Red Ash: Gearworld (originally called Red Ash: Magicicada) is a Japanese CG animated short film produced by Studio 4°C and originally released on March 11, 2017, as part of the Anime Tamago 2017 shorts program. The short was later released for a limited time with English subtitles on the studio's YouTube page in October 2022.
Beck and Tyger are a couple of Nanos (humans with nanomachines in their genes) trying to scrape together enough money to afford the absurdly expensive procedure to get their nanos removed so they can become "pure" and join the Pure humans. To do this, they take part in the usual job for Nanos, hunting Magicicadas in parallel worlds.
One day, while waiting in line for their turn on the Parallel Machine to go hunting, a mysterious girl sneaks into their van. When they find her, she begs them to let her join them, introducing herself as Call, claiming that she's a Nano who can use echolocation to find Magicicadas and that she'll help them out in exchange for protection from the nasty folks pursuing her.
Red Ash: Gearworld is based on the game Red Ash: The Indelible Legend, with the animated short serving as an Alternate Continuity. Both works were crowdfunded Kickstarter projects and had concurrently running campaigns in July 2015. While the game failed to reach its funding goal and ultimately became vaporware, the anime's campaign
reached its initial goal, raising $162,882US against its $150,000 target. However, the failure of the game resulted in plans for future animated projects to be scrapped.
Red Ash: Gearworld contains examples of:
- Adaptation Deviation: Call's character sheet for the video game, as well as its concept animatic, highlights that she has a Money Fetish. This is completely absent from the animated short in favor of emphasizing her more Genki Girl attributes. This is in addition to the film having her join the boys' hunting group as a direct member, in contrast to her game counterpart who acts as their financer and only enters the field when she desires to collect on overdue payments. She's also depicted here as fair-skinned, whereas her game version would have been Ambiguously Brown.
- Alternate Continuity: Outside the basic characters and the concept of treasure hunting, the crowdfunding campaign stated that there isn't too much overlap between the stories and world of the animation and the planned game. The short also features characters that were stated to be wholly unique to the anime universe, such as Lucy.
- Blessed with Suck: Having nanomachines in their systems may grant Nanos amazing powers, but at some point, they "error out", which apparently isn't pretty as a failure state. As a side effect, this leads Nanos to be restricted to certain jobs and living spaces; Call half-heartedly repeats the justification that "we" can't be relied on for important jobs if they could error out at any time.
- Calling Your Attacks: Call resorts to this to convince Tyger and Beck that she's a Nano who could be useful to their team. When the scam starts to fall apart, Beck complains about her always yelling, and Call's sincere response is confusion that they don't.Beck: Tyger, we should call the police. I don't wanna...
Call: ANGEL EARS!!!
Beck: Wha?
Call: That's my power. Should be good for finding Magicicadas. - Cape Busters: Attack Drones are on the lookout to incapacitate any Nanos who use their powers without permission, like the brief fight at the start of the film.
- Dimensional Traveler: Hunters regularly travel to other worlds to search for Magicicadas.
- Elemental Shapeshifter: Beck, better known as "Red Ash", has the power to dissolve into ash at will, which grants him limited Voluntary Shapeshifting abilities and Super Smoke-styled Nigh-Invulnerability.
- Get Out!: Beck orders Call to leave their van when she first shows up (a lot of it having to do with the fact that she knocked their lunches on the floor when she burst in from underneath).
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Beck and Tyger are hunters because they're trying to save up enough money to get the nanomachines in their bodies removed before they start to malfunction.
- Interdimensional Travel Device: The parallel machine. It's a massive machine supported on three legs that fires a huge blue beam sending Hunters to alternate dimensions. Said hunters must be under the machine to use it.
- Logical Weakness: "Red Ash" can't use his elemental shapeshifting abilities while he's wet.
- The Mourning After: Beck and Tyger are still in mourning for Lucy at the start of the film — for instance, Tyger still ordering an extra meal for her when buying lunch.
- Never Found the Body: After Lucy's nanomachines errored out, she was taken away, with Beck and Tyger assuming that this was done so she could be killed. She ends up appearing alive and well at the end of the film to help the group evade capture in the facility they found themselves in.
- Power Limiter: Members of the Nano race wear watches that keep them from using their powers.
- Projected Man: Deny, the leader of the Terrible Trio pursuing Call, isn't actually in the car with his henchmen; instead, he uses a hologram of himself to micromanage his goons and taunt Beck.
- The Power of Trust: Call's character arc as she becomes True Companions with Beck and Tyger; the two of them risking themselves to help her, and also learning about Lucy, inspires Call to risk herself in order to save Beck when he's trapped fighting Safari and Stripe while weakened.
- Sequel Hook: Beck, Call, and Tyger are trapped in a mysterious clean-room factory complex after the Blind Jump that ended the chase with Safari and Stripe; only to escape with the help of... Lucy, who they thought was dead half a year ago. The only explanation that she offers is that "Maybe the Parallel Machine leads to heaven? What I mean is, there's more than one world." The film ends with a closeup on Call, and her MacGuffin bear backpack, before fading to black with a To Be Continued.
- The Smurfette Principle: Call is the only female member of a three-person team with Beck and Tyger, taking the role originally filled by Lucy. Later Subverted when Lucy rejoins.
- Sunglasses at Night: Tyger. He's usually seen wearing orange mirror shades. He takes them off during the Car Chase, when it's time to get dangerous.
- Super-Senses: Call pretends that she has the ability ANGEL EARS, which grants her super hearing. By a complete coincidence, it turns out that Lucy actually had this ability.
- Terrible Trio: Safari, Stripe, and Deny, the trio of Hunters pursuing Call and her backpack.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Beck expresses his scorn towards Call when her sudden appearance caused his and Tyger's lunches to fall on the floor which made Beck mad enough to want her out of the van. Tyger on the other hand does want him to give her a chance.