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It's a gag reel anime, really, so there's not much that can be said. Tackling on the more technical aspects first? I'd say the artstyle is vibrant and the animation fluid, surprisingly so sometimes so it definitely meets expectations in those regards, but considering there is no story, the characters are one-note, the shorts often make no sense, if at all, and that it's aimed at an audience of kids no older than 12 at best? I'd say this one misses the mark for adult viewers unless one is looking for a cheap, noncommital laugh or two by avoiding better comedies out there.

Regarding the characters, ... they're all middle schoolers who really wish they weren't there but carry with themselves their own unique attributes. One, for example, is a character which is initially introduced as a 'rival' to the main characters but ends up being an actually nice-hearted kid who is always willing to help despite his fearsome (for a kid, at least) appearance which would suggest otherwise. They're not exactly complex and not entirely one-note? But once a character has been assigned an episodic gag, they will live and die by that gag which can get tiring really fast.

The only thing keeping me from dropping this show is my absurd and stubborn dedication to finish an anime once I've started it. Sometimes I chuckled and at other times I was bored, but the one thing I can say with confidence is that 100% Pascal-sensei is, at the very least, a show most kids who don't care about joke layers or context will enjoy so, if that's your cup of tea, then by all means go for it.

009-1 is one of those anime that I watched on a whim and while it initially failed to capture me due to a lack of proper story structure or a cohesive plotline up until the final three-or-so episodes, what little story there was did grip me as it came to highlight not just the secretive nature of the job Mylene Hoffman does as a spy for the Western Bloc if my memory serves me right? Her encounters with all sorts of characters throughout the series as well as the unraveling of her backstory is what really did drive me into the show. 009-1 is one ... of those anime where there is little enjoyment to be derived from the story or the worldbuilding itself, but rather on the characters who inhabit it.

Following Agent 009-1 as she showed compassion at the cost of the mission to those who needed it, mingled with multiple love interests and at the same time ruthlessly executed anyone who stood in her way, the departure of a story where a female character has no complexity to it was a great success for me. I enjoyed the many emotions 009-1 has to endure as she makes her journey across both sides of the country, the Western and Eastern Blocs to achieve her goals. There's moments of intense intrigue as well as levity, which makes the story stand out even more. Mylene Hoffman is the main, and practically only, reason to even watch this show in the first place which is both a boon and a bane at the same time.

The unfortunate side of things rears its head when the realization is made that 009-1 really IS the only reason to watch this show for, as every other character is either one-note, insignificant or irrelevant to the episodic nature of the show and outside of 009-1's interaction with others, there isn't a lot of bone to sink one's teeth into when watching this anime. It was still enjoyable to watch but not something I'd recommend if one is looking for a more story-driven show that breaks any unexplored territory. At the very end of it all, it's a run-of-the-mill show about an attractive spy lady doing expected things from a spy, though the occasional unexpected plot twist acts as a nice surprise whenever they do happen.

Originally I had written a much longer and thorough review of this show? But my internet went out and I didn't save the review so when I clicked submit, it all got deleted so fuck this. It was a mediocre show. I don't recommend it.

Here's just a random sentence so I can submit the damn thing. This is now a second sentence that is trying to do the same thing as the second one because the guidelines dictate I simply must write some more but whatever, it's fine it's not like I care.

A third paragraph meant to accomplish the same thing. Do you think this ... is ridiculous? Well I thought it was ridiculous when MyAnimeList nuked my review just because my internet went out for a few seconds so the two of us are just as angry.

.hack//Liminality acts as a sequel of sorts for .hack//SIGN and whereas the latter took approximately 12 episodes to really start digging into the plot and explaining what it was exactly that was going on, .hack//Liminality jumps right into the story with an evocative and charming first episode that gives the impression this show knows what it's doing. The first episode is riddled with intrigue and dances with the mystery of what truly is happening in The World and reinforces the idea that what's happening to the protagonist of .hack//SIGN is not exclusive to them.

.hack//Liminality, however, quickly returns to its roots and the second and third ... episodes feel like afterthoughts rather than a continuation of the first episode, and while that's not bad in and of itself, it is strange in how it decides to tackle the issues and resolve the storyline it sets off on the first seconds of the first episode. The plot quickly goes from understandable to irrelevant side-stories regurgitated by the show to get the characters together in one place, and some side-characters introduced have no relevance to the plot at large at all, making their appearance essentially padding.

While the show underperforms with episodes two and three, episode four brings back some of that episode one gusto and is not afraid to sink right into the story again, but while it is enjoyable for the characters to move forward, it feels like the majority of the cast is simply there out of convenience rather than a genuine effort to try and fix whatever it is that's going wrong. Toward the end it gets essentially messy and is quickly marred by the incompetence of the writing to convey the explanations being provided by the show, if there even are any that aren't extremely vague and convenient solutions.

Nonetheless, the cast, story and interactions in .hack//Liminality far outshine those in .hack//SIGN and for those who can tolerate a slower paced story with a satisfying outcome and an aesthetic similar to .hack//SIGN's, then this is the OVA for you.

.hack//SIGN, the first entry in the .hack// series for me was somewhat of a mixed experience. The soundtrack and the art, though it's a dated anime, definitely stood out as the best elements this series had to offer though admittedly, I personally, as a connoisseur of animation, wasn't exactly driven to finish this series because of the art or the music. Nonetheless, it provided an unforgettable atmosphere that I will constantly go back to whenever reminiscing about the .hack// series. When it comes to the entertainment value, most of it came from the characters or rather lack thereof, as I found them to be quite... ... Driven by experiences that weren't their own.

Without spoiling anything, I understand the series took a concept that, at the time, did not exist, that concept being the usage of cognizance and existence within a virtual medium, a trope that is common today yet was essentially unknown at the time. The characters themselves are incredibly one-note and felt more like a checklist that needed to be fulfilled rather than their own fleshed-out individuals, but that doesn't take away from the mature themes that could be found within the show and though their exploration was vague it still provided an amusing experience with the story beats presented. But I would've liked to see more of that in the show.

The first half of the show was impossibly-difficult to get through in my personal experience due to the sluggish pace, the honestly unbearable main character and the struggles they went through as well as the lack of interesting dynamics between the cast at the beginning. It wasn't until what I would consider the second half that I felt immersed in the plot, and it was a difficult journey to get to that point but once I got to that specific point in the middle of the series it did start to pick up and drew me in enough to cause me to binge the rest of the show. Overall I found the experience to be a mixture between confusion, anger, a test of patience though a rewarding one up to the very end.

The show was alright for me, I'm not nostalgic for it so I am viewing it from a critical lense and while I understand that the show was innovative for its genre and its spiritual successors as well as other entries in the isekai genre, it frankly just didn't do it for me. Maybe my opinion is biased because I am a "modern" anime viewer, but truthfully I didn't find it to be that deep or interesting. Certain dynamics between the main character and the rest of the cast felt forced at best and nonexistent at worst, but don't let my words dissuade you. Every opinion is valid, this is just my own. I'd give it a solid five out of 10.