Draft:Meta Runner
| Meta Runner | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Created by |
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| Written by |
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| Directed by |
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| Voices of |
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| Opening theme | “Always Running”, written and composed by AJ DiSpirito. Vocals by MattxAJ |
| Ending theme | “Breeze”, written and composed by AJ DiSpirito. Vocals by KIMI |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 4 |
| Production | |
| Producers |
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| Running time | 11-20 Minutes |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | |
| Release | July 25, 2019 – present |
Meta Runner is an Australian science-fiction, adventure computer animated web series created by Luke and Kevin Lerdwichagul who are best known for their popular YouTube channel, SMG4. Set in a futuristic world centered around video games, the series follows Tari, a cyborg girl as she is being pursued by Lux, the head of TAS Corp. organization and his Meta-Runner, Belle who want to use her newfound ability to warp in to any video game to benefit the organization. The show’s title refers to the fictional group of gamers in the show who replaced their biological limbs with cybernetic prosthetics to boost up their gaming performance.
The show’s protagonist, Tari was originally introduced in the channel’s machinima series of the same name (formerly known as SM64 Bloopers). Meta Runner was co-produced by Crunchyroll and was funded by Screen Australia, Epic Games and AMD. The first episode aired on July 25, 2019, on both SMG4’s YouTube channel. Meta Runner was met with overwhelmingly positive reception.
Premise
Setting
Meta Runner takes place in a futuristic world where society is now run on video games with gaming serving as not just entertainment but also jobs in Livestreaming and lifestyle. Among the gamers are “Meta-Runners”, a group of individuals who replace their limbs with cybernetic arms, prosthetics that allow the user to boost their gaming performance.
Plot
The series focuses on Tari, a meta-runner who wakes up in an isolated laboratory to find herself in Silica City with no memory of what happened except for a few brief flashbacks of her training with a scientist named Dr. Sheridan until a sudden accident occurs, possibly killing him and a few other lab doctors. As she wanders around the city, Tari comes across a gaming equipment store known as TAS Corp. After witnessing an Esports event held by a Meta Runner, Belle Fontiere, playing a video game known as "Ultra Jump Mania", she decides to play the same video game. But as she continues to play, her eyes suddenly go blue and she goes into a trance, only then to find herself inside the video game where encounters and befriends the game's protagonist, Theo.
Back in the real world, upon discovering Tari’s newfound ability to teleport into video games, Lucks, the head of TAS Corp. plans to extract her ability and use it to benefit the organization. Once they get Tari and Theo, out of the game, Lucks tries to persuade Tari into working for TAS Corp. but instead, she and Theo run off so he sends his scientists and Belle to hunt them down. After escaping the TAS Corp., Tari and Theo eventually try to hide out in a cybercafe but are found by Belle due to a tracking chip that Lucks installed in Tari's cybernetic arm. The two split up into separate rooms and although Theo easily escapes, Tari gets captured by Belle and is about to be sent back to Lucks.
As the TAS Corp. van drives off with Tari inside, a meta-runner, Lamar Williams bashes his car into the van and helps Tari escape from it, driving off with her along with Theo inside which leads to a long high-speed car chase. After they successfully escape from TAS Corp., Lamar takes Tari and Theo to a ramen restaurant where they'll be safe, meeting up with two other meta-runners, Sofia Porter and Masa Shimamoto.
Voice Cast
Main Characters
- Tari (voiced by Celeste Notley-Smith) - The main protagonist of the series, an amnesiac, shy and insecure Meta Runner who finds herself in Silica City and can transport to any video game she plays.
- Theo (voiced by Robyn Barry-Cotter) - The main character of the fictional video game, "Ultra Jump Mania" who encounters Tari after she stumbles upon his world. He gets sucked out of the game and into the real world with Tari.
Supporting Characters
- Sofia Porter (voiced by Hayley Nelson) - A cheerful and upbeat Meta Runner who is one of Tari's friends.
- Lamar Williams (voiced by Anthony Sardinha) - A friend of Tari's who is a Meta Runner of African descent. He is an otaku and dates a body pillow called Novochan.
- Masa Shimamoto (voiced by Brendan Barry-Cotter) - A Meta Runner who is a calm, composed, and more serious friend of Tari's.
Antagonists
- Lux (voiced by David J.G. Doyle) - The main antagonist of the series who is the head of TAS Corp. He wants to capture Tari so he can extract her newfound ability and use it to benefit the organization.
- Belle Fontiere (voiced by Jessica Fallico) - The secondary antagonist of the series who is Lucks’ Meta Runner and Tari’s enemy. She is also a representative of the TAS Corp.
Minor Characters
- Dr. Sheridan (voiced by Anthony Sardinha) - A scientist who made Tari into a Meta Runner and put her through a lot of training until he was presumably killed along with a few other scientists in a sudden lab accident. He can only be seen in a few flashbacks.
- Afro-Bot (voiced by Kevin Lerdwichagul) - A robot who works as a salesman at the gaming store of the TAS Corp. organization.
- Lucinia - A female Meta Runner who is a former member of TAS Corp. She only appears in both a montage of the gaming-centered society in "Wrong Warp" and in an advert for TAS Corp in "Out of Bounds" without a speaking role.
- Male Civilian (voiced by James Rallison) - One of the fans of Tari along with other people.
Background and Production
Tari
As revealed in a video uploaded by SMG4 on February 14, 2019 [1], the concept of Tari’s character started when Kevin and Luke Lerdwichagul asked their young sister, Tish, who was drawing in her sketchbook, if she had any ideas for characters to their channel’s titular machinima series; she drew a “gamer girl” character who she dubbed “Tari”. The first early design of Tari was for her to completely be a robot with a similar hairstyle to Sofia Porter, an antenna on top of her head, headphones, a simple jacket with a love heart on it and a d-pad for her right eye.
The second early design is the same as the first one but with a few upgrades. The second design had short blue hair with the fringe covering her right eye, a different hooded jacket with a front pocket, the love heart still there and her name stitched on the back. She also had been given sandals. Kevin and Luke showed the design to their employee, Jared and gave him a test to draw Tari; he did the design of Tari in a detailed and anime-esque style.
Eventually, Tari was then redesigned as a human cyborg with a white vest with the meta-runner emblem which was based on the blue jay’s wing, two human eyes, a cybernetic arm, and sand brown trousers. She was also given a blue hoodie with blue jay wing patterns on each shoulder. While Tari in Meta Runner is given a realistic detail, Tari in the SMG4 machinima series is given a Puyo Puyo Tetris art style.
Tari made her debut in “SMG4: Mario The Ultimate Gamer” [2] which was uploaded on August 25, 2018, and has become a recurring character since.
Web Series
Soon, Kevin and Luke came up with the idea to give Tari her series, called Meta Runner.
At the end of the SMG4 video, “SMG4: War Of The Fat Italians 2018”[3], a teaser for Meta Runner was played. Two other teasers were played near the end of the videos “SMG4: Mario and the Bob Mansion... [4] and “SMG4: The Mario Concert”.[5]
On December 5, 2018, the official trailer was uploaded to YouTube. [6]
On May 30, 2019, SMG4 uploaded “Tari’s Live Stream”, an animated short to coincide with the upcoming series. [7]
On June 25, 2019, it was announced that Meta Runner would be funded by the unlikely pairing of Screen Australia, Epic Games and AMD. On July 20, 2019, Glitch Productions announced that they had partnered with Crunchyroll to produce the series. [8]
Episodes
| Season | Episodes | First Aired | Last Aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | July 25, 2019 | TBA |
Season 1 (2019)
| No. | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Wrong Warp" | July 25, 2019 | |
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An amnesiac Tari wakes up in an empty laboratory and finds herself in Silica City where society is centered around with video games. As she wanders around the city, Tari comes across a gaming equipment store of the TAS Corp. organization and gets some information about her location from the store’s robotic salesman, Afrobot. Tari then notices an Esports event in a small arena where TAS Corp.'s number one speedrunner, Belle Fontiere, is attempting to beat the record by using a glitch to get to the goalpost in Ultra Jump Mania to set the world record but fails. As Belle storms off in frustration while the crowd leaves in disappointment, an intrigued Tari takes up the controller and decides to play the game herself. However, as she continues to play, her eyes suddenly glow blue and she goes into a trance, only then to find herself inside the video game. | |||
| 2 | "Out of Bounds" | August 1, 2019 | |
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After being teleported into Ultra Jump Mania, Tari encounters the game's protagonist, Theo who thinks Tari is a boss enemy until she convinces the boy she's human and not a boss enemy. Tari goes through the game's area with Theo, battling palm tree monsters and learning that she can perform in-game tricks through maneuvers. Back in the real world, the head of TAS Corp., Lucks gets a few scientists to examine Tari. Eventually, Lucks communicates with Tari inside the game from the real world in the form of a recolored Theo. Tari suddenly goes through pain as scientists begin to experiment on her arm. With a huge burst of energy, Tari gets sucked out of the game and back in the real world with Theo who somehow got sucked out of the game too. | |||
| 3 | "Bad Split" | August 8, 2019 | |
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After Tari and Theo are sucked out of the game, Lucks attempts to manipulate Tari into working for TAS Corp. but Tari refuses and escapes with Theo. Lucks decides to let his scientists pursue Tari and Theo since letting Belle and himself do so would lead to suspicion among the press. As Tari and Theo escape through the city, they go inside a cybercafe with each gamer livestreaming inside a streaming pod. They try to hide in one of the streaming pods but their cover is blown when Theo starts to stream, catching Belle's attention. The two then get separated in two different rooms, but while Theo escapes, Tari is eventually caught by Belle and is taken into the TAS Corp. van to be sent to Lucks. | |||
| 4 | "Sequence Break" | August 15, 2019 | |
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Tari and Belle are in the TAS Corp. van, where Belle attempts to calm down the frightened Meta-Runner, while also explaining that games are the only things that make you matter. Suddenly, a car bashes into the van, and Theo pops up out of it, telling Tari to get in. Lucks arrives, but the car proceeds to escape the scene when he does so. Lucks then orders Belle in his car to drive, and thus a chase begins. The car's driver, Lamar, tells Tari to put on a blue hoodie, as he, along with his friends saw Lucks put a tracker in her arm which explains why Belle was able to track down Tari so easily. Unfortunately, this doesn't stop Lucks as he has a gunman at the back of his car to shoot down Lamar's car with electromagnetic bullets and even tells some policemen to block off a road to corner Tari, Theo, and Lamar. However, Tari suddenly notices a trash can and billboard, before taking over the wheel (or in this case, controller), ramming into the trash can and telling Theo to throw the lid at the billboard. The billboard falls, and Tari uses it as a ramp to get over the barrier. Tari, Theo, and Lamar then reach a ramen restaurant, with Lamar taking the other two in the back to meet Sofia and Masa. Though Sofia is enthusiastic about meeting Tari and Theo, Masa walks away scowling. | |||
| 5 | "TBA" | August 22, 2019 | |
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TBA. | |||
Reception
“Meta Runner” has been met with a positive fan reception.[citation needed]
See Also
- List of unofficial Mario media - SMG4, the creator of Meta Runner is mentioned on that list.
References
- ^ The Making Of Tari, retrieved 2019-08-12
- ^ SMG4: Mario The Ultimate Gamer, retrieved 2019-08-12
- ^ SMG4: War Of The Fat Italians 2018, retrieved 2019-08-12
- ^ SMG4: Mario and the Bob Mansion..., retrieved 2019-08-12
- ^ SMG4: The Mario Concert, retrieved 2019-08-12
- ^ META RUNNER | Official Trailer (NEW Animated Series), retrieved 2019-08-12
- ^ Tari's Live Stream - Animated Short - META RUNNER, retrieved 2019-08-12
- ^ "The Government Has Funded An Aussie Esports Anime". Kotaku Australia. 2019-06-25. Retrieved 2019-08-12.