Brief Synopsis The World is an online, medieval RPG that has become quite popular and sold over 27 million copies. .hack//sign takes place mainly within this environment with only hints of what takes place in the real world. People wear virtual reality equipment to interact with The World and to blur the line between reality and fantasy. Unfortunately, for some mysterious reason, a couple of people have become comatosed after playing the game. Adding to the bizarre nature of these incidents, a mage character named Tsukasa finds himself unable to log out of the game. For most people, logging out is as simple as going to the save point & leaving or at most, resetting their computer. Tsukasa is different, in that those methods don�t work. He doesn�t even believe that he is sitting at his computer. He also develops real world traits in The World, such as the ability to smell a player�s cologne or to feel pain. Tsukasa is a character who keeps to himself most of the time. One day, he meets a girl warrior named Mimiru who tries to be social with him. She is persistent, and after some coaxing, Tsukasa begins to open up a bit. However, Tsukasa has been adopted by a mysterious Voice who gave him a lethal guardian. The guardian defends Tsukasa, but to the point of p-killing his opponents. The real life players of this p-kill have been knocked unconscious and have reported to suffer from acute memory loss. This has a lot of people looking for Tsukasa� particularly, a group of players that have dubbed themselves as protectors of The World known as the Scarlet Knights and their leader Subaru. .hack//sign is very character driven in the sense that it emulates an online RPG. Glimpses of the real world are only hinted at with occasional frames, but the anime is almost always real time inside the game. Characters log into and out of the game and communicate via email and the game�s message board. The anime follows a number of characters as they attempt to solve the mystery of why Tsukasa cannot log out and how a monster from inside the game can knock a real life person unconscious. After some investigation, several of the characters believe that Tsukasa is the victim of something larger and decide to help him figure out what�s going on. This quest leads them to search for a legendary object called the Key of the Twilight that was posted to the message board briefly last year, but quickly taken down before most people noticed. They hypothesize that the Key of the Twilight was put in place by a hacker as an added extra, and while no one really knows what it does or where it lies, they believe it may provide some answers. The anime is interesting in that it mimics how and why people play online RPGs. Characters must work together to compile their pools of information to put the pieces of the puzzle in order. Some characters act only in their own best interests, while others become genuinely concerned about Tsukasa�s well being and take actions to protect him. It�s an interesting dynamic, although the anime doesn�t really answer the questions it lays out. Character Guide Bear In The World, Bear is a warrior and the more fatherly figure of the game. He seeks to protect and to unravel the mystery of Tsukasa. In the real world, Bear is a middle aged man. He has taken the initiative to investigate the circumstances in the real world to find the real Tsukasa in hopes of helping him. In the real world, Bear is a 44 year old man. BT In The World, BT doesn�t take responsibility as seriously as many of the characters, and because of that, tends to switch loyalties whenever it suits her. BT stands for Bacon and Tomato. She doesn't like Lettuce, so she omitted that. She and Mimiru don�t get along, but she seems to respect Bear and Kurim and is jealous of Kurim�s relationship with Subaru. Because of her solo nature, she is the person Sora harasses the most. In the real world, BT appears to be a girl in her mid/upper 20s who plays the game to escape reality (& possibly a dismal love life.) Ginkan In The World, Ginkan is the leader of the Scarlet Knights and main guardian of Subaru. He is devoted to keeping order and enforcing laws. Unfortunately, this perceived power sometimes goes to his head and he comes across as arrogant. In the real world, he�s 23 and a freelancer working at a video shop. Kurim In The World, Kurim is a very powerful spearsman. It appears that he used to have Kinkan�s position as Subaru�s protector, but had to stop playing the game for awhile and so gave that position up. To Kurim, this is just a game and he is constantly reminding people that they should be playing to have fun . There�s enough responsibility in the real world. Here, you should do what you enjoy. For the most part, though, he keeps his online and offline personalities separate, only ready to reveal his offline nature to Subaru. In the real world, Kurim is a business man. Maho (or possibly Maha) Maho is the mystery cat character who we never really get any info about. He seems to want to protect Tsukasa, but as he only speaks in whispers to Tsukasa, we never know what he�s thinking or what his true intentions may be. |
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