Real Drive - Episode 4

We already know that the Internet is for porn, and it appears that little has changed in the far-flung future of Real Drive, as we learn what the mysterious 'Metal' which has been referred to constantly throughout the opening episodes is all about.

In essence, the Meta-real is a system created to observe and digitise the human consciousness - But, of course, taken to its obvious conclusions, this also makes for the perfect opportunity to explore the full range of human sexual experience, which is what the 'Metal' has become all about for most people, as they look to explore as many different orgasms as possible (who knew there were so many?).

The subject of this particular episode sees Haru attempting to rescue an important businessman who is suffering from a 'brain-down', after becoming lost in his own consciousness in the Metal while looking for some kind of ideal orgasm, which apparently mixes sex, death (err, no thanks) and being a woman (something to do with getting three times as much pleasure, which never has seemed fair).

This is all explored in a pretty solid fashion, with all of the diving references now finally beginning to fit into the concepts on show now we know what's going on. Aesthetically, the series continues to impress with a wonderful blend of technology and some great designs and concepts coupled with some more gritty realism in places, all animated and realised fantastically well.

The scene also appears to be set for the main thread running through the show - With more and more brain-downs beginning to happen, what is the reason for it all? I would wager we'll be seeing some more 'nature and technology collide' concepts in future episodes, and the ending to this particular instalment could well see some kind of bag guy show up on the scene.

While the pieces have now all fallen into place with regard to what's actually going on, it's still a case of 'wait and see' for me regarding how the series will now pan out. As I say it's start has been solid without ever being spectacular, so let's just hope it can run with all of the concepts that have been introduced to create something suitably special.