User blog:Element02/.hack//SIGN Anime Review

I realize that I have not been keeping up with my blog here, even though I have kept up with my personal Dot Hackers blog over on wordpress. As such, I have a ton of reviews to share with this place! But, after I did my Legend of Twilight Review, I decided to review the anime that started it all: .hack//SIGN --- If you want to read the full review, you can check it out: HERE

Here are some of the highlights from the review: --
 * Dot Hack SIGN was the beginning of the Dot Hack series and franchise. It was an animated series that came out in 2002, and it was what got me hooked on Dot Hack in the first place. I remember staying up until midnight just to catch it on TV…and for me, the show was something I had always wanted: endless adventures in a virtual world.

''Of course I did not understand just how deep and dark the plot was back then…and a lot of what was happening in the anime went right over my head. ''

And though it is something that is often debated, the fact that Tsukasa is a girl in real-life and then develops a relationship with another girl (in The World and in real life) meant that this was one of the earliest cases of a homosexual relationship that I had ever seen – and it was a very sensitive topic in those years. I think the slow-progression with all the character developments made it a show that was beyond what most people had the patience for. It required so much thought that a lot of people could not see the appeal in it…or they just got lost.''
 * ''I was only eleven-years-old when SIGN first made it on the air, and I could not understand anything that was going on. I think part of the reason is because there are several elements that were ahead of its time. SIGN not only handled very complicated situations (the wiki says it focused on anxiety and escapism), a lot of what it talked about was actually pretty taboo for the time that it was released (at least in the USA). It talked about a child losing their Mother and then being abused by their Father…

It tackled real-world issues that most people did not want to talk about while also handling the more philosophical questions and moral ones like:

''Can we live on even without a physical body? Are we alive even if we are just made into data? What makes a God? Could such a thing as a virtual world  have its own omnipotent being to help monitor it and change it as that being saw fit?''

''It took on a more technological debate of the consciousness of programs and things like AI (artificial intelligence), and it is not a story that just anyone can hop into and understand. It was considered by most to be more ‘existential’ and I think that’s why SIGN was popular in its own right, but it definitely had a very particular fandom behind it.''

As mentioned before, the anime sounds fantastic…and one of the greatest things about it is just how well the music creates the atmosphere. The characters and how realistic they are was also another plus. I did love the overall plot of the series even if it was really sad and depressing…and I think it was a very interesting start to the Dot Hack timeline even if the show moved very slowly. I think I would call the series ‘brave’ for addressing all the things it did. But maybe that’s just me.''
 * ''The Pros? The series actually does have a compelling story that tugs at the heartstrings. We see a character that suffers from a lot of doubt and has a hard time deciding whether or not they belong back in the real world. We see a relationship develop between two characters at a very realistic pace…none of that fantasy ‘love-at-first-sight’ stuff that we often get in these types of anime, but rather it’s two kids discovering themselves and discovering their true feelings for one another. I think the most important part of SIGN was the focus on creating life from love…and that love in itself takes many forms. That there are those that want to make sure the best parts of a person lives on…and that beauty comes in all shapes, sizes, and forms. And I guess I liked that even though a relationship is there in the anime between main characters, it was never the focus of SIGN.


 * Complaints? This series is hella slow. I am a patient person…and so I guess the pacing of the anime never bothered me. But, when I tried introducing it to my wife, she did not like it because it took too long for any sort of real plot progression to take hold. There were so many characters and so much character development before we saw the storyline really moving along that she just gave up on it. I see the same thing happening to most people that tried getting into SIGN…they just thought that it dragged on, and it really turned them off the series. A common report on the wiki says that people either loved or hated the series and it was due to a lack of action and real conflict. Some called the move to exclude a lot of action ‘bold’ while others thought of it as foolish.

''Also, the plot and subjects addressed really were ahead of their time…so a lot of people could not wrap their heads around what was happening on their TV screen. Also, this anime is old…and it just needs a facelift if they were going to try and bring in new fans. Though it still looks good and sounds amazing, it just would not stand up next to the anime series playing today. On the note of plot progression…there is progression but it almost seems like mostly filler until you get towards the end where plot comes up and smacks you in the face. There just needs to be some balance there.''

''Though the writing is good and the characters are great, with everything going on it often causes a lot of confusion. Not to mention, the stuff that happened after SIGN was mostly left in Japanese-exclusive novels (a lot of which were discontinued) and products making it hard for fans in other countries to really follow-up with anything afterwards (at least until they introduced IMOQ and etc). While I was glad that the relationship between Subaru and Tsukasa was not the focus of the show…I think it should have been explained a lot better and shown a lot more than what it was.'' -

​​​​​​​So there you have it. Just a little taste of my full review of the series. In the actual blog I go over more details from the character and art-style to the overall story of the series and what it entails. I love writing these reviews and will def post more of them up in the future! Enjoy!