Japanese animation (anime) - .Hack//Liminality

Name: .Hack//Liminality
Episodes: 4 OVAs
Vintage: 2002
Style: Ficção

.Hack//Liminality - Preview

Setting

Following the Hack series, Hack//Liminality is the complete opposite from Hack//Sign, being completely from the real world point of view, with some random 'psychedelic' views from inside the game from time to time. Yet, the characters are all related to the mysterious events that happen inside The World, the CC Company, and from the players that are in coma locked inside the game. Highly advisable to watch Hack//Sign before Hack//Liminality (if you didn't, you probably already got lost with this preview!).

Preview

When Mai's boyfriend falls into a coma while playing in The World, she starts to investigate other events and cases related to his case, and eventually get to know a CC Company ex-employee, which seams to know 'too much'. As both research, more and more cases appear and more characters come into scene to find out the truth about the coma cases and the mysteries behind the CC Company.

Development

Hack//Liminality is an interesting work which will only make some sense if watched after Hack//Sign. Actually, even for those who follow the storyline, Liminality's plot will still be open and confuse.

The plot is slow paced, and most of the mysteries are focused only as rumors or speculations from the characters. Each episode show a different case, and different people related to The World, and that in some way, are also related in real world. There is also some development about how The World affects the real world, showing that the mysteries and scope of the events actually go far into the reality, and affect not only the virtual world.

With so many mysteries, cases and characters, there is very little time to character development. Eventually, the fact that nothing is never really explained or even pointed out clearly starts to annoy. Apparently, it would be better to understand the plot of all the Hack series if one plays the 4 Hack games, since this OVA is more related to the game than Hack//Sign. Yet, for those who did play the game, the mystery does remain. Therefore, do not hope for an end here.

Conclusion

As a stand alone work, Hack//Liminality is plain, boring, and even not suggested for most viewers, since it's highly related to the other titles (Sign and Tasogare) and the game. For those who did watch Sign and/or Tasogare, this show will be of some value to show some (very vew) solutions and extra information on what is going on, but not enough to explain anything.

The main suggestion here is to watch as a 'extra' of the series, and not to expect much.

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