Winning the legendary characters "Kite" and "Black Rose" from an event held by the creators of the MMORPG "The World," Shugo and his twin sister Rena step into "The World." Together, they complete events and quests, along with their new friends Ouka, Mirelle, Hotaru, and Sanjuro. Soon after, mysterious monsters appear, and death by these monsters causes players to slip into a coma in the real world. Only Shugo and Rena can solve this problem, but why are they being targeted, and what secrets is the game hiding?
Almsot any anime watcher who stumbles upon .hack//Legend of the Twilight will have very likely already seen .hack//Sign, the original story of the .hack// series. The major differences that seperate these two sereis are the seriousness factor and the character design (full design, not just art). You'll notice a much heavier influence of comedy in this series as well as a bit of more childish behavior from the characters (mainly due to the characters not being very old themselves).
The story mainly takes place in a place called The World, a virtual reality based for a video game controlled by players using a keyboard and a...virtual reality headset. The two main characters are brother and sister in real life, but who now live apart from each other and it focuses on their introduction to The World, the people they meet, and the major dilema they run into that threatens the game world.
For anyone who watches this series, you'll notice major similarities between the original series (Sign) and this one; As well as an episode plot repeat, just update with the current environment(story/age/characters) (but still plays out just as nicely).
The character design is done well enough, yet different enough (from each other and other series) that it keeps you attracted to them and somewhat wishing them the best.
Overall, it's not a bad anime, just rather lacks the certain elements that made .hack//Sign such a ground-breaking story and anime.
Key Notes: *This IS NOT as serious as .hack//Sign. It is more of a comedy than the previous series. *This DOES look/feel very similar to .hack//Sign *This IS much shorter than .hack//Sign *This IS still worth watching if you are into the series.
Legend of the Twilight is the next anime following on from .Hack/Sign. I had expected that this series would fill in some of the plot holes from .Hack/Sign but they were only half fulfilled. As someone who has not played the game I have no idea why Kite and Blackrose are famous ... However, Twilight is a tolerable standalone.
Characters
In contrast to .Hack/Sign, the plot moves along at a much swifter pace while the characters develop quickly. There are Shugo and Rena, twin brother/sister who win characters based on Kite and Blackrose. As they're around 14 in real life they act like teenagers. Twilight isn't...full of too much philosophical talking since both protagonists are young. This could be a good or bad thing depending on each viewer.
Shugo is brash and caring. I disliked Rena, because of the fact that she spends (I swear!) 80% of the series crying out "Onii-Channnnn!". After 5 episodes of being tortured by her crying out pretty much nothing but that "Onii-Channnnn!" I was about to beat someone with a hammer.
The secondary characters are fun. Ouka (the Werewolf), Sanjuro (the teacher), Mirielle (the rare hunter) - now that, I could understand. Greed and MMORG, they seem to go hand in hand :) Best of all we got to see a lot of Balmumg of the Azure Sky, what a stud! My absolute favorite character from .Hack/Sign gets some serious airtime and ends up even cooler than before. The only one I found annoying was Mr. "Tres Bien".
Art/Animation and sound
The animation was great. If possible, EVEN CUTER than in .Hack/Sign. Cuteness overload. Kawaiiiii! Some frames I had to stop and look again just to appreciate how adorable everything was, even the little widdle Grunty. A lot of the sound/music was copied from the first series so this was nothing remarkable, just average compared to how this anime looked.
Enjoyment
Twilight was short and satisfying. There didn't seem to be much time wasting and the plot moved along at a brisk pace leaving the viewer engaged instead of bored. For this reason alone it deserves a solid 6, enough to prompt me to look for the Offline Meeting Special.
.hack//Legend of the Twilight leaves us stranded in a bewildering gap between it and '.hack/Sign', where characters like Kite, BlackRose, Orca, and Balmung make fleeting appearances in the form of a side story that never received its own anime adaptation. Truly, a missed opportunity of epic proportions.
Now, let us turn our attention to the protagonist, who bears a striking resemblance to Kite but is nothing more than a chibi version of his avatar, complete with a borrowed bracelet. Oh, the audacity! Such lazy storytelling only serves to amplify the disgrace that permeates this anime. Brace yourself for a barrage of meaningless events and unfunny loli...incest/fanservice comedy. Yes, you read that correctly—this abomination stoops to such deplorable depths. Do not waste a single precious moment of your time on this atrocity, for it offers no semblance of progression and can easily be skipped without any repercussions.
The characters In .hack/Sign were mature, nuanced, and dynamic, capturing our hearts with their depth and complexity. But in this travesty of a sequel, characters are childish and downright annoying beings. To make matters worse, old characters like Balmung and Silver Knight are shamefully left undeveloped, casting a shadow of disappointment upon the entire series. There is no progression, no growth—only stagnation and regression.
In summary, .hack//Legend of the Twilight stands as the polar opposite of its predecessor. Gone are the intricate mysteries and thought-provoking storytelling, replaced instead with a run-of-the-mill RPG anime that fails to offer any solution to the enigma of the 'World'. Spare yourself the agony and disappointment; steer clear of this abomination and seek solace elsewhere in the vast realm of anime. If you have any sense at all, I implore you to steer clear of this steaming pile of garbage. If you're seeking a respectable sequel to the innovative '.hack/Sign', I urge you to turn your attention to '.hack/Roots' instead.
Here are the North American Anime & Manga releases for April 2015. Week 1: April 7th - 13th Anime Releases .hack//Legend of the Twilight DVD Black Butler Blu-ray...read more
If you love .hack//Sign, you’re likely an RPG fan. Yet if you’re a bit too young to have enjoyed the Playstation 2 generation of games, you may have missed the .hack video game series and the MMORPG based on the game. If you love the anime, this is one you’ll likely want to dust off and play!
