.hack//The Movie

One of the first manga I bought was the .hack// Legend of the Twilight and I immediately fell in love with THE WORLD and the .hack// franchise. I watched the legend of the twilight anime, then bought the sign anime and my only light novel is a .hack// one! So when I heard there was a .hack// movie, I jumped on it with eager eyes!!

Now for those of you who don't know about the .hack// franchise let me tell you  all that you've been missing out on! Based in world more advanced than ours is a MMORPG called THE WORLD and extremely realistic world and some kind of calamity. In this movie it's based around Sora who is at first reluctant to join her friends in THE WORLD, but with some pushing from her friends she timidly begins an adventure into her first MMORPG. Whilst she's still trying to understand the basic game-play, she stumbles upon a mysterious, ghost-like girl who gives her a strange item. Soon after users of THE WORLD begin to fall into comas and Sora is told that she is the one to save them.

Before I get to talk about anything else, we definitely need to discuss animation. The whole movie has been done in 3D CGI, and quite spectacularly too I might add. It looks amazing when they're in THE WORLD because the graphics look exactly like a video games! Outside of the game though, I would say it looks a little bit awkward. But then, maybe that's just me being a stick in the mud... Real world aside: the in-game graphics were superb and completely appropriate in a .hack// movie.
Anyway, as far as the plot goes, I am quite disappointed. The plots in .hack// are usually very clever and complex and I was excited to see what they'd put into a movie but .hack//The Movie has none of the pizazz that other .hack// series do. There is not enough focus on the in-game drama, we spend so long waiting for Sora to actually start playing the game it almost feels like half the film is done before anything starts happening. Even then, there seems to be a bigger concentration on who asked Sora on a date and by the time I was about two thirds the way through I was beginning to wonder whether the whole movie was just going to be a high school drama!
Actually, I almost feel it would've done better as a high school drama because the action is, quite honestly, dreadful! Instead of having them fight like video game characters we get an almost Star Wars-esque scene: giant flying ships shooting out lazer beams. Instead of fighting a regular strong boss type character they put every one up against a larger than life squid! So none of the characters get an opportunity to show of their individual skills!
Another important aspect about .hack// is character design there are always a few characters who are reminiscent of previous .hack// worlds and this  time they've all been visualised in 3D! Oh what an exciting opportunity! Shame they don't make any use of it. Despite the 3D graphics, the characters actually feel flatter than ever! There was one really attractive original character though, pirate-esque looking and very charming. He was Sora's Grandpa. Seriously, why is the only attractive one an old man in disguise!!
One thing I've loved about every .hack I've watched is Yuki Kajura's soundtrack. She's a fantastic composer and capture the essence of THE WORLD perfectly!!! So I was kind of gutted that she did not work on the movie. I'm not saying that Chikayo Fukuda's soundtrack is bad, it just can't compare to the eloquence of Kajura's.
All in all, I didn't enjoy. I mostly laughed at it's incompetence. But I believe that was mostly due to my exceedingly high expectations! As an avid .hack// fan I could see no benefit from watching this misshapen form of entertainment. It had so much potential and yet it failed to deliver on anything but the animation and I cannot forgive the poor management of the plot! So I would not recommend you watch .hack//The Movie. Your time would be better spent watching .hack//Legend of the Twilight, .hack//Sign or any other .hack// anime because they are actually good (well excellent actually).

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