Real Drive 04: It means "living thing"

Episode 04: Atoll of Desire Inside
More Screencaps from Real Drive 04
Minamo and Haru are hitting it off great so Haru now wants Minamo to be his full-time diver buddy. Souta takes exception to this while Holon, the android, takes it like it's the most natural thing in the world. She has even registered Minamo as Haru's second employee.

Their conversation is interrupted with the appearance of a man from some government division. This man -- dressed in Matrix-style flowing black overcoat and a mustache! -- couldn't possibly appear more official. He says his friend, a Bob something-or-other (who turns out to be an important executive of the company behind the Metal Real), has brain-downed after surfing Metal for pr0n. Yes, people, you read it right.

So now, Mustache dude, with Kushima's recommendation, wants Haru's help to rescue Bob. The thing is, the whole operation is extremely dangerous. The first diver who was sent in to help Bob also brain-downed. In fact, it was Haru who had to extract this diver from Metal. Haru, however, remains optimistic.
Worried over Haru's latest mission, Minamo tries to find out more about Metal. She goes to meet the diver who brain-downed and find out from him what it was like when he was inside Bob's pr0n world. The diver says that he saw a naked avatar that looked like one of those sold in Hanamachi Street, a seedy part of the island that is so seedy even the robotic police stationed in the area have ceased to function.

Souta arrives just then, presumably to ask the diver the same thing. He and Minamo end up going to Hanamachi together. But once there, Souta tells Minamo to go back to Haru and let him (Souta) handle the avatar thing. Of course, he doesn't say it quite like that. But eventually, Minamo gets his point and goes back alone.

Meanwhile, Haru has already entered Metal Real. It looks like a beach party but with everything frozen in time. He realizes quickly that it is a mask and the real pr0n world is hidden somewhere. True enough, the beach image start to disintegrate and Haru finds himself standing in front golden statues of nekkid women (Oscar's harem???) and Bob's avatar -- a red-haired woman.
Then follows a lengthy explanation of how the female form is capable of sustaining orgasm at a higher level. This delivered in proper mechanical speech by Holon. Kushima instructs Haru to "dive" and Haru does exactly that. But upon entering Bob's pr0n world, he is nearly sucked in by a whirlpool of Bob's "consciousness."

Back in Hanamichi, Souta is questioning a prostitute. She doesn't appear too receptive so he slips her some money and after taking it, she then points at a place. Souta finds himself in some kind of tunnel. After beating the guys up, he then approaches a nerd cowering under the table and asks him if he is the person who sold Bob the avatar.
Minamo arrives at the lab. But she's too late since Haru has already been sucked into the whirlpool. Haru now finds himself in a dark place. Someone hugs him from behind -- it's Bob's avatar! And she's h0'ny. -_- Her touch causes some kind of infection to spread through Haru's body, eating through his suit.

Kushima and his harem lose Haru's signal. Minamo then relays to Kushima a message from Souta, saying that Bob is using a combination of teh seks avatar and a near-death experience program. This explains the black state that Haru is in. Upon learning that Souta has gone to Hanamachi alone, he sends Holon for back-up.

In Hanamachi, Souta encounters several goons who aren't too happy to find him invading their turf. He gets to unload a couple of bullets just before Holon arrives and proceeds to kick the bad guys' asses. Then, after all of them are down, Holon turns to Souta, all genki-like, to tell him that he should go back with her to the lab.
Back in Metal Real, Haru is thinking that he is going to die right there in Bob's perverted world in the arms of Bob's perverted avatar. Fortunately, Minamo's loud shouting gets through to him and something ridiculous happens -- he sees a light. He swims towards it with Bob's avatar in tow.

After all this is over, Kushima and Mustache dude have a talk about the increase of brain-downs since the accident in the island. Kushima still has no solution to the problem, which means Haru is in for a lot of hard work, rescuing sick, perverted weirdos. Haru and Minamo don't seem bothered by it though as this recent experience strengthen the bond the two seem to share.

COMMENTS:

I'm wondering if it's possible that Haru is Minamo's father. In Episode 2, there is a picture of a younger Haru with Minamo's mother and it made me go hmmm.

This episode was not half-bad. Love the fight scenes. So fast, such a bitch to cap. Holon is creepy.