[[quoteright:200:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Animatrix-DVD_6456.jpg]]

'''''The Animatrix''''', a 2003 DirectToVideo anthology, is a collection of nine animated shorts set in [[TheVerse the continuity]] of the the ''[[Film/TheMatrix Matrix Trilogy]]''. The shorts notably feature individual [[ArtShift art styles]] and themes, and are [[InNameOnly completely independent of one another beyond the universe]]; ''The Final Flight of the Osiris'' acts as a bridge between the first and second movie, and the other shorts expand backstory and/or the world.

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!!In order, the shorts are as follows:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Final Flight of the Osiris]]
->(Written by the Wachowskis, directed by Andy Jones, animation by Square Pictures)

This short (the only CGI short of the collection) directly precedes the events of ''The Matrix Reloaded''. The crew of the human ship ''Osiris'' stumbles upon the machines as they begin burrowing to Zion. After the machines discover the ''Osiris'', the crew tries to outrun the machines while hacking into the Matrix to deliver the news of their discovery to the Zion rebels. The story also ties in with the videogame ''EnterTheMatrix'', since one of the first missions has the player trying to retrieve the letter left by the ''Osiris'' crew.
* ArcWelding: ''The Final Flight of the Osiris'' melds into ''Enter The Matrix'', which melds into ''Reloaded''.
* BittersweetEnding: [[ForegoneConclusion The Osiris and it's crew don't make it]], but they die by massively influencing the series ending.
* ClothingDamage: In ''Final Flight of the Osiris'', while sparring, Thaddeus and Jue do this to each other until they are in their underwear. It turns out that they are lovers.
* {{Fanservice}}: The dojo scene, where Thaddeus and Joanne slice their clothes off one another.
* ForegoneConclusion: The opening to ''The Matrix Reloaded'' takes off where this short ends.
* MomentKiller: In ''Final Flight of the Osiris'', Thaddeus and Jue's foreplay is interrupted by an alert siren.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Second Renaissance]]
->(Written by the Wachowskis, directed by Mahiro Maeda, animation by Studio4C)

A two-part story focusing on the creation of The Matrix. After the creation of AI, the machines eventually formed their own society and ''tried'' to co-exist with humans -- but were shunned for reasons of economics and prejudice. War eventually broke out and…well, if you've seen the movie, you know the outcome.
* ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics: In ''The Second Renaissance'', the machines are unaffected by nuclear weapons because apparently, they don't generate enough heat to damage machinery. Or the Electromagnetic Pulse that is humanity's first line of defense against the machines in the movies.
* DownerEnding: [[ForegoneConclusion The humans are assholes, and lose the war.]]
* {{Fandisservice}}: There are several instances of frontal nudity in ''The Second Renaissance''-including a SexBot who thinks she's a real person getting beaten to "death" by a gang of people with sledgehammers.
* FantasticRacism: ''Part I'' reveals the catalyst of the entire Man-Machine war with hardworking, intelligent androids being abused and mistreated by their corrupt human masters. It gets to point where one of them actually kills his human master, for fear of being deactivated, causing an outcry and mass panic triggering a worldwide eradication of machines. Several instances depicted reference and [[AnAesop even mimic various social revolutions]] in history such as the Slave Trade, the Civil Rights Movement, The Tiananmen Square Massacre and The Vietnam War.
* ForegoneConclusion
* GodivaHair: The Instructor.
* GodzillaThreshold: Operation Dark Storm in ''Part II''. Permanently blocking the sun means the death of vegetation and phytoplankton, which destroys the foundation for most of Earth's biosphere. Humanity was willing to risk a ''[[ApocalypseHow Class 4 apocalypse]]'' just to defeat the machines.
* HowDoYouLikeThemApples: {{Invoked|Trope}} by the Machines in both parts of the Second Renaissance (right down to the negotiating robot [[{{Anvilicious}} holding an apple during the U.N. dicussions.]]
* HumansAreBastards: ''The Second Renaissance'' shows humans behaving this way a lot.
** The storyteller is an AI called "The Instructor", who is reading files from the Zion Mainframe and implied to be some kind of historian/teacher. It takes a middle path, saying that both the humans and the machines made terrible mistakes to create the situation.
--> '''The Instructor''': May there be mercy on man and machine for their sins.
* IronicEcho: This entire storyline is based on this: pretty much every cruelty done by humans to the machines in Part I is paralleled by a similar (and often worse) cruelty by machines towards humans in Part II.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Most of part I of ''The Second Renaissance'' is driven by the humans' refusal to accept AI as fellow sentient beings. Intentional parallels between RealLife application of such double standards to fellow humans are abound, from a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott_v._Sandford court verdict]] ruling that black people couldn't be US citizens to a group of men beating up a young woman who turns out to be a RobotGirl.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kid's Story]]
->(Written by the Wachowskis, directed by ShinichiroWatanabe, animation by Studio4C)

A short set between the first movie and ''Reloaded''. Focusing on a young kid who, like Neo before him, senses something off about his world. Making contact with Neo, he soon finds himself forced to run for his life when his unnatural intuition attracts Agents.
* BeyondTheImpossible: [[spoiler:The Kid managed to wake ''himself'' up from the Matrix, an act ''nobody'' considered possible.]]
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The kid escapes. Unfortunately, he's now stuck in the real world.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:The Kid manages to break free of the Matrix this way. Inside the Matrix, the people were led to believe he killed himself due to being disillusioned with reality.]]
* YouAreNotAlone: In ''Kid's Story'', The Kid feels like only he thinks reality feels ''less'' real than his dreams, which leads him to ask people on the Internet if anyone else feels the same way. [[spoiler:In the end, the trope gets invoked when someone (either Neo or another rebel) writes back: "You are not alone."]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Program]]
->(Written and directed by YoshiakiKawajiri, animation by Creator/{{Madhouse}} Studios)

Set in the training session of a woman named Cis, set in a Feudal Era Japan [[MeaningfulTitle program]], she enters a sparring match with partner Duo, only to find he is contemplating negotiating a return to the Matrix.
* [[spoiler:AllJustADream: When Cis defends herself and kills Duo, she finds out that she faced off against a virtual program designed to test her reaction to the situation. Even though she volunteered for the test in the first place, she still gets pissed when she finds out the truth.]]
* BareHandedBladeBlock: Cis blocks Duo's attack during sparring by grabbing his katana between her palms.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Cis reveals her loyalty by killing the man she loves. Thankfully, it's undone as it's just a training program, but it doesn't undo the damage done to Cis.]]
* {{Expy}}: Duo serves as one to Cypher AND Morpheus.
* FaceHeelTurn: Duo contemplates this. [[spoiler:He does, but is killed by Cis.]]
* {{Fanservice}}: Cis appears in a tank top and panties.
* [[spoiler:SecretTestOfCharacter]]
* WhiteHairedPrettyGirl: Cis
[[/folder]]

[[folder:World Record]]
->(Written by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, directed by Takeshi Koeke, animation by Creator/{{Madhouse}} Studios)

This short explores the story of track runner Dan Davis, who has become obsessed with setting a world record. The story switches between the days before his race and the race itself -- where Dan runs so fast, he begins to break the rules of The Matrix…
* BeyondTheImpossible: In ''World Record'', Dan manages to run fast enough to cause glitches in the Matrix as it struggles to keep up with him. Even when the Matrix ''freezes the program'', it doesn't stop him for long. He even outruns ''Agents''!
** [[spoiler:After the Machines manage to reconnect him and make sure he can never walk again, he briefly manages to glitch gravity and begin ''floating''.]]
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Davis escapes the matrix, but is physically (and presumably mentally) handicapped in order to incapacitate him and keep him under control.]]
* WorthyOpponent: Agent actually gives Dan props for [[spoiler:successfully outrunning him.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Beyond]]
->(Written and directed by Koji Morimoto, animation by Studio4C)

Within the Matrix, Japanese teenager Yoko searches for her lost cat, and during her search, she discovers a "haunted house" where physics don't seem to apply -- but her discovery does not go unnoticed by the Matrix.
* HauntedHouse: Yoko and several children in ''Beyond'' discover a "haunted house". [[spoiler:A glitch in the Matrix causes all of the weird phenomena in the house. They spend so much time playing there-one of the glitches was a room where gravity didn't work properly-that the Agents finally catch on and fix the place.]]
* NoEnding: [[spoiler:The agents and cleanup team repair the building. Yoko and the kids return to normal life.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:A Detective Story]]
->(Written and directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, animation by Studio4C)

{{Cyberpunk}} meets FilmNoir in a tale about modern-day PrivateDetective Ash, whose newest job -- to find the elusive Trinity -- gets more dangerous as he tries his best to get a lead on her.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Ash solves the case and even helps Trinity, but she is forced to fatally wound him to stop the agents controlling him. Leaving him behind, Trinity apologizes but remarks that Ash could probably have handled the truth had they made it.]]
* EyeScream: [[spoiler:The Agents planted a bug in Ash's eye. Trinity removes it without destroying his eye.]]
* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:Ash stays behind and faces the agents despite his wound.]]
* [[spoiler:OneLastSmoke]]
* SexyBacklessOutfit: Trinity
* WorthyOpponent: [[spoiler:Despite having a gun pointed at them, an Agent stops another from finishing Ash, presumably because he managed to reach Trinity intact.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Matriculated]]
->(Written and directed by [[AeonFlux Peter Chung]], animation by DNA)

This short follows a group of above-ground human rebels as they attempt to brainwash a captured machine so it will fight for humanity.
* IronicEcho: Despite the [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] pointlessness, the machines are given ''the illusion'' of a choice between joining the humans or being destroyed, directly paralleling the blue/red pill choice the free humans are given.
[[/folder]]


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