Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Thehibikiew Not even bad in a good way

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Shawn Watson Two Samurai are tackling a training program. When the digital bad guys are vanquished the man (Duo) tells the woman (Cis) that he wishes to go back to the Matrix and that he should go with her. She disagrees, they clash, one of them loses.It's a thin premise but saved by nice twist. Ninja Scroll director Yoshiaki Kawajiri brings his usual visual style to the story but it's nothing you haven't seen a hundred times before. The action isn't too exciting and the color schemes are kinda bland.The Animatrix shorts are mostly good but this one is probably the worst, that's not to say it's terrible, just not that great.

Polaris_DiB The real power of this particular "Animatrix" short is in it's visuals: going directly to the Wachowski's fascination with Japanese culture, the animators create a "program" (like of the title) of the history, architecture, and landscape. The effect decided on is kind of like an Escher drawing or a fractal, which lends a much more dreamlike atmosphere than many of the other shorts.The story is of a woman, Cis, training in the programs who is forced to confront her fear and desire to return to the illusion of the Matrix. It's a somewhat needed psychological aside to the logic of the reality the Wachowskis created, though of course a lot of the issues presented in this short are already succinctly summed up in Cypher's character from the first one. Nonetheless, the story does allow the animators to play with space like no other Animatrix short attempts, and the result is some very fascinating imagery.--PolarisDiB

jlovejoy Speaking aesthetically, I really enjoyed the crisp, thick-lined and fluid animation and radiant pace, and overall epic feel of this short, which also took "residual self image" to a far more imaginative level than the hit and miss euro-trash style of the live action films. I particularly like how Cis's hair is so much longer in the construct. The whole look of this short was so rich and elegant it just drew you in and you lost all concept of time. Speaking thematically, we know what happens when people like Cipher get sick of the real world. Duo is almost a deeper character in this seven-minute animation. He knows how brutal the machines are, and feels like its only a matter of time before the free humans are wiped out. He also loves Cis and wants her to "escape" with him and escape the pain and certain death he feels is inevitable. I take Cis' side, however. As well-intentioned or logical Duo's argument is, the fact remains he betrayed Cis and everyone else he knows because he allowed his fear to take over. Cis won't run from the truth like he is, and she knows that the only way to survive the situation is to terminate the traitor without hesitation. In this desperate form of human existence, her action was not at all uncalled for. Those whose minds have been freed depend on one another. Fortunately, he was just a simulated character in a test program.

PlanecrazyIkarus This is a very good effort, one of the most enjoyable shorts that make up the Animatrix.The story begins with a fight, indeed the entire story is a fight, between a girl and her friend or mentor, within a training programme, or perhaps it is a recreation programme, who knows? Either way, her opponent begins to display a more sinister side: He feels just like Cypher in the original Matrix, and asks her to join him in an effort to be reinserted, or die...The animation is great, the story is thrilling and overall this is definitely a good short movie, fitting in very well in the Matrix-universe8/10