History WebAnimation / MetaRunner

However, Derek Lucks, the head of local megacorporation [=TASCorp=], has his own plans for Tari and her abilities, especially after he sees her pull a game character--Theo, the hero of the platformer ''Ultra Jump Mania''--into the real world. On the run from Lucks and his top Meta Runner, Belle Fontiere, Tari and Theo soon find themselves tangled up in the affairs of [=MD-5=], a trio out to expose [=TASCorp=]'s corrupt practices. With nowhere else to go, Tari ends up joining [=MD-5=] in their mission to take down Lucks--and possibly discover who, or what, she really is...

* ArtShift: Happens when Sofia discusses MD-5's plan to infiltrate [=TASCorp=]. To go with her explanation, she plays a holographic animation that takes place in a medieval-esque era, while the characters adopt a minimalist [=chibi=] design.
* AsymmetricMultiplayer: ''Hidden Heroes'', the game played in the match Tari and Evelyn practice for throughout Season 2 and actually perform in starting in ''Hack and Slash'' is a game featuring a smaller team of the two eponymous protagonists against a larger team of players (A team of 10 normally, with the [=TASCorp=] match using a modded version that raises it to 50), with the game's story portraying it as the last line of defense of a town attacked by a larger invasion force.

** [[spoiler:"Shutdown", the season 1 finale, ends with Lucks having succeeded in thwarting Operation Silent Demon, forcing Tari to join [=TASCorp=] in exchange for letting MD-5 walk away and never interfering with his business again, and capturing Theo to ensure both parties don't step out of line.]]

* BigBad: Lucks, the CEO of [=TASCorp=], with [[TheRival Belle Fontiere]] as his [[TheDragon Dragon]] in Season 1, and [[AlphaBitch Evelyn]] being his in Season 2. [[spoiler:He's killed by Dr. Sheridan at the end of Season 2, who the takes up the position for Season 3.]]

* ChekhovsGun: Near the beginning of season 1, Belle uses the Coconut Burst Glitch (a glitch reminiscent of the [[VideoGame/SuperMario64 Backwards Long Jump]]) while [=speedrunning=] Ultra Jump Mania. [[spoiler: In episode 2 of season 2, Theo uses this glitch to beak out of his room at [=TAScorp=]]][[spoiler:, though not for long]].

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Lucks, naturally being the CEO of a CyberPunk MegaCorp, wants to acquire Tari to further strengthen [=TASCorp=]. He and his company has also done some shady practices if [=MD-5=] is to believed.
* CrapsackWorld: The reason why Belle sides with [=TASCorp=] is because the rest of Silica City is even ''worse'' (at least from her perspective).

* Main/{{Cyberspace}}: Season 2 has Theo glitching into [=TASCorp=]'s servers, which, from his perspective, are a purple landscape of floating data cubes and hexagonal floor structures.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: The members of MD-5; when asked by Tari: "What did [=TASCorp=] do to you?", [[MoodWhiplash the mood in the room drops like a brick]]:

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[spoiler: Season 3 Episode 6 has Theo come clean about how he’s been glitching out since the end of Season 2, with it only getting worse over time (over the course of a week). Since his existence has only ever been stable within the stasis of his memory card, the boring white [=TASCorp=] room, or the nightmarishly corrupted Ultra Jump Mania cartridge, he’d prefer to hang out in the real world with his friends, even if it means he’s going to die soon. All this brings to mind a child with a terminal illness who would rather go out and play than stay hooked onto life support at all times.]]

** ''Tempest'': A battle royale game based around battle mages. A [=TASCorp=] run tournament is the main focus of the latter half of season 1.

** ''Pocket Gakusei'': An online anime dating sim. [[spoiler: Tari, Belle, and MD-5 end up using this to communicate with one another to formulate a new plan to take down [=TASCorp=]]]
** ''Hidden Heroes'': A hack-and-slash AsymmetricMultiplayer game where two heroes fight an army of enemy soldiers. This game is played for a live audience by [=TASCorp=], [[spoiler: through which MD-5 hope to download [=TASCorp=]'s server data through Sophia's phone in Belle's possesion]].

** In Episode 4, Belle smugly predicts Tari that won't last a couple of days in Silica City before begging for a job at [=TASCorp=], something Tari [[ShutUpHannibal immediately shoots down]]. [[spoiler:In the season finale, that's exactly what Tari does in a last-ditch effort to save [=MD-5=] when Lucks captures them.]]
** Similarly, in Episode 1, Tari lies about being a [=TASCorp=] Meta Runner while trying to get away from the crowd surrounding her. [[spoiler: Come the end of Season 1, Tari actually ''is'' a [=TASCorp=] Meta Runner.]]

** In ''Friendly Fire'', Theo gets some inspiration on how to glitch through an obstacle after seeing the purple sparkles that appeared throughout the season pass through the area. [[spoiler: In the next episode a flashback shows Lucinia, Masa, and Belle's time at [=TASCorp=]. During the flashback, Lucinia, playing ''Ultra Jump Mania!'', pulls off a glitch similar to the one Theo does. This eventually leads to the reveal in ''Fatal Error'' that those sparkles are "pieces" of Lucinia lost in [=TASCorp=]'s servers.]]

* HopeSpot: [[spoiler: While Operation Silent Demon ended up going completely south, Sofia left another chance for MD-5 by putting a backup of the incriminating data on [=TASCorp=] on her phone before Lucks had the original data on her laptop wiped, and planting it in a trash can for a Belle to find. At the start of Season 2, Belle is attempting to hack into the phone.]]

** The TAS in [=TASCorp=] stands for "tool-assisted speedrun", which is a common type of speedrun that uses set input files and emulators to find the absolute shortest amount of time a speedrun can be completed in, usually to find out if said time is achievable by an "unassisted" speedrun.

* MegaCorp: [=TASCorp=] appears to be your standard cyberpunk megacorporation, though there are a few others that get name-dropped in Episode 1, such as [=Cloud7=] and [=AlphaMax=].

* PartingFromConsciousnessWords: Lamar casually notes how [=TASCorp=] upgraded their armored vans before fainting after crashing straight into one in ''Fatal Error''.

* RayOfHopeEnding: Season 1 borders on DownerEnding, but not enough to keep the heroes down. [[spoiler:MD-5's plan has backfired, Sofia has surrendered all of their information on [=TASCorp=], and Tari's involvement in Lucinia's death--a major uniting factor for the group--has been exposed to them. Tari then willingly enters [=TASCorp=]'s service in exchange for her friends' safety, and Theo's been captured and used as collateral to ensure her cooperation. However, Tari's friends still refuse to abandon Tari and promise to come back for her, and Belle finds a backup copy of the data Sophia gave them and keeps it to herself.]]
* RedHerring: The MD-5, Tari, and Theo spend a good majority of Season 1 trying to retrieve Theo's cartridge to prevent the latter from dying due to glitching from being outside of his game cartridge for too long. [[spoiler:This turns out to be false, as the real reason for the glitches was because his character data was still stored inside of the cartridge and [=TASCorp's=] messing with the cartridge (such as plugging it and unplugging it from the console) caused Theo to glitch out. Destroying the cartridge destroys Theo's body, but he can be revived as long as the game's memory chip is preserved. Thus, in Season 2, Tari and the MD-5 devised a plan to remove Theo from the game so that he could be rescued from [=TASCorp=] and succeeded]].

** Episode 6: [[spoiler: The screaming woman who seemingly died along with Dr. Sheridan in Tari's cryptic memory at the beginning of the series is revealed to be Lucinia, one of Lucks' Meta Runners and an acquaintance of Belle who seemingly vanished a year ago, who volunteered to be the test subject for Sheridan's mysterious Project Blue without [=TASCorp=][='s=] knowledge.]]
** Episode 9: [[spoiler: Masa used to be a [=TASCorp=] Meta Runner and its team captain until he, believing Lucks had murdered Lucinia, was decommissioned for trying to hack into Lucks' private server for evidence, leading to him forming MD-5.]]

** The Season 2 finale finally reveals the connection between Tari and [[spoiler: Lucinia: Lucinia survived the Project Blue explosion and she was physically healed, but her mind ended up fragmented; while part of it was uploaded to [=TASCorp=]’s servers, the other parts of it, the ones needed to fully revive her, were uploaded and merged into Dr. Sheridan’s AI, Turbo Artificial Rapid Intelligence ([[FunWithAcronyms short for TARI]]), giving it sentience, and eventually it somehow ended up in an artificial body, giving birth to the Tari we all know.]]

*** As Theo searches through [=TAScorp=]'s server, he comes across "Spletzer Records", a reference to Meggy Spletzer's name, and "W.A.H. Launcher Blueprints", referencing the running gag of [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext turning Waluigi into a rocket launcher]].

** The second half of Season 1 is focused on Tari participating in a [=TASCorp=] ran tournament for ''Tempest'', particularly to [[spoiler: activate a server crashing glitch to allow MD-5 to search through Lucks' servers for incriminating information to take down [=TASCorp=].]]
** Episodes 6-8 of Season 2 has MD-5 infiltrate Tari and Evelyn’s ''Hidden Heroes'' show match, with the goal of [[spoiler: keeping the game going long enough to allow Belle to download the incriminating [=TASCorp=] data off of Sofia’s phone, using the game cartridge to bypass the company’s firewall.]]

** At the end of Season 2, [[spoiler: MD-5 finally takes down Lucks and [=TASCorp=], Tari and Theo are free, and Lucinia is revealed to be intact with a chance of fully reviving her. All’s well that ends well, right? Not if Dr. Sheridan has anything to say about it.]]

** ''Skybreakers'': A SkyPirate-themed MMO action game. The last major game introduced in the series, it gets a big focus in the plot of Season 3.

* MeaningfulName: The TAS in [=TASCorp=] stands for "tool-assisted speedrun", which is a common type of speedrun that uses set input files and emulators to find the absolute shortest amount of time a speedrun can be completed in, usually to find out if said time is achievable by an "unassisted" speedrun.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[spoiler: Season 3 Episode 6 has Theo come clean about how he’s been glitching out since the end of Season 2, with it only getting worse over time (over the course of a week). Since his existence has only ever been stable within the stasis of his memory card, the boring white TASCorp room, or the nightmarishly corrupted Ultra Jump Mania cartridge, he’d prefer to hang out in the real world with his friends, even if it means he’s going to die soon. All this brings to mind a child with a terminal illness who would rather go out and play than stay hooked onto life support at all times.]]

** One for Theo at the end of ''Transfer Student''. [[spoiler: After his latest escape attempt fails, Lux moves him into a copy of Ultra Jump Mania!. Theo celebrates being home... then his leg falls through the floor]], which quickly becomes the [[OminousVisualGlitch least]] [[NightmareFace of]] [[UncertainDoom his]] [[NightmareFuel worries]].

* TheCameo: [[WebAnimation/KizunaAi Kizuna AI]] appears in [=S2=] eps 4 and 5 as Tari's guide to Pocket Gatsuki.

** "Transfer Student", the fourth episode of season two, features LetsPlay/KizunaAi as the tutorial guide of the game Tari goes into.

* DeathIsCheap: At least, when Tari and Theo are in a video game, as they usually respawn if they kick the bucket, or get kicked out of the game if respawning isn't possible.

* AmnesiacHero: The very first episode begins with Tari leaving some lab with no recollection to where she is, or why.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Belle has a habit of calling Tari "honey" or "babe" during most of their encounters in Season 1. She stops doing this when [[spoiler: she realizes that Project Blue was responsible for Lucinia's death]], though she picks the habit up again when [[spoiler: she defects to MD-5]].

However, Derek Lucks, the head of local megacorporation [=TASCorp=], has his own plans for Tari and her abilities, especially after he sees her pull a game character --Theo, the hero of the platformer ''Ultra Jump Mania''— into the real world. On the run from Lucks and his top Meta Runner, Belle Fontiere, Tari and Theo soon find themselves tangled up in the affairs of [=MD-5=], a trio out to expose [=TASCorp=]'s corrupt practices. With nowhere else to go, Tari ends up joining [=MD-5=] in their mission to take down Lucks--and possibly discover who, or what, she really is...

First teased at the end of ''[[Recap/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64BloopersWarOfTheFatItalians2018 War of the Fat Italians 2018]]'' and officially unveiled on December 5, 2018, the ten-episode first season premiered on the [=SMG4=] channel on July 25, 2019, and concluded on October 10. A CompilationMovie of Season 1, subtitled ''New Game+'', released on the standalone Glitch Productions channel on August 28, 2020 as part of the run-up to the second season. Season 2, also ten episodes, was announced to be in development upon the Season 1 finale's release, premiering on the Glitch channel on October 16, 2020 and concluding on December 18. A third and final season, consisting of eight episodes, was announced to be in development midway through Season 2, and is set to premiere on July 22, 2022.

The series takes place in Silica City, a society centered around video games where Meta Runners--individuals who've replaced their arms with machines to boost their gaming performance--dominate the competitive scene. At the center of the story is Tari, an amnesiac girl who wakes up in a lab with her own Meta Runner arm, who soon discovers she has the odd ability to enter the games she plays, allowing her to master them in ways unparalleled by other gamers.

The series takes place in Silica City, a society centered around video games where Meta Runners--individuals who've replaced their arms with machines to boost their gaming performance--dominate the competitive scene. At the center of the story is Tari, an amnesiac Meta Runner girl who discovers she has the odd ability to enter the games she plays, allowing her to master them in ways unparalleled by other gamers.

While Season 3 will bring a definitive end to Tari’s story, during a Reddit AMA a week before the premiere, Glitch heavily hinted at the possibility of more material set in the show’s universe, having fully fleshed out the lore of the setting and the backstories of several characters, and even having already written up three treatments for a new series. Still, this won’t be the first time Glitch has attempted to spin-off the series; a pilot for a proposed spin-off centered around Theo, titled ''WebAnimation/UltraJumpMania'', premiered on September 4, 2020.

* ArtEvolution: Season 2's art style advances from the style of Season 1, with more realistic characters models and features, in particular Tari now sporting some faint freckles on her face. {{Subverted}} with Season 3, where Tari's appearance only changes when she's in the "Skybreakers" game.

* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: At the start of season 2, Tari's goal is to get back in contact with MD-5, and she eventually finds a way with the game ''Pocket Gakusei'', an anime dating sim with an online component that Lamar probably uses. However, this is not quite enough, as Tari realizes that she doesn't know his screen name, forcing her to "date" one of his favorite characters just to get more information.

* TheCameo: [[WebAnimation/KizunaAi Kizuna AI]] appears in [=S2E4=] as Tari's guide to Pocket Gatsuki.

Tari is notable for making an EarlyBirdCameo in the main ''[[Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]]'' series as a member of the main cast, albeit a more cartoonish version of herself who is [[CharacterExaggeration bad at everything except video games]]. Belle was similarly ported over to the series in 2020.

While Season 3 will bring a definitive end to Tari’s story, during a Reddit AMA a week before the premiere, Glitch heavily hinted at the possibility of more material set in the show’s universe, even having already written up three treatments for a new series. Still, this won’t be the first time Glitch has attempted to spin-off the series; a pilot for a proposed spin-off centered around Theo, titled ''WebAnimation/UltraJumpMania'', premiered on September 4, 2020.

First teased at the end of ''[[Recap/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64BloopersWarOfTheFatItalians2018 War of the Fat Italians 2018]]'' and officially unveiled on December 5, 2018, the ten-episode first season premiered on the [=SMG4=] channel, staring on July 25, 2019, and ending on October 10. A CompilationMovie of Season 1, subtitled ''New Game+'', released on the standalone Glitch Productions channel on August 28, 2020 as part of the run-up to the second season. Season 2, also ten episodes, was announced to be in development upon the Season 1 finale's release, premiering on the Glitch channel on October 16, 2020 and concluding on December 18. A third and final season, consisting of eight episodes, was announced to be in development midway through Season 2, and is set to premiere on July 22, 2022.

While Season 3 will bring a definitive end to Tari’s story, during a Reddit AMA a week before the premiere, Glitch heavily hinted at the possibility of more material set in the show’s universe, even having already written up three treatments for a new series. Still, this won’t be the first time Glitch attempted to spin-off the series; a pilot for a proposed spin-off centered around Theo, titled ''WebAnimation/UltraJumpMania'', premiered on September 4, 2020.

While Season 3 will bring a definitive end to Tari’s story, during a Reddit AMA a week before the premiere, Glitch heavily hinted at the possibility of more material set in the show’s universe, even having already written up three treatments for a new series. Still, this won’t the first time Glitch attempted to spin-off the series; a pilot for a proposed spin-off centered around Theo, titled ''WebAnimation/UltraJumpMania'', premiered on September 4, 2020.

First teased at the end of ''[[Recap/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64BloopersWarOfTheFatItalians2018 War of the Fat Italians 2018]]'' and officially unveiled on December 5, 2018, the ten-episode first season premiered on the [=SMG4=] channel, staring on July 25, 2019, and ending on October 10, 2019. A CompilationMovie of Season 1, subtitled ''New Game+'', released on the standalone Glitch Productions channel on August 28, 2020 as part of the run-up to the second season. Season 2, also ten episodes, was announced to be in development upon the Season 1 finale's release, premiering on the Glitch channel on October 16, 2020 and concluding on December 18, 2020. A third and final season, consisting of eight episodes, was announced to be in development midway through Season 2, and is set to premiere on July 22, 2022.

First teased at the end of ''[[Recap/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64BloopersWarOfTheFatItalians2018 War of the Fat Italians 2018]]'' and officially unveiled on December 5, 2018, the ten-episode first season premiered on the [=SMG4=] channel, staring on July 25, 2019, and ending on October 10, 2019. A CompilationMovie of Season 1, ''Meta Runner New Game+'', released on the standalone Glitch Productions channel on August 28, 2020 as part of the run-up to the second season. Season 2, also ten episodes, was announced to be in development upon the Season 1 finale's release, premiering on the Glitch channel on October 16, 2020 and concluding on December 18, 2020. A third and final season, consisting of eight episodes, was announced to be in development midway through Season 2, and is set to premiere on July 22, 2022.

First teased at the end of ''[[Recap/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64BloopersWarOfTheFatItalians2018 War of the Fat Italians 2018]]'' and officially unveiled on December 5, 2018, the ten-episode first season premiered on the [=SMG4=] channel, staring on July 25, 2019, and ending on October 10, 2019. A CompilationMovie of the first season, ''Meta Runner New Game+'', released on the standalone Glitch Productions channel on August 28, 2020 as part of the run-up to the second season. Season 2, also ten episodes, was announced to be in development upon the Season 1 finale's release, premiering on the Glitch channel on October 16, 2020 and concluding on December 18, 2020. A third and final season, consisting of eight episodes, was announced to be in development midway through Season 2, and is set to premiere on July 22, 2022.