Haseo
Haseo, real name Ryou Misaki, is a fictional character in the .hack franchise first introduced as the main character in the video game trilogy .hack//G.U. in 2006 by CyberConnect2. He is also the lead character in the anime television series .hack//Roots by Bee Train. A player character from the fictional massively multiplayer online role-playing game The World, he is feared in the .hack//G.U. narrative as the player killer of all player killers. This earned Haseo the nickname "The Terror of Death". Searching for the killer Tri-Edge, who sent his friend Shino into a coma in real life, Haseo comes into contact with the guild G.U.. They seek to use his PC to destroy AIDA, a computer anomaly responsible for leaving players in a coma. Haseo's appearances in .hack//Roots depict his early days in The World as a member of the Twilight Brigade guild led by Ovan, where he first meets Shino. He has also appeared in other printed adaptations based on the .hack//G.U. games.
Haseo was created by CyberConnect2 CEO Hiroshi Matsuyama whose aim was for him to be a different protagonist from the previous .hack lead Kite. Since Kite was created to be the player's avatar in the original story, Haseo was meant to be more individual when it came to his characterization, by giving him darker traits. He was designed by Seiichiro Hosokawa, a new artist who joined CyberConnect2 in 2006. Takahiro Sakurai voices Haseo in Japanese. In the English version, he is voiced by Yuri Lowenthal in the games and Andrew Francis in the anime.
Video game publications have published both positive and negative reviews of Haseo's character, with most of the criticism being aimed at his rude personality. On the other hand, his development across the games and the improvement to his PC resulted in positive responses. Both Sakurai and Lowenthal were praised for their role in the games. Haseo's characterization was also the subject of mixed responses in other media.
Creation
Haseo was devised to have a darker design than previous .hack characters to reflect the more mature storyline of the .hack//G.U. games. Hiroshi Matsuyama considered Kite a relatable character and wanted the next game to feature a different type of lead character for .hack//G.U.. In the three games, Haseo can have a deepened bond with a friend he has met with an ambiguous romantic tone based on who is chosen. Although Atoli was the main heroine, the team had issues with writing her to the point that Matsuyama himself chose other characters when he played the game alone. This spurred him to make her more appealing for the second chapter of .hack//G.U. since he saw himself as Haseo and had to pick the heroine as she was originally set up. Matsuyama also wanted the film to focus on Haseo and Atoli's relationship.Since .hack and .hack//Sign were conceived as two ongoing and connected projects, Matsuyama wanted to do the same with .hack//GU. However, he wanted both .hack//G.U. and .hack//Roots to feature the same lead character, Haseo. However, he felt it would be challenging to write them both and have them stay true to the two original projects. For the remastered version of the trilogy, CyberConnect2 aimed to make newcomers "meet Haseo for the first time". Matsuyama wanted to use the remaster as an epilogue to Haseo's story and to promote it further, the team designed a new form for combat.
Characterization and themes
In contrast to the kind Kite from .hack, Haseo's antisocial personality was meant to reflect shonen manga leads who displayed iconic elements such as "rage, despair, conflict, courage, and victory". His characterization is meant to be more appealing based on how the player is distanced from him. While the third title ended Haseo's story, Matsuyama had mixed thoughts about it. Matsuyama aimed for Haseo to be written to give him multiple emotions to display during his quest for revenge against Tri-Edge for sending Shino into a coma. Haseo's character traits were decided at the outset, as was featuring him as both the game and the anime's protagonist to attract different audiences. Matsuyama decided the basics of Haseo's character before doing anything else. When conceiving the idea of the Haseo's Xth form, his bangs were drawn to symbolise his continued immaturity. Because of the story's massive scale and it being spread across multiple media, Matsuyama brought Hamasaki in to help with the writing because of his experience working on the previous.hack project. Hamasaki wrote the game's script.Hamasaki claims Haseo's personality was toned down for the games to make him more appealing. In contrast, Haseo is more aggressive in the printed adaptations where he often threatens his enemies. Hamasaki said Haseo's traits are his attempts at writing a PC controlled by an antisocial teenager. As one of the themes of the series is "Grow Up", Haseo gradually matures across .hack//G.U. symbolized by the initials of the title. The second game was titled The Voice That Thinks of You with the director citing multiple relationships, including how Haseo remembers Shino's voice, how Atoli thinks of Haseo and most importantly, Ovan's relationship with Haseo. By the third game, Haseo finishes his character arc when he finds his opposite who is colored in white though both share the third form.
In contrast to the original games where Ovan becomes Haseo's ally, the Trilogy OVA was written with the opposite result. Haseo's character arc in the movie shows him obsessed with violence during his struggles with Ovan, and he reaches his Xth Form when coming to terms with the flaws of his ways. Matsuyama felt this take on Haseo was well executed.
Designs
Haseo and Ovan's visual appearances were designed by Seiichiro Hosokawa. They were Hosokawa's first creations on becoming a professional during his rookie days at CyberConnect2. Matsuyama stated that he was mainly influenced by Manji, the main character of the manga Blade of the Immortal by Hiroaki Samura, in designing Haseo. In some scenes at the game's beginning, Haseo was designed with a scary look. Originally CyberConnect2 intended his first design to include more clothing, including a cape covering his body, but they ended up with a design that revealed more of his skin. The cape was meant to conceal Haseo's weaponry, but the team feared issues with how the graphics would handle this. There was a lot of trial and error working on this.When creating the 3rd Form, Matsuyama said that Haseo's black armor was meant to contrast with his rookie look to the point gamers would question what had happened to him between the series' prologue and the next timeskip. While Hosokawa designed the character, the staff asked fellow artist Yoshiyuki Sadamoto for his input whether it was an appropriate look. As a result, some of the aesthetics from Haseo's design featured in the games' original trailers were removed from the finished product.
For the film .hack//G.U. Trilogy, Matsuyama wanted to give Haseo a different design as he felt retelling the story with the character having the same abilities would not attract returning fans. This was called the "B-st Form" which occurs when Haseo loses his control as Atoli's PC is killed by Ovan. Matsuyama wanted Haseo to be given more realistic expressions, resulting in alterations to his design. In the film's trailers, Haseo's B-st form was kept secret to the point Matsuyama joked that they might be different characters.
In the new storyline provided for .hack//G.U. Last Recode, Hosokawa gave Haseo a new form, titled 5th. In early designs it was similar to the Xth as Haseo still wore a white shirt which was only altered with black areas on its right sleeve. It was next replaced in favor of two armors covering Haseo's body with gear following him. This idea was scrapped in favor of a halfnaked look, with Haseo's abdomen being exposed. The design of his body went through multiple revisions, including changes to the chest's black points. His hair was originally meant to be black, but Hosokawa ended up going back to its silver tone. Haseo's main weaponry in this form is known as the Gate of Uroboros. Originally, the team aimed to give Haseo eight black swords, but this ended up being a red sword after scrapping the idea of him being followed by eight graves. His silver hair was originally meant to become black too.
One of the parody scenes involves Haseo marrying Ovan. Itsuki Hoshi designed an alternate take of Haseo wearing a wedding dress. Most of the female staff members from CyberConnect2 argued over who would wear the wedding dress in the parody scene.
Casting
When it came to Haseo's scenes in the games, Matsuyama's favorites involved the ones where Haseo summoned the avatar Skeith. Takahiro Sakurai's performance as Haseo yelling at his avatar to summon it surprised the director. CyberConnect2 wrote multiple joke videos, finding Sakurai suitable to act in them despite him finding this messy. Sakurai expressed exhaustion when talking about his work, considering he had to portray Haseo in different sorts of media. Motivated by Matsuyama, Sakurai explained he had fun with his work, especially as he had to work hard to make it appealing. This was most notable in the CGI film. Matsuyama made many suggestions to Sakurai for the Trilogy film, including how he should act in one scene because of his many yells.In the English version, Yuri Lowenthal was first cast to voice Haseo in the games. However, since the dub of .hack//Roots was produced separately from that of .hack//G.U., Haseo was voiced instead by Andrew Francis for the anime series. Lowenthal came to like Haseo based on his character arc to the point of cosplaying as him. The actor has noted that numerous fans commented that Haseo is similar to another character he plays, Narutos Sasuke Uchiha. Lowenthal agreed based on their antisocial characterization, but felt both of them undergo different character arcs.