I know there is so much anime out there and by ratio I've only seen a tiny amount of it. I love Miyazaki's films, I've glanced at Bebop and other stuff I can't remember or remember how to pronounce! I am looking forward to being able to see Samurai Champloo, Afro Samurai and Inuyasha.
However, The Animatix left a bigger impression than any other thing I've seen. The various animation styles coupled with the story lines literally take you into another world. I also loved how they can be seen as individual stories with the underlining theme of being a prisoner to a system or simply put, an extension of the existing movies. To me these segments bring on a sense of mental euphoria, something I feel a lot as a result of visual stimulation. I felt more embedded into the matrix environment with The Animatrix, then I did watching the films, although I avidly love the films too. The Animatrix vision has drastically heightened my feelings towards anime and this way of story telling. Any shows I might develop in the future would defiantly feature some element of the popular artistic format.
I think each segment is just as good as the last and thinking of them now I can really point out many, many aspects that stuck with me.
However, I think I have four favourites; The Final Flight Of The Osiris because the animation is so realistic it's overwhelming. Even though there is only a short amount of time to get it going, the story is just so amazing, very impacting and left me wanting more.
World Record because it showed that determination can do anything. It just reminded me that our minds can be so strong when we want them to and can break out of any prison it's in. It also made me think how amazing the mind actually is and what abilities could be at hand if only we are able to unlock it's full potential.
Program because it was so action packed and seemed so feudal Japan. It also challenged a very real situation, which is what to do in the case of someone you love or care about doing something wrong. It also made me feel, as the movies did, like it was asking the world weather or not we should just follow along with the norm because it's the norm, because it's easy and available even though it may be a lie and ultimately harm us in the end or detach, be strong, never give up and actually put some effort into finding the truth.
Beyond because it definitely challenged the concept of people discovering that life is not what it seems. How people would feel if we suddenly found out the things that have a questionable existence undoubtedly exist. How it would feel to then have that kind of knowledge taken away from you only to be left alone knowing the truth but you can't share it because people would dub you crazy.
Overall The Animatrix is excellent and I hope there's a second DVD, Bluray, HDDVD or whatever on the horizon.
