[DragonSphere]

I was only able to watch the DVD a few nights ago, and have to say I throughly enjoyed it. But since it is quite hard for me to choose a favorite, I'll list my thoughts of each of the nine below:

The Second Renaissance(sp?) Parts 1 and 2 I thought out of all the other shorts, this provided the best source of information and insight to the Matrix story arc as it did directly relate with it. It gave you a sense of sympathy for the machines as they were, in fact, an oppressed "race"- if you were to call them that- as the humans no longer had to do any sort of tedious work. I found it interesting on how it was the human's own fear and misunderstanding of the machines that ultimately lead them to their imprisonment. Found it a bit depressing as well.

Final Flight of the Osiris Since this, too, directly related with both the story and game, it helps to understand the plot a little bit more as to how the humans first found out about the armada of sentinels ready to invade Zion deep below the ground. The excellent visuals were a sweet bonus.

Program I especially enjoyed its setting in one of Japan's more elder eras, and how the fight scenes were brought about. It was also cool on how the two characters were against each other in the idea of whether or not of going back to the Matrix without remembering the terrible truth. Kinda like the choice Cypher made in the first Matrix movie.

Kid's Story I can see why Makg and the others voted this as their favorite, as it did have unique visuals, music, and meaning that separated it from the rest. Gives some good insight on the kind of people that can be rescued from the restrictions of the Matrix.

World Record The art style in this short was as unique as "Kid's Story", but I found the story here much more appealing, as it didn't fit with the usual norm of only hackers being able to find some haven outside of the Matrix. Coupled with the character's determination to push himself forward as much as he could, the idea of being able to feel "free" after overcoming and finishing a race presented a new door of sorts for other, "special", people to find out the truth themselves. I liked the way how the creators made him fail though.

Beyond I think this one gave you a more "playful" outlook of the structure of the Matrix, as errors were bound to happen- however scarce. To see it from the childrens' point of view, without ever knowing the hard truth, was a relaxing departure from the serious attitude presented in the others. Very enjoyable.

A Detective Story I found this short to be pretty cool (note the avatar) and was definitely reminiscent of all those old detective films as well with the black and white palette. Too bad Ash wasn't able to go with Trinity...

Matriculated Undoubtedly, this has the most artistic and (as already said) surreal atmosphere out of the nine. I already recognized the character design from "Aeon Flux" and "Reign", so it was cool to see them in a Matrix universe. Also interesting to see how the humans brainwashed the machines so as to use them for their own bidding. But in the end, no matter how much they toyed with a machine's AI, the humans were altogether afraid of their existence and being.