It disturbs and saddens me that there are not many .hack manga that are actually good. That’s not to say that they suck donkey balls, but they’re not something I’d typically want to pick up. And this is coming from a fan of the series here.
That being said, let’s take a look at one of these beloved manga, .hack//XXXX:
With G.U.+ we had a lovely (note the sarcasm) adaptation of the G.U. games, all packed together within five volumes. And now with XXXX we have an adaptation of the original .hack games, but instead of five volumes we get two mercifully short ones. Why is it merciful, you ask? Because even though it is horribly fast-paced at least it’s over with quickly.
As was already mentioned, .hack//XXXX is based off the original .hack games for the PS2. The story centers on Kite, a player in the mega-popular MMORPG “The World”. Upon first playing the game, his friend and famous player Orca takes him out to teach him the ropes of the game. However, shortly after meeting a mysterious girl named Aura, Orca is destroyed by a mysterious monster, putting him in a mysterious coma in the real world. (See all the mysteries building up already?) Kite, after narrowly escaping, is then given the mysterious (see?) bracelet that was originally intended for Orca. Kite then vows to save Orca, no matter what. Along the way, he gathers both companions and enemies, as it becomes apparent that the bracelet’s power is far more dangerous than Kite realized.
Sounds pretty epic, right? Well, prepare to be disappointed. The fun of mysteries is that they’re solved slowly but surely. Bits and pieces of information are slowly revealed. It’s about the journey to the conclusion that’s really fun (and guessing the true nature of the mystery correctly). However, what .hack//XXXX has done is pretty much throw that out of the window. There are some genuinely interesting mysteries that they put out there, but do they take any time to explore them that well? No, of course not. Instead, what they do is mention it in such a way that they’re assuming you probably already know about it. As in, “Oh, you’ve probably already played the games, so we don’t really need to explain this.” Or, it could be a ploy to get people to buy and play said games so they can actually get good answers.
The other thing that really bothers me is how Kite and some of the other familiar characters are portrayed. Kite is just… annoying. He’s whiny, indecisive, and… stupid. Bear in mind, he is 14 years old, so he’s allowed to not be perfect. But it never feels like he takes a good initiative at things. It’s bothersome. On top of that, you have all these other characters, like BlackRose and Balmung, who get very poor treatment. Everything is turned into a cliché. The good guy’s personalities are clichéd, the bad guys are clichéd, etc. No one really stands out that well. It’s just not that interesting. It makes me not care about these people’s problems or motivations at all.
I said earlier that this manga does not actually suck, and since I’ve already spent so much precious time detailing why it’s bad, I shall now take the time to explain its good points. First off, the art; to be honest, I’m not in love with the art, but it’s not bad. Orca, for one, looks effin’ badass, I mean seriously. All the other characters are rather nice too; the art isn’t so different that they aren’t recognizable to those familiar with the series, which I’m going to count as a good thing. Of course, they’ve been so kind as to enhance any fanservice they possibly could, most notably in the breasts department, but oh well. I didn’t personally mind it that much.
Since I’ve already mentioned that this manga is, thank the Lord, only two volumes, there’s really only one other good point to explore: Cubia’s character. Early on in the manga, Kite and pals defeat the monster that had killed his friend, Orca. Afterwards, a mysterious (I’m sorry, I just love this word) boy appears before them and essentially tells them, “Hurr, you have to beat seven more of these to save your friend. Too bad, so sad.” As Kite and pals go “lolwut” at this revelation, Cubia notices Kite’s bracelet and goes bonkers on them. The next time they meet up, however, Cubia saves them from another one of those mysterious monsters. So he’s a good guy... right?
See, this is the most interesting aspect to this adaptation. Let me spoil something for you all now (it’s not a big spoiler, I promise): Cubia in the original games was a monster that Kite and pals battled periodically. Its role was backseat to the main plot, really, although it did serve the main plot in a major way towards the end. Anyway, the point here is that the Cubia in the games didn’t get character development. However, what they did in XXXX is to make Cubia into a PC that actually interacts with and even helps Kite. More than that, they even give him a little back story that is – gasp! – slowly revealed as the manga progresses.
Could… could this be? Could this be the essence of .hack?! A mysterious character having their mysterious background slowly revealed like a proper mystery should be?
And that, boys and girls, is why .hack//XXXX does not completely suck. It introduced an interesting new element to the tale. If not for that, this manga would have been little else but an extremely rushed version of the events from the games. However, I will be nitpicky here and say that this new storyline with Cubia can feel like fanfiction at times. Good fanfiction, but fanfiction nonetheless.
There you have it. Yet another mediocre .hack manga that is nothing more than an adaptation of a much better video game. However, as with G.U.+, at least XXXX manages to not suck completely. It has some genuinely interesting elements in it, it’s just too bad they either don’t get explored fully or feel somewhat out of place. Some .hack fans will like this manga, some non-.hack fans might like it as well. As for me, I must lament, yet again, that there isn’t more genuinely good .hack manga. Such is life.
