.Hack//Sign (episodes 1 to 5)
Director: Kôichi Mashimo
Cast: Mitsuki Saiga, Megumi Toyoguchi, Kazuhiro Nakata, Akiko Hiramatsu, Kaori Nazuka
English version: Brianne, Amanda Winn, Paul Mercier, Kim Mai Guest 
Distributor: Madman
Classification: PG : Low Level Animated Violence
Running Time: 125 Minutes

.Hack//Sign (dot hack sign) is a Japanese Manga series, and this is a 5 episode collection of the first series. The series deals with “the World”, an artificial reality game, similar to games like Asherons’ Call and Everquest – it has wizards, warriors, and monsters and quests. The game is played by millions of people around the globe, who can meet up, explore the world together, help each other out, or war against one another.

This series focuses on one player in particular – Tsukasa. We’re introduced to him in the first scene, where he wakes up dazed and confused. He is somewhat aloof, and rather unlikeable at first, but that’s because he’s not part of the “World” as we know it. We learn that he cannot log out of the world, and has special powers and allies that defy the logic encoded into the world. This makes him a target for the Crimson Knights, the game’s law and order force, and each episode follows Tsukasa’s quest to find out what has gone wrong, why he has all these special powers and cannot log out of the world.

Over the course of the series, Tsukasa meets other gamers, such as Mimiru, who at first dislikes Tsukasa because of his brashness and rudeness, but who slowly begins to understand him. Bear is a big, friendly giant, who also wants to solve the story of the boy who can’t log out. The sorceress BT and thief Sora are two players who want the abilities of Tsukasa for their own ends, and help Lady Subaru and Crimson Knights in their efforts to capture Tsukasa.

The DVD is best watched twice. With understanding of the series and how the world operates, working out exactly who the Crimson guards are and what they do, learning a little about the characters, a re-watch can help you make sense of what is sometimes a confusing and puzzling show. Rather than being a full on action series, .Hack//Sign is a lot more cerebral than many other manga cartoon series, relying on moody characters and interesting puzzles than violence and blood. The animation is adequate, nothing too fancy, but the “World” is brilliantly conceived. It has a decidedly Renaissance flavour, with a large Venetian styled city, gothic castles and lush open fields. Although the “real” world is mentioned, the only time it is seen is in a very small scene that is in grainy black and white, rather like a noir crime film, giving the impression that the “World” is more real than the “real” world.

Being only 5 episodes, I was rather disappointed with the end, as it leaves you hanging on. The story developed up until the end point is annoyingly incomplete, with little or no real clues to what is really happening, and who is really what. Who is the speaking voice? Who is the Sleeping Girl? What is that Cat thing? And, the most important of all, why can’t Tsukasa log out? You get an inking of the answers, but nothing concrete. I guess we’ll have to wait for episodes 6-26 before finding out what is going on.

But as an introduction to the series, it is quite good, although the extras should have fleshed out more detail about the “World” – thing’s I’d like to know are who made the game, how many players does it have, who controls what, how many regions there are and so forth, just to make it seem more realistic. As it stands, for extras there are just character profiles and sketches, plus the option to have to opening titles subtitled or not.

EXTRAS
Textless Opening
Textless Ending
Character Profiles
Character Gallery