What is .hack series?

Disclaimer: This article post is made for educational purposes and expresses opinions on the fact that the .hack series deserves a second chance to live on. All content like Videos, fan-story, Translation, Information, and more are created and owned by perspective owners or veteran fans of .hack (Credit names are linked below) who have made their dedication with love, passion, and support for the series through decades and this in hope to continue trends for next generation or even old one who never tried one, thus hoping for this series can continue for another decade.

.hack (Japanese: ドットハック, Hepburn: Dotto Hakku) is a Japanese multimedia franchise that encompasses two projects: Project .hack and .hack Conglomerate. They were primarily created and developed by CyberConnect2 and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment.

The series features an alternative history setting in the rise of the new millennium regarding the technological rise of a new version of the internet following a major global computer network disaster in the year 2005 and the mysterious events regarding the wildly popular fictional Massively multiplayer online role-playing game THE WORLD. 

The series mainly comprises anime and video game titles, which have been subsequently adapted into manga, novels, and other related media.

.hack//franchise became the central heart to the community who began an interest in the setting and experience like an MMORPG, bringing a new broad expression and heartfelt to the franchise while adding conflicts, suspense, and action, also bringing theme story about many aspects like Social Problem, Psychological, Technology, Human nature, Life journey & struggle, Interaction, Online network, and many things, but the most importantly is how they tell the story that they really want to tell as it’s own.

The iconic music and soundtracks, composed by Chikayo Fukuda and LieN, the music vocalist, bring the story, character, animation, drama, and expression more alive with the melody of the music. There are also many theme songs for each game, anime, and movie.

History

During the late 1990s, having expectations for a new project, Fuyuki Nishizawa (西澤冬樹) from Bandai contacted the company Cyber Connect Co. Ltd led by its previous president Shinjiro Sugitani (杉谷伸二郎) and their team, seeking to get into developing software for the PlayStation 2 with a new game. 

“Great Thief Forteprotze (大泥棒フォルテプロッツェ),” as described by Hiroshi Matsuyama (松山洋), involved a large city in London where the people living there were controlled by AI and involved the concept of a main character who wants to “have a life, a habit, and to live a life,” chooses to become a thief out of amorous. However, Bandai did not believe that the project would become a big hit and that the city was lacking life, so the story was redone as “Moon Crow (ムーンクロウ －月鴉－).” 

As a concept, Moon Crow was described as a worldview with more life but a story that needed more for the player to relate to. This is also where the main character’s name first becomes Kite, the same name as the protagonist of the first .hack series.

Later on with online games at the time becoming more popular such as those on the Dream Cast and PlayStation 2 such as Phantasy Star Online, Fantasy, Ultima Online Lineage, Ragnarok Online, and Diablo, Hiroshi Matsuyama armed with the idea of having the protagonist serve as medium for the player themselves, and having the characters they meet in the game also appear as someone also alive, the concept later evolved into a game about having “another life experience” and became an RPG based on online games, made for people who are interested in medium but didn’t have the environment to play them it, while simultaneously also aimed at players who have MMORPG’S and would think “oh there is such a thing” Treasure Hacker was born at an end of the year event in 1999, with concept art by WAKA (Takayuki Isobe – 磯部孝幸), technical specifications shown sometime around March 1999 and additional work from Hiroto Niizato (新里 裕人) who’d came up with the theme about hackers sometime prior to its development as Treasure Hackers. 

The story involves an adventure in the game to solve an incident in real time with the online game The World.

Following this meeting with Bandai, they later received a new Company Director, Shin Unozawa (鵜之澤), and began aiming to create titles based on pre-existing content. Feeling that they were still seen as a new game maker, they halted most of their original titles except those at Cyber Connect 2. 

As a whole, with the additional blessings of the previous Company Director, Bandai was still very interested. Still wanting the idea to become more successful, Bandai asked Cyber Connect 2 to consider reworking the project. It was later re-proposed back to the company, with help from Bandai Producer Daisuke Uchiyama (内山大輔), who helped manage the project across multiple mediums as the multimedia Project .hack.

This was later, what we know as the .hack series.

[All information about the History of .hack project sections are referenced from Prototype of .hack from .hack wikia, credited to Treasurer Hacker and Kukkai for filling all information on .hack wikia]

.hack multimedia project

The first season of .hack series

Games

• .hack//Games – The first main title of PlayStation 2 games, which consist of 4-Part of the series like Infection, Mutation, Outbreak, and Quarantine. The story follows the hackers, Kite and BlackRose, to find out the cause behind the sudden coma of Kite’s friend, Orca while investigating the great abnormalities of the network, which only exists and came from the MMORPG, The World.
• .hack//Fragment – the first .hack massive multiplayer online game (an online role-playing game) that was exclusively Japan-only. You can play and customize your character, and the gameplay is based on the first .hack games. It is set in an alternate universe and is non-canonical to the .hack series.
• .hack//Enemy – A collectible card game created by Decipher Inc. based on the .hack series, .hack//Enemy was proven to be a unique experience and even won the 2004 ORIGINS award for “Best New TCG.” It was discontinued after running five separate expansions between 2003 and 2005.

Anime

• .hack//SIGN – An anime television series directed by Koichi Mashimo and produced by studio Bee Train and Bandai Visual, which consists of 26 episodes along with three OVA episodes released on DVD. The story focuses on a Wavemaster named Tsukasa, a PC who wakes up and suffers from amnesia, and the worst is how he is unable to log out, causing him to be trapped in the game. Tsukasa embarks with other players on a quest to find the truth behind the abnormal situation. The series premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo on April 4, 2002.
• .hack//Legend of Twilight – A miniseries adaptation of the manga series written by Tatsuya Hamazaki and drawn by Rei Izumi. The anime series was directed by Koichi Mashimo and Koji Sawai and produced by Bee Train Studio. It focuses on twins Rena and Shugo, who receive a chibi avatar design of the legendary hackers Kite and BlackRose. After a mysterious girl gives Shugo the Twilight Bracelet, the two embark on a quest to find Aura and unravel the mystery of the Twilight Bracelet.
  • Although the anime adapts manga from Episodes 1 to 4, the rest of the episodes are the Original Story and diverge from the Manga Story. In addition, it is a non-canon story to the .hack series.
• .hack//Liminality – A DVD OVA consists of four episodes, which were implemented with the .hack video game series for PlayStation 2. It focuses on the real world as opposed to the online game and follows the story of Mai Minase, Yuki Aihara, Kyoko Tohno, and ex-CyberConnect employee Junichiro Tokuoka as they attempt to find out why players are falling into comas when playing in The World.
• .hack//GIFT – an OVA anime created as a “Gift” for those who had bought and completed all four .hack video games. It was available when the data flag on the memory card file in .hack//Quarantine was present. It is predominantly a comedy that makes fun of everything that developed throughout the series, even the franchise’s shortcomings. Character designs are deliberately simplistic.

Novels

• .hack//AI Buster – A novel released under Project .hack in 2002. The story set in 2009 A.D. and it tells the story of Albireo and a prototype of the ultimate AI, Lycoris, and of how Orca and Balmung defeated “The One Sin” and became the Descendants of Fianna.
• .hack//AI Buster 2 – A collection of stories released under Project .hack. It involves the characters of AI Buster and Legend of the Twilight Bracelet: “.hack//2nd Character”, “.hack//Wotan’s Spear”, “.hack//Kamui”, “.hack//Rumor” and “.hack//Firefly”. “Rumor” was previously released with the Rena Special Pack in Japan.
• .hack//Another Birth – The series of novelizations released under Project .hack. While the story of Another Birth is set in 2010 A.D., which is the same timeline event of .hack//Games,it focuses on BlackRose story and her point of view during events.
• .hack//ZERO – A novel series released under Project .hack. It tells the story of a Long Arm named Carl, of what happened to Sora after he was trapped in The World by Morganna, and Tsukasa’s real life, An Shoji after being able to log out from The World.
• .hack//Epitaph of Twilight – A novel series telling the story of Harald Hoerwick’s niece, Lara Hoerwick, who finds herself trapped in an early version of The World set in 2007 A.D. The first volume novel was released in April 26, 2008.

Manga

• .hack//Legend of Twilight (Manga) – A manga series released under Project .hack. It tells the story of two player characters, Shugo and Rena, as they win a mysterious contest that earns them chibi character models from legendary players. The story of Legend of Twilight is considered Canon to the .hack series, and this is also confirmed as the story of manga adapted into a sub-scenario for .hack//Link, which is official by CyberConnect 2.

The second season of .hack series

Following the commercial success of Project .hack and during the development of Vol. 3-4 of the original .hack games, CyberConnect2 developed the sequel known as .hack//Conglomerate, although it was originally titled Project G.U. Instead of a direct sequel, CyberConnect2 developed it as an independent series with connections to the first .hack series that new players could still enjoy.

The second Season of .hack “Conglomerate” is typically referred to as .hack//G.U. Hiroshi Matsuyama led the project, along with several staff members who worked on the Conglomerate. The most notable members involved were Seiichiro Hasokawa, Tatsuya Hamazaki, Kazunari Ito, Miu Kawasaki, and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. 

The companies include Victor Entertainment, Nippon Cultural Broadcasting, Bandai, TV Tokyo, Bee Train, and Kodakawa Shoten. 

The sequel takes place mainly in The World R:2 after the data from the original game was mostly lost; the main story focuses on G.U. Haseo, the protagonist. 

However, For those who want to know what happened between .hack and .hack//G.U. and how data R:1 became lost and led to the creation of The World R:2, I recommend you watch .hack//G.U. Terminal Disc, which initially comes with the limited edition versions of .hack//G.U. Vol.1 Rebirth. However, you can watch all chapters of Terminal Disc in .hack//G.U. Last Recode, which is available on PlayStation 4 and Steam.

Games

• .hack//G.U. – The second main title of PlayStation 2 games was released in 2006, and it consists of three volumes: Rebirth, Reminisce, and Redemption. It was released for the .hack Conglomerate project. The game takes place in The World R:2 in the year 2017 and focuses on the player Haseo‘s search for a cure after his friend was attacked by a mysterious player known as Tri-Edge. This led to his eventual involvement with Project G.U. and the mysterious anomalies called AIDA.
• .hack//G.U. Vol.4 Reconnection – [SPOILER ALERT!! Please play all three volumes of G.U. to allow you to know about this synopsis!] The direct continuation to all three volumes of G.U., while considered an “Epilogue” chapter, set a year after Redemption and Returner, The World R:2 start, ended its operation at the end of the year. At the same time, Haseo rushed himself in time to find and Save Ovan on the verge of the ice while encountering mysterious abnormalities once again that are much greater than AIDA and Cubia, along with a mysterious girl known as Kusabira becoming a key to Haseo’s story in 4th volume. The fourth volume was bundled with all three volumes of G.U. Games in the remastered release .hack//G.U. Last Recode in 2017, which is now available on PlayStation 4 and Steam. As the CD Drama .hack//G.U. Innocent Call is considered as the prologue story to the Vol.4 Reconnection.
• .hack//G.U. The Card Battle – a trading card similar to .hack//ENEMY, which was made by the original creators of G.U. games. There are two sets of rules, one based on the mini-games in the G.U. series, Crimson VS, and the other specifically designed for a trading card game. This game won the Origin Awards for the Best Trading Card Game of 2003.

Anime

• .hack//Roots – The anime series released under the Conglomerate project is a prequel story to G.U. games. It focuses on Haseo joining (and subsequent exploits with) the Twilight Brigade guild. It also shows his rise to power and how he became known as “The Terror of Death.” It was broadcast on April 5, 2006, with the CD Drama First Login, which leads to the Roots story.
• .hack//G.U. Trilogy – This is a CGI video adaptation of the .hack//G.U. Video games. It focuses on alternative stories but is based on the main original G.U. story, which focuses on Haseo as the protagonist. Atoli also had a main role in this movie. It was released in limited theaters in Japan starting on December 22, 2007.
• .hack//G.U. Returner – This short OVA and the conclusion to .hack//Roots are also set between Vol.3 Redemption and Vol.4 Reconnection. It starts when Ovan invites Haseo and his friend to the Hidden Forbidden Festival, where a mysterious festival is set up. It was broadcast on January 18, 2007.

Manga

• .hack//4koma – The gag manga series that throws humor, featured characters from .hack and .hack//G.U.
• .hack//Alcor – The manga series released under the .hack Conglomerate project focuses on a girl called Nanase, who appears to have been quite fond of Silabus and Alkaid during her days as an empress of the Demon Palace. 
• .hack//GnU – A humorous manga series released under the .hack Conglomerate project. It revolves around a male Blade Brandier named Raid and the seventh division of the Moon Tree guild.
• .hack//G.U.+ – The manga adaptation of the three .hack//G.U. Video games released under the .hack Conglomerate project. The story is the same as in G.U. games but goes in several different directions, while a few stories are still the same as in the Original G.U. games with introducing brand-new characters at the later of the story. The first volume of the manga was released on February 12, 2008.
• .hack//XXXX – A manga adaptation of the four original .hack//Games was released under the .hack Conglomerate project. The story is the same as how Kite started in the original, but the manga differs in its story in several parts, which feature a Human version of Cubia and Morganna Mode Gone. The manga was released on September 7, 2006.

Novel

• .hack//Cell – The novel series released under the .hack//Conglomerate project, written by Ryo Suzukaze, took place at the same time as the ROOTS event. The main plot centers around Midori selling herself out to would-be PKers, and some real-world events center around the girl who also bears the name Midori (Midori Shimomura), who is in a coma.
• .hack//G.U. (Novel) – A novel adaptation to .hack//G.U. Released under the .hack Conglomerate Project. Although it basically covers the same story from the game, later, the story diverges from the game and later becomes closely connected with .hack//SIGN and .hack//.

The third season of .hack series

The third Season of .hack is a direct sequel to the Conglomerate (even though it’s still part of .hack//Conglomerate) as the franchise will tie the story to all previous two projects, including how previous titles connected through one single project with this Third Season brings among revelation that were hidden in the progression of the series.

The project is also led by Hiroshi Matsuyama, along with the most notable members who are handling the projects are Hiroto Niizoto, Kikuya Megane, Seiichiro Hasokawa, Yano Masayuki, Kenei Nakasha, Kazuyoshi Futatsuka, and Akihiro Anai.

According to Hiroshi Matsuyama and Hiroto Niizoto in their interview in .hack//ARCHIVE 04 -.hack//Link- they want to do a yearly development release cycle between Game, Anime, and Movie as three titles already in production at the same time and are planning to release each one of three projects for three years to come.

For those who want the content of .hack//3rd Season Project, you can go to .hack//Translate, as you can find all materials that weren’t even localized to the US are translated on its website.

Games

• .hack//Link – The third game title with PlayStation Portable was released under the .hack Conglomerate, but it’s part of the .hack//Third Season Project. The game used to be claimed as the final game in the franchise focused on Tokio Kuryuu in the year 2020, who was given a free copy of The World R:X by the famous but mysterious new classmate Saika Amagi. It contains playable and unplayable characters from .hack and .hack//G.U. Games, including characters from previous titles of .hack. As the game was only exclusively released in Japan, the game was translated entirely into English (only for the main story) on December 15, 2018. 
  • You can check the .hack//Link English Translation page by clicking the link here.
  • The good news is that .hack//Link is now completely translated (all contents included) into English on December 29, 2023.
• .hack//Versus – The PS3 game released under the .hack//Conglomerate and Third Season Project. The story focuses on a Player (it is revealed to be Kakeru Tanaka in .hack//Archive 05) who is working together with a mysterious hacker known as 9 who went to solve the mysterious disappearance of players who were trapped in the online fighting game beta test VS The World which was intentionally done by CC Corp.
  • The .hack//Versus English Patch has already been released; you can play it on Modded PS3 or RPCS3 on your PC. For installation guides, click the link here, but you need to buy it.hack//The Movie: Beyond the World + Versus HYBRID Pack in order to have .hack//Versus iso, or you can find it using your own methods.
    • .hack//Versus -English Patch- are credited by @Falions as a Translator and @Ryudo Gaming as a Programmer who had worked hard for these fantastic efforts; you should all be credited to them.
  • Those who want an online challenges community can join Versus VVednesday on Discord, but first, you need to activate your RPCSN or your Modded PS3 network in order to activate the online network for .hack//Versus. The guide for activation is already on the Installation Guide link above as well.
    • You can also follow their Twitter Account for more information.
• Guilty Dragon: The Sin Dragon and The Eight Curses – a game for Android and IOS that is exclusively for Japan, and it is set in the new game online, The World: Armed Conflict. The service began from October 15, 2012, to March 23, 2016.
  • The Guilty Dragon English Translation dialogues can be found here, and they are still currently being worked on by .hack//Translate owned by Kazetrigger.

Anime

• .hack//Quantum – A three OVA Series produced by Kinema Citrus Studio, set in 2022 A.D., focuses on Sakuya along with her two friends, Tobias and Mary, being caught in the strange circumstances that occur in The World R:X in Hermit, who become key to how the story would play. Quantum OVA Series became the first anime series of .hack to be licensed by Funimation; it premiered from December 27, 2010, to March 25, 2011.
• .hack//Beyond The World – The CGI movie took place in the year 2024 A.D., where a reboot of The World under the name FORCE: ERA. The story follows Sora Yuuki, who experiences the first time she logs into The World while meeting with the mysterious white girl, giving her the white core to Sora’s PC. While caught, she encounters the mysterious bug that would lead to another Immortal Dusk Crisis. .hack//Movie: Beyond The World was launched in theaters throughout Japan on January 21, 2012.
• Thanatos Report – The OVA, which can be unlocked in .hack//Versus after finishing the story mode, follows David Steinberg on his investigation toward the mysterious organization known as MAMA who were involved behind the conspiracy of CyberConnect Corporation and ALTIMIT Corporation.

Manga

• .hack//Link: Twilight Knights – The manga version of the LINK, which was released under the .hack Conglomerate and Third Season project, which occurs three years after the end of G.U. set in the new version of The World called The World R:X focus on a player named Tokio Kuryuu and mysterious exchange student named Saika Amagi. Although the story direction is majorly different from its game version, it focuses on a few depths toward character development and interaction for Tokio and Saika, along with Twilight Knights. The manga version was discontinued in Chapter 20 on February 26, 2010, just one month or a few weeks before the release of .hack//LINK.
• .hack//Quantum: Introduction – The prologue manga story to the event of the OVA series focuses on Sakuya’s first meeting with Tobias and Mary’s first login, as how it tells the beginning of their friendship before the event of Quantum OVA Series.
• Beyond The World: SORA – The manga adaptation to the CGI of .hack//Beyond The World focuses on the same stories as Sora Yuuki’s first time logging into The World while adding extra plot details and a few teases for the Thanatos Report event, along with 9 (Tokio Kuryuu) appearing as a cameo.

Novel

• .hack//Bullet – The web novels released under .hack conglomerate and third season project. It follows the player of Fluegel, Ryuji Sogabe after the event of .hack//Link receives an unexpected request from a former colleague from CC Corp to investigate the mystery behind Geist and Jyotaro‘s involvement in Immortal Dusk. The first chapter was released on June 15, 2012.
  • For overseas fans, you can read the translated web novel on the translation page of .hack//Bullet.
  • The E-Book version of .hack//Bullet, released on January 18, 2021, includes an additional chapter titled Versus Magician, which sets up Geist as a returning character in .hack//Bullet after almost 11 years since his last appearance. As the E-Book has been released on Sale, the website novel for JP has been shut down, so you need to buy the e-book novel here on the CC2 Store.

Related Works:

• Hiroshi Matsuyama x Hiroto Niizato: DIALOGUE [.hack//Archive 04 -Link-]
• Why .hack//Franchise is the masterpiece and deserves a second chance?
• How to support and bring our voice to revitalize of dothack franchise?