.hack//SIGN (US)

“The world”, a massive multiplayer game has swept the web, boasting 6 million players on its servers, and undergoing years worth of expansions. However, “the world” is about to change, thanks to an omnipresent program created to bring birth to the designer’s dream. Programs, however, do not always run as they are scripted, and things turn for the worst.

At the center of these problems is a young wave master by the name of Tsukasa. He is a player that is no longer bound by the perimeters of the game. And with all the power he possesses, comes a curse; he is unable to log out of the game, does not seem to be in front of a terminal, and can actually feel pain inside this virtual world.

Now a band of characters have united to stand against this omnipresent force, and wish to bring peace to the game, and bring Tsukasa back to reality.