HomeManga.hack//G.U.+ - Volume 1 Review

.hack//G.U.+ – Volume 1 Review

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.hack//G.U.+ - Volume 1 Review 1Title: .hack//G.U.+ – Volume 1
Based on: The .hack//G.U trilogy for the Playstation 2 gaming console and .hack//Roots anime series.
Story by: Tatsuya Hamazaki
Art by: Yuzuka Morita
Published by: Tokyopop (United States however sold in Australia by some stores)
Release Date: Out Now
Language: English
Pages: 208
Cost: Borders Online is selling it for $15.95. Price will vary between stores.
Classification: This title is rated T13+ for Mild Violence, Mild Language and Mild Fanservice (New classification category it seems).
Blurb: “Taking the storyline of the PS2 trilogy of the same name and modifying it for a manga compilation, Tatsuya Hamazaki does an okay job at compressing the rather good job at condensing the storyline, but at the cost of some storyline elements and important characters. The artwork is good, and pulls across the darker tone set by .hack//GU in comparison to other games in the series.

It is unfortunate for Australian’s that they had the prequel anime series, .hack//Roots released to our market however when it came to getting the .hack//G.U game series, we were a completely forgotten market, despite the fact that the original four parter game seemed to sell well enough that it is impossible to find the game on shelves anywhere (or they didnt release many copies…). However, there is a manga adaptation that is much easier to get your hands on, the adaptation being this, .hack//G.U.+, a series developed by Tatsuya Hamazaki (Who also did the Legend of the Twilight manga series) and  Yuzuka Morita. Is this a worthy adaptation of a game about a people playing a game? Read on to find out. 

It is the year 2017, and the stakes have gotten even higher in the massively multiplayer online game The World – now The World R:2, a dangerous place overrun by player killers, where lawlessness abounds. The PKK (Player Killer Killer) Haseo, known as “The Terror of Death”, is a fearsome foe who punishes those who want to slay other players. But things have gotten personal as Haseo tries to track down the killer Tri-Edge, who has threatened the real life of his friend Shino…

This is really a series where you really need to know some background of at least .hack//Roots. However, the key aspects are lightly touched upon in the story such as Shino being killed by Kite (Aka. Tri-Edge). This is The World R:2, which was created after an explosion occurred at the CC Corporation offices, rendering the previous game unusable. This world is similar to The World in .hack//Sign, where PKing remains rampant and a majority of people do take part in it, some form or another.

This story follows approximately the first half of the first game, and introduces the primary concepts of the series and introducing the key storyline elements such as Tri-Edge, People falling into comas (As with every game) and the arena, where every game Haseo gets dragged along to. The storyline starts off very slow, and remains true to the initial beginning of the game up to the point where Haseo’s character gets data drained, then it sort of skips ahead relatively quickly to the battle arena. The storyline, whilst being cut significantly, still has the primary plot elements and is an enjoyable read.

My only gripe is that they could have cut down on several battle scenes and instead introduced more of the other important plot lines in the game. In the game, Gaspard and Silabus were two characters that didn’t have much impact on the plot line, however provided some extra motivation and were also used to introduce other characters that were important to the storyline, however they have been omitted alongside characters such as Sakubo (Who is shown as being comatose), who are actually important to the overall storyline. This is only my personal preference however.

In terms of design quality, the events in the series almost always occur within The World itself, however unlike .hack//Legend of the Twilight where they chose more childish and less serious designs for the character and environments, .hack//G.U.+ has a much darker appearance to it. The characters are more representative to the designs from the game, with them being darker in tone and being a lot more detailed then their .hack//Original counterparts. The environment designs are also very well detailed, with lesser white backgrounds. The backdrops are usually darker in tone to suit the setting and character designs. Overall, I think the designs were very impressive in this series.

In terms of extra content, there wasn’t that much on offer in this volume, what was included however was:

  • Next Volume Preview
  • Character Guide
  • Hardcore!  Game .hack//GU manga page (Similar to the ones in .hack//LOT
  • Message from Tatsuya Hamazaki relating to .hack//G.U and G.U.+
  • Artist Notes from Yuzuka Morita
  • Advertising for the now defunct (and missing) Tokyopop Website, Gakuen Alice, Rumors from the Other Side, Chibi Vampire and The Twelve Kingdoms…. all of which if you are interested in, you might want to buy up sooner rather then later.

Personally, I only bought this because at the time I didn’t have a US Playstation 2 and wanted to read about what the storyline of the game was. I actually read it after I played .hack//GU Part 1 and I think I would have appreciated it more if I read it before playing the game as the omissions were noticable, however despite the lingering on the arena plotline, I think it was a decent adaptation.

Final Score

Storyline: B
Character Development:
C
Design:
B+
Extras:
C
Personal Opinion:
B

Overall Score: B

Sam
Sam
Founder of The Otaku's Study. I have been exploring this labyrinth of fandom these last fifteen years, and still nowhere close to the exit yet. Probably searching for a long time to come.

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