.hack//INTERVIEW

Call me crazy, but I'm a rabid fan of the .hack franchise. I'll even go so far as to say that .hack//SIGN is probably one of my favourite anime series of all time. I loved the style, I loved the setting, the characters, the overall melancholic feel of the show ... it's entire premise was nothing short of ingenious. Then came .hack//Legend of the Twilight. Sure, the series was a little childish and this close to getting incestuous, but hey, it wasn't too bad.

Moving on, 1UP has an awesome interview up on their site for .hack fans. Speaking with CC2 president and CEO Hiroshi Matsuyama and Namco Bandai localization manager Brian Glazebrook, editor Andrew Fitch has managed to squeeze some interesting information out of the two, including various tidbits about volume 2 of .hack//G.U. Here's a little preview of what to expect:

1UP: Vol. 1//Rebirth tied pretty strongly into the Roots anime, which made following the in-game story a little confusing at times if you weren't familiar with the anime. Is Vol. 2 set up in a similar way, relying on players having seen Roots, or relying on them having played the original?

HM: Basically it is also designed for those who haven't watched .hack//Roots to enjoy. There may be some parts that seem to come out of nowhere, but for the most part, you can follow the story and understand what happens in .hack//Roots because that is also depicted as the flashback scenes in the game. Of course if you know about .hack//Roots, you'll get a better understanding... Also since this volume is irrelevant to the original .hack vol.1- vol.4, it is not necessary to have played the previous versions.

Sadly, I still haven't played .hack//G.U. so I can't judge the game, but I have watched .hack//ROOTS and I didn't like it very much. It's not just the fact that Haseo's a jerk, no. Tsukasa from //SIGN was a jerk, too. It's just that //ROOTS was downright boring. The characters weren't as varied or as interesting as the ones in //SIGN or //LIMINALITY and the fact that the series is still about people going into comas is a little disappointing. Nevertheless, I'm going to wait till I have enough cash to buy me up some G.U. love and reserve judgement for later.

[P.S: In case anyone's wondering, that's Mac Anu in the pic.]