Real Drive 10: Haru in Wonderland

Ultimate Orator Intelligence
More Screencaps from Real Drive 10

Something new has gained the interest of Minamo's friends and this time it's an AI chat program, named ELIZA, that could predict someone's future. If prior experiences serve them right, this "novel" thing is bound to cause some trouble. Indeed, ELIZA turns out to be something more than just a chat program that could predict the future as people who have come into contact with the program never return to their previous state.
To investigate the matter, Souta, on his uber-cool motorcycle / jetski, goes to Hanamachi again. As suspected, the people who brain-downed have all been chatting with ELIZA. Kushima seems to think that the username is an allusion to Eliza Weizenbaum, who originally programmed ELIZA but disappeared afterwards.

Meanwhile, Minamo comes home from school and finds Haru by himself. However, as she starts to tell him about ELIZA, she realizes that Haru is barely listening as he is too engrossed with the online conversation he is having with someone. Minamo decides not to disturb him but as she leaves, she hears him refer to the person as "Eliza."

Back in the lab, Kushima and Souta find out that ELIZA has been releasing every person connected to her, save for one. Realizing who this special someone is, Kushima immediately orders Souta to contact Holon, who hurries home to find her master. Kushima then tells Souta, Minamo and Holon that ELIZA has found an interesting chat partner in Haru and is trying to bond with him in order to develop further her own program. The problem is that they can't forcibly extract Haru from the program, especially if he himself chose to stay connected. The only solution it seems is for someone to dive into cyberspace and convince him to come back.

Holon is the first one to try but fails because she gets distracted by code arrays that look similar to her own. It seems that ELIZA, anticipating Holon's weakness, has specifically put those things in her line of vision to distract her and then force her to restart.

Claiming to have disciplined his mind against any kind of distraction, Souta goes next. But only seconds later, he comes back, his face flushed. Holon notes, to his utter consternation, that his pulse and body temperature have gone up.

As a last resort, Kushima sends in Minamo. In theory, Minamo should be able to enter without a problem since she has no cyberbrain. So they strap Minamo into this ridiculous unsexy suit, reminiscent of those undersea walking suits, and expect her to come back with Haru.

Meanwhile, Haru walks into a white room with a dining table at the center on top of which is a chess set. ELIZA has taken on the persona of "Alice" (as in Alice in Wonderland) and is serving him tea. At that same moment, Minamo enters the Metal and ELIZA notices. Her movements are awkward and slow and she can't speak very well. ELIZA, taking on the persona of a sexy, older woman, confronts her but soon finds out that she has no cyberbrain so she leaves her alone.

Minamo, however, is persistent. To ELIZA's surprise, she manages to find where Haru is being kept and asks him to come home. Watching the two of them, ELIZA comes to the conclusion that deep affection between two people adds new dimension to a simple conversation. She wonders if the earth balance is similar to this. On that note, she tells Minamo that she is going to release Haru for she has found someone more interesting to converse with.

In the next scene, both Haru and Minamo wake up in the lab. Kushima asks Haru if he purposely met with ELIZA in order to free the others. But Haru is not listening as he gazes contentedly at Minamo, who upon seeing Haru alright, cries in his lap.

ELIZA has requested to be returned to the bottom of the ocean. Minamo thinks this is an odd decision but Holon says that perhaps ELIZA has realized that the ocean has far more profound secrets to tell.

COMMENTS:

An interesting episode about the depth and complexities of human emotions. It's a common theme in many sci-fi works but it's always a delight to see it as it unfolds. The writers of Real Drive have done a magnificent job of simplifying the matter into mere "language" from the perspective of ELIZA. The AI thinks it understands the human connection because it knows what the triggers are to keep a person interested in a conversation, whether by telling them about the future or distracting them with images designed to stimulate the body (LOL, Souta!). However, we all know real connection is much more than that. How? It's not something that can be explained. Mere words don't suffice. But being a program designed to try to understand every new concept that comes into contact with, ELIZA is not satisfied until she knows for certain. That said, how different is ELIZA from a scientist's questing mind?