Book Report: .Hack//Another Birth Vol. 1//Infection

I remember when I first read about the .Hack phenomenon taking Japan by storm in an issue of Newtype. The idea of a true multimedia story, one that was told through anime, manga and video games sounded intriguing to say the least. I also remember thinking that they'd never bring it successfully to the States due to the high volume of translation needed across all the various media. A few years later, I'm happy to have been proven wrong, with not only the three main media released in the US, but also the various novels that fill in a few of the gaps in the story. Or, in the case of Another Birth, provide us with a totally new vantage of previous events.

Blackrose as she's seen in the game...

A word of warning to anyone interested in reading this book, this is best read as a companion to the games, as plot points will be mentioned and it's generally understood that you know what's going on at the time but not explicitly mentioned here. You see, whereas in the four .Hack games for the PS2 you played as Kite, the Another Birth novels focus on Blackrose, the heroine of the games and Kite's main partner when it comes to fighting the "wave" that threatens to engulf the net. Each of the four novels (with vol. 2 scheduled to release in October) coincide with Blackrose's trials in that volume of the game.

Blackrose (Akira) in her school outfit in the real world

Going into it without knowing much about the Another Birth series, I fully expected to get the entire story of the first game regurgitated back to me, only now from Blackrose's point of view. I was surprised at how far off I was; only about one third of the book follows the events of the game, and even more surprising, only half the story takes place in "The World" (the name of the MMORPG that everyone will be playing in the near future). In the games, we've only gotten to know the characters by the emails they've sent to Kite. For the first time we get to see Blackrose's family, witness her reason for joining Kite to investigate the strange comas gamers are slipping into, and even her real name (it's Akira). A good deal of the story actually revolves around Blackrose's school life and dealing with her being ostracized by her peers for being the youngest classmate to be selected for the varsity tennis team.

If you're a fan of the whole .Hack experience and want to find out a bit more about the partner that you've spent 60+ hours fighting alongside, then I can't recommend this book enough. If you're new to the .Hack thing (and if you are, why are you even reading this review?), this is not the right place to get aquainted with its world. The novel may be a bit on the short side (the print is quite large), but it's a good way for a fan to pass the time while they anxiously await October's release of the new .Hack//GU series of PS2 games.