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The best thing that stands out about Sky Hawk is the art by Jiro Taniguchi. The sweeping landscapes and the various skirmishes illustrated throughout are quite a sight. If I had to be nitpicky, it's that there's some same face syndrome, even among characters from completely different races.

Now, I would rate this story higher, closer to a 7 or 8, if it weren't for the obvious favoritism toward the weapons and techniques of our two Japanese characters, Manzo and Hikosaburo. I don't fault the author for including them in this era, he gives good reason for how they could have been there in his ... postscript by mentioning how the first recorded instance of Japanese immigrants was in 1869. I thought it would be very interesting to see a Japanese take on a historic period in American history, and how Japanese and Native Americans would have interacted. That I was fine with in the beginning.

No, what took me out of the experience was, rather than an equal cultural exchange between Native American and Japanese, everything Manzo and, in particular, Hikosaburo teach the Native Americans is so astounding and amazing! So much more than the Native Americans' OWN tools and knowledge. And it feels like they have this reaction at every turn!
Because of the decision to place this story in the time period where we have this huge tension between the Native Americans and the U.S. government, there's a lot of concentration on battles. And yes, our two main Japanese characters were previously samurai back in Japan, warriors themselves. But I start disbelieving that they, they alone, survive every battle with seemingly little more than a scratch. And thanks to THEIR teaching the Native Americans--about jujitsu and the long bow (which regularly outperforms every battle with gunfire in it)--it's implied the latter perform better in combat against the U.S. infantry. It's to the point that Manzo and Hiko become like right hand men to Crazy Horse.

It's a discredit to the Native Americans' own strength and capabilities and I wish the author had had a gentler touch in that regard.

There's a level of this that is fine at first; yes, it would be very interesting to see these different martial arts and swords from another country and be taught how it works. And to be fair, it's not as if every Native American warrior suddenly starts wielding a katana; but they do get introduced to the long bow, as if that's far superior to the Native Americans' own bows and weaponry.

I will give Taniguchi some credit, because it sounds like in his afterword that the only way he could get a publisher interested in letting him write a Western like this was by having Japanese characters in it. I would have loved to see what Taniguchi would have done without the need for inserting such influences into the story.

Overall, it's a good read, but it could have been so much better if it truly was just about the Native Americans.

It disturbs and saddens me that there are not many .hack manga that are actually good. That’s not to say that they suck donkey balls, but they’re not something I’d typically want to pick up. And this is coming from a fan of the series here.
That being said, let’s take a look at one of these beloved manga, .hack//XXXX.

With G.U.+ we had a lovely (note the sarcasm) adaptation of the G.U. games, all packed together within five volumes. And now with XXXX we have an adaptation of the original .hack games, but instead of five volumes we get two mercifully short ones. Why is ... it merciful, you ask? Because even though it is horribly fast-paced at least it’s over with quickly.

As was already mentioned, .hack//XXXX is based off the original .hack games for the PS2. The story centers on Kite, a player in the mega-popular MMORPG “The World”. Upon first playing the game, his friend and famous player Orca takes him out to teach him the ropes of the game. However, shortly after meeting a mysterious girl named Aura, Orca is destroyed by a mysterious monster, putting him in a mysterious coma in the real world. (See all the mysteries building up already?) Kite, after narrowly escaping, is then given the mysterious (see?) bracelet that was originally intended for Orca. Kite then vows to save Orca, no matter what. Along the way, he gathers both companions and enemies, as it becomes apparent that the bracelet’s power is far more dangerous than Kite realized.

Sounds pretty epic, right? Well, prepare to be disappointed. The fun of mysteries is that they’re solved slowly but surely. Bits and pieces of information are slowly revealed. It’s about the journey to the conclusion that’s really fun (and guessing the true nature of the mystery correctly). However, what .hack//XXXX is done is pretty much throw that out of the window. There are some genuinely interesting mysteries that they put out there, but do they take any time to explore them that well? No, of course not. Instead, what they do is mention it in such a way that they’re assuming you probably already know about it. As in, “Oh, you’ve probably already played the games, so we don’t really need to explain this.” Or, it could be a ploy to get people to buy and play said games so they can actually get good answers.

The other thing that really bothers me is how Kite and some of the other familiar characters are portrayed. Kite is just… annoying. He’s whiny, indecisive, and… stupid. Bear in mind, he is 14 years old, so he’s allowed to not be perfect. But it never feels like he takes a good initiative at things. It’s bothersome. On top of that, you have all these other characters, like BlackRose and Balmung, who get very poor treatment. Everything is turned into a cliché. The good guy’s personalities are clichéd, the bad guys are clichéd, etc. No one really stands out that well. It’s just not that interesting. It makes me not care about these people’s problems or motivations at all.

I said earlier that this manga does not actually suck, and since I’ve already spent so much precious time detailing why it’s bad, I shall now take the time to explain its good points. First off, the art; to be honest, I’m not in love with the art, but it’s not bad. Orca, for one, looks effin’ badass, I mean seriously. All the other characters are rather nice too; the art isn’t so different that they aren’t recognizable to those familiar with the series, which I’m going to count as a good thing. Of course, they’ve been so kind as to enhance any fanservice they possibly could, most notably in the breasts department, but oh well. I didn’t personally mind it that much.

Since I’ve already mentioned that this manga is, thank the Lord, only two volumes, there’s really only one other good point to explore: Cubia’s character. Early on in the manga, Kite and pals defeat the monster that had killed his friend, Orca. Afterwards, a mysterious (I’m sorry, I just love this word) boy appears before them and essentially tells them, “Hurr, you have to beat seven more of these to save your friend. Too bad, so sad.” As Kite and pals go “lolwut” at this revelation, Cubia notices Kite’s bracelet and goes bonkers on them. The next time they meet up, however, Cubia saves them from another one of those mysterious monsters. So he’s a good guy... right?

See, this is the most interesting aspect to this adaptation. Let me spoil something for you all now (it’s not a big spoiler, I promise): Cubia in the original games was a monster that Kite and pals battled periodically. Its role was backseat to the main plot, really, although it did serve the main plot in a major way towards the end. Anyway, the point here is that the Cubia in the games didn’t get character development. However, what they did in XXXX is to make Cubia into a PC that actually interacts with and even helps Kite. More than that, they even give him a little back story that is – gasp! – slowly revealed as the manga progresses.

Could… could this be? Could this be the essence of .hack?! A mysterious character having their mysterious background slowly revealed like a proper mystery should be?
And that, boys and girls, is why .hack//XXXX does not completely suck. It introduced an interesting new element to the tale. If not for that, this manga would have been little else but an extremely rushed version of the events from the games. However, I will be nitpicky here and say that this new storyline with Cubia can feel like fanfiction at times. Good fanfiction, but fanfiction nonetheless.

There you have it. Yet another mediocre .hack manga that is nothing more than an adaptation of a much better video game. However, as with G.U.+, at least XXXX manages to not suck completely. It has some genuinely interesting elements in it, it’s just too bad they either don’t get explored fully or feel somewhat out of place. Some .hack fans will like this manga, some non-.hack fans might like it as well. As for me, I must lament, yet again, that there isn’t more genuinely good .hack manga. Such is life.

Upon writing this review, I have read the first four volumes of the .hack//G.U.+ manga, with any future updates currently being released in Japan. However, there's plenty of material here to talk about. .hack//G.U.+ is yet another manga created in a way that only fans that have played the original games could fully enjoy it. To be fair, it has its moments, but it definitely has some negatives.

First off, some quick back story on the manga’s origins: .hack//G.U.+ was originally serialized in a magazine in Japan before the first game had even come out. Clearly, its purpose was to create hype for the games, while ... also perhaps giving fans a look at the beta version of the plotline. Notice the keyword in the last sentence there, “fans”.

What they've done with the story here then is to simply summarize the games into a few short manga. A rather audacious task, yes? Taking three 40+ hour games and squeezing them into some four odd manga. I will give .hack//G.U.+ some credit though. What it does right with the story is in presenting only the key points, the core information needed. Haseo has a person he wants to save, there's a threat he must defeat in order to achieve this goal, and he goes about this while dodging some monkey wrenches also known as plot twists. It doesn't prevent a person from feeling that something is missing, but at least the casual reader shouldn't be completely lost. Also, while it has a lot of ground to cover, it never feels terribly rushed. Still, the story is mediocre; not bad, but not great either.

With only so much time to develop a story, it's also pretty hard to create good characters as well. Here again .hack//G.U.+ gets an average score. The biggest problem is with Haseo; his personality is really taken to the extreme. It's hard to sympathize with the guy when he's so angsty. But again, there's some saving grace. Atoli is one example, being one of the few characters who feels genuine and well developed. You get to see her striving to be a happy and good person who also has her own issues and demons. Overall, the characters are interesting, but without enough pages to develop 'em they fall a bit short.

At least the characters are fun to look at. The art is the biggest positive for this manga. Sometimes it's enough to just flip through the pages and admire the pretty. Endrance is one of the prime examples; he's always illustrated nicely. Generally speaking the male characters are fine and dandy, but when it comes to the females... my gosh, the boobs and hips, it's amazing sometimes. For the most part this didn't bug me, but when it came to Pi... good Lord, those melons on her chest! I mean, for goodness' sakes, I know they were big in the games and it's obvious fanservice, but jeezum crowe! Let some air out of those balloons, please!

Ahem... yes... anyway, other than that, the character designs are pretty cool and the backgrounds, when they appear, are very nice too. There's one big gripe I have about the art though, even moreso than Pi's breasticles: The white slashes that are meant to be attacks. What the heck, people? I like your art, Yuzuka Morita, but this was ridiculous. It's not appealing, at all, to go through an action scene and see a bunch of white strips that are apparently summoned out through the combatants' weapons. Not to mention it can get confusing. Honestly, just draw the damn weapons and leave the white bars of death at home.

In conclusion, those who wish to pick up .hack//G.U.+ should keep in mind that it's one of those "fans only" manga. Other series, such as Kingdom Hearts, have employed the same strategy, and let's just be honest by admitting it's all for the cash. People want to make money off a popular franchise, so they do stuff like this. For this particular manga, the result is an average product. Actually, .hack//G.U.+ should be proud of itself for managing to not totally suck. With some good art and decent characters, this manga is somehow capable of carrying a mediocre plot through four volumes and doing a good enough job of it that genuine enjoyment is possible. Just don't expect too much out of .hack//G.U.+ and it'll reward you for it.