Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
LemonadeSamurai
I'm going to be honest. This is a masterpiece and you need to see it. Ignore the score it has and watch it. It needs way more love for how compelling it is
First off let's start with the opening. The opening intro is incredibly well done and alluring. One of the best anime openings of the 2000s.
The characters? There aren't many but they're heavily developed as the story unfolds and they all have a story to tell.
The setting is an MMORPG called The World where a young boy named Tsubasa is suddenly teleported to. He didn't go there willingly and he has no idea HOW he got there nor he can he log out.
The beauty of .hack//Sign isn't the world itself but the story. See, the MMORPG isn't the plot. It's a backdrop.
The MMORPG they're in is purely used as the setting for the story. It's…
Read at the sourceTheWiseChampion
I don't often write reviews as I like to just enjoy and appreciate what I'm watching, but this anime was a complete waste of time. Not to sound immature but with the fantasy RPG setting, the massive franchise it spawned, and the flashy upbeat opening, I thought this was gonna be some grand, action-packed epic adventure. It was not. It's 26 episodes of everyone just moping and talking. Not that talking's bad, but where did any of these conversations go? Absolutely nowhere. I don't care about any of these characters. They're so dull and flat. The main character whose name I never remember even while watching is just Shinji Ikari except instead of not wanting to be in the robot he doesn't seem to really want to play the game. But who's forcing him? This was just an absolute chore to watch. I'…
Read at the sourceIvanLaptev
Have you played online games where the social component is important? And did you have the feeling that you will live your life in this game, find your love, ignoring the conventions of the game? If yes, then .hack//Sign will seem very close and familiar to you.
This is the story of people who want to believe that the game is more than just a game. And literally, story lives on this faith. The characters here are not just invented images. First of all, these are people who control their avatars. At any moment they can leave the game, and for them it will cease to matter. And their actions should be regarded from the position that they are trying to abstract from reality, but not get out of it. They don't feel the pain, or the warmth of their close player - but they want to believe it.…
Read at the sourcedelesley
The soundtrack for .hack//sign is one of Yuki Kajiura's early works, and it is absolutely amazing. When it came out, it was unlike almost anything else. (Noir is another early work by YK, and also very good). You should absolutely buy the soundtrack. Don't bother watching the anime.
The music is especially noticeable, because there is almost nothing else that will grab your attention on screen. The background art is decent, but most of the animation simply reuses the same sets over, and over, and over again. The first few episodes make you think that the anime is going to turn into something really cool, but it never pans out. The plot is entirely uninteresting, and the characters are either really annoying, or really boring, and often both.
The anime is supposedly set in an online MMORP…
Read at the sourceDeago
.hack//SIGN, the MMORPG anime that dares to break the mold and challenge our preconceived notions of the genre. Prepare yourself for a journey of dialogue-heavy, action-light storytelling that will either intrigue you or bore you to tears. Forget about the generic shounen anime tropes of annoying kids and unrealistic teenagers taking games way too seriously. This anime has bigger ambitions.
Now, don't get too excited, while the premise features players being stuck in a video game, this is not like Sword Art Online or other average VRMMORPG anime, so don't be fooled by the setting. If you're seeking fast-paced action and epic battles, you've come to the wrong place.
Some may find .hack//SIGN slow and boring, but that's merely a testament to its dedication to story progression and characte…
Read at the sourceHikari-Kuro
Kudos for being one of the first few animes with the topic of MMORPG. That is the only positive i can say of this title. Having recently finish season one of Log Horizon and still being in the mood for more anime with this genre,i decided to watch this series. Thinking that it would be of similar mold to Log Horizon,i went into this series having some what of a high expectation but was extremely disappointed. Even though,the artwork was not spectacular given that it came out in 2002,i was hoping that the story line would be interesting enough to compile me overlook this particular flaw. Sadly,the story line was worst than it's artwork,it was just 26 episodes of characters talking to each other. There were little to no action sequences at all throughout the either series. Even the conversat…
Read at the sourceliteraturenerd
Overview:
Before SAO, before Log Horizon, there was .hack//Sign. This was the anime that started the "trapped in an MMORPG" craze in anime. Although it is far superior in quality to SAO and Log Horizon, it somehow has an average rating almost 2 full points lower. Allow me to explain why this is a great injustice!
Story and characters: 7/10
The story will no doubt seem familiar at this point, because so many series have ripped off .hack. After a computer virus devastates the internet, a new web system is created and shortly after a massive MMORPG using virtual reality is born as the brain child of a German computer genius with mysterious motives. A player called Tsukasa finds himself trapped in this fantasy MMORPG and is unable to logout, but is not aware why or even who he is in the rea…
Read at the sourceIamWEB
Well I almost don't know what to say about .hack//Sign, there was so much I loved about this show and then so much that made me want to claw out my eyes. Lets just dive into this.
STORY:
.hack//Sign takes place in a virtual reality MMORPG called "The World". Players in the world have different classes and play styles that they choose from and play. They all can play the game differently. We focus in on a player named Tsukasa who is trapped in The World, unable to log out. Tsukasa doesn't know why this is happening and neither does anyone else. The story progresses as Tsukasa meets other players who all become interested and worried about why Tsukasa can't login. They embark on and EPIC journey to find out the mystery behind this... they don't seem to be in any rush what so ever because th…
Read at the sourceArea51
This is a review compiled by the many members of the VIA (Value In Anime) Graveyard Division. All members who have worked on this review are mentioned at the bottom. In addition, this review will also contain a “Value in the Anime” section detailing life lessons and values that make this anime worth watching.
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.hack//sign isn't exactly new. Known for it's slow pace, it has a reputation as a poorly paced, often boring show. While this is true, to an extent, there is still value in this anime--life lessons that make it worth the time you're willing to invest in it.
Story: .hack//sign is a slow anime with an episodic format and plot to match. Often, you may feel that you might have to go back and re-watch an episode or two because might have missed something in the last s…
Read at the sourceChihiri
.hack//SIGN is perhaps not exactly what you may think it is, but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. It has hardly any action, contrary to what it may seem like, and the main focus of this story is on the characters. But it is done in such an appealing way that I personally found myself not wanting to sleep until I found out how it ended. I'll warn you: .hack//SIGN isn't flashy and exciting; but it does have some fantastic qualities to make up for that fact. So let's break this down.
STORY:
.hack//SIGN is about a virtual reality MMORPG ( Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Game ) called "The World." In The World, players determine what class they would like to become, and then set out to play the game however they see fit. Some play in parties, while others choose to play solo. I…
Read at the sourceHangJarrel
Before I start off with this review I'd like to point out that I haven't played any of the .hack video games, so this view is directly from a person that has no background information from the video games.
This .hack is definitely different but similar in it's own accord compared to the other .hack series. The story is very plain and boring when read on paper, but really think about it, if you try to imagine the events happening in the real world it would be pretty messed up and interesting, the one thing I really liked about this series is the fact that they put more emphasis on the players themselves rather than the characters inside the video game, the main character Tsukasa is "stuck" in the game, he can't seem to log out (although in the real world tsukasa is actually a female playin…
Read at the sourcekekekeKaj
First impressions of "Hack Sign"... stunningly good animation and excellent music.
Unfortunately there's not much more to it. This is an anime with a weak story line that contain more holes than Swiss cheese, and tries to make up for it by pretending to be deep. What they don't seem to realise is that there's more to being deep than having the characters do little more than stand around looking thoughtful and utter the occasional grunt whilst elegant music drifts past in the background. You need GOOD dialogue and storyline to be deep, and as hard as this anime tries, it doesn't have either. "Hack Sign" is a prime example of how to make a dialogue heavy anime that is dull (for an example of a good dialogue heavy anime, look no further than "Crest of the Stars").
One of the main problems i…
Read at the sourceAuronSurmount
I came into .Hack//Sign with mixed reviews and no knowledge of the characters or the plot / setting. I was pretty skeptical because a couple of my really good friends said it was very boring. Then again I had friends that said it was amazing. With that being said, i just had to see for myself.
Right off the bat I need to address one HUGE CON of this anime. The use of flashbacks and how many episodes they used. The large majority of .hack//sign was used having flashbacks. But not even stuff that we haven't seen yet. There was one scene (that was several minutes long) that was played AT LEAST 10 times in the series. Not to mention for a WHOLE episode they did a review of everything that had happened thus far. When you are dealing with an anime that is only 26 episodes long there is no need…
Read at the sourceArowind91
To the many people who play them, video games, can be a form of escapism from the real world. What could be more stress relieving than diving into a fantasy world where you assume the role of the character in the game? It sounds very tempting but if one should stay too long in the virtual world you could lose yourself in it with no way to return to the real world. In the worst case scenario you may forget which world is real and which is fake.
That is the premise of .Hack//Sign. .Hack//Sign is a part of the .Hack series which surrounds the MMORPG called “The World” and the different characters who find the mysteries surrounding this virtual land.
.Hack//Sign follows the story of Tsukasa, a Wavemaster (Spell caster) in “The World”, who suddenly wakes up in a dark dungeon with no recollec…
Read at the sourceStormy_77
As a former hard core gamer, I had high expectations of this series which has been languishing in my list of stuff to someday get to watching. So I started viewing this intending to finish all the .hack series.
Story/Character
The premise is exciting - one player in "The World" is suddenly unable to log out - why? The mystery gets deeper and deeper as we are pulled into his life and the life of the other characters (in game and in the real world) who either want to help him, want to solve the mystery or have some other hidden agendas of their own.
The set up (first 8 episodes) was very well done. Just as I started to get fascinated the series went on a philosophical bent and the plot stagnated. By the time it tried to recover I was frankly pretty bored and was just going through the mot…
Read at the sourceMashu
.Hack//Sign is a single part in the Project .Hack franchise, one that combines novels, manga, TV anime and OVA's to form one grand narrative with characters and events happening not only chronologically, but simultaneously as well. The review below is written from the franchise point of view, and as an standalone anime.
The general consensus of Hack//Sign is that the story's boring, there is almost no action and it doesn't make fast progress. While some of these points are quite true, the story is one of character development and interaction. The viewer learn more about every side character through their interaction with the rest of the cast, their surroundings and gradually helps move the plot. The plot is one of clashing and matching personalities, driven by mysteries.
.Hack//Sign, The…
Read at the sourceShadowBlazer3000
I think this is one of the best Animes, amongst many others. .hack//SIGN intrigued me, and actually made me wonder. Not to mention the occasional chill sent down my spine. While it may be confusing it beats most clichéd RPG-Based Animes and Fantasy base Anime out there. The cliff hangers leave you waiting and wanting more. Even though it doesn't have so much 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 unpredictable. 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 surprise…
Read at the sourceRoostophe
In early 2004, 3 1/2 years before my foray into anime, I bought a PS2 game called .hack//Infection. I didn't particularly enjoy the game that much, and it became lost behind the newer games that came and were added to my ever-growing video game collection.
Fast forward to November 2007, and I stumble across .hack//SIGN while flicking through the channels one night. I decided to watch it, and I became immediately hooked.
One of the strong points of the .hack video game was the story, and the story to SIGN was also brilliantly written. I also loved the art and the characters were a lovable motley crew, of sorts.
The music fitted in well with the atmosphere of the series. The celtic influence was notable in both scenery and music.
A lot of people say this dragged on, "They've all got weap…
Read at the sourceAnsem
Story - 6/10
The story goes about a MMORPG: 'The World'.
One of the characters, Tsukasa, can't log out anymore. The strange thing is that he isn't even in front of his computer.
How can he go back to the reality?
It's a simple, but original story.
There could be some more humor in it though.
Art - 7/10
Colorful characters and backgrounds. It looks good. Sound - 4/10
The sound in this anime are decent.
Bad intro and outro, totally not my style.
The music in the anime itself is allright, as long if they don't sing. The same tune is repeated a lot too, and there is too much music. It looks like they put in music to make you less bored.
If you watched some episodes, you'll get enough of it.
Character - 6/10
Some of the characters are interesting, and they're all looking good.
Colorful chara…
Read at the sourceCytoplasmic
Generally, depending on the person, .hack//sign can be either extremely boring and a drag, or the best mix of story/sound/character that they have seen. Personally, it qualifies as one of my most favorite animes. When i first ventured into it, I wasn't expecting much. After all, the games for ps2 sucked. Soon, I found the character development and color of Tsubasa and her peers to be interesting. True, at times, the droning music and dull colors may make people fall asleep, but this tone is what characterizes .hack. It is meant to be in a dark environment, making it unique.
Read at the source