For those not familiar with it, Project .hack and it’s sequel .hack Conglomerate, are “multimedia projects” created in Japan. Each project tells a story from multiple perspectives using anime, manga, games and even collectable cards.
Having greatly enjoyed .hack//Sign, I thought that the sequel .hack//Roots might be interesting as well.
It started out well. The online game “The World” had received an upgrade, and is now a lot darker and more violent than the previous version. More cynical steampunk, less candy-cotton fantasy.
Enter newbie Haseo. White haired, dressed in all black, wields multiple weapons. The very first time he plays the game, he gets attacked by PKs.
Luckily he gets rescued by dark and mysterious Ovan, leader of the Twilight Brigade, a guild in search of the Key of the Twilight. The most mysterious thing about Ovan is how he manages to not fall over with that abnormally large metal left arm. No, really. The guy has difficulty walking. You should see him trying to handle stairs.
Ovan has an ulterior motive: He wants Haseo to join his guild. Haseo decides to join after meeting hottie Shino, who loves Ovan. Also joining the guild is ridiculously well-endowed airhead catgirl Tabby. She later professes love for Haseo.
So we have Tabby who loves Haseo, Haseo who loves Shino, Shino who loves Ovan, and Ovan who loves… himself. Narcissistic bastard.
Ovan gets abducted and experimented on by some proto-sysadmins who want to know what is up with his freaky left arm.
While waiting for Ovan to return, Shino goes all gothic (starts dressing in black, hangs out in cathedrals) but aparently gets killed by “Tri-Blade”, and goes into a coma in real life.
Haseo freaks out and spends the rest of the anime becoming stronger in order to avenge/rescue Shino.
Along the way he turns into the devil, kills a gang of 100 PKs, and gets owned by a girl (LOL) who barely managed to escape alive from “Tri-Blade”. Instead of begging the girl for training, he ignores her.
Therefore it’s no surprise when he later gets owned by “Tri-Blade”. Didn’t this guy watch Bleach? Find someone you can’t beat, train until you can beat them, THEN look for bigger fish.
The series ends with Haseo being reset back to level 1 by “Tri-Blade”. Gamers will sympathise - six months of levelling and an unique upgrade irretrievably lost.
After 10 hours of beautiful anime that ends with no conclusion, I’m left feeling hollow. To find out what happens, you have to buy and play three PS2 games. Evil marketing genius.
You’ve been warned.
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