| Haseo | |
|---|---|
| .hack character | |
 Haseo as seen in his initial form in .hack//G.U. Vol. 1: Rebirth | |
| First appearance | .hack//G.U. Vol. 1: Rebirth (2006) |
| Created by | Hiroshi Matsuyama |
| Designed by | Seiichiro Hosokawa |
| Voiced by | Japanese Takahiro Sakurai English Yuri Lowenthal (.hack//G.U.) Andrew Francis (.hack//Roots) |
Haseo (Japanese: ハセヲ), real name Ryou Misaki (Japanese: 三崎亮, Hepburn: Misaki Ryō), 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" (死の恐怖, Shi no Kyōfu). 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 (player character) 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.