.hack//Liminality

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 alittle 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.

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 wasmagnificent 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.

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 whenthere'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

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 psychologicalcharacter study, is more of an investigation thriller. Still pretty interesting as supplemental material to a great anime.

Merchandise

Links may contain affiliate references

Studio

Producers

Themes