.hack//Sign - Anime Legends Complete Collection
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DVD details
Actor: Amanda Winn Lee, Kazuhiro Nakata, Megumi Toyoguchi, Mitsuki Saiga, Paul MercierDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); English (Original Language); Japanese (Original Language)
Format: Animated, Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 650 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-08-22
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Bandai
DVD Reviews of .hack//Sign - Anime Legends Complete Collection
DVD Review: the ending isn't "reunion"
Summary: 4 Stars
This is one of the best series to come out around the turn of the millennium (which was when anime, both domestic to and exported from Japan made leaps in writing and visual quality.
.hack//sign is set inside of an mmorpg, but is a genesis story, describing the nearly aborted birth of a technology based god. Similar anime include serial experiments lain, and akira (for you old school fans.) However, unlike those two, this show uses a very oblique approach to the story telling.
The plot focuses on several loosely related characters who, for one reason or another, form deeper relationships with each other (not necessarily healthy or desirable ones.) The story is told primarily through the conversations of the people, and is designed to be obscure, so that it can take several viewings to fully understand what is happening. This is mostly because, while the setting is congruent (to itself, not the rest of the franchise so much) none of the leading characters have a clear idea of what is going on.
One thing that is made clear early on is that all of the players who play the game are escaping from some trouble in their life. A significant part of the story is watching them all mature, essentially graduating from the game. This is made more interesting because a little over half of the lead roles are adults with careers.
The show's use of conversation to tell a much larger story is well done. The conversations themselves tend to be about the relationships the players have, or the mystery of the game as they see it. Most of them are not friends, but rather are tied together by their belief that a particular player, Tsukasa (the boy/girl on the cover) is essential to solving the mystery. They often alternate between speculating about what they do know and more normal conversation about their lives or the game itself. Also, because most of them do not like each other, they are never all together at the same time (save some brief moments near the end, when all of their lives are in danger,) and actively keep secrets from each other. The evolving dynamics alone would have made the show worth watching, and episode to episode, it is the plot.
The game that the bulk of the story takes place in is difficult to imagine given the interface the players use. Also, when the show was made, mmorpg culture was not well developed, and the creators make some guesses of player behavior that seem rather unlikely today (although there are many failed or less popular mmorpgs that guessed the same thing.) The show, however, does take place in the "real" world, and there are brief static filled sequences that show very important pieces of information, such as player hospitalizations, RL meetings, and personal events from their lives.
The music put the composer on the map. It was hailed as one of the best scores of the year. While many like other scores by Yuki Kajiura, I still think it is her best overall work. Also, the sound mixer does a great job of chopping and splicing up pieces to fit the actual scenes. I have not seen any serialized production do a better job, and if you enjoy analyzing how music is used, you ought to watch this. Outside of the context of the show, the soundtrack holds it own as a great work, but the two together are great memories and the main reason I pull my dvds off the shelf once or twice a year.
I don't think children will understand the story at all, although they may enjoy the experience of watching it. Teens with long attention spans and who listen carefully will likely get a lot out of it, but others will be confused. The story is told rather casually, and there are maybe 30-50 minutes worth of action sequences (themselves very slow) scattered throughout the entire series. It is about relationships and responsibility, and I have often heard the show described as one long conversation. This isn't an entirely unfair description. That said, the depth of motive behind what people say and do in the story means that the players are far from one dimensional and can be related to on a deep level.
Most of the characters are depressed, clinically depressed, at least mildly. Some with good reason, some because they indulge in such a personality. The ones who aren't depressed are angry, which might just be how they express their depression. That said, if you can stand watching these people bite at each other's ego's as they grasp for hope, you will be well rewarded at the end. This idea of negative emotion is important to the plot, and the reason why Tsukasa is important to the mystery. For most the game is where they go because they feel trapped in some way from making progress in thier life. For a couple the game is very much a playground, but neither are healthy people.
This, and other aspect of online gaming culture are explored a bit, although to some inaccuracy of how things really work. These explorations are more the result of the lives of the players involved, and are not presented outside of the context of what they do most of the time. If you enjoy stories that talk about gaming culture, you may wish to watch this, or really any .hack piece, as it is always in the background.
.hack//sign is why .hack is still around. And, unfortunately nothing else in the franchise has measured up. Which is to say, if you like anything else .hack, you may be surprised by how unlike the rest of the franchise this is.
********.hack//sign unison*********
Unison is the name of a special OVA only episode. It was not filmed or aired as part of the original story, but was added with the release of the dvd version, which was after the release of the first PS game. It features characters from both, and so may be a bit confusing if you are not familiar with both. However, it does describe what happens to many of the characters about a year or two after the end of .hack//sign (the game takes place in that interval.) Certainly interesting for the first 15 minutes, but it is a departure from the show in some ways, and isn't necessary. Bascially everyone gets on with life, a few are dating each other, and all of them stay loosely in touch, although the //sign players don't play the game very much. If the show's REAL ending left you hanging too much (which is common in Japanese storytelling, part of a belief that life goes on, and everything repeats) then you may want to give this a look. Otherwise if you enjoyed the ending moments, you don't have to. It isn't really more of the show.
******spoilers, sort of, but you wont know all of this without doing some reading or playing the
There are a few things, however, that they do not make clear in the show. One, that around 2015 (don't remember the dates from the setting) there was a trojan program that was released into the web and necessitated the shutdown of the web and all extant OS's. The company that runs the mmorpg, "The World," also is the company that made the new OS ALTIMAT, which is secure against the trojan. There is no other functional OS in the world at the moment, and the company CC corp is, consequently, king of the heap as having the only OS that wont instantly fail if plugged online. So, "The World" is the only mmo* in the world, and is, consequently, very popular. Other things that are not made clear, NPC's in the game are highly adaptable AI, making for a more immersive experience. This AI technology is part of what makes ALTIMAT secure, and is behind the deus ex machina of the setting.
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