Running Man (Animation) - TV Tropes - EU-Vietnam Business Network (EVBN)

Are you ready? It’s…running time!

The Soul Tree, the great source of our race. But for its ultimate power and by those whose minds were blinded by it, it also became the catastrophic cause that had brought never-ending 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. Players, equipped with special watches and shields, compete against each other as winners tribe would be awarded with Materion, the sacred fruit of the Soul Tree. These brave players, who throw themselves in this fierce fight, we call them the Running Man .

Running Man (런닝맨) is the animated version of the Korean variety show with the same name, set inside a kingdom of animals. The main plot is about the 100th Annual Running Man Championship, a series of team or individual competitions, led by Charming Gold. Seven animals from each tribe represent their tribe in the competitions. Those animals are Liu the Grasshopper, Kuga the Tiger, Gai the Ninja Monkey, Lonky the Giraffe Prince, Popo the Penguin, Pala the Impala and Miyo the Cat.

The English dub of the show is released on Cartoon Network Asia at 10:15 am and new episodes are aired at 6:45 pm with two episodes each on weekdays. Repeats of episodes are shown at 6:30 pm on weekends.

Online episodes are published every Friday on the Korean YouTube channel.

A season 2, Running Man 2: Pulululu’s Counterattack (런닝맨:풀룰루의 역습), is introduced last November 13, 2018 of the new game called Running Man – Survival.

According to Liu’s Facebook profile, his older sister, Shan, was this prior to the series until she disappeared

(after presenting a valid argument) Well, I don’t expect a mere meathead like you to understand – (gets lifted by the neck by Kuga)Oh, this meathead DOES understand!

Charming Gold was tormented by his own kind because of his looks. In the present, he’s the only living Pikok tribe resident

D.V 7 were once the champions of the previous Running Man championship. They were kidnapped by Charming Gold and forced to inhale a drug that brainwashes them. The only way of escaping is for someone to remove the mask, but it’s risky because of how powerful Charming Gold is

. Nice going Charming Gold, you almost destroyed the world without a Reset Button

Soul Tree shattered. It is noticeably slowly going up, starting from Class 5

are slowly killed on-screen one by one. This is before Popo rewinds the time, but still

This is gradually implied when Charming Gold is up to something bad and they need to stop him

Mr.Suitcase is also Liu’s pet, so the Surveillance Drone trope is not applicable

Gai’s mind when he gets brainwashed. Miyo is trying to reach him, but she’s about to get dragged out of Gai. He is able to break free and finally reaches Miyo

Gai: Stop the game? I don’t think so. People get hurt while playing this game. If we stop for everything, it’s no longer a game.

after realizing, his friends are getting hurt because the game was rigged by Charming Gold

However, Charming Gold is getting greedy and doesn’t want to share it with anyone

If the Soul Tree is shattered. The ‘savior’ ends the whole world and restarts a new one, killing millions of innocent lives that had nothing to do with the game

that Ulcus shoved the truth to the main characters of what truly happened if the war restarts. Before Ulcus appears, there are seven slates that are hidden within Charming Gold’s laboratory. Miyo and Dr. Mala are able to decipher them and they are horrified from the last one

Charming Gold controls is agile, fast, and strong. But the robot can do one ability at a time. Such as when the robot can be fast, but not agile or strong. It is also powered by the same Amplifier energy that must be taken down

the D.V 7 don’t work as a group, which they used their weakness as an advantage for the Running Man

Pala and Dr. Mala made has a temporary effect on the user. Where they have more energy to fight the D.V 7 within a time limit like a ‘High’, this costs their remaining energy when it wears off similar to a ‘Crash’. What’s more, is that some characters (except for Lonky and Pala) use it only once

Dr. Mala used to make a liquid drug named “The Amplifier” that brainwashed the D.V 7 and Gai is related to a real-life drug called The Devil’s Breath or Scopolamine. The Devil’s Breath is a drug from Colombia that is close to hypnotizing a victim that they either won’t remember anything when it wears off or are forced to do something bad while being aware and conscious about it. No wonder the crystal is red

Dr. Mala has a more advanced staff than Pala has since there’s a mechanized mixer inside of it and is connected to a tube to where the D.V 7 have slept

Charming Gold has the ability to absorb his victim’s life energy so he can look young

Characters such as Lonky and Gai are the examples

D.V 7 thought that Lonky was the King. When Shan removed his tag, the crown is absent. The real plan is to let the D.V 7 expose who their King was, subdue them, and let the real King rip the tag out

worked in Gaining Grounds when trying to save Gai from his brainwashing

a motion-controlled robot and it can absorb Makhan and Kuga’s Super Paw attack to return it back to them. Once the robot is malfunctioning, the voice starts to inform Charming Gold about the growing percentage of the instability

only because he didn’t execute them right

he shoots the concrete pillars with his gun and uses the third bullet as a diversion. Gai ended up getting buried underneath the pillars that Liu shot at

Super Paw attack as he was able to overload Charming Gold’s mecha if he’s confident enough to do it

the Running Man were able to convince Ulcus in giving the world a second chance. However, the Soul Tree remains destroyed and Popo turned into a baby. With Charming Gold dead, the Running Man competition is over… until season 2

When Liu sees the brainwashed Shan, his first instinct is to run toward his lost sister. When he’s close enough, Shan raises her hand and slaps her younger brother

Popo: How did this all go wrong? Why? Why?

restarting the world even if it means killing people and destroying their home

former champions or famous people from different tribes are kidnapped by Charming Gold and were experimented on by being forced to ingest a drug into their systems. They are now brainwashed and are stronger than the Running Man team

just because he looks ugly or a monster, Charming Gold becomes the Big Bad

Liu is a ‘Second Place’. The first champion is actually his older sister, Shan

has an ability to gain beauty by literally sucking other people’s life sources. When he gets too stressed, his face cracks like porcelain. His bullies teased him as a “monster”

Charming Gold is beautiful because he sucked his victim’s energy to be one

got possessed by the red crystal. So the others need to save him by removing the vial containing the cursed object. While the others restrained Pala, Liu removed the glass vial by shooting it

Popo: That Lonky! He betrayed us again!

but he’s just like Lonky in the Team Change Battle

Dr. Mala was exiled from his tribe for practicing dark magic works with Charming Gold as he demands respect

And then, there is the introduction of the Pulululu and the mysterious player from an unknown tribe

Liu is about to shoot Pala’s cane. Despite the gun has no scope, Liu’s eyes are treated as such including the reticle

Gai enters the game field with the D.V 7. The Running Man, including Miyo, are in shock

Battle of the Throne. While Gai begins to fall in love with Miyo in the former, the same scenario happened to her in the later episode

Kuga is the first person to insert the artifact to trap Ulcus

Charming Gold is bullied for being a ‘Monster’. But when he discovered his powers of absorbing life forces to look young, Charming Gold turned all his tormentors (and possibly the whole Pikok Tribe) into dust

Mong Tribe, Gai, became the spy for Charming Gold. The host of the game rigged everything so Gai could win

saw his older sister, the very reason why he joined the Running Man game, is actually alive but brainwashed, he had a 10-Minute Retirement breakdown. He was able to come back with the help of his friends

while being the Big Bad in disguise. When his plans are being foiled by the Running Man, he postpones the game and decides to kill the players in order to move on with his plan

He was forced to join the game as a mole and is also brainwashed when he tried to rebel against Charming Gold

Pala : (points to the viewer) Are you watching this? Ignore me and I’ll – (screen blacks out)

won the Hammer Bingo Game. Right after he shouted Bingo, he smirked and faced the camera. But while he talked to the audience, his voice cuts off as the screen blacks out and the end credits start to roll.

Pala early on by the stone left behind by the red-eyed beast followed by the D.V.7 themselves and, unfortunately, Gai.

Cloak and Dagger: Provided by the
D.V 7

.
Colony Drop: When
Ulcus judges the world for how corrupted it was, he was about to do this until the Running Man were able to stop him from destroying their home

.
Color Motif: Their flags have their colors such as pink for Miyo or orange for Kuga.
Combat Breakdown: Especially that it’s not a game anymore and they have to fight to save the world. The prominent one is in the episode
What Makes A Hero, where they fight their doppelgangers to get the required artifact. They succeed in their test by reaching their limits. For example, Popo used a time card to win but he aged backward as a result

.
Cool Train: In which it became a game field for one.
Counterpart Combat Coordination: Liu’s plan to expose the
D.V 7’s weaknesses and trick them into losing in the Zone Battle. He intentionally made Pala, Lonky, Popo fight against the Kuphaman, D.V 3, and D.V 4 as a distraction while finding out the mechanics of the Zone Battle. Once the remaining contestants, him, Miyo, and Kuga, were able to figure out how gravity works, they can lure the D.V 7 into their trap. Winning the Zone Battle game

.
Crapsaccharine World: In a kid’s show. At first, it was all about seven people competing for a game, and then it digs deeper into the lore of the world they live in. What they found out wasn’t pretty, not pretty at all. Especially when
their home is being watched by a God that will destroy the world at the sight of war and corruption by the people at any minute. Ulcus will not hesitate to kill if it means restarting the world like nothing bad happened

.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Instead of the
antagonist experiencing this, it’s the main characters who had to suffer

.
- Pala, right after he plugged the fake artifact, gets blasted by Ulcus’ rays before he could see what’s going on
  
  .
- Gai doing his last Heroic Sacrifice and got hit. Miyo had to watch his death even though he was smiling
- Both Miyo and Kuga have the cruelest on-screen death even without the blood. Right after they fell down from Ulcus, the God of Earth lifted his foot… and stepped on them on screen
  
  .
- Meanwhile, Lonky sacrificed his life to save Popo from death. As a result, he died from getting hit by the red ray. The only survivors left right before Popo restarts the timeline was him and Liu
  
  .
Darkest Hour: Starts from the episode titled
The Materion all the way to the ending. This is because that’s the time when the Soul Tree collapsed and awaken Ulcus from his slumber. When that happens, he will destroy everything if no one stops him

.
Darker and Edgier: From
Episode 15 until the Finale

because of the plot twist. Also, the brutal history of the great war right before the competition was imposed by the tribe leaders. And not to mention,

cruel animal experiments and the mention of an incoming apocalypse. This might surprise viewers for a kid’s show that came from Korea

.
- It’s also based on the variety show of the same name, and while the variety show is rather lighthearted and humorous in nature with no real long-term consequences for anybody, this show… is nowhere near that. Anyone Can Die is in full effect, and the aforementioned apocalypse looms over everyone’s heads, for a given example
Death Glare: Given by Kuga to Miyo in the Bell Hunter race.
Death Is the Only Option: The only solution for
Ulcus in solving the crisis of mankind is to destroy the world which would kill every single living being

.
Disapproving Look: Most of the Running Man competitors do this when someone does not help them comically.
Downer Ending:
- Find the Golden Key
  note
  
  Lonky, Popo, and Pala betrayed the others. Kuga, Gai, and Liu tried to stop them from escaping to no avail. The three became the victors and continued to play in Prison Pursuit.
- Gaining Grounds
  note
  
  While Miyo saved Gai, Liu discovered that D.V 1 is actually
  
  his sister, Shan, whom he thought was dead. Shan hurt her brother and took Gai’s mask. Liu is unable to stop Shan from leaving him, resulting in him bursting into tears.
  
  They became the winners of the Zone Battle.
- Battle of the Thrones
  note
  
  Operation Thunderstorm almost worked as Popo came out of hiding and reaches
  
  Shan’s tag. However, the Running Man team is subdued and Shan instead ripped Popo’s tag as the true King. The D.V 7 became the winners of the first finals round.
- The Materion
  note
  
  Charming Gold has gone berserk and tried to steal the Materion. But this destroys the tree, and the so-called ‘Savior’ returns… in a bad way
  
  .
Dub Name Change: The Cartoon Network English version applies this to the name of the episode and the names of the game.
Failed a Spot Check: Granted, Gai did get caught in the heat of the moment, but not noticing Pala when hes beside you is just crazy. Thats all fine and good as he is trying to win, but leaving your emblem, I.e the only thing that can oust you with Pala is just outright stupid.
Fate Worse than Death: Which one? Either getting
brainwashed by a psychotic game maker

or

being ugly after years of sucking up the youth of others

. Pick your poison.
Fantastic Drug:
- The crystal that
  possessed Pala in the Team Change Battle
  
  is actually a substance mixed by Dr. Mala that was used to brainwash
  
  Gai
  
  in a form of a gas mask. Which is pretty ironic.
- Some of the potions that Pala makes increase the ability of the player, but it wears them down by the time is over.
Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Applies to many of the tribes the seven contestants have. It is said that it is inspired by Korean, Japanese, and Chinese cultures.
- Impa Tribe residents are alchemists who didn’t participate in the championship much. Some of Pala’s equipment are machines and his clothes seemed to be inspired by the steampunk era and Chinese alchemy combined. It is said that Black Magic is forbidden and anyone who practices it will result in
  getting their horns chopped off
  
  .
- Peng Tribe, based on Popo’s character description and the way he dressed, are magicians in a modern setting possibly from South Korea. There’s even a strong belief in the culture of tarot cards in one scene, where he read a card makes him think that he will not do well in a match
  note
  
  this is right before Lonky, Pala, and Popo betrayed the others
  
  .
- Mong Tribe has a culture based on the Japanese ninja setup. This probably makes sense considering his role
  as the game’s mole
  
  in the series.
- Nyanya Tribe were said to be “communicating with the gods and spirits” and there are Chinese-inspired patterns in her room. There’s also the part where her species as a cat has a connection to Chinese and Japanese superstitions the most.
- Giraf Tribe are the surviving nations from the war. Lonky’s “uniform” (which is technically a jacket) has designs based on a military uniform of the royals.
- Bars Tribe that is accompanied with a traditionally themed leitmotif for Kuga. His room is filled with banners, weapons including a Mu Ren Zhuang (a Chinese wooden dummy), and posters. The banners have foreign writing that could be similar to Japanese writing, especially there’s a red stamp (called a Hanko) on one banner that says “人コ”.
- Bug Tribe have people good with technology. And yet, they are known for farming. Asia is known to agriculture and, at the same time, had references from the industrial revolution
  note
  
  since Liu
  
  and his sister
  
  wear an aviator suit from the steampunk era .
Fish out of Water: The main protagonists leave their homes to compete in the championship. But as they got used to the new environment, evil lurks within
as Charming Gold begins his plan

.
Fixing the Game: The following episodes have the Running Man come to a suspicion that the game is
rigged by the spy

.
Forever War: The reason why the Running Man competition happened.
Narrator: 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.
A God Am I: Especially for the people who waged the war for the Soul Tree. And then comes
Charming Gold, who wants to destroy the world and start a new one with him as the new ruler

.
Gratuitous English: Aside from the “Are you ready? It’s… Running Time!” line, there’s also “Nice!”, or “So good!”
Great Offscreen War: It was stated in the World View video that the war between the tribes happened years ago all because of the fight for the main energy source, the Soul Tree. The war ended when the leaders decided to make a competition and the winner gets the share of the tree’s fruit, Materion.
Hartman Hips: some of the females have pretty noticeable hips.
Killed Off for Real: Mostly mentioned such as
Shan, whom Liu thought she died. And the prominent one was when five of the seven Running Man competitors died from Ulcus until Popo restarted the timeline. Leaving Charming Gold, the only person who truly dies

.
Limited Wardrobe: Almost all of the Running Man characters only have one attire to the point that they slept on their beds while wearing it. The only people who averted this were
Gai and Shan

.
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The whole Ttakji minigame. The whole round plays out with heavy effects. Its unclear if the effects are actually real or just in the competitors heads.
Mood Whiplash: A moment in Episode 7 when Liu admitted his true status of being a ‘Second Place’ in the current championship. But while he explained it further, Popo, Lonky, Pala, and Gai had some mood-ruining reactions
note

and the background music doesn’t help either

.

Popo: Yep, it’s true! Liu had come in second place!

Gai: Uhm… And his champion?

Popo: Don’t know. I heard he died or something.

Liu: …It’s true. I came in second place. (camera zooms to his lips) And the champion died.

(the four looked at Liu)

Liu: And

she was my older sister

.

(they jumped with different reactions)
- The first time the Out Hand pulls Gai to the out zone during the Bell Hunter.The dramatic music plays as Gai is pulled in , and when he throws his marbles to Miyo, Lonky comes in and an upbeat music starts to play.
The Mole:
Liu in the third game as he puts everyone back in their cells.

And soon,

Gai. Who is The Dragon of Charming Gold
Mysterious Animal Senses: Cats such as Miyo and Kuga. And mostly to Liu for having heightened senses, and strong lower body muscles that he can actually jump higher than the others.
Mythology Gag: This show has this in spades:
- The incident during the ttakji match has a parallel in the original series:
  A supposedly unflippable ttakji flipped by Jong Kook/Kuga with little to no effort.
- Another when Jong Kook/Kuga had bells attached to them when he played the role as the Hunter.
- An odd scenario when Ji Hyo once betrayed her teammates in favor of keeping her nametag, similar to Lonky when he made a deal with Kuga for the same reason.
- Kwang Soo/Lonky were
  both looking for a bathroom in the Prison Escape Game
  
  .
- Jae Seok/Liu getting dragged into a cell from both versions of the series.