20th Anniversary of .hack//
.hack// (pronounced Dot Hack) is a timeless classic anime and video game franchise. Originating in 2002, it is one of the oldest animes featuring people playing video games and, subsequently, getting stuck in the game. The timeline for .hack// is as complicated as it is captivating, spanning from various different games, animes and even light novels (I know. Here we go again with these light novels.). Last month April 2022, the franchise celebrated its 20 year anniversary for the anime, originating with .hack//Sign, while the video game franchise, originating with .hack//Infection, will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year in October. To celebrate this, we completed a .hack// Xtreme review detailing our favorite parts of the franchise (understanding that in America, there were several limited releases that never made it here.).
Let’s briefly ZONE in on the franchise. While looking into the storyline of the franchise, this was when I realized how complicated the story really got. There was so much to dive into, I was completely surprised at what I found. But to start off, let’s look at the chronological list.
The chronological list of the games, anime and OVAs are as follows:
.hack//Sign (anime)
.hack//Sign: Intermezzo (OVA)
.hack//infection (Game)
.hack//Liminality: In The Case of Mai Minase (OVA Included in the First Game)
.hack//Mutation (game)
.hack//Liminality: In The Case of Yuki Aihara (OVA Included in the second Game)
.hack//Outbreak (Game)
.hack//Liminality: In The Case of Kyoko Tohno (OVA Included in the third Game)
.hack//Quarantine (game)
.hack//Liminality: Trismegistus (OVA Included in the fourth Game)
.hack//Sign: Unison (OVA)
.hack//Sign: Gift (Parody OVA)
.hack//Legend of the Twilight (anime)
.hack//Roots (anime)
.hack//G.U. Rebirth (game)
.hack//G.U. Reminisce (game)
.hack//G.U. Redemption (game)
.hack//G.U. Trilogy (Game Story Recap OVA)
.hack//Roots: Returner (OVA)
.hack//Link (game)
.hack//Quantum: WALKING PARTY (OVA)
.hack//Quantum: WIRED PRISONER (OVA)
.hack//Quantum: The World-end Pallbearer (OVA)
Big thanks to u/mikael110 on Reddit for this list. There ARE also a few light novels for the franchise as well, but on bright news, many games and OVAs do recaps that also cover the most important parts of the story as well. In short, we don’t need to worry about them. *whew*
The franchise can also be divided into several parts as well to group the anime and videogames together as there is a large time-gap between games. Some OVAs and anime are side-stories as well as retellings for previous games, but in a different point of view. There were also manga released for the franchise; however, although considered by many to be the actual canon, they deviate from the story of the anime and games a little. For many, the video games and anime came before the manga, and as such, this allowed the writers of the story to get a chance to “redo” or “flesh out” the content. This would make sense as for why the stories do not always add up. For a simple breakdown, the youtuber ShadowBlazer3000 did an awesome job giving a very, very brief summation of the timeline, where you can check out here:
I want to touch base on some of our favorite main characters here. I will briefly mention their party, but they can be discussed at a later time.
Tsukasa
To start off we have Tsukasa, a female human who plays as a male character; however, due to story events, believes he is a true cist male. As such we will refer to Tsukasa as “he/him” per referral in the anime. He is a loner character who is an extreme introvert that pretty much hates people (I mean not really hates people, but really just heavily avoids them). He had special in-game abilities that many sought after due to the belief of being a great hacker, but ultimately, he sought his own path and freedom. He met Mimiru, Bear and Subaru (no, not the car) and throughout his adventures, he opened up and became a person more willing to trust others. I liked how Tsukasa’s growth was fleshed out in the anime and videogames. It made it more real to me and although the first part of the timeline was more story than action, I never grew bored with the story. Tsukasa in-game and An, in her real life, grew emotionally. It was a growth that inspired me to open up more.
Kite
Some years later after the events of the .hack//sign saga, we open into the .hack//legendofthetwilight saga where Aura has been released from Tsukasa. Kite of the Azure Flame, the twin-bladed warrior, is probably the second most memorable character to me. His story, being about rescuing his friend, whom he lost due to Skeith, and trying to find the secrets of the book of twilight. His story is compelling, as seeking out adventure and rescuing friends with “the power of friendship” was one of the biggest plots during this time in the anime world. Meeting characters like BlackRose (who does have a heavy influence on my art page name), Mia, Elk, Mistral, Piros, Wiseman and of course Balmung, would greatly help Kite in his pursuit of the legend of the Twilight and start the Twilight Brigade. Kite’s series is where the action begins and more mysteries begin to unravel. It is also where the mass amounts of people getting lost in the game of “The World'' starts to massively influence the anime’s real world. Kite’s story is pretty easy to follow and a great place for people to start the anime if you are more action driven than story driven.
Also a fun fact is that Kite was designed after Naruto.
Haseo
My boi Haseo. Ok so I’m gonna breeze through .hack//Roots because G.U. pretty much sums up the whole story anyway and where you really want to begin at. Haseo is a headstrong and extremely arrogant player. Now, it is understandable that, like Kite, he lost his close friend, albeit to the Kite look-a-like Azure Kite (no not really, but he believed so for most of his story), so he would get depressed. However, unlike Kite who remained humble, Haseo became a bad-ass mamojamma. Now what I love most is how the guardians make a comeback as Epitaph Avatars. But we also have the return of Skeith, the entity that killed Kite’s friend, and the re-use of the Kite’s character avatar as Azure Kite. But the legendary PKKer (Player Killer…Killer) runs through attacking all PKers and constantly keeps losing his powers in classic video game fashion through every game; however, Haseo has a redemption similar to that of Tsukasa, but he was much worse. He allows himself to encompass in the darkness of depression, but grows well with friends like Atoli, Kuhn and Pi that help him grow as a person and a player.
There are other characters as well like Sora, Shugo and Sekuya, but many of their stories are not as compelling as these main 3. Not saying that they aren't important, but these 3 stories revolutionized anime and gaming.
Anime like Sword Art Online, and Overlord probably would not be possible or as popular without .hack// paving the way. Listen to our podcast for our breakdown of our favorites of the famous anime and videogame franchise. I hope that you enjoyed my ted talk and, please, if you have other comments and mentions, leave a comment down below. Have video and pictures you want to share? Share your anime content here in the AniManga Zone on Facebook. Have fan art or cosplays that you want to share? Check out our Arts & Crafts Zone. Until next time, this has been Kokugatsu and we are ZONEing out.
References:
https://dothack.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline_of_the_.hack_series#1911
https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/plfs3/watch_order_of_hack/
https://dothack.fandom.com/wiki/Kite
https://dothack.fandom.com/wiki/Haseo
https://dothack.fandom.com/wiki/Tsukasa
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