FUNimation delved into some new license rescues at SDCC this week as they’ve announced the pickup of several properties from a franchise with .hack. Previously released by Bandai Entertainment, the company has picked up the rights to .hack//SIGN, .hack//ROOTS, .hack//Legend of Twilight and .hack//G.U. Trilogy. FUNimation had previously released .hack//Quantum in North America back in 2012 which got a DVD/BD release. FUNimation made no notice as to what kinds of releases these will get, if they’ll go the combo route with them or not, but it does bring the majority of the franchise into the studio’s hands. Interestingly, .hack//G.U. Trilogy was not dubbed by Bandai Entertainment, so that could receive a fresh dub through FUNimation.
.hack//SIGN
Login to the most successful online game in history! “The World” is being played by millions of people around the world, making it the most popular game ever. Players can go online and trade items, form parties, and go on quests. But none of that concerns Tsukasa. Trapped within “The World”, a virtual prisoner – His journey from the digital world to the real world has just begun.
.hack//ROOTS
After the destruction of “The World” in 2015, CC Corporation rebuilt the game using data from what was previously to be another game. “The World R:2” was then released in 2016. A newcomer to the game, Haseo, is instantly PKed and then revived by a mysterious man known as Ovan. With the problem of PKs occupying the game, Haseo soon after receives help from a female Harvest known as Shino. Amidst curiosity and confusion, Haseo is lead to joining the guild known as the Twilight Brigade. The guild that searches for the legendary object known as the “Key of the Twilight”. Set before the .hack//G.U. game.
.hack//Legend of Twilight
It has been four years since the incident that has come to be known as the Twilight. Many of those who witnessed it no longer come to “The World.” It is a different place. A safer place. Shugo and his twin sister Rena are two of the newest players to join “The World.” And they’ve won a very special prize in a contest – they get to use the character likenesses of the legendary Kite and Black Rose. Such a prize is very rare indeed, and it makes them the center of a lot of attention. The pair will encounter friends and allies, but it soon becomes very clear that they are not ordinary players. Unusual things keep happening around them, but they’re too busy having fun to really worry. It’s probably nothing. Probably.
.hack//G.U. Trilogy
The story follows Haseo, a player in the online MMORPG called The World:R2 at first depicted as a PKK (Player Killer Killer) known as the “Terror of Death”, a former member of the disbanded Twilight Brigade guild. Haseo encounters Azure Kite (believing him to be Tri-Edge and blaming him for what happened to Shino) but is hopelessly outmatched. Azure Kite easily defeats Haseo and Data Drains him, reducing his level from 133 to 1 and leaving him without any items, weapons, or member addresses. He is left with a mystery on his hands as to the nature of the Data Drain and why Azure Kite is in possession of such a skill.
Franchise concept: .hack//SIGN, .hack//ROOTS, and .hack//Legend of Twilight were directed by Koichi Mashimo (Noir, Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicle) and .hack//G.U. Trilogy was directed by Hiroshi Matsuyama (director of .hack//The Movie). The action/fantasy .hack franchise follows several young players as they navigate the vast, mysterious role-playing video games set in “The World” – a place, it turns out, that is sometimes impossible to leave.
