is a single-episode

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

which was created to celebrate the fifth anniversary of ''

NetRunner ''Netrunner'' is an out-of-print collectible card game (CCG) designed by Richard Garfield, the creator of ''Magic: The Gathering''. It was published by Wizards of the Coast and introduced in April 1996. The game took place in the setting for the ...

'' magazine. ''NetRunner'' is a controversial publication since some articles promote hacking. Characters that are used to promote the magazine and are sold as merchandise have been taken directly from Hiroyuki's

2channel , also known as 2ch, Channel 2, and sometimes retrospectively as 2ch.net, was an anonymous Japanese textboard founded in 1999 by Hiroyuki Nishimura. Described in 2007 as "Japan's most popular online community", the site had a level of influe ...

community. Hiroyuki himself is a character of ''Netrun-mon'', one of the many references to Internet fandom in Japan that the anime is based upon.

Characters

The heroes of the story are two ducks, BB Runner (voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi) and his younger sister Ranna (voiced by

Atsuko Enomoto is a Japanese voice actress and singer. Her debut voice acting role was Yukino Miyazawa from ''Kare Kano'' in 1998, which she auditioned for while still in high school. Her debut single was ''Be My Angel'' the opening theme of the 2001 anime Ang ...

). They are original characters created by ''

''. They appear on the night before a deadline in the offices of NetRunner magazine, while the employees sleep, to complete their work for them.

Main characters

*Chiyu (also written as Tiyu, 12 years old), whose design originated from Futaba Channel, is a

magical girl is a subgenre of Japanese fantasy media (including anime, manga, light novels, and live-action media) centered around young girls who possess magical abilities, which they typically use through an ideal alter ego into which they can transfo ...

who wears

mahjong Mahjong or mah-jongg (English pronunciation: ) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is commonly played by four players (with some three-play ...

tiles in her hair (both are dragon tiles). She is an angel and has the ability to float and teleport. She appears when the duck siblings are working in the office and she draws BB Runner into her world. (voiced by

Halko Momoi is a Japanese singer, songwriter and voice actress. She also produces an all-female pop group called Afilia Saga. She was born in Tokyo, Japan and is affectionately referred to as Halko by her fans, a nickname she gave herself which is inspired ...

) She has a pet called Chuunchuun (voiced by Noboru Maeda) *Biscuit-tan is another character whose design originated from Futaba Channel. She is an unofficial mascot of the

KFC KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, that specializes in fried chicken. It is the world's second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with 2 ...

franchise; hence her love of syrup-covered biscuits resembling those served at those restaurants. (voiced by

Rumi Shishido is a Japanese singer and voice actress from Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Shishido debuted as an idol singer with Sony Records in 1990 with the single "Cosmic Rendezvous." In 1992, she left her management and began releasing music independently. ...

) *Nin`itan is a character from a desktop accessory program (

Ukagaka Ukagaka (), Nanika (), Sakura (), Nin'i-tan () or Nise-Haruna () is a catch-all term for Japanese software which shares a single format and function: to provide a pair of mascot characters for the user's computer desktop. These mascot characters ...

) called ''Materia'', where she is called Sakura. (voiced by

Riko Hirai , real name , is a Japanese singer, lyricist, and voice actress from Osaka. The majority of her work is dealt with adult visual novels. She was also the singer for all the vocal music in Key's visual novel ''Little Busters!'', as well as Liar-s ...

) She has a pet called Unyu (voiced by Yoshiyuki Arai).

Other characters

* Shigatake's

Habanero-tan Habanero-tan () is the unofficial mascot of Bōkun Habanero, the habanero pepper-flavored snacks produced by Tohato. Habanero-tan and her companions with names like "Jalapeño-san" are the personification of spices as cute young girls. They were ...

appears on the toilet numerous times throughout the anime as a running gag. *Mona who is a catlike

ASCII art ASCII art is a graphic design technique that uses computers for presentation and consists of pictures pieced together from the 95 printable (from a total of 128) characters defined by the ASCII Standard from 1963 and ASCII compliant chara ...

character born on Futaba Channel. (voiced by

Shigeru Chiba , known by the stage name , is a Japanese actor, voice actor, talent and sound director from Kikuchi, Kumamoto. He is affiliated with the talent management firm 81 Produce. He is most known for the roles of Yoshihiro Kira from '' JoJo's Bizarre ...

) *Samurai Damashii Ken who originated from a blog site. (voiced by Houchu Ohtsuka) *Junkies who are high school girls that are actually androids controlled by the antagonist, ''The Master''.

External links

''NetRunner'' magazine
2004 anime OVAs Comedy anime and manga {{anime-OVA-stub