.hack//sign

Reviewed By:   Carla Land

DVD

Review based on disk 1 (episodes 1-5)

What it’s (basically) all about: This is kind of hard to say, since I'm really not sure. It has something to do with a real-time virtual reality game that is played by many people via the Internet, one of which is unable to log out. More than that, I can't say for sure.

Nitty Gritty: There is no foul language or sexual situations in this series, so far. There is, however, a good reason to pay attention to the backgrounds. About halfway through episode three the word “sex” appears in the detailing of a building. During the opening credits there is stylized nudity, but there is none in the rest of the episode.

The special features include a preview for the game that tie in with the series, clean opening/ closing, the usual stuff like line art.

The show takes place almost entirely in the game itself, and only occasionally shows the real world. While the fighting in the game isn’t that violent, an actual player gets hurt in the real world during a battle in the game. He survives, but younger audiences may be freaked out seeing him passed out on his floor in front of the computer.

Survey says: This show is fine for younger audiences, but may not make sense to them if they aren’t heavily involved in role playing games. The plot can be hard to follow, and while the anime captures the essence of MMORPGs (Massively Multiple Online Role Playing Games) only a player (or the spouse of a player) would know that and catch the nuances. Definitely appropriate enough for teen sections, but may only be a hit in communities with large gamer populations.

Personal Ad: This one didn’t do anything for me. My husband plays World of Warcraft and I had a pretty good idea of what was going on, but that didn’t necessarily make me care.