Draft:Running Man (Animated TV series)

Running Man
Genre	Animation Action Adventure Comedy
Directed by	윤준상 (Yun Jun-sang) 김동철 (Kim Dong-cheol)
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	97 Episodes
Original release
Release	July 29, 2017 (2017-07-29) – May 2, 2020 (2020-05-02)

Running Man (런닝맨) is an animated version of the Korean variety show of the same name, set inside an animal kingdom. The major plot revolves around Charming Gold's 100th Annual Running Man Championship, a series of team and individual competitions. In the competitions, seven animals from each tribe represent their tribe.This entire show was made by SIDUS under LOCUS.

This series was divided into two seasons, after which thanks to their success they had a movie adaptation named Running Man: Revengers.

Plot

Season 1

The soul tree, the greatest source of power which gave birth to their race. But people wanted it's power all for their own. This lead to endless wars between the tribes. Tortured by the agonies of the wars, the leaders of the tribes finally came to a peace agreement that they would instead open a competition known as the Running Man Championship. In which one player from each tribe will compete with the winner being awarded with the materion (the fruit of the Soul tree).

This season takes place in the 100th season of the Running Man Championship. The host was chosen to be Charming Gold. With the following as competitors:-

Running Man Participants

Name	Tribe	Real-life animal
Liu	Bug Tribe	Grasshopper
Kuga	Bars tribe	Tiger
Gai	Mong tribe	Monkey
Miyo	Nya-Nya tribe	Cat
Lonky	Giraffe Tribe	Giraffe
Popo	Peng tribe	Penguin
Pala	Impa tribe	Impala

They fought in various solo and group competitions till about episode 24, when we found out that Gai, one of the participants, was working under Charming Gold as Man X. And that he was guaranteed to win the competition as long as he followed his orders.

He followed his every command up until the final team match, when most of the contestants were left seriously injured. He was said to win that particular game but he didn't instead he let Popo, lonki and Pala win the match qualifying all 7 members for the finals. He then confronted Charming Gold and refused to work under him. Which triggered him to initiate plan B.

The true best warriors of each tribe out of which most of them were hypnotized alongside Gai to make a group nicknamed DV7. Below listed are the original members of DV7:-

DV7 Members

Name	Tribe	Real-life animal
Shan	Bug Tribe	Grasshopper
Makhan	Bars tribe	Tiger
Spin	Mong tribe	Monkey
Rema	Nya-Nya tribe	Cat
Alto	Giraffe Tribe	Giraffe
Kuku	Peng tribe	Penguin
Dr. Mala	Impa tribe	Impala

They were made to compete in 3 games and it was said that if Team Running Man lost, the materion would stay in its current state. The Running Man fought and upon bringing everyone to normal. They discover Charming Gold's plan to take the materion for himself, which he was successful in, but ended up summoning Ulcus, the God which created the world and the soul tree. He claimed to have came to destroy this world, to maintain the cycle of life and death. The Running Man gave their all and in the end, Ulcus seeing their teamwork gave them another chance and stopped the destruction.

Episode 49

A secret episode 49 was broadcasted only in South Korea. In which Gai leaves the Running Man team to 'avoid his crimes' and ends with the pululus (the general and most common tribe, most similar to a bird) eyes glowed yellow and kidnaped the Running Man. The main purpose of this episode was to set the foundation for Season 2.

Season 2

Part 1

The Running Man find themselves in the Old City Stadium. A pululu named Akong blamed the Running Man that they killed their God (Ulcus) because they were jealous of the pululus. They were told that the only way for them to escape their crimes is to compete along other various competitors in a multi-round competition named Running Man Survival and that the winner would escape his crimes.

They were told to fight three gatekeepers listed as follows:-

1. Vivace the Gale
2. Ensemble the storm
3. Aria the rage

While fighting Vivace, a new character named the iron beast was introduced, who was the MVP of that game. Later while fighting Aria, Miyo, Popo and Lonki were eliminated and sent to their death.

There they discover Akong's entire plan. Long ago an evil priest arose who enslaved the entire world and in order to stop him the kings of the tribes fought against him and locked him away in a seal and the responsibility was given to four peoples (The gatekeepers and Charming Gold). Akong was that evil priest. When Ulcus arose his destruction broke a part of the seal and in order to regain his full power, he had used the Running Man to eliminate the gatekeepers while Charming Gold agreed to open the last seal himself.

And Akong had regained his full potential and started engulfing the people in name of power including Pala. Pala's stick which was made out of the wood of the Soul Tree greatly influenced Akong's power and the stick was the only reason they were able to defeat Akong and restore Old City to its normal state.

Part 2

After the events of Season 1, the Leo Tribe (derived from the Latin word 'Leo' meaning lion) came and said that they were the rulers of the world and challenged the Running Man for three death matches. Below is a list of the Leo Tribe members alongside the episode in which they made their debut appearance:-

Leo Tribe's members

Name	Debut appearance	Real-life animal
Manus (The King)	Episode 32	White Lion
Rex	Episode 25	Lion
Kali	Episode 35	Lion
Valter	Episode 35	Wolf
Lefnardo	Episode 30	Giraffe
Taru	Episode 30	Fox
Rose	Episode 30	Bull

They had more planned than just the death matches. Manus, the king of the Leo Tribe was trying to combine the ultimate watch and the ultimate force ring to seek enough power to rule over everything.

In the last death match, we were introduced to a new character Ninja K (who is heavily linked to Gai) who fought alongside the Running Man. And similar to the last two times, even tough Manus was successful he was still defeated.

We also found that Charming Gold had somehow turned into a pululu, and only returns to his original form by the plant found near the soul tree, Materio Vedicus. He was the one who helped to activate a shield which prevented Manus' destruction to go outside the stadium.

After accepting his defeat and his sins, he gave up his desire to be the supreme king and went back with his henchmen to his homeland to 'restart his life'.

Running Man: Revengers

Only 2 days are left before the start of the 101st Running Man Championship. This time, the Leo Tribe sent Rex's twin brother Max as the representative of the Leo Tribe. A new character named Pang-Pang(who represents a red panda introduced them to the super belt, which bears immense power.

The next day everyone was competing for the belt. And upon the winner Kuga acquiring the belt, Pang-Pang steals it and equips it for himself.

He told the Running Man how he was bullied by others(Racoon tribe) and how he had planned to bring virtual objects into physical beings.

The Running Man tell him how they will be his friends and helped Pang-Pang to send the objects back as they were in their virtual state.

Episodes

List of seasons

Seasons	Number of episodes	First aired	Last aired
Season 1	49	July 29, 2017	March 3, 2018
Season 2	48	January 5,2019	May 2,2020

List of Movies

Title	Originally aired
Running Man: Revengers	August 10 2023

Production & Broadcasting

The show was initially made by SIDUS under LOCUS based on the real life series also named Running Man. Although that one was far more popular. These series has had different people for different seasons, which someone can make out upon watching the show.

Below is a list of the base production cast for each season/movie:-

Season 1

DIRECTOR - 윤준상 (Yun Jun-sang)

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR -

1. 김동철 (Kim Dong-cheol)
2. 안승익 (Ahn Seung-ik)
3. 한누리 (Han Nuri)

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - 박세준 (Park Seo-joon/Park Se-joon)

PRODUCERS

1. 남형석 (Hyungseok Nam)
2. 권영숙 (Kwon Young-sook)
3. 유민종 (Minjung Yu)

MUSIC

1. 김문석 (Kim Moon-seok)
2. 박민우 (Park Min-woo)
3. 강희우 (Kang Hee-woo)
4. 황주상 (Hwang Ju-sang)

Season 2

DIRECTOR - 김동철 (Kim Dong-cheol)

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - 박세준 (Park Seo-joon/Park Se-joon)

PRODUCERS

1. 남형석 (Hyungseok Nam)
2. 권영숙 (Kwon Young-sook)
3. 유민종 (Minjung Yu)

MUSIC

1. 김문석 (Kim Moon-seok)
2. 박민우 (Park Min-woo)
3. 강희우 (Kang Hee-woo)
4. 황주상 (Hwang Ju-sang)