Meta Runner
Meta Runner is an Australian computer animated cyberpunk web series created by YouTuber brothers Luke and Kevin Lerdwichagul, who are known for creating the Super Mario 64 parody series SMG4. Set in a futuristic society that is centered around video games and esports, the series follows a cyborg girl named Tari who comes across and helps an undercover group, called MD-5, in their attempt to expose the corrupt and abusive company TAS Corp.
| Meta Runner | |
|---|---|
 Season 2 promotional poster | |
| Genre | Drama |
| Created by | Kevin Lerdwichagul Luke Lerdwichagul |
| Written by | Kevin Lerdwichagul (S1) Jeffrey Yang |
| Directed by | Luke Lerdwichagul (S2) Matthew Peckham (art) Elle Nguyen (motion capture) |
| Creative director | Luke Lerdwichagul (S1) |
| Voices of |
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| Opening theme | "Always Running" (performed by Matthew "MattxAJ" Guerra) (S1) "Only Up" (performed by Lizz Robinett) (S2) |
| Ending theme | "Breeze" (performed by KIMI) (S1) "Steady" (performed by Matthew "MattxAJ" Guerra) (S2) |
| Composer | AJ DiSpirito |
| Country of origin | Australia United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 (1 upcoming) |
| No. of episodes | 20 |
| Production | |
| Producers | Kevin Lerdwichagul Jeffrey Yang (line) (S1) |
| Animators |
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| Running time | 12–19 minutes |
| Production companies | Glitch Productions Screen Australia Crunchyroll (S1) AMD (S1) Epic Games |
| Distributor | Glitch Productions |
| Release | |
| Original network | YouTube |
| Original release | July 25, 2019 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
The show is developed, produced, and animated at Glitch Productions, funded by Screen Australia,[2][3][4] was financed with support from Crunchyroll and AMD for the first season,[2] and financed in association with Epic Games.[2][5]
The first season premiered on the YouTube channel SMG4, but the series moved to the channel GLITCH for the second season.
A third season was confirmed by Luke Lerdwichagul a few weeks before Season 2 was completed. A release date is still unknown.
Background and production
Production
As revealed in a video titled "The Making of Tari"[6] uploaded by Luke and Kevin Lerdwichagul on February 14, 2019, the concept of Tari’s character started when Kevin and Luke Lerdwichagul asked their younger sister, Tish, who was drawing in her sketchbook, if she had any ideas for a new character to add to their channel’s titular machinima series; she drew a “gamer girl” character who would become Tari. The first early design of Tari was for her to be a robot instead of a cyborg, with a similar hairstyle to Sofia Porter, an antenna on top of her head, headphones, a simple jacket with a love heart stitched onto it and a d-pad for her right eye.
Eventually, Tari was 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 starting from "Sequence Break" (episode 4).[7] While Tari in Meta Runner is given a 3D anime-like appearance, Tari in the SMG4 machinima series is given a Puyo Puyo Tetris art style.
Tari made her debut in the SMG4 series in late 2018 in the episode "SMG4: Mario The Ultimate Gamer",[8] starting as a recurring character but later being promoted to a main cast member. Tari is voiced by Australian actress Celeste Notley-Smith in both SMG4 and Meta Runner.
On April 20th, 2020, Screen Australia announced the funding of Meta Runner season 2.[9][10] The second season aired from October 16 to December 18, 2020.
Season 3 of Meta Runner was confirmed by Luke in the SMG4 episode Cooking with Mario & Bowser: World Tour (a followup to 3 shorts he made in 2014 and 2015), which aired on the SMG4 channel on November 21st, 2020. In the start of the video, he says the sales of the Season 2 merchandise will fund the making of Season 3.
Promotion
Meta Runner was first teased at the end of the SMG4 episode, "War of the Fat Italians 2018",[11] depicting the character Theo and the date December 5, 2018. The months following had similar teasers of different Meta Runner arms before the official trailer[12] for Meta Runner was uploaded on December 5, 2018.
On March 18, 2019, it was announced that Meta Runner was one of many projects to receive funding from a $500,000 grant from Unreal Engine.[13]
On June 25, 2019, it was announced that Meta Runner would be funded by Screen Australia,[14] Epic Games and AMD. On July 20, 2019, Glitch Productions announced that they had partnered with Crunchyroll to produce the series.[15]
Plot
In Silica City, all media and entertainment are mostly based around video games, not just serving as entertainment, but also jobs in live streaming and lifestyle. Among the gamers are Meta Runners, individuals who have replaced their limbs with cybernetic arms that allow them to boost their gaming performance.
The series tells the story of Tari, a Meta Runner who was the subject of an experiment called Project Blue, led by Dr. Sheridan, a scientist who was commissioned by TASCorp. After waking up in an abandoned lab, Tari finds herself in Silica City with no memory of what happened except for a few flashbacks. The last thing Tari can remember is a sudden accident causing an explosion, which Lucinia and Dr. Sheridan both survive. Lucinia is left unconscious while Sheridan goes into hiding.
Characters
Main characters
- Tari (voiced by Celeste Notley-Smith) is a shy and insecure Meta Runner who has the ability to warp into video games she plays. She also has an in-built AI that advises her on what actions to take while she is warped inside a video game. She is determined to find out who she is and where her unique abilities come from. In Season 2, she was revealed to be the "Project Blue" AI and parts of Lucinia's mind combined. She is based on the blue jay.
- Theo (voiced by Robyn Barry-Cotter) is the protagonist of the game Ultra Jump Mania, where he encounters Tari after she stumbles into his world. He gets transported to the real world via Tari's abilities.
- Belle Fontiere (voiced by Jessica Fallico) is the anti-hero of the series who is a rival of Tari, and is also known for being a representative of TASCorp and their number one Meta Runner. She used to be best friends with Lucinia, but after finding out about her apparent death, she begins to disobey her boss and act on her own accord. Her personality of disobeying is based on James T. Kirk in the Star Trek universe.
MD-5
- Sofia Porter (voiced by Hayley Nelson) is a cheerful and upbeat girl who is one of Tari's friends. She isn’t known to play video games, but she does help MD-5 via her hacking skills.
- Lamar Williams (voiced by Anthony Sardinha) is an easygoing otaku with a unique cybernetic arm and is a friend of Tari's.
- Masa Shimamoto (voiced by Brendan Barry-Cotter) is a calm, composed, and serious friend of Tari but is a former team captain for TASCorp. He was decommissioned after trying to hack into Lucks’ private server to prove his theory that Lucks killed Lucinia, but he has gained a new cybernetic arm by the time he meets Tari.
Main antagonists
- Derek Lucks (voiced by David J.G. Doyle) was the main antagonist of seasons 1 and 2 who was obsessed with Tari, due to her unexpected ability to warp into video games. He tried to capture Tari in order to discover the cause of her ability and give it to his other Meta Runners so that TAS Corp. surpasses their competition. His is possibly based on The Master in Doctor Who. He was killed by Masa at the end of Season 2 after his arm was hacked by Dr. Sheridan.
- Evelyn Claythorne (voiced by Elsie Lovelock) is the secondary antagonist of the 2nd season and a Meta Runner at TASCorp., who is forced to be Tari's partner, even though she is extremely jealous of Tari. She is possibly based on The Rani from The Mark of the Rani, Time and the Rani, and Dimensions in Time.
- Dr. Sheridan (voiced by Anthony Sardinha) is presumably the overarching main antagonist of the series. He is an ex-TASCorp scientist who created Project Blue to try to prevent Lucks from firing him. He was presumed missing alongside Lucinia after an explosion while developing Project Blue, but has survived and is now plotting revenge against Tari. He is based on The Valeyard from The Trial of a Time Lord.
- TASCorp Workers are the supporting antagonists in Meta Runner. They include white-clad scientists and black-clad security guards. They are fully masked and never shown to talk, instead of expressing themselves via body language. They are highly obedient to Lucks, as they have no problem carrying out his more immoral orders. They are based on the Stormtroopers and the Clone Troopers from the Star Wars franchise.
Minor characters
- Lucinia Porter (voiced by Amber Lee Connors) is a Meta Runner at TASCorp and was the human test subject for Dr. Sheridan's “Project Blue”. She was presumed missing after the "Project Blue" test ended with an explosion. Derek Lucks revealed at the end of Season 2 that Lucinia was still alive but is in a coma. She is the sister of Sofia Porter and a good friend of Belle.
- Bot-Boys (voiced by Kevin and Luke Lerdwichagul) are common robots found across Silica City, usually with a job or function. One is also shown to be in the game Ultra Jump Mania.
- Marco (voiced by Jason Marnocha) is a host of underground gaming tournaments in the slums of Silica City. He collects Meta Runner arms and uses two of them as additional limbs. He is possibly based on General Grievous from the Star Wars franchise.
- Bo (also voiced by Lovelock) is a minor character who serves as the mascot of TASCorp. She only appears on Silica City billboards, though she has become the main character of some of Glitch Productions’ merchandise advertisements.
- Elder Tomato (also voiced by Doyle) is a character in the video game Ultra Jump Mania. His purpose in the game is to give the player expositionary information and advice. He is also a supporting character of the spinoff series Ultra Jump Mania.
- Satsuki-chan (also voiced by Connors) is a character from the dating simulation game Nova Explorers. She appears in the handheld dating simulation game Pocket Gakusei due to a crossover between the two games.
YouTube guest stars
- Announcer ("Wrong Warp") (voiced by Elliott "Muselk" Watkins)
- Male Civilian (voiced by James "TheOdd1sOut" Rallison)
- Female Civilian (voiced by Kathleen "Loserfruit" Belsten)
- Announcer ("One Shot") (voiced by Ross O'Donovan)
- Tempest Competitor 1 (voiced by Brodey Rogan "Bazza Gazza" de Meur)
- Tempest Competitor 2 (voiced by Nathan William Clifford "Crayator" Ryan)
- Kizuna AI (voiced by Herself)
- James "TheOdd1sOut" Rallison ("Fast Food Fight" short) (voiced by himself)
- Arin Hanson ("Fast Food Fight" short) (voiced by himself)
Episodes
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | ||||
| 1 | 10 | July 25, 2019 | October 10, 2019 | ||
| 2 | 10 | October 16, 2020 | December 18, 2020 | ||
Season 1 (2019)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Creative director | Writers | Storyboard | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Wrong Warp" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Kevin Lerdwichagul Jeffrey Yang | Jarrad Rumble Elle Nguyen | July 25, 2019 | |
| An amnesiac Tari wakes up in a lab and finds herself in Silica City. She discovers she has a cybernetic arm and learns that she is a Meta Runner, people who replace their limbs with cybernetic enhancements to improve their game performance. Tari walks into a TASCorp store and finds a speedrunning arena in a back room. There, she sees Meta Runner, Belle Fontiere, attempting to set the world record for Ultra Jump Mania by executing a secret glitch. Belle performs the glitch correctly but misses the goal pole, thus losing the record. Once everyone leaves, Tari picks up Belle's controller and starts playing. Belle begins to question who Tari is and where she learned to play. Tari's rapid finger movements cause her to suddenly lose consciousness. When she wakes up she finds herself on an island. She is then attacked by Theo, the protagonist of Ultra Jump Mania, and Tari learns she has transported inside the game. Meanwhile, Belle calls in her boss, Lucks, to investigate. While he begins to berate Belle for her failure in the speedrun, he soon becomes intrigued by Tari. After seeing that she's in the game, Lucks calls in TASCorp scientists to figure out what happened. | |||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Out Of Bounds" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Kevin Lerdwichagul Jeffrey Yang | Jarrad Rumble Elle Nguyen | August 1, 2019 | |
| Inside Ultra Jump Mania, Tari manages to convince Theo that she isn't an enemy. Theo tells Tari that she is on Simple Flip Island and then proceeds to leave her behind. Tari catches up to him and follows him on a platforming adventure. The duo eventually come across a horde of tree monsters. Theo gives Tari a pineapple hammer and the two engage the monsters. Back in the real world, Lucks and his scientists continue to investigate Tari. Belle is unimpressed, but Lucks says that Tari's ability could be the future of gaming and that he could give her ability to everyone. In the game, Tari and Theo defeat the monsters. Lucks arrives in the game, speaking through a version of Theo. Lucks tries to convince Tari to tell him about her ability, but the TASCorp scientists begin experimenting on her arm, causing her agonizing pain. With a burst of energy, Tari returns to the real world and is shocked to discover that Theo came back with her. | |||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Bad Split" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Kevin Lerdwichagul Jeffrey Yang | Jarrad Rumble Elle Nguyen | August 8, 2019 | |
| Tari and Theo are confronted by Lucks, who attempts to convince Tari to work for him at TASCorp. Tari refuses and, with help from Theo, manages to escape the speedrunning arena. Belle tries to chase after her, but Lucks stops her, saying they can't be seen chasing a civilian in public. They take what they have and Lucks promises to deal with Tari. Meanwhile, Tari and Theo hide in an alleyway in Silica City, with Tari saying they are in real danger and Theo's video game mechanics don't work in the real world. They duck inside a streaming pod, where Tari has a flashback of a mysterious scientist and Theo inadvertently gives up their location to Belle by starting a live stream. Tari is confronted by Belle and is eventually captured, while Theo fights off TASCorp scientists and escapes. Theo then sees Tari getting loaded into the back of a TASCorp and begins to cry. However, a mysterious Meta Runner approaches Theo and says "I got this". | |||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Sequence Break" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Kevin Lerdwichagul Jeffrey Yang | Jarrad Rumble Elle Nguyen | August 15, 2019 | |
| Inside the back of the TASCorp van, Belle tries to calm Tari down and reveals that video games dominate society and that she herself has been through worse. As Tari begins to wonder what will happen to Theo, the van is hit by a remote-controlled car. Tari escapes the van and sees Theo in the car, which drives off with Lucks and Belle in pursuit. Inside the car, Theo introduces Tari to Lamar Williams, who gives Tari a jacket that causes signal interference, believing Lucks put a tracking device in her robot arm. The trio eventually come up against a closed barrier set up by Lucks. Tari uses her Meta Runner vision to the anaylse the situation and takes the controller from Lamar; she escapes by using a fallen billboard to propel the car over the barrier. Lamar promises to take Tari and Theo to a safe place. Meanwhile, Lucks tells Belle that he longer just wants Tari's powers, but wants her, which Belle calls creepy. Elsewhere, Lamar fulfills his promise to take Tari and Theo to a safe place by bringing them to a secret hideout in a ramen shop. There, Tari and Theo meet Sofia Porter and Meta Runner Masa Shimamoto. | |||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Aimbot" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Kevin Lerdwichagul Jeffrey Yang | Jarrad Rumble Elle Nguyen | August 22, 2019 | |
| A flashback shows a spy camera watching Belle at the speedrunning area before Tari shows up. In the present, Lamar explains that he and his crew were trying to gather some intel on Lucks and TASCorp on the day of the speedrunning incident, but changed their plans when they saw Tari's abilities. Sofia tells Tari and Theo that their group, MD-5, are trying to take down TASCorp for all the horrible things they have done. Tari is hesitant to join the group, claiming she wants nothing to do with TASCorp at all, but Theo convinces her to help MD-5 since they gave them shelter. However, Masa refuses to let Tari and Theo join unless they can prove themselves via a first-person shooter called Battle Blaze, to see how well she can handle a human opponent. Tari is easily beaten by Masa several times before Sofia inspects Tari's robotic arm, causing Tari to warp into the game. Meanwhile at TASCorp, Lucks has Belle search the research facility for info about the crest on Tari's outfit while he investigates the corrupted copy of Ultra Jump Mania that Theo came out of. Belle then wanders into a messy and abandoned lab. Back at MD-5, Tari begins to improve; seeing her potential, Masa gives Tari some advice on how to beat him by clearing her mind. She is interrupted by Theo (who transported into the game as well) using "banana mines" to defeat Masa. Sofia brings them out, and Masa tells Tari that, while she has a lot to learn, they have a place on the team for her. Theo then begins to glitch out due to being out of his game for too long, and Masa urges them to find an Ultra Jump Mania cartridge. Back at TASCorp, Belle comes up empty and begins to give up, until she finds a memory card about "Project Blue". | |||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Game Plan" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Kevin Lerdwichagul Jeffrey Yang | Elle Nguyen | August 29, 2019 | |
| Tari gets Theo back into an Ultra Jump Mania cartridge, but the presence of another Theo causes the game to glitch and boot the two out. Sofia deduces that Theo needs to return to his own cartridge, prompting Masa to initiate Operation: Silent Demon, to Lamar's chagrin. Inside the destroyed facility at TASCorp, Belle watches a video log from Dr. Sheridan, who discusses Project Blue, a project to keep him from getting fired. The logs explain that Project Blue is an AI system capable of beating any video game once it is implemented inside of a human host, and Sheridan had found a Meta Runner to put the AI into. The final log shows an accident with the test run, causing an explosion that presumably kills Sheridan and his assistant, the latter's voice bringing Belle to her knees with sorrow. At MD-5, Masa explains Operation: Silent Demon as hacking into TASCorp's servers to obtain their private records and files and release them, damaging Lucks' image to the public. To do this, they would compete in an underground competition hosted on TASCorp's private servers; Tari would enter the game and crash it by executing a glitch, which would give Sofia time to hack into the servers and regain Theo's cartridge. Lamar considers this impossible without Lucks being alerted to it, but concedes after Tari agrees to the plan. Back at TASCorp, Belle shows Lucks the footage from Dr. Sheridan. Lucks is surprised the explosion was an accident, thinking it was a cover-up. Belle becomes more concerned after she reveals that the Meta Runner that Sheridan experimented on was her friend, Lucinia, who they had thought went missing. Lucks reviews the footage and sees Sheridan input a code onto a controller. Lucks inputs the same code and suddenly the corrupted Ultra Jump Mania game suddenly flashes the emblem for Project Blue. | |||||||
| 7 | 7 | "No Clip" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Kevin Lerdwichagul Jeffrey Yang | Elle Nguyen | September 19, 2019 | |
| In Tempest (the battle royale game setting for TASCorp's underground competition), Tari, Theo, Lamar and Masa begin training for the underground competition. They teach Tari how to collect spells, which are used for attacks and teach her what the glitch is, which is hitting the floor, going 55 km/h at 36 degrees. Tari learns that to pull the glitch off, she needs to jump off the top of a mountain in the game and use a wind spell to propel herself downward to gain enough momentum to clip through the floor. Tari continuously tries to pull it off, to no avail. In a flashback, Belle is struggling to pull off a newly discovered glitch in Ultra Jump Mania when she is visited by her friend Lucinia, who gives her encouragement. Back in the present, Belle questions the connection between Project Blue, Tari, and Lucinia's apparent death. When Lucks' search proves no answers, he suggests that Belle obtain answers from Tari herself. Back at MD-5, Tari grows discouraged over her repeated failures. Theo and Masa give Tari some words of encouragement, and Tari is finally successful in pulling off the glitch. Masa tells them that, now that they know how to pull the glitch off, they need to be trained in physical combat, because in the competition, they'll have people attacking them. | |||||||
| 8 | 8 | "One Shot" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Kevin Lerdwichagul Jeffrey Yang | Elle Nguyen | September 26, 2019 | |
| About a week later, the day has come for the Tempest tournament. Tari, Lamar, and Masa sneak Theo and themselves into the competition. Tari starts to have second thoughts, but Masa and Lamar tell her that this is their best chance at pulling this off. As the game starts, Tari warps into the game, but is pulled into a void where she sees Lucinia. After she recovers, she wakes up on the raging battlefield. MD-5 starts grabbing spells, using Lamar's forcefield and Masa's kunai to gather spells and gear. The group is then confronted by a top-tier team, which forces them to take a defensive stance. Lamar uses a teleport spell to get them to safety. Lamar questions if Tari is all right and is worried about Tari when she passed out in the game and was in the void earlier, but Tari insists that she is fine. Masa tells Lamar he understands Lamar's concerns, but they need to focus on executing the glitch. MD-5 discusses their next strategy and is attacked by the top-tier team from before, who knock Tari off of a cliff. Tari falls into a collapsed building and is attacked by the enemy team. Before they can finish off Tari, the rest of MD-5 arrive to assist Tari, and they go on the offensive. | |||||||
| 9 | 9 | "The Run" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Kevin Lerdwichagul Jeffrey Yang | Elle Nguyen | October 3, 2019 | |
| MD-5 prepares to take on the enemy team, with Masa taking the lead and the others flanking the support members. In taking down the enemies, Theo is taken out after sacrificing himself to protect Tari, and one enemy escapes. In the real world, it is revealed that the last enemy was Belle, who recognizes Masa. Lucks reminds Belle that the goal is to take out Tari. MD-5 gets to the top of the mountain. Tari prepares herself for the glitch but the group is attacked by Belle, who takes out Lamar. MD-5 then realizes that TASCorp is onto them. Masa attempts to convince Belle to back down, but she refuses and reveals to Tari that Masa was once a team captain for TASCorp, but was decommissioned for hacking into Lucks' private server to prove his theory that Lucks killed Lucinia. Masa and Tari engage Belle and almost gain the upper hand, but Belle restrains Tari under a building and makes Masa overload his robotic arm before she takes him out. Lucks tells Belle to finish off Tari, but she disables communications with him so she can privately interrogate Tari. | |||||||
| 10 | 10 | "Shutdown" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Kevin Lerdwichagul Jeffrey Yang | Elle Nguyen | October 10, 2019 | |
| Belle interrogates Tari over her ability to warp into video games and accuses her of killing Lucinia, not believing anything Tari says. Upon encouragement from Theo, Tari agrees to tell Belle everything she knows. Belle stops her attack, but it was really a trick for Tari to free herself and execute the glitch. Belle tries to block her path, but Tari jumps over it and off the cliff. During the fall, Tari continues to dodge Belle's attacks and crashes through the game floor. She appears in the void again and sees a scarred Lucinia. In the real world, the arena is being evacuated; while Masa and Theo commend Tari, Lamar urges everyone to leave the arena. Lucks, furious at Belle's failure, initiates Plan B, grabs a gun, and commands a scientist to re-route Theo's cartridge through a backup server. MD-5 try to escape, but are cornered by TASCorp security and Lucks. Masa tells Lucks that Sofia has already completed the hack and is long gone, but the guards subdue Tari, Lamar, and Theo. Masa fights Lucks, but is easily subdued, and Lucks shoots Masa's robotic arm off. As Lucks is about to deliver the fatal shot, a tearful Sofia shows herself. Lucks takes her tablet and has guards wipe it clean and destroy any backup servers before Sofia says he just wanted to know what happened with her sister (revealed to be Lucinia). Belle appears and, despite Lucks ordering her to stay out of it, shows Sofia the footage of the explosion. Sofia breaks down and asks why Lucinia was with Sheridan, and Belle says to ask Tari, diminishing Masa's trust in Tari. Lucks then prepares to put MD-5 in a holding cell for the rest of their lives, but Tari tries to strike a deal with Lucks. Tari says that if she joins TASCorp, Lucks has to let everyone else go and they'll never be a problem again. Lucks shocks Theo and reveals that he discovered MD-5's plan by using Theo as a spy camera via the corrupted Ultra Jump Mania cartridge. Theo tries to engage Lucks, who crushes Theo's cartridge to make him glitch away. Lucks's counter-offer to Tari is that Theo will be collateral and if MD-5 becomes a problem again or Tari starts to show signs of unloyalty, he will destroy what's left of Theo, to which Tari reluctantly agrees. Lucks lets MD-5 go and leaves with Tari, who promises that she'll be fine. In a post credits scene, Belle discovers a device with a backup from Sofia's tablet. As Belle leaves, Lucks asks for an update on his subject. Health statistics are listed and a woman whose condition is stated to be stable is shown in a cryogenic freezer. | |||||||
Season 2 (2020)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Director | Writer | Storyboard (Credited as "2D Artist") | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 1 | "Hard Reset" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Jeffrey Yang | Elle Nguyen | October 16, 2020 | |
| 6 months after the events of Season 1, Belle and Tari are playing a match in a video game tournament. After their win, the two drive back to TASCorp with Lucks, who discusses Tari's big debut at TASCorp with an interviewer. After the interview, Lucks warns Tari to perform better at her debut match. Back at TASCorp, Tari is escorted back to her room while she views the harsh treatment of TASCorp employees. Back in her room, Tari demands Lucks allows her to visit Theo to make sure he is still alive. While talking to Theo, Tari promises him that she'll bring him back to MD-5. Lucks then hastily ends the call. Meanwhile, in a poor part of Silica City, Lamar and Sofia walk through an alleyway to find Masa, who had abandoned MD-5 after the events of Season 1. Masa brushes them aside at first, but Sofia reveals that she saved a backup of the file onto her phone, which she and Lamar planned to tell him. However, her phone is at TASCorp with Belle, who unsuccessfully attempts to hack into Sofia's phone. TASCorp Meta Runner, Evelyn Claythorne, bursts into Belle's room to complain that Tari is getting exhibition matches instead of her. Evelyn then angers Belle by insinuating that Lucinia abandoned TASCorp. Simultaneously, Belle promises to Lucinia and Tari promises to Theo that they'll figure something out. | |||||||
| 12 | 2 | "Firewall" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Jeffrey Yang | Elle Nguyen | October 23, 2020 | |
| Lucks gives Theo a chair to make him feel more comfortable in his "computer prison" and attempts to make a deal that would free Theo. However, Theo uses the chair to clip out of the prison and land in the server. Lucks tries to stop Theo by creating a data partition which Theo easily avoids, then runs a quarantine program, causing Theo to land in an unknown file. Meanwhile, Tari and Evelyn are practicing a game called Hidden Heroes, with Belle overseeing them. Evelyn gets the edge on Tari and disarms her. Belle mockingly tells Evelyn to finish Tari off. When Belle looks at the results of their match, the screen glitches and Theo lands in the screen, asking where he is. However, the quarantine program catches Theo and drags him away. Back in Theo's prison, Theo asks Lucks if the deal is still open, but Lucks turns the screen off. Lucks reprimands his scientists and orders them to monitor Theo so they know what makes him tick. Meanwhile, Evelyn openly complains that she has to share her debut match with Tari. The two bump into a TASCorp scientist, who is playing an anime dating sim called Pocket Gakusei. Evelyn mocks him and confiscates the game, but Tari gets an idea to contact Lamar via the game given that he is an otaku. In Masa's makeshift house, Masa, Sofia, and Lamar talk about the server backup on Sofia's phone, which Sofia thinks Belle is trying to get into. Glad that Belle finally came to her senses, Masa asks if they can just send her the encryption key, but Sofia reveals that TASCorp has a stronger firewall, and if they send anything to Belle, Lucks will get tipped off about the phone. Lamar mentions how Tari and Theo are trapped in TASCorp, but Masa angrily claims they betrayed them. Lamar and Sofia are able to convince Masa to help save Tari and Theo and get the server, but Masa says he needs a new Meta Runner arm since his arm was shot off by Lucks. Sofia tells Masa they can't buy one but tells him they can win one. | |||||||
| 13 | 3 | "Unreal Engines" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Jeffrey Yang | Elle Nguyen | October 30, 2020 | |
| Masa, Lamar, and Sofia return to the low tier of Silica City to win a new Meta Runner arm. They enter a tournament hosted by Marco, an old friend of Sofia's. Marco challenges Lamar and Masa to a match of Turbo Crash 9; if he wins, Lamar must give up his Meta Runner arm, but if Lamar and Masa win, they get a new arm for Masa. At TASCorp, Tari searches Evelyn's room for Pocket Gakusei and finds it. Evelyn catches Tari hiding something behind her back, but Belle discreetly allows Tari to use the game. She instructs Tari not to tell anyone or they're both busted. Back with MD-5, Lamar takes the wheel while Masa handles weapons. Marco eventually gets the upper hand, but Masa and Lamar overtake him in the end and win the match, much to Marco's anger as he accuses Masa of cheating. They get the arm and drive back to Masa's place; in the car, Masa has an unknown device in his hand (presumably used to hack Marco's robotic arms during the match). | |||||||
| 14 | 4 | "Transfer Student" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Jeffrey Yang | Elle Nguyen | November 6, 2020 | |
| Tari enters the anime dating sim in search of Lamar, while Belle visits Theo to ask if he can obtain information about Project Blue from TASCorp's servers in exchange for helping him reunite with Tari. Theo agrees, and Belle takes control of him using a controller. In the anime dating sim, Tari's search comes up empty until she remembers that Lamar likes a character called Satsuke-Chan. The character remains silent, making Tari realize she needs to fill up a relationship meter with her. Back at TASCorp, Lucks catches Theo running around in the server again; Theo finds a Project Blue file and is attacked by Lucks's quarantine program. Belle glitches multiple coconuts for Theo to fight off the quarantine program. Belle inadvertently gives up her location in celebration of obtaining the file, forcing her to leave Theo behind before anyone finds her. Lucks then puts Theo back in the corrupted Ultra Jump Mania cartridge, leaving him alone with monsters that he can't fight off due to the glitching. | |||||||
| 15 | 5 | "Heart to Heart" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Jeffrey Yang | Elle Nguyen | November 13, 2020 | |
| In the anime dating sim, Tari is able to get Lamar's contact information from one of the girls. Tari calls Lamar from his room in the game and reunites with MD-5. Tari apologizes to Masa, saying she herself has a lot of questions like he must have, but Masa tells her they can sort that out after she's safe. MD-5 warps into the game, and Masa reveals they'll bust Tari out during her upcoming show match. At TASCorp, Belle accesses the Project Blue file and sees footage of Lucks searching the abandoned lab and finds out Lucks indeed knew what happened to Lucinia. Belle angrily leaves, swearing not to let Lucinia's memory get tossed aside. Tari is rapidly pulled out of the game by Belle, who offers to help her and MD-5 expose Lucks. Sofia gives Belle the benefit of the doubt, but Lamar and Masa aren't so keen on the idea, the latter saying Belle has let him down twice before and can't handle a third time. Tari convinces Masa to give her a chance; Masa agrees, but tells Belle that if she's on his team, she is to follow his orders. Belle reluctantly agrees to this as Masa begins to explain their plan for TASCorp's show match. | |||||||
| 16 | 6 | "Hack and Slash" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Jeffrey Yang | Elle Nguyen | November 20, 2020 | |
| Lucks introduces Tari and Evelyn at the beginning of the show match, and Evelyn gives a long self-centered speech about how she never got the attention she deserved as the youngest child in her apparently famous family. MD-5 causes a power outage and replaces TASCorp’s Hidden Heroes cartridge with their own. Meanwhile, Belle plays the corrupted Ultra Jump Mania, where Theo is still trying to escape the monsters. Theo is initially confrontational toward Belle for abandoning him, but she tells him if she can beat the game, Theo can get out of the cartridge and escape TASCorp via a link on Sofia’s phone. Back at the show match, Lucks reveals Hidden Heroes is meant to be 2 players against 10 enemies, but for the show match, Tari and Evelyn will face 50. Evelyn continuously complains about Tari’s tactics while Lamar and Masa kill several enemies. Tari asks why Evelyn hates her so much, and Evelyn reveals that she trained for years only for Tari to show up and “ruin” it for her. Tari angrily expresses her wish for Evelyn and TASCorp to leave her alone, and Evelyn immediately abandons Tari, who has to face several enemies on her own. | |||||||
| 17 | 7 | "Friendly Fire" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Jeffery Yang | Elle Nguyen | November 27, 2020 | |
| Tari is able to kill all the enemies with Masa's assistance. They notice Evelyn watching them, and Evelyn calls Lucks to tell him that Tari is cheating. Meanwhile, Belle tries to get Theo out of the glitched Ultra Jump Mania game but is stuck on a level due to more corruption from Theo trying to get into the server download. Theo then sees a small glowing ball going through the level and copies the ball's movement to make it to the flag area. Back with Evelyn, she says Tari cheating explains the power outage, Tari's weird tactics, and the friendly fire in the game. Lucks then realizes MD-5 is at the match. Lucks attempts to activate security measures to stop MD-5, but is stopped by an anonymous caller (revealed to be Sofia), who passes herself off as tech support at first. This doesn't faze Lucks, but Sofia threatens to make TASCorp go bankrupt due to the swirling rumors about them. Lucks makes hand signals to Evelyn in her arena room divider to destroy Tari in the game. Evelyn hits Tari from behind with her sword and engages her in one-on-one combat. Masa and Lamar deal with the rest of the players since Tari is sticking to the plan of keeping Evelyn busy. Tari tries to convince Evelyn to back down, but Evelyn instead targets everyone else on the enemy team, eliminating Masa in the process. Tari rescues Lamar, who asks Masa what he's going to do next; Masa says he's getting ready for when this is all over. | |||||||
| 18 | 8 | "Soft Lock" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Jeffery Yang | Elle Nguyen | December 4, 2020 | |
| Evelyn covers the arena with fog and wipes out the other enemies and Lamar, but Tari overcomes Evelyn while Sofia completes the data transfer. Sofia gets on the intercom and starts an emergency evacuation, while Masa tells Lamar to get Tari to safety while he causes a distraction. Masa tackles Lucks, while an enraged Evelyn physically fights Tari, who pushes Evelyn into a closing pod. Tari tries to get the cartridge but realizes Theo isn't there, while Lamar urges her to just get out of the arena. Meanwhile, Masa wakes up in a TASCorp holding van where Belle is sitting. Belle calls out Lucks for lying to her for nearly two years, but Lucks says that everything he did was to protect the company. Belle apologizes to Masa, and they have a flashback to the night before Lucinia's disappearance; Lucinia expresses doubt in her abilities since the attention at the time was on Masa (the leader) and Belle (the new hotshot). Meanwhile, Lamar takes Tari to Sofia for a reunion, and Tari reveals they can't release the server since Theo didn't make it across. Tari then comes up with a plan in which they either win big or lose everything, to which Lamar and Sofia agree. | |||||||
| 19 | 9 | "Nightmare Mode" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Jeffery Yang | Elle Nguyen | December 11, 2020 | |
| Sofia threatens Lucks that she will release the server; Lucks tracks her location and intercepts her. Lucks scans the cartridge and finds no abnormalities, but discovers Tari has warped into the server to get Theo out herself. Tari and Theo traverse the game’s final level, the former creating a giant crab out of Theo’s coconut to chase off the quarantine program. They attempt to reach the end before Lucks pulls a server reboot. Lucks calls Evelyn (still whining about being stuck behind a closed pod door) to offer a rematch. Tari and Theo see the final flag to complete the game, but are stopped by Evelyn taking the form of a massive monster. They attempt to fight Evelyn off, to no avail, but Tari obtains a pineapple hammer similar to the one she used previously (see 1x02 “Out of Bounds”), and the final battle is initiated. | |||||||
| 20 | 10 | "Fatal Error" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Jeffery Yang | Elle Nguyen | December 18, 2020 | |
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Tari and Theo eventually overcome Evelyn and clear the game. Theo escapes the cartridge, but Tari is visited by Lucinia, who tells her about her past. Back in the real world, Tari asks Lamar if they’re ready for phase 2 of their plan, which is Lamar ramming into the side of TASCorp’s van. Lamar is knocked unconscious by the impact but soon recovers, and Lucks holds a gun at Masa’s head demanding Tari give him the cartridge. However, the data has been released, and a breaking news report reveals that an arrest warrant has been issued for Lucks. Masa fights Lucks and subdues him, but Lucks reveals that Lucinia is actually alive and that the explosion only destroyed parts of her consciousness. He also reveals that the AI created with those pieces could also revive her, and that the AI is Tari (her name actually being T.A.R.I., short for Turbo Artificial Rapid Intelligence). Tari affirms this is the case, and that for Lucinia to be revived, Tari has to sacrifice herself. Sofia promises Tari that she’ll have her back no matter what before MD-5 begins to retreat, but Masa still has the gun aimed at Lucks. His friends talk him out of shooting Lucks, but his arm is somehow hacked into doing it anyway, and Lucks drops dead on the street. Belle stays with Masa and urges the others to run, but they are offered a ride by Marco. In a post-credits scene, Evelyn answers a call from someone she assumes to be her father at first, but it’s an unknown male voice that offers her Tari’s abilities and to get revenge. Evelyn asks who he is and how he got her number, and he responds that it’s easy to hack into Meta Runner arms if one knows what they’re doing (revealing he was the one to hack Masa’s arm into murdering Lucks), then reveals himself to be Sheridan, having survived the lab explosion himself. | |||||||
References
- "Inside The Mario House That SMG4 Built". Kotaku. 2019-07-26. Retrieved 2020-09-27.
- "Meta Runner is an anime funded by Screen Australia, Epic, AMD". Stevivor. 2019-06-25. Retrieved 2020-09-27.
- "SCREEN AUSTRALIA ANNOUNCES $8.5M FOR TEN PROJECTS". TV Blackbox. 2020-04-20. Retrieved 2020-09-27.
- "The world of film and TV is changing rapidly. Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason explains how the funding body keeps up". Business Insider. 2020-02-21. Retrieved 2020-09-27.
- "Epic Games awards $500,000 in final Unreal Dev Grants". VentureBeat. 2019-03-18. Retrieved 2020-09-27.
- "The Making of Tari". YouTube.
- "Sequence Break". YouTube.
- "SMG4: Mario The Ultimate Gamer". YouTube.
- "Screen Australia Funds Second Series For Aussie Esports Drama Meta Runner". Kotaku.
- "Screen Australia Announces $8.5M for Ten Projects". TV Blackbox.
- "War of the Fat Italians 2018". YouTube.
- "META RUNNER Official Trailer". YouTube.
- "Epic Games awards $500,000 in final Unreal Dev Grants". VentureBeat.
- "Screen Australia announces $8.5 million of production funding". If.com.au.
- "The Government Has Funded An Aussie Esports Anime". Kotaku Australia. 2019-06-25. Retrieved 2019-08-12.
External links
- Meta Runner at IMDb
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