.hack
Encyclopedia
.hack is a Japan
ese multimedia franchise that encompasses two projects; Project .hack and .hack Conglomerate. Both projects were primarily created/developed by CyberConnect2
, and published by Bandai
. The series is mainly followed through the anime
and video game installations, and has been adapted through manga
, novels and other related media.
game, .hack//Infection and the anime
series .hack//Sign
. Project developers included Koichi Mashimo
(Bee Train
), Kazunori Ito (Catfish), and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
, (Gainax
). Since then, Project .hack has spanned television, video games, manga, and novels.
There are 4 original .hack games
.hack//infection - .hack//mutation - .hack//outbreak - .hack//quarantine
, Nippon Cultural Broadcasting
, Bandai, TV Tokyo
, Bee Train
, and Kadokawa Shoten
. It encompasses a series of three PlayStation 2 games called .hack//G.U., an anime series called .hack//Roots
, prose, and manga.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese multimedia franchise that encompasses two projects; Project .hack and .hack Conglomerate. Both projects were primarily created/developed by CyberConnect2
CyberConnect2
is a video game development studio mostly known for its work on the .hack series, along with a series of fighting games based on the Naruto franchise....
, and published by Bandai
Bandai
is a Japanese toy making and video game company, as well as the producer of a large number of plastic model kits. It is the world's third-largest producer of toys . Some ex-Bandai group companies produce anime and tokusatsu programs...
. The series is mainly followed through the anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
and video game installations, and has been adapted through manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
, novels and other related media.
Project .hack
Project .hack was the first project of the .hack series. It launched in 2002 with the PlayStation 2PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
game, .hack//Infection and the anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series .hack//Sign
.hack//SIGN
.hack//Sign is an anime television series directed by Kōichi Mashimo and produced by studio Bee Train and Bandai Visual, that makes up one of the four original storylines of the .hack franchise...
. Project developers included Koichi Mashimo
Koichi Mashimo
is a well-known Japanese anime director and the founder of the animation studio Bee Train. Since the creation of the studio, Mashimo directed or otherwise participated in all its works, for example, as a member of art or sound department...
(Bee Train
Bee Train
, commonly referred simply as Bee Train, is a Japanese animation studio founded by Kōichi Mashimo in 1997. Since their involvement with Noir, .hack//Sign, and Madlax they have a strong following in the yuri fandom for being involved in series portraying strong female leads with speculatively...
), Kazunori Ito (Catfish), and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
is a Japanese character designer, manga artist, and one of the founding members of the Gainax anime studio. Before the studio was founded under the official name , he served as animator on the second animated project, the Daicon IV opening animation...
, (Gainax
Gainax
is a Japanese anime studio famous for productions such as Gunbuster, The Wings of Honneamise, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann which have gone on to critical acclaim and commercial success, as well as for their association with...
). Since then, Project .hack has spanned television, video games, manga, and novels.
There are 4 original .hack games
.hack//infection - .hack//mutation - .hack//outbreak - .hack//quarantine
.hack Conglomerate
.hack Conglomerate is the second and the current project of .hack by CyberConnect2 and various other companies. The companies include Victor EntertainmentVictor Entertainment
is a subsidiary of Japan Victor Company that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It was formerly known as...
, Nippon Cultural Broadcasting
Nippon Cultural Broadcasting
is a Japanese radio station in Tokyo which broadcasts to the Kanto area. It is one of the two flagship radio stations of National Radio Network and also has a relationship with JOLF and Fuji Television....
, Bandai, TV Tokyo
TV Tokyo
is a television station headquartered in Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Also known as , a blend of "terebi" and "Tokyo", it is the key station of TX Network. It is one of the major Tokyo television stations, particularly specializing in anime...
, Bee Train
Bee Train
, commonly referred simply as Bee Train, is a Japanese animation studio founded by Kōichi Mashimo in 1997. Since their involvement with Noir, .hack//Sign, and Madlax they have a strong following in the yuri fandom for being involved in series portraying strong female leads with speculatively...
, and Kadokawa Shoten
Kadokawa Shoten
is a well-known Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo, Japan. Kadokawa has published both manga novels and magazines, such as Newtype magazine...
. It encompasses a series of three PlayStation 2 games called .hack//G.U., an anime series called .hack//Roots
.hack//Roots
is a 26-episode anime series, animated by studio Bee Train, that sets as a prologue for the .hack//G.U. video games. It is the first .hack TV series broadcast in HDTV . It is set seven years after the events of the first two anime series and games...
, prose, and manga.
Video games
- .hack, a series of four PlayStation 2PlayStation 2The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
games that follow the story of the .hackers, Kite and BlackRose, and their attempts to find out what caused the sudden coma of Kite's friend, Orca, and BlackRose's brother, Kazu. The four volumes, in sequence, are .hack//Infection, .hack//Mutation, .hack//Outbreak, and .hack//Quarantine.
- .hack//fragment, the first .hack ORPG (Online Role-Playing Game). It was released in Japan and the servers have since been closed, ending all official online gameplay. Bandai announced at E3 '06 that frägment will not be coming to North America
- .hack//G.U. is a series of three video games (Vol. 1 Rebirth, Vol. 2 Reminisce, and Vol. 3 Redemption) released for the.hack Conglomerate project. It focuses on Haseo's search for a cure after his friend was attacked by a player known as Tri-edge, which led to his eventual involvement with Project G.U, and the mysterious AIDA who plague The World R:2. This latest series has proven greatly successful to the .hack franchise, with the recent release of .hack//G.U. Vol 3 in Japan selling over 100,000 copies in one day and becoming the number one game the week of its release in Japan.
- .hack//Link, a PSP game released under the .hack Conglomerate project. It was said to be the last game in the series. Contain characters from .hack and .hack//G.U. video games.
Publications
- .hack//AI buster.hack//AI buster.hack//AI buster is a novel by Tatsuya Hamazaki in the Japanese multimedia franchise .hack. It was published in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten in 2002, and was translated and published in an English form by Tokyopop in 2005. Chronologically in the series, it is set before the anime .hack//Sign.AI buster...
, a novelNovelA novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
released under Project .hack. It tells the story of Albireo and a prototype of the ultimate AIArtificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
, Lycoris, and of how Orca and Balmung defeated "The One Sin" and became the Descendants of Fianna. - .hack//AI buster 2.hack//AI buster 2.hack//AI buster 2 is a collection of five short stories that intertwine with events in the .hack universe. This book is also the sequel to the novel .hack//AI buster.-Contents:The five stories are :...
, a collection of stories released under Project .hack. It involves the characters of AI Buster and Legend of the Twilight Bracelet: ".hack//2nd Character", ".hack//Wotan's Spear", ".hack//Kamui", ".hack//Rumor" and ".hack//Firefly". "Rumor" was previously released with the Rena Special Pack in Japan. - .hack//Zero.hack//Zero.hack//Zero is a novel series by Michiko Yokote in the Japanese multimedia franchise .hack. It was published in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten in 2003, and was never translated to any other language. Only the first volume, Phantom Pain, has been released and it is unknown whether or not this series will...
, a novel series released under Project .hack. It tells the story of a Long Arm named Carl, of what happened to Sora after he was trapped in The World by Morganna, and of Tsukasa's real life after being able to log out from The World. - .hack//Another Birth.hack//Another Birthis a novelization of .hack, the video game series for the PlayStation 2. Whereas .hack is told from Kite's perspective, Another Birth is told from BlackRose's perspective.-Plot:...
, series of novelizations released under Project .hack. It retells the story of the .hack video games from BlackRose's point of view. - .hack//Legend of the Twilight.hack//Legend of the Twilightis a science fiction manga series written by Tatsuya Hamazaki and drawn by Rei Izumi. The twenty-two chapters of .hack//Legend of the Twilight appeared as a serial in the Japanese magazine Comptiq, and published in three tankōbon by Kadokawa Shoten from July 2002 to April 2004...
, a mangaMangaManga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
series released under Project .hack. It tells the story of two player characters Shugo and Rena, as they win a mysterious contest that earns them chibi character models of the legendary .hackers Kite and BlackRose (from the .hack PlayStation 2PlayStation 2The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
games). - .hack//Epitaph of Twilight.hack//Epitaph of Twilightis a novel in the .hack series by Miu Kawasaki. It was published in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten on June 1, 2008 and released a second volume on September 9, 2008.-Story:...
, a novel series telling the story of Harald Hoerwick's niece, Lara Hoerwick, who finds herself trapped in an early version of The World. - .hack//CELL.hack//Cell.hack//CELL is a novel series written by Ryo Suzukaze, serialized in the magazine .hack//G.U.: The World, and published in paperback format by Kadokawa Shoten as a chapter in the .hack universe. It follows the experiences of a female Edge Punisher, Midori, as she hires herself out to players who...
, a novel released under the .hack Conglomerate project. It revolves around a female Edge Punisher called Midori who acts as a "professional victim", by letting people PK her for money. - .hack//GnU, a humorous manga series released under the .hack Conglomerate project. It revolves around a male Blade Brandier called Raid and the seventh division of the Moon Tree guild.
- .hack//Alcor, a manga series released under the .hack Conglomerate project. It focuses on a girl called Nanase, who appears to be quite fond of Silabus, as well as Alkaid during her days as empress of the Demon Palace.
- .hack//G.U.+, a manga adaptation of the three .hack//G.U. video games released under the .hack Conglomerate project.
- .hack//4koma.hack//4 Koma.hack//4 Koma is a monthly set of 4 panel manga serialized in the monthly magazine .hack//G.U.: The World. Most of the 4 Koma are short gags, centering mostly around the main characters of the first and second series of .hack videogames...
, a manga series which throws a little humor into both .hack and .hack//G.U. alike. - .hack//Link.hack//Linkis the final chapter to the .hack series. The story is told in manga with art by Megane Kikuya and original story by CyberConnect2...
, a manga released under the .hack Conglomerate project. It occurs three years after the end of .hack//G.U. in a new version of The World called The World R:X. It focuses on a player named Tokio and a mysterious exchange student named Saika. - .hack//XXXX.hack//XXXX.hack//XXXX is a manga serialized in the monthly magazine .hack//G.U.: The World released in September 2006. The manga is based on the original concept of Hiroshi Matsuyama and written/illustrated by Megane Kikuya...
(read as "X-Fourth"), a manga series released under the .hack Conglomerate project. The manga adapts the four original .hack video games.
Anime
- .hack//Sign.hack//SIGN.hack//Sign is an anime television series directed by Kōichi Mashimo and produced by studio Bee Train and Bandai Visual, that makes up one of the four original storylines of the .hack franchise...
, an animeAnimeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series released under Project .hack. It revolves around the character Tsukasa and his inability to log out of The World.
- .hack//Liminality.hack//Liminality.hack//Liminality is the OVA series directly related to the .hack video game series for the PlayStation 2, with the perspective of Liminality focused on the real world as opposed to the games' MMORPG The World. Liminality was separated into four volumes; each volume was released with its...
, a set of four DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
OVAs included with the games released under Project .hack. It follows the story of Mai Minase, Yuki Aihara, Kyoko Tohno, and ex-CyberConnect employee Junichiro Tokuoka as they attempt to find out what is causing the comas.
- .hack//Gift, a self-deprecating, tongue-in-cheek, OVA that was created as a "gift" for those who had bought and completed all four .hack video games. It was released under Project .hack. In Japan, it was available when the Data Flag on the memory card file in .hack//Quarantine was present, whereas the American version included Gift on the fourth Liminality DVD. It is predominantly a comedy that makes fun of everything that developed throughout the series, even the franchise's own shortcomings. Character designs are deliberately simplistic.
- .hack//Legend of the Twilight.hack//Legend of the Twilightis a science fiction manga series written by Tatsuya Hamazaki and drawn by Rei Izumi. The twenty-two chapters of .hack//Legend of the Twilight appeared as a serial in the Japanese magazine Comptiq, and published in three tankōbon by Kadokawa Shoten from July 2002 to April 2004...
animeAnimeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series released under Project .hack.. It features most of the same characters as the manga version, but with an alternative storyline. It was incorrectly called .hack//Dusk, among other names, in early fan-translated versions.
- .hack//Roots.hack//Rootsis a 26-episode anime series, animated by studio Bee Train, that sets as a prologue for the .hack//G.U. video games. It is the first .hack TV series broadcast in HDTV . It is set seven years after the events of the first two anime series and games...
, an anime series released under the .hack Conglomerate project. It follows Haseo and his joining (and subsequent exploits with) the Twilight Brigade guild. It also shows his rise to power and how he becomes known as "The Terror of Death". Towards the end of the series we see the start of .hack.//G.U.
- Online Jack, a set of anime clips in the news section of the .hack//G.U. games' fake internet. It tells the "real world" story of the mysterious "Doll Syndrome".
- .hack//G.U. Trilogy, a CGI video adaptation of the .hack//G.U. video games released under the .hack Conglomerate project.
- .hack//G.U. Returner, a short follow up video and the conclusion to .hack//Roots released under the .hack Conglomerate project. It tells the story about the characters of .hack//G.U. in one last adventure.
- .hack//Quantum.hack//Quantumis an animated three episode OVA animated series by Kinema Citrus studio in Japan and presented by Bandai Visual. The series was initially scheduled to be released in November 2010 however this schedule was later changed. The first episode was released on January 28 2011 with the following two...
, a three part OVA series from Kinema Citrus and the first to be licensed by Funimation.
- .hack//The Movie.hack//The Movieis an upcoming Japanese CG anime film written by Tōri Matsuzaka and directed by Hiroshi Matsuyama. It is scheduled to release on January 21, 2012 and will contain a PS3 game within the Blu-ray Disc....
, a CGI movie, announced in August 23, 2011. On January 21, 2012 it will be launched in theaters throughout Japan.
Other
- .hack//Enemy.hack//ENEMY.hack//Enemy is a trading card game released in 2003 by Decipher, Inc. The game is based on the .hack anime franchise and fictional universe..hack//Enemy won the Origins Award for Best Tradeable Card Game of 2003....
, a collectible card gameCollectible card gamethumb|Players and their decksA collectible card game , also called a trading card game or customizable card game, is a game played using specially designed sets of playing cards...
created by Decipher Inc. based on the .hack series. It was discontinued after running five separate expansions between 2003-2005.
- .hack//G.U.The Card Battle is a trading card game similar to that of .hack//Enemy released under the .hack Conglomerate project. Unlike .hack//Enemy, the game was made by the original creators of .hack//G.U.. There are two sets of rules, one based on the mini game in the G.U. series, Crimson VS, and the one specifically designed for the trading card game.