.hack takes a break from pictures, and instead it paints with words. Exploring the idea of “what is reality,” two worlds are brought together, and the line is finally removed completely.
Midori, a high school girl with green eyes and beautiful long black hair. Midori, an Edge Punisher with green hair, and beautiful long black hair. High school Midori is walking with her friend when they notice an advertisement for a new area in The World . Midori’s friend, Kaho, decides to take that moment to persuade Midori to get an M2D (Micro Monocle Display). Midori has yet to join in the massive multiplayer online role playing game that is called The World. When the two friends decide to keep moving on, Midori suddenly feels faint, and loses consciousness.
Edge Punisher Midori is working her job in The World as a professional victim. Seconds tick by as Midori gracefully dodges her clients’ attempts at hurting her. At the end of 60 seconds, Midori is unscathed, and has some more coin in her pocket. Midori and her closest friend, Adamas, take a break, but not for long. A group of PK’s (Player Killers) show up, looking for some trouble. Just another event in The World.
Back in the real world, Midori is stuck in the hospital, her condition worsening. Kaho decides to bring an M2D to let Midori try The World. Midori is in awe of the details, the whole new world out there. That is when she makes her character, the Edge Punisher.
Midori and Adamas have decided to meet in real life. They pick a date, time, and place. Both show up early, but never meet. Midori has this strange feeling that she should not meet Adamas.
Adamas understands, and they decide that maybe someday they can meet. Then, Midori starts to remember her past, but only her past in The World. She has no memories of her real life, not even her real name, where she lives, her ID number, nothing. “Who am I?”
Overall
The imagery is beautiful. You feel like you can feel the wind, smell the grass, sense the broadsword in your hand. You could tell the author would love for this novel to be a movie or game. There are black and white illustrations throughout the novel, but just to make concrete images in the readers mind.
Towards the middle of the novel, the plot loses coherency. You have what appears to be two separate people, with the same name. Both stories (the real world and The World) don’t have anything in common except a name. Why are these stories being told together? I thought, then at the end, It all came together into one seriously depressing conclusion. Yes, the end of the novel was really sad. I didn’t see it coming until the last chapter (which are called volumes), and when it hit me, I started to tear-up. The end was really good, don’t get me wrong, just, if you don’t want to feel depressed after reading a book, I’d find a different story to read. It’s just not a feel good book.
Overall, .hack//Cell was pretty good. I loved the way Ryo Suzukaze described the setting, and the way the characters looked, but, it just barely levels out the weak plot and plot progression. There were basically three events. The opening, when you get to know who everyone is, the epic, life-changing battle that turns in every possible direction, and the tragic ending. There were also some editing problems, missing spaces, and general typos, like forgetting the “s” in “she”. It did make it hard to read. But despite all of that I did like reading .hack//Cell, and the general message it had to offer.
ComicsOnline gives .hack//Cell, 3.5 out of 5 Pedestrians Walking Around With M2D’s .
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