Ranked #1481

.hack//SIGN

First off I'd like to say that it's a hate-it-or-love-it-anime, I do respect people that don't like .Hack//Sign, But I don't respect people who don't have any arguments. This review is based on personal positive exeriences.
I'll spare you all the joy and pleasure that .Hack//Sign brought me... till the end.
Alright, before I start writing this review there are is one word that is in need to said;
' EPIC'
Alright, that's all for now.

To begin I'd like to ask you to read the story at the top of the page.
Are you done?Then lets move on.

The story of .Hack//Sign is boring, there is almost no action,there's no fanservice and it doesn't make fast progress. That's the view on .hack//Sign that most people have, they are correct, but then, you are not enjoying it.
.Hack//Sign, The story:
+ It's detailed
- It doesn't make fast progress (+ But if that's your opinion, you're not enjoying the story itself)

Then, we have the art... beautiful scenery's, great character designs and much more, only thing is that some movements are not the best, but that's nothing compared to the character designs themself.

+ Beautiful scenery
+ Great and original character designs
- Some slight movement mistakes

Then we have the Sound, if there was an option to give it more then a ten out of ten, then I would choose it. Music like you have never heard before, Yuki kajiura, in my opinion she may compare herself to Mozart, Beethoven and more of them. No, .Hack//Sign's music isn't worth a ten only because of its music, the sounds of the surounding and scenery's are great too. Almost each time you play a scene again, you can discover new sounds, like the wind, which blows trough the grass or some other background noices.

+ Yuki Kajiura's music(MORE THAN 50 TRACKS!!!)
+ The background

Characters of .Hack//Sign
Emotions, double personalities, online and offline, trying to be someone you aren't... Everything you could wish for is available. Nothing less.

+ Emotions
+ Double personalities, offline and online
+ Characters can make progress, unlike most of the anime made today

Personal Enjoyment
I could write pages of information which is usseless to everybody, except for me.
But I won't, here are all the pages in short:
.Hack//Sign brought me the music of Yuki Kajiura, Is she an angel from heaven or something? Her music is a passage to heaven, believe me.
The story is epic, not a stereotype battle between good and evil. (Almost Forgot the fact i may not spoil X_X )

So, in shorter than short itself:

+ Hack//Sign
+ EPIC read more

In early 2004, 3 1/2 years before my foray into anime, I bought a PS2 game called .hack//Infection. I didn't particularly enjoy the game that much, and it became lost behind the newer games that came and were added to my ever-growing video game collection.

Fast forward to November 2007, and I stumble across .hack//SIGN while flicking through the channels one night. I decided to watch it, and I became immediately hooked.

One of the strong points of the .hack video game was the story, and the story to SIGN was also brilliantly written. I also loved the art and the characters were a lovable motley crew, of sorts.

The music fitted in well with the atmosphere of the series. The celtic influence was notable in both scenery and music.

A lot of people say this dragged on, "They've all got weapons, but there's no fighting." Ah, well. So what? I didn't care. I'm never one to care about the pace of a telly programme, film or video game etc.

I really enjoyed the series, and it pulled me in further into the world of anime.

And, because of the series, Infection was pulled out from behind the newer games, and played once again. (And was completed this time around.) read more

First off this is an odd show in the sense that it's set in an MMORPG but there are next to no action scenes; this show, understandably, gets a lot of flak for this reason. Most go in expecting World of Warcraft:The Animation and come out with a bad taste in their mouths, a simple synopsis read would've saved them the trouble of watching the whole thing expecting and then giving it an undeserved bad rap even though the show delivers on all the promises it makes.


Storywise .hack//SIGN isn't spectacular it follows the adventures of Tsukasa, a Wavemaster who is unable to log out of the World MMO, gets caught up in a huge scandal that comes to involve nearly every character in the World.

The art wasn't the best, in my opinion of course, the design just rubbed me the wrong way at times the characters seem flat and have an odd "fish-eyed" look about them, Tsukasa in particular seems to look in different directions at times.

The music is beautiful, simple as that. I don't know what more to say.

To me the characters are the shows main draw they all receive their fair share of development and through the course of the show it steadily paints a picture of who the players are behind their characters. Intricate details help give them depth and make them as human as possible. Personal favorites are Crim and Sora, the former which deserved much more screentime and the latter whom, despite his annoying manner, the reason for which is explained, you can't help but love whenever he appears. Despite all the enjoyable characters there are some who I despise and shall remain nameless...Subaru.

I thoroughly enjoyed this show, yes it has it's lowpoints where everything seems to creep to a halt, but then there are the highpoints which are amazing. Scenes that evoke powerful emotions, scenes that would make this series a masterpiece (if it weren't for the series shortcomings.)

Overall 7/10 you won't be disappointed if you know what you're getting yourself into.

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Ah, .hack//SIGN. I might not be finished with it yet, but I am enjoying this series sooo much. It is my top priority right now, along with Sukisho and Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro, to watch this, I just love it that much.

Story (9): This is basically about a video game called The World and the characters that play this game. It's focused around Tsukasa, a male character that can't log out of the game. There are some things that have happened in the beginning that I still don't understand, but it's things that I can overlook. I find the story to be quite original, because I haven't seen anything like this yet. The first four episodes, I thought, 'Yeah, this is alright, I guess.' Thankfully I ordered the next four episodes of it, because that was when it caught me. The whole thing just makes me wonder what's going to happen next.

Art (8): Hmmm... I've seen some points in the anime where the art just gets kind of ugly. Don't get me wrong, it's got good art, but it's not the greatest that I've seen.

Sound (9): I refuse to watch dubbed when subbed is an option, so I can't tell you much about the dubbed, but the subbed voices are, in my opinion, phenomenal. The voices fit perfectly with the characters. But there's one voice that I can't stand sometimes: Bear. I like the voice, but sometimes it gets annoying.

Character (9): Oh, how I love some of these characters... I'm a pretty big Tsukasa fan, because he just, in one word, pwns. XD Sora is one of my favorite characters, too, because he's just so funny at times! He's a jerk in a happy-go-lucky kind of way. (He makes me think of Sakamochi from Battle Royale at points.) All of these characters, with the acception of one: Subaru. I really don't like her. I don't really know why... There actually is some character development! It's amazing! You never see character development anymore...

Enjoyment (9): This keeps my attention pretty well. There are some boring parts mixed in there with a bunch of talking with Subaru. But that usually stops pretty soon and goes back to the interesting stuff. I really do enjoy this anime.

Overall (9): I could quite possibly give this a ten, but I don't feel like I would be being honest. I will very rarely give a ten. So a nine is a big compliment, along with the fact I'm actually reviewing. .hack//SIGN is a great anime, but I feel like you will either love it or hate it. I happen to love it. It's interesting and actually surprises me at some points.

So go watch it. Right now. ^-^ read more

As a former hard core gamer, I had high expectations of this series which has been languishing in my list of stuff to someday get to watching. So I started viewing this intending to finish all the .hack series.

Story/Character

The premise is exciting - one player in "The World" is suddenly unable to log out - why? The mystery gets deeper and deeper as we are pulled into his life and the life of the other characters (in game and in the real world) who either want to help him, want to solve the mystery or have some other hidden agendas of their own.

The set up (first 8 episodes) was very well done. Just as I started to get fascinated the series went on a philosophical bent and the plot stagnated. By the time it tried to recover I was frankly pretty bored and was just going through the motions of finishing the series.

The characters are a mish mash. Some you remember and some could actually have been left out of the anime without making any impact at all. It was hard to even like any of them except 1-2 (you'll know what I mean).

Art/Animation and sound

The animation was great for that time. Very cute and I can see where "World of Warcraft" may have copied some of the stuff. Songs were pretty decent but not as good as the art. It's a very pretty anime and as a gamer I was satisfied with both.

Enjoyment

The series starts well, gets slow in the middle and tries to end with a bang but somewhat fails to pull it together. The end is ambiguous which detracts from overall enjoyment, hence the low score.

Overall

This is one of those polarizing anime. You either love it or you hate it. There are a lot of similarities to "Serial Experiments Lain" (which I hated) but I scored this a lot higher due to the effort it took to make the gaming world realistic, which I really appreciated. Overall I gave this a 5 -- there was much more that this series could have done that they didn't do, and the slow pace really made this less enjoyable than I would have liked.

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Generally, depending on the person, .hack//sign can be either extremely boring and a drag, or the best mix of story/sound/character that they have seen. Personally, it qualifies as one of my most favorite animes. When i first ventured into it, I wasn't expecting much. After all, the games for ps2 sucked. Soon, I found the character development and color of Tsubasa and her peers to be interesting. True, at times, the droning music and dull colors may make people fall asleep, but this tone is what characterizes .hack. It is meant to be in a dark environment, making it unique. read more

I think this is one of the best Animes, amongst many others. .hack//SIGN intrigued me, and actually made me wonder. Not to mention the occasional chill sent down my spine. While it may be confusing it beats most clichéd RPG-Based Animes and Fantasy base Anime out there. The cliff hangers leave you waiting and wanting more. Even though it doesn't have so much action in it I think it is great. Beats the crap out of Pokemon, and Final Fantasy. What I love about this is it's so mysterious, and dark, and unpredictable. Unlike with Final Fantasy, Zelda, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and so on. The music is great to. The acting was great, the best I have ever seen. This is one of the bests in my opinion. In Fact .hack//SIGN is the first Anime I have seen, that was actually dark. With the many surprises in there, I have never been the same. There are many great characters in this series, some goofy, others serious, and just plain lovable. Tsukasa is a highly emotional enigma. Subaru is a personal fav. of mine. She's sweet, and cute. And they didn't try to hard to make them funny, or make their jokes funny. "Tsukasa, let's play red light green light!" -Sora. That was the best gag I have ever heard. David Whittenburg did wonders for Sora. And the Chrimson Knights. And A-20 is an adorable character

Very wonderful animation by Bee-Train along Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Minako Shiba, Satoshi Oshawa and others. They have tone, to their bodies, and the EFX are wonderful. There is some cell shading, but it's light, and doesn't stick out like a sore thumb.

Wonderful songs by Yuki Kajiura (FLCL, Fiction, Boogie Pop, NOIR, MADLAX) wonderful blend of Ambiance, and Orchestral sound. And mix of pop, and classical, makes it just right. I have two sound tracks to the show, and one to the game. And it's just wonderful. The songs are memorable, and greatly composed. Music is very important to me, and Yuki pulled it off nicely.

Great voicing. Brianne Siddal, Amanda Win Lee, Kim Guest, and many others, including the man Dave Whitenburg (WHR, Speed Racer, Digimon 03) as the malevolent, yet goofy "Sora" My favorite Quote from Sora "Tsukasa! Let's play red light green light!" And Valiery Arem as "The Voice" Morgannah. "I need you, as much as you need me. As long as we walk together, I shall protect you." Kim Guest, plays the sweet Subaru, and she brings her out very nicely.

Who would have thought up such a novel of a story? It is brilliant. It's so mysterious, and not predictable. Full of dialog yes, but still. Fighting isn't everything. There comes a point when fighting gets ridiculous, and takes away from the story. And it's told across this show, the games, and Manga books. Truly the largest story I have seen in an Anime. (Not counting Pokemon)

Like I said, seeing .hack For the first time was chilling. When you are watching light comical Pokemon all the time, plus G® Rated Cartoons and you see something with that strong of thematic elements, you get chills. During one episode, when Aura, stabs Tsukasa, and who can forget, wasn't expecting that. And who can forget, "Data Drain." This was a rare treat for me, because I hadn't (and still don't) seen that strong of Thematic Elements in Cartoons before. .hack is truly my Gate-Way Anime, to much better Anime.

This is one of my favorite shows because it didn't go overboard with Violence, but it remained dark, and just unknown. It really bugs me when people give this show poor reviews. If it were just another type of it's Genre, fine. But I see this as a rather unique show. Not by it's Genre, by everything else. Stuff I had never seen before, prior to this. Imagine my reaction to Mimiru ;) Plus when they give it a low score just because it's full of dialog. Not everything has to be violent to be good! I hate it when Violence is so extreme, that I can't bare to watch it. (Inuyasha, Read or Die Wolf's Rain Cowboy Bebop) Because it's just distracting. Violence doesn't make for good story telling. But you don't see me giving those 0's or lower than 7, because of that. I gave Read or Die, a 8/10 over all. I can understand if you have ADHD, and you can't sit through it. Fine that's fact, doesn't mean you have to give it a low score. .hack//SIGN is more on thematic elements than combat, and more on mystery, than action. You want action, play the .hack GAMES, or watch something else You'll get your action. One of the best Anime I have ever seen. read more

Story - 6/10
The story goes about a MMORPG: 'The World'.
One of the characters, Tsukasa, can't log out anymore. The strange thing is that he isn't even in front of his computer.
How can he go back to the reality?

It's a simple, but original story.
There could be some more humor in it though.

Art - 7/10
Colorful characters and backgrounds. It looks good.

Sound - 4/10
The sound in this anime are decent.
Bad intro and outro, totally not my style.
The music in the anime itself is allright, as long if they don't sing. The same tune is repeated a lot too, and there is too much music. It looks like they put in music to make you less bored.
If you watched some episodes, you'll get enough of it.

Character - 6/10
Some of the characters are interesting, and they're all looking good.
Colorful characters, as I said in 'Art'.

Enjoyment - 3/10
The tempo in this anime is too slow, only in the last 4 episodes they speed it up.
Before people say that I don't like the anime because I don't like MMORPGs, that's not true. I do like MMORPGs. ;)

Overall - 6/10
I don't recommend this anime, except if you're really bored.
Some people will like it, some people won't. (Like with every anime.) read more

If you ask me its a real drag. All they do is talk in a fantasy RPG online game. This guy cant log out and the story revolves around him and his sorta friends. Really boring and couldnt get past all the episodes. Its Drama with no comedy or action. I know Its a MMO. But sorry to say there isn't great battles, pvp, magic, Lengendary monster to fight or anything to do with questing and training. Very sad. I would never watch it but if you like All talking about some stupid reason than this is for you.

Okay, I generally cannot watch anything Studio Beetrain produces, Most of the stuff they put out generally is uninteresting or boring, I watched both Noir and Madlax completely through, Noir was boring, but Madlax was fantastic. The .hack series is a major major letdown, I personally feel that a series like this has way too many complicated terms and sometimes stops people from trying to follow the story, Maybe the story was just ahead of it's time but I feel that it needed to be stronger and unfortunately it is very easy to get lost, but I wish the story was put into a language everyone can understand. read more