.HACK//LEGEND OF THE TWILIGHT
December 10th 2011 03:43
This particular anime series I managed to pick up at the same time as Otogi Zoshi and Black Butler, it was in the library of my local tech college just sitting there waiting to be borrowed. So without any fanfare that was precisely what I did, scooped it up along with the two manga and borrowed it then once I’d gotten home after a traumatic bus trip I slipped the first disc into my laptops DVD player and sat down to watch. Consisting of three discs this series is twelve episodes long and there are four episodes on each disc. Initially as things begin each episode is usually a standalone story, it’s only once you get onto the second disc that it becomes apparent there is an overarching story behind all the other stories.
So what exactly is this series all about? Ah well remember way back when, I think it was either the early nineties or mid nineties, when everyone was carping on about Virtual Reality (VR) and all the really good games would be player over the internet with players wearing VR headsets. Sadly as far as I’m aware the whole VR shtick is deader than the dodo, at least here in Australia not sure about the rest of the world, although internet games seem to be all the rage – just look at World of Warcraft and the soon to be released upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic. But why mention these facts? Well it’s because .hack//Legend of the Twilight revolves around a VR style internet game. Perhaps in the land of the Rising Sun the whole VR thing is still alive and well, who knows…
So in order to play in the world you not only have to log onto the appropriate serve but you also have to wear the obligatory VR headset so that you can fully enjoy the experience that is the World. And what an experience it is. Our two protagonists Rena and Shugo, two high school kids who are twin brother and sister, have won a competition where they are allowed to use the characters of Black Rose and Kite, two legendary figures from the game four years ago. Wow that sounds kind of cool, to win the chance to play legendary characters in a major global RPG sounds like a dream come true. Trouble is though all is not quite what it seems to be, especially when Shugo as Kite suddenly finds that he is killed in the game by a super armoured shogun, a creature that shouldn’t be anywhere near an area for newbie’s…
And so begins the mystery that is .hack//Legend of the Twilight, for once Shugo has died in game he has an interesting experience and is handed a mysterious bracelet by a girl all in white who calls herself Aura. Precisely who Aura is only is revealed in the closing stages of the series and as for the bracelet it’s a unique item that allows Shugo to perform data drain, a technique that effectively allows him to eliminate any super level altered monster that crops up in the game as well as any other significant dangers. But just why does he have this bracelet? And why has Aura given it to him?
Certainly Lord Balmung and Sanjuro, two veteran players and characters within the World are puzzled by the turn of events. Balmung wonders if it has anything to do with the players that have recently vanished from the World and seem to be in a coma within the real world, somewhere along the line they had an encounter that proved to be more than they expected. As an employee of the CC Corporation who oversees the World he feels that it is his duty to do something about what is going on, yet he has no idea just who or what is behind it all or what there motive might be. A curious situation indeed…and it seems like that the antagonists of this series are targeting our two plucky protagonists right from the get go, they know the characters that they’re playing but have no idea who they are in the real world. Though that isn’t a concern it seems.
.hack//Legend of the Twilight was a real pleasure to watch and it’s suitable family viewing, so a win win situation if you’ve got kids and looking for something that you can watch with them on a weekend afternoon or an evening. In my mind you can’t go past this anime; you’ll laugh, you’ll cry but best of all you’ll be thoroughly enteretained by it all.
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