.hack//DUSK

2 reviews - 6.5 total score (Explanation of the rating system)
avg. score: (3.3)

2. Tempy

Taking place years after the events in .hack//SIGN and the series of console games, Hack//DUSK starts out promising enough. Our setting is once again a MMORPG - Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game - called "The World". This time the animators went for a far more cuter style, and there's plenty of silly fun at the beginning including a baby grunty and a running gag where our main protagonist Shugo loses a tooth. There's still the necessary intrigue and drama from players lapsing into comas in real life, and the separation of siblings Shugo and Rena, also in real life. The latter storyline in particular had lots of potential, with a few emotional scenes and the promise of more. Unfortunately Hack//DUSK begins to lose its charm when it tries to further explain the mysteries in the series. Most of the humor is lost and the plot twists start depending on metaphysical and virtual reality elements. In a world where anything can happen, plot developments and character motivations become unconvincing and ultimately boring. Anyone familiar with MMORPGs will find enjoyment from recognizing things in the anime, but the blatant disregard of what computers can and cannot do is annoying.

1. Neko Tsukimi

.hack//DUSK is a story somewhere in the .hack storyline with a new cast and new story. In the beginning, it was exciting, odd, and surprisingly cute with the characters being quite SD. Most of the episodes were fun fluff with the characters trying to level up and participate in events to earn rare items. They also contain an uncomfortable level of hints to incest between the two main characters who happen to be twins currently separated from each other. However, a story tried to develop. The series is only 12 episodes and the story they tried to develop would have fitted better in a 26 episode series. In the end, I was disappointed. The ending was happy, but I would have liked it better if it had no plot at all or if the plot were spread out over more episodes.