At 30 this is still such a cherished fucking anime, and franchise, to me. Seeing this show as a child really was an *experience* and I hope more people continue to discover it.
I'm 33 and remember watching this and falling in love with this show when I was 12. So happy many remember this series and younger people have found it, now loving it too. 💜💜
@@crybabyteej That's dope man. Glad you could relive the good ole days through this hack video! I too was hell young when I first saw the series on TV 🔥
Well, the SAO books came out in 2009 and the original .hack series came out well before then, like 7 years prior? .hack series started developing around 1998-99, so .hack was technically the first of the two.
@aerrinlongheart all good dude. I guess since I'm a fan of .hack I knew it came out before sword art and it would only make sense that sao is referred to as the copy
The SAO books from 2009 are not the original publication. The original web series was released in 2002 around the same time .hack//AI buster was published. It takes quite a bit of time to get a completed book published so those ideas were already set in stone prior - they had those ideas in their heads already. They all share influences from the 90s like Ghost in the Shell, The Matrix, Phantasy Star Online, etc. Also .hack started as something completely unrecognizable before it morphed into what we know of it today. It's just a coincidence that SIGN and SAO started with a similar premise.
@@sapphirefractal4506 I don't believe it's coincidence. .hack//sign dropped in april 2002 and the game .hack//infection released june of the same year. .hack was a multi platform franchise. That doesn't sprout out of the ground like a mushroom. That's been in development far longer than one dude posting a story online. The company would have been marketing the show and the games months if not at least a year prior to release. So people would already have known of promo material and basic plot hook.
We need a remake of the Hack//Sign anime so bad. Still the best "trapped in a game" anime to this day. Seeing it with upgraded artstyle and animations would be a treat.
My daughter is 5 and we listen to The World and Key Of The Twimight on the way to school, she loves the music as do I and eventually I'll get her to watch em!
God, I feel SO vindicated someone else pointed out the Sword Art Online basically being a copy of .Hack cause I ALWAYS felt that way the day I even heard about SAO. Only reason I can imagine it got more popularity is purely because it had more action in it.
.hack// as a franchise was fantastic and desserved more praise. Sign plus playing the game just hits different. really Hope the OG 4 part game gets a remaster in the future.
@@NiallByrne facts I feel like this whole franchise was so slept on this series in particular was dope and one of the first anime I remember that gave me a really melancholy feel and had me more interested in the human elements of the genre. Here's to hoping for a reboot and remaster 🔥🙏🏽
This show is a Toonami classic, bro! Thank you for making this video to spread more awareness about it and bringing my nostalgia for this series back to life! You're the one, man! Also this has some serious SAO vibes going on for it looking back today, now that I think about it and a little bit of Code Lyoko if you think about it, too! Which was also on CN back in the day! Anyway, what a legendary series, now time for me to go back and rewatch the show and get drunk on my nostalgia! Yes, I'm an old man if you were going to say that! Nah jk, I'm only 20, I was just playin' with y'all! Anyways, thanks again, Kasper!
@@KingKasper Yeah, it is, G! The show was always so fascinating to watch with all of these French kids trying to log into the virtual world to save it and stop the villains who've taken it over from trying to destroy ours, it always had such high stakes unlike most other cartoons out there did! The nostalgia I have for this anime series is incredible, so thank you for feeding my nostalgia with this video, good sir! You've done well! And the similarities between these two shows is crazy, man! I love it so much! The characters always struggled and we struggled along with them and we could relate even if they weren't from America like we were! The show was so cool as hell!
@@taejasper1343 definitely fascinating and one of those rare gems that the new school anime don't produce today. Summ bout early anime that had me almost feeling like I shouldn't be watching it, it was meant for a completely different audience (to which it was, the content of anime especially before it became so big in the west was molded by the experiences of Japanese authors). Thanks for watching glad we could both enjoy a little nostalgia 👊🏼
SIGN is basically part 1 of the story and the .hack IMOQ games are part 2 to the story. If you like SIGN you'll probably like the game's continuation of that story with a new cast of characters. Though I wouldn't blame you for pirating and emulating them as Quarantine goes for $250 these days, hoping in vain that Bandai Namco gives the go ahead for a remaster or remake of those games at some point. After you beat each of the games there's a episode of the Liminality OVA that corresponds to them. The same studio and composer behind SIGN did this OVA as well, if you think SIGN's opening song is a banger every opening song for Liminality is just as good, and the ending song for the OVA is amazing as well. They add quite a bit more lore to the story and give some context to what's going on in the real world during the events of the games. If you plan on reviewing the other two anime I'm going to warn you that they are no where near as good as SIGN is. Legend of the Twilight's anime is pure cancer, especially after it deviates from the Manga. The Manga is significantly better and made even better if you read the first AI Buster novel beforehand. Roots is a very poorly paced explanation of what happens in the 8 month time skip at the beginning of G.U. with most of the characters not mattering to G.U. much at all. It's mostly just a big waste of time. I highly recommend checking out .hack G.U. Last Recode. It frequently goes on sale for around $10 on Playstation and Steam, and you do not need to watch Roots to enjoy it. I'm a bit miffed on how dumbed down the difficulty is with this remaster, but the story is still great regardless. Watch G.U. Trilogy afterwards to see the cutscenes really polished up and turned into some pretty cool fight scenes. Lastly if you're going to check out the 3rd series of .hack I recommend Quantum, a 3 episode OVA, and the Movie/Beyond the World which was only released in Japan. Both are very good entries to the series, but the rest of the 3rd series is pretty messy. There's a butt ton of Manga and Novel retellings of the game's story, but I think the only one that is really worth it is Another Birth as it goes more in depth with the events that happen in the IMOQ games from Blackrose's perspective. I think the only other Novel I really liked was Cell and that was about a random character that showed up in one of the later episodes of Roots. it was a pretty compelling story about a character infected with AIDA. Also comparing .hack to SAO is blasphemy and I won't stand for it lol.
@@KingKasper You're welcome and I hope you enjoy if you do. Honestly both of these series stole the concept from Tron. Also the screenplay writer for the Ghost in the Shell movie was behind the story for the first series, and the Evangelion artist was the character designer for it as well. It's kind of crazy that a fairly unknown game developer at the time, CyberConnect2, was able to pull off such a big multimedia franchise. It's a bit of a shame they're mostly known for their anime tie in games these days, but I highly recommend their other original IP if you can play them. Fuga Melodies of Steel, Tail Concerto, Solatorobo, Silent Bomber, and Asura's Wrath.
@@SacrificAbominat yo I never made that tron connection before. Low key you may be on to something 🤔. Also didn't know that about ghost in the shell that's crazy. Thanks for supporting the channel man!
Thanks for this, I forgot about this series and didn’t realize how much of it I could remember. I loved it as a child and look back I can see how much it has shaped my entertainment preferences through the last twenty years.
I was 14 when it came out, and it was one of those series, and there are SO VERY FEW, that I watched, didn't understand, but knew I liked but also couldn't understand why.
I was in high school and literally felt like the only person in my circle who loved Sign when it aired as I was an early adopter of the internet with a compurt in my house since DOS. Most of my days were spent on message boards and instant messenger. Still have a few long distance friends from those days too.
100%, this is my favorite anime, game, and probably comic if I ever had the chance to read them… I remember playing this with my two best friends in early childhood before being separated from them by my parents’ divorce. We spent so many hours playing the series, attempting to reach higher levels than the other two, and it led to some wonderful times. Friendly competition is so influential in a positive way when it’s done right. The nostalgia that comes from the anime and games sends me spiraling to this day… this comment isn’t relative to the series in itself, but the fact that we spent that time together on the .Hack//SIGN games specifically is what makes it so nostalgic for me to this day. I have yet to complete both .HACK//SIGN and .HACK//G.U… Part of me craves the completion, but I still hold dearly those memories of back then and I feel like the completion would lead to me forgetting those times. Hands down, this is my favorite series, again. In realistic fashion, The Matrix is my favorite live action series. I guess it’s foretelling infatuation with technology, while still understanding the implications of withholding that which we as a species cannot control, and are not ready for… only time will tell.
I was struggling when I first watched this show. I didn't think my arm would ever heal and I would lose it. I was living with my abusive father and my only enjoyment was watching anime alone. The scene at the end where they goad Tsukasa into expressing her desire to logout emboldened me. I took better care of my arm and forced myself to rehabilitate it. It took more years and much more abuse but I finally got free from my father. I had to have abdominal surgery to fix some of the damage I suffered but I can always recall that scene in my mind. I repeat it in my head when I need encouragement.
Holy sorry to hear dude. That's a heavy upbringing but I'm happy you're in a better place now mentally and overcame those tougher times! Thank you for watching wishing you good luck in the future 🙏🏽
Dude I’m so glad you made this video I remember seeing .hack years ago before SAO and told everyone it’s the same story when SAO came out. I was like just watch it 😂 gg this is great
I've rewatched this series maybe 5 times over, and i'm still astounded by the level of depth put into this show. even now i'm still piecing together more things that i missed the passed times i watched the show. it is simply amazing.
I remember as a young kid they started up an anime channel on TV, until then my only real experience had been DBZ at the time. I watched one or two anime and I dont really remember which ones they were, but I remember vividily when .Hack//Sign came on and it was like nothing i'd ever seen before, then it got kinda freaky as after I watched it the same episode kept repeating over and over again throughout the rest of that day. I guess they didn't have enough series to fill the time slots, but for some reason chose to just repeat .Hack//Sign and man did it make this already unique show stand out more.
.hack//Sign came out in 2002. Online gaming was alive and well at that point in life, even if it was only using dial-up. I began playing EverQuest mid-March 1999.d Prior to that, I played a much weaker online mmo called The Realm. PC's did not look at all like that old garbage shown in your video. Granted, I played these games on a 486 that I eventually upgraded to a Pentium II (with a turbo button), you could still do early gaming happily on that system. Keep in mind that PS1 came out in 1994, and PS2 would come out almost a year later, early March 2000.
Thanks so much for this well thought-out synopsis. I was in my late teens still playing EQ and watching this back in the day. I loved the music and the show was so captivating. I think I even played a .hack// video game that came out later. I've never watched sword Art online, maybe I need to check it? 😅 I just stumbled here as I was jumping from Spotify to TH-cam to try and find music videos about dot hack and I appreciate the nostalgia you've wrapped up for me.
I kept waiting for the fights to happen and they never happened! I don't think it really helps that most of these hack anime are prequels where most the series plot happens in the video games, so when u watch this by itself it's extra confusing.
The funny thing about dot hack sign is the fact that I used to appear on Cartoon Network's Friday night's anime block next to Cyborg Soldier 009 before the Adult Swim block was even a thing. That's right I have a really good memory. Trust me I hate it. Two different shows were aired before the creation Adult Swim. .Hack//Sign and .Hack//Legend of the Twilight.
Watching this video of .hack// Sign makes me wanna break out all of my .hack// DVD and Blu-Ray copies. And go on a bing watch. Thanks for bringing back childhood nostalgia. And memories for me.
Showing my age a little bit here, but I loved the show as a kid even though I didn’t understand all of it. I played the original four video games for the PlayStation 2 . I never got to play the GU games until this week when the switch online store had them in a bundle for 10 bucks.🎉🎉
Tysm for this!! Ive been looking for this for so long, i thought it was a fever dream lol everytime i looked in time slots of old anime on adult swim, it was never shown. Now that i watched an explanation and that it actually exists, im seriously at ease lol im 32 now and i thiught i was going crazy
when //sign came out I didn't really understand it but enjoyed it none the less, but when I found the DVD set in college nearly ten years ago I really grew to appreciate and understand this series. I then got to watch //TotT and //Roots and found them to be really hollow in comparison, like the creators tried chasing that high but were using a watered down formula
Hey thanks for the video ,great job. I was going to ask if you have time could you continue doing videos for the dot hack series I know that there were several other dot hack animes, I would love to see what ultimately ended up happening with the whole story of dot hack. Thank you very much.
It's been forever since I've seen this anime!! Watching this makes me want to rewatch it so much!!! Such a wonderful series!!! Opening is a personal fav I love listening too so much!!
Absolute classic. How about this... I rented the discs of the anime from Netflix so I could watch it all in order in full! Old school Netflix was great for getting anime in the mail.
I watch Hack Sign when I was little and I had absolutely no idea what the main plot was going on I knew there was a mystery and that was it I know I watched the show but I couldn't tell you nothing for me but I know I watched I mean it's basically early sword Arc online honestly.
I felt the same way! I was pretty confused on what the show was about when I watched as a kid but I decided to rewatch again a few years ago on my mid 20s and I had such a changed perspective of the series. the psychological aspect really moved me 🥹 wish I could rewatch dot hack roots the same way but ugh I'm already in love with current Haseo that it was hard to revisit him when he was still his selfish and cocky self 😩
I loved .Hack//Sign and the first games starting with Infection. Sword Art missed with the story telling, but it had a lot more fights and combat scenes. I still wait for a half decent remake or even another decent game. Twilight was far too creepy for me to enjoy. Roots was also fun.
.hack//SIGN is special, it present the intention to play a MMORPG very well, not merely forced into a world. The later Anime series like G.U. just doesn't capture the same spirit.
this show was SO FORMATIVE for me, as both an MMO junkie and a queer person. It was slow and eerie, and i loved it. Id stay up all night to watch it. I have the sholw show on DVD with the collectors edition DVD holders. i LOVEd the games. I was and am obsessed with this show. I cant believe i was todays years old when i found out this show PREDATES FINAL FANTASY 11 AND WORLD OF WARCRAFT.....like what were they drawing inspiration from?! EverQuest alone? Surely not! I am sad to find out that they list the source code for the original .hack// ps2 games; so well NEVER get a remaster and the few copies that do survive are hella expensive. I still have mine but im worried about them deteriorating eventually. And I hold out hope for one day getting a .hack/// MMO some day .... T-T thanks for this video lol
That's dope! It's amazing how this show could relate to you so much on a personal level and have a positive impact on your childhood memories! Also I feel you about worrying about retro games deteriorating, I swear they do not adapt anime games the same as back in the day anymore! Glad you enjoyed and thanks for watching
this is one of my favorite shows of all time. i watched it when i was 13 or 14 and i find it funny that at the end it turns out tsukasa and subaru were lesbian the whole time, and later in life (18) i realized im lesbian lol. i haven’t ever done drugs but this show made me feel weird and tripped out. also it’s probably yuki kajiura’s best soundtrack, which is saying something considering she did the noir and madoka magica soundtracks. this show is just so underrated.
Its funny how much the themes in these stories can be in some ways so relatable to real life. Also this soundtrack was so good! Definitely a top tier on my list
I’m old lol but all I rennet about watching this is that a. I was obsessed and b. It gave me kind of an existential crisis but I didn’t have the words for it back then😅
If dothack sign had a bigger budget, it could have been a masterpeice. Great story but animation quality can be shotty, and more action scenes would have been lit.
I’m playing IMOQ (I rn) after watching Sign a few months ago and I gotta say sign put me to sleep, I know it’s essentially a lore dump but holy hell they could have made it you know have some action, or hell even had the characters break their monotone talking up. I’ve played G.U. And it feels like the polar opposite, Haseo can’t stop screaming and everyone in sign just woke up. Infection feels like a solid middle ground so far, and I’m enjoying it 1000x more than sign lol
I gotta peep the rest of the .hack series. I've only seen sign and yes it moves at the pace of a turtle lmao. I've concluded that anime back in the day could get away with that but now our attention spans demand so much more than tryna rewatch a series like this takes a lot of effort
Ah .hack this anime influenced all my teenage years, i still don't want an mmorpg like sword art i want one like .hack, and the soundtrack, oh the soundtrack i still blast it nowadays ahahah. .Hack sign was actually very in advance in its time because it's also LGBT as fuck, a girl who is transformed as a male and have a relationship with a girl and then when they get back in the real world they are more than friend as we can see in .hack zero, they have date.
I've watched this very recently actually,Tsukasa's plot twist was interesting but other than that things in the anime were proceeding extremely slowly and only like the last 5-6 episodes made sense in terms of completing the plot.Also please make a video about it's sequels as well(legend of the twilight,roots/gu trilogy)
Yeah you're not wrong at all. This was definitely a slow burner. I watch it initially when I was younger but it just didn't make too much sense to me and then when I went back and watched it it made a little more sense lol. Thanks for watching the video and I'll look into those other series 🙌🏼
@@TheFreelancer131 1. It has 26 the 2 you're referring to are OVA's not part of the main anime. 2. I pinned a comment saying hack walked so sao could run, i was saying sao copied hack in my video and in the pin for anyone like yourself that's confused
@@KingKasper The SAO thing defiantly is confusing the way you presented it. Didn't even see the pin prolly not a good idea to rely on those for people who listen to video's while at work but that's not here nor there As for the Ep count iv owned the physical Copies of the DVD's in a box set for some time now, Bought it direct from Bandai entertainment outsource and it included the 27th and 28th and labels them as ep27 and ep28 Don't really know ho much more official it has to be but when you buy it form the publisher and there calling it as such I think it's safe to say it has 28 ep's
@@KingKasper Yeah sorry to tell you man but Neither of us are gonna ever win an argument like this. The facts are that Even if the Creator came out tomorrow and said there are 28 ep's there would still be people claiming it doesn't and vice versa. But to anyone else reading this. There are 28 ep's just because There Ova's doesn't make them suddenly NOT episodes lol But just for the sake of ruling out delusion as an argument Yes I am fully willing to accept there are 26 Story relevant Episodes but the last two are still apart of the Anime rather Modern TH-camrs like it or not 🤣
Positives: - Explains the story well in 10 minutes Negatives: - Repeatedly mentions the plagiarism from SAO (got the point the first time) - Nags about the like share subscribe bell notification yada yada thing like every other YT video assuming I can't make those choices unless I'm told to - Uses annoying clips and sounds from other places, like "brah" - Butchers the pronunciation of most Japanese names I hope you see these as things you can improve on, as you did well on the thing you set out to do.
This was very harmful for my psyche back then 😂. I used to play hours of Ragnarok online and then watch this..... It was my escape from the real world and Id waste hours in video games and books thinking about grand adventures and not facing the crippling anxiety I got from reality
.Hack Had a great narrative Story line, Fleshed out world and Characters. It didnt need out OP characters or action for the sake of action so SAO could be terrible and get away with it.
.hack began production in 1999 and launched anime (//sign) and game (//infection) in 2002.. while SAO started webnovel in 2002.. your vid is good (minus the long intro) but calling .hack a blatant plagiarism is kind of a blasphemy lol the inserts making it worse.. am i wrong about that? and it's kajiura not kajiuri
The amount of people who call this series SAO makes me cripplingly depressed. SAO's writing is trash by comparison. It's like when I dressed up as Dante from DMC 4 for Halloween and everyone called me Starlord. THEY. ARE. NOT. THE. SAME.
Yeah but there's so much more to it then a 10 minute explanation though. Morganna sent her servant Macha yes thats right. However. The real villains behind it all were her own parents. Wanting to trap their own daughter inside the game and never to leave so they can all be a "family" again. The mother was the voice that could not be seen when she was with Macha, Aura, and her dad in the game itself. Both of her parents were awful for wanting to keep her their instead of the real world. The whooe point was to keep Tsukasa inside the game so that could become her real world instead of going back to reality.
That is not true at all.😅 Morgana wasn't tsukasas mother. She was a program made and the creator regreted it. Tsukasas mother in the real world died before the show started. Tsukasas dad in the real world was an abusive beep. But its not the man they find in one of the later episodes, Harald. He is a copy of the real Harald who's mind is also trapped in the world by morgana. Morgana was a program made to give birth to aura. But realised she would be replaced by aura i. The process. To avoid it she trappes aura in a comatose (for ai) state. And uses tsukasas view of the world to keep them both there. Its presumed that aura grows by collecting data and morgana was supposed to 'feed it'. But giving negitve data like tsukasas made aura deteriorate. That is why she wakes up when tsukasa decides to go home
.Hack//Sign walked so SWORD ART ONLINE could RUN!!!
Amen brother
@@SilasSeiler thanks for watching fam 🙌🏼
Tru
Thanks for watching 🙌🏼
Tf it did. .hack ran while Sao limped its way to the barn and cried for a redo.
At 30 this is still such a cherished fucking anime, and franchise, to me. Seeing this show as a child really was an *experience* and I hope more people continue to discover it.
Agreed! Such a dope series really set the path for all the VR MMO based isekai out there now. Thanks for watching bro 🙌🏼
I'm 33 and remember watching this and falling in love with this show when I was 12. So happy many remember this series and younger people have found it, now loving it too. 💜💜
@@crybabyteej That's dope man. Glad you could relive the good ole days through this hack video! I too was hell young when I first saw the series on TV 🔥
@@KingKasper blessed this video came across my feed. 100% agree with you that .Hack//sign walked so SAO could run and I'll die on that hill too. 🤌🪦
It never gets old I’ve done about 10 rewatches since 2003
ALSO THAT THEME SONG WAS CRAZY AS HELL. 😆
ON GOD 😂
True that
Thanks to a friend, now i allways understand "Hadcore porn wants more"
One of the greatest animes ever made. So ahead of its time. I'm 33 now, been a fan since i was like 11-12
They don't make anime the same anymore! This era was elite 🔥
@@KingKaspertruly
Well, the SAO books came out in 2009 and the original .hack series came out well before then, like 7 years prior? .hack series started developing around 1998-99, so .hack was technically the first of the two.
Yep that's what I said bro
@aerrinlongheart given the dates and my pinned comment I thought it was obvious
@aerrinlongheart all good dude. I guess since I'm a fan of .hack I knew it came out before sword art and it would only make sense that sao is referred to as the copy
The SAO books from 2009 are not the original publication. The original web series was released in 2002 around the same time .hack//AI buster was published. It takes quite a bit of time to get a completed book published so those ideas were already set in stone prior - they had those ideas in their heads already. They all share influences from the 90s like Ghost in the Shell, The Matrix, Phantasy Star Online, etc.
Also .hack started as something completely unrecognizable before it morphed into what we know of it today. It's just a coincidence that SIGN and SAO started with a similar premise.
@@sapphirefractal4506 I don't believe it's coincidence. .hack//sign dropped in april 2002 and the game .hack//infection released june of the same year. .hack was a multi platform franchise. That doesn't sprout out of the ground like a mushroom. That's been in development far longer than one dude posting a story online. The company would have been marketing the show and the games months if not at least a year prior to release. So people would already have known of promo material and basic plot hook.
We need a remake of the Hack//Sign anime so bad. Still the best "trapped in a game" anime to this day. Seeing it with upgraded artstyle and animations would be a treat.
Mappa would kill this
My daughter is 5 and we listen to The World and Key Of The Twimight on the way to school, she loves the music as do I and eventually I'll get her to watch em!
Yo that's so sweet! Glad you enjoyed this series and passed it on to your kid man 🔥
.hack is the thinking man's SAO. Obviously .hack came first but it's still a fair analysis.
Yep sao just coppied .hack and made it flashier
God, I feel SO vindicated someone else pointed out the Sword Art Online basically being a copy of .Hack cause I ALWAYS felt that way the day I even heard about SAO. Only reason I can imagine it got more popularity is purely because it had more action in it.
Facts! Also didn't hurt that SAO dropped after anime started becoming more mainstream / streaming was available
I mean I always told people I said it's because of hack sign is the reason why we got sword Art online anyway because of his success
.hack sign: aka tsukasa mopes about until Subaru gets thirsty
🤣🤣🤣
#lesbian love before it was cool
The nostalgia this channel brings back is unreal 😂
HAHA that's my goal! Appreciate you supporting the channel brozay 👊🏼
.hack// as a franchise was fantastic and desserved more praise. Sign plus playing the game just hits different. really Hope the OG 4 part game gets a remaster in the future.
@@NiallByrne facts I feel like this whole franchise was so slept on this series in particular was dope and one of the first anime I remember that gave me a really melancholy feel and had me more interested in the human elements of the genre. Here's to hoping for a reboot and remaster 🔥🙏🏽
This show is a Toonami classic, bro! Thank you for making this video to spread more awareness about it and bringing my nostalgia for this series back to life! You're the one, man! Also this has some serious SAO vibes going on for it looking back today, now that I think about it and a little bit of Code Lyoko if you think about it, too! Which was also on CN back in the day! Anyway, what a legendary series, now time for me to go back and rewatch the show and get drunk on my nostalgia! Yes, I'm an old man if you were going to say that! Nah jk, I'm only 20, I was just playin' with y'all! Anyways, thanks again, Kasper!
Code Lyoko is such a throwback jeez 🔥. Appreciate you watching the video and supporting the channel 👊🏼
@@KingKasper Yeah, it is, G! The show was always so fascinating to watch with all of these French kids trying to log into the virtual world to save it and stop the villains who've taken it over from trying to destroy ours, it always had such high stakes unlike most other cartoons out there did! The nostalgia I have for this anime series is incredible, so thank you for feeding my nostalgia with this video, good sir! You've done well! And the similarities between these two shows is crazy, man! I love it so much! The characters always struggled and we struggled along with them and we could relate even if they weren't from America like we were! The show was so cool as hell!
@@taejasper1343 definitely fascinating and one of those rare gems that the new school anime don't produce today. Summ bout early anime that had me almost feeling like I shouldn't be watching it, it was meant for a completely different audience (to which it was, the content of anime especially before it became so big in the west was molded by the experiences of Japanese authors). Thanks for watching glad we could both enjoy a little nostalgia 👊🏼
SIGN is basically part 1 of the story and the .hack IMOQ games are part 2 to the story. If you like SIGN you'll probably like the game's continuation of that story with a new cast of characters. Though I wouldn't blame you for pirating and emulating them as Quarantine goes for $250 these days, hoping in vain that Bandai Namco gives the go ahead for a remaster or remake of those games at some point.
After you beat each of the games there's a episode of the Liminality OVA that corresponds to them. The same studio and composer behind SIGN did this OVA as well, if you think SIGN's opening song is a banger every opening song for Liminality is just as good, and the ending song for the OVA is amazing as well. They add quite a bit more lore to the story and give some context to what's going on in the real world during the events of the games.
If you plan on reviewing the other two anime I'm going to warn you that they are no where near as good as SIGN is. Legend of the Twilight's anime is pure cancer, especially after it deviates from the Manga. The Manga is significantly better and made even better if you read the first AI Buster novel beforehand. Roots is a very poorly paced explanation of what happens in the 8 month time skip at the beginning of G.U. with most of the characters not mattering to G.U. much at all. It's mostly just a big waste of time.
I highly recommend checking out .hack G.U. Last Recode. It frequently goes on sale for around $10 on Playstation and Steam, and you do not need to watch Roots to enjoy it. I'm a bit miffed on how dumbed down the difficulty is with this remaster, but the story is still great regardless. Watch G.U. Trilogy afterwards to see the cutscenes really polished up and turned into some pretty cool fight scenes.
Lastly if you're going to check out the 3rd series of .hack I recommend Quantum, a 3 episode OVA, and the Movie/Beyond the World which was only released in Japan. Both are very good entries to the series, but the rest of the 3rd series is pretty messy.
There's a butt ton of Manga and Novel retellings of the game's story, but I think the only one that is really worth it is Another Birth as it goes more in depth with the events that happen in the IMOQ games from Blackrose's perspective. I think the only other Novel I really liked was Cell and that was about a random character that showed up in one of the later episodes of Roots. it was a pretty compelling story about a character infected with AIDA.
Also comparing .hack to SAO is blasphemy and I won't stand for it lol.
Thanks for the info about the games man! May have to continue this series with some more .hack videos. Also 😂 dkm SAO stole this concept idgaf
@@KingKasper You're welcome and I hope you enjoy if you do. Honestly both of these series stole the concept from Tron.
Also the screenplay writer for the Ghost in the Shell movie was behind the story for the first series, and the Evangelion artist was the character designer for it as well. It's kind of crazy that a fairly unknown game developer at the time, CyberConnect2, was able to pull off such a big multimedia franchise.
It's a bit of a shame they're mostly known for their anime tie in games these days, but I highly recommend their other original IP if you can play them. Fuga Melodies of Steel, Tail Concerto, Solatorobo, Silent Bomber, and Asura's Wrath.
@@SacrificAbominat yo I never made that tron connection before. Low key you may be on to something 🤔. Also didn't know that about ghost in the shell that's crazy. Thanks for supporting the channel man!
@@KingKasper You're welcome.
Thanks for this, I forgot about this series and didn’t realize how much of it I could remember. I loved it as a child and look back I can see how much it has shaped my entertainment preferences through the last twenty years.
Aye that's sick dude it had such an impact on you
I was 14 when it came out, and it was one of those series, and there are SO VERY FEW, that I watched, didn't understand, but knew I liked but also couldn't understand why.
I completely agree bro. This was epic and a little did we know back then the greatness that we were bearing witness to 🔥💯
I was in high school and literally felt like the only person in my circle who loved Sign when it aired as I was an early adopter of the internet with a compurt in my house since DOS. Most of my days were spent on message boards and instant messenger. Still have a few long distance friends from those days too.
100%, this is my favorite anime, game, and probably comic if I ever had the chance to read them… I remember playing this with my two best friends in early childhood before being separated from them by my parents’ divorce. We spent so many hours playing the series, attempting to reach higher levels than the other two, and it led to some wonderful times. Friendly competition is so influential in a positive way when it’s done right.
The nostalgia that comes from the anime and games sends me spiraling to this day… this comment isn’t relative to the series in itself, but the fact that we spent that time together on the .Hack//SIGN games specifically is what makes it so nostalgic for me to this day. I have yet to complete both .HACK//SIGN and .HACK//G.U… Part of me craves the completion, but I still hold dearly those memories of back then and I feel like the completion would lead to me forgetting those times.
Hands down, this is my favorite series, again. In realistic fashion, The Matrix is my favorite live action series. I guess it’s foretelling infatuation with technology, while still understanding the implications of withholding that which we as a species cannot control, and are not ready for… only time will tell.
I was struggling when I first watched this show. I didn't think my arm would ever heal and I would lose it. I was living with my abusive father and my only enjoyment was watching anime alone.
The scene at the end where they goad Tsukasa into expressing her desire to logout emboldened me. I took better care of my arm and forced myself to rehabilitate it. It took more years and much more abuse but I finally got free from my father. I had to have abdominal surgery to fix some of the damage I suffered but I can always recall that scene in my mind. I repeat it in my head when I need encouragement.
Holy sorry to hear dude. That's a heavy upbringing but I'm happy you're in a better place now mentally and overcame those tougher times! Thank you for watching wishing you good luck in the future 🙏🏽
awesome timing on this, just starting the old ps2 games and couldnt recall the hack//sign story all that well. great video!
Jeeez that's 🔥 thanks for watching
I never gave that show the time of day when I was a high schooler but went back years later and man did I miss out on an amazing introspective story!
Ya this story is so sick! So underrated thanks for watching
Dude I’m so glad you made this video I remember seeing .hack years ago before SAO and told everyone it’s the same story when SAO came out. I was like just watch it 😂 gg this is great
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks bro
This is a video I didn't expect to see in my subscriptions, what a nostalgic throwback
Glad you liked it bro 🔥
💯
@@itsking2u thanks for watching bro
I've rewatched this series maybe 5 times over, and i'm still astounded by the level of depth put into this show. even now i'm still piecing together more things that i missed the passed times i watched the show. it is simply amazing.
Yep really great series
I remember as a young kid they started up an anime channel on TV, until then my only real experience had been DBZ at the time. I watched one or two anime and I dont really remember which ones they were, but I remember vividily when .Hack//Sign came on and it was like nothing i'd ever seen before, then it got kinda freaky as after I watched it the same episode kept repeating over and over again throughout the rest of that day. I guess they didn't have enough series to fill the time slots, but for some reason chose to just repeat .Hack//Sign and man did it make this already unique show stand out more.
That's a crazy story! Thanks for sharing and glad you enjoyed this series!
I loved this anime growing up, for over a decade i wanted a game just like The World R:1.
Same! A game like this would have been so epic
.hack//Sign came out in 2002. Online gaming was alive and well at that point in life, even if it was only using dial-up. I began playing EverQuest mid-March 1999.d Prior to that, I played a much weaker online mmo called The Realm. PC's did not look at all like that old garbage shown in your video. Granted, I played these games on a 486 that I eventually upgraded to a Pentium II (with a turbo button), you could still do early gaming happily on that system. Keep in mind that PS1 came out in 1994, and PS2 would come out almost a year later, early March 2000.
The Golden age of online gaming and early consoles kids these days just will never understand
Thanks so much for this well thought-out synopsis.
I was in my late teens still playing EQ and watching this back in the day. I loved the music and the show was so captivating. I think I even played a .hack// video game that came out later. I've never watched sword Art online, maybe I need to check it? 😅
I just stumbled here as I was jumping from Spotify to TH-cam to try and find music videos about dot hack and I appreciate the nostalgia you've wrapped up for me.
That's dope bro! Glad you enjoyed the video. Definitely recommend sword art online! It's like a more action packed version of this anime 🙌🏼
I kept waiting for the fights to happen and they never happened!
I don't think it really helps that most of these hack anime are prequels where most the series plot happens in the video games, so when u watch this by itself it's extra confusing.
Ya this was a combination of slow burn and mental for than physical anime plot. SAO definitely evolved this story
😂 same.
@@itsking2u 🤣 this anime TRIED ok guys
The funny thing about dot hack sign is the fact that I used to appear on Cartoon Network's Friday night's anime block next to Cyborg Soldier 009 before the Adult Swim block was even a thing.
That's right I have a really good memory.
Trust me I hate it.
Two different shows were aired before the creation Adult Swim.
.Hack//Sign and .Hack//Legend of the Twilight.
Cartoon Network really had anime in a chokehold back in the day!
Watching this video of .hack// Sign makes me wanna break out all of my .hack// DVD and Blu-Ray copies. And go on a bing watch. Thanks for bringing back childhood nostalgia. And memories for me.
That's sweet dude! Thank you for enjoying the video. Glad I could bring back some good memories 🔥
@@KingKasper You're very welcome anytime.
Showing my age a little bit here, but I loved the show as a kid even though I didn’t understand all of it. I played the original four video games for the PlayStation 2 . I never got to play the GU games until this week when the switch online store had them in a bundle for 10 bucks.🎉🎉
That's sick! This was such an impactful yet low key series
Tysm for this!! Ive been looking for this for so long, i thought it was a fever dream lol everytime i looked in time slots of old anime on adult swim, it was never shown. Now that i watched an explanation and that it actually exists, im seriously at ease lol im 32 now and i thiught i was going crazy
Haha not crazy at all. Sometimes finding old anime like this is needle in a hay stack
It’s insane how you managed to condense soooooo much dialogue into this. I could barely follow anything after the first few episodes
Thank you bro appreciate it! I couldn't fully comprehend this series until I researched it in uni haha
Thank you for making this content for us og fans
No problem. Glad you enjoyed it 🙌🏼
when //sign came out I didn't really understand it but enjoyed it none the less, but when I found the DVD set in college nearly ten years ago I really grew to appreciate and understand this series. I then got to watch //TotT and //Roots and found them to be really hollow in comparison, like the creators tried chasing that high but were using a watered down formula
Yeah sometimes people just got to accept that they created gold and not to try and recreate it or it just Waters down the final product
@@KingKasper from what I hear their games are pretty decent and where most of the gold is of the series, I'm just glad many like us enjoy the series
I would catch this show at random times as a kid and could not for the life of me understand wtf was going on
Facts the show was just a confusing ball as a child but when I watched it again later on it was lit
Lol I'm glad you said something about the dot hack song cause that shits fire. 😂❤
i Just finished watching it Masterpiece
Hey, glad you liked it!
Hey thanks for the video ,great job. I was going to ask if you have time could you continue doing videos for the dot hack series I know that there were several other dot hack animes, I would love to see what ultimately ended up happening with the whole story of dot hack. Thank you very much.
I'll look into the other series! Thanks for watching!
Trippin balls and watching dot hack is a bit anxiety inducing id imagine but also mysterious enough to keep me watching i bet
Facts 😂
Made the show mad chill tbh just a lil spooky
What were you trippin on?
Great video my friend
Thanks so much bro!
It's been forever since I've seen this anime!! Watching this makes me want to rewatch it so much!!! Such a wonderful series!!! Opening is a personal fav I love listening too so much!!
Yeah that opening is badass. Thanks for watching this video. Definitely go rewatch this anime if you have time
Absolute classic. How about this... I rented the discs of the anime from Netflix so I could watch it all in order in full! Old school Netflix was great for getting anime in the mail.
Yo that's crazy bro. You're actually elite 🔥
😢best anime ever
Twas beastly
I loved this anime
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for posting this
No problem 🙌🏼
I watch Hack Sign when I was little and I had absolutely no idea what the main plot was going on I knew there was a mystery and that was it I know I watched the show but I couldn't tell you nothing for me but I know I watched I mean it's basically early sword Arc online honestly.
Ya this show was so enigmatic back in the day
I felt the same way! I was pretty confused on what the show was about when I watched as a kid but I decided to rewatch again a few years ago on my mid 20s and I had such a changed perspective of the series. the psychological aspect really moved me 🥹
wish I could rewatch dot hack roots the same way but ugh I'm already in love with current Haseo that it was hard to revisit him when he was still his selfish and cocky self 😩
Yo facts! If you enjoyed this I highly recommend this new anime Goodnight World on Netflix
@@KingKasper I'll check it out thanks for the recc!
I loved .Hack//Sign and the first games starting with Infection. Sword Art missed with the story telling, but it had a lot more fights and combat scenes. I still wait for a half decent remake or even another decent game. Twilight was far too creepy for me to enjoy. Roots was also fun.
A remake of this series would probably break the internet
Did you not realize that is the same composer for hack and sword art
I didn't. Thanks for sharing. That is mind-blowing
❤ Nice anime
Super cool
.hack//SIGN is special, it present the intention to play a MMORPG very well, not merely forced into a world.
The later Anime series like G.U. just doesn't capture the same spirit.
Yeah honestly I fell off the series after dot Hack, it's just so iconic
this show was SO FORMATIVE for me, as both an MMO junkie and a queer person. It was slow and eerie, and i loved it. Id stay up all night to watch it. I have the sholw show on DVD with the collectors edition DVD holders. i LOVEd the games. I was and am obsessed with this show. I cant believe i was todays years old when i found out this show PREDATES FINAL FANTASY 11 AND WORLD OF WARCRAFT.....like what were they drawing inspiration from?! EverQuest alone? Surely not! I am sad to find out that they list the source code for the original .hack// ps2 games; so well NEVER get a remaster and the few copies that do survive are hella expensive. I still have mine but im worried about them deteriorating eventually. And I hold out hope for one day getting a .hack/// MMO some day .... T-T thanks for this video lol
That's dope! It's amazing how this show could relate to you so much on a personal level and have a positive impact on your childhood memories! Also I feel you about worrying about retro games deteriorating, I swear they do not adapt anime games the same as back in the day anymore! Glad you enjoyed and thanks for watching
this is one of my favorite shows of all time. i watched it when i was 13 or 14 and i find it funny that at the end it turns out tsukasa and subaru were lesbian the whole time, and later in life (18) i realized im lesbian lol. i haven’t ever done drugs but this show made me feel weird and tripped out. also it’s probably yuki kajiura’s best soundtrack, which is saying something considering she did the noir and madoka magica soundtracks. this show is just so underrated.
Its funny how much the themes in these stories can be in some ways so relatable to real life. Also this soundtrack was so good! Definitely a top tier on my list
SAO did, indeed, steal .hack//SIGN's drip. It even stole its soundtrack composer, Yuki Kajiura.
Say word didn't realize it had the same composer!
the you cant keep getting away with it made me LMAO so hard
@@danielnistor1860 🤣🤣💕
Neet tsukasa doesnt do anything but be a agrivation as shes trapped in thr game with her twilight bracelet monster
🤣
Underatted Channel
Appreciate that bro
Being half asleep when it aired didn't help my childhood self understand wtf was happening
🤣 facts
Dot hack is one of my most favorite series. on the same level as berserk with me
Jeez that is a hefty comparison. But if you like it, I love it bro bro
I’m old lol but all I rennet about watching this is that a. I was obsessed and b. It gave me kind of an existential crisis but I didn’t have the words for it back then😅
Yooo talk about connecting deeply with an anime! 😆 🔥
Its weird how nostalgic this absolutely dry (as the pavement on a hot day in Texas) anime is.
LMAO you roasting but no wrong
If dothack sign had a bigger budget, it could have been a masterpeice. Great story but animation quality can be shotty, and more action scenes would have been lit.
Ya way more action
I just discoverd your channel, nice work man. I like your vibe
@@BelzeSensei thanks bro appreciate it!
There are 28 episodes. There are two bonus episodes.
I'm referring to non OVA
I like how you managed to not show the badass hero of the show in any clips.
LOL
I’m playing IMOQ (I rn) after watching Sign a few months ago and I gotta say sign put me to sleep, I know it’s essentially a lore dump but holy hell they could have made it you know have some action, or hell even had the characters break their monotone talking up. I’ve played G.U. And it feels like the polar opposite, Haseo can’t stop screaming and everyone in sign just woke up. Infection feels like a solid middle ground so far, and I’m enjoying it 1000x more than sign lol
I gotta peep the rest of the .hack series. I've only seen sign and yes it moves at the pace of a turtle lmao. I've concluded that anime back in the day could get away with that but now our attention spans demand so much more than tryna rewatch a series like this takes a lot of effort
Ah .hack this anime influenced all my teenage years, i still don't want an mmorpg like sword art i want one like .hack, and the soundtrack, oh the soundtrack i still blast it nowadays ahahah.
.Hack sign was actually very in advance in its time because it's also LGBT as fuck, a girl who is transformed as a male and have a relationship with a girl and then when they get back in the real world they are more than friend as we can see in .hack zero, they have date.
FACTS ish was progressive af
Sick
Thanks for watching!
🔥🔥🔥
🫡
I've watched this very recently actually,Tsukasa's plot twist was interesting but other than that things in the anime were proceeding extremely slowly and only like the last 5-6 episodes made sense in terms of completing the plot.Also please make a video about it's sequels as well(legend of the twilight,roots/gu trilogy)
Yeah you're not wrong at all. This was definitely a slow burner. I watch it initially when I was younger but it just didn't make too much sense to me and then when I went back and watched it it made a little more sense lol. Thanks for watching the video and I'll look into those other series 🙌🏼
@@KingKasper 👍 Looking forward to that and your Arc-V video as well :D
@@shiranshee3706 haha yes can't forget arc v
Tbf the anime do makes more sense if you have play the games
Truly amazing series and franchise. I love .Hack. sure I enjoyed SAOs first show. But it never hit like .HACK
I honestly like SAO better than .hack but this show is a classic none the less 🙌🏽
"I rewatched it in college" high A F lmao
🤣 how'd you like it?
My first time ever watching it was high AF it was a beautiful fever dream
Sword art online could never be this cool tbh.
Facts
Yeah not “confined” to a wheel chair, just a chair user. But yeah the music was the shit. This was a solid vid
Ah thanks for that! And appreciate the compliment 🙌🏼
Dot hack root and other related to dot hack please
Will look into those! Thanks for watching
@@KingKasper that dot hack gu has strong og fan base too... looking foward for that video bro
Just FYI .Hack//Sign has 28 Episodes NOT 26 also SOA is the drip Snatcher and not even a good one .hack did it first by 10 years prior.
@@TheFreelancer131 1. It has 26 the 2 you're referring to are OVA's not part of the main anime. 2. I pinned a comment saying hack walked so sao could run, i was saying sao copied hack in my video and in the pin for anyone like yourself that's confused
@@KingKasper The SAO thing defiantly is confusing the way you presented it. Didn't even see the pin prolly not a good idea to rely on those for people who listen to video's while at work but that's not here nor there
As for the Ep count iv owned the physical Copies of the DVD's in a box set for some time now, Bought it direct from Bandai entertainment outsource and it included the 27th and 28th and labels them as ep27 and ep28 Don't really know ho much more official it has to be but when you buy it form the publisher and there calling it as such I think it's safe to say it has 28 ep's
@@TheFreelancer131 no just no 😂
@@KingKasper Yeah sorry to tell you man but Neither of us are gonna ever win an argument like this. The facts are that Even if the Creator came out tomorrow and said there are 28 ep's there would still be people claiming it doesn't and vice versa.
But to anyone else reading this. There are 28 ep's just because There Ova's doesn't make them suddenly NOT episodes lol
But just for the sake of ruling out delusion as an argument Yes I am fully willing to accept there are 26 Story relevant Episodes but the last two are still apart of the Anime rather Modern TH-camrs like it or not 🤣
Wierd Theory, Main Character is Lain from Serial Experiments Lain in the videogame world
🤔
I love that Tsukasa is trans and lesbian at the same time, SAO could never
Honestly I didn't think it was that deep but technically you right
That’s right. It was a yuri all along!
Thanks for watching bro
Positives:
- Explains the story well in 10 minutes
Negatives:
- Repeatedly mentions the plagiarism from SAO (got the point the first time)
- Nags about the like share subscribe bell notification yada yada thing like every other YT video assuming I can't make those choices unless I'm told to
- Uses annoying clips and sounds from other places, like "brah"
- Butchers the pronunciation of most Japanese names
I hope you see these as things you can improve on, as you did well on the thing you set out to do.
Thanks for watching!
This was very harmful for my psyche back then 😂. I used to play hours of Ragnarok online and then watch this..... It was my escape from the real world and Id waste hours in video games and books thinking about grand adventures and not facing the crippling anxiety I got from reality
Wow talk about anime coming full circle. Good for you for recognizing that and taking steps to improve your situation!
Nice video bro,I like the opening for the anime but man this show was boring as fuck.
It really is
Thanks for watching! I enjoyed it but it was slow pace more timid like some older slice of life anime
😂
@@KingKasper i like the show it just need more action
@@Nevaeh70793 can't argue with that!
.Hack Had a great narrative Story line, Fleshed out world and Characters. It didnt need out OP characters or action for the sake of action so SAO could be terrible and get away with it.
Haha low key you got a point
Zaaaa wordooo😂😂😂
😂😂
Better than SAO. And... Most Isekai to come out.
@@technoxander4079 it's a dang good show 💯
This is why I don't like sword art. It was just a cooy of dot hack.
🤣 yo that's wild. SAO szn 1 was beast but I feel you
.hack began production in 1999 and launched anime (//sign) and game (//infection) in 2002.. while SAO started webnovel in 2002.. your vid is good (minus the long intro) but calling .hack a blatant plagiarism is kind of a blasphemy lol the inserts making it worse.. am i wrong about that? and it's kajiura not kajiuri
BRO I SAID SAO WAS Plagiarizing NOT hack 😂 read my pinned comment 🤦🏽♂️
I swore this had more episodes 😂
It really felt like it had way more eps back in the day haha
The music was awesome my favorite is the world❤ what is your 🥰
Dang probably that one too
I saved you video to programming lessons
Thanks for watching
The amount of people who call this series SAO makes me cripplingly depressed. SAO's writing is trash by comparison.
It's like when I dressed up as Dante from DMC 4 for Halloween and everyone called me Starlord. THEY. ARE. NOT. THE. SAME.
🤣 SAO copies this, this was the original. Also, shoutout the Dante costume 🔥 always preferred him to Virgil's ugly ass 😂
Don't make them like that anymore! Nowdays it's greed and no care for relationships.
FACTS
Evangelion online (jk it's just because is the same character designer
Say word haha
if only the dialogue and pacing weren't terrible it'd be a good show.
It was a good show but hey it's not everyones cup of tea I guess 🤷🏽♂️
Remember Piros killed Mia/Macha
Thanks for watching
Absolute ZERO explanation as to how the girl was in a hospital in bed and still logged into the game.
😂😂😂
@@KingKasper yeah i am genuinely confused. I ask that someone explain that to me
An Shoji is my anime waifu.
Go off king!
.Hack// series is the real one instead of SAO
Facts it's the OG
Yeah but there's so much more to it then a 10 minute explanation though. Morganna sent her servant Macha yes thats right. However. The real villains behind it all were her own parents. Wanting to trap their own daughter inside the game and never to leave so they can all be a "family" again. The mother was the voice that could not be seen when she was with Macha, Aura, and her dad in the game itself. Both of her parents were awful for wanting to keep her their instead of the real world. The whooe point was to keep Tsukasa inside the game so that could become her real world instead of going back to reality.
I honestly don't remember this in the series. It was this expanded upon in another work like a graph novel or something
That is not true at all.😅 Morgana wasn't tsukasas mother. She was a program made and the creator regreted it.
Tsukasas mother in the real world died before the show started.
Tsukasas dad in the real world was an abusive beep.
But its not the man they find in one of the later episodes, Harald. He is a copy of the real Harald who's mind is also trapped in the world by morgana.
Morgana was a program made to give birth to aura. But realised she would be replaced by aura i. The process. To avoid it she trappes aura in a comatose (for ai) state. And uses tsukasas view of the world to keep them both there. Its presumed that aura grows by collecting data and morgana was supposed to 'feed it'. But giving negitve data like tsukasas made aura deteriorate. That is why she wakes up when tsukasa decides to go home
@@sorra300- exactly