.hack//SIGN

.hack//Sign (trademarked as .hack//SIGN) is an anime television series directed by Kōichi Mashimo and produced by studio Bee Train and Bandai Visual, that makes up one of the four original storylines of the .hack franchise. 26 original episodes aired on TV and 3 additional bonus episodes ("Intermezzo", "Unison", and "Gift") were released on DVD as original video animations (OVAs). The series features character design by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, known for his work on Evangelion, and screenplay by Kazunori Itō, who penned the screenplay for the first Ghost in the Shell movie. The score was composed by Yuki Kajiura, marking her second collaboration with Kōichi Mashimo.

.hack//Sign is influenced by psychological and sociological subjects such as anxiety, escapism, and interpersonal relationships. The storyline moves at a leisurely pace, and has multiple layers — the viewer is often fed false information and red herrings, potentially leading to confusion until the true nature of events is unveiled towards the end of the series. It relies on character development and has few action scenes; most of the time character interaction is presented in the form of dialogue.

.hack//SIGN premiered on Cartoon Network's Toonami, as part of its Toonami Super Saturday block, on Saturday February 1, 2003, and ran until it's cancellation. It then ran on the new Non-Toonami block Saturday Video Entertainment System (SVES).

Plot
The series focuses on a Wavemaster (magic user) named Tsukasa, a player character of a virtual-reality massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) called The World. Tsukasa wakes up to find himself in a dungeon in The World, but he suffers from short-term memory loss as he wonders where he is and how he got there. The situation gets worse when he discovers he is unable to log out and is trapped in the game. From then on, along with other players Tsukasa embarks on a quest to figure out the truth behind his abnormal situation.

Despite being a "fantasy quest type adventure", it does not rely on action sequences. Instead, the show is driven by mystery, slowly revealing its secrets to the viewer while paying much attention to the individual characters. Questions like what happened to Tsukasa in the real world, who he really is and why he is unable to log out are driving points of the story.

Characters
Tsukasa — is the protagonist of the story and plays a Wavemaster. At the start of the series he is seen waking up to find himself trapped in The World, unable to log out. He is initially depicted as a cynical loner who tends to avoid others as much as possible, but his character development shows him growing to realize there are people who care about him.

Subaru — One of these people is Subaru, a female Heavy Axeman introduced as the leader of the Crimson Knights, a player organization designed to fight injustice (such as player killing) in The World. Most of the time Subaru is the only character preventing the Crimson Knights from running wild; she knows that they must be restrained from abusing their power. She eventually joins in the search of a way to help Tsukasa, and builds a close relationship with him.

Mimiru — Also close to Tsukasa is Mimiru, a Heavy Blade who is poor at planning things out and following through on them. She is the first player to meet Tsukasa, and later forms a bond with him and vows to protect him. She usually hangs out with Bear, trying to solve the mystery of Tsukasa's inability to log out.

Bear — is an older player of the game and plays a Blademaster. He appears as cool and collected, always willing to help out newbies. He also conducts research in the real world on Tsukasa.

BT — is one of Bear's acquaintances, a plotting and scheming Wavemaster. BT teams up with Crim and Sora to find the Key of the Twilight.

Crim — is a powerful Long Arm, friend of Subaru who founded the Crimson Knights organization with her, but afterwards left it as he found it did not match his personality. Amiable, easygoing and sociable; he prefers to keep the real world and the game separate. Crim's stated goal when playing is simply to have fun, although he never turns down a chance to help somebody in need.

Sora — is a Twin Blade player killer who enjoys hunting players down, especially attractive female ones, and demanding their Member Addresses in exchange for their lives. He sees Tsukasa as the strongest link to the Key of the Twilight, and starts working with BT in the quest for it.

Episodes
.hack//SIGN is a 26 episode Japanese anime series directed by Kōichi Mashimo and produced by studio Bee Train and Bandai Visual, that makes up one of the four original storylines of the .hack franchise.

The storyline of the series moves at a leisurely pace, and has multiple layers — the viewer is often fed false information and red herrings, potentially leading to confusion until the true nature of events is unveiled towards the end of the series. It relies on character development and has few action scenes; most of the time character interaction is presented in the form of dialogue.

The series premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo between April 4, 2002 and September 25, 2002. The English dub of the series was distributed across North America by Bandai Entertainment. The series premiered on Cartoon Network's Toonami Super Saturday block on February 1, 2003 and ran until February 22, 2003. It was then moved to Saturday Video Entertainment System, beginning on February 29, 2003, where it stayed until March 1, 2004.

The series was released on DVD, spanning six volumes. The limited edition ran from March 4, 2003 to March 16, 2004, followed by the regular edition from March 18, 2003 to March 16, 2004. A recap episode called "Evidence" and the DVD only episode "Intermezzo" were included in the sixth volume, and "Unison" was only included in its limited edition. The series was compiled twice. The first DVD boxset was released on October 26, 2004 by the name .hack//Sign – Complete Collection, and the second, more affordable one on August 22, 2006 by the name .hack//Sign: Anime Legends Complete Collection. Neither of these releases contains the OVA episode "Unison".

Following the closure of Bandai Entertainment, Funimation announced at SDCC 2013, that they have acquired 4 .hack titles including SIGN.

List of .hack//SIGN Episodes