.hack//SIGN

Well after you get past the slightly depressing scheme of things and the fact it takes awhile for anything of real excitement to happen it does turn out to be pretty good once everything kinda falls together....so all in all I would give it an 8/10 because of the usual good quality animation and voice acting ( unlike those crappy dim a dozen American cartoons).... In addition to that they had a good cast of well developed characters (Sora was my favorite)....

Anyways a little info on the actual series can simply be put as follows: it starts out when a kid is playing and basically had his conscious severed from his physical body thus being stuck in the game called the "world" and unable to logout. Then he eventually find and befriends some random people, he gets special administrative privileges from some omni-present being, they find out this omni-present being is bad and end up fighting and predictably defeating it in battle....they throw a party ...and the end

When I first watched this series on Cartoon Network in 2003, I only got to see the first episode and I have to say this series was amazing. I really want to collect this series, and I did. When I bought the first 2 volumes on DVD in 2004. They were the best, I know it's hard for Tsukasa to logout because there was no player to control him. I believe that Tsukasa is immortal and he cannot be defeated. Another thing I liked about the show is the music and songs. I think the best song in this series is,"The World".And of course,"The key of the Twilight" My favorite characters in this show are:Subaru,BT,and Crim. I did like the other episodes after buying the next 2 volumes on DVD, and of course the final volumes. But before watching them, I watched the other volumes over all the way through. It was really cool watching them all the way through before the new volumes. The series also features the voices of:Amanda Winn Lee,Dave Wittenberg,Donna Rawlins,Kim Mai Guest,Mary Elizabeth McGlynn,Paul Mercier,(famous for Onimusha 3),Valerie Arem,Bob Papenbrook,Brianne Siddall, Crispin Freeman, Debra Rogers,Doug Rye,Kirk Thornton,Lani Minella,Lex Lang ,Mona Marshall,Sandy Fox,and Wendee Lee. So in closing, after the series,play the video game. It's the best.

This is, whatever anyone might say, one of the best anime ever created. I say this because, although i do admit that the story plot pace is slow - slower than anyone could imagine - it still holds a valuable plot and of course, opens up much more for the following series of games, and manga. Of course, there is a novel before this series as well, and overall i just have to say that Project Hack was such a good success, at least in my opinion. Espscially the use of many different approach was good - manga, anime, games and novels.

If someone was to watch only .hack//SIGN, then of course it may seem unsatisfying, because it really does not give much info about anything. Since it was meant to be a prequel of the games, if you want to find out what happens to Sora, Aura or Tsukasa after wards, you would have to play the games.

Overall, i do admit that there were much more talking than action - in which it lost many action-anime fans. However it is an anime that is more inspirational movies than the action-packed ones. You had to get into the human emotions and philosophy to fully enjoy the meaning behind the anime - hard lives, choices, obstacles that appear in the real life, the players (characters) try to avoid by logging into "The World". However in the end they all realize to face fear and live their life to fullest extent.

Overall, i personally would give this anime 10/10, for its superb performance. Whether it was the heart-touching quotes, the ever-beautiful music, or the mind-blowingly complex plot, i find that .hack//SIGN is a must for all anime fans.

P.S: Just adding a reply to one of the comments... Tsukasa is NOT an AI character.

Just a few months ago I saw this show for the first time.I heard everyone talking about it so I watched it.After watching one episode of this show I fell in love with it.I think it's one of the BEST ANIME shows ever! I got one of my friends to watch it one night and now she watches it all the time.Even though It only 30 minutes long it seems longer and really good.Most of the time Stuff that you wouldn't expect happen!It is very cool!I recommend this show to all Anime lovers!

One of the best animes I have ever had the gift of watching. Character design is superb,great musical score, and the voice acting is up in line with Cowboy Bebop, Alexander(Reign the Conquerer), etc. The games are great. Hopefully it will become a long running series like the Mobile Suit Gundam series.

Willam, the copies of the game you found were probably the American versions released legally.