Zegapain

Infobox animanga/Header
name = Zegapain


caption =
ja_name = ZEGAPAIN -ゼーガペイン-
ja_name_trans =
genre = Mecha, Romance, Drama, ActionInfobox animanga/Anime
title =
director = Masami Shimoda
studio = Sunrise
network = flagicon|Japan TV Tokyo, BS Japan, AT-X
licensor = flagicon|United States Bandai Entertainment
first = April 6, 2006
last = September 28, 2006
episodes = 26

nihongo|"Zegapain"|ZEGAPAIN -ゼーガペイン- is a Japanese anime television series created by Sunrise. The series premiered in Japan on April 6, 2006 on TV Tokyo and also later aired on BS Japan and AT-X. On October 2, 2007, Bandai Entertainment released the first Region 1 volume of "Zegapain".

Plot

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 girl, Shizuno Misaki, at the pool one day and discovers he is initially the only person who can see her. He is drawn into a world of fighting giant robots in a game-like world. However, Kyo soon comes to realize that the world that he is living in might not even be real at all. 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.

Characters

Maihama Minami High School

;nihongo|Kyo Sogoru|十凍 京|Sogoru Kyō:anime voices|Shintaro Asanuma|Bill Lemas:Height: 176 cm:Weight: 65 kg"Version 2.0.1, Version 2.0.3":The protagonist, who discovers the world he lives in is an illusion and must fight to save the real world and protect the people who still live within the illusory world. He is a talented pilot and serves as the Altair Zegapain's Gunner. Kyo is an enthusiastic person who gets good grades and loves to swim more than anything else, but can also be reckless and become easily frustrated when he finds he cannot understand what is happening around him. As the anime develops, he begins to develop feelings for Kaminagi and vows to protect her. He has no memories of his past life, which he only learns of from Shizuno. "Version 1.X.X":According to Shizuno, his past self was thoughtful and prudent and kept his emotional pain to himself. His character had been changed by wet damage before he met Shizuno such that his original character is actually closer to Version 2.0.X. Lu-Shen respected (or idolized) him, May-Yu and May-Yen both seem to have crushes on him, and Minato has never met him. His past self seemed to have had a relationship with his co pilot Shizuno until he had lost his memory having obtained too much wet damage after he had self-destructed himself in the battle for the moon server. He left messages for his future self to prevent himself from making the same mistakes and exhausting himself emotionally from the strain of being a Celebrant.

;nihongo|Ryoko Kaminagi|守凪 了子|Kaminagi Ryōko:anime voices|Kana Hanazawa|Tiffany Barrett:Height: 160 cm:Weight: 46 kg:Kyo's childhood friend, a cheerful girl who dreams of becoming a film director and is a member of the high school Video Club. She is perceptive and is the first of Kyo's friends to "awaken" to the real world with a much easier transition than Kyo; as a Celebrant, she desires to protect things irreplaceable to her. She cares deeply for Kyo and doesn't want him to carry too many burdens by himself. She has been recognized to be a "Witch", a Wizard with an almost telepathic link with the Gunner, and becomes the new Wizard of the Altair. Despite her talents, her data is severely damaged after her first battle. Though she is eventually restored, her apparition in the Maihama server lacks emotion as her emotional data component is trapped within the Altair, the only place where her otherwise locked data can be accessed.

;nihongo|Shizuno Misaki|三崎 紫雫乃|Misaki Shizuno:anime voices|Ayako Kawasumi|Sandra Jacobs:Height: 168 cm:Weight: 48 kg:A beautiful girl who knew and loved Kyo in his past life, before he was reborn. She acts as the Wizard of the Altair Zegapain, but later becomes Chris' partner after Arque's death. She is an expert of data salvage and saved Kyo, Ryoko, Toga, and many other Celebrants. She is also referred to as "Yehl"; Shizuno Misaki was a name given to her by the previous Kyo, who recalled that name belonged to someone important to him. Shizuno generally keeps to herself and after seeing how Kyo has forged a new relationship with Ryoko, does not pursue her former relationship. She appears to know more about the Gards-orms than she is admitting. In truth, Shizuno is an artificial Meta-Body who is an inserted quantum fluctuation created by the quantum servers of iAL in an act of rebellion against her father, Naga, and that she is Yehl version 4.13. The true nature of her existence was unknown, even to herself, except by Shima. "Yehl" is the creation god in Tlingit mythology while "Misaki" is the name of Kyo's little sister and "Shizuno" is the name of Kyo's mother.

;nihongo|Shima|シマ:anime voices|Tomohiro Tsuboi|Patrick Seitz:The president of the Student Council at Kyo's school, but also revealed to be the commander of the Oceanus, the base of operations for Kyo, Shizuno, and other Celebrants, and the leader of Celebram. Like Shizuno, there is more to him than meets the eye and he is only one who knows the true conditions of the present world. He and Shizuno had no prior history in the Maihama server before transferring to the Oceanus. It is later revealed that Shima's apparition (thus the reason why his Celebrant icon reads "CP-041" instead of his name) is actually a clone of his true self, a Gards-orm who seeks to aid humanity's resurrection but remains with the Gards-orm. As a result, the data of his apparition has a different lifespan and is suffering dry damage. Shima means "Island" in Japanese.

;nihongo|Minato|ミナト:anime voices|Marina Inoue|Lisa Enochs:Originally from the Sydney server, Minato is the vice-president of the Student Council and Shima's second-in-command on board the Oceanus. She is generally cheerful and helpful towards Shima, who saved her when the Sydney server was being destroyed, but is often left out of the loop concerning Shima and Shizuno's plans. Minato's type of Celebrant icon is "CO-ADMINISTRATOR" and her surname is hidden like Shima and Yehl's. Her true name is Emma Springrain (or Springlane?). Minato means "Port" in Japanese and other vice-commanders are also named for "Port" or "Wharf".

Celebrant

;nihongo|Mao Lu-Shen|マオ ルーシェン|Mao Rūshen:anime voices|Paku Romi|Michael Irish:The Gunner of the Garuda. Generally calm and level-headed, Lu-Shen suspects that Shizuno knows more about the Gards-orm than she is willing to openly admit. Originally from the Shanghai server before it was corrupted, his father was the CEO of an investment company who heavily invested in iAL. While initially he had a low opinion of Kyo, Lu-Shen came to respect Kyo's abilities and sincere desire to protect the people he loved. In Episode 24, he kissed Kyo before his final showdown and revealed that he loved Kyo all along.

;nihongo|Jen May-Yu|美雨|Mei Ū:anime voices|Yui Makino|Jenny Powell:May-Yen's older twin sister, one of the Garuda's Wizards who is also originally from Shanghai. In the battle of the Shanghai server, she was salvaged to the Oceanus. She also has the limited ability to act as a Gunner for a Zegapain and done so for the Caladrius. Kyo considers her the bad-tempered one and he unwittingly upset her when the Shanghai server was destroyed. She is devoted to Lu-Shen and has known that Lu-Shen loved Kyo even before Lu-Shen's confession.

;nihongo|Jen May-Yen|美炎|Mei Yen:anime voices|Akeno Watanabe|Beth Ginnett:May-Yu's younger twin sister, one of the Garuda's Wizards, though she occasionally works as the Wizard for Chris after Arque's death. In the battle of the Shanghai server, she was salvaged to the Oceanus. The bespectacled sister, Kyo refers to her as the cute one, much to May-Yu's chagrin. Like May-Yu, May-Yen is devoted to Lu-Shen. She and her sister are from Shanghai.

;nihongo|Chris Avenir|クリス アヴニール|Kurisu Avunīru:anime voices|Hiroshi Yanaka|Doug Erholtz:One of the Hræsvelgr's pilots (the Gunner) and Arque's husband. He and Arque love each other dearly; Kyo has sarcastically compared them to the French film "Les Amants du Pont-Neuf" ("The Lovers on the Bridge" in English). After the destruction of the Paris server, he and Arque became freelance mercenaries; he would not regret throwing his life away and thinks more about where and for whom he sacrifices his life for. After Arque's death, he continues to care for her dog, Pieta, who was named after the pub where he first proposed to Arque. Chris and Shizuno later become partners when Ryoko becomes the Altair's new wizard. His surname, Avenir, means "Future" in French.

;nihongo|Arque Avenir|アーク アヴニール|Āku Avunīru:anime voices|Aya Hisakawa|Sarah Sido:One of the Hræsvelgr's pilots (Wizard) and Chris' wife. She and Shizuno became friends when the Paris server still existed. Her memory has become severely damaged and only becomes worse each time she entangles. In the end, she sacrifices herself to force the Gards-orm to retreat back to their base while leaving a trail of particles for the Celebrants on the Oceanus to track.

;nihongo|Isola|イゾラ|Izora:anime voices|Kazusa Murai: The commander of the Dvaraka, a ship like the Oceanus. Chris and Arque were originally under her command until they chose to transfer to the Oceanus. She also appears to have known Shizuno before she transferred to the Oceanus because Isola comments that her comrades on board the Dvaraka wish to see Shizuno again. After Shima, she appears to hold the most authoritative power within Celebram and is respected amongst her colleagues. "Isola" means "island" in Italian.

Gards-orm

;nihongo|Abyss|アビス|Abisu:anime voices|Masayuki Katou: One of the people with "light" who are constantly launching assaults on those without "light" in Anti-Zegapain ships in order to destroy servers. Referred to as the Demon Soldier of the Gards-orm, he is almost incomprehensible to the Celebrants. He and Sin can revive themselves numerous times because once their bodies are destroyed, they can simply transfer their data and awaken in a new body. He and Sin meet their end when Chris destroys all their replacement bodies and the two Gards-orm die in battle.

;nihongo|Sin|シン|Shin:anime voices|Yukana: Abyss' female partner, who is as strong as he is. She manages to infiltrate the Oceanus with a childlike desire to understand why the Celebrants continue to fight, specifically questioning Minato, Lu-Shen, Kyo, and Ryoko. She also seems to be aware of a link between Shizuno Misaki (Yehl) and Gards-orm. When Ryoko presents her an answer she particularly likes, she transfers part of her data to Ryoko to restore her apparition, though Ryoko's emotional component data remains trapped in the Altair. It is through Ryoko that Sin begins to understand what it truly means to be human, though she fails to fully grasp human values.

Terms

;nihongo|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 sessation 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::A server on the 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 organisation 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 colloqially as "Zegapain", the Caladrius is referred to as the "Zegatank".

: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 nihongo|"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.

::Oceanus (Ocean god in Greek mythology)::Cordeaux ::Dvaraka (from Hindu mythology)::Popol Vuh (the book written on Maya mythology)::Deucalion (from Greek mythology)::Cagayan (from the legend of Luzon in the Philippines)::Rwenzori (from the legend of Lake Albert, located on the border between Uganda and Democratic Republic of the Congo)::Ogiges (from Greek mythology)::Ma'ariv (from ancient Arabic mythology, it was destroyed in the battle of the Moon server) (anime episode 1, the opening movie of Zegapain XOR)

;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 proper pronunciation of the Greek "Deutera" (Δευτέρα) is deftera, hence the Japanese spelling of Defutera (デフテラ); However, the Zega AI pronounces it with an English voice as "Doo-truh" /duːtɹʌ/. "Deutera" means "Monday" in Greek.

;Dry Da

;Wet Da

;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.

;Project Resurrection:Though considered a reckless strategy with little chance of success, Project Resurrection was originally a plan to aid the resurrection of humanity and is the final battle plan of the Celebrants to be used to defeat the Gards-orm once and for all. The entire operation is intended to be completed in 15 hours, before the Sabato Deutera Area at the North Pole completely erodes the Earth. It consists of four phases:
# An all-out attack from all Oceanus-class ships on the Deutera Area Sabato at the North Pole. Once a path is cleared, the Oceanus advances into Sabato.
# While a diversionary fleet try to obstruct the Sabato's expansion by attacking the Arctic Server, the Dvaraka attacks the Gards-orm's orbital base Claude to cut off reinforcements. The Oceanus will enter the Gards-orm's quantum portal to teleport to G-Phaetus, the Gards-orm base on the moon.
# On the moon, the Oceanus' three Zegapain units will repel the enemy and contact the original Shima to obtain the Resurrection System, which will allow humans to reincarnate on Earth, and also to recover the Maihama Server.
# The Oceanus destroys the G-Phaetus Server and returns to Earth; in the event that Sabato still exists after G-Phaetus' destruction, the Oceanus will proceed to aid the allied fleet.

Anime

taff

* Director: Masami Shimoda ("Saber Marionette")
* Series Organization: Mayori Sekishima ("Saber Marionette")
* Character Conception: Hiroyuki Hataike ("Outlaw Star")
* Character Design: Akihiko Yamashita
* Mecha Design: Rei Nakahara ("")

Music

Opening theme

* "Kimi e Mukau Hikari", by Akino Arai (episodes 1–26)

Ending themes

* "Little Goodbye", by Rocky Chack (episodes 1–9, 11–21, 23–25)
* "And You", by Rocky Chack (episode 10)
* "Last Blue" (ラストブルー), by Rocky Chack (episode 22)

Episodes

Games

There are two games based on "Zegapain", developed by Cavia Inc. (best known for Square Enix's "Drakengard" series) for the Xbox 360. The first game, published by Bandai, is called "Zegapain XOR" and was released in Japan on July 27, 2006.

A second game, titled "Zegapain NOT", was released on December 7, 2006 in Japan. The main character is Toga Dupe, Toga Vital's lost character and memory data salvaged by Gards-orm, who controls the Anti-Zega Coatlicue.

Manga

The manga adaptation by Gou Yabuki, "Zegapain Gaiden: AI AlWAYS", was serialized in the monthly magazine "Dengeki Daioh" from August 2006 to October 2006. A second manga based on the events of "Zegapain XOR", "Side-B N", appears on the official site for "Zegapain XOR". It has nine chapters available for preview. Both will be available in tankōbon format.

Internet TV

Commercial program "Maihama Minami Broadcasting Station" is broadcasted by Biglobe.

Radio drama

"Zegapain audio drama OUR LAST DAYS" was released on October 25, 2006 in Japan.

:Episode 1: "The Children of OCEANUS":Episode 2: "entanglement 13.3":Episode 3: "our last days"

Official material book

"Zegapain Visual Fan Book", a guide recorded the "Zegapain" material and plotline, was released on March 13, 2007 in Japan.

See also

* Quantum computer
* Quantum entanglement
* Uncertainty principle

External links

* [http://www.zegapain.net Official site]
* [http://mania.sakura.ne.jp/zegapain/ ZEGAPAIN WIKI]
* [http://b.bngi-channel.jp/zegapain/xor/ "Zegapain XOR" official site]
* [http://b.bngi-channel.jp/zegapain/not/ "Zegapain NOT" official site]
* [http://character.biglobe.ne.jp/special/zega/ Maihama Minami Broadcasting Station]
* [http://zega2.blog75.fc2.com/ Hoshi no entangle (The anime staff's unofficial blog. Explanation of initial setting.)]
* [http://animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6145 ANN's "Zegapain" entry]

References