Introduction
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.
(Source: Production I.G)
Audience reviews
8 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Recynon
"The problem with RD is that you expect Ghost in the Shell, and instead get Aria the Animation."
"Actually, you get their bastard child, but oh well..."
-Anidb comments
The first statement wasn't fair, but the second one was more accurate. I just wouldn't refer to it as a bastard child of slice of life and scifi, because there's no intrinsic reason that this wouldn't work.
It seems a lot of people were disappointed with this series because of its episodic slice-of-life approach centering around a teenage girl with no technical ability, as opposed to an action show utilizing the cyber world promised in the description as a set piece. After all, this is a project authored by Masamune Shirow of Ghost in the Shell SAC fame. I can understand not liking its slow paced approach and bland ch…
Read at the sourcegregaubry
This is a classic case of marketing not selling a show based on what the show actually was, and I think that threw off a lot of people's expectations. Given Production I.G. and Masamune Shirow's involvement, people were likely expecting something along the lines of Stand Alone Complex.
The show is actually slice-of-life with sci-fi elements in the background. And I loved that. While there's an overarching plot lingering in the background, the majority of the runtime is enjoyable characters having low-stakes, personal adventures in a vivid, brightly colored and mostly optimistic future world.
The production values are high and I liked the more zaftig approach to the character designs.
I keep hoping Sentai Filmworks or Discotek will nab this for a US Blu-ray release! Real Drive deserves t…
Read at the sourceggultra2764
Real Drive depicts a series of episodic and storyline-driven cases where a group of cyber divers are tasked with diving into the cybernetic network known as the Metal when delving into any cybernetic-related cases. Throughout the series, each case tends to vary from the mundane to the serious which can involve anything from Minamo's school life to more serious cases that require physical work from Souta and Holon. It also serves to explore various implementations of how the Metal can affect the lives of the island residents for legitimate and illegal activity, in the same vain the Ghost in the Shell franchise explores how the lines between being human or machine are blurred with the cyborg members of Section 9. Essentially, Shirow Masamune is the creator of this series and his heavy dabbli…
Read at the sourceSerenelune
My first review. Shirow Masamune's collaborative work with Production I.G. about a diver who awakens 50 years later from an accident that left him in a coma. Now, despite the assumptions of the staff involved, please do not come into this series with Ghost in the Shell in mind. I believe the reason why so many people who initially reviewed this anime did not like it was because they came in expecting Ghost in the Shell: Sea Adventures, or a more action-paced series. This is what turned off many from appreciating this show for what it was.
That said, this anime focuses mostly on the character dynamics and philosophical questions about technology and its implications on human relationships and society. Minamo is an ordinary teenager, one of the few in the series NOT equipped with a cyberbr…
Read at the sourceAkaike
RD is a sci fi/cyberpunk anime that is highly reminiscent of Ghost in the shell. It also sends out the same message in regards to a person's humanity (what is it that makes us human?) and the overall effects of humanity on the world around us. Real Drive is probably one of the more "ethical" animes that I have seen recently.
The show comes with a variety of characters, including androids and "cyber-brained" people. So, unless it's watched from very early on, you can easily confuse between the two. I doubt that this is the sort of anime that you can start watching in later episodes. It's set, for the most part, in the future - mankind has harnessed the power of robotics (hence the afore mentioned androids and cyber-brained individuals). Here, there exists "The Metal or Metal Real" - someth…
Read at the sourcexMatronxMalicex
Story
Real Drive is tough to write a review for. As promising as this series is, it has a major downfall: it can't find its balance. The 1st and 2nd episodes are a great start, giving you all of this information and an interesting and slightly mysterious lead in Haru. I found myself immediately wanting to know more about the Artificial Island these characters inhabit, and, most of all, about what exactly happened 50 years ago to Haru. While the main character may be Haru, this series really switches the focus up after the 4th ep. After that, it becomes Minamo's show until a little past the half way mark, becoming a really drab slice of life with the story left on the back burner. Once it hits that later part of the series, though, it ramps up and you start to get a story again. It's a real…
Read at the sourcemecorx
Okay, so after having just completed the whole anime series and seeing that, of the people who wrote reviews, nobody had seen the entire thing prior to writing them. I have decided to write this! Please be aware, this review details the nature of the various elements of the anime, it does not specifically reference any parts of the anime. I don't think describing an anime is called spoiling, or is it? If so, I apologize, please tell me how to better censor myself in the future.
Without further ado, the review:
This is really one of those Anime that goes into extensive detail to get the audience to understand the world of Masamune Shirow. True to the other series that he has created, his limitless imagination and creation of technology surfaces once again; this time we are introduced to t…
Read at the sourceRandomOugi
*Review completely rewritten as of 11/06/08*
Real Drive is a sci-fi series that deals with the impacts of the dependence on the Internet(the Meta Real Network, in the setting) on society, other than focusing on the effects on single individuals.
Set in 2061, it seems to expect a slower evolution of human technology then we see on other similar works. The story mostly occurs on an artificial island that is itself built as the pinnacle of the present technology, but most of it's design and features are not something one would be surprised to find on an high-tech experimental facility today.
The plot starts very slowly, with single episodes depicting the life of the protagonists on the island and interesting events that occur to them mostly on their jobs, as all are somehow connected to a…
Read at the source