.hack//Roots
Welcome to The World: R2
by Pedro Rodriguez
If anime has been your thing since at least 2002, then chances are you've come across one .hack series or another; after all Project .hack has given us at least three different major story arcs (Sign, Liminality, and Legend of the Twilight), four intricately connected video games, (Infection, Mutation, Outbreak, and Quarantine), and several manga titles. Well hang on to your Grunty, because another major story arc is has hit our shores ".hack//Roots"
The story begins in the year 2015, about five years since .hack//SIGN started. The World has been redone again, from the ground up. Currently the game is filled with PKs (Player Killers); as the phrase would suggest, it's an individual that goes around and kills other players if only to kill them. Within the first few minutes, we find that Haseo, a black rogue, has become the most recent victim of a PK. Fortunately, he is saved a trip back to the graveyard, when a man named Ovan revives him. The story begins to unfold when we discover that Ovan wants Haseo to join his guild, the Twilight Brigade.
From here we follow Haseo trying to find information about the Twilight Brigade. As his investigation continues, he comes across a major guild called the TaN. Unlike the other guild, the TaN is a huge guild which specializes in trading (including the shady kind). Still as honest as the Twilight Brigade may appear in comparison to their rival guild, Haseo also comes across several former members who left because of Ovan's ideals. In the end Haseo seems to be in the middle of a silent power struggle over his dormant powers - to paraphrase Morpheus, "He is the one... in this version of The World".
Each of the characters has a basic method of operation, and they don't really show much change in this DVD. Haseo is a bit skeptical about other players in the world, but he is still social. The TaN guild members share similar personalities of being a mysterious group of merchants who try to keep their agendas under the rug as much as possible. The Twilight Brigade is more of a Motley Crew of players but they each have a basic range of personalities. The head eccentric guy is usually eccentric, the out-going cat girl generally stays outgoing, and the witty sarcastic guy that looks like he has a plant growing out of his head, always looks like he has a plant on his head.
A lot of the ideas and themes that run through the first volume are familiar. A group of people are slowly finding out that their favorite MMO is doing things it shouldn't, and the events seem to revolve around one guy. For less rabid fans this may sound like a turnoff as you already have a general idea as to what is going on. Still there is a level of comfort in knowing when the surprise is going to pop up. There are other elements that keep things running fresh in "Roots". Many of the backgrounds and settings are original to the series. From time to time you will come across anachronism such as smoke stacks in the background; TaN's headquarters also looks pretty tech savvy. Yoshiyuki Sadamoto has also done the character designs from the ground up. There are similar facial expressions, and color palettes (Ovan's skin color, glasses, and hair are exactly like Kite's), but the similarities stop there. In fact it's almost dangerous to compare any character from this series with a previous one.
The quality of the audio is clean in both the Japanese and English track. The soundtrack has been given a bite. The orchestra is still composed of mainly string and wood wind instruments, but the lyrics in some of the songs have a darker and mysterious feeling to it. It's no surprise coming from Ali Project (Noir, Rozen Maiden). The English voice cast is pretty good, and there are some veterans that even the most cynical anime fans should respect, like Kelly Sheridan (Ranma 1/2 - Ukyou Kuonji), Lisa Ann Beley (Mobile Suit Gundam Wing - Relena Peacecraft), and Cathy Weseluck (Project A-Ko - C-Ko). The extras in the DVD are a bit light, featuring only the Japanese TV spots, and the closing sequence.
The box set is quite a package. While this may not seem like a problem for most (lucky) people, buying the box with just the first DVD can be an issue; does it look good, or does it look like it will just take space? Is the quality of the box really worth the money? And my favorite, how about some swag? Bandai really went all out in this one. You start off with a dark blue box with a metallic finish, then there are the replaceable pictures of the cast on both sides (word of advice, don't take them out). The quality of the box is also top notch. Compared to even some of their former box sets, this one doesn't look like it's going to fall apart halfway through collecting the DVDs; they even took into consideration of placing a smaller box inside that is the height of the DVDs to keep looking good even when it's empty. There's also plenty of swag; consumers will be pleased when they find a t-shirt and sound track waiting for them inside. There's also a demo version of .hack//G.U. inside, which is nice for a demo, but chances are you've already got it back in October, or you're broke from buying the box set.
".hack//Roots" offers a lot of what the previous titles have given, great quality animation, a solid soundtrack, and an intriguing story about MMO playing. Fans of the series will want to take a look into this show, but if you're casual you might yourself a bit more indecisive. Also while the box set is a bit pricey, most fans are going to want to pick it up.
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