While playing the newly released MMORPG "The World," Minase Mai and Tomonari Kasumi collapse in the real world and are sent to the hospital after hearing a mysterious sound. Only Mai recovers, while her friend Kasumi slips into a mysterious coma. Mai is later approached by the creator of "The World," Tokuoka Junichiro, who unveils to her that, just like her friend, six other players across the country also collapsed while playing "The World" and are now in mysterious comas. What exactly is "The World," what is this mysterious sound Mai keeps on hearing, and why are people slipping into comas from this game? Minase, Junichiro, and their acquaintances set off to get to the bottom of this problem before any further harm happens.
Nice supplement to the .HackSign series, showing a group of 3 girls trying to look into and expose what was happening in the outside world during the events of .HackSign, as it's revealed that several other people around the world had fallen into a coma like Tsukasa from not being able to log out of The World due to the Morgana virus. They find out the company that created and managed the game was trying to cover the situation up while trying to solve the problem. It's a more realistic scenario than the fantasy one in .HackSign, however, this one, rather than being a psychological...character study, is more of an investigation thriller. Still pretty interesting as supplemental material to a great anime.
And before I knew it, I fell down the .Hack rabbit hole.
With this being an anime, I feel like I can open up more since I've seen SAO, for better or for worse since the concept is similar in nature.
The first game series, IMOQ started with Kite's friend Orca being put into a coma because of the game, he seeks the monster that put him there, thinking that defeating it will bring him back, spoilers, it doesn't. Or at least, it's not that simple.
What this anime accomplishes is taking the same premise, one kid narrowly escaping it, trying to help another kid who got into...a coma. She does this by investigating, but doing so more in the real world than the actual game. This is similar to the second half of S1 of SAO (even though this came before it (but the SAO novel was the year before....there's a lot to argue)) where Aincrad was cleared but Asuna was still in a coma. I can thankfully say that this anime is better than that arc because as you might know, it was quite disgusting with its villain and treatment of Leifa.
They say that stories begin with the groundwork and others build on it over time but it seems like Hack, as a whole, had a lot more in mind than just a base. It's pretty fleshed out, no less than Sword Art, perhaps even more. Being one of the firsts of its kind (that I know of anyway), it does a pretty good job of covering a lot of different scenarios and then actually aging well enough to still be relevant even if it isn't as well remembered. Sure they use dinosaur computers and flip phones and text emoticons but I feel like the culture is still there, it's still charming and gets the story across the same.
This also takes the approach of having different protagonists for the episodes. Same story, Mai Minase is still there, but different scenarios that build up what she started then they meet up at the end.
For newcomers, are the games required? Or should you watch .Hack Sign first?
Well I haven't saw Sign yet, this came bundled in with the games so I started there but I hear Sign is a semi-prequel so it's really up to you on that front. As far as how much of Liminality is related to the games. It takes its time to explain what's going on, just in case you decided to start here, it's not "connected" to the story of those games in the sense that its using the same characters, for the first two episodes you'll be fine just watching them on their own if you wanted. There's a few nods here and there that you'll understand if you played the games though (as it takes place during the same time) and I think even some things that happen in the show that are referenced in the games. But it's starting with episode 3 that you're going to need the games.
How its presented to the players of the game is (as I mentioned) bundled in with the game, with one episode per entry as if it's an unraveling mystery between both mediums, following two stories at the same time. The way the story is conveyed is sort of like a real life reddit ARG, connecting dots and finding things in weird places from a vast variety of sources. Some people will like that, some people won't. You can get the sparknotes version by just following along but its so much more if you read into it.
In fact, each intro to the episodes is different, recapturing a lot of the moments from the game parallel so Episode 2 will have Mutation graphics for example and those can be spoilery. Because of that, you should play said game before viewing the disc. You will more than likely be unable to understand what Episode 3 and beyond has to offer unless you play (or watch) the game before it. It makes blatant references to the lore and certain characters from the game, even if they don't make a proper appearance, it's integral to the plot. In fact, I'd even argue that this anime is supplementary to the games. It helps you understand the games just as the games help you understand the anime and it has a might higher payoff if you experience both the way they were intended.
They also mention "Fragment" which is a debunked MMO (unless you go through emulation) but as far as I know, the story isn't that connected (so it's not mandatory), it's just the game that they play is the same as the one that you can play.
But I'm not here to review the games, I'm here to review the anime as an anime and only an anime.
It's interesting but I can't help but feel it's lesser. It's cool to find little details here and there and it's entertaining enough, that's really all I would ask of it, I mean it's 4 episodes. This is no hidden gem, this is no piece of crap either. Overall, I'll give it a 6 out of 10 but my enjoyment a 7. As far as sound and music go, it does what it's supposed to but it's not winning any awards. Art is fine enough for an OVA (despite some of the haircuts looking like Higarashi) but look at the studio (Bee Train) and what they've done, it's about that same level of quality, late night early 2000s anime type.
Overall I might have got the chronology wrong, but I started out with this OVA, and have yet to see "Sign" and "Twilight". That's probably why I didn't understand a thing.
Animation Not bad, not great. It looks kind of like most TV animes out there. I guess you expect more from an OVA, though. I like the attention to detail in the animation, though (throw a frying pan down a hatch, and it's still there when you get down there).
Sound Voice acting is solid but nothing special. Background music is a bit repetative and there are few different songs considering this being a rather short OVA.
The ending theme...gave me a real deja vu. I can't put my finger on it, but I have heard it before somewhere. Are there other animes using this song?
Story Alright, I probably should have started with "Sign" or something... I didn't understand a thing! Yes, there are strange things going on regarding "The world", but what? And why is this rag-tag collection of characters seeking the truth? Hopefully this OVA will make more sense when you have watched other parts of the .Hack story.
Character As I said, I can't see how the characters' backgrounds link together, and certainly not how they are connected to the story (which I also failed to understand, by the way). Mai-chan is the only one with a real motive as far as I can see. Even though every character gets a whole episode of their own, there are no explanations of who they actually are and why they do what they do.
If you love .hack//Sign, you’re likely an RPG fan. Yet if you’re a bit too young to have enjoyed the Playstation 2 generation of games, you may have missed the .hack video game series and the MMORPG based on the game. If you love the anime, this is one you’ll likely want to dust off and play!
.hack is known for its enchantingly dark music and even darker themes all wrapped up in a seemingly innocent story about a bunch of players inside a popular MMORPG. But there are many interesting things just waiting under the surface. Here are 20 interesting facts about the .hack franchise.
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