Number Of Disc(s): 1

Review Done By: Guardian Inferno

Welcome to "The World".

Get ready to login in the most successful online game ever! "The World" is now played by millions of people across the globe. Players can trade items, form parties, & go on quests.

But none of that concerns Tsukasa. All he wants to do is logout. But he can't. For some reason, he's trapped within The World, a virtual prisoner. He also has some rather unique abilities, including a monster that defeats his enemies for him. These unusual circumstances make Tsukasa a curiosity to some, & a target to others.

During his wanderings, he meets a variety of people. He has no idea, however, that these chance encounters may become his only hope of being freed from the grip of The World.

From the same all-star team that created the video game: Toshiyuki Sadamoto (Evangelion), Kazunori Ito (Ghost In The Shell), & Koichi Mashimo (Noir).

I got this series because I heard it was good & I'm a big fan of RPG games. It's more of how peoples reacts between the real world & the virtual world, why is it they play the game, is it for fun or to find themselves? It's a pretty interesting way of thinking, especially for peoples who plays alot of video games. I enjoy the music very much. It makes you feel to play a RPG game, but this series is really base with RPG terms, like PK (player-killer), parties, potions, magic & experiences. even hackers, illegal activities that players & administrations faces. It make you wonder how far a game can take you. After all, a game is just a game. I want to point out, I love the music. It can't be an RPG world without good music.

Bandai Entertainment did a very great job. I found no problem, the image are clear & the color looks perfect. To top things off, the series is feature on Widescreen format. If you got a Widescreen TV, you're going to enjoy this even more. Each episodes are separated into 5 parts: the introduction, part A, part B, the ending & the preview for the next episode! The episodes are on different tracks, so when moving to the next episode, there will be a small loading time. I do note that you can skip all those warnings & logos when you first load the DVD by just pressing the "Menu" button on your remote control.

The English dubbing is well done. I'm surprise to find out who done the voice of Mimiru. The voice cast is really well selected. It's about 85% of the original Japanese.

No problem found. The sound is clear & smooth.

No problem found.

Bandai Entertainment have selected a great font, very easy to read. They use green for the introduction & ending themes, the rest is yellow & white for Japanese signs & text. There are two tracks of subtitling. One track is for the sign subtitling & the other one is for the Japanese dialogue.

The menu is also in widescreen format, but if got just a regular full screen TV, it will display in that format with no problem. It's pretty simple, just the Choas Gate in the middle, showing some scenes of the episodes. There is the "Play All", "Episodes", "Setup" & "Extras". The main theme is playing in the main menu in the background. The other section plays the original background music soundtracks.

The extras are pretty much standard. The really cool thing is the isolated score audio track. It's bascially just rolling the series with no sound effects or voices, just the background music. Maybe you can do your own fan dubbing? Also, there is a pretty cool character gallery of Tsukasa & Mimirum. The other extras are textless opening & ending themes & the original PS2 game trailer.

The package is pretty simple, blue is the dominate color. On the cover, you see Tsukasa & Mimiru. I have no idea why they call it the "Platinum Series". In the back, there is a design of hexagone with screenshots. The insert have the same picture as the cover. It also have a list of the cast & staff & inside, a dictionary of important words that you might encounter during the series that isn't very familiar for non-RPGs fans. On the DVD disc, it's Mimiru. There are two problems, I still hate the cheap cases that Bandai Entertainment used. The other problem is that the first set release of Volume 01, you may noticed that the DVD cover isn't centered with the DVD case. They have issued a fix & a replacement, you have to contact them for further details.

Watching it on the PC is the same as watching it on the TV. Very clean, no problem at all, very little pixel (little squares popping in & out), both normal mode & full screen mode. The sound is just great. Since the episodes are on different tracks, there will be a small loading time when you move on to the next episode. Like on your regular DVD player, you can skip the warnings & logos when you load the disc, just use the "menu" option to go to the menu screen.

I wonder what if games are actually like the series. This series might teach you that a game is only a game. If you're a fan of the .hack//SIGN game for the PS2, you should check out the series itself. It's a must have for RPG fans.

27" Citizen JCTV2704 Stereo TV, LG-530 DVD Player, S-Video connection for video with regular stereo cable connection for audio.

Model LG 16x DVD-ROM, on a P3-933Mhz, 512 MB RAM, ATI Redeon 8500 128MB Video Card, ASUS CUSL2-C Motherboard & Sound Blaster Live v5.1, Dell 19' LCD E193FP monitor, Windows XP Professional SP2 & CyberLink PowerDVD v6.0 Deluxe using CyberLink PowerRemote.