Sûmaran

Sûmaran

May 6, 2008 TV Episode RD Sennô Chôsashitsu

English title: Sous Marin / item

Series titles: RD 潜脳調査室, RD Senno

Studio
Production I.G, DNDP, VAP
Animation studio
Production I.G
Distributor
Nippon Television Network Corporation

Synopsis

Minamo's elder brother Sota Aoi frequents a practical fighting community within the Meta-Real Network and tries to improve his skills. He goes to see the android Holon to find the reason for his loss. At the same time, Minamo is looking for a pair of sunglasses by Sous-Marin brand, which used to be trendy items among divers decades before, and are now considered rare pieces for collectors. She hopes to give the pair to Haru for the opening of his office. This type of shades is also a trademark of Iron Schwartz, the undefeated champion of the practical fighting community. But while Minamo is looking for a Sous-Marin, a scream echoes on the island...

Characters

Masamichi Haru, Minamo Aoi, Sota Aoi, Holon, Eichiro Kushima, Secretary General, Sayaka, Yukino

Credits

Directing

Director
Toshiyuki Yahagi
Series Director
Kazuhiro Furuhashi

Writing

Writer
Yasuyuki Muto

Animation

Animator
Toru Okubo (Animation Director)

Voices

Voice
Katsuji Mori (Masamichi Haru), Kanae Oki (Minamo Aoi), Hiroki Takahashi (Sota Aoi), Ayako Kawasumi (Holon), Keiji Fujiwara (Eichiro Kushima), Tsuru Hiromi (Secretary General), Akeno Watanabe (Sayaka), Ai Nonaka (Yukino)

Editing

Editor
Daisuke Imai

Crew

In collaboration with
CROSSROAD
Series Composition
Junichi Fujisaku
Art Director
Miho Isshiki
Character Design
Tetsuro Ueyama
Prop Design
Tomomi Ozaki
Color Design
Idumi Hirose
Director of Photography
Koji Tanaka
3D Director
Makoto Endo
Special Effects
Masahiro Murakami
Music
Yoshihisa Hirano, Hideki Taniuchi

Companies and other credits

  • Original Story: Production I.G/Shirow Masamune
  • Future Visualis: t: Atsushi Takeuchi

Production notes

After the world-hit "Ghost in the Shell" animation franchise and following the highly anticipated "Ghost Hound," Production I.G and manga artist Shirow Masamune collaborated once more in creating the world of "Real Drive" (original title: "RD Senno Chosashitsu").

This neo-futuristic SF suspense animation TV series was directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi of "Le Chevalier D'Eon" fame, while the screenplay was entrusted to Junichi Fujisaku, director of "Blood+" and scriptwriter for many episodes of the "Ghost in the Shell S.A.C." series. Manga artist Tetsuro Ueyama ("Metal Guardian Faust") was in charge for the character designs.

2061 AD. Fifty years have passed since mankind developed the Network society. It was anticipated that this new infrastructure would realize a utopia where people connected with each other at the level of consciousness. However, new social problems such as personal data leaks and proliferation of manipulated information began to surface. Nevertheless, people still relied on the Network to exchange information, and proved unable to opt to abandon it.

In due course, a new Network realm with more effective security measures was developed. This was called Meta-Real Network, usually abbreviated as "the Metal."

The Metal accommodated personal memory data within protected virtual stand-alone organic cyber enclaves called bubble shells and eventually pervaded the everyday lives of people.

However, people gradually learned to release and explode their instincts within the secure environment of the Metal. The unleashed instincts pushed each individual's consciousness to drown in the sea of information and to be exposed to the pressures of desire. Meanwhile, norms and regulations continued to bind their real world lives. Thus, strange friction between the two worlds began to manifest themselves as aberrations beyond the bounds of the imaginable.

Experts who challenged the deep sea of the Metal to investigate and decipher such aberrations were called cyber divers.

This is a story of a cyber diver, Masamichi Haru, who investigates the incidents that lie between Reality and the Metal.