How to watch anime only

Mar 11, 9:45 PM

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Oct 2024

So I'm a big fan of Sadamoto Yoshiyuki character works and I wanted to watch all the anime's hes made designs for.

I just wanna know if I can only watch the anime adaptations of the series. NO I DON'T WANT TO PLAY THE GAMES OR READ MANGA!!!

Will I still be able to understand a general idea of whats going on or will I be completely lost?

And If there is an anime only watch order please send me a link to that or write it in the reply's Thanks <3

Mar 11, 9:57 PM

garrett5980

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Aug 2024

.hack sign -> .hack liminality -> .hack legend of the twilight -> .hack roots -> .hack quantum -> .hack the movie

Mar 11, 9:59 PM

garrett5980

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Aug 2024

I highly recommend playing .hack//G.U., which is essentially .hack//Roots in game format. It’s a lot more accessible to play than the .hack//Infection PS2 series.

garrett5980Mar 11, 11:57 PM

Mar 11, 11:52 PM

assignedgengar

Queer Villain

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Jul 2013

222

garrett5980 said:
.hack sign -> .hack liminality -> .hack legend of the twilight -> .hack roots -> .hack quantum -> .hack the movie

This, but...I would skip Legend of the Twilight. The anime is not canon & they just......did terrible things to it. (Also, as much as I love the manga, you don't exactly NEED the story for continuity.)

I'm not certain, but you may be able to "play" G.U. on story mode. I know some games have this option & I feel like maybe the newer release was one of them. (Meaning you don't have to play it, you can just watch the story play itself out.)

G.U. comes directly after Roots.

assignedgengarMar 11, 11:55 PM

cranky because your taste sucks, aren't you?

Mar 13, 5:13 AM

MaouNemesis

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Apr 2014

580

There's also the G.U. movie, but it's really a digest version of all 3 games.

Mar 13, 12:04 PM

ENSHOKU

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Feb 2025

(accidentally posted twice and idk how to delete it)

Mar 13, 12:05 PM

ENSHOKU

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Feb 2025

Every piece of .hack media works can be enjoyed by themselves fine, it's really only a matter of how attached to in-depth lore you are. If you're just looking for a basic story, you can watch and enjoy whichever series fine by itself. They are dramas, if you're here for the dramas with these characters you'll enjoy yourself. However, if you want to know what happens after .hack//Roots, you'll need to play .hack//G.U. or watch a playthrough. At least it's not required to do prior, right?

And if just character drama isn't enough and you're a completionist and want to know the entire tale and everything going on in the background, yes, you need to play the games or at least watch a playthrough. Ideally you would start the series by playing the original 4 games but those games have been out of print for ages, are extremely expensive to buy used, and have not been re-released. (I hear PS2 emulators are pretty good nowadays, though...)

I really don't think this should deter you, however. I myself have never played all 4 of those original games and I still consider myself a very massive fan who understands most the lore without spoiling myself on the drama plot of those first 4 games. All you really need to know is "Kite & friends saved The World from a disaster" which you could've guessed.

tldr; You absolutely don't have to play the games, but it's a more complete experience if you do.

Mar 13, 12:07 PM

ENSHOKU

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Feb 2025

MaouNemesis said:
There's also the G.U. movie, but it's really a digest version of all 3 games.

I did not know this! Might be a great way to experience the whole of the .hack//Roots plotline then!

Mar 13, 10:24 PM

nekogunner

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Oct 2011

You'll be able to appreciate both .Hack/Sign and .Hack//Roots without playing, reading, or watching anything else in the franchise.

Watch .Hack//Sign all the way through, including the bonus episodes Intermezzo and Unison.

if you enjoy the series and decide to continue the anime route, I encourage you to read the manga, or if you don't want to, read up on the background of some of the characters that cross over between the various series/manga.

Welcome to "The World"

😀

Mar 13, 10:28 PM

#10

bck108

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Nov 2022

no lie I've only watched .hack sign, imma do a rewatch and continue on, but the best way to watch is always by order of release.

edit: Apparently there is more to this series than I thought OVAs games movies etc. imma still to as much anime as possible.

bck108Mar 13, 10:35 PM

Apr 23, 11:09 PM

#11

dothacknetwork

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Jun 2019

Yotsugi_Ononoki said:
So I'm a big fan of Sadamoto Yoshiyuki character works and I wanted to watch all the anime's hes made designs for.

Far as I know, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto personally designed the characters for the games only, specifically .hack//Infection Mutation Outbreak Quarantine, .hack//G.U., and the movie .hack//G.U. Trilogy. These three titles were developed by CyberConnect2 and Mr. Sadamoto was contracted to character design on these three projects. His drawings are included in his book CARMINE. I believe the animators at BeeTrain studio who did the anime's .hack//SIGN, .hack//LIMINALITY, .hack//Legend of the Twilight, and .hack//Roots based their designs on Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's designs, but he personally was not contracted at BeeTrain.

Yotsugi_Ononoki said:
I just wanna know if I can only watch the anime adaptations of the series.

Yeah, this anime is a self contained story. Where .hack//SIGN is the story of the character Tsukasa which begins and ends Tsukasa's struggles. Tsukasa's story does not carry over to other entries in the franchise. There is a cliffhanger about "other" characters, which do carry over to another entry, but that's no longer Tsukasa's story.

Yotsugi_Ononoki said:
Will I still be able to understand a general idea of whats going on or will I be completely lost?

You should be able to get everything you need to know in this anime alone..... with the exception of two important events in history which aren't detailed in the anime and were on the official website back in the day. The .hack series takes place in a world like ours, except two things happened that had global impact. First is "Deadly Flash" an event similar to the Porygon episode of Pokemon, except instead of seizures, people died when they looked at the screen. The second event prior was "Pluto's Kiss" where a computer virus wiped out all servers and operating systems around the world except for one, called ALTIMIT OS. Because it was the only operating system unaffected by the virus, rather than try to salvage and restore the others like Windows, Mac, and Linux; in this universe everyone adopted ALTIMIT OS and gained 100% of the computer operating system market share.

Yotsugi_Ononoki said:
And If there is an anime only watch order please send me a link to that or write it in the reply's Thanks <3

In terms of the animes, OVA's, and CGI movies, it goes .hack//SIGN, (.hack//GIFT), .hack//LIMINALITY, (.hack//UNISON), .hack//Legend of the Twilight, .hack//Roots, .hack//G.U. Trilogy, (.hack//G.U. Returner), .hack//Quantum, .hack//Beyond the World, Thanatos Report.

See All Discussions

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How to watch anime only

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