Let's face it: Tsukasa's life sucks, and if you were hoping it'd get any better in this volume, you're sorely mistaken. The third volume opens with a misleadingly happy episode in which Tsukasa is invited to form a part with Mimiru and Bear and take on a violence-free event, hoping to get him to open up to them more. For the most part things go as planned, until the very end. No matter how much he starts to smile again, Morgana and Tsukasa's father have other plans for him.... The third volume of .hack//SIGN doesn't break the tradition of quality the first two volumes established. Although the first two episodes on this DVD are relatively slow, there is a lot of important story-related happenings in those episodes, and the final episode on this DVD (the fourteenth) is a big climax for the series as it passes its halfway point.

After the events of the first two episodes, Tsukasa is drawn further into his depression, reaching a level rivalling even Shinji Ikari. But following that, the majority of the cast, including angst-boy himself, decide to seriously pursue the Key of Twilight for their own reasons. After a not-so-lengthy period of playing Sherlock Holmes and some intervention from Helba (the .hack universe's prodigy hacker and convenient plot device), the lot of 'em make it to a field abandoned in the process of The World's upgrades. After a long trek through an ancient castle field, they reach the end, and don't quite find what they're expecting....

I cleared a dungeon and all I got was this lousy gold coin.	Tsukasa learns the price of a gamer's diet.

Once again, .hack//SIGN's visuals have in no way dropped in quality. The backgrounds are an eye-catching color explosion, with all sorts of unique scenery and well-integrated CGI. The character designs are as nice as ever, but you won't be seeing any minor characters in this volume, really. The focus is strongly upon Tsukasa and company. Ultimately, no surprises or disappointments are in store for you in the third volume's visuals department.

The overall audio quality has been successfully maintained at a fantastic level in volume three. A few additional remixes of Yuki Kajiura's background music are starting to become more everpresent as the story and situations become more complex and dark, heading into the series' second half. And yes, Bandai graced us all with a wonderful isolated-score audio track for this volume as well.

As far as the extras go, Bandai has not disappointed us. Provided are more liner notes on the insert with the DVD, a .hack timeline, another character gallery, the show's original Japanese trailer, and the usual credits and trailers for other Bandai releases. All in all, Bandai's made it well worth the investment, as usual.

Once again, Bandai's given us a fantastic release of another .hack//SIGN volume. The excellent translation quality has been maintained, the extras were quite nice, and the show's aesthetics are still way up there in quality as well. Bandai's releases of the show so far have been more than worthy of their title as part of their "Platinum Edition" series of releases. If you've enjoyed the series so far, you can't miss this volume. But if you haven't seen it before, you'd be lost, so I can't stress enough that this is a series you need to watch from the very beginning. New pieces to the .hack puzzle - key pieces - are introduced in this volume, and without the other volumes to put everything into context, the show will leave you in the dark. So to conclude on another corny line, not kissin' your loveache yet? Go see .hack! ... Unless you don't like slow-paced drama - in which case, this won't be your direction of relieving. Having patience is the Key of Twilight to enjoying .hack! ... Please tell me I didn't just say that.

Distributor: Bandai Entertainment
Creator: Project .hack (Bandai)
Released: 2002

Video Quality: A+
Audio Quality: A+
Presentation: A
Content: A+
Overall: A+