Meta Runner (TV series)

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Meta Runner
Created by	Luke Lerdwichagul Kevin Lerdwichagul
Written by	Kevin Lerdwichagul Jeffrey Yang
Directed by	Luke Lerdwichagul (creative director) Matthew Peckham (art director)
Voices of	Celeste Notley-Smith Robyn Barry-Cotter Jessica Fallico David J.G. Doyle Hayley Nelson Anthony Sardinha Brendan Barry-Cotter
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 (a second season is currently in production)
No. of episodes	10
Production
Producer(s)	Kevin Lerdwichagul Jeffrey Yang (line producer)
Running time	11-20 Minutes
Production company(s)	Glitch Productions
Distributor	Glitch Productions
Release
Original network	YouTube
Original release	July 25, 2019 (2019-07-25) – present (present)
External links
[{{#property:P856}} Website]

Search Meta Runner (TV series) on Amazon.

Meta Runner is an Australian computer animated web television series created and developed by Glitch Productions. Meta Runner is the first completely animated series developed by the company and was funded in part by Crunchyroll, Epic Games and AMD . The series was met with critical acclaim and has become a major breakthrough for Australia in the animation market.

Premise

Setting

Meta Runner takes place in a futuristic world where society is run by video game culture, serving as not just entertainment, but also jobs in livestreaming. Among the gamers are “Meta Runners”, a group of gaming individuals who replace their limbs with cybernetic arms that allow the user to boost their gaming performance.

Plot

Season One

In a world where video games are everything, cybernetically enhanced e-sports competitors called, Meta Runners, reign supreme. The season follows an amnesiac young Meta Runner named Tari as she struggles to recover her lost memories while being pursued by the shadowy TAS-Corp.

Season Two

A second season is in development, with an unknown release date.

Voice Cast

Protagonists

• Tari (voiced by Celeste Notley-Smith) - A shy and insecure Meta Runner who was part of an experiment called Project Blue. She has no memory of her past and has the uncanny ability to warp into video games.
• Theo (voiced by Robyn Barry-Cotter) - The protagonist of Ultra Jump Mania who encounters and befriends Tari after she stumbles upon his home in "SimpleFlip Island".

Supporting Characters

• Sofia Porter (voiced by Hayley Nelson) - A cheerful and upbeat girl who is a member of MD-5 and Tari's friend. In the final episode of season one, it is revealed that Lucinia was Sofia's sister.
• Lamar Williams (voiced by Anthony Sardinha) - An African-American meta runner who is a member of MD-5 and also one of Tari's friends who rescued both her and Theo from Lucks. Lamar is a huge fan of Japanese anime and refers to himself as an "otaku."
• Masa Shimamoto (voiced by Brendan Barry-Cotter) - A no-nonsense Meta Runner who is the leader of MD-5 and one of Tari's allies. He used to be the team captain for TAS-Corp, but later decommissioned for hacking into the company's private server upon realizing Lucks was responsible for Lucinia's death.

Antagonists

• Lucks (voiced by David J.G. Doyle) - The sociopathic and abusive head of TAS-Corp. He wants to capture Tari so he can extract her newfound ability and use it to benefit his company.
• Belle Fontiere (voiced by Jessica Fallico) - A cocky Meta Runner who is a representative of TAS-Corp and Tari’s rival.

Minor Characters

• Dr. Sheridan (voiced by Anthony Sardinha) - A scientist who was working for TAS-Corp and made Tari into a Meta Runner, putting her through a lot of training for Project Blue until his unfortunate demise along with Lucinia in a lab explosion.
• Lucinia Porter (voiced by Amber Lee Connors) - The late Meta Runner and TAS-Corp member who was Belle's best friend and sister of Sofia Porter. She was killed in a lab explosion.

Background and Production

Production

As revealed in a video titled "The Making of Tari" uploaded by Luke and Kevin Lerdwichagul on February 14, 2019, 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 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) . 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" , 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, which is currently in production.

Promotion

Meta Runner was first teased at the end of the SMG4 episode, "War of the Fat Italians 2018" , 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 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 recieve funding from a $500,000 grant from Unreal Engine.

On June 25, 2019, it was announced that Meta Runner would be funded by Screen Australia, Epic Games and AMD. On July 20, 2019, Glitch Productions announced that they had partnered with Crunchyroll to produce the series.

Episodes

Season	Episodes	First Aired	Last Aired
1	10	July 25, 2019 (2019-07-25)	October 10, 2019 (2019-10-10)
2	TBA	TBA	TBA

Season 1 (2019)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Viewers (millions)
1	1	"Wrong Warp"	Luke Lerdwichagul	Kevin Lerdwichagul, Jeffrey Yang	July 25, 2019 (2019-07-25)	1.3M+ views
A young Meta Runner named Tari wakes up with no memories in Silica City. As she explores the new world she finds herself in, she discovers that not only does she have an amazing talent for video games, she also has an uncanny ability to warp her mind into them.
2	2	"Out of Bounds"	Luke Lerdwichagul	Kevin Lerdwichagul, Jeffrey Yang	August 1, 2019 (2019-08-01)	1M+ views
Tari finds herself transported to the colorful platforming game: Ultra Jump Mania and meets its precocious mascot, Theo. However, Tari has also attracted the attention of powerful forces that see the potential in her abilities; forces that will stop at nothing to have them for themselves
3	3	"Bad Split"	Luke Lerdwichagul	Kevin Lerdwichagul, Jeffrey Yang	August 8, 2019 (2019-08-08)	777K+ views
After Tari mysteriously manages to pull Theo out of the game, the two go on the run from Lucks and Belle. As they make their way through the back-streets of the city, Tari takes a moment to reflect on her past and figure out her own future.
4	4	"Sequence Break"	Luke Lerdwichagul	Kevin Lerdwichagul, Jeffrey Yang	August 15, 2019 (2019-08-15)	662K+ views
With Tari captured by the agents of TAS-Corp, it is up to new ally Lamar to save the day. A thrilling car chase ensues through the streets of Silica City, with Tari demonstrating just how extensive her abilities are.
5	5	"Aimbot"	Luke Lerdwichagul	Kevin Lerdwichagul, Jeffrey Yang	August 22, 2019 (2019-08-22)	597K+ views
Tari and Theo are brought under the protection of the rebel group: MD-5. However, to prove her worth, Tari challenges leader Masa to a game of Battle Blaze. Meanwhile, Belle investigates an accident at TAS-Corp believed to be connected to Tari’s past.
6	6	"Game Plan"	Luke Lerdwichagul	Kevin Lerdwichagul, Jeffrey Yang	August 29, 2019 (2019-08-29)	602K+ views
Using some interesting visual aids, MD-5 reveal their plan to take down TAS-Corp. Using Tari’s abilities, they plan to execute a highly-technical game glitch that will crash TAS-Corp’s servers and allow them to steal all of their private data. At TAS-Corp, Belle discovers a clue that links the death of her best friend Lucinia to Tari. She vows to capture Tari and discover the truth.
7	7	"No Clip"	Luke Lerdwichagul	Kevin Lerdwichagul, Jeffrey Yang	September 19, 2019 (2019-09-19)	91K+ views
With a week before the big tournament, Tari trains relentlessly, trying to master the instrumental glitch. Lucks, on the other hand, performs research into both Tari’s history and Theo’s altered game cartridge, and makes some startling discoveries.
8	8	"One Shot"	Luke Lerdwichagul	Kevin Lerdwichagul, Jeffrey Yang	September 26, 2019 (2019-09-26)	116K+ views
The tournament begins and MD-5 load into a high-stakes game of Tempest. However, things seem to go wrong from the start, as Tari has a strange vision when she tries to warp into the game. But she has no time to dwell on it, as the team quickly become targeted by an elite squad of players that seem hell-bent on eliminating them.
9	9	"The Run"	Luke Lerdwichagul	Kevin Lerdwichagul, Jeffrey Yang	October 3, 2019 (2019-10-03)	171K+ views
MD-5 have a titanic showdown against the elite squad. While they manage to eliminate all of them except their leader, they lose Theo in the process. When they reach the mountain top to execute the glitch however, the leader reveals herself to be Belle. Quickly eliminating Lamar, Belle and Masa reveal their previous relationship as teammates, arguing over who betrayed whom on a fateful night one year ago. With no options left, Belle duels both Masa and Tari, managing to eliminate the former and trap the latter. Ignoring an order from Lucks to eliminate her, Belle instead chooses to interrogate Tari.
10	10	"Shutdown"	Luke Lerdwichagul	Kevin Lerdwichagul, Jeffrey Yang	October 10, 2019 (2019-10-10)	142K+ views
With a confidence boost from Theo, Tari manages to not just escape Belle, but also execute the glitch, shutting down TAS-Corp’s servers in the process. In anger, Lucks orders the stadium evacuated and traps MD-5 inside the arena, holding Masa up at gunpoint and demanding that Sofia turn herself in. Sofia finally relents after Lucks proceeds to torture Masa, and Lucks’ scientists clear the stolen data from Sofia’s laptop. Belle then appears and reveals to Sofia that Lucinia, who is also Sofia’s sister, died in an explosion. Gloating over his success, Lucks prepares to throw MD-5 in a private prison until Tari makes a deal with Lucks: if he lets the others go, she will give him her loyalty as a Meta Runner, forever. Lucks accepts the deal after taking Theo’s cartridge and using him as collateral should Tari or MD-5 every try to betray him. In a post-credits scene, Belle stumbles across a phone in the trash and realizes that it belonged to Sofia and possesses a backup of the TAS-Corp server. Disgusted by what she saw from Lucks, Belle decides to keep the phone a secret.

Reception

Critical reception

Meta Runner received general acclaim by critics and audiences, earning a score of 9.1/10 The show was also the top-performing piece of online content funded by Screen Australia. The series was praised for its animation, characters, plot and soundtracks. However, it also received some criticism due to every episode ending on a cliffhanger. In June 2020, Meta Runner was nominated for a number of Melbourne WebFest awards, including Best Animation, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Sound Design, and Best Visual/Special Effects.

See Also

• List of unofficial Mario media - SMG4, the creator of Meta Runner is mentioned on that list.
• Unreal Engine - The game engine developed by Epic Games that was used to animate Meta Runner.

References

This article "Meta Runner (TV series)" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Meta Runner (TV series). Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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