.hack Afterthoughts

Okay, so ever since I finished watching the somewhat anticlimactic ending of .hack//ROOTS, I decided to take matters into my own hands and find out what happened after that. Thank God for YouTube, and informative cutscenes. Anyway, the entire story of .hack//G.U. helps clear up a lot of issues left unfinished in ROOTS, but is still so confusing to the point I almost don't care. It seems like half of the characters in ROOTS/G.U. were being played by people who had been other characters in the previous .hack game quartet, but the biggest surprise was (spoiler here; highlight to read) Haseo, who was originally Sora. Sora--the idiot PKer who would kill those who refused to give him their member address. How did he ever grow up to be so noble? Endrance was less of a surprise once I learned he had an attachment to Mia and noticed he acted a lot like Elk. There were more, but if you're really interested I won't spoil it any further.

Frankly, I think the .hack universe is getting way too big. Nothing about it has ever really captured my interest as much as the first series, .hack//Sign did. Still, I enjoyed watching the cutscenes, mainly because I realized I recognized quite a few of the VAs.

The endings were quite fun, too: apparently Haseo (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal) has the option to send a "Promise Card" to a member of his party, and depending on several factors in the game he can end up holding an in-game wedding, hit the town with a friend, or even find himself in a few...ah, strange situations. Each ending has the same thing in common: the romantic endings show the words "Forever In Love" before rolling the credits, while the platonic endings show "Best Wishes", but the key is to look for the two scene-specific CGs at the end, along with a sentence said by the character chosen. Some were quite touching, while others were hilariously frightening. Out of all the endings I watched, I picked the four best (in my opinion) scenes for your viewing pleasure.

1. Best Romantic Ending: Shino (Kari Wahlgren)
I'm sure there are folks out there who believed Haseo should have ended up with Atoli, Alkaid, or even Tabby, and there are endings for those people. But...no. It was obvious from the first episode who he really liked.


2. Best Platonic Ending: Bo (Erin Fitzgerald)
Adorable. That's all I have to say.


3. Best "Say What Now?" Ending: Endrance (Liam O'Brien)
Heh. Extra kudos to Liam for being able to do this scene with a straight face.


4. Most Bizarre Ending: Azure Balmung (Crispin Freeman)
Kind of surprising, considering he's just a spooky, shambling AI replica of the real Balmung. Start running, Haseo.


On a related side note, I also came across an interesting music video using footage from both Haruhi Suzumiya and a special .hack episode, the latter of which is only available in North America by purchasing the Limited Edition of .hack//Sign's 6th volume DVD. The episode featured characters from both .hack//Sign and the first .hack game quartet. It isn't considered canonical, but it's obviously a lot of fun. (Which means I really, really want to get it now.) At any rate, it may not make a whole lot of sense if you haven't seen both shows, but then...who cares?

And yes, Balmung really did just say "This shindig looks like the bomb-diggity." Enjoy.

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Now playing: 菅野よう子 - Heaven's Not Enough (feat. Steve Conte)
via FoxyTunes