Anime Review: .hack//ROOTS

Plot Summary: The story takes place before the .hack//GU games. The anime tells the story of the relationship between Haseo and Shino, the relationship between Haseo and Ovan, and the events that caused Haseo to be known as the PKK, "The Terror of Death". It begins from when Haseo was saved from two PKs by Ovan. Following Haseo's meeting with Shino, Haseo joins the Twilight Brigade. The Brigade's main objective was to find the legendary item, the Key of the twilight, which was said to surpass even the system. However, many challenges await them along their quest. What's even worse is the appearance of a mysterious character known only as "Tri-Edge".

Storyline: 9/10. Wonderfully done!! The series reveals the answer to Haseo's past, Ovan's identity and Azure Kite's role in the story. The bad thing? Well, those who play the games weren't happy that most of the mysteries were revealed to them before they played the game. This made playing .hack//GU Vol. 2 quite uninteresting.

Music: 8.5/10. Besides the opening and ending (which were terrible IMO), the rest of the music used the OST of .hack//GU. Eternal City Mac Anu's background music is still as calming as ever. However, they occasionally put the wrong music at the wrong time.

Artwork: 5/10. Now, this.... THIS WAS TERRIBLE!! Compared with the previous two anime series, the 7 games and the movie, .hack//ROOTS had terrible artwork. Animation was also so bad, I couldn't believe the same guys made the games (the CG fights were thoroughly impressive)!

Overall: 7.5/10. If it weren't for the terrible art, it would've been a masterpiece. Pity... Maybe they should've used the CG from .hack//G.U. Trilogy. Haha!