Zegapain

Kyo Sogoru, a high school boy living in a city called Maihama, leads a normal life of school, romance, and the swim club. Kyo's life changes when he sees a beautiful girl, Shizuno Misaki, at the pool one day and discovers he is initially the only person who can see her. In order to keep his high school's swimming club open by recruiting more members, Kyo hopes to enlist Shizuno to appear in a promo video shot by Kyo's close friend, Ryoko. Shizuno agrees, but on the condition that he does something for her in exchange – pilot a mecha for an organization known as Cerebrum.

Agreeing to her request, Kyo is drawn into a world of fighting giant robots in a game-like world that he must save from Deutera Areas formed by aliens known as Gards-orm that threaten to destroy the earth. However, Kyo soon comes to realize that the world that he is living in might not even be real at all and begins to find that everything he is doing is strangely familiar. As he questions the nature of the reality he lives in, Kyo must continue to fight in order to protect the lives of those important to him.

The anime series was compiled and released on 9 DVD sets from 2006 to 2007. The series was released on Blu-ray boxset in September 2010.

• META-Body (幻体 gentai) Data: Human data stored within a quantum server. The data is a representation of human memory, thought, personality, physical characteristics, etc. Due to simple parameter aggregation, meta bodies are, in general, unable to leave the server. Meta bodies are maintained in the state at which the data was originally saved in the server, thus never age, as well as being unable to advance. When needed for battle, the meta body data can be quantum transferred to a Zegapain, where they can only interact with other holographic elements in the immediate area around the Zegapain.

• Quantum Server: Servers in which human and city quantum data is stored. At the present time, to prevent the detection of the servers by the Gards-Orm, the individual servers are not data-linked. Without the use of special processes, the meta-body data contained within the servers are unable to be extracted. However, in the process of preserving the operation of meta body data, the server simulates the essential data only. Due to technical limitations, the simulation of infinite time is impossible, and as such the simulation runs within a fixed time frame (approximately 150 days). When this limit is reached, all data (history, memories, etc.) are reset to their initial state of the simulated time frame. In the case of the Maihama server, the time frame of April 5 to August 31 is repeated. In episode 15, during the Maihama reset, it was mentioned that the server had undergone nearly 100 cycles. Fully awakened Celebrants are unaffected by the server reset. The cycle is extended to a year after Kyo and Shizuno manage to bring the resurrection system and the Maihama server back to Earth. At first, approximately 300 servers were constructed to store about 3000 Meta-Body data, but as revealed in episode 16 by a conversation between Lemures and Minato, the Gards-Orm have destroyed a large number of the servers, leaving eleven operational. It was confirmed that 3 servers and 650 meta bodies were lost in the previous two months.

• • Maihama Server: The server simulating Maihama City. The server stores approximately 600 persons (approximately 400 Meta-Bodies actually act) in a 5 kilometre radius. Many of the Meta-Bodies within the Maihama server are students because the real Maihama Minami High School was used as a refuge before the city was isolated on August 31, 2022. Most of Maihama's inhabitants, other than the students who had come to the school for clubs, died from the Orm virus before reaching the refuge. Shima, Shizuno, and Kyo (previous version) moved the server from its location in Maihama to the Gards-Orm stronghold on the moon.

• • Shanghai Server: The server simulating Shanghai, the hometown of May-Yu, May-Yen, and Lu-Shen. A number of years prior, the Gards-Orm caused the cessation of the server's operation and it became corrupted. In episode 4, when the server was in danger of being engulfed by a Def-terraformed sphere, May-Yu and May-Yen attempted to evacuate the data, but were unable to complete the procedure before the server was completely destroyed under the effects of the def-terraformed sphere.

• • G-Phaetus:The server on the near side moon and the birthplace of the Gards-orm; like other Gards-orm servers, it runs on accelerated time. After a failed all-out attack by humans, the Gards-orm moved most of their facilities to Earth. All that remains on the moon is their old headquarters, though the defense mechanisms remain functional and prevent the Celebrants from directly attacking it. It is destroyed during Project Resurrection.

• Celebrant: A member of Celeblum, a person who "awakens" from the simulated world and becomes able to see that their surrounding is simulated. He/She is accepted into Celeblum once he/she is fully "awakened".

• Celeblum: An organization which exists to protect the inhabitants of the quantum servers. Celeblum was organized shortly after Kuroshio awakened as a Celebrant, which occurred after the Shizuoka server had looped eight times.

• Holonic Loader: A generic term of Zegapain Altair, Garuda, Hræsvelgr, Caladrius and any other human-like robots which operate by loading a Meta-body. The loaded Meta-body receives slight dry damage and wet damage from entanglement. Originally, the Holonic Loaders were developed to repair the quantum server.

• Zegapain: A giant fighting robot developed by Shima and the other twelve commanders of Oceanus-class ships. There are four varieties and are named for birds in mythology or birds of constellation. While the Altair, Garuda, and Hræsvelgr are referred to colloquially as "Zegapain", the Caladrius is referred to as the "Zegatank". The anime staff says "Zegapain" is "是我痛" in kanji. "是" is "affirmation", "我" is "I", and "痛" is "pain" in English. Episode 24 of the anime provides a Japanese translation of the term Zegapain as "Great Pain" (大いなる痛み ōi naru Itami).

• • Gunner: A pilot in control of the movements and weapons of a Zegapain. Most Gunners are male, though some females, like May-Yu, possess the talent to act as a Gunner.

• • Wizard: A pilot in control of switching weapons, monitoring battle information, and the technical maintenance of the Zegapain. Wizards who possesses an almost telepathic link with the Gunner as a result of a strong bond which allows their data to mesh are referred to as witches. Ryoko is one such pilot and is capable of predicting and modifying the Zegapain according to what Kyo needs in battle without him asking. Wizards are usually female, though it is not impossible for a male to possess the ability to act as a Wizard.

• Oceanus Class Ship: The base of activity for Celebrants when they are in the real world, developed from Gards-orm technology created by Shima. Celebram began with thirteen ships, but have been reduced to eight ships by the time Project Resurrection is executed. Most Oceanus Class ships appear to have names associated with flood mythology.

• GARDS-ORM: The enemy of Celebram. They also live in a quantum server as a META-Body Data, but can have the technology which allows the creation of evolved real bodies and countless revivals as long as their spare bodies are intact. Time within the GARDS-ORM servers are accelerated, so their technology is more advanced than that of the Celebram. Surprisingly, the Gards-orm originally focused most of their technological progress on developing their evolution and advancement to extrasolar planet and only turned to developing more powerful weapons when the Meta-bodies unexpectedly began to emerge as Celebrants. The etymology is Midgardsormr, a serpent of the Norse mythology and GARDS-ORM's robots are named for the snake or the annelid.

• A def-terraformed sphere (or DEFTERA AREA):A spherical area where the GARDS-ORM conducted terraforming experiments. The core is an automaton which rewrites the quantum data of the areas absorbed. In these areas, various ecosystems formed and human beings became creatures like Sin and Abyss, who are unable to feel any pain. The Greek pronunciation of "Deutera" (Δευτέρα) is [ðefˈtera], hence the Japanese spelling of Defutera (デフテラ); However, the Zega AI anglicizes it as /ˈdjuːtrə/ dew-trə. Deutera means "Monday" in Greek.

• Damage
  • Dry Damage: Damage taken to a Celebrant's physical form. This type of damage can be repaired using average META-body DATA of humans.
  • Wet Damage: Damage taken to a Celebrant's memories. This type of damage is not easily recovered.

• DATA Salvage: The attempted recovery of an apparition data in the event of a transmission failure during quantum transfer.

• A.I.Character: An artificial intelligence programmed by Shima, presented with a 2-dimensional holographic form. They can seem as if they have "intelligence", but they are only programs that innumerably collect human reactive patterns so they don’t have a core that feels Qualia and a Cartesian theater that is the center of consideration (Philosophical zombie).

• QL: Fuel in this world. QL stands for 'Quantum Loaded energy'.

• Holonic Armor: The armor of Holonic Loader. It is projected as a concentrated element of light. It cannot be destroyed as long as QL remains. However, the armor can be 'cancelled' using a light wave with an opposing wave.

• Holonic Armor Canceller: The weapon of Anti-Zega Coatlicue. It can make the Holonic Armor useless by projecting a light wave with an opposing phase.

• Holo-Bolt: The new weapon of the Holonic Loader. Kyo uses this as 'Holobolt Pressure', Toga uses this as 'Holobolt Gravity' and Lu-Shen uses this as 'Holobolt Breaker'. 'Holobolt Pressure' destroyed the Anti-Zega Coatlicue's Holonic Armor. It uses all the QL.

• Quantum Portal: The Gards-orm's quantum teleport system. The Celebram's quantum transfer system can only transfer comparatively simple things and data and transferred things and data are certainly deteriorated, but quantum portal can completely transfer everything including lives. The Anti-Zega Mayindie has also this system and can teleport oneself and infinitely replenish the QL from it.

• iAL Company: Initium Art Laboratory, originally a report company that also that invested a great deal in other industries, especially biotechnology and military industries. Lu-Shen's father, the CEO of the Mao Enterprise Group, was one of the main sponsors of iAL and their contributions allowed survivors of the Orm Virus to take refuge in quantum computers; Lu-Shen believes that these acts actually make them partly responsible for humanity's extinction. iAL rose to become the world's most powerful company, with Naga as the iAL's CEO and the company built a huge laboratory in the surface of the moon. Celebram confirms that Naga, using the Orm Virus as a biological weapon, is responsible for forcing humanity into quantum computers as experimental material to pursue his vision of "infinite evolution".

• Orm Virus: The retrovirus created by Naga to force humans become Meta-Bodies as the only means of survival. The infection is highly contagious and able to spread from one carrier to another in very little time. An infected person dies after being rendered into a coma within half a day; the fatality rate is 98% and even if a person survives, the individual's genetic information is completely destroyed. The Orm virus was discovered in around 2020, and destroyed the human race in about two years.

Two Xbox 360 games based on the anime have been released in Japan. The first, Zegapain XOR, was released in July 2006. The second, Zegapain NOT, a follow-up to Zegapain XOR, was released on December 7, 2006. Both titles were developed by Cavia and published by Bandai Namco Games.

The first game, published by Bandai, is called Zegapain XOR and was released in Japan on July 27, 2006. The game is similar in nature to Zone of the Enders. A mech action game, the player controls Cerebrant Toga Vital and the plot runs parallel to the events of the anime. Zegapain XOR is set on the Oceanus-class ship Dvaraka and commanded by Isola, a recurring character in the anime series. Several characters who appear in the game make brief appearances in the anime series.

A second game, titled Zegapain NOT, was released on December 7, 2006 in Japan. Also based on the anime series, Zegapain NOT is a sequel and companion to Zegapain XOR and continues the storyline of the previous game. The game features a special online mode that allows for cross-disc online play, enabling players with Zegapain XOR to play against players with Zegapain NOT. The game has over 3,000 ways to customize your character.

The main character is Toga Dupe, Toga Vital's lost character and memory data salvaged by Gards-orm, who controls the Anti-Zega Coatlicue. The story is set and told from the point of view of the Gards-orm, the antagonists to the heroes in the anime and Zegapain XOR.

• Simulated reality
• Simulated reality in fiction

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• Gifford, Kevin (October 2007). "Zegapain Vol 1". Newtype USA. Vol. 6 no. 10. p. 94. ISSN 1541-4817.
• Kimlingler Carl (October 24, 2007). "Zegapain DVD 1". Anime News Network.
• "Hands-On With Zegapain". IGN. August 1, 2006.

• (in Japanese) Official site
• (in Japanese) Zegapain XOR official site
• (in Japanese) Zegapain NOT official site
• (in Japanese) Maihama Minami Broadcasting Station
• Zegapain (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia