(L) .hack//Quantum - New .hack OVA

[SilverSyko]

Am I the only one annoyed with the lack of originality in these character designs? For our 3 main characters we have female Kite, a female Balmung and Black Rose with a ponytail. Not to mention variations of Aina, Piros the 3rd, Khun and Atoli have shown up.

Seriously, what is with that? If they want an original plot they SHOULD make all-new characters and DON'T give us old characters with alterations.

Otherwise though, it is a treat that we get to see the real-world counterparts of the characters. That doesn't happen very often in .Hack. (I'm getting some serious K-ON vibes from a few scenes though.)

I'm hoping for the plot to be deep and intricate like the games and G.U. were. It's one of the main reasons I like the series so much.

[Hooves]

Originally Posted by SilverSyko

Am I the only one annoyed with the lack of originality in these character designs? For our 3 main characters we have female Kite, a female Balmung and Black Rose with a ponytail. Not to mention variations of Aina, Piros the 3rd and Atoli have shown up.

Seriously, what is with that? If they want an original plot they SHOULD make all-new characters and DON'T give us old characters with alterations.

Otherwise though, it is a treat that we get to see the real-world counterparts of the characters. That doesn't happen very often in .Hack. (I'm getting some serious K-ON vibes from a few scenes though.)

I'm hoping for the plot to be deep and intricate like the games and G.U. were. It's one of the main reasons I like the series so much.

I sorta got over the lack of originality when I saw too many resembling characters from the other .Hack series that resemble too much like the ones in the game. But I can agree with you on the K-ON vibes somehow (especially with the fact they are all girls )

Well if it can stand with the other .Hack series, then we might be in for something. Of course that's just a perspective.

[shmaster]

Pai is really really really bad at hiding her identity, isn't she??

And I pray very hard that cat is not going to be Macha. Let her rest already.

[SilverSyko]

Originally Posted by shmaster

Pai is really really really bad at hiding her identity, isn't she??

Where's Pi? I didn't see her anywhere in this episode. Unless you're implying that she's the Aina look-alike, in which case I have to disagree.

And I pray very hard that cat is not going to be Macha. Let her rest already.

I wouldn't worry about that too much. Macha was a part of R:1. Unless CyberConnect implemented her program into R:X somehow I doubt she'll be returning.

[DangerMouse]

Originally Posted by SilverSyko

Otherwise though, it is a treat that we get to see the real-world counterparts of the characters. That doesn't happen very often in .Hack. (I'm getting some serious K-ON vibes from a few scenes though.)

I'm hoping for the plot to be deep and intricate like the games and G.U. were. It's one of the main reasons I like the series so much.

Agreed on both points.

Speaking of the rarity of seeing or hearing about the real-world counterparts of our characters, looking back it was also one of my favorite surprises of SIGN. While we didn't see them all in person and just heard some of them tell each other who they were in the real world, such reveals of the players themselves towards the end of the series was a great surprise.

[vharxin]

just watched it, and basically... it's Kuroi Mato (BRS) playing as Hatsune Miku dressed in Kite costume not that I mind though. The graphic and animation is top notch, and the story is well deliver itself while looked like typical .hack plot seems interesting. Also loved the real life scenes, it's just refreshing to see that coming from .hack

[Master_Yoma]

Wow just watched it and dragon look awesome

[Lumir]

This OVA seems to be going somewhere unlike ROOTs. Roots was a complete failure IMO. It was completely poorly executed, and its scenes didnt connect to its viewer like they should have. As a well versed gamer I could easily see what kind of issues and things they tried to present in that series but it was completely handled wrong.

From the looks of this first ep this OVA is doing much better then ROOTs entire series did. I like the obvious connection they show between the 3 girls in game and out. Adds realism to the .hack universe, and further helps the viewers understand and know the characters.

The .hack series has such potential but even in sign it seemed to fall short in terms of anime, the games where O.K but I slowly lost interest due to its overly repetitive nature. I just hope they have some real gamers in the way of staff that are producing the next series/game as they had the elements of a MMO but didnt quite hit the head of the nail.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by SilverSyko

Am I the only one annoyed with the lack of originality in these character designs? For our 3 main characters we have female Kite, a female Balmung and Black Rose with a ponytail. Not to mention variations of Aina, Piros the 3rd, Khun and Atoli have shown up.

Seriously, what is with that? If they want an original plot they SHOULD make all-new characters and DON'T give us old characters with alterations.

There is an official excuse though; "The World" is a game franchise within the world of the anime, and that means there is consistency on how game avatars would resemble prvious instalments.

Another thing is that they needed to show the game characters as "game characters". As in, to clearly show that the game world is different from the game player's physical human world. One way is to show that game avatars can be repeatedly uses despite the fact that the players are different.
(A Western example is the Itchy and Scratchy cartoon in the Simpsons universe. In order to show a cartoon inside a cartoon, the art style is intentionally dumbed down.)

[Qaenyin]

Can't say I'm fond of this. Link felt like it took the previous atmosphere of the .hack// series and just tossed it out the window, and this feels like more of the same to me.

Yeah, opinions differ, just I greatly enjoyed SIGN and Liminality, found //GU fairly good. The original PS2 games had terrible gameplay but good writing which made them tolerable. But ever since //GU the writing in the series has felt like its been on a downward spiral(XXXX, Trilogy, Link, and now Quantum).

Whatever happened to the mature intelligent subject matter and the deconstruction of online game communities and the archetypes of players in them? This is all just generic anime cliches with a different setting now and it really turns me off. I miss Bee Train.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Qaenyin

I miss Bee Train.

I'm not a bee train hater but you conviniantly left out .hack//roots in your post,as much as I like sign,roots was torture to sit through and that alone doesn't make me miss bee train at all.

[ruurguy]

Originally Posted by Qaenyin

Whatever happened to the mature intelligent subject matter and the deconstruction of online game communities and the archetypes of players in them? This is all just generic anime cliches with a different setting now and it really turns me off. I miss Bee Train.

Eh? Quantum probably did a better job of representing and de-constructing online game communities in a hack series in a while. You have casual gamers who really enjoy just playing the game (Sakuya). You have people who are heads down in analysis of the game and are 'hardcore', like Tobias. There's guilds being represented, doing actual well guildy stuff like trying to take down The One Sin. This is as opposed to like the Crimson Knights who tried to enforce rule over the whole server, or the Twilight Brigade searching for the Key of Twilight, which in real life just aren't typical things people would do. They were special cases.

As for intelligent subject matter? You might have to clarify. I mean we are only one episode in and it was basically all set up. The only thing I worry about is where they will end this series, given that there is only 3 episodes total. Personally I liked seeing the characters in slice of life normal school day stuff contrasting with their time in The World. And you mentioned liking Liminality. I actually suspect this will have a bit of a Liminality feel to it honestly when the 3 eps are over.

[ruurguy]

Originally Posted by SilverSyko

Am I the only one annoyed with the lack of originality in these character designs? For our 3 main characters we have female Kite, a female Balmung and Black Rose with a ponytail. Not to mention variations of Aina, Piros the 3rd, Khun and Atoli have shown up.

Seriously, what is with that? If they want an original plot they SHOULD make all-new characters and DON'T give us old characters with alterations.

As other people noted, it is mostly cause there are only so many designs/avatars in the game I believe that they 'reuse' so many of the designs. It is a 'game' limitation. Although you would think if they are able to make such immersive virtual realities that people can get in comas from it, they could make more designs and customizations heh. One small note also, I am pretty sure that Tobias (The Balmung) is in fact a MALE PC, played by the girl Iori. It might also reflect a bit why Tobias is such a 'neat' character concerned with looks while Iori herself is kinda a slacker in her looks. She might like guys who look or acts like that or she just likes playing a different role in the game.

[Fenrir_valindri]

I agree, as much as it seems like lazy character design, you DO get same/similar looking characters in any MMO game, heck, think it was even a plot point in GU with Shino and Atoli looking alike.

I honestly found it quite enjoyable, and its looking like the best animated .hack that has aired to date, shame it isn't a full series.

[SilverSyko]

Originally Posted by Fenrir_valindri

I agree, as much as it seems like lazy character design, you DO get same/similar looking characters in any MMO game, heck, think it was even a plot point in GU with Shino and Atoli looking alike.

That was an exception because it was central to the plot. Haseo only took an interest in Atoli because she looked exactly like Shino did.

In Quantum's case, there's NO reason why the characters should look like old ones. The MMO customization limit excuse doesn't cut it for me, especially since this is the 3rd version of The World after R:1 and R:2. Plus, if they're gonna make the characters look like old ones, then the least they could do to add originality is change their class, and yet they STILL didn't do that.

I guess it's nice they don't look EXACTLY like the other characters like Shugo and Rena did in Legend of the Twilight though. I'll give them that.

[Kakkou]

Originally Posted by SilverSyko

I guess it's nice they don't look EXACTLY like the other characters like Shugo and Rena did in Legend of the Twilight though. I'll give them that.

Shugo and Rena's case were completely intentional though, since they (or rather Rena) took part in a contest to win PC avatars of Kite and BlackRose.

[ruurguy]

Originally Posted by SilverSyko

That was an exception because it was central to the plot. Haseo only took an interest in Atoli because she looked exactly like Shino did.

In Quantum's case, there's NO reason why the characters should look like old ones. The MMO customization limit excuse doesn't cut it for me, especially since this is the 3rd version of The World after R:1 and R:2. Plus, if they're gonna make the characters look like old ones, then the least they could do to add originality is change their class, and yet they STILL didn't do that.

I guess it's nice they don't look EXACTLY like the other characters like Shugo and Rena did in Legend of the Twilight though. I'll give them that.

Well I already mentioned in my post that given they have such immersive virtual reality they probably should have had more customization. Then again, this is the 3rd version of the game that still produces comas, has previously caused comas, has a lot of controversy about and yet, hey, everything is still honky dory, let's keep playing. In the end part of that is still just a show and those were the rules I guess they originally made. Also in .hack I believe the available avatars they can choose are tied to class. In playing any of the games other than the named characters most steam gunners or blade brandiers etc have pretty similar looks.

[maplehurry]

Question, which .hack series is the first anime series ?

[SilverSyko]

Originally Posted by maplehurry

Question, which .hack series is the first anime series ?

.Hack//SIGN. It's also the first installment chronologically in the series as well.

It's followed by the first 4 PS2 games. The two are connected plot-wise in some aspects so it might be a good idea to give the games a look afterwards.

Shugo and Rena's case were completely intentional though, since they (or rather Rena) took part in a contest to win PC avatars of Kite and BlackRose.

That's right, I totally forgot that. xD;

Ah well. If they're gonna bring back old character designs I'm crossing my fingers for one of Ovan.~

[ruurguy]

Originally Posted by SilverSyko

Ah well. If they're gonna bring back old character designs I'm crossing my fingers for one of Ovan.~

Based on the previews it looks like ovan or maybe a memory of ovan is set to appear in ep2 =)