/vir/ - Virtual Reality

There's the Ressentiment manga that deals with VR heavily. Lots of predictions about how VR will change society that I agree are plausible in there.

>A story set in the near future, about a middle-aged loser whose only refuge is a virtual bishoujo game.

>Takuro, the main character, is a stereotyped, low self esteem, adult male in a dead end job. Because he feels he has nothing to live for, he let himself go, becoming fat, miserable, and lonely. The only shining thing he lives for is the occasional visit to a brothel where his savings will allow him to atleast not be completely sexless. This is when, through a real life friend of his, he is introduced to the virtual reality world of "The Unreal". Where, after spending $6000+ on equipment, you can purchase a virtual girlfriend who only thinks of you. Only the girl, Tsukiko, that Takuro purchases, seems to have come with a few defects.

http://www.mangatown.com/manga/ressentiment/

It's pretty short, I remember going through it in a single evening. It starts off with a lot of comedy and then gets pretty serious later on. Not hard scifi by a long shot but still the best manga I've read on VR, good twist at the end and the guy who wrote it knows his stuff about internet culture.

There's Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex that deals with VR in two episodes in the first season:

>"C: The Man Who Dwells in the Shadows of the Net – CHAT! CHAT! CHAT!

>Using her net avatar, Kusanagi enters a chat room dedicated to the Laughing Man. Various theories are passed around the chat room as the members view various bits of evidence from the Laughing Man case. While in the chat room, Kusanagi homes in on an older man sitting at the table who seems to have more knowledge about the Laughing Man incidents than anyone else. After confronting the man and exchanging information with him, Kusanagi and one of the other guests are suddenly transferred out of the chat room, with unexpected results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxJk1gzw2iE

>SA: Tachikoma Runs Away; The Movie Director's Dream – ESCAPE FROM

>Early in the morning Batou's Tachikoma self-activates and leaves the Tachikoma storage bay to explore the outside world. While roaming the streets of Niihama, the Tachikoma encounters a young girl named Miki who is searching for her lost dog. The Tachikoma decides to help the girl, and together they manage to find the dog. While on their journey, the Tachikoma stumbles upon a cyberbrain being sold in a market that contains a ghost, and brings it back to the storage bay. When the Tachikoma returns to Section 9, technicians begin extensive tests to determine why the tank went AWOL in the first place, while Section 9 members turn their attention to the cyberbrain in an effort to determine what the brain contains. When one of the lab technicians investigating the brain links with it and becomes "lost," Kusanagi volunteers to go after the missing man, leading her on a soul-searching ghost dive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyThVwFfL4w

The first episode revolves around discussion about events in the series and is a bore to anyone who isn't interested in that plotline of the show. It's a nicely done portrayal of what VR chatrooms might look like in the future. The second one is pretty good and worth watching alone, I consider it one of the best episodes of that show.

GITS:SAC was one of the last good scifi anime shows that I can really recommend to people that aren't into anime and want something with a VR theme that isn't fantasy garbage like .hack or SAO. The second season has none of it and isn't as good. Both episodes are on youtube but are listed for mature audiences. Use youtube-dl or nsfwyoutube.com to get around that if you don't have an account.

The 'Custom Girl' series is very fun imo.

http://pururin.com/gallery/10138/custom-girl.html

http://pururin.com/gallery/10150/custom-girl-unlimited.html

also 'Avatar Trance' is very nice.

http://www.doujin-moe.us/qjwhh578