Hatch-Pot VR

Hatch-Pot VR is an app for watching VR anime, in the media and video category, from Hatch-Pot VR. Instead of watching anime on a flat screen, you are inside the scene while the characters perform around you, a bit like taking part in a stage play. It is distributed through SideQuest, where it was first listed in May 2022.

What you can do

The app plays episodes made with the Hatch-Pot web service, which creators use for free. A creator writes the characters' lines and actions in a screenplay format, and AI then generates the VR anime from that script. According to the developer, many creators publish new episodes every week, so the library keeps growing.

The developer recommends starting with Princess of Kakuriyo, in which every episode is fully voiced. Its heroine, Itsuka Ichinose, has just started her first real job. After leaving her colleagues one evening, she runs into a young man who looks like a trainee, then opens the door to her boss's research lab, notices a strange scent, and finds herself lost in Kakuriyo, a world that feels familiar yet unknown.

• browse a growing catalog of creator-made VR anime episodes
• watch characters act out scenes around you
• use the app in English or Japanese

Comfort

SideQuest rates Hatch-Pot VR as moderate in comfort, and the listing marks it as usable seated.

How to get it and what to know

• Price: free.
• Installed from SideQuest by sideloading; see our guide to sideloading on Meta Quest.
• Also on the Meta Horizon Store.
• Supported headsets: Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro, Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest 3S.
• SideQuest has only a few user ratings for it so far.