.hack//Roots

After the termination of the incredibly popular virtual reality MMORPG "The World," a new version of the game—The World R:2—is brought online. On his first day in the game, newcomer Haseo thinks he has made some friends to quest with. However, as if mocking his sentiments, they kill his character just for fun. Luckily, he is saved by a mysterious, one-armed player named Ovan who offers to show him around The World.

Alongside Ovan and his cleric friend Shino, Haseo enjoys a wonderful first year in the game. But this peaceful life is shattered when Shino's character is killed by a familiar figure notoriously known as Tri-Edge, whose victims have all fallen into comas in the real world. In a fit of rage, Haseo vows to find the elusive Tri-Edge and kill him.

Taking place during Haseo's first year in The World, .hack//Roots explores the friendships Haseo built in the game before Tri-Edge ripped them away.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Haseo Main

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Ovan Main

Touchi, Hiroki Japanese

Shino Main

Nazuka, Kaori Japanese

Tabby Main

Toyoguchi, Megumi Japanese

Phyllo Main

Takiguchi, Junpei Japanese

Azure Kite Supporting

Aida, Sayaka Japanese

Asta Supporting

Honna, Youko Japanese

Silabus Supporting

Sakaguchi, Daisuke Japanese

Kuhn Supporting

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Silver Knight Supporting

Chiba, Isshin Japanese

Mashimo, Kouichi Producer, Director, Storyboard, Sound Supervisor

Uchiyama, Daisuke Producer

Azuma, Fukashi Producer

Morimoto, Kouji Producer

Reviews

Apr 20, 2018

wolfwing

Recommended

A decent series hampered by it's desire to connect with the next series of games, simular to how signs was conencting to the first set of four games.

Story: the plot sets up and introduces some interesting ideas, that never quite go anywhere as they are all setting up the games, leaving you with a few unanswered questions if you don't play them.

Art and sound: Are decent, I enjoyed them, but nothing really ground breaking I felt.

Characters: You get some glimpses of good characters here, but they feel a little bit limited, and don't always understand their motivations.

Enjoyment and overall: ... This is a hard one to rate as I havn't played the games really yet, though I bought the remake, so I may get around to finishing that and have better idea, but I did enjoy it for what it was, just wish it had been a bit more self contained.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mar 15, 2024

LemonadeSamurai

Mixed Feelings

.hack//Roots is okay. Just okay.

It's more action based and Shonen then its predecessor .hack//Sign

The story revolves around an assassin player named Haseo who is determined to find a guy named Tri-Edge and save his online waifu from being in a coma. 

I LOVED .hack//Sign and the sequel is just..underwhelming.

This isn't a bad anime. The action is great and the world is interesting however it all feels very Shonen troupe.

... Character design is great. And you'll be interested in the world. But there's just something generic about the writing.

It's not bad.. it's just generic in plot progession.

The animation is fluid and clear and looks good. Dub is good.

It's not to say I didn't like my time with ROOTS personally (I even played the games which act as a sequel) but it's just not as good as .hack//

Haseo as a character is an edgelord. He is very moody and dark, the other characters are more interesting and one of them is relatable because he's just your average guy who wants to play the game.

There's also a catgirl named Tabby who is the best character.

It's pretty underrated as an anime. But it all feels generic at the same time if that makes any sense.

I personally feel you should give ROOTS a try because it is worth watching

Why? Because it's a pretty deep and fairly realistic anime about people just wanting to play an MMO to escape real world problems however Unlike Hack//Sign which is more focused on said real life problems and difficulties, roots is more supernatural and Shonen as mentioned.

The game IS the plot setting rather then the backdrop like Sign.

It's more action driven with unrealistic characters and concepts at times.

If you've watched stuff like Sword Art Online or Log Horizon, you'll enjoy Roots probably.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mar 13, 2020

Algy63

Not Recommended

I am a huge fan of the entire .hack franchise. I have played all of the games and watched the previous anime .hack sign. I even have some of the OST from these downloaded onto my phone. I felt that I should disclose how much I like the series as a whole before diving into this review.

The story: 5/10

The story is not horrible, but it isn't great either. Other than one or two big important events, not too much really happens. I would rate this a little higher if there were fewer episodes, but more should have ... happened in 26 episodes.

The pacing: 1/10

Oh my good sweet lord this show is so boring to watch. There are scenes that drag on and on and on. There is a particular fight scene where the characters yell and run at each other for like two minutes before the episode ends. It feels like they only did this to hit that minute requirement for the episode. To be honest, I was actually laughing really hard during this part because I couldn't believe that they actually did this. The show overall moves way too slow, and it feels like nothing is ever actually happening. The show has 26 or so episodes, but they could have told this story in 7 or 8.

Art: 5/10

Not bad, but not great. The movement is a little stiff, but everyone looks alright when they don't have to move.

Characters: 5/10

As usual, .hack characters have awesome designs. Like with other works in the series, all of the main cast looks really cool, but their looks are where the coolness ends. There isn't really any character development in this show. The purpose of this show is to prepare you to play the .hack GU games, and there is definitely a lot of character development in them, so I can understand why it doesn't happen here.

Overall score: 4/10

If it wasn't for the great games that come after this show, the score would be even lower. I am fully prepared to admit that I am biased toward .hack as a whole, but I tried to be as fair as possible. If you want to play the .hack GU games, I would recommend watching this show first (at 2x speed), but otherwise this is a good one to skip entirely.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: .hack//Roots Episode 26 Discussion VARIAchan - Dec 25, 2009	20 replies	by DooMWhite »» Nov 5, 2022 10:56 PM
	Poll: .hack//Roots Episode 15 Discussion VARIAchan - Nov 29, 2009	6 replies	by Crack »» Feb 10, 2022 8:15 AM
	Poll: .hack//Roots Episode 9 Discussion VARIAchan - Nov 29, 2009	5 replies	by Crack »» Feb 8, 2022 8:21 AM
	what did you think of this series? Yokurama - Mar 4, 2008	16 replies	by removed-user »» May 27, 2021 4:54 PM
	Poll: .hack//Roots Episode 14 Discussion VARIAchan - Nov 29, 2009	3 replies	by Berry-Vodka »» May 25, 2021 9:43 AM

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