.HACK//XXXX VOLUME 1
June 10th 2009 02:07
Category: Graphic Novels/Comics
Publisher: Tokyopop
Original story by: Hiroshi Matsuyama
Manga by: Megane Kikuya
Translation: Ryan Peterson
English Adaptation by: Marc Lunden
Retouch &Lettering: Michael Paolilli
Graphic Designer: Tina Coralles
Cost: US$9.99
Apparently, if I have this right, this manga as well as being about a computer game is actually based on a computer game itself. Now this is not any ordinary kind of computer game, one that you wack into your trusty old cassette player that comes with the Commodore 64, press play and spend ages waiting for the thing to boot up so you can get out into the wide open universe and gun down space pirates, alien invaders and various other assorted bad guys. No this is one of those massive multiplayer online beasties, the kind where you need the budget of a small nation, a high speed internet connection so fast it’ll blow your mind and have spent the best part of your life going over the various minutiae of historical medieval warfare and life in order to create a workable character. And this is all before you’ve even whipped out your trusty – insert weapon or item here – to smite some villainous foe or mouthy goon. No doubt you can gather its all not my tall chilled glass of amber fluid, and you’d be right, still that doesn’t mean I am against reading a work about such things…
Here in what is the first volume we have a bit of the George Lucas phenomena occurring, the story that is being told is something of a prequel to previous stories under the .hack moniker. This is where it all begins apparently, with the origins of the two key characters Kite and Black Rose being outlined for us in all the gory detail and technicolour, which is actually the case in the first few pages. As the tale begins we get several glossy full colour pages, sans gory detail it is a PG rated work. Here we see Kite, Black Rose and the wavemaster Mistral about to open up a box of treasure after defeating some bad guys. Such is often the case in any kind of fantasy adventuring world be it online computer gaming, solo computer gaming or rolling dice at the local D and D game. You beat up the bad guys and hopefully there is some kind of loot for you to grab and soothe you after copping some damage if you’ve been unlucky or soothe you if you’re just flat broke and need the cash. Naturally though there is more to this than meets the eye, a lot more…
The name of this particular online game is simply ‘The World’ and it’s a major international success capturing over 20 million users worldwide. Not sure if Blizzard’s World of Warcraft has that kind of audience but like I’ve already pointed out facts and figures of the online gaming community are not exactly my forte although I’m sure Blizzard would love having over 20 million online users it would no doubt mean loads, if not rivers, of spenduli flowing into their coffers with each day. So ‘The World’ is a very popular and successful game but it seems that there is something darker and more sinister going on than anyone suspects, shock horror.
It seems that when Kite was first introduced to this online gaming extravaganza it was through a friend, Yasuhiko who went by the moniker of Orca of the Azure Sea, Descendant of Fianna, both he and Orca encountered an enemy of unusual strength and might. Now usually when your character dies in a game that’s it, you just continue on either by getting resurrected or respawning somewhere away from the thing that killed you hopefully. That’s what you’d expect to happen in any ordinary game be it a solo play or online venue. Unfortunately after Orca of the Azure Sea clashes with this particular beastie the player somehow ends up going into a coma. In ‘The World’ he has become one of the Lost Ones, a portentous title whose significance is not completely revealed although there is some hint that it is tied into the very structure of the game itself.
Essentially then this tale is about Kite’s attempt to get his friend from out of the coma that he has fallen into, and it seems that he is not the only one. His comrade Black Rose also has someone who has become affected by the problems of the game, her brother. It is hinted that he is in a similar condition to Yasuhiko/Orca. Of course one would naturally assume with something like this occurring you’d take your problem to the designers or administrators of the game and get them to fill you in on what might be happening. Kite has already tried that particular angle, yet it seems to have yielded next to nothing in terms of answers, thus his quest to seek solutions to the fate of his friend within the game itself.
Now even though Kite and his friends manage to defeat the monster that put Orca into his present condition it seems that their problems have not be ended, in fact no where near it. If anything it would seem as if they are only just beginning. Before being placed into his coma Orca received a visitation from a mysterious girl known as Aura who sought to bequeath a mystical bracelet upon him. Unfortunately before he could either accept or decline this offer the monster, Skeith, attacked both him and Kite causing Aura to flee and leave the bracelet behind. Somehow Orca ended up in a coma after trying to prevent Kite from being wasted, Kite thus ended up with the bracelet which in this recent encounter he employs with devastating effect against Skeith. It seems that the power of the bracelet is able to be detected by the sys ops of the company who administer ‘The World’ and they are keen to not see it getting used to often in this fantasy universe they have created. Although they are decidedly reticent about why they don’t want this as well as why those who have become Lost Ones have ended up that way and how they can be restored.
Throw in a mysterious character who has a similar bracelet to Kite as well as the same character type, a female humanoid cat, a super hacker who seems to pop in and out of the game at will and the fact that the original creator of ‘The World’ is himself missing and you certainly have an interesting set of ingredients with which to cook up a tasty dish of a manga. Certainly seems that Megane Kikuya has taken these ingredients and cooked up a treat, I’m looking to forward to getting hold of the next few volumes to find out what happens.
Original story by: Hiroshi Matsuyama
Manga by: Megane Kikuya
Translation: Ryan Peterson
English Adaptation by: Marc Lunden
Retouch &Lettering: Michael Paolilli
Graphic Designer: Tina Coralles
Cost: US$9.99
Apparently, if I have this right, this manga as well as being about a computer game is actually based on a computer game itself. Now this is not any ordinary kind of computer game, one that you wack into your trusty old cassette player that comes with the Commodore 64, press play and spend ages waiting for the thing to boot up so you can get out into the wide open universe and gun down space pirates, alien invaders and various other assorted bad guys. No this is one of those massive multiplayer online beasties, the kind where you need the budget of a small nation, a high speed internet connection so fast it’ll blow your mind and have spent the best part of your life going over the various minutiae of historical medieval warfare and life in order to create a workable character. And this is all before you’ve even whipped out your trusty – insert weapon or item here – to smite some villainous foe or mouthy goon. No doubt you can gather its all not my tall chilled glass of amber fluid, and you’d be right, still that doesn’t mean I am against reading a work about such things…
It seems that when Kite was first introduced to this online gaming extravaganza it was through a friend, Yasuhiko who went by the moniker of Orca of the Azure Sea, Descendant of Fianna, both he and Orca encountered an enemy of unusual strength and might. Now usually when your character dies in a game that’s it, you just continue on either by getting resurrected or respawning somewhere away from the thing that killed you hopefully. That’s what you’d expect to happen in any ordinary game be it a solo play or online venue. Unfortunately after Orca of the Azure Sea clashes with this particular beastie the player somehow ends up going into a coma. In ‘The World’ he has become one of the Lost Ones, a portentous title whose significance is not completely revealed although there is some hint that it is tied into the very structure of the game itself.
Essentially then this tale is about Kite’s attempt to get his friend from out of the coma that he has fallen into, and it seems that he is not the only one. His comrade Black Rose also has someone who has become affected by the problems of the game, her brother. It is hinted that he is in a similar condition to Yasuhiko/Orca. Of course one would naturally assume with something like this occurring you’d take your problem to the designers or administrators of the game and get them to fill you in on what might be happening. Kite has already tried that particular angle, yet it seems to have yielded next to nothing in terms of answers, thus his quest to seek solutions to the fate of his friend within the game itself.
Now even though Kite and his friends manage to defeat the monster that put Orca into his present condition it seems that their problems have not be ended, in fact no where near it. If anything it would seem as if they are only just beginning. Before being placed into his coma Orca received a visitation from a mysterious girl known as Aura who sought to bequeath a mystical bracelet upon him. Unfortunately before he could either accept or decline this offer the monster, Skeith, attacked both him and Kite causing Aura to flee and leave the bracelet behind. Somehow Orca ended up in a coma after trying to prevent Kite from being wasted, Kite thus ended up with the bracelet which in this recent encounter he employs with devastating effect against Skeith. It seems that the power of the bracelet is able to be detected by the sys ops of the company who administer ‘The World’ and they are keen to not see it getting used to often in this fantasy universe they have created. Although they are decidedly reticent about why they don’t want this as well as why those who have become Lost Ones have ended up that way and how they can be restored.
Throw in a mysterious character who has a similar bracelet to Kite as well as the same character type, a female humanoid cat, a super hacker who seems to pop in and out of the game at will and the fact that the original creator of ‘The World’ is himself missing and you certainly have an interesting set of ingredients with which to cook up a tasty dish of a manga. Certainly seems that Megane Kikuya has taken these ingredients and cooked up a treat, I’m looking to forward to getting hold of the next few volumes to find out what happens.
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