AnimeVision

2 - Kite's Bracelet
Shugo & Rena's run-in with an Armed Super Shogun has raised concerns in some places that The World is about to take another turn for the worse, as is the appearance of Shugo's bracelet. Not that such things are any concern to Shugo & Rena - who have been joined, like it or not, by Mirielle (no, not that Mireille...), collector of Rare Items. Conveniently, there's a Rare Item Event scheduled for today, so the party of three head for the event field. In a sign that the unusual seems to be becoming commonplace, it's not long before Shugo's again placed in a position where he's forced to use the power of his bracelet - although this time it doesn't quite work as planned...

3 - The Phoenix Feather
The gang have worked out a possible reason why Shugo's control of the bracelet it so weak - it's obviously a really high-level item, but with Shugo just being a newbie he doesn't have the experience to control it - so it's off to the combat fields to work on levelling-up a bit. Meanwhile, Balmung and Reki are trying to figure out who has been causing the unexpected problems The World has been experiencing lately. Later, in something of a rerun of .hack//SIGN's episode 'Epitaph', Shugo finds himself looking after a grunty while its owner is away for a few days - and just as before, the grunty has Grunty Flu...

4 - Tanabata Night
Shugo's training continues, although it seems he may not be cut out for this 'legendary warrior' gig. Fear not, though, it's Tanabata Night, which Rena reckons should be a very romantic evening. Shugo's not impressed by such things, but someone else is - by chance, former classmate Komiyama appears, and he definitely likes what he sees when he sees Rena's in-game form, so when it turns out that Rena's the 'prize' in the Tanabata event, all bets are off between Shugo (determined to preserve his sister's honour) and Komiyama (determined to get his hands on her)...

I enjoyed .hack//LotT first time around - it's a fun re-interpretation of the game worl first seen in /hack//SIGN, with cute character designs and, in some ways, quite a twisted sense of humour. So I was very disppointed when, second time around (and in its full DVD glory, instead of fansub-o-vision), it completely failed to grab me at all. By the end of the second episode I was finding it hard going to watch, and even leaving the remaining episodes for a few days & coming back to it didn't help.

I can't even put my finger on why it's lost its appeal - the are some good characters here, with a certain amount of ecchi humour & and ongoing hacking plot that should pull together to make an enjoyable show, but on second viewing it just didn't work.

Given all that, I can't really recommend this as a 'buy'. There's definitely potential as a rental in there, but very definitely try before you buy.