Monday, March 16, 2009

.Hack G.U.+ Volume 1

.Hack G.U.+ Volume 1


By: Tatsuya Hamazaki and Yuzuka Morita
Reviewed by: gothiclolitamaiden, 15
Rating: Really liked it


It is the year 2017, and the stakes have gotten even higher in the massively multiplayer online game The World -- now The World R:2, a dangerous place overrun by player killers, where lawlessness abounds. The PKK Haseo, known as "The Terror of Death," is a fearsome foe who punishes those who want to slay other players. But things have gotten personal as Haseo tries to track down the killer Tri-Edge, who has threatened the real life of his friend, Shino.

The .hack franchise includes games, anime, manga and novels. G.U.+ is one of the more recent manga titles in the popular series. I have some background in the .hack universe, having read one of the novels and watched a little bit of the anime, so I didn't require any major explanations. However, this series may not be the best place to start if you are looking to immerse yourself in the World for the first time. There are references to events from previous series in the franchise and little exposition is given. The character profiles in the back may help some new readers, but most will be a bit lost.

Fans of .hack will likely enjoy G.U.+. The plot moves along at an appropriately quick rate. The art is very clean and the color pages at the beginning of the book are a great bonus. The character designs are all very detailed, but there is some...fanservice. The series may be shonen, but the fanservice does detract from the manga somewhat.

Unfortunately, the characters of G.U.+ do not have very distinct personalities. Haseo is no Naruto (thank goodness) but he is very angsty and revenge-oriented, a steretype for many shonen heros. Most of the story is focused on his hunt for Tri-Edge, so some of the background characters do get pushed to the side.

Overall, G.U.+ is a pretty good addition to the .hack franchise.


Recommended to: Teens 13+ Fans of the .hack franchise, fans of sci-fi manga

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Eek! I made errors! In paragraph four, I made a typo! It is stereotype, and I meant "background characters do get pushed to the side" not "background do get pushed to the side." *Bashes head on keyboard*

Faythe said...

It's all fixed now. :)

Anonymous said...

Thank you! I wasn't expecting anyone to fix it, actually, I was just trying to make sure that no one would think I was stupid for missing those errors....