.hack//Sign was a prequel to the .hack// video game series made by CyberConnect2 and released by Bandai about a decade ago. If I'm right, .hack//Sign and the rest of the series garnered a bit of popularity back in the day, though nowadays they are a bit aged and are becoming more and more forgotten. Despite being a prequel, .hack//Sign can work as a standalone product for the most part, and as such it can even be looked at on its own.

.hack//Sign is a slow moving anime, mostly focusing on character relationships and for the most part not showing much sign of a story for the first 10 episodes. In that time, we learn that Tsukasa, the main protagonist, is for some reason or another stuck in the game known as The World, and his being stuck there may have some relation with a legendary hidden item within The World called the Key of the Twilight. Other characters want to help Tsukasa leave the game and go searching for this hiden item. As a mystery anime, .hack//Sign throws out a lot of red herrings. It tries to get the viewer to latch onto ideas that serve little relevance to the main plot. And that's one of the problems: Almost all of the dialogue in .hack//Sign is unimportant and uninteresting, and it does little to move the plot forward. Other characters constantly find themselves trying to figure out what's going on with Tsukasa. They want to help him, but each episode just leads to more false information or no actual progress in helping him. It waters down the story and cuts the enjoyment of this anime down by a lot. Don't get me wrong, I like .hack//Sign, but it can be pretty hard for many anime viewers to watch I suspect due to all of the pointless talking. Its unnecessary, and the show could have been cut down considerably in the number of episodes and still tell the main storyline. The main story itself though is told in a way that still leaves the viewer interested. What is the Key of the Twilight? Will Tsukasa and the others find it? Why is Tsukasa stuck in the game, and why does he keep running away? What are all these flashbacks to the real world? Speaking of that, Tsukasa is worse than Shinji from Evangelion when it comes to running away and moving the story forward. It seems like Tsukasa being stuck in the game is a plot device, as its the other characters that actually work towards solving the mysteries and moving things forward for a good while. The story IS interesting however, and the setting of The World grants it a lot of mysteries, some of which admittedly go unsolved within this anime. You want to know what's going on. Its just that the execution of the story is problematic, and while the story is interesting, the story is also relatively short and simple. Its something simple told in a rather complex and somewhat realistic, somewhat dumb way.

The characters of the anime are a mixed bag. Most of the characters come off as dull and near lifeless, and the constant talking references their personal lives. While this may seem like good characterization, since the characters start off initially bland, the viewer may already be uninterested in learning about the individual characters lives. Added to this, most of the information about their personal lives that is mentioned in the anime, which takes up much more of the anime than it should, is really pointless and uninteresting. Do we really need an episode dedicated to a character's dislike of lettuce? That said, it is a unique thing that it goes so in depth on the characters, its just that it wasn't well executed in .hack//Sign. Still, none of the characters are hateable, and Tsukasa himself and a girl by the name of Lady Subaru are legitimately interesting. Tsukasa himself from the very beginning sparks interest in the viewer. Why does he keep running away, and why is he so unwilling to be social? .hack//Sign uses Tsukasa to explore one of the main themes of the show: Escapism. The whole show focuses heavily on the concept of escapism and how it affects the one running away and those around said person. (themes of escapism also show in how the real world is depicted)Tsukasa may be another Shinji, but he is his own character in just how far the show takes it. Then characters like Sora, a silly yet powerful player always searching for new information help keep things fun. And while it takes a long while for him to seem interesting, Silver Knight, a lawful knight who enforces the rules of the game, becomes interesting after some added characterization late in the series. But that's one of the problems with the show: It takes too long to move the story forward, and it takes too long to make most of the characters worth caring for. Only Tsukasa and Lady Subaru (who shows great interest in Tsukasa's situation) really start out interesting.

The art itself in the series is pretty to look at, though admittedly sometimes a bit simplistic, especially in backgrounds and fields. The age of the show shows, but nice character designs from the same person who did the character designs in Neon Genesis Evangelion make the characters interesting to look at. Occasionally close ups give added detail to the artwork, making it extremely impressive to look at, even to the point of making this show a great source for desktop backgrounds. The animation however, is usually pretty minimal. In the Monogatari Series, characters talk to each other for long periods of time, often with lots of crazy and silly yet good animation being shown on screen to keep things interesting. That isn't the case here. Most of the time, the animation is minimal and very boring. Occasionally however, when its really important, the animation takes vast improvements by leaps and bounds and everything moves really smoothly, however this is rare and is used for the most important scenes.

Now the sound is what I call a 10/10. The music was done by Yuki Kaijura, known for such soundtracks as the Sword Art Online soundtrack and the soundtrack to Puella Magi Madoka Magica. And while those soundtracks were good, .hack//Sign has by far some of the best music in any anime period, and the music outshines the music in SAO by a long shot and PMMM somewhat. Much of the music is comprised of what sounds like a violin or something similar, an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar, and pretty English vocals with lyrics often somewhat fitting to the storyline of the show. Its often very relaxing to listen to. Tracks like "The World" and "Key of the Twilight" really shine. I don't know how good the acting is in the Japanese voice track, but the English dub is pretty mediocre. Nothing too cringe-worthy or bad, but with the writing in this show, which is somewhat poorly written, things sound really weird being heard. It'd probably sound less weird reading it than listening to it. The acting itself is pretty mediocre too. Tsukasa sounds fine, Subaru's voice seems to fit the character well and Mimiru does a fine job, however the rest of the cast is varied. Some of which usually are entertaining to listen to while others are boring and lifeless or downright have bad acting.

Overall, .hack//Sign is a show that really shines in its music and artwork. It has plenty of character development if you're patient enough to wait for it, however ultimately that's what this show requires: Patience. If you don't like slow moving shows with lots of dialogue, stay away. If you're here because you liked Sword Art Online and wanted another MMO anime, just know that this show is VERY, VERY different. Ultimately I don't think I could recomend this anime for most anime fans. If you're patient or are a .hack// fan, go for it. Otherwise, .hack//Sign isn't the anime for you. Don't let that deter you from watching other .hack// anime however. Not all of them are the same. If you want .hack// but want something a bit faster paced and more fun, then .hack//Quantum or .hack//The Movie might be better suited for you.