Anime .hack//Roots

[Dagger]

I'll start off by saying that a) I'm not at all well-versed in the .hack franchise, and b) my Japanese comprehension is limited at best. But I figured that people would want to hear about this series, and I actually quite liked the first episode, much to my surprise. Boy, will it be embarrassing if it turns out that I failed to locate a pre-existing Roots thread...

The main character of .hack//Roots is a new player called Haseo, who's voiced by Takahiro Sakurai. He's just starting to get a feel for The World, and he's also starting to get into some trouble here and there, thanks to the fact that this guy called Ovan has shown an interest in him. There's a surprisingly great scene in the second half of the episode during which a much more experienced female player threatens him, trying to find out the nature of his connection to Ovan. I also liked the part when [spoiler]the males with female avatars[/spoiler] attacked him.

Anyway, the music is being done by Ali Project instead of Yuki Kajiura, but I thought it was decent enough. And, perhaps because Mashimo is just supervising instead of directing (according to ANN, at any rate) the visuals and direction style are somewhat different from what I'd anticipated. For me, that's a good thing, although the animation is solid rather than outstanding. I particularly enjoyed how comedy and dramatic tension were combined here and there, which helped keep things interesting.

~Dagger~

[Meggido]

got a link to a website with information about this?

I'm a big fan of the .hack series and hadn't heard about this one. Is it set before .Hack//sign or after .Hack//Legend of the Twilight?

[Dagger]

I've been told that it's set after Legend of the Twilight. I also found the following mini-timeline, but I suspect that at least some of the stuff on it is spoiler-ish (for other .hack material, if not Roots), so I've spoiler tagged it... at least for the moment.

[spoiler]2014: UdeDen
2015: CC Corp Fire
2016: The World R:2
2017: .hack//Roots and .hack//GU[/spoiler]

[url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6248][u]Here's[/u][/url] ANN's page for the show, and [url=http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/hack_roots/][u]here's[/u][/url] the Japanese site.

~Dagger~

[Meggido]

Ah k. looking at the ANN description of the show it appears that .hack//roots will be to .hack//GU what .hack//sign was to the 4 original .hack games. Should be interesting as .hack//GU looks a lot darker than the original games so I hope it's the same for .hack//roots.

[Guest Stafal-chan]

^_^ yaaay more .hack i'm soo excited hee hee ^_^ i'm a big .hack fan i've seen all anime and i'm still finishing up .hack//Quaretine for the Ps2...i'm excited for .hack//G.U too ^_^ hmm...so it's after .hack//Legend of the Twighlight...hmm wonder wat they're make it about...but heyy .hack//Legend of the Twightlight anime and manga were diff...like in the anime there was a character called Morti...who was like Morganna and Macha...but there wasnt anything like that in the manga in the manga Shugo and co. had to return Aura's daughter Zelphie... :animeswea it stinks that they're diff...

[Meggido]

Just saw the first episode and I must say I loved it. I enjoyed .hack//sign and the games. I also enjoyed the manga as it was a refreshing comedy.

This was different though. It took a step back from what had been originally been done in the franchise and gives a much darker, more realistic approach to online gaming. The whole concept of PKing or more commonly known as PvP is a major thing in online games and new players termed as Newbies have trouble with advanced players similar to the trouble Haseo faced. The whole Anonymity thing is well covered and being someone who plays World of Warcraft I can appreciate a lot in this show. Appearances are disceiving.

[Dagger]

Episode 2: Nothing much happened here, so all it really allowed me to do was solidify my impressions of some of the characters. I still like Haseo, but I hope that Tabby dies a painful death as soon as possible. If I had to pick a favorite at this point, it would probably be Ovan (Shino isn't bad, either). It would be nice if the purple-haired man gets a recurring role; [spoiler]the way he ambushed Haseo[/spoiler] and his playful banter were the most entertaining parts of the episode.

~Dagger~

[dog dancing1]

Yea, I like the aspect of PvP or pk-ing because ive played a few mmorgp and i like how dot hacks got into it ive onlt seen little parts of the 1st ep, though.

i think this well be a good anime.

[Ikillion]

[COLOR=DarkSlateGray][SIZE=1][FONT=Comic Sans MS]So what if I am slow? I just finished the first episode. I never realised till just now how much I have missed the .//hack series.

Well the always loving art that I have always admired and strived to try and make my own is still there. I have to admit so far it seems partially the same. However yet still different. Ovan however, I like him. I like him alot. I think it may be his glasses, they remind me of vash to much. Yet that aside I have already gotten a bad start with Haseo. Even though he is the main character in a sense whom the most climatic battle will depend on him. I just think he needs to start to realise what his position is. [spoiler]He should atleast get some kind of gears rolling in his head once so many people, well even if it was just two, keep asking about the same person[/spoiler].

I want more, I must see episode 2 soon.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Meggido]

Well I just saw episode 2 and it pretty much seemed to sum up what the twilight Brigade was about, just like the title kinda suggests. ANyway just a few theories based on what I've read bout the games that come after the series and my own speculations:

Tabby [spoiler]does not appear in the games to what I've seen so she either disappears or her role becomes obsolete when Haseo leaves the Twilight Brigade (or when it gets disbanded[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Some sort of relationship will form between haseo and Shino because in the games SHino falls into a come after being Pk'd by the Tri-Edge (unknown if he's an NPC or PC) and this is what starts Haseo on his adventure[/spoiler]

Phyllo [spoiler]seems like he is similar to Helba from the original series. His character seems oput of place in the world so I'm almost tempted to think that he might be a hacker.[/spoiler]

[Dagger]

Episode 3: It was going great... right up until that horrible insert song! Where's Yuki Kajiura when you really need her? But it's going to be interesting to see whether the [spoiler]legendary weapon[/spoiler] moniker will have any relationship whatsoever to reality.

~Dagger~

[Meggido]

I think the song your talking about is the one by ALI-Project. they also do the ending as well as the op to Rozen Maiden (another anime I've seen). ANyway I'd say that it was a good ep, and I actually saw episode 3 back when I wrote my opinions on ep 2. It's likely that this will lead into the core of the series now.

ANyway just saw episode 4. This episode just seems to add more questions about some of the main characters especially Ovan. [spoiler]I could see Tabby eventually getting PK'ed. I mean she's so innocent even I would have been tempted to had I been someone playing the game. But I do suspect it might have been Ender from TaN.[/spoiler] They also seemed to set it up for the next episode, entitled distrust after [spoiler]Sakisaka finds out from Gord that Haseo was doing some prior research into the Twilight Brigade.[/spoiler]

Can't wait for ep 5.

[Dagger]

Yeah, I thought it was Ali Project. Hence why I wished that Kajiura was the one doing the music.

Episode 4: Yes! I'm so happy that [spoiler]Tabby got PK'd. Too bad that it couldn't be permanent...[/spoiler] and I do kind of hope it was Ender, because she's really very cool. I want to see a lot more of her and Goad/Gord.

Is it just me, or did it seem that a different team of artists worked on episode 4? The differences weren't horribly jarring, but there were some discrepancies between how the characters (especially Shino & Haseo) looked and the original models. It was most noticeable around the eyes.

~Dagger~

[Meggido]

[QUOTE=Dagger]Is it just me, or did it seem that a different team of artists worked on episode 4? The differences weren't horribly jarring, but there were some discrepancies between how the characters (especially Shino & Haseo) looked and the original models. It was most noticeable around the eyes.
[/QUOTE]

I didn't notice but I never really pay attention to that. I mostly pay attention to the storyline but oh well. Maybe you're right.

Anyway I'm waiting for the ep in which [spoiler]Shino's costume changes from white to black. Why you ask? This is because in the videogame and the manga titled .hack//GU which are set after Roots, Shino is always shown in a Black outfit rather than white.[/spoiler]

[CENTER]----------------------------------[/CENTER]

Been 12 days since my last post so I hope I can be forgiven for the double post.

ANyway onto major points. Over the last 12 days I've seen episodes 5 and 6 and I must say wow. The symbol that appeared in the lost ground in episode 5 appeared again after that weird phenomena in ep 6. For those who don't know that symbol is the symbol revolving around [spoiler]Tri-edge, who is the Kite look a like with the unusual twin blades. Looking at the preview for ep 7 he will finally be making his appearance as the real villain.[/spoiler] As for the glitch or whatever you'd call it in the cave [spoiler]I'm confused to how Haseo was able to fixed it. Could it be something to do with the new legend of the twilight? Or is it something to do with him appearing to be an anomaly in the game as well?[/spoiler]

[COLOR=Sienna][SIZE=1][INDENT]Twelve days or not you still need to use the edit button located in the lower right hand corner of your post to add on to the existing post. Please do not double post [B]Meggido[/B]. ~indifference[/INDENT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[SRI]

I'm glad I found a thread:animeswea [noob]
but, Where do I start with .hack?
Should I start with the manga, game, or anime?

[Meggido]

AS far as I know the series starts with .hack///SIGN. I don't think anything's been released that comes before that. Chronologically if I recall the order is:

.hack//SIGN
.hack Games (4 games from Infection - quarantine)
.hack//Legend of the twilight Bracelet (anime/manga)
.hack//ROOTS
.hack//GU (3 games on PS2)

There's a few light novel series and such but I'm not sure where they fall.

[Sangome]

[FONT="Microsoft Sans Serif"][SIZE="1"]Actually, there's one that takes place chronologically before .hack//SIGN, and that's the novel .hack//AI Buster. Then, after GU, there's Link, which has a manga, and soon to be game and anime adaptations.

Personally, I prefer the games over the anime. A lot of people enjoy SIGN, and there's nothing wrong with that -- it's a good show. Just, very few people seem to want to follow it up...and they're really missing out.

Also, it should be noted, with Legend of the Twilight, the manga is canon. The anime is not.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[SRI]

Thanks!:animesmil

I was super confused on the 1st episode of .hack//Sign that I thought that there was something before that that would explain things out. But I guess this series is complicated...