.hack SIGN
| .hack//SIGN | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Original Manga | N/A |
| Director/Artist | Shinichiro Watanabe |
| Format | Anime (TV) |
| Made By | Bee Train |
| Episode Length | 25 minutes |
| # of Eps/Volumes | 26 |
Contents
Genre
Sum it up in a Sentence:
Online game traps participants inside via physic nastiness, lone player has to find out cause.
Main Description
Amidst a popular online role playing game in the near future, The World, Tsukasa is a detached and introverted character that has a number of mysteries about his player character. Many weird happenings seem to suround Tsukasa and his involvement in a rare item called 'The Key Of The Twilight' sparks Tsukasa'a meeting with different online characters and the befriending of thier real life counterparts; All without ever meeting face to face in reality. What is strange about Tsukasa is that he can't seem to log out of The World.
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Personal Opinions
NeverRamza
Anime shows produced by Bee Train are rather easily identifiable in their style and .hack//SIGN does nothing to go against that. The anime series is slow moving and filled with camera pans and lyrical background music that occasionally is just a tad bit louder than you’d normally expect. The story develops at a snails pace and just like many other shows by Bee Train, it can get a bit annoying at times. However, this is also part of the appeal of a Bee Train show.
.hack//SIGN is nice in that if you can handle long periods of non-action, there’s a lot to just sit back, soak up and enjoy. Bee Train does their niche rather well and this is one of their best examples of them doing it right. The art direction and general feel of the show is very interesting to just watch as it plays out.
Enjoying .hack//SIGN probably requires a bit of appreciate for the entire technophile “we are elite hackerz!!1” feel that the 90’s pulled off so well. The show is laced with just as much flashy hacker nonsense as there is general atmosphere. You’ll also need to be able to stomach all the incredibly nerdy conversations revolving around the importance and acceptability of playing an MMORPG that are all taken very much seriously by the characters. It’s interesting but at the same time, a little overblown.
.hack//SIGN is pretty good if the style of the show is up your alley. As of May 2007 it’s also definitely the best part of the entire .hack multiple media spanning franchise which many people consider most of its other significant ventures to be mediocre or just plain bad.
Ferretts
In general I agree with NeverRamza, but I'll stress that when the music is louder than you'd expect, it's a great thing. The music is amazing, and the most memorable scenes in .hack//SIGN owe a lot of their impact to the outstanding BGM.
Also I'd recommend .hack//SIGN:Intermezzo to anyone regardless of if you've watched .hack//SIGN. Intermezzo is a one episode OVA about a flashback to when Mimiru first entered The World. It can be watched independently from .hack//SIGN as a stand alone short story. For something brief and sentimental, give it a shot.
