I had some initial reservations about this series, since the central characters, Shugo and Rena, appear to be much younger than the original characters of Kite and BlackRose, who they represent. But the plot turned out to be quite strong, and Shugo and Rena, turn out to be older in their real lives, and faced with an increasingly common problem - they are brother and sister forced apart by their parents estrangement. Now the only place they can meet is in the virtual reality of The World. Their obvious attachment adds a great deal of charm to the story.



In this final disk the episodes pick up from Rena's disappearance into a dungeon on a forbidden server. Shugo and his friends struggle to find her and find themselves faced with a continually series of obstacles. First an evil minded group of hackers, then the Cerulean Knights that carry out CC Corporation policy, and finally a wandering AI that seeks to use The World as an experiment in using virtual death to create real death. The latter has a distinct proclivity for creating unbeatable monsters and deadly viruses. In the meantime, more and more players are turning up in comas worldwide.



One can't help but enjoy the interesting way that the creators have mixed the old .hack work with the new one. Familiar characters like Balmung redevelop while the entirely new open the breadth of the story. The vision is less detailed than the previous DVD series, but it examines aspects of the game that didn't appear before, and the concepts behind the AI's effort to understand true death are a step beyond what the original offered.



Thus, this series works on multiple levels, whether you just want to enjoy a nifty .hack action tale, or are looking for the deeper play of human relationships and dark questions. My only issue is the abruptness of the end that leaves things in a bit of turmoil. Make sure to watch the short after the final credits, or you may feel a bit disappointed. I do wish they had decided to extend this to 26 episodes, there certainly is more story to tell.