 Getting into some of the meat surrounding the .hack story here,
as leads relating to the Key of the Twilight are followed up & some
progress is made towards figuring out what's happening to Tsukasa...
Looking at the episode numbers you'll see #15 (Evidence) is
missing - that's the recap episode, which has been bumped back to disc
6. And good riddance, I say. Also strange to note that we get 5 full
episodes for our money, when the disc cover proudly claims to have 4
(11-14). Go figure.
11 - Party
Tsukasa, Mimiru & Bear go on a standard The World quest. Find
magical statues, answer riddles, win valuable rare prizes, etc - the
sort of thing normal players would do in an MMORPG. And just the sort
of thing that normally doesn't happen in .hack. Is Tsukasa coming out of his shell a bit, or is he really just the same selfish brat we've come to know?
12 - Entanglement
Bear's been doing some research & thinks he's tracked down the
real-world Tsukasa - a young girl, currently in hospital in a
vegetative state and reliant on a life-support system. He's also quite
disturbed by what he's discovered of the girl's home circumstances.
Meanwhile, the girl's father is seen pleading with the hospital to turn
off her life-support. When they refuse, he takes matters into his own
hands...
13 - Twilight Eye
Disagreements between Bear & BT lead to them deciding to search
separately for the Key of the Twilight. BT teams up with Krim (with
Sora tailing them not-so-discreetly), while Bear works with Mimiru and
Tsukasa. Through different routes, both groups discover a way to access
a previously unknown area of The World, which they hope will hold the
information they need...
14 - Castle
The hidden area turns out to be a layrinthine castle. Both groups race
against each other to find the Key of the Twilight, but all they find
is an apparition of a man, apparently lost in his own memories &
not much use to them. Bear & co are forced to leave when the castle
begins to collapse - but not before Tsukasa seems to remember something
important. Unfortunately, before he can pass on what he's remembered,
he's attacked by his Guardian & appears to be killed...
16 - Depth
Mimiru & Bear are worried about what's happened to Tsukasa, but
before too long he makes contact with Subaru. Seems that in game terms
he has been killed & 'restored', leaving him wondering if he's
really still himself. Subaru realises that Tsukasa risks losing his
self-awareness if he doesn't get out of The World soon, so contacts
Bear & co to ask them to step up their efforts to find a solution
to the problem.
Still a lot of standing around and talking, but then if you didn't like that aspect of .hack
you should have given up by now. That said, there's also a reasonable
amount of action, with some of the focus switching from simply talking
about what to do, to actually doing something. While not a lot is
resolved here, there does seem to be some movement towards finding out
what's happened to Tsukasa, and with Bear making progress in the real
world we get glimpses at some of the real-world situations which have
made Tsukasa the way he is. This makes his in-game attitude easier to
cope with - we even get to see another side of him in his dealings with
Subaru, who he appears to have some sort of connection with (on several
occasions over these episodes, she seems to be instantly aware when
something bad happens to Tsukasa).
I liked the way the real-world scenes were handled - through a
static haze & with dialogue done in a sort of old-world
silent-movie style. Different. Also strange in that the real world in
shown in a unreal style, while The World seems more lifelike...
Overall, then, we're making progress. Events still aren't quite
unfolding at a pace I'd like, but it's not so slow as to put you off.
Looking forward to the next instalment. |
