In the build-up to The Matrix Reloaded, focus has been pulled away from an equally interesting project, The Animatrix; a series of short anime films created by the Wachowski brothers, and the best anime directors in the world. Several are already available on the website. Here’s what I’ve seen so far (in order of viewing):
- Second Renaissance, Part 1 – A brief history of how the machine and human war came about. Presented in a realistic anime style, this one is interesting in its details, and brutal in its viewpoint.
- Program – By far the best of the bunch. Set in the construct, one rebel fights in feudal Japan. So Matrix plus ninjas. Does it get any better? I think not.
- Detective Story – The weakest of the 5. A detective is hired to trackdown Trinity. It has an interesting film noir style which, despite being interesting, doesn’t really help the story go anywhere. The ending was very weak.
- Final Flight Of Osiris – This one ties directly into the story of the film, so I won’t say anything about plot. It uses CGI rather than traditional anime, but is all the better for it. Truly one of the best looking pieces of animation I’ve seen. The only problem was having to pay to see Dreamcatcher to see it.
- Second Renaissance, Part 2 – A look at the war itself from a historical viewpoint, including the fateful moment that we doomed ourselves by destroying the sky. Bit of a low-key ending.
Like I said, they’re all up for download (except Final Flight Of Osiris) on the The Animatrix website. Get them!