I want to start off by mentioning I've not played any of the games in the series, so I do wonder if my stance would of changed if I had done so. I wanted to judge this anime independently, mainly to see if I enjoyed it as much as I did when I was a kid when it aired on Toonami.

.hack//sign is meant to serve as an entry point into the '.hack ' series. It follow Tsubasa, a player in a MMORPG who suddenly has no recollection on past events and currently incapable of logging out of the game known similar as 'The World.' The anime itself is very unique in a way, and doesn't seem to follow a lot of typical cliches and tropes.

I have to honestly admit that I didn't really like Tsubasa's character as I found him to be kind of mopey and just a bit of a jerk. It doesn't help that half the time he's on screen; he's either sat there sulking or dipping at the first sign of a conversation. I sorta empathized with his character later in the season, but at that point it was about 3/4 of the way through, which feels way too late.

On the contrary though; I found many of the other characters to be likable and enjoyed their dynamic, especially with Bear and Mimiru. I even found many of the minor characters rather charming in their own way too. The slow pacing allows for quite a bit of conversation between them, making their relationships between each other feel more fluid and realistic.

Speaking of realism; the show does a good job at depicting these characters as actual characters in a MMORPG. These people all have lives beyond playing the game and will regularly log out to sleep and do other things. They converse a lot about emails they receive or send and also about the 'board' which is assumed to be an online bulletin board for game updates.

As I mentioned before; this anime's pacing is VERY slow and it's something that not everyone will enjoy. I found that it took at least five episodes or so before things actually began to happen. There are times where this pacing can really amplify the atmosphere and really add to the experience, especially with the beautiful soundtrack composed by the lovely Yuki Kajiura.

Most of the mysteries won't be solved. You might even come out of it with more questions than answers, but I think that's perfectly fine. Not every story needs all the answers on the table and I found the mysteries throughout the series to be rather engaging and interesting. The one thing that did disappoint me though was the ending, despite how heartwarming it was. It felt VERY anticlimatic and almost soured the whole journey for me. On the plus side, it got me mildly curious about the games so I guess that's a win for them.

Overall, I think if you aren't too bothered about something slow paced and more casual despite being in a MMORPG then you'll probably have an okay time with this show like I did.