What do you think?
Rate this book
.hack//AI Buster #2
.hack//AI buster 2
As AI debugger Albireo journeys further into The World, he discovers that there is one AI who cannot be killed with his legendary spear of Wotan. rated for preteens.
192 pages, Paperback
First published February 7, 2006
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 22, 2014
In book 2, characters are spending more time in the reality and they need to solve one life problem after another, I quite enjoy it.
January 28, 2020
There was some interesting stuff, kind of a continuation of the ideas from AI Buster #1. It was definitely very much for kids, once again. My total time spent reading this one was probably under 4 hours. I think the characterization was not particularly deep, which hurt this one a lot because the time spent with each character was very short. Still, there were some fun nods to in-game, in-anime, and in-manga events that serve to flesh out the universe a little bit.
March 13, 2026
Didn't like this one as much as the first one but I like how it tied into the first one, tied into the anime .hack//sign and into .hack//key of the twilight, and a bit of the mention of the games if I'm not mistaken.
Still wishing they would remaster the first four .hack// games - Bandai being mean.
This was definitely such a big story for the time.
Still wishing they would remaster the first four .hack// games - Bandai being mean.
This was definitely such a big story for the time.
January 31, 2020
I dunno kinda weird since it's a collection of short stories instead of one long coherent plot.
July 1, 2023
2 1/2 stars
Gives some flavor to The World, but not a lot of meat
Gives some flavor to The World, but not a lot of meat
July 1, 2025
It was really good, but I wasn't expecting it to be mainly short stories this time, especially since the first book was based on one main character.
July 30, 2026
Going from one of the best additions to .hack with the first AI Buster to this questionable and rushed collection is disappointing.
The first half is worth reading. Hokuto’s perspective on the original story is interesting, and the material continuing Albireo’s journey is fun. Both work because those characters already have real density, history, and development.
Once Albireo is no longer the center, the book loses a lot. He has enough personality and emotional weight to hold the lore together. Without him, some of the later characters—especially Kamui—can feel more like excited fangirls being moved through franchise references than fully developed leads.
The second half is mostly short stories that are technically connected but feel clunky and rushed. Firefly adds something worthwhile to the larger series, while Rumor at least tries. Still, all three stories needed either their own books or to be removed entirely. None of them have enough time to properly build their ideas.
The whole thing feels like a manga writer tried to write a novel but still packed it with the pacing of several short manga chapters. There are too many characters, concepts, and connections squeezed into too little space.
It is not a bad book, especially for fans who want every piece of .hack lore. It is just a major drop from the first AI Buster, and only the Albireo and Hokuto material comes close to capturing what made that story special.
The first half is worth reading. Hokuto’s perspective on the original story is interesting, and the material continuing Albireo’s journey is fun. Both work because those characters already have real density, history, and development.
Once Albireo is no longer the center, the book loses a lot. He has enough personality and emotional weight to hold the lore together. Without him, some of the later characters—especially Kamui—can feel more like excited fangirls being moved through franchise references than fully developed leads.
The second half is mostly short stories that are technically connected but feel clunky and rushed. Firefly adds something worthwhile to the larger series, while Rumor at least tries. Still, all three stories needed either their own books or to be removed entirely. None of them have enough time to properly build their ideas.
The whole thing feels like a manga writer tried to write a novel but still packed it with the pacing of several short manga chapters. There are too many characters, concepts, and connections squeezed into too little space.
It is not a bad book, especially for fans who want every piece of .hack lore. It is just a major drop from the first AI Buster, and only the Albireo and Hokuto material comes close to capturing what made that story special.
October 31, 2016
This book was a collection of stories following different people.
First we have a story that follows Hokuto.We get her POV of the first AI Buster novel and get to see a little of who she really is.
The second story follows Albireo again, though it is after Lycoris and sometime during the first 4 games. We get to see how his time with Lycoris has affected him and what happens when he tried to take on Tsukasa and Macha. We get an ending to Hokuto and Albireo's stories.
Story three follows Kamui, Albireo's replacement and devoted leader of the Cobalt Knights. She tries to be as devoted and good at her job as Albireo was, however it is taking a physical toll on her, as is had her mentor.
The fourth story follows Rena before she got the .hacker's avatars. It was a slightly confusing story but also short and just shows why Rena is so into the game.
The final story follows Hotaru, an American who plays in the Japanese server, before she meets with Rena and Shugo and the others. We get to see her first time in the world and make her first friend.
In the end it was a nice book that helped us understand characters from the other books or Manga in the .hack universe. A nice companion type book though if you haven't read Legend of the Twilight you could be confused by the last 2 stories (and even the 3rd one because Kamui is in it.)
First we have a story that follows Hokuto.We get her POV of the first AI Buster novel and get to see a little of who she really is.
The second story follows Albireo again, though it is after Lycoris and sometime during the first 4 games. We get to see how his time with Lycoris has affected him and what happens when he tried to take on Tsukasa and Macha. We get an ending to Hokuto and Albireo's stories.
Story three follows Kamui, Albireo's replacement and devoted leader of the Cobalt Knights. She tries to be as devoted and good at her job as Albireo was, however it is taking a physical toll on her, as is had her mentor.
The fourth story follows Rena before she got the .hacker's avatars. It was a slightly confusing story but also short and just shows why Rena is so into the game.
The final story follows Hotaru, an American who plays in the Japanese server, before she meets with Rena and Shugo and the others. We get to see her first time in the world and make her first friend.
In the end it was a nice book that helped us understand characters from the other books or Manga in the .hack universe. A nice companion type book though if you haven't read Legend of the Twilight you could be confused by the last 2 stories (and even the 3rd one because Kamui is in it.)
Currently Reading
April 15, 2011I am going through the .hack series in chronological order, and after reading the first story of v.2 I am worried that when I get to 'another birth' I will be equally disappointed. 80% of 2nd character is copied from v.1 (I mean word for word) 15% of it you could infer by the end of v.1, leaving only 5% for new information. I hope this story line continues and expands on this new information but for now I don't see why the first story in v.2 was needed.
September 9, 2012
This is a collection of shorts stories from the .hack series, which I've been a fan since first watching the anime back in highschool. It's always nice being provided with more information and backstory to expand our knowledge of the characters in The World. My favorite of these short stories was Rumor, which touched mostly upon the point of playing and leaving meaning to be derived by individuals.
April 21, 2010
The second book in the .Hack//A.I. Buster series. This time, we follow a translator who also plays The World, and happens to meet up with the original main character Alberio. Told from her point of view, and with her thoughts and life experiences, you see how the impact of a single person can effect someone else, and without them noticing it, that person can effect them too.
June 27, 2015
conjunto de historias cortas sobre la serie manga/anime/novelas .hack//, centrado casi todo en los seres de Inteligencia Artificial. Muy buen complemento para la serie principal (SIGN, AI BUSTER, los juegos de ps2 y Liminality)
Read
September 10, 2014print not Manga
December 14, 2018
[REVIEW TO COME LATER UPON RE-READ.]
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews