RPG Metanoia



RPG Metanoia is a computer-animated film released in 2010, the first to come out from the Philippines.

Nico is an avid player of the incredibly popular MMORPG Metanoia, where he plays as the wandering vagabond Zero. Unfortunately, that's the only thing he does well, but he doesn't let that stop him from enjoying the game with his friends; that is, until he's forced to realize just how much he's missing out on life in the real world. Worse yet, a malignant virus begins to spread around Metanoia, and Nico may be the only one capable of stopping it...

Roughly four to five years in the making, the film was surprisingly good, and showed at the 2010 Manila film festival. Any Pinoy fan of animation should definitely give it a watch.


 * AI Is a Crapshoot
 * Big Bad
 * Calling Your Attacks - Strongly averted, except for a few instances.
 * Chekhov's Gun - A lot, actually.
 * Conveniently-Timed Attack From Behind
 * Cyberspace - Although it doesn't take up majority of the screentime anyway.
 * Dare to Be Badass
 * Digital Avatar
 * Final Battle
 * Fridge Brilliance
 * Why does the film's framerate dip at times inconsistently despite being computer-animated? Why even release it when no other such animated film has let that happen? Then Nico remarks about how low-tech his computer is, and you realize that the framerate only drops in scenes inside Metanoia, not all computers can keep an MMO going at 60 fps, and the animators may have successfully given a good excuse for any technological limitations they had.
 * Does anyone else think that everyone else was offered the mask by their avatars? And that accepting it was what made you vulnerable to the subliminal messages sent by Metanoia? And that was why all the converted characters wire them as well?
 * Genius Bonus - Actually, Nationality Bonus would suit it better. Anyone who hasn't lived in the Philippines probably won't know the (real life) games that the characters play around the middle of the film.
 * Instant Knots - Zero seems to be able to knot his yo-yo around pretty much anything.
 * Instant Runes - Oh, plenty, mostly when magic attacks are shot out or blocked.
 * Just a Kid - Averted, but you can't help but wonder just how old all the other players in Metanoia are compared to Nico and the gang.
 * Ki Attacks - K'mao
 * MacGuffin
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero
 * Only Six Faces - Subverted; every player in Metanoia seems to have a unique look.
 * Part-Time Hero - Well, it is still a game, as opposed to their real-life selves.
 * Punched Across the Room - Quite a lot of this in the final battle.
 * Role Playing Game Verse
 * Shown Their Work - There's a lot of Filipino details scattered around the film.
 * Variant Chess - Metanoia has a really odd version of Sudoku...
 * Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys? - In-game, that is.
 * Workplace-Acquired Abilities - Daniel's (K'mao) liking for Sudoku comes in handy pretty early.
 * You Can't Thwart Stage One - To the extent that not even the developers of the game can stop the virus.