The DC Wikipedia Page puts it better than me:

“In order to spatially synchronize virtual space and real space, users of internet-connected dennō eyeglasses constantly upload the status of physical space to the virtual infrastructure. In the fifth episode, the protagonists encounter a sparsely visited junkyard of buses on the fringes of wireless internet connectivity. Due to obsolete AR data, the buses are depicted by dennō eyeglasses as being in far better condition than they actually are. The characters sometimes exploit the discrepancies of desynchronization when dealing with metabugs and illegals.”

And yeah, I must agree it’s pretty mind-boggling. I was quite surprised when it was revealed the glasses didn’t use ‘standard’ AR overlay tech like you’d expect. but, like you say, it’s very easy to be conservative when predicting near-future consumer level technology…

Thanks for the comments, i could chat about DC all day…;)

Well, that would be a mind-boggleing concept indeed, because it would mean there would have to be cameras *everywhere*.
I mean, its easy enough to imagine a database of buildings, with some areas out of date (and thus not in-sycn with reality). But to know where all the people are…and what their current pose is, and what they are currently wearing….that would take pretty extensive network of optical sensors!
Of course, sound wouldnt be a problem though. I guess anyone wearing glass’s turned could be spied on from an audio standpoint fairly easily.

Either way I’m not saying its impossible completely, merely it didnt quite fit the rest of the show for me, because untill that point, it was all pretty “near future” in terms of tech.
If anything, 202X is pretty pessimistic compared to current developments!

I’d even say the whole quantom-mind-link idea towards the end is actualy more likely then a database of absolutely everything and everyone precisely insycn with the real world
But thats probably just me

I know what you’re saying about the tech in the recap episode, but within the DC tech-universe it *might* just work. Remember that the glasses don’t actually overlay graphics over actual reality, but *replace* completely what the user sees – more like a ‘traditional’ VR headset. Remember that episode where the kids go to teh scrap yard to look for metabugs and Daichi steps through the floor of the bus, but doesn’t realise he has until he takes his glasses off? So somewhere in ‘the cloud’ there is a constantly updating database of what is happening in all spaces (I mind-boggling concept, I must admit), so in effect Akira’s virtual pet could be an avatar for a snooping script that hacks this database, relaying back what is happening to it’s owner…

At least I *think* that makes sense…;)

Anyway in short;

Denno Coil rocks.
Recap eppisode didnt. (as before that point everything was pretty possible with just refinements to existing technology….but virtual pets filming real life? thats just silly)
Story wrapped up well, and is a fantasic vision of the future.

A vision that may come quite soon;
http://www.vuzix.com/iwear/products_wrap920av.html
(note the accessorys too)

My admit I didnt like the recape eppisode they did though, but only from a technical angle; Everyone upto that point was completely possible with near-current technology!
(Sadly, virtual pets cant film areas in real life without hardware without having a camera at the exact same point they are, obviously)

Still a fantasic show and a great vision of the future.
Especialy considering what Vuzix just showed off at CES a few weeks back;
http://www.vuzix.com/iwear/products_wrap920av.html
(if you look at the accessorys too…its quite clear what they are aiming at with those things)