The Cover

The artistry is unparalleled in all of animated film. I wouldn't call myself a connoisseur of anime, but I've seen quite a bit of it and rarely does it look as good as it looks here. The stand-out episode is the Square animated Final Flight of the Osiris. Like their work on Final Fantasy, Square's CGI work attempts to recreate human flesh and movement to mesmerizing effect. There may be some juvenile elements (a computerized-fight-strip-tease) but it's always interesting to watch.

The other stand out episodes for fans of the Matrix are Second Renaissance Parts One and Two. Written by the Wachowski Brothers, it attempts to fill in the back story of the rise of the machines. It's really a strange effect that they get by revising what we assume about the machines. Maybe they didn't "take over the world", maybe they just decided to fight back against human tyranny. The animation style in these two stories are equally non-traditional - it's sketchy without becoming unrealistic and it manages to recreate a "shaky" cam look. And in fact, most of he stories involve some kind of computer graphics and elements that make them more akin to films than traditional anime.

Samurai

The stories, about half written by the Wachowski Brothers, just jump right into the action. There's little plot development and usually this isn't a problem. Unfortunately, stories like The Detective's Story are a little too short and feel truncated. But overall, the Matrix is enjoyable and fun, the short stories perfect for little bursts of viewing. Big, loud and beautiful.

Movie Grade: A

Video: 5 out of 5
The good thing about animation - there's usually a limited color palette meaning a brighter and more vibrant picture. This is one clean looking picture. In a sense, it's like a moving piece of art. I've seen some ban anime DVD transfers. This isn't one of them.
Widescreen Anamorphic 2.35:1

Audio: 4 out of 5
They didn't skimp on the audio either. Most of the shorts use some elements of Don Davis' movie scores and plenty of imaged sound from the Matrix movies. It's loud and in your face, just like a disc like this should be. One gripe: If you choose to listen to the tracks in Japanese, everything is in Japanese, even the shorts that were synced to English. I wanted an audio option where the shorts that were synced to Japanese were presented in Japanese, and the English would appear as English. No matter. The English tracks are well dubbed and there's no Kung-fu mouth here.
English (Dolby 5.1), Japanese (Dolby 5.1)

Our cruel Robot masters

Extras: 4 out of 5
The best extra by far is the "From Scroll to Screen" half-hour documentary on the evolution of anime. It's a nice little history lesson that manages to bring the uninitiated up to speed. This is a great extra that doesn't feel tied to the Animatrix at all. Perfect for film and comic buffs. There's a some commentaries, a few in Japanese with English text translation and a handful of behind the scenes featurettes. I'm sure there's some really good hidden goodies - I haven't stumbled across them yet.

Overall: 4 out of 5
If you're a fan of the Matrix or just a fan of anime, you probably have already picked up this set. All others - you'll be damn confused, but you may just become a fan. I'm actually going to go to a store and pick up manga after this. The Animatrix made me.

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