.hack//SIGN

Title:.hack//SIGN
.hack
Hack Sign
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Notables: Amanda Win Lee
Brianne Siddal
ENOMOTO Atsuko
HIRAMATSU Akiko
ICHINO Marie
ITOU Kazunori
MASHIMO Koichi
MIKI Shinichirou
Mary Elizabeth Mcglynn
Music - KAJIURA Yuki
NAKATA Kazuhiro
NAZUKA Kaori
R1 License - FUNimation
SADAMOTO Yoshiyuki
SAIGA Mitsuki
Sandy Fox
TANAKA Rie
TOYOGUCHI Megumi
UCHIYAMA Daisuke
YANAKA Hiroshi
It's the near future, and there is only one video game, called "The World." In the virtual reality of "The World", all sorts of people play. However, once a character named Tsukasa is unable to log out, and weird events start happening, "The World" starts to seem much more mysterious than anyone ever thought.

[26 TV episodes.]

1:36min Series Opening - YouTube Video
[edit] The ↗.hack franchise:

Tsukasa arc: Shugo & Rena arc (sequel): Side stories (alternative setting): Haseo arc (same setting): Unknown (same setting):
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Watch 8 7 6 9 7 6 Devil Doll [series:437#752]
Score: 71% = Watch+, good concept but too many deficits in handling the "outside the game" aspects, not unlike NHK ni Youkoso!

Last updated Sunday, July 05 2009. Created Sunday, July 05 2009.
Watch 7 7 7 9 7 7 Dreamer [series:437#2279]
Hmmmm.... what can I say about .Hack....? First, it's a loooooong, sloooooow anime. Throughout all 27 episodes, action and fight sequences are very scarce. In fact, the only notible battle (if it can be called that), was between Crim and Sora 3/4 of the way through the series. But the lack of battles and action is replaced by plenty of dialogue. The dialogue is what makes this anime. Nevermind the theme and the costumes, it's purely dialogue. Some people would say that action isn't what makes the story. True however, you would expect some here and there given the fact that they are carrying around swords, axes and other weapons of war.

One thing that sorta bothered me about this anime was the fact that the whole plot presented characters one would find in such places as, 'Wizards & Warriors' era, or the era of swords & sorcery... yet, it was purely for costume and nothing more. At first I was disappointed and thought it a waste of art & animation but slowly came to accept it as just that.

The animation was lackluster and the plot was lackluster however, the music tracks were AMAZING! In fact, I quickly got me a copy of the OST and fell in love with half the songs and enjoy the other half. In my opinion the music is the only saving grace. Well, overall it wasn't 'terrible', but I would definately say watch other anime first and then come to this 'only' when you're bored and have nothing to do.

By the way, get the OST for sure! "In the land of twilight, under the moon" is an amazing track!

Last updated Sunday, March 02 2008. Created Sunday, March 02 2008.
Buy 9 8 9 10 8 10 Ggultra2764 [series:437#1552]
If you want a good action anime or anything with a quick-moving story, then .hack//Sign will not be your cup of tea. This is a show that takes its time with development so you become acquainted with the plot and characters, especially as more details concerning the mystery of Tsukasa's incapability of logging out of the World are revealed. The MMORPG known as the World has an immersive world to take in and players with diverse personalities whose attitudes of the game clash on occasion. From the stickler for the rules Ginkan to player killer Sora, you get a good sense of just what kind of people the players are as they interact with each other. Even as more about Tsukasa's problems are revealed and eventually resolved, there are mysteries left unresolved about those who kept Tsukasa trapped in the game which are revealed later on in the first set of hack video games and .hack//Liminality.

In terms of visuals, hack has vivid scenery and great looking character designs with a great amount of detail and bright colors. While dialogue was the major emphasis of much of Sign, the scenes where there were abnormalities in the World were the highlights in the animation department for the series. One effective use of the artwork was discerning the differences between reality and the World with the differences in color. The World was saturated in plenty of color meant to convey the escapism and freedoms that it gave its users while reality is coated in black and white with static accompanying its borders to convey the boredom and pressures that it gave people day by day.

hack's best feature for me was its music. Filled with powerful vocals and an energetic techno soundtrack, the soundtrack for the series stands as one of the best I've heard in an anime to date.

With a focus on character interactions and the mysteries surrounding Tsukasa, .hack//Sign makes for a great title if you like anime that take their time with developing their elements.

Last updated Sunday, November 16 2008. Created Saturday, January 05 2008.
Rent 9 8 8 8 7 oogenesis [series:437#2208]
A warning: .hack//SIGN's plot rivals Arctic glaciers for sheer lack of haste; calling the protagonist 'offputting' might be phrasing it rather mildly, and the series is gravid with dialogue. If you can't sit still through more than a couple episodes of Serial Experiments Lain or Boogiepop wa Warawanai, then I strongly advise you to watch something else. This series will only leave you deeply regretting the time you invested in it.

Now that I'm done playing devil's advocate, .hack//SIGN is surprisingly enjoyable given its seemingly limited appeal (the series concerns itself with a MMORPG called, imaginatively enough, 'The World'; its authors drew heavily upon real-life online gaming experiences for their work) and ties to a much larger franchise. I had no exposure to any other parts of the .hack universe, but I still found myself intrigued from the very first episode, something which I cannot say for very many series I've watched. Even though the characters are essentially avatars for real people we only ever see hazy glimpses of, the major players are all richly human, thoroughly engaging, and visually appealing -- yes, even our protagonist, the Wavemaster Tsukasa, whom at first glance appears aloof, unemotional, and arrogant (I'm a lot like him and I know someone else who resembles him even more). .hack//SIGN is lushly animated; the scenery gorgeous, and what CGI is used doesn't call undue attention to itself, meshing nicely with the surrounding cel work. The plot offers some morsels of mental gristle to chew on: the nature of existence, the psychological motivations of many gamers, and what it means to form relationships with people online that you may never meet in person.

This is not to say .hack//SIGN is flawless. 1) Yuki Kajiura's music, while well worth tracking down the OST releases, blares throughout most of the episodes and steamrolls over the dialogue a little too often. I refuse to believe that the series' creators were so devoted to achieving the highest degree of verisimilitude possible that they would purposefully NOT mix the soundtrack to the background on occasion, particularly when people are speaking. Fortunately, the horrid sound mixing job is mitigated somewhat in the English dub...if you can tolerate it for longer than a few minutes (Bandai is not known for decent English dub tracks; .hack//SIGN is no exception). Fortunately also, its volume distracts the viewer less in subsequent episodes. I was actually able somehow to ignore the soundtrack and focus on the interactions between the major characters. Your mileage may vary.

2) There is far too much repeated imagery, although I suppose it makes sense given the series has its genesis in a video game; the scenery is just static backdrop and nothing more. Again, if you can get past seeing Lady Subaru in her skiff floating lazily down a Venetian-style waterway three million times, you will have little to worry about.

3) I felt mildly cheated by the ending. I shall not spoil it here, but it feels as though .hack//SIGN's creators succumbed to a moderate case of Low Budget Syndrome, a disease that has plagued far too many anime titles. The effects of LBS become apparent just past three-fourths of the way through: the quality of the animation isn't affected too greatly, but the plot suffers. Around episode 23 or so, the plot shrugs, floors it, and the major players are dragged along under its wheels for two episodes until the whole thing abruptly crashes into a wall.

Major flaws aside, I highly suggest renting this series, downloading it (shhh...) or borrowing it from a friend to see if it is to your fancy first. If so, most of .hack//SIGN has substantial replay value; don't be surprised if you find yourself wanting to own a few volumes of it.

Last updated Friday, March 17 2006. Created Friday, March 17 2006.
Buy 7 7 7 9 9 9 manganime [series:437#1633]
Great anime, such an original piece of work. The story line had me from beginning to end. When getting Hack i thought it was just gonna be a typical story about love- but the whole idea about somebody who can't logout of a game is great.

*Spoilers* The only thing I really disliked was how the original ending in ep25 jsut pops outta nowhere leaving so much unanswered. Although the extra ep28 does show the whole gang again with Dusk characters too giving a better ending there was still much unclear. How do the sign and dusk characters know each other? What exactly happened to Sora when he colapsed in reality? Was Tsukasa able to logout purely coz Ora awoke????

Nevertheless I still recommend this.

Last updated Tuesday, July 19 2005. Created Tuesday, July 05 2005.

Watch 9 9 9 7 7 7 Snipaboy [series:437#1881]


Last updated Tuesday, March 15 2005. Created Tuesday, March 15 2005.
Watch 10 10 10 10 8 7 adiree [series:437#1804]
thus far, i've only been able to watch the english dub version, but will get the original with subtitles, as i feel there is something missing in the english dub.... this really could have been a truly great anime, but as it is - well, it's okay... it's not bad... the story builds slowly, which is almost essential as the plot line is very complicated and a complicated plot line issued out in one or two episodes could scare away younger viewers...
the music is fantastic, and actually helps to maintain character and plot, so if anything, watch it for the music; the art as well is worth a look - even if it's just one or two episodes
however, as i said, it started out great, but, the last two episodes killed my raving for the series.... it's almost as if there was a budget cut or something and so the animators left out a great deal of stuff... what could have been a great anime turned into a fluff series, and one i ended up disappointed in... but, the beginning is great, just don't watch the final episodes!!! or rather, watch them, but understand that you'll be left confused and wondering why you watched them

Last updated Wednesday, January 19 2005. Created Wednesday, January 19 2005.
Watch 10 8 10 10 8 8 llxl [series:437#1778]
If you watch this anime, I'd recommend reading legend of the twilight and playing the videogame as well. They're all linked together and it becomes a lot more interesting to see the World at different times. This anime is very slow unless you get really into it. The characters were pretty good, and the art and music were stunning. I don't believe most people would like it, since I only liked it because I could relate it to the videogame series, which has a storyline also pretty good. Another thing is it's really serious- not for people who like funny, lighthearted stuff.

Last updated Friday, January 07 2005. Created Friday, January 07 2005.
Buy 10 9 10 10 9 10 Tammi [series:437#1732]
You will either love or hate this series. I loved it, some of my friends hated it. Plenty of people have been complaining because its not that straightforward. If you don't understand it, find a website about it. That really helps. But the whole idea is to keep you in suspense. It's like a mystery- you don't know whats going on, whodunnit or what not until the end. I understood the series perfectly, but I did read the first two .hack//legend of the twilight books ^^ in my opinion all you need to know is the primitive plot, and little more. You're not meant to know everything, but some things are quite obvious, if you pay attention. At some points, you may notice subtle things, that will make a BIG difference! (Take episode 12 for example) As for the character design, I thought it was amazing. You could tell right off the bat what each character was like. Mimiru is a great main character, as well as Bear, BT and Sora. BT and Tsukasa keep the mystery alive- and thats the best part. Sora is a great character (especially if you know who he is in RL XD!) The series is pretty good- theres no big good guy saving the little cute girl. True, theres the Guardian, but if you think about it, that gets Tsukasa into more trouble then its worth. Overall? Buy the series, read the manga (.hack//legend of the twilight) ^^

Last updated Thursday, December 16 2004. Created Thursday, December 16 2004.
Buy 9 10 9 10 9 Anonymous #1616 [series:437#1616]
I really liked dothack, causse it is an unique anime series. When I saw dothack for the first time I had a felling that I was playing some kind of RPG game like Phantasy Star Online or Diablo 2, and being a huge fan of RPG massive like I am, I was imediatily captivated by this series. I liked episode 7 very much, and I loved the treasures boxes that appeared along the anime. Very good. Finally a good anime based in a RPG game, althrough I also liked Arc the Lad.

Last updated Saturday, October 02 2004. Created Saturday, October 02 2004.
Buy 10 10 10 10 10 10 Anime4Ever! [series:437#1414]
While it may be confusing it beats most cliched RPG-Based Anime'sand Fantsy base Anime out there. The clif hangers leave you wating and wanting more. Even though it doesn't have so mutch action in it I think it is great. Beats the crap out of Pokemon, and Final Fantasy. What I love about this is it's so mysterious, and dark, and unpredicatable. Unlike with Final Fantasy, Zelda, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and so on. The music is great to. The acting was great, the best I have ever seen. This is one of the bests in my opinion. In Fact .hack//SIGN is the first Anime I have seen, that was actually dark. With the many suprises in there, I have never been the same.

There are many great chracters in this series, some goofy, others serious, and just plain loveable. Tsukasa is a highly emotional enigma. Subaru is a personal fav. of mine. She's sweet, and cute. And they didn't try to hard to make them funny, or make thier jokes funny. "Tsukasa, let's play red light green light!" -Sora. That was the best gag I have ever heard. David Whittenburg did wonders for Sora. And the Chrimson Knights. And A-20 is an adorable character

Very wonderful animation by Bee-Train along with some guy with a really long Japanese Name. Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. They have tone, to their bodies, and the EFX are wonderful. There is some cell shading, but it's light, and doesn't stick out like a sore thumb.

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

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

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

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

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

Last updated Wednesday, June 22 2005. Created Monday, May 31 2004.
Buy 10 10 10 10 10 10 .hack man [series:437#1336]
im in love in it. it may not contain any blood or guns but its something that in my eyes is amazing. i like the the story, characters, places, songs, and even the thing before the show with the song and tittle thing, well you know. its exciting and out going. i hope you enjoyed as much as i do.or at least better than this disfunctional guy

Last updated Thursday, April 15 2004. Created Thursday, April 15 2004.
Buy 7 8 8 7 8 7 Kira [series:437#1286]
This anime is a really nice one, though it is not my favorite. I would have to say that this anime is kind of sad really, but with a good story line. .Hack//Sign is one that will make you think, with lots of riddles for everyone to try and figure out. I would have to say my personal favorite would be Subaru...her character is so sad and confused, and I love her wings...lol. This anime is just wonderful.

Last updated Sunday, March 21 2004. Created Sunday, March 21 2004.
Watch 10 10 10 8 7 3 WearRedLipstick [series:437#1267]
This anime...makes my head hurt. While visually it is stunning and chock full of beautifully drawn characters and scenery, it moves VERY slow...almost painfully slow. While I don't mind a bit of dialogue the characters can take up almost an entire episode drawing out a conversation in one place which could have been condensed to a minute or two to allow for the story to move itself along or for some action to happen. But NOOOOO. That is just too much to ask. The overall story line had great potential but the episodes don't take the story anywhere fast. Some people will love it because it a deeper than most shows, but even though I do like meaningful dialogue, this is just...no fun. I will watch this show if it happens to be on if even just because it is nice eye candy, but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy it, rent it, or even make sure that I see it on TV. I might borrow it from a friend but that's about it. There is just too many other graet anime shows to watch! If you like the manga...you still might not like this.

Last updated Sunday, March 14 2004. Created Sunday, March 14 2004.
Rent 10 10 10 9 7 6 lost emotions [series:437#1092]
I personally thought this series was very subjective.People will either luv this anime or hate it.One of my friends said her cousin loved it, so i bought it. The animation was nice but the series was so boring i had trouble staying awake, but the more i watched it, the more i started to realise what this anime was about.I expected this to be somewhat like X or some relaly depressing anime, but instead it's an anime that makes you think about what each of the anime goes through.All through the series they don't directly tell you what each player is going through, but gives you hints here and there. If your falling asleep, the hints will just go by like nothing happened. For those people that like more "up in your face" anime, don't watch this. They don't explain anything at all, so if you don't watch it carefully, everything won't make sense in the end. If you want the best out of this series, you have to gather the bits and peices of the hints they give and think about how they act. I completely didn't understand the part at the end, however, when it gives a glimpse of Zea in the real world and u see her sitting in front of policewoman, and her father comes storming in and slaps her and somehow her shirt comes off???! or bra or whatever that was??? i mean like, what was that all about? Please tell me if you know lol.
I loved the music, and my favorite character was probably B.T but i can relate alot to Subaru's weakness. B.T, through the whole series is a total B!tch buh then therez this one short 2 second scene of her in the outside world, n u understand alot more. She does alot of weird things in the movie, liek talk about all this stuff to bear, which i have no idea what she's saying.
But anyways, this is a series that's calm and peaceful, but makes you think beyond all the peacefullness, about different characters and their past. This is really worth watching if your able to pick out all the hints.

Last updated Saturday, December 06 2003. Created Saturday, December 06 2003.
Watch 10 9 6 7 3 1 N3aal [series:437#724]
This anime is not for everyone. You will either like it or you will really really hate it...Which is what happened with me.
I was very confused at the beginning but as the story slowly developed it started to make sense, but it was dull. What made matters worse is that the protagonist (he or she) really got on my nerves that I could'nt continue watching.

Last updated Saturday, September 13 2003. Created Saturday, September 13 2003.
Watch 10 10 4 4 4 4 dhrachth [series:437#962]
Well, it's pretty. Unfortunately, there's not much else going for it. The characters, which I don't particularly care about, natter on endlessly about things I, once again, don't particularly care about.
Maybe there's some deep message if I'd stuck with it longer than 3 episodes, but I doubt it.
It's basically watching a fully illustrated game of D&D which might entertain some people but I just kept wondering why I should give a rat's ass about a bunch of characters that were trying to look cool but actually needed to get a life.
Check it out, see if it's your cup of tea, but don't lay down any cash for it.

Last updated Wednesday, September 10 2003. Created Wednesday, September 10 2003.
Watch Stretch [series:437#628]
I stumbled upon .hack//SIGN being shown on Cartoon Network on Saturday nights. The story was already several weeks along, but I watched it regularly from that point onwards. A little over a week ago I watched an episode which I figured might be the last one, since it seemed to have a vague sense of closure to it, but I thought about it and decided that no, there are far too many riddles still unexplained. Yesterday I watched the show as usual, and quickly realised that this was the opening episode. So, that HAD been the last episode after all, and they'd started showing the series all over again. The thought occured to me to grab a VCR tape and start recording the series from the begining, but I thought about it and realised that no, I'll never be willing to commit the awesome amount of time and brainpower needed to rewatch it--and that's coming from someone who tapes TV anime wholesale, and would even record Pilot Candidate if Cartoon Network ever reruns it. I guess the problem with .hack//SIGN was that the story progressed so slowly, yet only one episode per week was shown. I like to think that I don't have an attention defficiency problem, but when dealing with a show which requires as much concentration and attention as this one does, my attention (and memory) span must be somewhat less than a week. It's almost as if a single episode could be fairly entertaining, but many episodes become less, rather than more, enjoyable. Also, I'll never forgive them for not explaining who that scarecrow-cat charachter was!

9/03 #62

Last updated Sunday, February 03 2008. Created Sunday, September 07 2003.
Watch 8 7 6 8 6 4 El Migue [series:437#919]
I saw this anime very very excited because I wanted to play the game with the background the anime provides. The series is very very slow. It had a great concept but it basically stays with the "welcome to an online game go and play one to feel it onscreen". Nothing much happens until the series start kicking on about episode 9 to 12 but still is too much talking and less adventuring. The final episodes are very entertaining but the first row in the series hurts it a lot.

Last updated Saturday, August 16 2003. Created Saturday, August 16 2003.
Avoid 10 10 5 2 0 0 Vash [series:437#907]
Personally,i think this anime is a complete waste of time.From the start till the end,all they do is talk,talk, and more talk.It gets so repetitive.Every episode starts off with the main characters on how there gonna save the poor old kid who cant log out of a RPG game.I actually fast forwarded most of it to get through it to keep myself awake!

Last updated Friday, August 15 2003. Created Friday, August 15 2003.
Avoid 10 10 3 4 2 2 DisFunctional [series:437#863]
You can relate to me if you think
Rurouni Kenshin OVA (excellent in every way. The best youve seen)
Cowboy Bebop (excellent. The story line was really well done)
Inuyasha (good, but got repetitive and at the same time you were entertained)
Ranma 1/2 (good, but got repetitive and at the same time you were entertained)
.hack//SIGN (a waste of time)
----------
this has to be one of the worst series i've seen so far. boring, boring and more boring.
lets start with the positives:
the animation/art was fantastic.
negatives:
The music was different, but i must admit that i liked it. What pissed me off was when, for no reason, they decided to crank up the volume in a quite scene and that was through out the whole series (talking and loud music in the background).
Hack Sign was based on a computer game, now what I dont understand qas... Why would you spend your free time to be a servant in a game, like the knights? why would you play a game where nothing happens?
Talk, talk, talk, thats all they do. You would think talking would lead to action, but no, it leads to more talking.
Conclusion:
i couldn't keep my eyes open while I was watching this series.
A picture says a thousand words, in this case, a thousand words = nothing.

Last updated Tuesday, July 22 2003. Created Sunday, July 20 2003.
Buy 9 5 10 10 10 10 Rogue_Noir [series:437#850]
When I first heard of .hack//Sign, I watched the first 6 episodes.. the pace of the story was unbearably slow and soon I stopped. I began watching it again a year later, picking up from where I left off and needless to say, it blew me away and I finished in a few days. The plot does develop pretty slowly in the beginning but I don't recommend skipping the first few episodes since they set the stage for all the action later on.
99% of the plot takes place in a game world (called "The World") and 1% shows brief glimpses of action taking place simultaneously in the real world. It's basically about a character in the game named Tsukasa who claims he cannot log out and is conscious only of the game world. He meets characters that want to help him return to the real world as well as those who want to capture or use him because of his certain special abilities.
I think we can almost all relate to at least one of the characters.. this series really goes above and beyond with its character development, something that takes some patience to appreciate. The only complaint I have is the relative lack of action (and thus lower score for 'animation'.) Basically, if you're looking for something with quality character development and complex plot while not having an overly serious undertone, you'll probably like .hack//Sign.

Last updated Tuesday, July 15 2003. Created Tuesday, July 15 2003.
Buy 10 10 10 10 8 Nanashi [series:437#844]
I've watched the entire series plus the extra. Personally, I love this series ^____^ The art, the animation, the character design and not to mention the music were all great. The music especially. The storyline is pretty good and mysterious much like the characters. With hidden backrounds and misleading appearences, the characters lead interesting lives in and out of 'The World'. Focused on not only the main character but also the supporting characters, the story reveals many of the characters' thoughts and ideals. Also, the character developement is interesting, yet could be missed if you don't pay attention.
To watch this series, one would have to be patient since the pace is rather slow at times. But if you get too impatient you might miss something important to the plot. Like Helen said, you would have to be really attentive to catch all the glimpses of the characters' real lives.
This series is great for you if you want something to sit down with and enjoy as you uncover the mysteries of the characters' identities in real life. Although it's not filled with action, it still keeps your brain moving.

Last updated Thursday, July 10 2003. Created Thursday, July 10 2003.
Watch 10 10 4 Lutzie [series:437#786]
I haven't finished watching this yet, but at the pace it's going, i'm finding it hard to continue. The plot seems very interesting but the main character is a nuisance. He doesn't say much and doesn't do much, not to mention acts like a girl. Anyhow, i think it's still a good anime, putting aside the slow momentum.

Last updated Monday, July 07 2003. Created Monday, July 07 2003.
Buy 10 10 10 10 10 10 stefan [series:437#819]
In .hack//SIGN there are really no good or bad guys in this series. This is a series were you have dedicate your self to think about what each character is saying and thinking. I love when they show the real world. When started to watch .hack//sign on the second episode expecting to see alot of fighting(I bet all of you were to) but .hack sign is far from fighting and violence. Thats why i love it so much cause it very different from the average anime. The music is great like "Aura","The World"

Last updated Tuesday, August 05 2003. Created Tuesday, July 01 2003.
Watch bekku [series:437#816]
let's see...this sort of reminds me of captain n: the game master for some strange reason. guy trapped inside of videogame but can't get out type thing going on there, done so many times, but not with such a deep tale as this. the series doesn't just focus on the main character which is a good thing in my personal opinion. they go further into the lives of the many players in the outside world and why they play this game which is pretty nifty. especially with BT, she seems so mysterious at times ~_~ even her name...how she got it was pretty, interesting.
there really isn't that much action if you really think about it. i mean, the most action there could have been was prevented by the "guardian" thing. so, mainly this game seems about mystery and puzzles like most RPG games today. if you feel like you need more info on this game try the videogame, i heard it was much better than the series itself. but you should definately try watching it :) i like those little cows XDDDDD

Last updated Monday, June 30 2003. Created Monday, June 30 2003.
Watch 9 9 8 8 5 Kari [series:437#798]
When this first came out, I was interested in seeing what all the fuss was about. The plot revolves around a group of online RPG players. I found the main character Tsukasa depressing and dull. Well I suppose I'd be depressed too, if I were trapped in a game of any sort.



Unfortunately, I was tremendously disappointed by this show. I think my expectations for .hack//SIGN were simply too high. The animation is great, the character designs are fine, and the music is beautiful. Most of the music is performed by See-Saw and Emily Bindiger, with composition by Yuki Kajiura. I also think the dub for this show is acceptable.



Even with so many good points to this show, I still couldn't bring myself to like it...it just bores me. I was very unentertained. While I hate shows that consist of pointless panty shots, I do like to watch shows that can keep me focused on the plot and characters.



I recommend purchasing the soundtrack, as well as checking out any other .hack//SIGN shows and games.


Last updated Friday, November 17 2006. Created Sunday, June 29 2003.
Watch 10 10 10 10 5 1 Anime-Reaper-03 [series:437#778]
This series basically had the backing of the games as well as the whole fact that it was a first of its kind in a sense. Great animation, sound, and characters. Hitting the story on the other hand it's a dud.
The whole story is based arround one character and lightly touches on other smaller but similar characters from the game. Overall story is slightly interesting when you listen about it, then you see it, doesn't come together. The episodes drag on and leave you sitting there saying "Is that it?"
My best advice is to check it out on Toonami(if possible) and if you don't like the first episode it won't pick up on any excitement.

Last updated Sunday, June 15 2003. Created Sunday, June 15 2003.
Watch 8 8 5 8 6 Greg Bread [series:437#763]
A series about a guy trapped in an online video game! Gee what a great idea! Unfortunately, It could've been done better and it didn't live up to my expectations. Although I love the concept and it has great potential its just not exciting.
First of all the main character Tsukasa has a serious attitude problem, he wants to get out but he keeps pushing people away from him that want to help. I don't know what its like to be trapped in a video game so I can't relate, but it just seems unfitting. The series starts slow and continues to be slow until the end, there are some notable events through out the series but they just dont have that WOW effect.
The best part about the show is finding out what the character are like in real life,I found that very interesting. The ending should have explained more and it should have been longer, The way it ended was a terrible disappointment.
Some people really like this series, So I'm not going to tell you not to watch this. Just watch some and judge for yourself.

Last updated Friday, June 13 2003. Created Friday, June 13 2003.
Rent 8 9 9 10 6 Almost Eilonwy [series:437#428]
I must say that I have mixed feelings about this anime. The story is exciting and inventive. Tsukasa, the lead character, is very interesting. The art is wonderful and the music is the best.
That all being said, my reservations about this series come from the actual execution of the plot. It's slow, to say the least. Most of the series is taken up with characters standing around talking to each other. Most of the conversations are redundant or not important. When something actually does happen, it is handled well, but you have to wait a long time to get any satisfaction.
I was going to rate this as a "watch", but the ending of the last episode boosted it up to a "rent" with the absolutely fabulous final scene. What can I say? It gave me a warm fuzzy feeling.

Last updated Thursday, May 15 2003. Created Thursday, May 15 2003.
Buy 10 10 10 10 9 8 .hack//Phil [series:437#656]
Wow, great anime series. Although I haven't seen all the episodes due to my lack of a cable modem (damn 56k), and my sudden lack of money. This limits my anime reasources to whatever shows up on television or whatever my friends can lend me.
Now .hack//Sign does start out slow, and I admit I was confused with the whole thing when I first saw it. But this drew me in, I wanted to learn more about such a strange place. I'm glad I wasn't detered from the slow moving pace of things, b/c this is an amazing anime. Also surprisingly enough it has some really good music. I highly recommed this to anyone who is the least bit into anime.
Note: not the series to watch if you suffer from ADD!
Phillip
www.freewebs.com/anime_reviews

Last updated Wednesday, June 25 2003. Created Wednesday, April 23 2003.
Buy 10 10 9 9 9 9 Carrot [series:437#548]
This series is really good. It's a bit slow at the start but you'll be glued to the seat once you've started watching it further on. It's really unpredictable, not like typical RPG stories. Very worth watching!

Last updated Saturday, April 12 2003. Created Thursday, April 03 2003.
Buy 10 10 10 10 9 9 HunterD [series:437#606]
Well I just finished marathoning all of the .hack//sign episodes. All I can say is that it was a very good Anime if your into Drama and using your brain. Its not a highly action packed series, but the story is very strong the furthure you watch. and like helen said it's one of those series you'll either love or hate.

Last updated Wednesday, March 26 2003. Created Wednesday, March 26 2003.
Rent 9 8 9 9 8 9 AstroNerdBoy [series:437#436]
This is a series that won't be for everyone. For starters, .hack//SIGN starts of very slow. However, don't let the ultra slow start put you off this series.

Characters talk a lot but don't seem to say much, especially in the beginning of the series. The characters here all exist in a VR RPG game known as "The World". One character named Tsukasa is unable to log out of the game. Soon after, strange things start happening in The World. While the story is set in The World, we do get flashes of the real world. The are done in black-and-white with maybe some red to accent things. Some strange events also start happening to people in the RW who are playing the game.

I enjoyed this series from a mystery point of view. Why can't Tsukasa log out? Who is the apparent NPC cat character? Who is the girl floating above the bed? What is Tsukasa's guardian? As the series progresses, we learn more about the various people who play the game, the game itself, and more. While an RPG game, there is little action as this is a series driven by characters and the mystery of Tsukasa.

Bottom line: I enjoyed watching it, but even after two viewings, I still have a lot of questions and there are a lot of things that don't make sense. Otherwise, well worth renting.

Last updated Monday, May 31 2004. Created Friday, February 28 2003.
Buy 10 9 10 10 8 8 Sesen Kelader [series:437#471]
Hack//Sign is one of the rare animes having really good background music. It's well made and aslo suits the setting of .Hack//Sign well---since it sounds like RPG game music ^o^.
What's good about its character setting would be known by anyone who play on-line game at least for a while. There are players who like the main character, who enjoys the virtual world without caring anything. There are also players who like to stand for "justice" in the game. There are players who play solely for themselves as well. All these kind of playing styles are shown in .Hack//Sign. Conclusively, .Hack//Sign has well-made character setting.
.Hack//Sign would make online RPG players feel like home.

Last updated Saturday, January 11 2003. Created Saturday, January 11 2003.
Buy 10 10 10 10 9 Ori [series:437#466]
I really really like this series. The art and the music is so beautiful. The story line is very deep, but it does take a lot of time to catch on to the series, because the beginning has a rather slow pace, but once you get through the first few shows, you will be glued to the screen for sure.
I also love the character designs. I love the main character, a confused angsy individual who looks so cute you just want to give him/her a hug everytime you see him. ^_^
However, if you only like ecchi jokes, guns, robots or blood then this is not for you.

Last updated Saturday, July 19 2003. Created Saturday, December 28 2002.
Unevaluated 10 10 10 10 Exellion [series:437#412]
The music scores were great, the character designs were good and the idea behind the story's great but the story itlsef dragged on for too long and i was in a room with 5 other ppl who fell asleep watching it.. though the story was great in the begining with intruiging characters and storyline..it ended up being too repetitive and we were bombarded constantly with time wasting small talks..the characters never get to the point and spend half the time talking bout the same things over and over...but the ending wasn't as bad as we had expected...
Have lots of coffee for this one...Or alcohol like we did..

Last updated Wednesday, October 23 2002. Created Wednesday, October 23 2002.
Buy 10 10 10 10 Wil [series:437#403]
Totally not what I was expecting. My first thought was an RPG series with a brave hero, the attached hot chick who needs saving, a big guy, and a hairy little guy who all go kill things. Not even close. So once you get over the shock you realize that its a serious drama that slowly develops into the most intriguing story. Pack your bags or fight for a better spot on the sofa. I have to say I was quite impressed, they did a nice job of avoiding blatant sterotyping, the music is incredible, and the plot makes you realize that there is some hope for creativity left in the world. They used perfect amounts of strangeness, confusion, and light humour to keep the serious story moving without boring the audience to a potentially painful boredom.
I think this is the perfect example of someone coming up with a cool idea and then actually doing it right.

Last updated Saturday, October 12 2002. Created Saturday, October 12 2002.
Buy 10 10 10 10 8 Mark Clifton [series:437#126]
This series is based off the RPG of the same name. Similiar to .hack//liminality; the storyline is soley within' the confines of the game, called 'The World.' The characters interact just like any Online RPG style game. The storyline itself is very complex, so the casual otaku who enjoys DBZ might not follow this series right away. However, it's a amazing series if you do get into it. So check it out, and if it doesn't grab you after four or so epiodes, it will probably bore you to tears then.

Last updated Sunday, September 08 2002. Created Sunday, September 08 2002.
Buy 10 10 10 10 7 Kaneda [series:437#87]
Yea, this is definetly and amazing series, at first i was like 'wth is this?' but as the series progresses it becomes more and more amazing, the creator truly did an amazing job.

Last updated Saturday, August 24 2002. Created Saturday, August 24 2002.
Buy 10 10 10 10 7 Helen [series:437#340]
Episodes reviewed: 1-20
Do you enjoy action?
Does blood and guts violence make you excited?
Do you like seeing random pointless panty shots?
Do you enjoy series involving toilet and ecchi humour?
Then don't watch Hack Sign.
This is one series that most people will either love or hate. If you fall into any of the above categories, and/or have the attention span of a 5-year-old, you probably won't find this series to be very entertaining. However, if you enjoy character-based mystery and drama stories, then you'll like Hack Sign.
The character designs in the series are done by the same person who made the designs for Evangelion, and the music is done by Yuki Kajiura, of Noir fame.
Contrary to what people think, this series is loaded with character development. Unfortunately, unlike some other series, it requires your full attention, since a good deal of the character development occurs during black and white, silent-film style flashbacks and glimpses of the real world(now that's style). This adds a great deal of intrigue as to what these people are really like. Well... I won't spoil, but some of the character's true selves are pretty shocking.
Also, some episodes of the series are surreal and freaky, which is quite good, and it's filled with riddles. So if you're in the mood for something down-tempo and relaxed, that will still keep your brain working, try out Hack Sign. It's definitely different from 99% of the video-game adaptations out there.

Last updated Tuesday, August 20 2002. Created Tuesday, August 20 2002.

Other Sites
NameURL
.hack//SIGN http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/hack_sign/
Official website from TV Tokyo
.hack http://www.hack.channel.or.jp/
Official Site
.hack//sign http://www.orichan.blogspot.com
Screen shots of .hack//SIGN
.hackers http://blackwings.net/hack
a project .hack site
Helba's Gate http://home.austin.rr.com/tsote/dothack/helba_gate.html
A simple (& new) website with a decent amount of SPOILER information.
dothack http://www.dothack.com
Official Website to the Games, and the Series.

Community Anime Reviews

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