The animatrix is a series of nine short animated films, largely by Japanese Anime directors, set in the world of the Matrix. They explore some of the themes of the films, and occasionally expand the plot lines. 'Final flight of the Osiris' is essentially a prequel to Reloaded, establishing the fact that the Machines are beginning a massive assault on Zion. 'Kid's Story' introduces the character of the Kid from Reloaded and Revolutions, establishing why he feels Neo saved him.
'The Second Renaissance' parts 1 & 2 outline the history of the war between humanity and machines that led to the construction of the Matrix. Essentially it suggests that the suspicion and hatred of humanity ( who needed the machines but could not control them) led to an apocalyptic conflict that ultimately they lost. The overarching theme (echoed in Reloaded and Revolutions) is that humanity and machines have a symbiotic relationship, and that hell on earth comes when one partner or the other in the relationship attempts to exert total control over the other. Initially humanity tries to do this to the machines, but ultimately it is the machines who control humanity.
1# Final Flight of the Osiris
Directed by: Andy Jones Written by: Andy and Larry Wachowski
"Final Flight of the Osiris" is directly related to plot of the Matrix movies themselves.
It shows us how Captain Thadeus and his crew stumble upon the thousands of machines digging above Zion. When they are spotted they know they are out-numbered so attempt an emergency broadcast within the Matrix. The information in this broadcast is vital to the survival of Zion and they ultimately sacrifice their lives in the process.
2# The Second Renaissance - Part 1
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Directed by: Mahiro Maeda Written by: Andy and Larry Wachowski
"In the beginning there was man. Then man made machine. For a time it was good."
Introduction to the Second Renaissance.
The Second Renaissance - Part 1 begins with the murder trial (pictured above) of the B166ER model android that murdered its masters. This trial prompted man to destroy all of his kind in order secure human civilization's safety. This then caused the machines to rise up against their human masters along with some human sympathizers
for machine equality. The machines are refused rights and are nearly wiped out by the humans. The last surviving robots seek refuge in their own promised land, a city which they built in a desert far away from humans and christened "01". The machine city prospered and it even had its own form of currency. They mastered the markets in all areas and designed and bulit products for the humans to use. But man became jealous and feared that this fledgling nation was taking over, so they barricaded "01" off from the world and attempted to destroy it. But mans nuclear bombs did not harm their metal bodies and the machines set out in all directions to destroy the enemy, humans!
3# The Second Renaissance - Part 2
Directed by: Mahiro Maeda Written by: Andy and Larry Wachowski
The Second Renaissance part 2 shows us the war that broke out between man and machine. The human cities are gone, laid waste by the huge unrelenting machine army. The humans have sustained huge casualties and stand no chance of winning and in a desperate attempt to shut the machines off from their main power source, the sun, they launch bombs full of nano-bots to block out the light, or as they put it "destroy the sky". This desperate attempt for survival is the catalyst that caused the search for alternative power sources and eventually the creation of the Matrix. The machines having studied intensely, man's simple protein based structure, discovered a limitless supply of energy and power for their survival - our bodies. Having discovered this the machines conceived the Matrix, a neural interactive simulation where the humans minds are living out 21st century life oblivious to the world they really live in, in specially build pods. And because humans are endlessly multiplying they are grown in fields by machines instead of born!
4# Kids Story
Directed by: Shinchiro Watanabe Written by Andy and Larry Wachowski
This is the story of a boy called Michael Popper who is very like Neo from the first movie. He feels there is something wrong with the world and thinks "it's more real when I'm asleep than when I'm awake". He airs his feelings on an Internet chat room and by chance is answered by someone from the real world. This encounter cements his beliefs that there is something wrong. When sitting in school the day after, his phone rings during class, and then rings again when he turns it off. On the second time he answers and it turns out to be Neo calling. He tells him "they know you know" and to get out. As the phone conversation ends Michael glimpses a car full of agents pull up outside and he begins his escape. He eventually makes it to the rooftop where he meets more agents. In a final attempt to escape he jumps of the building saying he believes in Neo. Then somehow he frees himself from the Matrix and he wakes up on the Nebuchadnezzar believing that Neo saved him when in fact he saved himself.
5# Program
Written and directed by: Yoshiaki Kawajiri
A woman is in her favourite simulation program, fighting a small army of horse-riding attackers who fire burning arrows at her. A crew member arrives, telling her that he's going back into the Matrix, and that it's 'all sorted with them'. It's a test of her faith in The Truth and how will she cope with his proposition of her joining him, particularly as he says he loves her?
6# World Record
Directed by: Takeshi Koike Written by: Yoshiaki Kawajiri
Answers with the question of whether or not someone can awaken from the Matrix under their own steam and without being told about it. A world-class athlete experiences a spiritual awakening while breaking world records, but the agents are out to stop him. The man pushes his body to the limit for his last chance to break his all time best. When he nears the finish he awakes from the Matrix only to be put back in and be made a cripple.
7# Beyond
Written and Directed by: Koji Morimoto
This film begins with a screen emulating a program scanning the Matrix for anomalies
within the system. It focuses on an area on the screen, like an aerial map and highlights
an area on the map, it singles out a old house and then the scene cuts.
Later on in the movie a young girl goes looking for her missing cat and finds a run-down haunted house where the rules of gravity apply in strange ways, letting the local kids invent games involving jumping from great height onto the floor, only to stop just above the ground. It turns out that this house is the one that the program found at the beginning and the problem has been referred to the Agents. They storm the place and capture all the kids and take them away. The scene then cuts to a screen showing green text saying that the strange happenings in the house are a rendering anomaly and it promptly re-renders the area affected and no-one's the wiser.
8# A Detective Story
Written and directed by: Shinichiro Watanabe
A film noir, animated purely in black and white, this film involves a detective (who also narrates the story) being hired by a mysterious person on the end of a phone to hunt for a certain... Trinity. He does his research and finds that three other detectives were hired for the same case. Only one of them is still alive and he's insane! The detective, having deciphered Trinity's clues, flees across the city to catch a train. When he meets her she shows him that he had been bugged by the person who hired him. When Agents eventually catch up with them its too late for the detective because he is nearly turned into one himself. Trinity does what she must and shoots the detective before he becomes a danger to her or himself
9# Matriculated
Written and Directed by: Peter Chung
Some people outside of the Matrix are attempting to defeat the machines by persuading them to join forces with them. To do this they plug themselves in with the machines, and enact 'dreams' for the robots they've captured in an attempt to win their allegiance. This one raises the same questions about the possibility of the consciousness of machines and that they are not mindless machines but that there may be some self awareness.