.hack//Liminality

Story

The .hack series isn't an easy one to get into for those of us who haven't played the game as there is plenty of background information that is left out in the anime. The strength of Liminality is it addresses some of these questions in a very intriguing manner. Liminality spans more than one .Hack anime, several of the manga and some games but the genius in this anime is it does so from the Real Life point of view (vs. gameplay). It manages to tie many loose ends together and in an entertaining fashion.

Characters

The characters are well fleshed out and developed. There is ... no sense of incongruity that these people don't behave like normal people would behave In Real Life. They're realistic and believable. Even the backstory characters of who developed fragment and why, is lovingly done. Overall, very solid.

Art/Animation and sound

Opening theme showcased the game in a very persuasive manner. If the game graphics looks anything as good as what's presented here then more people will play it. Character animation was clearly of a higher quality than .Hack/Sign or .Hack/Twilight. Sound effects are wonderful, music is good and even the insertion of the Hack/Sign theme was well done. Again, this was solid.

Enjoyment/Overall

Story wise, this has been the best of the .Hack anime I've seen so far, probably for the "summation" nature of this ova. It didn't feel too short or too long, there was no "filler" type material. The plot was tightly woven, pacing was great and thus I enjoyed this much more than the other .Hack series I've seen. Very very solid and good. I would have rated this higher if I were more familiar with the manga or played the game.

This OVA is the (very much superior) follow up to the "Hack Sign" series. The production is in the typical style of Bee Train, with the ever present, haunting melodies of Yuki Kajiura (a staple aspect in Bee Train productions) succeeding to be even better than in "Noir" or "Hack sign". And since those were earlier works, it does seem like the studio is getting the hang of the music production more and more.

Unlike "Hack Sign", significant events actually start happening from the word go, resulting in a captivating opening episode. Unfortunately, having set the bar rather high, the remaining three episodes are a ... little disappointing. In episode 2, the anime descends back to the usual faffing around that was so common in the "Hack Sign" series. The third and fourth episodes are better, but never really reach the standards set by the first.

"Hack Liminality" does go some way towards explaining the events in "Hack Sign", but not very much. Either the translators are at fault, or Bee Train need better explanations. There are a lot of vague statements thrown around, but they don't make much sense, and by the end, I was still fairly clueless about what's going on. Basically, the conclusion is something like "Aha! I've got it!!" I had no idea what exactly what they were doing or how did they did it. All I know is that there were some hacking involved. How can you make a proper sci-fi without explanations?!

Anyways, despite not really "getting it", I quite enjoyed the ride, I just wish they'd put in a more detailed explanation. Like "Hack Sign", this anime's high-ish rating is mainly boosted by its animation/music quality, but underneath it does have a bit more quality in its content to brag about as well.

All right before we get started, just want to make sure that you all know that I haven't played any of the hack games, although a lot of my friends have been telling me to go and get the games because they are really good (from what they said)

Unfortunately the anime series are a completely different form of media so yeah this is my take on it.

Story

Honestly though, it's hard to watch an anime that where you're already supposed to know things and with the lack of background information it's really difficult to get into the story line especially when ... there's still so much to explain. Although it's quite fairly simple and almost identical to the other .hack stories, it focuses on the mysterious comas that's been happening to the players all over the world, and how they're trying to solve it and yadda yadda yadda it goes on. One thing that really surprised me about this is the fact that the settings is completely in the real world, I expected it to be placed in the video game because it's .hack and all but that caught me off guard when the whole thing was set in the real world. Overall, it's getting old hearing almost the same thing over and over again from other series, but the upside is there's always new information that they present about the whole .hack series as a whole which kind of answers a lot of questions from the other series.

Art

The fact that it's an OVA, the art is already given as better than worse. I do have to point out that the style of art is quite different from all the other ones though, maybe because it's an OVA or maybe because it's actually placed in the real world rather than the colourful places of "The World", either way I really have no complaints about the art.

Character

I never really saw any character growth mainly because the time spent in the whole OVA weren't really that long, it didn't take them years or months to get to the end but I would say just days, so the amount of character growth from the beginning to the end I would say was "just right" not too much but not to the point where you wouldn't notice anything. They give you a good variety of characters, but the protagonists weren't very persuasive about their beliefs or goals, they never really showed that much passion about the whole ordeal. I found them too laid back with the situations that were happening and wished they'd react in a more believable manner. There was that guy that always had a cigarette in his mouth, I've always liked characters that are like that, shows them that they too can relieve stress the deathly way.

Overall

Honestly though, with my full opinion on this, the .hack series were probably the ones that I dreaded through watching the most, but then again I think back they were probably one of the first animes I've ever really watched seriously, so it was hard form to get into it and try to analyze as much crap as I can to make a good review.

Liminality was different because they weren't in the video game for once, and that already, gives this anime a point of uniqueness compared to the rest of the .hacks!

cheers

This was suprisingly good! Usually in .hacks I am bored to tears but this was really good! I was very involved and focused 90% of the time. The first episode did drag on a bit but the final 3 weren't as long which was a good thing.

Story:
The story is outstanding! Unlike most .hack animes the story does not take place inside of "The World". This takes place in the real world and I like that. It does get somewhat confusing but if you pay attention you will understand it. The ending was a little confusing to me but I still really liked it.

Art:
The color was ... magnificent and the animation quality was very good! The only thing taht bugged me was the wair the bangs were done, particularly Mai's bangs. They looked amateurish and not good. :\

Sound:
The sound was outstanding! Although the opening themes changed for each episode, the ending stayed the same and I really liked that. Also, featuring some of the other .hack themes was a nice touch. The background music fit well with the scene. It was a little staticcy at times (it might just be my headphones though). They also had one of my personal favorite seiyuu's too ;)

Character:
The characters are very well designed and all have their own personalities and go together great. The only downside is that some of the cahracter I had no idea what there name was throughout the whole OVA.

Enjoyment:
Expecting another bored time watching this, I was quite surprised to find myself really enjoying this. This was definitely a really good anime to watch and if I ever have the time I would definitely rewatch this again.

Overall:
Great anime! With a few minor tweaks here and there it could've been outstanding but it is still one of the best .hacks I've ever seen. Definitely would reccomend this to someone.

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.

It's worth noting here, that I write this review based on the condition that Liminality is watched with full knowledge of the story in the 4 original games on Playstation 2 as well as the entirety of .hack//SIGN.

.hack//Liminality is a very interesting addition to the .hack// lore because it is very largely based in the real world instead of the game The World. It elaborates on details that are alluded to but that the player may not really understand otherwise. Each episode has points of direct correlation to their accompanying games and it's not fair to leave them as a standalone object because they're simply ... not meant to be. The details and events you are given add without conflict to the story and are just a very strong addition to the lore.

The art direction and sound for Liminality is perfectly suited to what a viewer would expect after .hack//SIGN and while playing the PS2 games. There's really little more to say on this end. The music is done by the same artists and continue to set the atmosphere along with the anime visuals.

The characters themselves may be the weakest point in the episodes, in that they may seem unusually trusting or somewhat cliche. While I do cut a couple points from the character score for these problems, I don't think it actually detracts from the episodes at all and actually ends up being one of the rare cases where a cliche actually works well.

As a lore addition, .hack//Liminality is without any real flaw, but I would not suggest watching it without thorough knowledge of the games because it will feel disjointed. As before, it was not really meant to be a standalone series.

Okay Before I start this Review This anime is a alternative series to .Hack/ / Sign.

Story: The Story of .Hack/ /Liminality is about two girls. Minase Mai and Tomonari Kasumi both collapse while playing "The World" while hearing a strange sound. They are both hospitalized and Mai is the only one that wakes up, while her friend Kasumi is put into a coma. The creator of the world Tokuoka Junichiro comes to help because he tells Mai not only her friend has been put into a coma, but another 6 people have also been put into a coma. Because of that mysterious sound that has ... been discovered by Mai.

Art: I quite liked the art style of .Hack/ /Liminality it was quite nice. There are just some minor improvements.

Character: The Character development was average in .hack/ /Liminality. I would have liked to see a tiny bit of more development into the characters.

Enjoyment: The enjoyment I had with .Hack/ /Liminality was average.

Overall: I give .Hack/ /Liminality a 5/10

This review is shorter than usual because this is an OVA. There won't be as much detail in the pros and cons of each category, but it'll be enough for you to decide if you're interested in this anime. Let's begin, my friend.

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Story - 9/10

+ While .hack//Sign takes place in the game world, .hack//Liminality focuses on the real world. The story reveals more details about the problems the game world has on the real world, which I enjoyed. I also loved knowing more of the mystery behind it.

- The story can be a bit slow at times, but it's a very minor issue.

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Characters - 2/10

- I found the characters to be quite bland and none of them really stood out, probably because there wasn't a lot of character development to work with in the first place. None of them were dumb or annoying, they were just... bland, no personality. I really wanted to say something positive about the characters since I enjoyed the story. I accept any forms of hate, just don't blow up my house.

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Art - 7/10

+ Here's the good news. The art in this anime was overall good, just not as great as the art in .hack//Sign. I love the smoothness of the animation.

- Now for the bad news. I didn't like how some of the characters were drawn, especially when it comes to the hair because it looked... I don't know, clumpy and cut-out? I also didn't like the main female's eyes, I just don't enjoy that art style I guess.

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Sound - 8/10

+ I really enjoyed the music in this OVA, such as the separate main themes of all four episodes. I also recognized some of the awesome music found in .hack//Sign. Win!

+ The characters may be bland, but I liked the dialogue of the English dub.

- Just like .hack//Sign, some of the music can be overwhelming at times.

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Enjoyment - 6/10

+ I may have some disappointments but I enjoyed watching this OVA, it was nice knowing more of the backstory of the .hack series in a different perspective.

- This OVA would have been more enjoyable if the characters looked better and had some colorful personalities. I'm just glad this wasn't a full-length anime or I would dropped it before reaching the halfway mark.

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Final Score - 32/50 (64%)

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Would I watch this anime again? No, once is enough for me.

Do I recommend this anime? Yeah, but only if you're a fan of the .hack series. This can be watched if you don't know anything about .hack, but I'd say you're wasting your time.

Personal disclaimer, I watched this following .hack sign and on hazy childhood memories of the PS2 games. Part of my lackluster impression of the series is it seems to start and stop in the middle of a story, rather than itself being a self-contained story, so I may simply be missing out on details from other media that tie Liminality into a timeline better.

All that said, Liminality was a bit too disjointed and inconsequential for me. The first three episodes mainly serve to introduce each of the three main female cast members, followed by a finale where the crew undertakes a mission against the main ... threat. Unlike most .hack series', Liminality takes place almost entirely in the real world, as opposed to the game, 'The World.' This is normally a talking point for those who praise Liminality as it is novel, though it removes a bit of context and makes Liminality more of a standard investigative series.

There is a number of things Liminality does quite well, starting with the title. The concept of Liminality can be summarized as the dissonant space that lies between those uninitiated into a ritual and true believers of a ritual's powers. This is actually a really interesting topic, one I wouldn't expect from an anime (much less an OVA of 4 episodes), and gets a decent amount of dialog to explain how it pertains to the story's events. Sound design has always been something I've considered Bee Train quite good at, to which Liminality is not an exception. The cast are all pretty interesting and likeable considering how little time you share with them and visual design benefits from things like Bee Train's eclectic shot pacing and angles as well as attention to detail. I spent at least a minute or two marveling that a phone's antenna poked through a character's hair while she was on the phone, for example.

That said, the flaws in the show are still pretty glaring. Side characters are exceptionally important for an episode only to be never mentioned again, one of the main characters really doesn't provide any usefulness in the final episode to the point one wonders why she even was necessary, very vague romance implications feel more like filler than characterization, and the whole investigative aspect feels lacking, perhaps due to the series' abruptness or because it is not strong enough to stand on its own without supporting lore from other media in the series.

If you're a fan of Bee Train or the .hack series, you might enjoy the ride, though otherwise I can't say I recommend it.

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.

.hack//Liminality acts as a sequel of sorts for .hack//SIGN and whereas the latter took approximately 12 episodes to really start digging into the plot and explaining what it was exactly that was going on, .hack//Liminality jumps right into the story with an evocative and charming first episode that gives the impression this show knows what it's doing. The first episode is riddled with intrigue and dances with the mystery of what truly is happening in The World and reinforces the idea that what's happening to the protagonist of .hack//SIGN is not exclusive to them.

.hack//Liminality, however, quickly returns to its roots and the second and third ... episodes feel like afterthoughts rather than a continuation of the first episode, and while that's not bad in and of itself, it is strange in how it decides to tackle the issues and resolve the storyline it sets off on the first seconds of the first episode. The plot quickly goes from understandable to irrelevant side-stories regurgitated by the show to get the characters together in one place, and some side-characters introduced have no relevance to the plot at large at all, making their appearance essentially padding.

While the show underperforms with episodes two and three, episode four brings back some of that episode one gusto and is not afraid to sink right into the story again, but while it is enjoyable for the characters to move forward, it feels like the majority of the cast is simply there out of convenience rather than a genuine effort to try and fix whatever it is that's going wrong. Toward the end it gets essentially messy and is quickly marred by the incompetence of the writing to convey the explanations being provided by the show, if there even are any that aren't extremely vague and convenient solutions.

Nonetheless, the cast, story and interactions in .hack//Liminality far outshine those in .hack//SIGN and for those who can tolerate a slower paced story with a satisfying outcome and an aesthetic similar to .hack//SIGN's, then this is the OVA for you.

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.