ThatAnimeSnob

ANIME MARKETING SERIES
Full list of the review series can be found on this page, 3rd post from bottom:
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?uid=251338&show=userpage&do=blog&blogid=29009&page=0

TEASER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43O7Dyd3QtU

WARNING
SPOILERS! Lots of them! This is a review for those who HAVE SEEN .hack but understood squat about the story or the plot. You have been warned!

Most anime fans prefer a balanced pace of a good story, along with cool battles in between to keep them on their toes. .hack is limited to one of the two main things: Talking with a deep meaning behind it. That made it quality material but hardly bearable. It cares too much on having long philosophical discussions or aimless walking around, while neglecting entirely to tell the otherwise good story. Full Metal Alchemist for example had a bit of everything and is worthy one of the best fantasy adventures ever made. The plot here is all talking and no fighting, a thing that DID make me watch most of it at X8 speed. And, no, I didn’t miss any important voice acting or music themes this way, as the pace remains the same in all episodes. If I were otherwise left to choose between talking or fighting, I would definitely pick the first. Series that are only about fighting and shallow talking/storytelling are AWFUL. Just try to watch Devil May Cry and you’ll understand what I mean. That is the only reason I didn’t give Enjoyment a score of 3 or lower.

Other than that it is boring; something which is self-given if you are aware of the studio which animated it. Bee Train’s trademarks are the extremely moody shows, full of nice soundtracks and slow plots, with very dull or unexiting action. .hack is like that too but at least in this case there was far more context in the story than just some chicks with guns acting all emo and shooting people in the most improbable ways.

The story AROUND the plot of .hack is AWESOME and it’s a real shame most won’t get to figure it out because of boredom or lack of motivation to search further. In case you want to learn about it, read the bottom entry of this review. The backdrop story of the show is incredibly detailed and captivation yet the series hardly evolved it any further. It focused almost entirely on getting to know the characters and exposing the main mystery by feeding you with a spoon. All that hardly needed a full season to be told and thus the only bad thing in here is the dreadfully slow pacing and absence of action and tension peaks.

Tsukasa is the protagonist. We originally know nothing of him, he knows nothing of himself. The whole “amnesia” theme is so commonly used in movies and series, that I almost stopped watching .hack because of it. I mean, the main character is a wimp who doesn’t trust anyone or fights anything. He was just talking about how harsh life is and the like. But, as the story goes on (in a very slow pace as always), I loved the guy! Why? Well, for starters, because he is not a guy! He is a girl playing a male character! She was being beaten by her father in the real world and when Morgana gave her the chance to escape reality, she willfully trapped her consciousness in the game permanently and erased her memories to forget the cruel past (all these, thanks to the Key of Twilight). As Tsukasa, he/she was avoiding others until other players (mostly Bear, Mimiru and Subaru) help him/her face reality, just to be together for real. His/her character development can’t get any better, as he/she is 180 degrees different when the series end. Go Tsukasa!

Besides Tsukasa, all others are there for flavor. Sure, it was interesting when they described what they do or how they look like in the real world. But besides that, they didn’t really do anything else other than talking and giving advices to Tsukasa. Not that they were shallow, it’s just that they had weak presence in the series or before Tsukasa’s character. Only the few points in the story, were some try to deceive others or criticize their actions in the game were noteworthy. Subaru is the only other character that truly develops, as she dismantles an entire organization and even falls in love with Tsukasa (a possible yuri relationship is blooming here!). If the show was just about these two alone, I would gladly give the cast a 10 but unfortunately it is far bigger and far less interesting.

You will love the visuals if you’re into MMORPG and phantasy worlds. They lack stylized CG and flashy effects, but I didn’t care about that; the atmosphere rocked for its time. It is true that it may seem like a generic videogame setting but unlike all other adaptations, it really did its best to make the world look dreamy and scary at the same time. The production values are high and there are lots of details which make each area to be like a fairy tale. The only problem is the lack of motions; the characters will be too stiff most of the time and there is not much action for you to stare at. It’s closer to a well made picture book than an animated feature.

Hands down; .hack has the best music themes and amongst the best voice acting I have ever heard. They may talk all the time and most music themes repeat too often to the point of boredom, but nevertheless they are exceptionally great to listen to. You may not like the show but the OST is to die for. Even the dialogues are there to provide immersion to the characters and hint various things around the mystery, so even those serve their purpose.

There is nothing else exactly like .hack//SIGN; even its sequels are very different and inferior to it. Its originality in setting, scenario, and way of storytelling, make it special and memorable even if you hated it. A perfect mark for a controversial series that alters the way you look at “childish cartoons”.

SUGGESTION LIST
Welcome to the NHK, Zegapain and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya are also about people who are absorbed in their worlds and refuse to face reality.

Mamoru Oshii’s movies, such as Ghost in the Shell and Sky Crawlers are also mostly about dialogues, interesting concepts, and character immersion, rather action and big explosions.

And now for some excused scorings.

ART SECTION: 7/10
General Artwork 2/2 (great)
Character Figures 1/2 (generic)
Backgrounds 2/2 (dreamy)
Animation 1/2 (basic)
Visual Effects 1/2 (basic)

SOUND SECTION: 9/10
Voice Acting 3/3 (mature)
Music Themes 4/4 (dreamy)
Sound Effects 2/3 (ok I guess)

STORY SECTION: 7/10
Premise 2/2 (interesting)
Pacing 0/2 (terrible)
Complexity 2/2 (rich context)
Plausibility 1/2 (so-so)
Conclusion 2/2 (solid)

CHARACTER SECTION: 8/10
Presence 1/2 (generic)
Personality 2/2 (well founded)
Backdrop 2/2 (everyone has some)
Development 1/2 (only for the protagonist and it is strong)
Catharsis 2/2 (all is resolved)

VALUE SECTION: 7/10
Historical Value 2/3 (very famous)
Rewatchability 1/3 (low because of the too slow plot)
Memorability 4/4 (extremely artsy to the point of forever remembering it)

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 5/10
Art 0/1 (looks dreamy)
Sound 2/2 (sounds dreamy)
Story 1/3 (great concept but the presentation lacks)
Characters 2/4 (the main ones are fine but not amazing; the rest are passable)

VERDICT: 7/10

And now something extra for those who care:
THE BACKDROP STORY OF .HACK (spoilers follow)

In the near future, a super virus destroys all but one web networks, plunging the world into chaos. A few years later, the same events are slowly repeating through the most famous on-line game of the time, simply called THE WORLD. As gameplay goes, the game is not better than Lineage, but it features a revolutionary originality: Virtual Reality! VR helmets and gloves make the sensation of the game a lot more realistic, although feeling pain when hit is not possible.

But even that is beginning to get dangerous, as many are struck by a virus in the game that throws them into coma. The producers of the game keep this a secret because it sells like crazy and simply order several programmers and moderators to secretly “fix” any problems the game may have.

The reason of the virus is The Key of the Twilight, a forbidden artifact in the game that can alter the very programming of the game and effectively make anything possible. Even making NPCs act like players and throw players into coma!

The Key was made by the now deceased original programmer of the game, who was in love with a woman poet/phantasy novelist. When she died in a traffic accident, his grief led him to secretly create a simulation of her personality with the name of Aura and sent her dormant and hidden in the game. A program called Morgana was responsible for gathering information on players that would help Aura become artificially intelligent. She would move freely in the game, without any game programming restrictions, thanks to the Key’s power to alter anything.

And here is where the problem arose. Morgana became self-aware and like all living/sentient beings, it wanted to stay alive. If Aura would awake, its reason-for-being would end and effectively, it would be erased/killed. So, in order to prevent Aura’s awakening indefinitely, it gave the Key to someone who didn’t want to change or face reality (not awake from the illusion of the game, so to speak). That person was Tsukasa, someone who wished to stay in the game forever (the reason is described in the Character section). So, Tsukasa almost willfully chooses to forget who “he” is and stay in the game forever, in order to escape the harsh reality.

And then the series begin. Tsukasa’s Key is slowly corroding the programming and creates viruses with a thematic motif of those of the woman’s End Of The World novels. These viruses start to expand beyond the game, causing troubles and beginning a new world crisis. But the story is about Tsukasa learning to trust people again, search for his lost memories and face reality. You hardly hear anything about the story I describe so far. The series focuses on him and leaves aside the whole world threat.

The ending is open, as you are supposed to watch .hack//LIMINALITY and play the .hack Playstation game trilogy to get the full picture. But those are just marketing tricks to rob you of your money, as the plot is also boring and slow and not even interesting characters are present.

There! If that is not a good story, I don’t know what it is. It sure beats all those “I want to become No.1 in the world” and “I will beat the crap out of everyone” series.