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.hack//SIGN

2-12-2025

 What a show! I decided to let myself get invested into a longer series like I had done for Remedy Entertainment games and the Halo series. .hack// G.U. Recode was already in my Steam library and decided to give that series a shot. I’m doing it in release order, and that means I started with .hack//SIGN.

 The show is so slow and has tons of pacing issues. Like, you could cut half the show out and you’d be left with a superior product. They literally replay the first scene of the show multiple times just to remind you it happened? The Show ends right at an interesting moment. It sorta deflates the whole plot, because you don’t get time with these ideas.

 It took 3 days to finish it. The first day I watched 13 episodes. Nothing exciting happened until the 13th episode, but I’d lie if I didn’t say I liked the interpersonal encounters between the characters during that first part. The middle 4 episodes I watched the next day, while passing out from work and the last set of episodes were watched with my friend Max on call.

 Every character had an enjoyable quality to them, even the annoying ones. I think it was Stockholm Syndrome a little bit, but I can’t really tell. Tsukasa was a really weird protagonist to a show. He sorta felt like you watched Evangelion and wanted to have a similar character but didn’t know how to work him. Mimiru and Bear were very good at pulling him towards goals. Sora and BT were ok filler characters. Subaru was the superior love interest for Tsukasa. Silver Knight was a nothing character, but his obvious simping for Subaru was funny at least. I don’t like him.

 There was a lot of fun to be had with the mystery with the show. Even if it deflated, I had a good time on the journey. I hope the mystique of the world continues to be well presented in future media. I already have good hopes, because me and Max started playing The first game .hack//Infection and the little bit I played really excited me.

 The rest of the media will be viewed in this order:>