Anime Expo - Koichi Mashimo
- Saturday, July 6, 2002
The title .hack//SIGN
signals those familiar with the Internet that this anime series is going
to tell a story about a descent into a virtual world. Unlike shows with
similar ideas such as Digimon, Tron and Serial Experiments Lain, .hack
looks at both sides of the virtual divide with two series and a video game,
all designed at the same time. Koichi Mashimo, director of .hack, said
the OVA and television series were aimed at teens and young adults, not
at the children that Digimon tries to capture. And while the other series
clearly defines its villains and heroes, .hack is more subtle in its approach,
resembling the real- world use - and misuse - of the Internet.
Taking its
inspiration from the old Compuserve CB simulator of the 1980's, the 21st-century
world of Internet Relay Chat lets people converse from all over the world,
people who never can be sure who is on the other end of the conversation.
"On the Internet there are a lot of nice people and malicious people. You
can't tell who is who," said Mashimo. He extends that uncertainty in .hack
to encompass a real world and a video game world with connected virtual
players who are uncertain of the true nature of their opponents. Mashimo
uses the work "mask" to define the identity that a person wears, depending
on their role, but it seems that part of the idea may be rooted in the
old Japanese way of having public and private personalities.
It's not an
easy story to understand, admits the director, noting that he chose a screenwriter
with a reputation of complex scripts. That complexity is one of the reasons
that .hack appears designed for audiences older than juveniles. Part of
the complexity is in the words used: "In the dialogue, all of the characters
use big, difficult words," said Mashimo, "words that are difficult even
to native Japanese speakers - but those are all deceptions. You're not
to be fooled by that. It's up to the audience to decide who the true hackers
are."
The title .hack//SIGN
signals those familiar with the Internet that this anime series is going
to tell a story about a descent into a virtual world. Unlike shows with
similar ideas such as Digimon, Tron and Serial Experiments Lain, .hack
looks at both sides of the virtual divide with two series and a video game,
all designed at the same time. Koichi Mashimo, director of .hack, said
the OVA and television series were aimed at teens and young adults, not
at the children that Digimon tries to capture. And while the other series
clearly defines its villains and heroes, .hack is more subtle in its approach,
resembling the real- world use - and misuse - of the Internet.
Taking its
inspiration from the old Compuserve CB simulator of the 1980's, the 21st-century
world of Internet Relay Chat lets people converse from all over the world,
people who never can be sure who is on the other end of the conversation.
"On the Internet there are a lot of nice people and malicious people. You
can't tell who is who," said Mashimo. He extends that uncertainty in .hack
to encompass a real world and a video game world with connected virtual
players who are uncertain of the true nature of their opponents. Mashimo
uses the work "mask" to define the identity that a person wears, depending
on their role, but it seems that part of the idea may be rooted in the
old Japanese way of having public and private personalities.
It's not an
easy story to understand, admits the director, noting that he chose a screenwriter
with a reputation of complex scripts. That complexity is one of the reasons
that .hack appears designed for audiences older than juveniles. Part of
the complexity is in the words used: "In the dialogue, all of the characters
use big, difficult words," said Mashimo, "words that are difficult even
to native Japanese speakers - but those are all deceptions. You're not
to be fooled by that. It's up to the audience to decide who the true hackers
are."
