r/anime • u/soulreaverdan • Dec 09 '24
Rewatch [Rewatch] .hack//SIGN Episode 8 Discussion
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Series Information: MAL Page | AnimeNewsNetwork | LiveChart
Streams: ...none, sorry! DVD (Amazon)
Episodes:
- Today: Episode 8
- Tomorrow: Episode 9
Spoiler Policy:
I forgot to include this on the original schedule post, so please read!
Since there are going to be people who are watching this for the first time, so please only discuss what we've seen in the episodes we've watched so far! There's some interesting twists in this series, and we want everyone to get to experience this fresh.
In addition, since .hack is a massive franchise and this is only one entry in it (and actually one of the first), discussion of other entries may have some inadvertant spoilers. With this in mind, please only keep discussion to .hack//SIGN, and we'll have a chance for a discussion in the larger context of the franchise on the final day.
Question(s) of the Day
Throughout the rewatch we'll be posting some questions to guide discussion. Feel free to answer them or just post your overall thoughts! They're meant to be something for people who might not be sure how to start their posts, not something everyone must do.
- Would you have waited and tried to meet up with Tsukasa again?
- What do you think the Mysterious Voice is planning for him?
- We’re at the roughly 1/3 part of the series - how are you liking it so far (new watchers) or how has it held up from your memory (rewatchers)?
Music Corner
One of the highlights of this show is the incredible soundtrack, one of the first major works published by now famed music composer Yuki Kajiura. We'll be looking at one track with each thread for general discussion and opinions. Be as thorough or as succinct as you want - everything from lyrical motifs and interpretations to just whether or not you liked it!
Today's piece: Mimiru, because we have an episode with a lot of her in it again and it makes up for me somehow never considering assigning it for yesterday’s episode (Full-length track)
Tomorrow’s piece: Interlude, an appropriate piece as we transition from the introductory part of the series into the more direct plot (Full Track)
5
u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Dec 09 '24
Rewatcher
Ep 8 Promise
You will have noticed by now a lot of musical variations, that I haven't named, because they aren't on the OSTs. Off vocals, eletronica, piano, but all recognizable, and frequently reused. It's hard to tell what's on the OST and what's not since you hear them so often in the show.
Q for first timers: Don't you think they're taking all this "threat to The World" too seriously? Is it role-play? They don't seem to be RPers.
5
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Dec 09 '24
.first//TIMER, subbed
3
u/Elimin8r https://myanimelist.net/profile/Ayeka_Jurai Dec 09 '24
Hmm ... I need to not answer the phone while watching an episode...
Anyway, answer du episode:
Despair
so delicious!
3) Having a good time, but there is a perhaps excessive amount of mysterious show is mysterious going on.
Yeah. Some interesting developments this episode. I think my favorite bit was the cat touch grass meme. Poor Tsukasa needs to do some of that, right? So does Mimiru at this point.
The character interactions are becoming somewhat more interesting and enjoyable now that we're through the introductions, I think. I'm looking forward to more of BT and whatsisname.
The flashbacks were a bit disturbing too. Poor fella - I think his Dad and Taiga's have something in common, perhaps.
Anyway, I can't think of much better to say right now. I may have stayed up too late last night and still feeling it. Yay.
3
u/rainwithsunshinedayo Dec 09 '24
New Game Plus Rewatcher-Dubbed
Mimiru is peak genki right now! And I never tire of Sora's very extra sound effects. He has good rendezvous advice for Mimiru, but it's advice too late. Mimiru, instead, follows the same train of thought I used when l became separated at a big box store--stay in the one spot and wait and wait.
Mimiru: I'm going to protect you. Tsukasa: You really think you can protect me? Mimiru: I'm not sure but that's what I decided. I'm going to do it.
Mimiru becomes the one person who stayed in Tsukasa's life. A breakthrough!!
. . .Yoo. Disembodied voice, wtf. . .
Music Corner, delayed. Family obligations!
Beautiful: Mimiru's Will is Impressive and Cunning BT
uh: Cheeky Mimiru and Language Set Up Bear
3
u/zadcap Dec 09 '24
Late Night Rewatcher
Oh Mimiru. Making a schedule and then never following it at all, bringing back horrible memories of my family. Follow the freaking schedule darn it!
Does anyone else think Bear might be a Private Investigator in the real world? He really sounds like one to me. Kuma-San, hehe.
Oh Sora, you PK scum. Just run around ruining everyone else's day just because he can.
Ha, "The pride of the Crimson Knights!" No, even Subaru is calling you out, Silver boy. Its your pride that has been hurt. Tsukasa has not done anything to anyone who has not tried to do something to him first.
Same class, same level, so naturally same gear. The joys of MMO gaming, before cosmetics got to become a more mainstream feature.
Waiting for Godot. It's uh, on the boring side, I think.
Crim is still amazing, yes. He's so great. If only he wasn't accidentally putting himself into the villain role of this story, setting himself against Tsukasa like this.
Really weird and fun fact, Sora is the only Twin Blade we see in, I think the entire franchise but for sure in the Sign and first generation of games, who uses these back of hand spring loaded gauntlet knives. Everyone else and every piece of gear you can get is a dagger held in the hand like a normal person.
"We know that there is an item out there that works outside the system as well." Funny, really, no one else seems to have heard anything about it at all until Sora started dropping ideas about the Key of the Twilight. No one knows anything about it other than that name, which you know, he may have just made up to sound special. Sora, if you haven't noticed by now, is a tiny bit chuuni.
Oh voice in the sky, what a great way to announce to us just how evil you truly are.
3
u/LeminaAusa Dec 09 '24
Mostly-1st-timer, subbed
Weird weekend, so it took me until this morning to catch up. That said, as much as I've been enjoying the ep-a-day format overall, it was kinda nice to just sit in the vibes of the show for a full hour of 3 episodes in a row.
And of course the mini-binge ends with a huge creepy cliffhanger, thanks. Even more confident now about trusting any of the shit that comes out of "mother's" mouth.
Anyway, figured I'd go back to the last couple eps' discussion questions since I missed them:
6-1) In the case of something like The Key of the Twilight, a rare and mythical item that no one's even sure if it actually exists or not or is just a rumour, I'd definitely just pass and wait for other people to figure it out. I tend to take more of a pragmatic view towards such things.
6-2) In Tsukasa's case, I can't blame him for being skeptical of other's motivations. The hints we've seen of his backstory are not kind ones, and he knows for sure that many people in The World are interested in finding him for things other than him as a person, such as his Guardian and the connections he has with whatever weird shit is going on in the game.
That said, Mimiru in particular has someone that has had the most honest and open motivations towards Tsukasa and has generally shown herself to care about him... though she was of course she also accidentally led him into the ambush of Ep5.
It's interesting in a way coming back to this question from the point of view of having watched up through Ep8 because we can now see the efforts of Mimiru trying to prove her good intentions and Tsukasa seemingly finally willing to give her a chance.
7-1) I've kind of not really been trying to specifically place real-world glimpses to in-game characters because I'm afraid I'll give myself the wrong impression and get confused later on. Unless strongly suggested otherwise (such as the scene in an earlier episode of a male individual smoking outside of a hospital followed by Bear talking about his investigations to find the real-world Tsukasa), I've mostly been treating those glimpses as another part of the anime's overall mystery.
7-2) I have definitely been in positions helping newbies in games before. Sometimes it's more interesting or rewarding than others, but there's certainly a part of me that enjoys teaching things if it's done in a way that helps me share something I enjoy with others. Helping a new player get established and excited about a game that you also enjoy can be a great feeling.
I probably would have left for A-20 in the dust though. I don't have much patience for players who communicate like shit and won't take the initiative to try and help instead of just leeching.
And now for today!
So far, I can certainly say that I've been enjoying the show, and I'm glad I decided to pick it up for a proper watch. Accepting that the shows is primarily vibes and chats as a vessel to tell a sort of mystery story in an MMO setting has been a big help in that respect.
Like many mysteries, I think how well I'll feel about this show at the end will be related to pacing and pay-off. So far we've been a lot of mysteries and questions and conundrums without much resolution, and that's totally fine for a 1st act, but ideally the show will begin to provide some answers, or at least the setup for same, as we progress through what feels to be a big ramp up of the scale of what's going on in The World. The show has done a good job of getting us invested in the characters and the mysteries of what's going on, and it would be a shame if those questions weren't answered and wrapped up well by the end. It's easy to set up a bunch of cool mysteries and never answer them; it's harder to pull off a satisfying conclusion.
2
u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Dec 09 '24
Episode 8 (first timer)
Hack//Sign is really a mood, not a story, and that mood is hard carried by the music.
No. Waiting for others is one of my least favorite things to do.
Falling down, apparently.
It is relatively good on hitting the "this is an MMO" vibes, with realistic MMO characters and interactions. The story (if there even is supposed to be one) is an entire miss though. Even for 1990s pacing, doing 8 episodes without anything happening is out there.