The series focuses on an amnesiac girl named Tari, who discovers that she has the ability to warp inside video games, and comes across and helps an undercover group called MD-5 in their mission to expose the corrupt company TAS Corp. A pilot for a spin-off show titled Ultra Jump Mania, based on the fictional video game of the same name in the show, was released on 4 September 2020, but it was not picked up for a full season.
Among members of society are Meta Runners, individuals who have replaced their limbs with cybernetic arms that allow them to boost their gaming performance.
The series tells the story of Tari, a Meta Runner who was the subject of an experiment called Project Blue, led by Dr. Sheridan, a TAS Corp scientist.
The last thing Tari can remember is a sudden accident causing an explosion in the lab that seemingly kills Sheridan and his test subject, Lucinia Porter.
The first early design of Tari was for her to be a robot instead of a cyborg, an antenna on top of her head, headphones, a simple jacket with a love heart stitched onto it and a d-pad for her right eye.
Eventually, Tari was redesigned as a human cyborg with a white vest with the Meta Runner emblem, which was based on the blue jay’s wing.
Meta Runner was first teased at the end of the SMG4 episode, "War of the Fat Italians 2018", depicting the character Theo and the date 5 December 2018.
After the finale on September 9, 2022, a comic series, entitled "Meta Runner: Source" was announced, appearing to go through the backstory of Lucinia Porter.
The group tries to escape, but they are cornered by a furious Lucks and the TASCorp security personnel, who subdue Tari, Lamar, and Theo.
After Lucks traps Theo in a frozen state in a memory card, he threatens to destroy him if MD-5 causes trouble again or Tari starts to show signs of disloyalty.
He explains that she entered a coma and was unable to recover due to parts of her consciousness being missing, having been lost to the server or merged into the AI that Sheridan was developing.
Marco is sidetracked trying to get revenge on Masa, and after getting eliminated, he sets out to destroy Sheridan’s server to ensure the safety of the warped Meta Runners.
Evelyn makes Theo disintegrate by essentially squeezing him to death and gloats to a distraught Tari about it, but this brings Masa’s mind back.
He strangles Sheridan in the lab, who breaks free and stabs him in the neck with a screwdriver before Masa’s arm explodes, causing the device hooked to Belle to stop working.
Sheridan and Sofia fight for control over the server, assisting Lucinia and Tari respectively by providing various video game items for them to use.
Tari decides to use the machine in the lab to sacrifice herself and restore Lucinia's consciousness, bidding a final goodbye to Sofia.