Anime Rebirth

Review - .hack//Roots

Review by Roriconfan

Prologue
I don’t like repeating myself, so it is wise to read my SIGN review before starting with this one.

Enjoyment: 4
The plot is still all talking but there is a bit of fighting this time. Nothing major to look at though, I still watched most of it at X8 speed, without missing anything.

The same things I said about fighting and talking/storytelling in SIGN, apply here as well.

Animation: 8
Same as in SIGN.

Sound: 8
The music themes are nothing compared to the awesome ones in SIGN. Voice acting and sound effects are still great.

Characters: 5
Haseo is the protagonist. He is an antisocial in real life and is quickly targeted by Player Killers in the game. That makes him feel uncomfortable even in the virtual reality. But, as the story goes on (in a very slow pace as ever), other Players treat him as special and gets overconfident as his virus/Key Of Twilight powers turn him into a cocky power player. He, like everyone else in the series, is looking for the Key, which presumably is in possession of another Player Killer. When that PK throws a friend of his into coma, his mission gets personal and an entertaining game turns into a violent vendetta.

The main character is not even close as interesting as Tsukasa. He, like the previous one, is a bit interesting because he has trouble trusting others. But beyond that, there are no secrets in his past, has no real importance in the world of the setting and doesn’t change at all throughout the series… Actually he does change. He slowly gets insane with power and revenge. But regrets it in the end (just because someone defeated him) and goes back to square 1… as if nothing happened. This guy turns in one of those shallow heavy-dudes in American action movies. He gets cocky, powerful, revenge is his purpose in life, and everything has to be solved through violence. Jesus, the only thing that was missing was him, kissing a gorgeous girl in the last scene, as the police vehicles arrive to find all the bad guys dead. When not acting like an American action hero, he had some depth. But if you ask me, I say “Bring Tsukasa back, you bastards!”

Besides Haseo, all others are there for flavor, as they were in SIGN. But here, they are far less interesting, mostly because they were acting like greedy thieves after the Key and cocky murderers towards weaker players. I found them bad mannered and boring. That small beaver on the bridge was annoying, even after the event of his player’s “departure”. And not to forget to mention that cat girl. I want to strangle all that silly and childish acting of hers! So, she is naïve, has inferiority complex and loves Haseo. WHO CARES?! What does such a ridiculous characters doing in a serious series like this?

Story & Value: 5
The story of SIGN was awesome; but in ROOTS there is nothing to look at.

A few years after the events of SIGN, a fire destroys the mainframe of THE WORLD and the game ends there. The producers simply create THE WORLD 2 and the game continues, like nothing happened. But still, the same events are repeating in here as well, as many are still falling into coma. The Key of the Twilight, the forbidden artifact of SIGN that can alter the very programming of the game and effectively make anything possible, is present here as well and still causes people to permanently lose consciousness. The producers of the game still manage to keep this secret and still order programmers and moderators to secretly “fix” any problems this game has as well.

Players that use characters possessing bits of the virus codes of SIGN are looking for The Key. But the story is more about Haseo’s obsession to get the PK that hurt his friend, rather than finding it.

The story is about Haseo, a character whose player is antisocial, becoming more confident (not social) with every new level he gets and turning against players that hunt / mock / exploit him in order to find a vicious PC. In the end, this bad guy defeats him (thus deviating from those awful American action movies), drops him back to level 1 and his guild master makes him understand his mistake. Once again, the series focuses on the main character and leaves aside the whole plot of world threat.

The ending is open again, as you are supposed to play the .hack Playstation 2 game trilogy and watch .hack//G.U. Returner and .hack//G. U. Trilogy to get the full picture. But those are just more marketing tricks to rob you of your money, as they were in SIGN.

So, the story suffers, big time. First of all, they killed of all previous settings and characters and left only cameo appearances of them. With the first game destroyed, it’s as if all the characters, AI and struggles done there were for naught! Tsukasa, Mimiru, Aura, Morgana and the rest are as good as dead. I am furious!

Then, the scriptwriters add the same fuss of the first series to this one as well. How can The Key and the viruses still exist if the game was made anew? No originality or reasoning here, whatsoever.

Perhaps there will be more to it after further games and specials have been made (there goes our wallet!). But until then, I will be considering the story to be as interesting as watching grass grow.

Verdict
The accused is found … GUILTY! … for relying too much on his brother’s fame.