.hack//The Movie: Sekai no Mukou ni

Well I just finished this movie and decided to do a review of it. Note that some of it is my own opinion - take it as you will.

The story takes place in the year 2024 where computers and technology are evrything. It centers around a girl named Sora Yuki, a normal middel school girl who is rather out of the loop from the rest of her friends and classmates. However, this all changes once she starts to play the online game known as "The World". On her fist experience in the game, she gets involved in an incident and thus begins her ... journey.

Story 8: The story is a bit plain with the use of recurring anime themes ; such as love triangles, commentaries/jokes on generation gaps and the famous: one who saves "The World"(sorry, couldnt resist). But I like these types of stories so maybe thats why I'm a little biased. Although its not like I'm going to give it a pure 10, but I feel its fair to give it an average number of 8.

Art 9: To be honost, I expected the normal 2-D animation found in most(if not all) anime, but was surprised to see a 2-D/3-D combination. It absolutely blew my mind. The art also shifts when they go into "The World" where the art mimics that of video game animation scenes. Overall the art is unique and original and thats why I give it a 9.

Sound 10: OMG the sound, I dont even know. If you have ever played or watched .hack, you will probably feel some nostalgia. But the main thing that blew my mind was that the Americans were actually speaking fluent ENGLISH. In most anime's, the foriegners usually speak in Japanese and it is just indicated that they are speaking English, but not here. That is why I give it a 10.

Character 7: Overall the characters are not all that great and fall into common character types seen in anime. There is also little to no character development to anyone aside from the main character; but what can you expect from a movie - they cant make it like 5hours long(a 12 ep season). But they are not entirely bad and that is why I give them a 7. Plus Yuki's grandpa is hilarious.

Enjoyment 9: I personally enjoyed this movie. It tends to be a bit more serious near the end, but the begining allowed for some slice-of-life as well as some comedy. I also enjoyed it because of the many refferences to the original .hack//sign that brought back many fond memories and thats why I give it a 9.

Overall 9: I have to say I really liked this movie. It has action, a little romance, comedy and the refferences are not so heavy that one would get lost if they never saw .hack. That is why I give it a 9 of 10 and recommend seeing it weather your a fan of .hack or not.

Warning: This review comes from a fan of the series. Actual enjoyment of the movie may vary from person to person. I'm a bit biased on this review, you are warned.

Just like all of the series' setting, the story took place in a virtual reality world called "The World", developed by a gaming company named CC Corp set in fictitious Japan in real world. Even though actual events in the movie happened in the virtual world, these events too have its effects on the real world namely people falling into some sort of coma which has been an issue from the story since the original ... game back on the PlayStation 2, and other disturbances in the supposed real world in matters electronics.

However, this particular movie release hasn't really strayed far from the "tried-and-tested" formula the franchise is known for which may appear cliched and even unoriginal (or even boring) given how many times already it has already been used, be it from the original game, anime series, OVA's, manga, and probably even the upcoming literary works. I, personally, was watching the movie looking for something new that the story might offer given the timeline of the movie from the overall series, sadly there's nothing new in it. Even the characters themselves (some of them) are nothing new but rather are just a recycle of previously existed models namely that of Kite, Balmung, and Orca only given new characters especially fit for the character they represent and the movie.

Be that as it may, the movie is notable to its highly detailed animations which gives the movie an appeal to specific audiences such as myself who loves CG animated movies. The movie's animation and special effects can be stunning at times if you know how to appreciate art in this discipline. In terms of graphic presentation, this movie is superb.

In terms of voice acting and music, I find no fault so as to dislike any of the two within the movie. Voice acting is just fine, if not very good, and so is the music.

Overall, I find the movie very entertaining given I'm a fan of the franchise. The overall experience may vary however if otherwise due to familiarity issues with both the story and characters as these two factors might affect interests for those who are new. However, with these two issues not being a concern and / or have overcome, watching this movie is a visual treat and entertaining especially if one is not expecting much from it.

This is the first time I make a review. Maybe I will make a mistake and I think my review will be a short one.. But I'll give my best!

after I watch this anime I don't really understand what its means. Then I watch again for the second time.

the story isn't really complicated. I like the story because that make me touched. A girl who have a courage to do something for the one she love. or I should say she HAS to do that to save the one she love!

the art is great. it made the character and the other things looks more natural, ... just like an ordinary film (3D objects).

the sound is good. themes and ending theme was a great music.

the characteristic of character was display by the action the character do or take.


I really enjoy when I watch this movie. Its looks like I'm really in it and joins the adventure with all of the character!


for overall of this anime I give a~

jaaang!

9 score!

So I finally got around to seeing the last animated .Hack feature and I gotta say it was pretty good.

Story//
So the story of the //The Movie is very much fanservice for fans of .Hack, locations, character designs and even music tries to evoke a sense of nostalgia for long time fans. For new comers the plot is pretty basic, Sora our main lead is adverse against technology until she's backed into playing the new version of //The World where she is given a chance to save the virtual world and to solve the mystery of its comatosed victims.

Art//
Probably one of the best things ... about the movie is seeing locations and characters from the old series revamped into a more current engine so everything looks more sleek and shiny. Even the new characters look great and feel like they would fit in with V1 or V2's characters.

Sound//
Music inside the World sounds amazing and just like its predecessors which makes it a shame that the music in the real world is a lot less memorable. I can understand if it was intentional to make the Virtual world more exciting but that doesn't mean the typical generic anime tunes stand out any less.

Voice acting is pretty well done, nothing spectacular and nothing to awful. While sound effects are usually pretty nice especially inside the World since its mostly just straight from past titles.

Characters//
This is probably the worst aspect of the movie since //The Movie primarily focuses on Sora and doesn't give any of the other characters a chance to grow outside of 1 or 2 philsophyical lines about the real and virtual world. Most of the characters walk in and out when the plot demands it but it doesn't detract very much since most characters aren't developed enough to be missed. Theres a love story kinda thrown in half way towards the end, its not bad but its not very good either so it just kinda floats around.

Overall though I had fun with it, some parts got to me but mostly because I was a fan of the old series and it was great to see some returning faces even if all of them weren't familiar. It definitely hammers down the mmorpg feel a lot better than a lot of anime nowadays but it doesn't have the interesting mysterious or action that most have today. I'd give it a watch if the trailer catches you or you like .hack and are like me who just never got around to watching it.

First things first. My "reviews" system is explained on a blog entry. Which can be found through my profile.
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✦Story
The usual jam with .hack franchise. New characters, MMO world, people get stuck and lose consciousness, finding the cause, solving it. It was good enough story, enjoyable, had fair amount of action and pacing felt right for the most part.

✦Art&Sound
Art is like watching some Anime MMORPG story cutscenes, awkward at times but overall felt quite good. Game menus and such things were a great touch for an MMO anime.

Music&OST I love as usually in hack franchise. Not Kajiura this time, but KOKIA is as well superb Artist.
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✦Character
I don't have to say much regarding characters. There were plainer ones and more interesting ones. Main cast was oddly plain, whilst bunch of side characters were quite intriguing.

✦Enjoyment&Overall
Fun MMO world with really cool dungeon/raid'esque part. Story was the usually .hack, characters were okay, music superb, so why not, did enjoy it. Yes, I did finish 1:50hr movie in a hour or so, as I sat behind PC, and when I watch Anime whilst sitting at PC I have tendency to skip forwards. But in the end I did enjoy the movie.

hack// is a famous franchise of animes and games centered in an online game. I myself have never watched or played any of those before I watched this movie. .hack//Beyond The World is set on 2024 and our protagonist is a young girl named Yuuki Sora. Now, there is an online game called "The World" and almost everyone plays this game. Yuuki Sora however doesn't want to play an online game, even though all her classmates, including her two bestfriends Kakeru Tanaka and Tomohiko Okano, continuously urge her to play this game. Even her grandpa (and his secret girlfriend lol) secretly plays this game. Now ... The World is a virtual reality online game that they play through an app downloaded to phones and with the help of a "face mount display" (sunglasses) that users wear they are able to experience the virtual reality. When curiosity won and Sora finally tried playing the game, she was amazed by the surreal fantasy world and all the beautiful avatars(or Mascot, Player Characters) inhibiting it. However, immediately upon entering the world, she had an encounter on viruses that hid behind the beautiful facade of this world. These viruses are soon to be a threat not only to the virtual world but also to the real world.

The plot is kinda straight forward and full of cliche story writing, but it is still entertaining nonetheless. Action fights look really good, the virtual world wasn't explored much (due to time restrictions of a movie which is about exactly 2 hours) but they still tried their best to present stuff about the world and the game. Besides the actions scenes and role playing game side, we are also offered a love triangle between our trio. The art is beautiful, a mix between 3D and Anime style 2D for the characters looked very good, the backgrounds are gorgeous and well detailed (specially the structures and the ships). The actions scenes are nice and beautiful to watch (plenty of cool looking special effects). Music is also good (specially the ones near the end which truly gives you that cinematic feel), plenty of good background music. Overall, the movie is decent, if your looking for something beautiful and entertaining to watch which is free from a very complicated plot, then this is for you.

My Personal Rating: 8/10