Forum - View topicREVIEW: .hack//Roots DVDs 1 and 2
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Raven Shinobi
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I really enjoyed all the G.U. games, but the first episode that came as a bonus with G.U.//Reminice didn't convince me to bother with this prequel since it reminded me a lot of SIGN -which I didn't happen to enjoy BTW- with its plot that seemed like it was going on circles and this review confirmed it's definitely gonna end up the same as SIGN, at least in the first two DVDs.
I'm a bit confused why Bandai didn't use the same actors as those who worked on the game. The dub in the first episode was decent and I wasn't that bothered that Ovan and even Bordeax -who was performed by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn in the game- sounded different, but Haseo sounded a bit off compared to his counterpart in the game. I didn't get to hear the original JP version so I don't know if he was supposed to sound bored all the time during his first time in the World and Shino had a deep voice and sounded like an old woman which a bit disappointed me since I imagined her in the game to have a cutsie, kind voice like Atoli's. I was surprised that Kajiura Yuki didn't handle the complete score for this one except for the opening and the ending songs, though the music sounded good enough that I'm tempted to get the soundtrack. |
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aluria
 Posts: 367 Location: New Westminster, B.C., Canada |
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I had started watching this when it first came out but quickly gave up; too boring. That and the main character who I can't even remember his name seriously pissed me off. In fact, none of the characters I particularly cared for.
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Deltakiral
 Posts: 3338 Location: Glendora, CA (Avatar Hei from Darker than BLACK) |
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Haseo, is the main character of both the games and the anime series. And he's completely unlikeable in the anime. Although I think that Haseo gets some development in the games and has become some what of an enjoyable character, although is the anime he's completely unlikeable to a point of turning people away.
GU moves like a million times slower and really without purporse as compared to SIGN. At least SIGN does a good job of creating 'The World' you feel that if the character did die in SIGN there are consequences whereas Roots makes in clear that this is a game.
I guess money, and its quite sad seeing as how the the cast used for games was really good. As you noted some of the characters are decent matches but several characters sound nothing alike. |
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shadow_Hiei
Posts: 68 |
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Meh, I like Haseo more than Tsukasa, Kite, and Shugo. Kite and Shugo were the epitome of dull, and I never liked weak, detached, sulking, loner jackasses like Tsukasa. Haseo's punk-ish attitude is better.
Yeah, Roots is kinda like Sign... slow and dialogue driven, and if you don't like the characters, chances are that you're not going to like the show. (I liked Mimiru, Crim, and Bear in Sign) Also, Tabby is my favorite .hack character. |
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11442 Location: Frisco, TX |
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I actually liked //Roots a lot. It's not as intriguing and mysterious as //SIGN, but it retains a lot of similarity in the general kind of storytelling particularly used in the .hack universe.
The art is spectacular and looks even better in this one, while the animation is about the same (even though I've never been much of a Bee Train fan). I wouldn't give it C+, maybe more like B+ or even A-. Compared to a lot of titles I've seen from this year through fansubs and other domestic releases, //Roots actually does a pretty good job, especially in some of the CG graphics for the backgrounds (which should be obvious, given the length of production time after //SIGN). I generally give titles a B+ in the animation department if it doesn't do the least bit in distracting me (as opposed to some horribly animated titles like Suzuka, D.Gray-man, or Night Head Genesis). And //Roots did just that, complimenting the specific nature of the anime and its setting. And to the music, I actually like it a great deal, maybe even more than //SIGN's soundtrack. Granted, Kajiura's score was definite A+ material and still remains my favorite composition of hers to this day. But given that The World of //Roots and //G.U. are suppose to be a new generation of the .hack universe, it makes sense to change the music up as well, which Ali Project did a masterful job of. Also, in comparison to //SIGN, I felt //Roots was a bit darker in nature and befitting of the whole "gothic lolita" image of Arika Takarano. Her vocals have this sort of bizarre, yet very melodic tone to them, which I really enjoyed throughout the course of the series. Mikiya Katakura's compositions of rock, pop, and orchestral mixes were also very well done, providing a lot more energy than Kajiura's slower pieces. I highly recommend people get these soundtracks (and also Maria-sama ga Miteru's, now that's a fine orchestral score  ).
And as for Haseo, yeah, he's very unlikeable thanks to some really good voice work. I haven't really heard enough of Francis' take yet, but for those of you familiar with Takahiro Sakurai, this guy accels at playing angsty, pompous, and stuck up characters in a lot of his roles, which I like a lot. It's also hard to believe that Tabby is played by Megumi Toyoguchi/Maryke Hendrikse, both of whom play Revy in Black Lagoon, given the entirely different personalities and tones of their voices needed  , great job by both.
But yes, if you didn't like //SIGN because of the heavy amounts of dialogue, //Roots has a little more action (though 'action' in the .hack universe doesn't really amount to much  ). Haseo will definitely get on your nerves a lot more in future volumes if you hate him this much now. So uh.. watch your blood pressure  .
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LinkTSwordmaster
 Posts: 547 Location: PA / USA |
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"Viewers may find themselves at the end of episode four scratching their heads"
I remember when I first watched //Roots that I really was scratching my head by episode 4's end, and by episode 6 I was about ready to give up and stop watching since the story didn't seem to be going anywhere. After more of the episodes had passed a friend who was still watching told me it was starting to get good, so I picked it up again and love the rest of the series. So my point is that the first....maybe 10 or 11 episodes are a tad slow, but the 2nd half of the series was very entertaining.....though I'm sure I'll always like //Sign more. |
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Dranxis
 Posts: 591 Location: Ohtori Academy |
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Uggh... Roots. I've never played the games, but I was a big fan of .hack//SIGN and had high hopes for Roots since it had the same approach storytelling-wise. I liked it at first, up until about half-way through the series spoiler[when they killed off that one girl, the only character I particularly cared for] and the story just never went anywhere from there. I hated the way Haseo's character developed into some angsty, one-track minded bully who wouldn't listen to sense. And the whole spoiler[transformation] thing totally gave off Sasuke-vibes, though I could clearly see Haseo was strikingly similar to Sasuke from the beginning.
But I stuck with it, hoping it would get better. So much for that. And I know that the ending was supposed to be open, since it lead into the GU games, but couldn't they have given a -little- more closure? After watching the plot go in circles for 26 episodes of vaguely dialogued nonsense, I felt like I wanted those 13 hours of my life back. I'll stick with SIGN over Roots, thankyou very much. |
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Emerje
 Posts: 7410 Location: Maine |
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Like Tony, found a lot to like about Roots. First off, I don't get bored easily so a slow paced story doesn't bother me much. I like that they actually took time to develop the other characters before focusing entirely on Haseo later on. Haseo came across just as a new player in his situation should. His first time playing he's PK'd, he becomes quiet and reserved as well as very untrusting, even has thoughts of quiting early on. While we know he's the main character he isn't always the central focus. Later on he'll take on a very dreary, lone-wolf persona and in G.U. become downright mean to other players including those who see him as a friend as he struggles with his leadership role and new-found power. That's what I like about Haseo, it takes a very, very long time for him to become an actual "hero" (not until the end of G.U. vol 2). For this reason I don't mind that they use different voice actors because, for me, they represent different evolutions of these same characters. I can't say I really see Sasuke in him at all, if anything I'd call Haseo a much more complicated character.
I actually like the voice of Shino in the dub quite a bit in Roots. I like that it's very calm, frail, and relaxing, yet still sounds young and attractive, more fitting of the motherly figure that Shino portrays. I listened to the Japanese voice and found it to be a poor fit, it's very high pitched and almost grating. I also like that her voice is so much different from Atoli's voice which is very chipper, optimistic, and naive. The World this time around is entirely steampunk, as apposed to the fantasy wold of the first .hack series. This is a good contrast against the original World and I can only imagine that the third version of the World will be based in the future. However, these games aren't just .hack in name, a lot of players for the first series of .hack games and Sign/Twilight also return in this game, though some aren't that obvious like the players behind Haseo or Naobi/Yata. I really did enjoy the soundtrack a lot, I gave the entire thing a good listening to last night (comes with the art box set, though I have no use for the shirt or game demo). The Ali Project songs are very unique, very Japanese gothic (some of the songs reminded me a lot of the ending theme from Spirited Away) meets techno rock. But that's not all, the lyrics are actually very dark, some lines are even disturbing, a nice contrast to see in what I'm sure many view as just an anime made to sell games. These aren't just throw-away songs made to fill in background sounds. That said I did find the review to be mainly positive though I think the score may have actually been lower in places than the review suggested. Emerje |
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PaladinBlue
Posts: 63 Location: Billings, MT |
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The only real thing I don't like about ROOTS is that the same VA aren't in the anime as in the games. Not to say that ROOTS' English dub isn't good, but it's strange playing the game with the Bang Zoom! group, and then going to the TV series with the Ocean group.
Other than that, I love Bee Train's slow-paced stories, especially when the setting is as complex as The World, and, just like with the R:1 series, the R:2 .hack series fits that part of my tastes perfectly. |
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weirdofu
Posts: 34 |
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I think what they should and fail to mention for the ROOTS series is that it really isn't a good stand alone series, but more like a filler prequel that has the sole purpose of pushing the viewers into the first G.U. game. I realized this after watching the wacky ending of ROOTS, then starting to play the G.U. game. Without the games, the series wouldn't seem complete, and without the series, the game just felt weird at the beginning, since the players don't have a feel of what's really going on. That was my conclusion after watching the series and playing the first hour of the game.
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child of Lilith
 Posts: 137 Location: Egg of Lilith ( the black moon) |
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Roots is slow to start, but it will draw you in if you let it. As for the dub, I thought it was ok. I really liked Shino’s voice though. The music is hit or miss at times. Some of the time it seemed like they just picked a random song to go with whatever was happening on the screen at the time. This made me laugh at times I’m sure I wasn’t suppose to. The last time I came across a sound track this of balance it was when I was playing Xenosaga 2.
Dear Namco, it doesn’t help to have a pivotal moment in the came be backed up by what sounds like background music from a bad seventies porno. 
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11442 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Ah~ yes, Kelly Sheridan. She does have that sort of nurturing quality to her voice. I felt it was a particularly good pick for this role because it fits in well with Shino's own personality.
Really? Because in comparison to //SIGN, I found Shino's character to be very much the lesser incarnation of Subaru, whose seiyuu coincidently voices both of them  . But yeah, aside from a few pronunciation issues I heard here and there, I actually like the dub a lot and think it's very up to par (just need to see how Francis progresses as Haseo, everyone else sounds great from the get-go so far, especially Paul Dobson ). I'm glad they got a lot of their veterans to perform this one.
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Emerje
Posts: 7410 Location: Maine |
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Somehow I've pictured the Subaru character as being younger than the Shino character so the voice seems a better fit (the player behind Subaru is younger than that of Shino too). Like how Atoli is naive about the world outside of Moon Tree, Subaru is naive about the world outside of the Crimson Knights. It's that naivety that makes the voice a better fit with Subaru IMO. Shino on the other hand isn't naive at all (except for maybe when it comes to Ovan). She proves that she has strong leadership skills, has a working understanding of how people act in the world, and even knows a thing or two about negotiations (or threats as Tawaraya puts it). It's probably obvious, but I tend to associate the higher pitched voices with being young, hyper, and naive. Switching over from the dub to the sub and back a few times I found they actually kept the dub voices pretty close to the Japanese counterparts, but that's one change that I'm quite happy they made. Emerje |
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gary leeman
 Posts: 70 Location: The Big Apple |
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I liked the series, but was also confused as to the choice to use a different cast. However, I actually preferred the anime dub cast to the game. But the music was laughable at times, especially that 70s porno style like 'child of Lilith' noted. |
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