.hack//Sign

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.

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.

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.

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.

Story

.hack//SIGN is the first of its kind. It takes place in an MMORPG (Multi Member Online Role Playing Game) and set the bar for all other online computer game animes and mangas. However, this anime is not what you would expect it to be; a hack and slash dungeon crawler. It is a character study, a story that focuses on the growth and development of the characters. If you are looking for high octane action and mind numbing brain candy, this is not the anime for you by any means. But if you love character development to drive the story and like using your brain ... during your anime experience then you will not be disappointing. .hack//SIGN delivers structural complexity and character strife in full force. Falling in love with characters never felt so natural.

Characters

The entire cast acts like one big dysfunctional family that all center around the protagonist, Tsukasa. Everyone has their own personal drama that exists inside and out of "The World" which becomes integral to the plot. Everyone is foil for another even as they change and learn from their experiences all the while trying to find out more about Tsukasa's offline identity. Throughout the series we are shown real world clips of everyone's offline identity which can be a huge eye opener and explain a lot as to why these characters act the way they do. Just like when you play a MMORPG this diverse cast bands together to reach their goal in an epic battle where the fate of "The World" sways in the balance. Complex character relationship and betrayals will leave you begging to know more.

Sound

Probably one of the most rewarding soundtracks I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. See-Saw's Yuki Kaijura composed the character defined soundtrack for the series, inspired by Celtic music and video game themes. This gives the soundtrack a very misty mountain feel to it with adventure looming over the horizon. Lyrics for all the songs are very powerful in terms of sucking you into this dream world of might and magic. The opening themes "Obsession" and ending "Yasashii Yoake" (優しい夜明け, Gentle Dawn) are both performed by See-Saw and set the perfect town for the series. The voice acting in both the Japanese and English Dub are exception, but nothing out of this world. It's always nice to be able to listen to an anime and not be thrown off by the voices. The characters being an important part of the story, the characters voices needed to fit their roles well.

Art and Animation

Original character designs by Evangelion master artist Yoshiyuki Sadamoto reflects well the "Swords and Sorcery" genre, also relying on Celtic imagery: Director Mashimo acknowledged similarities between Bear's design and Mel Gibson in his role as William Wallace, an example of Celtic warrior. The action animation, for what little there is, is top notch and exciting. When things become action packed in this anime .hack//SIGN can kick things into high gear and deliver. The flashback and real world imagery is always seen through a T.V. static lens with the sounds filtered or taken out all together in exchange for silent film subtitles instead. This gives these moment a very creepy, uneasy feel as if something has gone terribly wrong. This also has to do with the fact that the majority of the anime takes place in game, when we are taken out of game it feels very wrong and unsettling. The art of .hack//SIGN leaves you with many unforgettable scenes.

Entertainment

With all the praise that .hack//SIGN gets this is where it falls short. .hack//SIGN is one of my personal favorite anime of all time, but even considering that when I put on .hack//SIGN I know what I'm getting myself into. Watching this show is mental endurance trial 25min long 26 times over. The only way the story progresses is by the next character interation so you need to be vigulent from conversation to conversation. Re-watching the series is something you need to schedule in advance. Because of its slow nature .hack//SIGN is a difficult series to pick up again after a short amount of time. The story is complex and mysterious with conspiracy and dramatic relationships, but unless you like talking, no matter how highly recommended .hack//SIGN comes to you chances are you won't enjoy it. If you have the will you won't be disappointing, .hack//SIGN's delivery is slow, but gets in your blood very quickly.

Over all .hack//SIGN is a series is a great series breaking the mold of cyber punk anime and pioneering a new theme. It is not as action packed as desired, but what it lacks in action it makes up with an amazing story and supreme character development. The art and animation sets the tone for a fantasy world that almost seems real with a soundtrack that seal the deal for this virtual dream land that is "The World". For anime fans who are looking for a deep anime that can stand on its own as a solid series .hack//SIGN if a fabulous choice, but if you're looking for something that will get your blood pumping more, this may be a series to avoid.

Suggestions

If you enjoyed .hack//SIGN and are looking for something similar or if you didn't enjoy it and are looking for a series that may give you more of a rush, here are a couple suggestions that you may find interesting. Try them out and read their reviews if you're not sure. First, is Sword Art Online which also revolves around the mmo element, featuring the main hero and heroine trying to conquer all 100 floors of the game and free everyone. Second, is Accel World that also uses a virtual reality idea and where the main enters the "Accelerated World" and tries to come on top by defeating everyone else.

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.

Kinda funny how this show comes off as a deconstruction of SAO and other Isekai anime even though this came out years before the Isekai genre went supernova.

Anyway, I can certainly understand why the show has a cult following from it's great soundtrack, solid characters (Ex. Sora is by far my favorite and Dave Wittenberg is a delight in the role) and slight psychological horror atmosphere (Ex. Tsukasa's real-world flashbacks). There are intriguing themes touched on (Ex. depression, social isolationism and escapism) and at it's heart it's a rather touching story of strangers coming together to help a person in need.

But MY GOD ... is this anime slow!! I don't mind slow-pacing at all (Ex. I love Tarkovsky flicks) but this show did not need to be 25 episodes. Too often the dialogue gets bogged down by drab repetitive exposition and the whole thing ends of a frustrating inconclusive note. It's ties to the hack game series also effects this show's ability to stand on it's own. The animation is solid but nothing quite spectacular.

It surprises me that this show aired on Toonami because the promos made it look like an action show when that is far from the case. The action is few and far between and frankly, not very spectacular either.

A flawed but unique series that brings a refreshing emotional depth to it's "trapped in a game" premise.

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.

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.

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.

"Trapped in a video game" has been a consistently enjoyable sub-genre for me and Yuki Kajiura, who did the soundtrack here, is literally my favorite musician and composer, period, as reflected in my favorite people list in my profile so I really, really wanted to like this. Unfortunately, I just didn't.

It's slow and boring and there's really no way around that. The pacing drags this show down in a huge way. This entire story, told in 26 episodes, could have been told in 18 without much trouble. There are other valid criticisms too such as shallow and minimal character development, a 47 year old man ... hanging out with a bunch of teenage girls daily and no one having any problem with it and a convoluted, messy plot that suffers from a serious lack of explanation but the biggest issue, far and away, is the pacing. There's a ton of talking and not much of anything else. There's very little action and for an MMO this game looks boring as hell because hardly any time whatsoever is spent showing players actually playing the game.

It's not ALL bad. The base plot concept is really cool and explores some deeper themes. There's an intriguing mystery at the core of all this. And, of course, Yuki Kajiura delivers the goods and provides a gorgeous soundtrack. But, again, I just cannot stress strongly enough the extent to which this is overshadowed and borderline ruined by the exhaustingly slow, sleep-inducing pacing.

If you've got the patience for something that moves very, very slowly and dialogue heavy anime doesn't bore you I guess this is worth a look. Ultimately I respect this anime more than I actually like it. It's the OG of the genre and it paved the way for better shows in the future. Hats off for that. I don't see too much value here beyond that though and I have no interest in rewatching this.

OBJECTIVE RATING- 6.5
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT RATING- 6

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.

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.

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.

This is very interesting story, I didn't play the video game or read the stories before it. It starts off with a character from a video game but is really in the game. Mainly about trying to get that character out of the game and back into there real body. It has action since it's an action type role playing game that they are in but it really just deals with the personalities of the characters that surround the main character trying to help him or use him. It was a pretty good story.

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 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. :)

It's a decent show - like the older version of Sword Art Online, kind of? I think for a show to come out that time with this plot is pretty impressive and creative (although I keep finding more plots and stories with similar backgrounds). The soundtrack is Yuki Kajiura so you KNOW it's great, but the downside are the characters. The main character is annoying and I feel like it was hard for me to keep up with plot because I couldn't understand what he was thinking / doing. Everyone else was kind of okay; Bear and Mimiru I didn't feel much about but they ... did grow on me.

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.

I'm probably going to come back and fix this review up a bit when I finish the rest of the franchise, but for now, here's my review of .hack//sign.
This was a really enjoyable show but it definitely lagged in parts, and I also got the sense that Bee Train wasn't quite adept at dealing with Sadamoto's at style, because there are many shots that look off-model or strange (there's my two biggest complaints out of the way). I would recommend it if you like 2000s midbudget anime with strong concepts.
One thing that took me by surprise was that the show's tone was completely different than ... what I expected. Growing up the only significant contact I had with the .hack franchise was that my older brother owned two volumes of .hack//legend of the twilight. I guess I had sort of expected this show to feel similar to it, but it really doesn't. Make no mistake, that's to its benefit. I won't praise it too highly by comparing it to Serial Experiments Lain or Boogiepop, because it's much lighter than those, but it could fall under the same general survey in late 90s-early 2000s anime. It captures the feeling of playing a 3D CG video game from that time period perfectly, as well; it's oddly sparse and full of surreal landscapes.
I enjoyed the characters, but since this is part of a multimedia project and there are bits of that I haven't experienced for myself yet, I did find them largely falling a little flat (w/ the exception of Hotaru). For now I'll give it the benefit of the doubt on that and assume that the cast becomes more fleshed out.
The character design and art direction are a strong suit, though I think that the execution isn't always as solid as it wants to be. In particular I think a lot of the cinematography/scene transitions can feel dated, and there are a few experimental shots that don't really work (the only one that really does, though, is my favorite shot in the whole show).
The show's soundtrack is middling, with a few great tracks (those English-language vocal tracks are all stellar) and a couple horrendous ones (Sora's theme is annoying). My biggest complaint with it is that whoever was in charge of the audio mixing did a terrible job, because there are tons of scenes where the background music is so loud it almost completely masks the voice of the person talking (I don't know if this issue is present in the dub).
I know I'm listing a lot of complaints, but my thing is that while I do have many minor nitpicks about the show... they're just that, minor nitpicks. The foundation and concept of it are rock solid; it's just execution, execution, execution.
Also Tsukasa is cute and I support her and her relationship with Hotaru.