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Favorite anime:
1. Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler)
2. Mushishi
3. Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
4. Yuri!!! on Ice
5. Space Brothers

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.hack//SIGN Review

First Impression

Plot Summary

Tsukasa wakes up having no idea where he is, or how he got there. He soon learns he is in the Virtual Reality MMORPG, simply called "The World." He also soon learns he cannot log out. So a group of people decide to learn the mysteries of why he can't log out, and what is really going behind the popular game.

Story

The story has few major plot points, which, although making the mystery even more subtle, can also make it more boring at times.

Also, there is a major lack of on-the-edge-of-your-seat factor. While the whole mystery, and especially the song Aura makes you want to believe that every member of The World is in danger... no. It's really only one person, and everyone's working out the mystery for that one person, which makes it feel kind of... pointless. (It'd make sense if it were one person working towards it, but seven people getting involved...meh.)

Despite its boring qualities, it did make me do stuff such as hug/yell at the computer... so it succeeded there.

As for the ending... it definitely has a "Go play the game!" ending, without much of a real conclusion... but I don't mind, since this anime *was* directed at the fans of the .hack franchise... Guess I'll hafta actually go play the game and maybe I'll review it... *cough*hint*cough*

6.7

Characters

Despite the lack of clear development, this anime does give a good enough development to make you feel for the characters, especially with Tsukasa. Some thought Tsukasa's personality to be annoying, but I loved him.

The biggest complaint is that I wished we had seen more of the people in real life, if not to give a little more explanation on who they really are.

Also, I found the character designs amazing. I know they were based off the game, but... I kept on looking at Tsukasa's outfit and thinking how amazing that design was.

6.6

Animation

At first I had to get a little used the animation, but once I did, it wasn't bad, and even at times, beautiful.

I think the best thing they did with the animation was the backgrounds. It felt like a real, and quite expansive, MMORPG, where you can go virtually anywhere and do anything you want.

Like I mentioned before, I thought the character designs were pretty good.

7.2

Music

The opener... I didn't like. Neither the music nor the animation felt like it really had anything to do with the actual anime.

As for the closer, I didn't quite like it, either. The music wasn't as bad, but the animation felt really quite boring.

Background music? Oh. My. Goodness. This is definitely this anime's greatest asset. The music from the beginning just pulled me in and kept me there. If I could, I'd have every song on there on my MP3. If nothing else, go listen to the OST.

9.5

Overall

I simply have a love-hate relationship with this anime. There are plenty of things I love, but the fact that it can get boring sometimes kind of... turns me off of wanting to watch it. I recommend you at least check it out, and judge for yourself.

7.5

Half Moon

Other

**SPOILER**Tsukasa is a girl... Sora is a kid... come on, why must the hot characters be not who you think they are =.=

You know an anime's good when it can make a comparison with death and lettuce... and have it make sense.

**SPOILER**Macha.... ;n;....

.hack//sign First Impression

So, I saw the first .hack//sign episode last night. Did I like it? Yes. Do I think I'm going to be fangirling over it the rest of my life? No.

.hack//sign is about a Wavemaster named Tsukasa, a player of a virtual reality MMORPG called The World. He woke up in a cave to find out he doesn't know where he and how he got there. He soon finds out he can't log out of the game.

What did I know beforehand?

I knew the basics of the story, and I knew that it wasn't a favorite of the two Youtube reviews I follow (Arkada and Tanime). I checked out some comments on it on Crunchyroll, and there seemed to be mixed feelings about it. All in all, though, I went into it expecting to like it.

What are the pluses?

I thought the music was beautiful, and from the very first background song I heard I knew I was going to be looking for the soundtrack.

The animation at points was beautiful.

The characters seem pretty good. The main character seems to be a definite loner with a realistic, depressive personality, making it hard to make friends, unlike Kirito (from Sword Art Online) who the show claimed to be a loner, despite his uncanny ability to make nearly anyone like him. Or like-like him, depending on their gender.

What are the minuses?

Despite the beautiful quality of the music, it seemed to overpower the actual story at times.

There isn't much story in the episode.

I thought the design of the monster-thing was weird, almost ridiculous. I dunno. Maybe it's just me.

Story: 6

Characters: 7.5

Animation: 8.5

Music: 9

Overall: 7.75

P.S. I might just start crushing on the main character >//>

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