Dot Hack is another series that I've also been watching recently. An anime based on a video game rather than the other way around. More specifically it's an MMORPG type game where other real-life players can interact with each other online. A teenage player called Tsukasa spends a great deal of his time playing the game simply because his real world life is miserable. In fact every character there has his or her own reason to want to escape real life. However, at one point Tsukasa discovers that he can no longer logout. This game is a futuristic one where a person's own perception interfaces with the game, so when Tsukasa can no longer logout he literally loses all contact with the real world. The other characters are surprisingly diverse and interesting. Many little plots and intrigues are woven around the main theme of finding a mysterious item called "The Key of the Twilight" which supposedly will help Tsukasa return to the real world. The writing is very good and the musical score is excellent. In many ways the music reminds me of Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicles. Anyone that's every played an MMORPG would find relavence in almost all of the concepts of this series. Even the settings are like actual games. Here are a couple of screenshots, one from episode 10 of Dot Hack and one of my FFXI character in the Ghelsba Outpost:

Oh ive definetly heard of .hack
But i haven't read //sign ive only read Twilight of the braclet, i don't know
I think the DVD Yumi-chan lent me was sign// ????
YA it was! But i only watch the first episode, and it was all in japnese (So
i don't understand it )
I think i saw pics of sign// in a Neo magazine (Neo is a anime mag) i think it looked
really good
Sayonara
Tomoyo-san xx

Humm.. I used to go to the video store and rent this one. I think I saw the first 3 DVD's or something, but I don't remember it very well.

I do know that we own the entire .Hack// The Legend of the Twilight Bracelet anime of DVD. I watched it up until the last DVD, when I thought it's ending might spoil the ending of the games. So then I decided to never finish watching that one either.

Heh, interesting screencap of Ghelsba Outpost and the .hack anime Hikaru-chan XD

O.o;; You've never watched the ending of either? Eeep, I don't think that I'd resist it myself, but then again I'm not likely to ever play any of the games. :P

I haven't watch any .hack dvd's (except sign// no.1)
I've only read the 3 books of Legend of the twilight
And it was really good
Sayonara Hikaru-chan and Yuzuki-chan
From Tomoyo-san xx

mhmm.. never watched it all. I remember thinking that the Sora character was funny (that is his name I hope :x ) His voice amused me ^^;

Hehe, Sora is a funny character. I didn't really like him at first because he can be a bully, but they develop his character a bit as they go along. He turns out to just be immature and as BT suggests, his RL player might just be really young. I haven't gotten far enough to really find out if that's true or not. It's really hard to decide which character I like the best though ...

Humm, I dunno ^^; I never got that far in to really figure anything out :x All I know is Tsukasa was fun to draw XD

I really hated the English version of this one... names mispronounced bothered me ^^; What I like about the .hack games is you can set the characters to talk in English or Japanese. I hate games that don't have that option ^^;

i've watched the whole .hack//sign anime. It keep me interested till the very end...but I have problems with that ending...

Hmm, that makes it sound as if the endings are different. So Yuzuki-chan can go ahead and watch the anime because nothing would get spoiled anyways. :P

I found .hack//sign in HMV and it looked good
And then i found it in Global (DVD renting shop) and i rented it for 2 days
and i did like it I forgot the names of everyone (i have a short memory)
But its like //twilight of the bracelet with the online game that can kill people ?????
I've joined a .hack internet club but i forgot my username and password
Ohwell
Sayonara
Tomoyo-san xx

Eh-heh, maybe you should write down things like that Tomoyo-san. ;;

I'm almost finished with the .hack TV series now (only 3 episodes left) and I've finally found that I like a couple of the characters more than the others. For some reason I really like Crim and Subaru even though at the beginning I doubted that I'd like anyone associated with the Crimson Knights. After I saw the flashbacks of how the two of them started the Crimson Knights and their reasons for doing it, I was able to appreciate both of them very much. I also know that guilds like the Crimson Knights do exist in real games and in some ways I'm grateful for that since I'm a rather inept game player myself. When I tried to play Conquer Online for the first time, I got PK'd (player killed) 2 or 3 times in the first hour that I played, before I even had a chance to figure out how the game controls work. However, I was able to find a guild to join that was willing to look out for me and plevel me so that I wasn't quite so vulnerable on my own any more. Now I'm looking forward to see how the series turns out at the end. Too bad no pc versions of the .hack games were made. v_v

Actully, i did write it down, but.... I forgot were i put it ;
I have a TERRIBLE memory
Sayonara
Tomoyo-san xx

At last I finally finished last episode of the .hack TV series. The ending did lack a lot of specific details about how some of the characters ended up, so it does seem inconclusive. However, that's usually a sign that I should look for the moral of the story elsewhere. What I did get out of it is that online games are fun to play and socialize with, but they're no replacement for the closeness of real life friendships. It's a little odd for me to relate to because at Tsukasa's age I was playing games like Donkey Kong and Pac-Man, so there wasn't an online world for me to go to and socialize and make friends in. But looking at it from Tsukasa's point of view where the real world was harsh and cruel, it's easy to see how someone in such a state would fare far better growing up online. However, it's a place that we cannot remain in, no one can ever leave the real world forever and sooner or later we must go back. For me, it was very touching to see that Tsukasa was able to make at least one close friend in the real world after having such a miserable childhood.

Lain or .hack//LIMINALITY???
*chases after Shii-chan*
WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA

I'm a HUGE fan of that series.

I do know they have a novel series for it now. The .hack//SIGN series was pretty good, although I haven't seen that many. Already watched all the .hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet episodes.

I'm currently aware Japan is working on .hack//G.U., another chapter in the .hack series, in which you play as a PK. And...you're going to have to face the character you played in .hack//Infection-Quaratine, which is Kite. I saw the trailer for that game & it looks like Kite was possessed or something.

(A possessed character ALWAYS looks scary). *eep*.

And...they're working on a online/offline .hack game called "fragment".

(Which sounds cool, since they've made one for FFXI, which can only be played online.)

(What sounds cool is that if you were to play online, you get to create your character, & all that other stuff).

Here's the link to the trailer: http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=2236

.hack//G.U?????????

I can remember reading about .hack//G.U. at Gamespot, but this new Fragment version I haven't seen yet. In the anime, "Fragment" was a game that the creator of "The World" had made previously so I like the idea for the name. Maybe in 2007 there really will be an online game called "The World". XD The trailer looks good, but of course you can't get any gameplay experience from a trailer. If they continue in the same manner as previous .hack releases, there won't be any PC version of this, so it's not too likely that I'll ever get to play it. >_>

This week I started watching the .hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet series and so far I've found it to be much cuter, funnier, and less dark than the .hack//SIGN series. It is very different but I like it a lot .

Um...in regarding the .hack//tasogare no udewa densetsu (Legend of the Twilight), the series "looked" incomplete. You'll find out when you watch the final episode. I found it pretty good. Somewhat similar to the manga & not, at the same time.

Ohhhhhh....
Arigato! (thank you)
Sayonara