut the clothes off each other. They are suddenly pulled out of the simulation as Sentinels are chasing down their ship in the real world. What follows is a six minute sequence ending in a climax that isn’t satisfying, nor really matters. This entire short is nothing more than an introduction to the style of The Matrix rather than pulling us in early on. The writing is lame, the CG is very dated, and you’ll find nothing of value here.

The Second Renaissance Part I-The second short details events before The Matrix, namely the divide between humans and machines. What you’ll find here is an interesting background story about humans and machines having a schism that leads to animosity and violence. The machines build their own nation, wind up creating better technologies and having more valuable currency, which doesn’t make humanity happy at all. This is all visualized stunningly, with many disturbing images as well as copies of real life historical moments such as the tank running a robot down a la Tienanmen Square. A fan of the movies will enjoy this history lesson.

The Second Renaissance Part II-While containing some of the fantastic visuals of part one, part two is a lot less compelling. The humans put a dome around the Earth so the machines can’t operate on solar power leading to a war that ends with the machines realizing they can harvest energy from human brains. Thus the Matrix was born. This part was pretty stupid. While the first part set up the idea of a smart science fiction story, the second reveals how ridiculous the plot of the series really is and how much the Wachowski’s love to ruin good ideas with nonsense. If you watched the first part, watch the second, but be forewarned, it’s stupid.

Kid’s Story-The first visually appealing short from an artistic standpoint, Kid’s Story is directed by my biggest adversary in the directing world, Shinichiro Watanabe. A high school kid realizes he’s inside of the Matrix, leading to agents coming after him while Neo guides him toward escape. While not the most impressive in plot, the animation is gorgeous. For style alone, I’d suggest this segment. It’s the best of the bunch.

Program-A shorter piece, this one is another visual feast that concentrates on two people fighting over ideologies in a feudal Japanese setting. The action here is crisp, the dialogue is pretty smart, but it, penultimately, doesn’t matter. I feel that to have a good short here, you need a beginning, middle, and end, not just a singular idea that doesn’t go anywhere. Program is nice, but I still don’t see how this is enriching me any further in the world of The Matrix.

World Record-Here is the story of an Olympic racer who runs so fast he breaks the Matrix while some agents go after him to keep him locked within the program. That’s it. The animation isn’t that great, the story isn’t exciting, and I think this may have been the weakest segment so far.

Beyond-A pretty good short about a group of kids discovering a glitchy area in their town and exploiting the glitches for fun. While again not telling a compelling story this one does give us an idea of the process that is gone through to repair problems in the Matrix. It has good animation and ideas, but it’s an otherwise unremarkable piece.

A Detective Story-Another piece from Shinichiro Watanabe, this one is a noir adventure about a detective who is recruited to track down the hacker known as Trinity. From the outset you can see and hear the style (of course, very typical of Watanabe). This one’s a good short with an actual plot, neat design, and it ties into the movies, making it feel more relevant.

Natriculated-This one is made by the people who gave us Aeon Flux and is another eh on my part. It’s got the trademark style of Flux but I wasn’t impressed by the story nor did I find it to be exciting in any regard. As a finale, it’s weak.

The Animatrix is a very mixed bag. There are a couple of notable segments but it’s just about as underwhelming as the actual Matrix movies. If you’re a fan of the movie series, then you’ll find some enjoyment here, but if not it’s an lame grab bag of great talents producing mostly half-assed shorts.

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The Animatrix

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Background

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Characters & Voice Actors

Yoko

Trinity

Davis, Dan

Popper, Michael Karl

Jue

Ash

Thadeus

Cis

Duo

Neo

Staff

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The Animatrix

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Synopsis

Background

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

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Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

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