.hack//4komaby Holly von WinckelReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Publisher
Credits Grade: 8 This manga is a tendril of a very broad, very deep franchise. A franchise with which I have never had contact prior to the arrival of this review copy of .hack//4koma. The reason I find this worth mentioning is twofold. First, there is undoubtedly a great deal of content lost on me, as I am not a fan of the games (indeed, have never even seen them!). Second, I know that this book is for fans and no one else, which means if I say anything negative the fans are likely to get riled up.The first thing about .hack//4koma that caught my eye is the four-panel strip comic arrangement of most of the book. As far as I could discern, this is literally what "4koma" means. This is a collection of strips from the game's fan magazine. The panels feature meetings of the casts of the original and second edition of the game, and explores their interactions and rivalries. There are a ton of inside jokes, and I got the feeling that the strip probably does a good job of carrying the characters as presented in the games. I think that because they are consistent enough that, after reading enough strips, I got a good sense of what they were likely to do, or how they might react. Based on the creator's notes in the back of the book, he is also a fan of the games, so it's easy to see where the consistency comes from. The art style is a bit too textbook-manga for my taste. I suppose a nicer way to say that is, classic and conservative in style. In any case, it comes across as a little dry. I don't know how much of that is due to the restrictions of the four-panel format on the artist, versus how much is just the artist's native style. I know a lot of the styles I like tend to be splashy and break out of the panels, and of course that wouldn't work well for this format. A great deal of the book is dedicated to fan-made manga. I liked this part very much; fan-fic has always struck me as a real labor of love, and I can imagine how delighted the creators must have been to be published this way. Some of the artists are very talented, both in art skills and story-telling ability. I realize kicking chim chims must be part of the game, but making a chim chim cry seems so mean! Poor chim chim! Overall, I found this to be a fairly solid book. Maybe I didn't get into it as much as I would have, had I been a long-time fan of the franchise, but I think this probably would be an enjoyable read for someone who is a fan. If you know someone who is into The World or The World R.2, or has been reading .hack and doesn't have this book, it's probably a good choice for the next gift-giving occasion. Folks who are not already into The World or .hack most likely won't get much out of this. Written: April 6, 2010
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