Take A Pick Tuesday: .hack//sign
These days shows that depict you In a virtual reality type
game or both common and popular. One could note Sword Art Online as being the
big one but also Log Horizon and even the new Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up
Girls in a Dungeon. The list goes on and on these days but years ago there was
.hack//sign. Let me tell you first watching it, it felt like there was nothing
quite like it, in many ways I felt like it was showing the eventual future of
not just gaming but also how we socially interact with each other how we mask ourselves
as someone else, no one ever truly knowing who we are, what we’re going
through. How isolated we are or how much we really need help.
I’m happy and
unhappy to say that a lot of that came true. On the technological side it seems
like the gaming industry really is looking into those aspects for gaming.
Interactive is the key word in just about everything and is very likely to be
how everything is in a few years. Same can be said about how we interact socially,
we don’t communicate as much as we do on the various networks and devices.
While the show depicts this, I’d say people were as awkward around each other
in real life as they had predicted. Time will tell though I suppose.
The premise for
.hack//sign is focused on a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing
Game) called The World. The way the story starts off is in this world, with a
character that wakes up as if he was unconscious, unable to remember how he got
where he was, possibly who he even is. However you come to find out that he can
wield though not always in full control an illegal item, this strange golden
glob that has a way of shooting long arms into the characters, killing them.
Soon he’ll be hunted by those that are sort of like police, knights in general
and those that want to understand and befriend him. At first wanting to spent
time with, form travel parties and play the game but then also to journey with
but not with frustrations as he tends to push away characters, alienate himself
or even make it impossible for anyone to help him.
His real
trouble comes with being found with an illegal cat character according to the
silver knights and though he can’t recall this it sets him to often warp out of
dudgeons and various other places, adding to the impossibility of his character
since he’s not supposed to be able to do this. Except he can never truly leave,
you see Tsukasa finds it impossible to exit the world. This will lead him to
search for the Key of The Twilight something all the other characters will
begin to search for as well.
The first thing to know about the .hack universe is that it
is a massive as the fictional online game it portrays in its story. At the same
time of the anime, the very first .hack games were released for the Playstation
2. These events were running parallel to the .hack//sign tv show. The characters
do eventually meet in the OVA’s of the TV show. A similar issue happens in the
game in which a new character named Kite loses his friend Orca, a legendary
character already to a strange figure Seth and is placed into a Coma in real
life. Each game also had a DVD come with
it called .hack//limalinty where it deals with characters facing the strange occurrences
that are happening from THE World but in real life.
There are even
novels that are set during the time of the game and mangasof the sequel shows
that would follow as well as books that are set before the events of .hack sign
and even during the beta version of The World called fragment. In fact the
novels develop a timeline for these events as well as an event called Pluto
Kiss in which all things related to the world would come from as is an author
who had posted pieces of a story in which The World is based on. Massive is the
world for this whole universe and half of it started with .Hack//Sign.
Tsukasa seems to have an aimless approach to The World once
he realizes he can’t log out. Sometimes it feels like he is hiding the misery
behind being unable to log out and other times the freedom of not having to
face the real world anymore. The real
word outside the game which is depicted from time to time lacks the color and elaborate
beauty that the game world has to offer, sound is almost absent from it
although it does bring insight into why Tsukasa cannot log out of the world. While
Tsukasa is a brooding character, other characters make up for it with their
other emotions and attitude, no nonsense, Mimru, a heavy blade that despite her
constant fallouts with the main character is as secretly concerned as the rest
of them. She warns him of the circumstance of being pursued by The Crimson
Knights and tries to instill a little responsibility in him. Even in the game
world people should be responsible.
Then there is
Bear who also tries to assist Tsukasa when they first meet but gets a warp out
from the main character as a response. Then there is the leader of the Crimson
Knights, Mimiru. With her and the Crimson Knights you get a sort of gateway
into the state of The World as they speak of the moral issues with certain
characters. Sometimes you get big name bombs dropped like the two legendary
warriors Balmung of The Azure Sky and Orca of The Azure Sea. That’s right the
same Orca who falls into a coma and which drives Kite to try and save and
reverse the infection spreading in The World in the Playstation 2 game. Other characters abound and appear as the
show progresses, you get to experience other common things in The World suck a
Play Killers and the term PK’d. As the lingering mystery around Tsukasa becomes
clearer and perhaps the purpose for him being trapped in The World and what it
may mean for the game and the characters in it.
You see hackers
and worlds where trash date resides as they battle ideals with people that are
supposed to be a part of the company that created the game. It teases what the
game knows in aces that there are many dark secrets in The World and some will
be attempted to be covered up. While it
is a show about a game it does feel like an adventure story the settings are
comforting and the character designs fit well into the world and the various personalities
that fill it. What can’t be ignored is the amazing music in the show. An orchestrated
hymn like that feels like it’s roots come from the various cultures in Europe
that The World would borrow it’s designs from. Almost Gallic at times the
composer Yuki Kaijiura. The music can be dark and brooding, epic in scope and
intensity and calm, relaxing and thought provoking.
.Hack had opened
a place where many shows could also follow, certain aspects about gaming and
communicating that has become a part of our society. Even if the show hadn’t
done it years ago, it can still stand on it’s own and is worthy of viewing even
among a genre with other popular titles. Not to mention delving into The World
is immersing yourself the various platforms and it can be fun to connect the
dots. How did Balmung and Orca become Legendary Heroes? How did characters Like
Aura come about or even The World itself. What is the legend behind the game
itself and what exactly is Pluto Kiss, why is it more relevant today than it
has ever been. Starting with Another Birth in the Books to the timeline of
.hack GU and beyond it with the shows that follow and the movie, .hack is a
worthy universe to become a part of and makes us all hope that when the
president of Cyber Connect 2 has heard our interest in seeing more in every
format, he was speaking the truth.
I’ve always loved .hack//sign, it goes without saying and also enjoy
the voices provided for it in the English Dub. It’s easy to enjoy shows and the
characters, voices and forget that real people are behind these shows making it
possible. Real people with real lives that are also trying to make a living. It’s
also easy to turn a blind eye to horrible things that happen to them but I find
as fans it’s just as easy for us to turn an eye toward it, to reach out and
help those that are responsible for shows that in ways help us, maybe helps us
grow as people and enjoy them, sharing them being immersed into something much
larger.
That is why I’m
bringing intention to the sad news that has befallen actress/voice actresses Brianne
Bronzy. A spinal injury on the set of NCIS: Los Angeles from a falling metal
grip that landed on her neck according to the report in various new sites. In
March 2014 she had already undergone a life threating spinal surgery, its left
her in a constant state of pain and no one has really taken responsibility for
it, neither worker’s comp or court systems have acknowledged this and will not
pay for it. They are raising funds for her required Post Physical Therapy
treatments. Below is the portal page to donate to try and help someone in the
industry in need. To see more about the Campaign see the Anime News Network
link below. Where I first read about it. A portal page to donate money is below
the anime network link.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-06-03/campaign-for-digmon-hack-sign-voice-actress-brianne-brozey-medical-funds-launched/.88785
http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/in-desperate-need-for-temporary-medical-living-
expenses-/329777
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