.hack//Sign

.hack//Sign is a solid 7/10 for fans of slower, thought-provoking anime. Set in an MMORPG, it follows Tsukasa, who’s stuck in the game with no way out. The show nails its mysterious vibe with a beautiful soundtrack by Yuki Kajiura and cool world design, though the animation feels a bit dated now.

Where the show shines is in its deep dive into themes like identity and loneliness. It’s more about character drama and conversations than flashy action, so if you’re into fast-paced shows, it might feel slow. But if you like exploring complex characters and psychological themes, this one's worth a watch.

Sign was one of the first in the .hack // series that I watched, and I can say that I am completely disappointed. I already knew the problems of this anime and really thought I could ignore it, it used that proposal of the MC stuck in the online game, which makes me already excited, even because I like the style. Yes, let's go to the review!

1 - Story [6/10] - As I said earlier, I like Sign's proposal, but I don't think it was done well. The worst point of this anime is the fact that the development is extremely slow, the dense dialogue ... does not hold you at any time, while watching the anime I felt that the dialogues did not change much and were not interesting, the plot and much dragged and undeveloped. Believe me, I am not the type who likes to put action on everything like SAO, but this anime had an embarrassment in action fights to make it more fun to watch. Despite all this, the anime has a good ending and as I said, a good story proposal, the problem was actually the execution of the idea.

2 - Art [6/10] - I could be content with the very lively art scenes of Sign (There are very few) and give a 7 or 8 note for the art, however, the thousands of scenes without animation, scenes of painting static made me take a step back and give a grade 6, which could simplify as: Something interesting to watch.

3 - [8/10] - Yes! Sign deserves an 8 at BGM, honestly, the soundtrack is somehow very good! I can't say it was very well used, but it is still good. The opening was not a big deal when it comes to art, but the opening song is really fun.

4 - Character [6/10] - In this category I can say that I am very rigorous, the protagonist is the center of all animes, no matter which one, the characters that integrate are what will give life to the work. The feeling that frustrated me with Sign was the fact that the protagonist is a pain in the ass! All the first 10 episodes of Sign boil down to how to be friendly with the protagonist, that really bothered me. He is too slow to make decisions and has dragged himself through the work like a poor guy who can't solve anything. Unfortunately, I didn't get to like him ... Besides, all the other characters are in fact "acceptable", by the standard of characters, nothing too flashy.

5 - Enjoyment [1/10] - Simply boring! As I said earlier, I don't mind not putting action in this type of anime, however, not the salvation for this anime. He was not amused at all. It failed to generate impact, failed to make it exciting, failed to make it interesting. Nothing! Only dialogue and dragged development. What a disappointment!

Overall - The anime had a lot of problems, which made it boring. And I already say that it is impossible to ignore, unless you just want to put it on the list. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS WORK!

Before I start off with this review I'd like to point out that I haven't played any of the .hack video games, so this view is directly from a person that has no background information from the video games.

This .hack is definitely different but similar in it's own accord compared to the other .hack series. The story is very plain and boring when read on paper, but really think about it, if you try to imagine the events happening in the real world it would be pretty messed up and interesting, the one thing I really liked about this ... series is the fact that they put more emphasis on the players themselves rather than the characters inside the video game, the main character Tsukasa is "stuck" in the game, he can't seem to log out (although in the real world tsukasa is actually a female playing a male character in the video game).

The story gets more complicated as the number of episodes escalates but it mostly still revolves around the main character tsukasa, weird events start happening and the item called "Key of the twilight" is mentioned, which is I'm guessing the same item that they were looking for in .hack//roots, with that being said these events happened before roots, since in this one he obtained the key of the twilight while in roots it's considered to be a myth. Now the amount of episodes that Sign has is quite understandable, 26 isn't too much and too little either. Overall the story could use some more excitement considering there's almost no action in the whole series, the most you'll ever see is them wielding out their weapons and threatening each other to fight, but other than that it's usually just pure talking.

The art of the anime is pretty straightforward, nothing too fancy or too unique about it, this was made in 2002 so don't expect much about they way they look, for those that are really picky with the art and animation, all I can say is that for you guys, it's bearable to watch and I'm sure that's convincing enough for you guys to check the anime out.

Now the final thing I want to talk about are the characters, tsukasa's design is very very plain, and I'm completely comparing him/her to Haseo on this one because the way Tsukasa looks makes you want to go to sleep, I understand that his character in the video game isn't really for close combat or anything flashy like that but come on now... he's the main character can't you make him a bit cooler looking? The character that really intrigued me the most is Mimiru, the heavy blade character that befriends Tsukasa and Bear and is helping him/her trying to figure as to why Tsukasa can't log out of the game. What makes her so interesting is that she's the lead female character of the anime and yet she takes on the role as to what the male is supposed to be, which is the buffed up warrior role, and I think she plays her character quite well to a point where you know she has the ability to protect tsukasa and at the same time have that soft female side from her, (and plus I think I can relate to her because I've always liked warrior classes from mmorpgs)

Overall .hack//SIGN isn't such a bad anime, I've seen way worse ones out there and it's clearly safe to say that you really need to play the video games if you want to experience the true feeling of getting into this anime because clearly from my perspective as a person who hasn't played the video games you can really see from the scores I've given this.

cheers.

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.

I really wanted to like the .hack series and had high expectations for this, though it's not what you may be expecting.

The story sets up a great mystery - why is Tsukasa trapped inside a virtual world, and what's the deal with these strange monsters and characters? The premise is there, but it's all very slow-paced which can really try your patience if you do not enjoy works solely for character interaction and want a steady plot. That being said, the characters are varied and there is development of personality and relationships over the series. The major downside though, and what made ... me score this series poorly, is that so much is left unresolved. I persisted until the end because of how well the mystery was developed and I wanted to know the answers, and was left unsatisfied.

The opening theme is very nice, and the artwork itself is nothing special compared with recent anime, but environments within the World are nicely done. Brief glimpses into the 'real world' in silent black and white do add something to the messages about escapism.

Overall, it's something that shows certain themes through character interaction. If like myself, you came looking for an action-filled mystery, try looking elsewhere.

Before I get deep into things, I'd like to say that this show isn't for everyone, and if you're not willing to listen to prolonged dialogue this one isn't for you.

The show centers around a character under the name of Tsukasa who plays the role of a Wavemaster in the MMORPG labeled as "The World." He finds himself in a dungeon without any memories of who he is, or what he's done. During his journey he comes across many different friends and allies, along with some powerful enemies.

Alright, as for the story. I was always into the whole dark feel of the show. It really ... wants you to understand that the people controlling the characters in-game also deal with their own personal problems outside of the internet. One of the most noteworthy in the series was one of the characters suffering from a handicap using The World as a way to overcome their inability to walk. Later in the series, characters try to build relationships with each other outside of the game.

My biggest beef with the story is that much of it is unexplained in the show, but delivered in the series of games. Lots of plot holes can be found within them and it leaves me a bit unsatisfied now that I 'need' to order the games just to know everything "The World" has to offer me.

The art was "alright." Some sequences where the show dealt with computer special effects were really slick, but the character animation was a bit chunky. The fight scenes usually involved the characters exchanging glances lecturing each other each exchange of blades. The scenery of the show were really nice on the eyes, allowing you to get in touch with the environments.

The music of this show is absolutely astounding. It's a mix of trance and Celtic music, really giving the feel for the show. My personal favorite is "Key of the Twilight" which really stands for the show entirely.

Overall, I thought this show was a treasure. The pace isn't for everyone, but to me it seemed perfect. The music, characters and story really made this one shine bright. There's a lot of mixed reviews out there, check it out yourself and make your own decision.

If you go into .hack//SIGN expecting an epic action/adventure, a deep mystery, or to enjoy an escapist fantasy, you're going to be disappointed. SIGN is a character study, and deeply introspective. It's not about videogames; it's about people who play videogames, and why.

What makes it interesting is that the characters are roleplaying. What you see is not what is actually happening in the game (a common critique), but what they are collectively imagining is happening. The catalyst for the story is an encounter with a problem that supersedes the game, yet exists almost entirely within it. Slowly, over the course of the series, you ... get a glimpse at the people behind the avatars. They shed the skin of stereotypical anime characters, existing within a bright color palette and strict archetypes, and become ordinary humans.

Despite the cast spanning the gamut - from school kids to struggling single parents to CEO's, they are deeply relatable to the average viewer. Everyone has a reason to escape, to want to become someone else; and it's only when confronted with someone significantly more disturbed than themselves that they can look inward and face their own demons. This show is about a group of disparate people coming together to save someone, and in the processes, saving themselves.

The pacing is, at times, unbearably slow - the bulk of the show is the characters having conversations with each other. The conversations are highly revealing if you're paying attention, but otherwise do not push the overarching "plot" forward. The soundtrack and world design is gorgeous and otherworldly, but it's only a stage. "The World", the videogame, is not what this piece is about. It's about the characters. If you can't accept that, you'll absolutely hate this show. If can, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Before we begin here, I want to say that I went into the anime with slight bias as I have played all 7 of the .hack games and have been an established fan before watching any of the anime.

.hack//Sign is a pretty alright anime; nothing ground breaking in any sense of the word, but fun to watch if you understand its source material. While I will say it lacks a lot of action for being about someone trapped in an MMO, it really doesn't need that much action. All it really does it set the stage and give background information to the first game ... of the .hack series, .hack//infection.

The story was pretty good, a little rushed around the end but coherent and at times kind of tense.

Art is dated by a bit but some of the background environments looked well made and its by no mean ugly.

Sound was kinda eh, no music from the show stuck to memory, but i remember i didn't hate it.

Characters aren't as fleshed out as they should be. If the show lacks action and features mostly talking, then it needs compelling characters to truly sell the show. What we got were Blackrose and Orca rip-offs and a few calls to the original game series and Tsukasa was ok i guess. It kind of felt like these characters were just shells of better characters.

Gets a 7. Not bad, but by no means great.

While I love the Dot Hack series and honestly loved this series, this review will be for people who may not have played the games. Dot Hack Sign is the first(that I know of) to do trapped in a MMORPG. The characters consist of Tsukasa who is unable to log out, and is the only character to experience this problem. Mimiru, a heavy blade who is someone who tries to help Tsukasa but becomes frustrated easily. Bear, a sword user who is the logical/calm one of the cast. Finally there is Subaru, a heavy axe wielder, and also a guild leader ... and another who tries to help Tsukasa. For the most part this anime consists of drama as the characters bicker in a way that is reminiscent to high school. As they continue to get angry at each other, you're left wondering why they don't go their separate ways and be done. Even at the end of the anime when you think they have bonded, you are thrown a curve ball gain. The characters while fleshed out a bit, aren't given the development they fully deserve, instead leaving it up to you to piece it together. The soundtrack is written by kajiura yuki, who is known for her work on the SAO soundtrack and her contributions to works by Ufotable. If you are looking to experience the full entirety of Dot Hack I recommend saving this for last. This serves as a prequel and only expands more on the games.

Well, you have to admit the animation is good, the sound is awesome I love the music. The only draw back was the fighting, where was it. Also I have questions about some of the people you meet like... Sora, what 7 year old is really this good at games so complex and parents let him stay up so late? xD BUT the Love between the main chars awwww <3 hehe I like that =P but over all a 8 this is the average of the scores as of the way it should be not a random number.

Well I almost don't know what to say about .hack//Sign, there was so much I loved about this show and then so much that made me want to claw out my eyes. Lets just dive into this.

STORY:
.hack//Sign takes place in a virtual reality MMORPG called "The World". Players in the world have different classes and play styles that they choose from and play. They all can play the game differently. We focus in on a player named Tsukasa who is trapped in The World, unable to log out. Tsukasa doesn't know why this is happening and neither does anyone else. The story progresses as Tsukasa ... meets other players who all become interested and worried about why Tsukasa can't login. They embark on and EPIC journey to find out the mystery behind this... they don't seem to be in any rush what so ever because they seem to like sitting around talking....

This has to be one of the WORST paced stories I have ever seen in anything ever. I get that the writers wanted to make the story and places feel real but this anime could have easily been around 14 episodes long, but it is dragged out way to much. It had such a great and interesting premise, but it just lacked any since of urgency. There were times were I could have easily just dropped the show but....

CHARACTERS:
The characters in .hack//Sign are very very well done and flushed out. Despite the horrible pacing of the shows story I didn't drop the show because the characters are just so good. They are all very real, I've played MMORPGs before and I would have to say I have encountered basically someone who is like each and every character in .hack//Sign in a MMORPG. I found myself very attached to the characters because the way they interacted with each other felt very real. They all have their own reasons for wanting to help Tsukasa, and most of them felt very believable.

SOUND:
Yuki Kajiura... that is all. What an absolutely beautiful soundtrack! It made the moods of the show feel more passionate. It gave The World a feel of mystery, fantasy and scale. If I go on anymore I'll be rambling. I watched the English dub of the show (shut up you Elitest and Weeaboos) and I have to say I was fairly impressed. Brianne Siddall did an suburb job in portraying Tsukasa and Paul Mercier smooth fatherly voice was a perfect fit for Bear. Every time Mimiru talked I thought that Rei Ayanami was on crack LAWL (share same VA) A solid performance from all the English voice actors. Oh and I'm sure all the Japanese VA's made reading the subtitles just "grand" For as much talking as this show has you owe it to your eyes to watch .hack//Sign in English plus it was a good dub.

ART:
The art in .hack//Sign was kinda meh. They made the world look nice, but nothing really stood out to me as WOW THAT LOOKS AWESOME. Same thing on the animation side, since they don't move much it was hard to really judge the animation quality, but for the few times there were "action scenes" it looked almost out of place. Not much else to say, it works but nothing really to brag or complain about.

ENDING:
I just had to put this in don't worry there are no spoilers. The ending of .hack//Sign ranks as the all time worst ending to any anime that I have ever watched. It just sucked and offered no closure at all. The story was just building up and up and up and the it ended in kind of a "LAWL NOPE CTRL ALT DEL" fashion.... I don't care if it's a lead into the games THE ENDING IS PARAMOUNT!! So yea that pissed me off. Don't get me started on the filler OVAs, an anime should be able to stand on its own without having to have OVAs or movies fill in the holes.

OVERALL:
Despite my hatred for the ending and the pacing of the show .hack//Sign was actually rather enjoyable. The story does pick up in the last 6 episodes and there is enough interesting aspects of the show to consider watching it. The music is great, the voice actor spot on and it is easy to relate to the characters. I enjoyed .hack//Sign but honestly to someone who wants something fast paced and action heavy (I.e SAO people who want to see more of SAO like stuff) I would pass on .hack//Sign. It's a great watch for someone who is wanting really a character drama and for those people, you will enjoy .hack//Sign.

The story is about Tsukasa named character who is unable to log out of the game. Though it seems interesting there are many concepts such as crimson knights, system administrator etc which were not utilized properly. How did Tsukasa comes to resolution of problems is not shown properly. His real life is not shown to clear the story doubts.

Characters: There are many characters in the anime series which are introduced till the end of the series. Tsukasa's character is too dull that i could not associate him to be the protagonist of the story. Though there was scope for characters like mimuru and Crim ... they were utterly neglected. Characters like sora, BT are shown to play dual role ( sometimes villaneous and sometimes helping).

Music : It's the only good point of the series, especially the background music at times of serious events.

Enjoyment:

At the beginning of the series you feel intrigued to see what happens next in the series but you will not understand the story provided you have read the story somewhere. It is confusing. None of the mysteries were explained properly. End seemed at the whim of the anime creator.

Lay back and chill because this series will get you thinking. Well keep this review short, sweet, spoiler free. This review includes both OVA's .hack//Intermezzo(Eps.27), .hack//Unison(Eps.28)

Story) 9
+ Parallels between two worlds
+ Keeps the viewer wondering
+ Deep emotional journey
+ Ties together nicely ( w/ OVA's )
+ Questions "Real World" v.s "The World" (game world) struggle
- Babies the viewer with "a" unnecessary episode

... Art) 8
+ Unique environments
+ Generally favored towards darker tones
+ Semi-fluid animation
- Animations showing its age

Sound / Music / VA) 10
+ OP & ED set that "otherworldly" feeling
+ Music flows relatively harmoniously with setting the tone
+ (Japanese) VA's fit their roles beautifully with each character
+ Nice array of different audio pieces (e.i. grunts, clashing swords, portals)

Characters / Character Development) 9
+ Each character has a "mask". One gets only glimpses of the characters "true" self
+ Deep and thoughtful
+ Motivations for being in "The World" varies
+ Backgrounds behind each character are interesting/enticing
+ Mature development that unfolds evenly
- Continuous mystery might leave some feeling lost

Personal Enjoyment) 9
(Behind the scenes - After dropping this series years ago due to irregular scheduling of the show due to TV Station complications and my (strange) dislike in the animation I resumed what was left years ago. Faint memory of the first 5 - 10 episodes was all that was started with, the only piece of story that stuck with me throughout the years was this is a "realistic" MMORPG and someone named Tsukasa.)

As a newcomer to the series with no knowledge of the manga/games I found this series fantastic! Combining real world complications (e.i. jobs, responsibilities) with virtual moral values (e.i. Player Killing A.K.A. PK) adds quite the layering to the series. The characters add to the spectrum of who are "You" in "The World" each bringing a different flavor and seeing where the viewer himself/herself might align brings in a personal tie in more like an RPG which is a rarity. The episodes are all crucial with just a few being reminders and are packed with character and story driven content that is spaced perfectly with what they had to work with and kept me thinking how will these characters cope with this mysterious bugged out world?

Overall) 9.1 / 10
Be gentle, you might find more to the Anime/Series than initially thought. This series as a whole does an excellent job using what was given to them and created unique, solid characters/music/story that quickly captures your heart and brings you along for the irregular ride. .hack//Sign overall is a mysterious collage of friendship with deep, passionate undertones at the end of it all.
MuchLove&Peace.

Personally i didn't mind the overall story-line of this anime that being said it was annoyingly slow and it took me a at least 3 days to get through this anime, also there is 28 episodes total. Damn that was a long time of watching in a day.

Anyway the story of this anime seems pretty straight forward right? Guy is stuck in game, meets a array of different characters whom each have their personality flaws.

That's all pretty good and right. Is one character really that bad in my opinion, hmm now i think about it my least favorite character was A20 because she never ... really stood up for herself and she somewhat pissed me off as a result, sure she wasn't really a main character or anyone of great importance to the series in the end but as i was watching her constantly getting beaten up by monsters to the point she ended up told off on several by Mimiru.

Another Character that also bugged me was Grim, with other character's talking about him i thought he would have been at least have a better personality towards others. I found myself on several occassions yelling at the screen "maybe just listen". Everything like that aside there was none of the things most people look for such as fan service (pantie shot e.t.c) or action, basically not enough to get a person hooked. I can't say i would watch this again.

Here it is. I feel like I'd seen this before..

I think I watched it in the past but I'd forgotten. I was reminded of this anime from seeing it on a friend's list here on this site.. I'd remembered playing the games and wanted to give the anime a shot.

Wow. Just wow.

I'm pretty picky when it comes to anime. The gory, crazy stuff doesn't really do it for me. The darker stuff, not so much. I'd never been tempted to write a review before, but after finishing this engaging anime in < 3 days, I felt compelled to. ... My friend didn't seem to like it as much as I did.

Story:
The story revolves around a character named Tsukasa who, by an "accident", becomes trapped inside an online game called "The World". Trapped meaning he cannot log out.

Art:
The art style .. really isn't *that* good. It seems dated. However, I've always been a proponent of "graphics don't make the game" and that is obviously the case here.

Sound:
Alright. I wish I could give this more than a 10. The music in this show is OUTSTANDING. I don't think I've EVER heard better music in an anime.

Character:
The characters are deep and engaging, all having their own extremely defined personalities.

Enjoyment:
I'm not really even sure why I'm addressing this, but, hey. I was so engaged I watched the entire series in less than 3 days.

Overall:
One of the best animes I've ever seen. It's dark, deep, engaging, mysterious, fun.. and the list goes on and on and on.

The anime is a bit aged but it ages well youll find the artwork fun to watch and "the world" expansive and appealing. the anime is alright but the storyline kinda sucks. the first five episodes will have you hooked, then it kinda repeats its self for 10+episodes. also a general lack in character depth just makes you think this could be so much more. in the end you might find yourself tearing threw the rest of the episodes to see how the story turns out

I can't say this is a terrible anime. It really did have some interest for me despite my general avoidance of MMORPG themed shows. I wanted to watch it because .hack is such a huge franchise. After testing .hack//Legend of the Twilight, I wanted something a little more mature and decided to watch the first anime of the franchise.
The premise is really interesting. I liked that the "trapped in the game" theme was reserved for just one mysterious player. The story really does handle the premise well overall, but I do not like the WAY it was told. Most people will tell you this ... is anime has trouble with pace and they are very correct, but it is more than just slow. I find that much of the dialogue was just talking in circles and no one really used intelligent deductive reasoning. That is a huge problem in a story that is meant to be an intellectual mystery. It felt like every character wanted to know the answers, but didn't want to process the clues on their own so they would just go to someone else to do the thinking for them. After a character would meet with several people, there wasn't any new information. That was a real drag, especially in the beginning.
I felt pretty frustrated with how hard the main character, Tsukasa, was to crack. His aversion to people while understandable, was just hard to watch. I didn't understand why someone who was so confused about their own situation would be so determined not to gather information.
The character development was alright. With the extent of the dialogue, I would have liked to have seen more fleshing out from these characters. This all falls back to the issue where everyone just likes to talk about nothing. several scenes were short conversations where they did little more than greet each other and then share a snide remark before the next scene abruptly transitions.

The middle of the anime was the strongest story telling, as the plot finally gets rolling. There were some very emotional scenes and circumstances that made me feel more attached to the players and we start to see the personalities develop. Unfortunately, by the very end they wasted all of the careful buildup on an utter disaster!

**possible spoiler**
They set up a final boss battle and then never explain how they resolved the problem. They had all this time in 26 episodes to make a great ending and they just didn't have a climax or resolution. The OVAs do help explain that everyone makes it out, but that feels like a cheap shot.
**end spoiler**

The art is beautiful. The character designs are pretty detailed and compelling to watch. The background work is solid and feels like a true 3-D space. But damn this studio had trouble staying consistent. Throughout the series, Subaru's mark changes shape dozens of times, the proportions changed on the costume embellishments, and it is clear that different people worked on different episodes.
"The Eve" was actually comical because of the blatant animation shortcuts. We see shadowed faces from a far perspective during quite a few conversations. They pretty much gave up on shading the faces when you did see them and they were largely expressionless. They used very few frames and people simply appeared in their paces rather than smoothly approaching.
The shortcuts indicate that they were losing budget, but the remaining episodes look really good. The budget hunch does make sense however given the way the story ended.

I liked the sound for the most part. The music is very pretty even though the lyrics don't really grab me. A lot of the vocals are in English and the pronunciation isn't terribly distracting like a lot of Japanese attempts at English. I feel that the balance was off and the music was too loud for the dialog though. The dubbing in English and Japanese is pretty average to fairly good depending on the character.

Despite the problems, I did enjoy the anime. While lost in the execution, I still wanted to see more, because I really wanted to know what was going on. I felt connected enough to the characters to invest my time in watching another episode of fruitless chitchat.

Overall I feel pretty neutral about the production. This is one of the few that I think would benefit from an updated remake with a stronger, more experienced team.

Okay, so before anything else, the plot for this one is not perfect but I gave it an 8 because its the first anime I know that featured characters interacting in an online game that may have inspired other similar works.

The art is certainly not as colorful as the recent ones and the colors maybe a little dull for most, but since it's me who is writing this review, the art is good enough considering that this is an older animation.

The OSTs of this show however, are some of the best I've heard to date and are no doubt very memorable. :)

The heart of ... the series is Tsukasa and everything revolve around him. That isn't to say the other characters don't get to shine, well they do, and some are well rounded while most fall short of development but nonetheless are interesting (in their own way) and important.

This may lack action but the mysteries are interesting enough of a reason to stick around. :)

This show is probably one of the more misunderstood series and one that suffers from a fate rampant in the anime world... filler overload. Also, this show was actually part of a much MUCH larger story and unless the viewer were invested in all of it, SIGN would seem like a very boring show.

This series was part of a larger package called "project .hack" and included a four-volume Playstation2 game series and accompanying four-volume OVA. The idea being that the show was the prelude to the games which happened concurrent to the OVA. It was an ambitious idea, but had the ... unfortunate side effect that despite the series having a conclusive ending, there was still a lot that was left unexplained... until you play through the games.

This is probably one of the first series to introduce the idea of being "stuck" inside of an MMO game. Because it was intended to be more of a seamless lead-in for the rest of the franchise, when viewed separately is unfortunately where things fall apart. The viewer has to have bought into the .hack// universe and continued the storyline for any of it to make sense. The show follows a single character, Tsukasa, a caster character who cannot leave the game, and different groups of players who are either out to help Tsukasa, or they believe he is the key to some secret event within the game.

The artwork is pretty consistent throughout the series and outside of a few key locations, there isn't a lot of detail in either the characters or their backgrounds. What is notable is the contrast between scenes depicting the game world and the real world. The game world is always bright and colourful, while the real world is shown in varying shades of grey with some very muted colours.

The heart of the show is in the characters and its a shame that they don't get the attention they warrant. Mimiru is one of the main characters and one of the first to reach out to Tsukasa, but by the end of the series you know nothing about her. The others get some slightly better treatment, the paraplegic, the travelling businessman, the estranged father, the aging model, the annoying middle-school student, and so on. Don't get me wrong, there is some character development, it just seems to be bogged down in filler or left to be "discovered later".

The sound for the show is actually quite good. SIGN is among the list of shows where I sprung to buy the soundtrack. Yuki Kajiura provides the music as well as the opening and closing themes. The music ranges from some beautiful piano pieces to more celtic-sounding tunes.

Despite what my review seems to say, I did enjoy this series. A big part of that enjoyment came from having immersed myself in the .hack franchise. By the time I had gotten around to watching this anime, I had already completed the games and the accompanying OVA. The result being that I already had a pretty good idea of what was going on.

Would I recommend this series? Yes, as part of the .hack// package. Otherwise, if you have no intention of playing the games and watching the OVA, .hack//SIGN would be a long boring trek.

I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm one of those people who weren't extreme fans of the .Hack series. I mean I've played the first two games that were on the Playstation 2 and read a few of the mangas and books but my introduction to the series was through the .Hack//Sign anime. I first saw this anime airing on I think it was the Adult Swim block on Cartoon Network back in 2002ish. While I didn't watch it from the beginning. I did watch a few scattered episodes and was blown away by the world within the World, the fictional video game of the ... anime. And not to mention that really cool opening with what looks like a lady trying to be like Tron just dancing. It definitely gave me some chills.

I finally got the chance to sit down and watch it a few years ago, though I forgot to write a review on it here like I intended. So, I rewatched it for the second time and well, let's break down my review of the show. eh?

Story:
.Hack//Sign is the story of a young player, a Wavemaster (which is basically a magic-user in The World) named Tsukasa, who discovers he is unable to log out of the game and he has no memories of what happened prior to waking up with no memories. So he goes around inside the game, trying to piece together what happened to him and who he is. And along the way, he meets other players in the game, who all try to help him figure out why he can't log out. To me, the premise of being trapped inside a VR-esque game can be both exciting and a little scary, but honestly, I like this plot very much. Though if you ever want to get the full story of the .Hack series as a whole you would have to read all the novels, watch all the animes, and maybe play the games. But I'm happy with just enjoying the little story that .Hack//Sign tells. So while most of the anime takes place in The World, we do get some flashbacks and a few scenes of what's going on in the real world.

Art
The art and animation are very beautiful. Everything looks fluent and pretty. The characters all look awesome too, even the Grunties, the mascots of the anime's "Game World" look adorable. Of course, there are some creepy aesthetics in the show as well like Macha, the cat character who has ties to Tsukasa. I like it a lot. The dungeons that the characters go into always made me want to go into the anime and explore them, too.

Sound:
As I said earlier, the music is amazing, especially the opening and of course the ending song is gorgeous. The background music often sets the tone during serious conversations between the characters or even makes things creepier during certain scenes. The English dub, which is what I grew up with, is pretty good though sometimes the characters sound a bit weird to me, I think that's just me. Overall, the music is quite possibly the strongest point in the anime.

Characters:
Well, the characters are all well designed and every single one of them was endearing though sometimes Mimiru came off as a pushy brat and Tsukasa himself was a bit standoffish at times. My particular favorite among the characters was Lady Subaru, who I thought was a princess of sorts within the game when I first saw this show as a 12-year-old. I also liked how brotherly Bear was to everyone. He was pretty much the big brother to everyone and knew when to be serious and when to try and take everyone's minds off of their troubles. Of course, the one thing I have to complain about is how Bear and Mimiru resemble Orca and Black Rose. I don't know how common their "avatars" are supposed to be but coming from someone who doesn't know much about the .Hack series at all, I'm just gonna say that it feels lazy to copy and paste the designs of one character onto another unless they're supposed to be clones or copies of the original characters. That's my only complaint.

Enjoyment:
I thoroughly enjoyed this little series. I just wish it was a lot longer because I wanted to know more about The World, but I suppose I better watch the other animes and read the novels for that.

Overall:
I highly recommend this if you want a good fantasy series that's not long and dragged out or just want something to binge on a weekend. But let me just say that this is the first anime to feature people being trapped in a game. So if you like Sword Art Online or Log Horizon, or just the .Hack series in general than this is well worth the watch.