Search - .hack//SIGN - Uncovered (Vol. 5) on DVD

Once more unto the breach, dear friends...

Kellyannl | Bronx, NY USA | 07/21/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The party gets assists from Helba and, in a brief cameo, Subaru's powerful friend Balmung - who we haven't met yet but has previously been mentioned as helping out offscreen - as the final conflict draws near.

Of all the people he's come to care for, Tsukasa's closest tie is to Subaru, and he now trusts her enough to share Aura, the sleeping girl with her. This does not go over well with The Voice, however, and once Subaru leaves she punishes him severely - a serious setback, as Tsukasa is left traumatized and shell shocked.

In other developments, the whole party is now on the same page, with Bear and Mimiru working in concert with Subaru and Crim for the first time. With the appearance of unkillable boss monsters hearalding the fact that they're running out of time, they try to bring their lost sheep back into the fold.

Previous comments from Crim have suggested that the Silver Knight isn't really a bad guy if given a nudge in the right direction, and indeed we find him taking the fallout of the Knights' dismantling - which was certainly never his intention - even harder than Subaru. B.T. - who's been seesawing through the whole series - wants back in, but doesn't see how that's possible considering her recent behavior and the messy way she's left things - until she finds to her surprise that Bear still maintains an almost childlike faith in her. For that matter, the "old man" hasn't entirely given up on Sora either.

There's always one problem case, however, and it looks like he might be wrong on that count. Until now, Sora hasn't really done anything more dire than play The World rather unscrupulously. However, it should be starting to register that a real child is in trouble and this is no longer just a game, and his antics are starting to wear thin. Finally even threatening Mimiru - who he had seemed to like if he liked anyone - he seems to be a lost cause. And like the young boy it's been implied he is in the real world, he starts playing with fire...

The chess pieces are on the board, and zero hour is approaching."