This tech brand's anime series made me turn in my weeb badge
Adata's subsidiary brand XPG has just come out with an anime series called Xtreme Saga starring its ambassador Mera, a red-headed fireball with a heart of gold. And while her kawaii semblance truly melts my heart, there appears to be an ulterior motive here. There's something web3 shaped lurking under that adorable facade.
XPG's area of expertise lies in PC components. It makes RAM, fans and PSUs, as well as peripherals and pre-built systems. Why the company has decided to branch out into "transmedia" storytelling is utterly beyond me, but I figured I'd give it a go. How bad could it be?
XPG knows its tech, right? So a sci-fi anime from the same company must have some truly simulacrum-disrupting ideologies. Surely there'll be some technologically-fuelled philosophical gems meant to propel us into the next era of animated entertainment.
Oh.
From what I can tell, Xtreme Saga is an anime centred around the themes of hope, justice, leadership and empathy, but its execution is so far off the mark I'm seriously on the verge of turning in my weeb badge. It's like some AI generated approximation of what an anime should look like, and I'm not convinced it's even finished.
Despite my colleagues' concern for my sanity, I somehow managed to get through the first 10 minutes of Xtreme Saga, and I'm already convinced watching the widely detested EX-ARM anime would be a preferable way to spend my afternoon.
This isn't an anime for intellectuals like you and I.
Let's just say it's no God Eater, and leave it at that—but that's just my take on the art style.
The pseudo-philosophy being spouted here hurts me to my core, but this isn't an anime for intellectuals like you and I. It's a gateway for the impressionable into something much less stable than a simple anime obsession.
What strikes me most about it, is that such a superficial anime concept doesn't seem to align with "the core XPG mission statement of ensuring better experiences." And a quick look at the site reveals that it's not about breaking into the world of CGI anime to express some poignant philosophy at all. It never was.
It's about selling NFTs, of course.
"There are several different types of Xtreme Saga merchandise," the press release notes. "Xtreme Saga NFTs, plans for a serialised version of the story in text, and in the future XPG even hopes to produce a feature length animated film."
Please God, no.
Best CPU for gaming: The top chips from Intel and AMD
Best gaming motherboard: The right boards
Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits
Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the rest
"XPG has stated that Xtreme Saga is meant to last for years to come and hopefully will grow in popularity to the point of being able to produce more content faster in the near future."
The company talks about the "Xtreme Universe," with XPG admitting it's "in the process of finding the layout of the Metaverse." The site even calls for you to "Activate your gamer instinct, become a [Xtreme Saga Fan Club] NFT collector, and enter a new realm with us, Game to The Xtreme!"
Welp, it would seem that heart of Mera's isn't necessarily made of gold at all. But it is minted.