Episode 1: The Final Flight of the Osiris 6/10 The sword fight at the beginning was really well done. The models and animation looked really good especially for its time. That sexy tension between opponents is so early 2000s and Im absolutely here for it. However that was the high point. The characters looked like theyd set up residence in the uncanny valley and the dialogue was okay. I liked the plot hook they introduced in the real world and the action sequences where the crew shoots the Sentinels was pretty neat but the realistic movement we saw in the opening scene disappears as soon as we enter the Matrix. The animation became devoid of momentum which was really jarring. And on top of all that this short story is missing a resolution. It just kind of ends and it makes me wonder how those nine minutes could have been better spent. Episode 23: The Second Renaissance Parts 12 8.5/10 This was fantastic As soon as I realized this one was about the origin of the Matrix I was hyped. Well it was more about how the machines came to rule the world but still. The animation was solid when the shots werent 100 CGI the story was good and well paced Im glad they took two parts to tell the story and the dramatic irony paired with symbolic imagery was the icing on the cake I know that sounds pretentious but its true. Everyone both human and machine acted so realistically it was kind of scary. I totally accept this as the canon origin story of the world of The Matrix. I loved this one its going to be tough to top that. Episode 4: Kids Story 7/10 Kids Story is how I imagine a reboot of The Matrix would go: a high school kid feels himself slowly losing his grip on reality until he is contacted by someone from the outside world. Agents descend on him while hes in class one day and he makes a daring escape by skateboarding around the school. I like the idea that the same basic thing that happened to Neo was happening to a kid and how he handled it differently. The ending was the most interesting part as it threw me for a loop several times. I also appreciate the wild artstyle it added to the frantic nature of it all. I definitely wish this one were longer but maybe it would have been too similar to the story we already know. Episode 5: Program 8/10 Im disappointed that this was the shortest one of them all because its also one of my favourite ones. The main character looks like a cross between Major from Ghost in the Shell and Princess Mononoke and thats not where the similarities end. The animation feels like it was plucked straight out of the 90s back when everything was painstakingly handdrawn and it looks beautiful. Even the CGI animation is stylish it matches the style well and it never overstays its welcome. The only detractor was the English voice acting. The pacing of the dialogue was weird and the acting was only serviceable. Im sure the Japanese voice acting was better and if I had that audio track on my Bluray I would have definitely chosen to watch it with that instead. Nevertheless this is definitely the one Id most like to see more of: a movie a show or anything longer than the great seven minutes we got. Episode 6: World Record 5/10 At first I thought this one leaned into a more abstract form of storytelling but thats not the case. Its just the unfortunate tale of someone who accidentally woke up and the Agents stopping him. Theres no real building of tension although I thought it was cool how he managed to outrun the Agents and the conclusion while making narrative sense isnt very satisfying. Plus the way they animated slowmotion running made it look very stilted. Its not the best one of the bunch but I guess it wasnt that bad. Episode 7: Beyond 6.5/10 I liked the animation in this one as well adopting a sort of Science Saru cel shaded rotoscopeesque style and I enjoyed the idea that a haunted house is actually a bunch of glitches in the Matrix. Thats probably my favourite original idea in this anthology in fact. Unfortunately like many of these shorts theres little to no catharsis at the end but the small moments where we see people play around in the glitches was pretty fun and cool to see. Also I like that they called exterminators to get rid of the bugs. Clever. Episode 8: Detective Story 7/10 All these shorts have their own art style each one noticeably different from the others but this one really sets itself apart. Detective Story feels like its been ripped straight from a blackandwhite Dick Tracy comic book and the tone feels about the same as a typical well detective story. Its a cool idea to get the Agents to hire a private investigator to find Trinity presumably before the events of the first Matrix movie and how it capitalizes on the Alice in Wonderland imagery weve seen in said movie. Unfortunately for our hardboiled detective it probably doesnt end well for him but the ending is slightly ambiguous about it so who can say? Episode 9: Matriculated 7/10 Is this what it feels like to do drugs? If it is I can understand what inspired some of the visuals. The hook for this one took a while to happen and it had the luxury of time to set itself up being the longest of these shorts by a wide margin. Matriculated does a lot of showing with very little telling but thats not a bad thing. It doesnt feel the need to hold your hand especially if you know enough about the world of The Matrix. Its a pretty simple but ingenious premise: what if in order to help the machines understand humans we built a Matrix for them? Seeing the machine learn how to be human is kind of touching and it unravels slowly and methodically until it culminates into something the humans didnt at all expect. Its pretty and even though it takes its sweet time to get going its certainly a cool trip. Its tough to give a general consensus for all nine of these short films but if youre interested in anything related to The Matrix this is definitely worth a watch. If youre mostly just interested in anime in general Id just recommend you watch The Second Renaissance Program Detective Story and Matriculated. But thats just my opinion.