Explaining the .hack media franchisefrom @mike_sunday

Transcript

For isekais like Sword Art Online, there was .hack. .Hack is one of the most structurally complex and ambitious transmedia projects that I can think of. It was a simultaneous cross media narrative dubbed project rank that started as an anime called dot hack sign and immediately had a video game for the PS two called dot hack infection by CyberConnect two. So in this worse, there's a catastrophic computer virus known as Pluto's Kiss that cripples the global Internet infrastructure. And one of the Worst RPG called The Worse. And you have to access this world through head mounted displays. Better what the players of this game don't realize is that The World is a digital room for an AI intelligence system called Aura. So Dot Hack Sign, the anime focuses on the protagonist, Tsukasa, who actually becomes trapped in this game and feels pain unlike regular characters. And the central theme of the rank franchise is how virtual avatars can act as a psychological shield better also a virtual mirror, revealing who you really wanna be. The franchise also frequently highlighted fluidity of online identities where a character's avatar often was another gender or looked physically different than how this person did in real life, being a more honest interpretation of how you saw yourself. And there's sort of two visually distinct eras in rank. The first one by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto who also did the character design for Neon Genesis. And Sadamoto's use of soft androgynous lines for his characters reflected this early two thousands social dynamic of these emerging online communities. And so if you're familiar with hack.gu, the newer entries in the hack franchise, that visual language has largely been dictated by Seiichiro Hosokawa who has kind of evolved the character design to feel a little bit more mature, especially in the armor and the weapons of the characters. And finally, the compositions of Rank Sign were done by Yuki Kajiura, and these were the emotional bedding for the whole series. Tracks like Key of the Twilight, The Worse, and Fake Wings combine traditional acoustic instruments like tier, but also use electronic elements and synths. And that's sort of the perfect metaphor for the whole series. This high fantasy medieval setting on top of a highly complex digital operating system. Project.hack stands the test of time because of its super relevant themes of online representation, video game tropes, and its transmedia approach to storytelling. So do you remember .hack? If so, let's have a discussion down in the comments.