.hack//Sign

Each category will contain detailed pros and cons and then I will write if I would watch this anime again and if I recommend it.

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Story - 6/10

+ The mystery involving the main protagonist and the plot was entertaining. I liked the involvement of additional mysteries throughout.

+ Having played the first .hack game series a long time ago, the game world of the anime brought back some nostalgia for me.

- The story is pretty slow-paced and I found myself bored quite a bit since the anime is mostly dialogue. I could only watch a few episodes at a time to prevent myself from standing up, going ... outside to scream, then coming back inside very calmly to turn the TV off.

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Characters - 8/10

+ The main protagonist is cynical and unsociable at first, but he progresses into a positive person later on. Great character development there.

+ Most of the characters have personalities that can be identified in a typical JRPG. Hey, that's not a bad thing!

+ The dialogue offers little to obscure information about the players behind their characters. Although not important since the anime focuses on the game world, it gives it a sense of realism to know just how different the players are from their characters.

- A few characters were either dumb, annoying, or both.

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Art - 10/10

+ The colors of each character and the different areas of the game world are beautiful and attractive. I love, love, love the art! Look at me, I'm like an 8-year-old girl again.

+ The animation is very smooth and rich, like the greatest strawberry smoothie you've ever seen. Not the best one you've tasted though, sadly.

+ The buildings of the main town and the numerous canals that run through it are reminiscent of a lovely European city. I want to live there.

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Sound - 8/10

+ The music score is very well done and it offers plenty of different sounds. I might consider buying the soundtrack at some point.

+ The opening theme is impressive and can be addicting, which alone gives this category high points. I found myself humming the theme on the toilet after a few episodes.

+ Most of the characters have terrific dialogue and the English dub helps bring those characters to life, most of the time.

- A few characters have annoying or bland voices. One particular minor character made me want to punch her in the throat.

- The music can be overwhelming at times, especially during some of the dialogue.

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Enjoyment: 5/10

+ Even though I felt like I was struggling with this anime at times because of the slow-paced story, I'm glad I watched it to the end. In retrospect, the mystery of the character tied to the game world encouraged me to go on. The personalities of the characters, the excellent animation, and the great music helped drive that encouragement even further.

- For an anime set in an MMORPG game world, I was pretty disappointed and surprised by the lack of action scenes. I don't know if it was intentional, but plenty of action scenes would have made this anime a lot more enjoyable to watch.

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Final Score - 37/50

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Would I watch this anime again? Probably not. It's good enough for me to complete it once.

Do I recommend this anime? I would say yes. Don't let some of the criticism I have stop you, if the positive points in my review piqued your interest, give it a shot!

Well, I think it has about time that I get into checking this series out, considering when at the time I was watching Sword Art Online, people were making such references to this series and I having no idea about this show or this franchise, as a matter of fact and while this has the digital world aspect, it also had a RPG (Role-Playing Game) element in it and considering my disinterest in the latter (not hatred, just not that into it) but more into the former, this might be a hard feat to accomplish and wonder how will I enjoy the series.

Amidst a popular ... online role playing game in the near future, characters try to play out the goals they set for entertainment and passing of time. The World as the RPG is called is one with a setting of monsters, player characters and dungeons. Tsukasa is a detached and introverted character that has a number of mysteries about his player character. Many weird happenings seem to surround Tsukasa and his involvement in a rare item called 'The Key Of The Twilight' sparks Tsukasa's meeting with different online characters and the befriending of their real life counterparts; All without ever meeting face to face in reality. What is strange about Tsukasa is that he can't seem to log out of The World. Subaru and Silver Knight of The Crimson Knights continue to look for proof of why Tsukasa cannot log out or the existence of The Key of the Twilight. Meanwhile Bear, Mimiru, and BT as Tsukasa's friends try to help him understand who he really is and how he can return to the real world.

Here’s the one thing in this show that might tune out a lot of people out: At the first beginning of the series, it felt very slow-paced and the plot is mostly hard to follow at a few times or even sometimes if you went to take a bathroom break, you won’t miss any important detail considering it’s very scatter-brained. Also, the plotline where the character Tsukasa can’t log out in the game and the whole “you die in the game, you die for real” aspect, which I still call bullshit considering people would check that before any game’s initial release and yes, it may be just an anime but it doesn’t mean any type of logic should back thrown in the backseat. There’s also that this is a dialogue-heavy show, which is fine for an anime although the dialogue can be dull a few times, possibly enough to put you into sleep.

Characters in here are actually……decent although slightly askew with more character than meets the eye. Tsukasa, the lead character, is kind of a jerkass in the game, but in the real world has been through a lot of depressing things in his life. Mimiru, one of the first characters we met in the show is the tomboyish energetic player who, like any other player, plays there for fun and when it comes to helping Tsukasa, she seems more like the lead rather than him. If it would’ve been focused on her from the beginning, I would have liked it more. Bear is the older yet kind of wiser player; Subaru (which I did joked about her name because I didn’t know at first, ‘Subaru’ is also the Japanese name for the Pleiades star cluster.) is the one of the heads-in-charge of the Crimson Knights, who wants to keep things civil in “The World” (BTW, most generic name for a MMORPG game) and Crim is the one who helped mentored Subaru for when she first enter “The World”. BT is the insider of all things “The World” and……she hates lettuce? Wait, what was important about that? Oh, and Sora is the douchebaggish character who apparently assaults women when playing the game.

The animation supplied by Bee Train is not really that stellar but offers nothing in the first half. Bee Train is being responsible for the infamous girls-with-guns trilogy (Noir, Madlax, El Cazador de la Bruja), which only two of them are my favorite (Noir, ECDLB) and most of it is just talking and talking and for a game that is RPG, I expected to be at least more balanced with the action and dialogue but it was a major drag. Character and art design are nothing risqué and mostly very safe territory and the closest thing to some fan service is the outfits that Mimiru and Subaru got on in the game.

One thing I can say about the music is that it’s the best thing going for the show as I found every piece of music, including the opening “Obsession” , the ending “Gentle Dawn” and the background music, made by Yuki Kajiura, to be the more interesting part of the show. Hell, I hear on the DVD you can select an option to only hear the music and there’s the Bandai/PCB Productions dub, which is decent as best but has some stilted acting from the cast as they are really no standouts, although this is the first time I hear noticed Brianne Siddall, who usually play young boy roles in anime, and hearing more of Amanda Winn-Lee since she went from Texas voice-acting from being in L.A.

FINAL VERDICT: This has a good premise going for it but met with lackluster execution but manages to go somewhere in the final part of the series. I can honestly see why most people love it, which associates it with the RPG element, which I will recommended to those who loved it but if you’re like me and you enjoyed the soundtrack more, just get that and don’t look back.

I don't often write reviews as I like to just enjoy and appreciate what I'm watching, but this anime was a complete waste of time. Not to sound immature but with the fantasy RPG setting, the massive franchise it spawned, and the flashy upbeat opening, I thought this was gonna be some grand, action-packed epic adventure. It was not. It's 26 episodes of everyone just moping and talking. Not that talking's bad, but where did any of these conversations go? Absolutely nowhere. I don't care about any of these characters. They're so dull and flat. The main character whose name I never remember even while ... watching is just Shinji Ikari except instead of not wanting to be in the robot he doesn't seem to really want to play the game. But who's forcing him? This was just an absolute chore to watch. I'm normally pretty good with 26 episode series because even if I only have time to watch 1 a day I can still knock it out quick. This took me months because the whole time I couldn't decide to drop or just finish it off. If you want a sci-fi series that moves at a slower pace but is actually good go watch Ergo Proxy.

I'm not sure how to feel about this one. At first glance it's about an mmo full of combat and exploration and.....it has none of that. At all. You see 4 monsters in the show total. Apparently one of the most popular mmo's of all time in universe with millions of players. You'll see about 57 people in the background over the entire show. But the main characters will bump into each other constantly as if guided by some other-wordly force (not even getting into the fact of the entire main cast living in the exact same city, what a HUGE coincidence). And with a ... soundtrack that is odd at some times, very good at others but usually ill-fitting of what's usually going on

And yet, despite all that, it had me hooked. I wanted to know more about the breadcrumbs of plot it would give us, about the characters, their motives, their personality, both in and out of the game. Hack will spend most of it's time having the cast meet up in pairs of 2 and slowly (and I mean really slowly) get to know each other. Sometimes they'll be deep discussions, sometimes they'll talk about current topics, but most of the time it will be about nothing at all. Just like how we would in real life. It doesn't make for the most interesting viewing experience but it does build up these characters, love them or hate them you'll get to know them pretty well. But not as well as you'd like, because just as this show finally picks up it's pace and decides it's time to finally actually have a plot and reveal it's hand about "The World" and what's really going on?

The show ends

One of the most abrupt ends ever to end a show as the entire cast is lazily force logged out of the game right at the final battle and.....that's it . I felt like I was just sucker punched in the gut. All the build-up of getting to know this cast, finally seeing them put their differences aside for a greater cause, and it's all for nothing. You'll get a brief 20 second shot of Tsukasas's fate which is actually very sweet, but I feel as if we were robbed of a lot more. All of these characters we had grew to love or hate are cruelly ripped away from us via an abrupt fade to black. Did Subaru finally come to terms with the real world and the difficulties it brings? Did Silver Knight find his purpose without Subaru and the Crimson Knights? Did BT find that connection she was deeply missing in her heart? Who the hell were Helba and Balmung? AND WHAT ABOUT EVERYTHING WITH SORA AT THE LAST 2 MINUTES? And many more questions

Unfortunately it seems that 70% of the questions you have won't be answered, because we won't see 2/3 of this cast ever again, outside of a few cameo's in the Hack IMOQ videogames and the short 20 minute OVA which is a final farewell send-off not just for the characters of Hack sign, but for everyone in this series. That includes the characters of 2 short novels, 4 videogames and 2 anime shows. So I've got a ways to go before I can comment on if that ones a worthy send-off or not, but as of right now I just feel let down

For a story that tries to tell a message of how important it is not to lose yourself in videogames and escape the real world but to instead embrace it, we never get to see anyone outside of it, except for a few brief flickering shots, it will merely tell us how certain characters have met in real life, but it will never expand upon it or show us. And I really wanted more of that. Their motivations and desires in real life were what drove them in the game. Silver Knight and his desire for justice, Bt and her desire to be loved, Bear and his desire to protect others, Mimiru and her desire for friendship and so much more. And that really breaks my heart, because despite all of it's shortcomings and weak budget this show had that something special that pulled so many people back when it first aired that wasn't just a fluke, as it's pulled me in even now all these years later.

My brain says 6/10
My heart says 8/10
I'll settle on a final score of 7/10

Ok, I might not be the best candidate for writing a review since I only watched half of it and dropped it but I couldn't help it with this one. I would like to point out that my views are completely unbiased because I never played the games, so I am not a fan of the series, just someone who decided to watch the anime.

Story: 2/10

I remember hearing about this series when I was just in elementary school. I remember the dubbed version coming on late nights, but I used to watch other anime and never really got into it. Back then I used to ... think "I'm definetely going to watch this from the beginning." From the eyes of a child, it looked different, the character designs looked cool, the soundtrack sounded amazing, and I was very new to anime and only watched dubbed versions that came on television. In the end, I never really got around to watching it until now, when I've reached adulthood. I had really high expectations, but now if I had to describe this series in one word, it would be "disappointing".

I understand this series is probably what has inspired other shows based on MMORPGS like Sword Art Online and is probably original to the "stuck in a game" plot. It has a very unique premise for its time and that's why I'm giving this a 2/10 instead of 1/10. The storytelling is just downright awful and I couldn't stand watching it. There is just so much...dialogue. Characters just sit around and talk for a good 90% of the show. The story barely moves forward in each episode. Don't believe me? Go on Wikipedia Episodes list and look at each episodes summary. Just skim through if you don't want to ruin the story for yourself. In the end, I just read up online what happens in the show because I could no longer put myself to another 12 episodes of pure torture.

To be honest, I didn't know much about the series. I did some research and I realized that its part of a series of games. I realized later that its probably the reason why its so dragged out when it could have been much more condensed. It's sad that it was dragged out for the sake of the fans and probably to generate cash when it could have been made great with some proper storytelling.

Art: 3/10
Looking at the character designs now, some of it is cool and some of it is just downright weird. I don't know why I thought it was really cool.
It's an old series, so the animation is not fluid and the overall art isn't that great.

Sound: 6/10
Soundtrack is good, but it's used in some odd places, making it a little awkward.

Character: 3/10
The story progressed too slowly, so as a viewer, I did not get attached to any character. The main character in the beginning was just annoying, always running away from someone acting a little friend. You barely even get to see him actually, because its mostly the other characters sitting around and discussing things about the main character.
One thing I don't get is why were the other side characters so worried about him, always rushing to his aid, when he doesn't even care about them and treats them coldly.

Enjoyment: 1/10
I hate to say this, and despite my hatred toward harems, I thought sword art online was much more enjoyable than this. I don't mean to compare shows, but if you look at my reviews from SAO, I haven't given it a high rating, but since these two are similar in storyline, I would have to say SAO beats this.

Overall: 2/10
I think a lot of people like this show according to the reviews, so I do think that people may enjoy it despite it being slow, and that's completely fine, people have different tastes. But I do think that if you're an impatient person like me, don't bother with this series.

A fantasy based anime series which focused on the interactions between different people participating in an online game. These people live vicariously through this game which presents a mystery from the moment the series begins. One of the characters, known as Tsubasa, is unable to log out of the game, a phenomenon which is strange because that has never happened in ‘The World’ before, the setting for the online game.


STORY 6/10

In the real world, a character collapses apparently from being the victim of an attack and this appears to be the reason why Tsubasa cannot log out of ‘The World’. The series focuses on ... trying to figure out who Tsubasa is in the real world so as to be able to save the person as well as the effects of Tsubasa’s continued existence in ‘The World’; the way in which he has an impact on all of the characters he encounters and wonders if his existence was foretold, since he is supposed to set forth in motion events that would bring stability in ‘The World’.


ART 6/10

Due the fact that the series was about an online game, the characters were drawn as such to reflect that feel as well as the setting, which gave it the added touch of game play graphics. The artwork with regard to the characters, reflected the mood that each of them possessed throughout the anime.


SOUND 6/10

Since the general mood of this anime was melancholy it was reflected in the music. Both the opening song and ending song channelled that sadness thereby making it an extension of the universal atmosphere of the anime.


CHARACTER 6/10

Each of the characters possessed a unique quality and ability. Tsubasa’s character stood out since the series was focused on him and also because this character was mostly sad all of the time since they could not figure out the reason that he was unable to logout of the game. His presence influenced the general atmosphere of the anime as well as the mood of the other characters.


ENJOYMENT 6/10

The anime started off as a mystery which was a plus for me since I like figuring out what will happen next but there were a bit of plot twists and turns which left me wondering exactly what direction it was taking. A few things were not clearly explained so that had me a bit perplexed at times. The final arc of the anime was rushed and I was not satisfied about the way in which it ended.


OVERALL 6/10

In summation, this series was slow and the story presented a few discrepancies which were not cleared up at all. It appeared that as they hit the halfway mark, many concepts kept changing. It could have been better had they a more cohesive story and not have tried to be too mysterious about certain elements.

I think this is my first review. But for some reason, I felt the unique need to express my views on this series unlike any of the others I have seen.

Art Style:

While the art style is a bit old given when it was aired it is mostly a clean viewing experience. There is the odd frame where the animation quality is noticeably lower but fortunately my attention was captivated enough for the odd error to be easily ignored.

Sound:

There is a few points to be covered here. Overall the sound was pleasant to listen to, no errors, nothing 'too' out of pace. But. I found myself ... asking why on earth some sections played specific music. A few separate scenes with a 'murderous' character had the suspense killed by a jaunty tune that you would expect from a comical scene. Not one with high tension and at key story points, this irritated me as a more serious tone would have been far more gripping. However, the use of no sound or edited sound during specific scenes allowed a clear sense of separation between reality, The World and the characters memories.

Story:

I will be honest. I had no grasp of what was supposed to be happening story wise for a good portion of the start of this anime. Asides from a lot of conjecture and a few ideas nothing solid is presented until a ways into the series which I feel may cause a lot of people to give up on this anime early. Once the story dropped a few plot points and explained a couple of things (sometimes too conveniently) having an understanding allowed me to enjoy the anime more rather than questioning everything with no bite.

Character Progression:

Having finished the anime I am happy with how the main characters were in terms of story. There was a lack of character development all around with some training montages that seem to yield no results except to build the characters confidence. Given that the intro is supposed to show the main characters you would expect them to 'feel' like main characters once being introduced. But some of the characters took a ridiculous amount of time to be included in the main story and become involved with the other characters.

A major character flaw that was painfully in my face was that if a group of people in a video game knew someone was in there for real, they would act in a completely different manner. I'm not talking about "oh god lets get you out of here" but using their intelligence as real people to help someone. There is talk of the real world and logging off so the fact reality isn't used to their advantage confuses me. If breaking character, meeting in the real world and logging off is common talk why not go the distance and log off at ideal times such as before death etc. Not to mention a character knowingly making things difficult for the person stuck inside the video game with the knowledge they can come to harm goes against the morals of the normal person playing the character.

Subbed Version:

Now... I understand not all subbed versions will be the same, but the two versions I viewed had, at times, horrible translation. Hearing common phrases that were translated so wrong in responses to characters made me feel like I was missing a lot of context and some conversations made little sense apart from just agreeing with each other. The intro... I understand some things don't translate well into English but an introduction about "A headache" and other nonsensical lines made no sense to any part of the series. While the intro didn't look too shabby, the dialogue looses appeal.

Personal Views:

I'm not quite sure why I decided to write this review, possibly just to share my odd experience of this anime or to express my thoughts to come to some understanding. I only rated this anime a 6 due to the slow pace, late story and odd music choices. Now I understand people might expect a lower score from all the negatives I have listed but for some reason I quite liked it overall. I guess I enjoyed how different the anime was. A lot of Animes focus on epic battles, fan service or some kind of niche but there is more to this anime than the surface shows. Hack.Sign is not for everyone, I was unsure if it was for me until part way through. It was a nice change from the norm.

This anime is wonderfully produced.

The sound and animation are excellent, and I enjoyed it a lot. Most of the characters have enough depth to them to carry the story.

The story towards the end gets some what sloppy, and that did take away from the over all enjoyment of the series. However, up until the last few episodes I couldn't wait to see what was going to come next.

All in all, an excellent watch. . and A must watch if you play kind of morpg regularly.

Oh boy! Here we go so strap in kids cause this one's a doozy!

Sign is quite simply a Love/Hate anime.

You will know after watching a single episode whether you're going to like it or not.

For me it's love all the way.

To begin with it has an interesting plot and a main character with whom I felt a great deal of sympathy. The music was highly memorable (to the point where I still hum it to this day) and it possessed a whole ensemble of interesting characters and stories.

This was, as far as I am concerned, the original 'trapped in a game ... world' anime.

That being said I more than understand why it has as many haters as it does fans.

Action is limited in this anime. If you're looking for something similar but with more action then check out SAO, Log Horizon or Overlord.

Sign's brilliance lies in its dialogue and intricate story.

The story is quite slow but for me that was a good thing as it provided more impact.

Unfortunately I cannot sell my recommendation of the series because, as I have previously said, you'll know after the first episode if it's for you or not.

This is a criminally underrated show. Considering it's the flagship series of a massive commercial franchise, it's extremely baffling how this is the show that got made: There is almost no action, the story progression is extremely slow, there is zero fanservice (a major bonus as far as I'm concerned), and nearly the entire show is just still shots and dialogue. There is even a gay relationship between two of the main characters that involves neither offensive okama caricatures nor awkward unfunny homophobia nor titillating male gaze lesbian kiss scenes.

The story's conceit, of getting stuck in an online game, is basic by now thanks to ... .hack spawning a litany of rip-offs, but those series are mere specks of dirt on the soles of .hack//Sign's boots.

This is a show about the alienation we feel in modern society, the dangers of not logging off (thank you to my friend Abdul for that one), overcoming abusive parents, confronting your failures as a father, and the joys of escapism. The series tells you the importance of not getting sucked into escapist fantasies, in the gentlest, most sympathetic way possible.

Thanks to this being the start of an enormous franchise, there is a lot of depth to the story, setting, and characters that's lacking in generic stuck in a video game isekai clone #45992. If only the games had been more timeless, I could spend months going down .hack rabbit holes.

Every character is exceptionally written. If you disagree it's because you don't have friends and think characters are only good when they're likable. These characters are good precisely because they're not totally likable; just like real people, they have relationships outside of you, they have moments where they are too stressed or frustrated to be friendly or helpful or funny or insightful, they don't have complete self-awareness, and when they experience those negative emotions it's not necessarily in a way that's funny or entertaining.

The art is great for the time the show was produced. It looks a little dated now, but it also perfectly fits the feel of a real MMO, which is slightly empty and not lived-in. If the show were made today, Mac Anu would probably look more like a real city than a fake game city populated by NPCs.

The soundtrack is 10/10 and only rivaled by Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo. One of the only anime soundtracks I have ever chosen to listen to in my free time and that my musician friends appreciate. The show is worth watching just to hear 12 hours of Yuki Kajiura music.

Basically, this show kicks ass and deserves to be what everyone thinks of when they think of isekai.

If you like a slow paced story, focussing on the characters with thoroughly immersive music, you will greatly enjoy this anime. If you like fast paced stories with action scenes led forward by the storyline, this anime is not for you. For those whom the rest of this review is not yet redundant, feel free to read on.

The story is well crafted; while it appears the story is light-hearted, underneath it all it is quite dark. The theme of escapism runs throughout the series, and this is synced well with the aesthetics. The World is colourful and diverse, with canal based cities, green cliff-tops above ... the clouds, deserts and snowy mountains to name a few, as well as the powerful music. You never forget it's just a game though, with the chaos gates and memories sounding like they were being retold through a headset being 2 very MMO effects used. The real world on the other hand, is black and white, crackly and silent, with lines told in text. It emphasises how enticing The World is compared to real life.

The characters' stories are told fairly uniquely, in that there are two stories, for the in-game character and their real-life counterpart. These personalities are often different, and it underlines the theme of escapism. Interpersonal relationships do well from this as well, as characters can interact with not only other in-game characters, but also their real-life character. This complexity makes the character's feel realistic, and having characters from various walks of life reinforces another virtue of MMos: that people, no matter their age or gender or social status, can interact as equals.


The music is by Yuki Kajiura. Her music is always outstanding, but it is either forced upon you, interfering with the story and making the music and the story very disjointed, or is used to immerse the viewer in the story, enhancing the experience. I can happily say this is definitely the latter, which is impressive considering how many of the soundtracks are sung in English; in fact, the songs are both the best of the soundtrack, and the most immersive.

I came looking to burn through the anime and add the soundtrack to my music player; instead .Hack//Sign sat me down and showed me a masterpiece; this is definitely a must-watch for any who can watch a slowly unfolding story. It plays out like a spiral; you think it is unchanging, moving forward, but without realising the story is getting deeper and darker with each episode you go through. It does have some flaws; the ending was so fast I thought I missed an episode, and the camera does sometimes stay on characters for a long time, with little animation going on, but these are nit-pickings that don't have any real effect on my enjoyment of the anime.

This series has a lot of good ideas in it and I understand the importance the anime has, being one of the first Isekai anime before the landscape became inundated with them (looking at you SAO). But the pacing of this series is just awful. This was a decent enough story that could've been told in half the time and was stretched thin to the point where my patience was on its last legs.

A lot of potential that it just didn't live up to in my opinion and I was left being utterly frustrated with the anime and my watching experience. I'll still be ... watching the OVAs but it's mainly because I like the ideas .Hack has and because they are far shorter.

One of my favourite anime.

What to expect:

Slow-driven social and internal developent focused on characters/groups interactions in an incomplete information atmosphere with competing goals and purposes. A great deal of the series focuses on conversation, often introspective ones. Dives into philosophy.

Realistic characters who are more diverse than a typical hyper-active "defeat everything" Bildungsroman shounen, this includes a realistic and clinically depressed amnesiatic lead. The characters all experience a variety of e.g. trauma and coping mechanisms, and these themes may not be appreciable for those searching for a simple feel good escapist story. In my experience, those who have dealt with trauma typically have ... a far higher appreciation of this anime.

Social issues which were taboo or out of the general public consciousness in Western countries at the time of production, dealt with on a philosophical basis and with thought experiments. These include dealing with what it means to be alive, the differences between online and real-ife lives, the relationship of technology to society, virtual versus physical bodies/embodiments or soul vs flesh, amongst other issues which were taboo and very-well=written into the story. Including aspects of romance.

Lush designs. The artwork for the settings are phenomenal, with lush detail and a wide variety of settings, they enthral you with mystery and a sense of needing explloration. .hack// brings to life an rpg fantasy which was really just a dream when it was created. (Bear in mind this series was released before World of Warcraft and all it influenced.) The series presents a romantic image of a complex RPG and both the mundane and the arcane tasks and behaviours one can espouse there. Note: communications in the series correspond with period communications.

Ethereal, otherworldly, divine music. The soundtrack to .hack//SIGN is perfectly developed to flow with the series. The soundtrack also holds immense standalone value and is probably the best OST I've ever heard. Kjiura Yuki simply outdid herself in her work for .Hack/SIGN and this cannot be overstated.

Multi-layered story. .Hack//SIGN serves as the classic introduction point to the .Hack// franchise. (however one could start elsewhere.)
.Hack// is a multimedia franchise which created something of a shared universe, long before the MCU. This was both praised and scorned (if you lived in a region where access to .hack// materials was difficult to procure.)
.Hack//SIGN focus primarily on the wavemaster Tsukasa, and is principly the story of Tsukasa and their development amidst a greater world of events.
However, the story is not only the story of Tsukasa and where Tsukasa's story ends, other stories continue. .Hack//SIGN is the prequel for example to the original trilogy .Hack// games, which follow an important character from the installment.
Other characters also have other lives, actions and histories; and exist in their own installments which serve as prequels, sequels and concurrent stories. Expect for example to hear mention of famous characters or events from in-universe, and have these names appear again. The series portrays this realistically (as the players experience news and have their own memories), but also these "loose ends" are hardly loose as they connect with bigger events beyond a single-installment.

The franchise has in fact many layers of depth, from the real world, to The World, to a slow unravelling of mysteries of The World and the behind the scenes and everything in between.




What not to expect:

Action/fighting. This is just about the opposite of an action anime. The series relies heavily on talking. Problems are not generally solved by fighting, and reprecussions of fighting/arrogance, ireesponsibility, loss are all weighed highly.

Classic shounen / Escapist power trip. The lead character is most often in need of help, reluctant and anti-social.

Fast pacing. The series is not fast-paced as it focuses on slowly building character dynamics. You learn a lot about characters, their mindsets, and how each introspects and views the world. It brings up many interestign psychological, sociological and philosophical points as a result; but the series has slow resolutions to psychological events, with a lot of weight, much like in the real world. The latter part of the series does speed up with a lot of larger events oming together and reaching a head, but don't expect these to come on early or quickly. The characters grind so to speak.

"strong male lead" - Tsukasa is not what would be described as a strong male lead. A better comparison often made would be Shinji from Evangelion, who is damaged and clearly "going through some stuff." Except in Tuskasa's case, there is no giant robot.

All in all, I recommend this anime to:
those interested in slower anime (it's nice watching late at night due to the settings to), beautiful art and music, philosophy/psychology/sociology, RPGs of the 90s, romance, LGBT, trauma, relationships, communication, thought experiments, mystery.

Note: For a good retrospective of the installment, I highly recommend the video series done by youtuber: Nero

.hack//Sign follows Tsukasa and a whole band of characters in a MMO where things are not as they seem and there may be more to the game then they know.

.hack//Sign is a very flawed anime the animation for the very few fights are rough and the plot is slow. While these negatives are there i think the main point of this series isn't action but introspection towards its' characters and their problems. The slow plot is rough at first but once it opens up it gets very intriguing. Past the few negatives the positives weigh outweigh them and more than make up for some ... of the few shortcomings this series has.

The art overall is as mixed as it gets. Some shots look amazing while a lot more often the character drawings are a solid meh to sometimes bad. Luckily most of the character designs are solid and fit the overall aesthetic of the show, if a little bland.

The music and the opening are amazing i revisit this shows soundtrack often cause there is almost nothing like it. It has a strong Celtic style while the intro has a more techno style as if you're entering this world which really fits the theme for everything and mix that with the vocals that say a lot about the plot make for a haunting soundtrack that you wont forget.

Probably the best part of the anime is the characters. they are almost all complex and more than just one note characters, eac character you find out has problems of their own and are for some reason seeking escapism in this world.

The plot is a slow burn which isn't a negative in a series where you follow these characters and find out about their motivations. it truly feels like once things start hitting at the end you know these people well and are invested in whats going on. While the plot is slow its worth it by the end you really care for everything that is going on here.

I finally finished watching .hack//sign end sequel OVAs. I spent around 6 years to do it and here is why.
The premise is interesting so I began to watch. The first thing that caught my attention is music. OST here is amazing but it also has some drawbacks. The story develops very slowly and all these New Age and Ambient tracks make everything feel even slower. I got bored after 2 episodes end got back to this title last autumn. I felt that I have to give this anime a chance. In a way, it was a disappointment.
You might ... ask, why I gave 7/10 to it if I did not enjoy it, is it only because of music. That would be not entirely true. There are several episodes that kept me captivated. Without those episodes, this anime would be mediocre, average to me. One of those episodes is the final one.
Art is nothing great in particular even if you compare to titles from the late '90s and early '00s but it is not horrible. Characters are nice but you will not attach to them and are not so memorable.
In conclusion, .hack//sign is good but I will not recommend it to anybody. It would benefit from cutting the runtime in two but with 26 episodes + 3 OVA, it is a waste of time.

This series has one of the best soundtracks of any anime series. If you do nothing else, listen to the soundtrack. It's long but it is entirely worth it. It's Kajiura Yuki so that's hardly surprising, but still.

Overall, the story is boring. Imagine all the really dull aspects of the average video game, like farming for special loot or ingredients or fishing. Except now that's a show you're watching.

Since I played WoW for several years and still play "Diablo 3", I thought it would be interesting to watch, and I could connect better with characters who commented on RL problems and logging out and ... stuff. And it was an interesting way to have "normal" people exist in a fantasy setting, especially without the problems of taking away narration time featuring sleeping, cooking or eating.

But it's like this series is highlighting every problem playing MMORPGs has. You get on, and you don't actually accomplish anything. Why fight? To get better gear and level up. Why get better gear and level up? So you can fight better. It features trolls, gankers, nubs, and the more ridiculous aspects of online gaming. To accurately feature an MMORPG, these things must be involved, so I understand their purpose. And with the rise in the number of games in use (especially when this was made), this is an important aspect of our world for people to see. I suppose if it's just a commentary on how stupid these things are... I don't know. Personally, I wouldn't record the average day for me on D3 or WoW because I know it's boring. This seems to just be a confirmation of that. That's not interesting. It's kind of bleak and uncomfortable. And not in a way that says much about video games, like how OCD can get involved or how many games pull in people with gambling issues.

The characters are eh. There are some cutesy bits, but that's about it. Growth takes place off-screen and the story just ends up being a bunch of people who have nothing to do with a problem getting themselves involved in it because there is LITERALLY nothing. else. to. do. anywhere. I suppose it fits with a number of other anime that involve characters doing things for no specific reason but at least in most other stories, people were focusing on the goal for some other purpose other than there's literally nothing. else. to. do.

There are some strong messages pushed through if you focus on the outside story (not the inside), which is given in snippets. Those are nice, even if they don't feel like the focus the majority of the time.

Overall it's pretty boring and slow and the characters aren't very likeable. Unfortunately if you want to watch something about video games, your best option at the moment is basically "Wreck-It-Ralph" (not to throw shade at the film; I just can't think of a decent anime/manga alternative). If you want a good fantasy series that's warm-hearted but with stakes and an emphasis on slice-of-life, watch "Natsume Yuujinchou" or "Cardcaptor Sakura" or read "Fruits Basket". Skip this. Listen to the soundtrack.

Personally, I felt this series drag on needlessly at times. It was melodramatic and I felt as if I was supposed to feel certain scenes were important. A rule of thumb for me is that if I realize that I'm supposed to be feeling something instead of actually and naturally feeling it, then it could be better.

That being said, I understand it was trying to get at deeper things and I respect it as not being a cookie-cutter series that copies other anime formats. I don't think it was executed as well as it could've been.

To be better it would've moved faster, done away with ... unnecessary exaggerations, and had a better soundtrack.

For me, it's the type of anime you play in the background while doing something else.

Ever since the trapped in videogame type of isekai sub-genre became a fad, you could read some people saying that this one show, the first of them all by a long margin, is actually the best, and since those comments come from people who hate that genre, I always wanted to check it out. I was initially planning to review the franchise as a whole once I finished it, but who knows if that will even happen.

Obviously, this anime is quite outdated when it comes to visuals, for a 2002 anime the artwork is solid and the backgrounds are great, while everything else is just ... fine, the character designs were once iconic, but now come off as simple and kind of generic, plus the character models can be inconsistent at times. Since the series is dialogue-heavy, the characters remain mostly standing or sitting while talking, which means the actual animation is mostly static, even though there are a few fights in it, which in turn are decently animated for the time but the motions are still nothing very impressive. Coming from that era, most of the special effects are quite good, but there is also prominent CGI that by now is crude and weak looking, not so much as there was in other shows from that time, thankfully, but it’s still there and affects the overall.

The sound department was and is still praised, the sound effects were very good for its time, although a bit outdated by now, the voice acting a bit atypical and very mature for its type of series, with Mitsuki Saiga being the best possible choice for the protagonist, and the soundtrack is easily among the best and most atmospheric in the whole medium, especially the opening. The composer is the well-known Yuki Kajiura, who would go on to make very similar soundtracks in later works, mixing a little bit of different influences depending on the aesthetics of each title. The problem here is the directing, which is weird at times, using the themes in ways and moments that feel misplaced, which is why I have to take a point from the overall sound department.

The plot has to do with people playing a VRMMORPG, but one of them, the protagonist, can’t logout, so it becomes a problem because of the effects that that can have on her body, and for everyone else, who considers her a cheater that’s breaking the game and is responsible for certain things that are happening in it.

The series is not an action adventure like every other that would follow it in its genre, it’s a mix of slice of life, as it shows the role playing of everyone and what and how they do in the game, as well as real life issues of each one becoming important regarding character dynamics, and mystery, as the objective is to find the true identity of the main character, aspects of the videogame they play, and by extension the setting itself, from its very core and beginning, as well as finding a McGuffin that can lead to that, and also, well, prevent the world from that game to crash, of course, that was obviously needed to happen.

The anime shows how some of the characters take the game more seriously than others, some just want to have a good time, some just want to chill out, and others take their in-game roles very seriously, more than they should, which is actually a bit of a weak point from the anime. Well, at least every perspective is explained through the exploration of the characters both in game and also outside of it, though to a much lesser extent, with the exception of the main character, of course.

Some, mainly the protagonist, are there for escapism purposes, others to build bonds that they lost in real life, or to do something for someone else, and it’s interesting to see how everyone is confronted about what they want to do in-game and their way to achieve that, with obviously the anti-escapism of the main character being the main theme, character arc, and message in the show.

And that’s its main difference with the other series in its sub-genre, which would ditch every attempt at a serious exploration of a meaningful message nor care for characterization, and mutate into power fantasies where bland overpowered otaku and/or gamer protagonists with no personality whatsoever defeat one dimensional villains and get all the girls in the world.

.hack//Sign is not like that in the least, Tsukasa is initially distant and aggressive towards others, a loner, cynical even, and although that makes up for a good character arc as she warms up to others and face her reality, it’s true that you don’t want to follow a main character like that all that much. Well, at least her reactions are justified when you take in count that a lot of players attack her out of the blue with no explanation nor much solid justification. That is a nice detail not only because it shows that she is not very liked by others, but also because it establishes her character better than just having her being an antisocial just because and to fit with the emo fashion of the era. I said that but that aspect of her personality is also explored through her in real life persona and drama, which is quite heavy and serious and treated tastefully, and obviously won’t be covered here.

She is also not powerful in the least, if I remember correctly she is a middle level spell caster in the game, and although with very high potential, it also means that could be beat by anyone in a 1v1 in the game, if not for the broken items she acquires at some point, which actually turn on herself after a point for plot reasons.

Another good aspect of the show is showing how the existence of Tsukasa is seen by the rest of the players, as a some sort of threat for the stability of the game and world they interact in and with, leading some to go for aggression, while others try to communicate, reason, understand and bond with her, to get to the bottom of the mysteries of the show together. Eventually this is resolved and abandoned because of the stakes that the show goes for near the end, when everyone unites to face the biggest threat and matter at hand. That is something that I also found to be a positive, compared with other anime from the genre that have high stakes from the beginning, but also characters that don’t care much about them, or give more importance to whatever the protagonists do in ways that don’t feel plausible in the least, and that make them look like idiots.

Another thing I never liked on later titles is how similar the avatars of the players were to their real life designs, .hack//Sign not only has them looking completely different in game, some even change their gender, something that also happens in our real world and life.

Now for the negatives for which I don’t rate .hack//Sign higher despite my praises.

First, although the protagonist is eventually fleshed out and developed and gets a catharsis, as I said she wasn’t very likeable in the beginning, it’s understandable for the reasons I mentioned, but not many would have the patience to follow a main character so apathetic that also has amnesia, thus being both unlikeable and mysterious in a bad way, since she doesn’t remember who she is, and thus can’t be fleshed out until late in the series.

Then, as well done as it is, this is still a series where people take playing a videogame more seriously than they should, they are not even professional gamers, why do they care so much? It’s kinda cringy to watch.

Then, as much as the series tries to introduce high stakes near the end, at the end of the day, it’s still just the world within a videogame, besides the protagonist, everyone can just logout and unlike later anime, death is irrelevant for everybody besides the protagonist here, so the stakes are not as high as the show tries to make it seem like they are.

Speaking of which, Tsukasa goes through several life threatening situations, which in theory should raise the stakes since she can’t logout, and thus starts feeling the effects of the game on her own body, but something happens to either save her in the last moment, or even after apparently being badly hurt, the only thing that get affected are her memories and stuff, which she regains at the end anyways.

Also, it doesn’t make much sense for the antagonist to let her roam free throughout the series while she needed her, that’s what ends up being her downfall in the end.

Then there is the end of the series, which at the last moment throws a cliffhanger hinting at more stuff to come, which you’ll never get to see unless you read other manga, or light novels, or play the videogame series, or listen to drama cds. The series is just a middle point, and its ending the entrance, to a much much bigger and longer franchise, which tarnish what was otherwise a very solid ending up until that point.

Two ovas were released afterwards, and they are not worth watching in the least. One is mostly and unrelated and irrelevant side story of a character that doesn’t appear in the main series, until it shows a bit of the past of a main character, which not only comes out very late, but it also contradicts part of what was shown about her in the series, while the other is just fanservice for longtime fans of the franchise, since it reunites the cast of the anime with ones from the games, some of which have very similar character designs and thus ruins the uniqueness of the ones from the original, because it takes place after the all the plot points from the initial games are over, thus, if you are an anime only, like myself, you won’t even have an idea who all those people are and where did they come from, and even then, that ova can barely count as an outcome, as it is just a festival for the characters to celebrate, while not bringing closure to the anime in the least.

Its legacy was apparently quite tarnished, since the genre moved on to something completely different than it, and later entries wouldn’t follow its ending, and would mutate to a more comical and lewd approach, thus departing from what gave it its uniqueness in the first place.

Personally, I enjoyed .hack//Sign a bit, for basically being the opposite of what I came to hate about modern anime in later years, but it’s still understandable why it’s not liked very much. It’s visually outdated, it takes a while for the protagonist to become likeable, there aren’t many nor very high stakes, the series is incomplete, and people usually want to watch videogame anime for their takes on the core mechanics and the adventures in the world the makers come out with in their series, not a very static and dialogue heavy anti-escapism series about the introspection of antisocial people or straight up losers. And even I had a bit of a tough time to appreciate the anime, despite loving some heavy dialogue series and movies, because those are usually about existential or psychological topics, while this one is about people taking seriously playing a videogame. It’s worth watching for its themes, messages, character immersion and atmosphere, but the plot is certainly not very engaging and slower than it needs to, and the ending is somewhat lacking, so it’s more of an acquired taste type of show for veteran viewers, the exact opposite of what you’d expect from its premise, and what its genre would become.

I decided to write this review as many of my friends actually got surprised of my harsh rating of 5, and I suppose I was a bit cruel, however, for me, this anime could have brought a lot more at some points.

As a first point, I will have to admit that the sounds are amazing, also it's the reason why I was so harsh at rating... because the music is so good and it gives me an amazing feel whenever I hear it, but the story itself can't make it up to the epicness of the sounds.

For a second point art, it is ... a really fair art with some decent characters, who make the story going on. There are few characters which I loved, but there are some which I can't put it anywhere really... they got some important role as it is told but they act like they weren't there basically.

As for conclusion I can say that it worth a watch even though I gave it such a low overall rating, firstly as it was the first MMO based anime as I know, also I think it really deserves a chance, if not for else than to tell me that I am awfully cruel and this anime worth a lot more than my 5.

My ratings are like:

Story 3/10
Art 6/10
Sound 9/10
Character 4/10
Enjoyment 5/10

Overall 5/10

As an ending, I will say that I might not have found it the perfect anime at all, but it can be an all time favorite for others. :) So don't hesitate to watch and don't get disheartened because you see a low overall on an anime. :)

.hack//sign is an anime that I only heard about due to the PS2 games. I though that the way the series changes formats was cool. It starts as a novel, then a short story, then this anime, then a video game, ect. ect. The story while not the most original idea is interesting. Players of a popular virtual reality MMORPG have been going comatose while playing the game, and no one can figure out why. Then along comes the main character who can't remember who he is, or log out of the game. I wanted to like this anime more but there were only three ... or four interesting characters, the pacing of the story was incredibly slow, and the fighting was given a back seat for emphasis on politics between the games factions. However despite these flaws it was told a fascinating story, and kept me interested.