The ost from .Hack//Sign is absolutely beautiful. Fake wings, the world, key of the twilight, aura. It's all amazing songs. I'm disappointed in myself that it took me this long to ever acknowledge the series and its music.

Yuki Kaijura is intstantly recognizable. If you watched any anime over the last 30~ years you’ve heard her.

.hack is a series thats been around for a very long time, id say its very much a hidden gem or a niche to get into. Happy this was made ❤

Aura, from the original .hack, is the theme of the character who's name the song has. She is an artificial inteligence, the first in a way, made by the creator of the game thanks to a system made to give birth to her. The system that was made to give birth to her realised her birth would be the end of her existance, She began doing everything to not let go of her daughter. The theme reflects the longing for Aura to be freed, to exist, to be alive.

Dot Hack is one of the very first game franchises to expand it's story across multiple different mediums in the entertainment district (such as anime and manga that are cannon). The original games story can be a bit of a challenge to understand at times because of that, but the atmosphere and ESPECIALLY the music does wonders for invoking that feeling of mystery, that it entices one to keep going to find out more of what's going on.

I still remember hearing the Hulle Granz Cathedral ost for the first time, gave me shivers. Also, I love how Marco has yet again comepletely guessed the plot of a song. I'm not even suprised.

Holy… I certainly never expected this of all things. .hack is that little secret bit of my youth that I cherish deeply. The games and stories are super fascinating, but it’s the music that stole my heart. It has had a surprisingly profound effect on both the music I make and the music I love. And Aura’s theme(s) have always been at the heart of that. The fact I’m now seeing Marco react to it with his particular background, this is a special one. I will say that anticipation and desire for more swelling and greater heights from the song, and how you feel it coming but never receive it… there’s beauty in how intentional that is. .hack is project that spans multiple media and It’s a common thread in all of Aura’s themes to feel angelic and yet… wrong. Incomplete. Unsettling yet beautiful in its dissonance.

.hack is so old. The original animated adaptation def set some new expectations from music. It carried that legacy into its games as well.

.hack// !! One of my favorite OSTS from RPG's. Chikayo Fukuda does a great job imparting a sense of ethereal awe. This song is actually connected to two other pieces; Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground, and Hulle Granz Cathedral. All three refer to The Epitaph of Twilight, an epic told in the lore of the MMO the game itself takes place in. The lyrics are in German, so they have proper translations as well if you're interested in reading into it.

Now that is a throw back. Pretty fun games and amazing music. Couple notes, Aura in the game is this forbidden all powerful A.I. which everyone want to access. Hence the female soprano on top and the male quartet underneath representing Aura as a character that so many other character aspire to reach. I recommend the lament to her you hear in the piece from .hack G.U. Hulle Granz Cathedral because it fits so good.

i never clicked so FAST. .hack's OST has always been some of the most memorable music for me.

The Dot Hack Games were my teens man! So formative for me.

I had this soundtrack on disc for a long time until it got lost in a move. This is one of my favorite pieces from the whole thing. IIRC the singer was given some music and was left to record at home. She decided to record in her bathroom because it had great natural reverb, and the producers decided that it sounded better than a straight recording.

Yuki Kajiura is an amazing composer. She's composed for a lot of anime, such as Demon Slayer, Fate/Zero, and Madoka Magica. You should definitely check out more of her stuff! I think you would really like Madoka Magica's Prelude to Act 1.

Funny how different this is from .Hack//Sign version of Aura, the composers are different sure, but the character the song is named about is basically the same under different circumstances, the anime version is a horrifying almost horror track, even though it is also sung by a beautiful voice.

This is such a special track in the game too. I remember how the music would enchant my teenage self to realize just what kind of place I'd entered. Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground is still lodged in my brain as a special place half a lifetime later.

BRO THE NOSTALGIA .hack has been a series I have held close to my heart since it's start.

We doing .Hack now? OH BOY! This was one of my biggest things growing up and the music especially was a big part of it. The themes for the Lost Grounds in particular gave me such an apreciation for chanting/wailing vocals. My recomendations will be .Hack GU based, as I am not as experienced with the original game quadrilogy. Nonetheless, some of my favourite examples off the top of my head that I'd love to see you react to: - Dragonbein Range Briona Gwydion - Dead World of Indieglut Lugh - Hulle Granz Cathedral - Wailing Capital Wald Uberlisterin - Double Prayer - "She" - "AIDA" (this is a weird one. It's a short loop, but to me it perfectly encapsulated the feeling of coming face to face with something so... alien and... dangerous... like I was staring at something that just should not be there, and its made quite the impact on my memory of this game)

Oh shit .Hack, that's a magnificent classic from my youth. The Hulle Granz Cathedral is a theme that has stuck with me to this day. And then .Hack GU just added more similar themes to the other Lost Grounds areas and they are all as magnificent, if not more. Check em out if you can. BTW I noticed that the game footage you use was all from GU and not the original quartet, was that on purpose or did it just stem from the fact that you don't know the series?

.Hack and .Hack//GU are composed by Chiyako Fukuda, and is FULL of celtic influences. If you get a chance, listen to "The Hope of Dawn" from .Hack//GU

This entire series, both the anime and the games, have such an amazing soundtrack. There's a loooong list of games and animes too, so a lot to really unpack!

.hack is my favorite gaming series of all time, next to mass effect I would say. The music from the four games and the gu series are phenomenal.

I’m so glad someone review this song. I’m not a hack fan, I just happened to hear it after listening to a compilation of relaxing rpg music. It gave me goosebumps when I heard it. Not just any song can do that to me. It’s so beautiful. I’m not even sure it made from a orchestra, but maybe a music producer using sound equipment. Not sure. It just feels like one of those song that are so beautiful that it’s hard to tell if they are made from a actually orchestra. Songs like Kingdom Hearts 2 dearly beloved and Octopath The Woodlands.

One of my all time favorite series. Highly recommend Harold's Theme .

I love .Hack a lot, and Aura's theme has always been a favorite of mine.

thank you for going over this one! always appreciate your perspective

Damn, Marco, you keep going towards my favorite games! How?! Well, guess I gotta be annoying and ask you to react to the three openings for each dot Hack//G.U. games (don't worry each theme is like 2 minutes xD). I get emotional just remembering them... I bet you will love it! Especially how each invoke a different feeling, tied to the themes present in the plot of the games. It's perfection!

Funny how once more you are accurate despite not having played the game. Like you mentioned at the end, the disappearing is indeed relevant as very early on into the game (like first hour) Aura is forced out of the game's stage and the player is tasked with a mission from her. This theme plays whenever you go into the church in which a statue of her is, and also at a few key times. Then in the sequel series of games, she is missing (like, long gone levels of missing) but relegated to more of a setting element than proper individual character. And her being missing causes many issues, and so her leitmotif is heard throughout quite a few tracks in the game

If nothing else, .hack series has solid music. The story can be questionable at times, but the music created an atmosphere that just made me want to just stand there in game and listen to it sometimes.

NO WAY YOU COVER THIS SONG, THIS IS MY FAVORITE FRANCHISE. IS THIS A DREAM? GOD THANK YOU FOR THIS THIS FRANCHISE IS VERY VERY UNDERRATED, YOU NEED TO COVER OTHER SONGS.... *ahem* sorry I recommend you to listen Hulle Granz Cathedral (delta Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground) theme Or Flying Dawn (dot hack//G.U Rebirth) opening theme Thank you again.

Oh wow the nostalgia! .Hack has always had amazing music. I think .Hack was the first game series I ever finished completely. It also feels like the precursor to SAO, in that players who died a certain way in the VRMMO "The World" ended up in comas in the real world. Background on the whole IP from what I can remember, and they really went all in on it for a good couple of years too: Sign was the first of the main series, and was an anime. The first game was Infection, followed by Mutation, Outbreak and finally Quarantine. Each of the four games had a DVD that contained episodes of the anime sidestory titled Liminality. This followed the "irl" side of the story where investigators were looking into the coma victims from The World. The "Sign" series had a whole multi-media push to it too. They had the prequel anime, the side story anime, 4 games, a spin off series called "Legend of the Twilight" (I think), a couple mangas and a TCG. It was a lot more successful, at least in my eyes, than the similar multi-media push Square tried to do with FFXV. The Sign series was then followed by the G.U. series. Which followed one of the, now older, characters from Sign. I've replayed G.U. recently too when they rereleased it on Steam. They're a pretty nostalgic series of games that pretty much established CyberConnect (makers of the Naruto Ninja Storm games and a couple others) as the go-to developer for anime games.

My favorite song from this franchise is called Everything In These Hands. An old account called Achille12345 used it frequently in his videos. Big fan.

seeing dot hack on your channel was something i never expected to ever see holy shit. there is so much good music from both the anime and games themselves. the .Hack//SIGN ost is so good. and alot of the tracks across its 8 titles (never played the fighting game so i dont know its ost well) are also so damn good too!! i especially adore the tracks like this one you checked out. most with operatic qualities to them were always tied to these calm, abandoned holy grounds in the game and were to me way too good to be stuck hidden like they are. Though this is Auras theme, you can hear it loop in the Hulle Granz Cathedral with only the vocals which made it all the more ethereal imo. There is a piano theme that i was always obsessed with too who is actually tied to this character, Haralds theme as well as basically all the other hidden forbidden area themes from .hack//GU. Top faves from those would have to be Briona Gwydion the Dragonbein Range and Wailing Capital Wald Uberlisterin. Id strongly recommend listening to them if you could find any of the tracks for these areas (forget how many areas total but i just recall there being a bunch of them honestly. Alot of them have this great haunting, ethereal quality to them. Very glad to see you enjoyed this track tho! The music in this series has always been a huge part of my childhood and its always exciting to see someone else discover it even by chance! Keep up the great work always love seeing your vids ✨

I was NOT expecting to see .Hack// crop up here! I always love to see it. Might I suggest Path of Exile for you to listen to? "Warden's Quarters", "Ship Graveyard" and "Merveil", "Dominus, High Templar" and "Ascendant", "Heart of Corruption", "Kitava", "Memory Nexus" and "Venarius", "Acton's Nightmare", and "Elder" are all fantastic songs that stick out in my memory - but the entire OST is just incredible.

WOW! Being .hack fans for over a decade now, I was surprised on how you discovered this hidden gem in Isekai-trope of a game (and seemingly the first to establish itself in this specific genre before Sword Art Online were even a thing). Good observation as always, Marco!

I never would've expected someone to cover the soundtrack with .hack series. It was the first game I've played that the soundtrack captivated me. It got me into alot of different types of music genres. This series deserves a true remaster, the lore and story is one of my most favorite.

i like that when you said 'oh thats the male voice, thats MIDI' 'like they're not on the same playing field' it makes me think back on how aura at the end of .hack original game finally ascended and leaving the system that birthed her into, well, basically different level/plane of existence, that is becoming Ultimate AI.

this needs to be seen or heard by more people!! i'm glad u appreciate this music piece, it's been a part of my childhood!!

Omigosh, .hack...... that takes me back.... played the game when i was what... 19? Am already 36. Where did the time go. Thank you for reacting to one of the most beautiful songs from my childhood. Hope they remake or remaster the first 4 .hack games. They were amazing.

I wasn't expecting to see this! I'm so happy you're checking out the .hack OST! There are some real bangers hidden away in there!

God, i love the .hack series. One of my favorite franchises period. The questions it raises about life in a digital era are very fascinating & thought provoking. Would recommend speak the inscription from GU, my favorite song in the series, a song i still sing the main part randomly to this very day ever since i first heard it in part 1 all those years ago.

This came out 7 months ago and it's recommended to me NOW!!?? I'm upset... That being said, the .hack// series of games is my favorite game series OF ALL TIME and the music definitely helped with building the love I have for it. Everything from Aura's theme featured in this video to each of the Phases' battle themes to even the music of the Net Slum (of which I personally consider a certified bop). Even G.U. had some amazing compositions of music to go with pretty much every scenario; "To you, dear" was a melancholy and heartbreaking piece perfect for the "death" of Alkaid, "May I help you?" was more bouncy and friendly, just as Gaspard tends to be, and all the Lost Grounds themes had not only a sense of mystery in their music, but also a thematic sound in the song that played (if you look up each song and location, you could probably get what I'm saying). It always does my heart good whenever someone gives praise to .hack// in ANY aspect because of how underrated and underappreciated this series is, so thank you for this video.

Omg .hack yes please. Watched all the shows. Read the Manga. Played the games. Such an amazing story. ❤ I look forward to you exploring this further

The fact that you go the gist of what happens to Aura just from listening to her theme makes me love .hack even more. I never noticed the subtle intricacies of her theme until seeing this video. This theme was always tragic to me but you provided a whole new perspective with your breakdown.

This game will always have the best sound tracks in my opinion of any i could listen to so many if this franchise songs for hours.

I LOVE .hack!!! I’ve been wanting to see you cover this series’ ost for so long and I’m so glad to have gotten my wish today!

Also pleaaaaaasse do more. Its such a unique soundtrack and even the anime has exceptional music production

This is my 2nd most favorite game series of all time. I am so happy to see you listening to the music, most of the OST from this game series is the soundtrack to my life.

First time seeing your channel. Hearing you just belt out on the spot a perfect rendition of that opening bar. Glorious first impression.

.hack is one of my favorite series. its music really brings me back to my childhood as i watched the tv show and played the games back in grade school

Omg .HACK 😮. I remember playing it as a kid when it got released in the West. The 4 main titles were actually really hard to cone by. The story and atmosphere the game generated were immersive to put it mildly.

A lot of the .hack music is made to give the atmosphere more then highlight a particular theme. Its all done in a way that's supposed to feel beautiful, yet also vaguely off-putting or uneasy. The entire series has a sense of adventure with thick undertones of something sinister hiding somewhere under the surface. The series focuses a lot on psychological trauma and the character's who are molded by it. Just in the main characters of each respective entry alone, they tell tales of coping with the loss of a loved one and vengeance on the one responsible, domestic abuse, finding your personal identity, living in the shadows of giants, struggling to carry the hopes and expectations of those who trust you, the corruption of power, betrayal of a trusted mentor, being left to your own devices when stricken with grief and anger, among many many other themes. And, again, that's just the respective main characters. There's far too many songs in this series to expect you to cover them all, but I would very much appreciate seeing your opinions of other songs in the series, if you're so inclined. "Fake Wings" "to nowhere" "The World" Thank you for your time if you read threw this. -A humble dothacker

.hack// as a series always has a hauntingly beautiful kind of atmosphere to it, the story and premise was super ahead of its time, an online world, A.Is and rogue A.Is, blurring the lines between digital and reality. I wish CyberConnect2 had the motivation to make another set of games from it.

Omg I haven't heard this in years! It's been so long since I've played it. My siblings and I would play through the series constantly through the early 2000s. I'm gonna have to boot up my PS2 to play it all again.

Oh, I am so excited you've reviewed this! .hack is by far my favorite franchise of all time. The context in which you hear Aura's theme is so narratively powerful. You've absolutely picked up on her moments where she has been a very prominent character in the series.

dothack is one of my favorite franchise ever! I'm so happy you reacted to its OSTs

.hack music (and the story, tbh) is perfect to cry to. This franchise, the Chrono duology, and DrakeNier are so dear to me.

.hack is really interesting the first games came with an animated series that showed how events in the game looked outside the in it's universe. Very meta for its time. Music is great, gameplay has not aged that graciously.

I did NOT expect to see .hack// on your channel! I've played the original 4 games, and watched most of the anime. It's still one of my favorite franchises.

The composer(s) of the first .hack quadrilogy, which this song is from, is called BooHooWoo, comprised of Norikatsu Fukuda, Chikayo Fukuda, and Seizo Nakata. As the .hack series progressed, Chikayo Fukuda became the sole composer, with Tomoyo Mitani as singer; later, the two formed a group called LieN. I believe Tomoyo Mitani was also the singer for the original game quadrilogy, meaning she is the vocalist in the song here. Just wanted to note this, as there seems to be some confusion that Yuki Kajiura composed this piece when she didn't, although Kajiura did do a great job on .hack//SIGN's soundtrack. You did a fantastic job breaking down the song, I really liked your analysis and it helps me appreciate the song all the more.

One of my favorite series especially for music any atmosphere. Cheers!

YOU WHATT!!!! I have been thinking about this game for a while man! Prepare for another rabbit hole, because this game has history! I'm excited for you, and for all of us looking forward!

Always loved the games, especially the characters (Some specific ones, Waifu (just 3, one of which you have in the thumbnail at the time of this comment)) one of my favorite underrated series, amongst a few others (Kiseki/legend of heroes, Gun blade (or something, I’ll need to check the name), and a few others) Aura1 is my second favorite piece from .HACK, so nice seeing it here

.Hack//Roots has a sick OST and there's a mod to put the tracks from it into Last Recode

.Hack has some fantastic OST’s, would love to hopefully see more reactions.

Man, the nostalgia with this one, I really miss the unique vibe these games & the anime series had when I was younger. I wouldn't even know how to describe it, just that I have fond memories of sitting in my room enjoying the story & these games. It was so hard finding the second title in the original .Hack// releases too for the games.

Hi Marco, Nier Automata brought me here to your channel and i'm sooooooo glad to have professional opera singer to review games & anime OST. Also i'm so in awe that you are introduced to Yuki Kajiura's works, to me, she's certainly one of the best composers in anime circle whoc creates her very own unique (we call it Kajiura's language) style, definitely check out her other works. 🥰

The music is what really made .hack memorable.

.hack SIGN's Soundtrack is something you should check out as it's one of Yuki Kajiura's best earlier and more experimental works along side her work on Xenosaga IMO. The original .hack games though aren't really known for their music as much though because quite a lot of it is pretty generic. This was before CyberConnect2 had established their unique music style with the Naruto and .hack G.U. series. There are themes like Aura's Theme, Cubia's theme and all of the 8 Phases themes that had stuck with the series until the end though and are very iconic. I especially like how they reworked these themes in G.U. and incorporated in the lost ground themes into some of the 8 Phases themes. Spoilers for a pretty important character in these games ahead. For me though one of the cooler themes from the original games is Mia's theme which completely gives away what she actually is from the start if you go back and listen to it. As the games progress her theme goes from this very up beat but eerie song to a slower more sinister song. As it progresses you can more clearly hear the 8 phases bells in it. When you have to fight her as the 6th phase the instrumental part of her theme becomes a full on choir, and when she dies that choir is very somber as it sends her off. Her resurrection theme is a reprise of that choir but with a much more cheery hopeful mood, and it's a great song to end the games off on.

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this music. It was wonderful to see you experience this and I hope you check out more dot hack music in the future ❤ if you would find it fun, It would also be awesome to hear your thoughts on some of the German opera lyrics and poetry in dot hack’s OST. it feels pretty unique to the series (especially for games this old) and I’ve never seen someone with an opera background discuss them. Thanks again, love your videos ❤

Yuji Kajiura is no joke my favorite composer. Not enough love for her work in Pandora Hearts either. All her music for Pandora and .hack are my absolute favorites.

yoo holy shit Marco reacting to Yuki Kajiura!! i was waiting for a day like this!

Yeah I love this series!! The music is very connected to it too!!

Im so happy someone listening to my childhood game!! ❤

I love this track and always remember the G.U. version (which you sadly didnt cover too) with the a really emotional cutscene. i should get back to playing the quartet since i finally managed to get them. Aura is really interesting. She is an artificial AI inside the MMO who more or less wanted to become human. At one point, she got to be the goddess of "the world" (the mmo world the franchise is based on) until she someday completely disappeared. With the online game almost breaking bcs of an huge artifical bug named Cubia and the goddess missing, the company which managed the game (in game) had to shut down after a huge fire in their office. After everything broke down, they created "the world" as R2 with a complete overhaul HOWEVER some places still remained unchanged bcs of the deep connection of "the world"´s will. Its really ironic how the MMO despite loosing their goddess, still had its own sentience. Correct me if I made mistakes, as i said, I am not through eevrything since I only started the wuartet, watched sign and played G.U. thoroughly

The ending ceedir version of the song from the LAST of the original 4th games does swell toward the end and she carries over it in this beautiful over arching tone- i kinda wish that was the version you heard first.

You should try listening to Harald's Theme from this same series! Same vocalist but backed by an impressionist piano piece. There's a glitchy instrumental version that plays around with tempo and the vocal one that's just plain gorgeous

the best .hack song will always be "key of the twilight" because nostalgia and i'm a sucker for guitar and violin

Aura from the original .hack//sign soundtrack is one of the few songs that brings me to tears.

.Hack is a series that has such great music that the companion anime series (.Hack//Sign) Has a cut without the dialogue and just the music.

now that you're into hack... you should analyze the field/battle themes... they are magistral and how a simple happy theme can be so easily turnt into a good battle theme.

Dang i feel old, such a great saga!

This song takes me back hard like almost no other

If you want a .hack song with a DROP, try “the world”. Starts out meditative, ends in a rave… more or less. >:] ✨

*Lyrics for the curious:* Der See von Alba brodelt. Der große Baum von Licht fiel. Wesen ohne Schatten, ihr' Welt zerfällt zu nichts. Der Mann mit Schatten, kehrt nicht für immer zurück... [The sea of Alba boils. The great tree of light fell. Being without shadows, their world crumbles to nothing. The man with shadow, will never return here.] (from the dot hack info wiki, lyrics booklets, and anime song lyrics site)

If you're doing CC2's music, you should hit up And Then, to Coda from Solatorobo, or Flower on the Trails, Wherever the Wind Takes Me or either/both versions of Elegy of the Wind from the Fuga games.

I know I'm late to this upload but please check out more of .hack's OST sometime! The soundtrack is so otherworldly, somber and beautiful. Even decades later it has such a defining sound I haven't heard from anywhere else.

Dont wanna try listen the other version of this hack ost ? Like from Hack//G.U Hope of Dawn, that one is also good aswell, this reaction video was really bring good old memories, thank you .

Man.. I must say that .hack IS till this day my favorite game of all time Actually I prefer the GU games but all of them have a terrific music identity that I love so much Really one of a kind serie !

Hey Marco, I BEG you to listen to the main OST for the upcoming Baldur's Gate 3 game. It's an incredibly powerful and emotional track.

I strongly recommend Gentle Hands if we're going into G.U's music. It is a beautiful song that invokes a deep sense of longing and loneliness.

Yes, another one of my favorite series!

OG .hack is a trip. Dear God I loved it. And the games. Still have them in perfect condition.

I've never played the .Hack games, but around 10 years ago I found a let's player playing the entire series, filling the blanks of the story, and communicating the story very well. I understand why the series never became a super big thing, but I find the story, concepts, presentation and music to be a genuine gem. Glad to see it getting some attention (even if the game footage here was for the trailer of the latter trilogy as opposed to the OG quadrilogy the song is from. Yes, that is most definitely a flaw, the series is hella long, and does have some weak points, never said it was perfect :p)

Wow you have a magnificent voice.

Canta per me also from yuki kajiura its my favorite composition from her, the song is part of the ost of Noir, not a great anime, but the soundtrack is amazing; also i think you could love pearls from Yoko Kanno another legendary composer from Japan.

Its like charming lullaby that help my sadness and depressed 😢 6:32

.Hack is a real gem. If you want a palette of emotional energies I highly suggest giving the Infection soundtracks a listen. Also a nitpick: you played music from the original .Hack games (Infection through Quarantine) but show footage of .Hack GU? While they are set in the same world I wouldn't say they're at all the same game.

It should be noted that this game series' soundtrack was not composed by Kajiura Yuki, who composed the music for the anime that this game series is based off of, .hack//SIGN. The soundtrack for the original tetralogy of games (Infection, Mutation, Outbreak and Quarantine) was composed by a group of individuals; Norikatsu Fukuda, Chikayo Fukuda and Seizo Nakata (or BooHooWoo). From what I gathered, only Chikayo Fukuda returned to compose the soundtrack for the G.U. tetralogy (Rebirth, Reminisce, Redemption and Reconnection). However, this track you reacted to was originally from the former tetralogy. Post note/edit: If you'd like some more game OST recommendations here's a few that might be up your alley. 1. With You - Phantasy Star Universe 2. Room of Angel - Silent Hill 4: The Room (I don't actually recommend, 'tis a depressing song) 2.1 Vode An (Brothers All) - Star Wars: Republic Commando, or Dha Werda Verda (Rage Of The Shadow Warriors) - Star Wars: Republic Commando... or both. 3. Nephilim - Xenosaga: Episode 1

I dont think ive ever seen a video where someone's analysis of a song pretty much also nailed the idea of story of .hack//IMOQ in 7 minutes of music composition.