.hack//Liminality (2003)

A small but significant number of players have fallen into a coma while playing a game, an MMORPG titled 'The World'. While the bodies of the afflicted lie in a hospital bed, their online avatars have gone mysteriously missing. A group of player characters band together to find out if there's a connection, and how to reverse the process so they can get their friends back.

.hack// is a huge franchise. I've played games, read novels, manga, watched anime and own soundtracks. Sometimes the works are standalone and sometimes they aren't. The .hack//Liminality OVA requires knowledge of the larger universe, specifically the first four PS2 games (see below*), to understand its history fully. The events that occur in the games are happening concurrently with events that are happening in the real world, although the main characters aren't the same.

For those of you that played the games, the music and distinctive sound effects are recreated. When the tuning fork sound that heralds change, and the drip, drip, drip hit you it takes your mind back into that living, interactive space. For anyone not familiar with those feelings, the anime may seem a little empty.

The first episode was good, full of intrigue and potential that quickly fell away by episodes two and three. The fourth and final episode picks up the pace again, but not enough to make it an essential purchase for anyone who isn't a super-fan.

NOTE: a single episode was included on a DVD with each of the four parts of the first series of PS2 games, so you'll need all four games to complete the set.

4 episodes of varying lengths, 45 mins or 30 mins long -132 minutes in total.

2½ forks, A in C major, out of 5

*There's more .hack// at our sister sites, Nut Load (Games) and Nut Ink (Books).