Is it me or is everyone and their second Editor jumping onto the (dot)hack bandwagon!
Yet again we have found another series that seems to be set in, yes, a digital fantasy world! Yeah, it’s (dot)hack all over again, only different.
From the mind of the creator who bought you Gravitation comes this so-called “mind-blowing” trip into the world of video games… too bad it wasn’t an ORIGINAL trip since I’ve seen this all before.

Looks like there’s this one character in the game, however, who might be a threat to the real world this game is set in. Nata, the Navigator, seems to be able to bridge the gap between the real world and this game world, and thus there’s some seriously bad people out to grab Nata. However Nata is being watched over by a kid named Kaito, who is kind of annoying and most likely the “lead” of the series.

With some help from his friends (Kawashima, Rio and Ren) who come in at just the right moment to interfere in this situation Kaito/Nata were in that could have meant their “deletions”, this new “group” finds themselves up the digital link without a Chaos Gate.

Down to their last save the foursome has decided to stick it out in this game world for the time being, protecting Nata while attempting to stop the strange “insurrection” within the game which has it’s dark denizens attempting an early “parole” from video game reality to real world reality.
Once they get some new clothes (armor) and stuff they’ll just have to deliver a package in order to pay for their stuff… which leads to nothing but trouble. The rest of the book is that trouble.
Still… it couldn’t get worse. Until it looks like one of the two females of the group is about to be brainwashed into being digitally raped and enslaved or whatever it sick pathetic teacher types does with digital girls. Yeah. If I thought this book was a little offsetting, the next book should be worse.
So thanks, Maki Murataki, thanks a lot. Breakdown time.

What’s Hot? - Despite the sentiment to the contrary, I can’t rave about everything that is kinda like (dot)hack, or pokes at Zelda or mentions Final Fantasy or whatever. In the end what I’m looking for is for Gamerz Heaven to show me what Gamerz Heaven is, other than a place where it talks about (or imitates) a lot of other titles that isn’t Gamerz Heaven.
If the title is nothing more than a action comedic parody of other titles like (dot)hack and so forth, and lacks any real originality (as in stand out truly unique originality that doesn’t keep sliding here or there with video game references and imitations or something else) then it’s not going to hold my attention forever.

Now I’m not entirely down on it yet. I like the two female leads… then again most of the time I’m halfway sitting on the fence on a title I always lean towards the female leads. Why? Personal taste.
Still, the two female leads do make me want to check back in for more… and even makes me want to check out the first Graphic Novel and do a backtracking review. So I guess I have found something hot about this.

What’s Not? - If the book, however, continues to really lack a true sense of originality then even I’m going to start losing interest. This book has really got to hammer it out of the park and start turning some “tricks” that’ll make me want to rave about this book like nobody’s business. Right now I’m mildly interested, but that could change really fast. I need to see this book really shine, and I’m hoping next Graphic Novel is where I see this book really take off.

Moments to Remember? - Uh… yeah. It all centers around the two ladies. Yes. And that’s it. Oh, and the long trip to deliver the package which leads to one fight and then another is also memorable.

What to Ignore? - There are some points that you become so fed up with a male character that even clubbing said character with a baseball bat isn’t a strong enough thing to do to the character.
Yes, it should be funny, and I should be laughing at Kaito now (or was that laughing with him)…
The whole changing of clothes in the “cosplay shop” thing into their new “gear” should have been funny, and yes it probably is funny to the right person, but it just made me hate the character that much more.
I’d like the sand wedge please, it’s unique shape will cause many dents to his head.

Overall? - I’m sittin’ on the fence on this one, and it kind of hurts.
I like the female leads, I think there’s potential to go places with this title, and I’d like to see more.
However if the book ends up to be an endless parade of title dropping, mimicry of other titles (video game and otherwise) and other things that just doesn’t show the true potential of this series? Well then I’m going to start losing interest here. I want to see more, I want to see this title really take off running and show some stamina and drive that’ll make me want to rave about it. I want to see more from this book.
If it’s pretty good now, I want to see just how much better it’ll be once it’s really rockin’.
Guess only next Graphic Novel will tell…stay tuned.