.hack//Roots Collection – Review

Title: .hack//Roots Collection
Published by: Madman Entertainment (Australia / New Zealand)
Based on: The long running .hack// line of anime, manga and games which celebrates 10 years this year!
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Audio: English and Japanese Dubs
Subtitles: English
Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen (16:9)
Runtime: 650 minutes
Cost: $49.95
Classification: This title has been classified as PG  for Mild Violence and Coarse Language
Special Thanks: Special thanks goes to the Madman Entertainment PR Team for providing me with a review sample of this title.

While I have a fair few things to review, I decided that after a day of (surprisingly given the number of posts I have made) leisure through watching anime, playing some console games and finishing off The Manga Guide to Biochemistry, I would do a review of an old favorite .hack//Roots that I recently watched in English for the first time. This anime series is a bit different in Australia than what it is in North America…. while it is great Madman Entertainment chose to release it over here as they did .hack//Sign and .hack//LoTB, it is actually kicking us Aussies while we are down as we never got the corresponding game trilogy that follows on from it with the series ending on a cliffhanger. So how does .hack//Roots come across as a solo entity and as part of the The World R:2 collection of this long running series? Read on to find out.

Plot

It was the year 2015 and for millions of gamers it was the year “The World” came to an end. Caught within a mysterious fire, all the data centers containing The World’s most popular game was destroyed, taking with it all the information about the game. Taking elements from what was to be a different game, “The World” is reborn as “The World R:2”. However, as millions of player, both new and old flood the servers, they soon discover that this new version isn’t as forgiving as its previous incarnation. Being one of these new players, Haseo finds himself not only the target of countless Player Killers, but two rival guilds who hope to use him in pursuit of their own agendas.

As you may have guessed, .hack//Roots is a prologue to the .hack//G.U game series and with the exception of the first episode and the last episode, most of what you need to know will be covered in the game. But of course either being Australian, not owning the game which would be near impossible to find or just wanting to get a full backstory are reasons you would want to pick up this release. The story follows Haseo, a young ambitious player who starts out on his first quest as a newbie almost getting player killed but is fortunately rescued by the Harvest Cleric Shino. After much ado about what guild to join, he decides to join her guild “The Twilight Brigade” which is dedicated to searching for a legendary artifact known as “The Key of Twilight” which may or may not exist. Bringing in the normal .hack charade of guild rivalry, people falling into comas, corrupt areas and a search for truth that spans over half the season… if you enjoyed what .hack//Sign offered in terms of a serious plot and a darker side of The World not present in other releases, you should feel right at home.

You could place the series into a Twilight Brigade arc and a post-Twilight Brigade arc and I felt the earlier arcs episodes were better written as a set than the second half of the season. While the earlier episodes allowed the whole guild spirit and guild warfare to take its course which provided with some great character development and action. The second half still provided a somewhat average plot but felt they tried to cram too many pointless subplots in order to set the series up for the game (The major “game” plot related event takes place in Episode 13) and results in a muddled mess which relies on Haseo for action and Tabby to salvage the best bits of game questing. I would have also liked a bit more development on the characters which while being set in a game world, made some of the more minor ones unjustifiably unlikable or just dull. Overall however, it is a .hack anime series serving the same role as .hack//Sign did but with a slightly more underwhelming plot.

Design

Given that this is all takes place in the fantasy world of a “leading” MMORPG in our future, Bee Train had a lot of freedom in their designing and pulled off not only the best looking .hack anime up to that point but also one of the best looking anime series released in 2006. Given the considerably large character cast I would have expected them to drop the quality on some of their designs, but all turned out well detailed and while some were better than others – they sort of matched the characters personalities and evident gaming abilities which contributed to the plot just that little bit. The environment designs merged each past, modern and futuristic into the decors depending on where the characters were. While they had a tenancy to use the same areas repeatedly, they also turned out more serious and detailed landscapes than previously which were welcome additions to the more carefree or less detailed environments of previous installments in the .hack franchise.

Themes

Opening Sequence
Silly-Go-Round by FictionJunction YUUKA

I always had a soft-spot for the themes performed by See-Saw, so my first impression when watching this back in 2006 involved just a little tinge of disappointment initially, but I came to appreciate it nevertheless. It was a nice track that switched frequently between fast and slower paced tracks while not ruining the overall tone of the song. The animation quality consisted of all opening-exclusive animation and was paced well with the music track.

Ending Sequence
National Awakening – Catharsis by Ali Project

I have always had a soft spot for ALI PROJECT’s darker toned J-pop tracks and National Awakening -Catharsis is no exception. The darker tone of music worked well with the included animation even if you would not really watch it for the animation itself. All I can really say is I was satisfied with what they provided for both Opening and Ending sequences.

Sound / Voice Acting

The winning component to any .hack release is its soundtrack and dub cast, both of which met my expectations in .hack//Roots. The soundtrack is a mixture of tracks one would more likely see in a games soundtrack with a few added tracks for dramatic effect. The series also makes use of a handful of lyrical songs performed by ALI Project retaining their darker J-POP style of rhythm and as these were usually added to battle sequences which I felt really added to the whole suspenseful atmosphere albeit being overused a bit too much. The English voice cast included a great mixture of voice talent with most if not all being retained to their game counterparts. Andrew Francis who voiced Haseo was evidently the star of the show and proved great talent in matching the “Many Faces of Haseo”. Special mentions also go to Maryke Hendrikse as Tabby and Russell Roberts as Phyllo.

Personal Opinion

While .hack//Roots started out as an ambitious anime project with the design and sound to prove it – the plot while being strong in some parts also became too ambitious resulted in a second half of the series with no direction and only a few key elements important to the actual game but at the same time leaving several plots open which you actually need the games to fully complete and understand. I still recommend considering picking this up as you never know what they will throw onto the Playstation Network next, but you might want to be prepared to spend some time in Wikipedia after the 26th episode to get up to speed with how the tale concludes.