Well, seeing how this was my first introduction to the .hack series, I may have missed some things that were related with the other series/games. I still enjoyed it, though. In fact, it was the very first fansubs I ever downloaded - and on dial-up too for that matter. The first few episodes really helped those who hadn't seen Hack//SIGN, by introducing various game elements, rules and daily activites that players would participate in, all in a light-hearted fashion. I was quite surprised how well this series mimicked an actual MMORPG. The character designs were also well thought out, we would see various background players that looked somewhat similar, only with just a few color alterations here and there - much like a real MMORPG.

And as you could expect from a Bee-Train series, the music was really well done. Most of them were catchy, but not so overly annoying like some of those Under17 songs (hehe). I had about 5 or 6 background themes that I couldn't get out of my head, and the song in episode 9 was simply amazing and portrayed the emotion quite well. The Opening was a nice high tempo song while the ending was low, which was a nice way to start/end watching an episode. That opening did annoy me after 8 or so episodes, though.

What I found really annoying was the flaws in the animation in some episodes, and just some stupid moves the studio made. One scene in particular bothered me greatly. Episode 9, the best out of all 12 story-wise, held this scene. The part where Rena was running and "Dawn" was playing in the background - Why did she trip? It ruined that whole scene, she just fell...no reason...nothing. It totally annoyed me for a few days at the least. Along with those repetitive scenes, there were other things such as the countless "Rena, Oniiiii-chan" moments, not to mention that Shugo always managed to lose the same tooth nearly every episode that annoyed me.

Speaking of episodes, there were some boring ones. I can remember each episode clearly except for 7 and 8. They didn't contain anything overly interesting to keep you hooked, and I found them quite boring. Sure there was some of the better humor in them like Mereille's Bunny suit - but I'm sure they could have dreamed up something better. The ending was also quite...rushed. It was stupid really, and the after-credits scene made it all the more ridiculous.

Now I admit the ending did tie things to a close, but some parts were still left open. The radio-drama DVD special didn't clear much of that up, but rather gave more to the character development, which was already quite well done. So I'm hoping the parts left un-done will be cleared in up in the manga which has a slightly alternate story.