ec2-3-138-125-2.us-east-2.compute.amazonaws.com | ToothyWiki | RecentChanges | Login | Webcomic Anime style side stories to the Matrix films. Notable for having some fairly impressive anime producers/directors associated with them.
More details can be found through [here] while the AniMatrix site (and the movies that are being freely released) can be found [here].
All four of the free episodes plus a five minute AniMatrix trailer have now been made available for download. The others are only going to be available on an AniMatrix DVD. Unfortunately, the movies only appear to be available in .mov format.
Free episodes:
The Second Renaissance (Part 1 and 2)
Interesting (though rather odd) back story into the early relationship between men and the machines that went on to take over.
Program
An extended fight scene. Stylish but not much substance (if any).
Detective Story
My favourite by a long way. Very stylish, especially the steam-punk style technology. Directed by Shinichiro Watanabe (I think he was connected to Lain, certainly to Macross Plus and the Cowboy Bebop movie)
Is this the one I saw clips of on Adam and joe go Tokyo? If so the animation looked very very bad, hideously jerky, and the art was far too scratchy for my tastes (though I could see how it might appeal to some).
Art style is always a matter of taste but the animation is extremely smooth so I don't think this can be the one you are thinking of. --Kazuhiko
Having downloaded it over lunch, no, it isn't it, and the animation isn't as jerky as the one I saw -- it's still pretty bad though, plenty of times a character will (say) turn, smoothly, and then snap into position as if the animator has stopped bothering (see for example at about 6:40), or there'll be bits (like close-up on the lighter as he lights the cigarette at the beginning) where it seems to consist of moving one still image past a still background.
Might one suggest perchance that the encoding is to blame?
Is "moving one still image past a still background" bad? Given that a large proportion of the animation of a large proportion of anime (let alone cartoons) consists of precisely that?
That's very odd. All I can really suggest is that quicktime has struck again and messed up the movie. I've just re-watched the bit from 6:40 to about 8:00 and I am actually quite impressed by the motion of the characters. Ah well, either your copy is jarring or we have vastly different ideas of good animation. Either is possible :) --Kazuhiko
It's definitely not QuickTime jarring, because the background out the window keeps moving smoothly, as does the woman's hand as it comes into frame and indeed the man's mouth. But rest of his body, as he completes his turn, suddenly stops moving in a most unnatural way. It looks very disconcerting and not a little distracting, especially given the smoothness of the turning motion up to that point. His collar, for example, moves in a very realistic way with clothy inertia, but then freezes instantly with the rest of his body. Plus people in real life don't stand that still, they're always moving slightly, even if they're in the background.
I guess it's just a difference of opinion then. Having re-watched that exact second of the clip three or four times, I will admit that he is completely still after the motion completes, but I don't find the moment he becomes still unnatural at all. It just seems like the end of his motion to me. Nor did I find his stillness distracting. I didn't even really notice it until you mentioned the exact moment to watch. --Kazuhiko
Non-free episodes:
Following opinions based on the trailer and screenshots alone...
Final Flight of the Osiris
Easily identifiable as SquareSoft?'s contribution as it uses the same style as the FinalFantasy movie (possibly with improvements, hard to tell). Unfortunately they seem to have combined something with plot and style with "Matrix: The StripTease?".
World Record
A world-class sprinter becomes aware of the limits the matrix imposes on him and breaks free. No idea if this will be any good.
Beyond
This one looks pretty cool. A haunted house attracts a group of kids to play in it. 'Haunted' because glitches in the matrix seem to have concentrated in that area.
This is the one most anime-like in style, especially the art. It's a bit hard to understand, though.
Matriculated
By the same director (and obviously in the same style) as AeonFlux (the cartoon that was shown many years ago on Mtv). Something along the lines of keeping machine intelligences trapped in a 'matrix'. I couldn't work out how or why from the trailer.
Kid's Story
Youngish hacker (didn't look much like a 'kid') is told of the matrix in much the same way as Neo was and escapes using his skateboard. I really, really hope that it has a bit more to it than that in the actually story...
This is the same 'Kid' who appears in Reloaded and Revolutions. You know, the really annoying, whiney one?
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AniMatrix