Written by Amou Kanami, Art by Izumibara Rena
Tokyopop, 176 pp.
Rating: T (13 +)

My second dip into the .hack universe comes via this rather interesting single-volume manga. Nanase is a young girl playing The World, the hottest MMORPG in the, uh, world. Unfortunately for her, the inside is the outside and she suffers from the same social ailments in both the digital realm and the physical one, namely she’s incapable of being herself and always feels as if she’s living in the shadow of another. Can Nanase break free of this unfortunate habit, or will she be doomed to spend forever as an overlooked wallflower?

I really, really liked this one-off. The story is clearly aimed a younger audience and the message feels like it would connect with the early teen mindset, but it’s told in such an earnest and encouraging manner that I, old fogey that I am, couldn’t help but get swept up in it as well. Nanase’s the stereotypical shy girl, seemingly incapable of approaching others and her online life doesn’t seem to be much better. She joined a guild to be with the player she has a crush on, Silabus, but lacks the self confidence to do anything about it, so she simply sits and watches him make a fuss over Alkaid, the player she based her own character’s look upon. Nanase comes across as a lost teen, desperately attempting to fit in, but every attempt to do so simply serves to alienate people further. While she has friends in the game, she still lacks the self confidence to act and fully allow herself to simply be herself, constantly aping others and, in the case of Alkaid, even going so far as to design her character after someone she both admires and is envious of.

The artwork isn’t my favorite; it relies a bit too heavily on lots of toning and image bleeds, making the visual flow of the book a bit awkward and messy. The action, what little of it there is, also suffers from being a bit awkward-looking and difficult to follow, but this book is more about the characters interacting and their relationships with one another than about epic battles. The character designs are alright but feel like your average Japanese fantasy hybrid. Now, while it looks like I bad-mouthed the book visually and admittedly it’s not my favorite art style, there is something undeniably cute about some of the visuals and it does seem to click with the general tone and feel of the story.

It’s a fun little read that seems like the kind of thing that would connect strongly with folks in their early teens, just starting to really get a sense of who they are and who they want to be, not to mention the issue of attempting to fit in as well. Personally it had me digging through Wikipedia trying to find out more about The World, the characters and more, so it was a nice little gateway drug for the world of .hack.

.hack//Alcor will be available on December 8, 2009.

Review copy provided by the publisher.