Anime .hack//Quantum

[Nony]

This is the anime I am most excited about these days: .hack//Quantum! (Me? Excited about a .hack anime? NO!)

So rather than try and come up with my own original description, I'll just steal this one from [url=http://www.dothackers.net/quantum.php]dothackers.net[/url]:
[quote]"The World" once again flourishes, with over 10 million players playing "The World R:X", set in 2022. In a special Christmas event, three players set out to conquer an "unbeatable" quest: "The One Sin." .hack//Quantum tells the story of a party of adventurers: Tobias, Mary, and Sakuya, with familiar looking Avatars of past players. The OAV will be split up into three episodes.[/quote]

Before I go on, here's a helpful video or two to give you an idea of what the heck this looks like.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO6sJOcluHo[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBvsyjFl8lU[/media]

Finished watching them? Yes? No? GREAT! Let's move on!

So characters! We have Sakuya (the girl with the long twin tails and orange outfit), Mary (long pink hair, little bikini top), Tobias (silver haired bishounen one), Hermit (the cutest little cat thing EVER), Shamrock (blue haired goth loli) and Smith (big golden armored man). These are just as far as we know right now, anyway. Also, the previously posted link has some info on the main trio's offline selves as well, which you see a bit of in the second video.

As previously mentioned, Quantum is going to be a three-part OVA series; apparently each episode is about 35 minutes. The first episode will be premiering in Japan later this month on the 27th; the first BD/DVD release is set for late January.
Other cool information can be found here, assuming you can navigate around Japanese: http://www.hack.channel.or.jp/quantum/

I'm so so so sooo excited for this. *v* It just looks like something that can [i]really[/i] appeal to a larger audience, not just the .hack fanatics. Quantum can still prove me wrong on that, of course, but either way it's something I'm highly anticipating. And hopefully I've interested some of y'all now! 8D

[Sangome]

[color="#9932CC"][font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]That would be pretty nifty if it could appeal to a broader audience, but if the franchise is apparently winding down, then wouldn't that be a bit too late? Although I suppose if enough interest was generated, then the series could continue.[/font][/color]

[Nony]

No, the series isn't going to continue. CC2 (the developers of the .hack games) have pretty much been saying, "It's ending. Period." As much as other .hack fans would love to stir up rumors that it's still going on, it's not. XP

But I'm just happy 'cause at least it looks like we'll be getting an AWESOME anime to send off with. (There's plans for a CG movie, but we don't know too much about that right now.) With most .hack anime I have to say, "Yeeeeah, it's not really for everyone." However, my hope with Quantum is that I can point at it and go, "You will like this. Now watch it!"

[Japan]

I am very excited for this as well. For once there is a .hack series that has great detail and graphics! I hope that the story pans out to be as great as the animation. It will be sad to see this franchise die down, but it would be neat if it went out with a BANG!

[Claire]

Oh lawd. I haven't been into anime in a really long time but this actually excites me. .hack//SIGN was pretty much my favorite show of all time and I still have a soft spot for it, and the first four PS2 games. I love how it seems to have to original SIGN animation, with the glowiness and whatnot. I wish Yuki Kajiura did the music though, she really made SIGN something special.

I don't get why they always recycle the same avatars though. In the games they turned Mimiru into Black Rose, Bear into Orca, Tsukasa into Elk, etc. Now they're turning Kite and Black Rose and Balmung into different people too? Hasn't this been happening for a while? (I wouldn't know, I only read one of the Legend of the Twilight books where Kite and Black Rose became Shugo and Rena, but at least they averted the rehashing with some kind of contest excuse...)

I'll probably try to watch this when it's available, and now I really wish I still had my .hack//SIGN DVDs.

[Sangome]

[quote name='Tonks' date='11 November 2010 - 12:17 AM' timestamp='1289456272' post='701739']I don't get why they always recycle the same avatars though. In the games they turned Mimiru into Black Rose, Bear into Orca, Tsukasa into Elk, etc. Now they're turning Kite and Black Rose and Balmung into different people too? Hasn't this been happening for a while? (I wouldn't know, I only read one of the Legend of the Twilight books where Kite and Black Rose became Shugo and Rena, but at least they averted the rehashing with some kind of contest excuse...)[/quote]

[color="#9932CC"][font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]Well, when you consider that The World is an MMORPG, the same classes are bound to repeat themselves, and that includes the character designs. I'm not saying it's an excuse for alleged laziness, but it makes sense when you think about it that way.

Also, if you ever watch Roots or play the G.U. games, you'll know that the main characters in those aren't recycled from Kite/BlackRose/Elk/what have you. Some of those characters/designs are still there to a degree [which I can't really get into without spoiling, plus I still need to play through the third game myself anyway], and two of the characters share the same character class/model from The World R:2 [and it's a plot point], but other than that, the designs in Roots and G.U. are nearly 100 percent original.[/font][/color]

[Nony]

For anyone who's curious enough, there's some links to various .hack//Quantum screencaps around. Luckily, I'm obsessed enough to have saved pretty much all of them, and for convenience's sake I have put them all into my own Photobucket album.

[url=http://s582.photobucket.com/albums/ss270/Iuliathe3rd/Quantum/]BEHOLD![/url] And enjoy. I know I've made a plethora of avatars ever since finding that cache of goodness.

Other image related neato stuff is easy enough to find on the main website, like this: [url=http://www.hack.channel.or.jp/quantum/chara.html]Characters[/url] | [url=http://www.hack.channel.or.jp/quantum/art.html]Storyboard Art (probably)[/url] | [url=http://www.hack.channel.or.jp/quantum/setdesign.html]Set Design[/url] | [url=http://www.hack.channel.or.jp/quantum/aomori.html]Aomori[/url] | [url=http://www.hack.channel.or.jp/quantum/firsthack.html]は��ての".hack"[/url]

Oh, one other thing I should mention is the .hack//Quantum+ manga they'll be making as well. It'll start serializing on the 26th, around the same time the first episode of the anime premiers. I've put up a few images of what I've seen of the manga so far in my Photobucket album (the one I linked earlier).

And finally, hot damn they have so much merchandise going on for this already. Just look at the stuff they're selling at the screening event: [url=http://www.hack.channel.or.jp/quantum/goods_intheater.html][link][/url]
Not to mention there's also a pending iPhone app that lets you download character designs or some crap like that onto your phone when you attend the events; there's still a few things you can do outside of those ventures, but yeah.

Jeezum crowe, so much going on here with Quantum. @_@