.hack//Legend of the Twilight
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.hack//Legend of the Twilight (.hack//黄昏の腕輪伝説 Tasogare no Udewa Densetsu; colloquially known as .hack//UdeDen) is a manga series written by Tatsuya Hamazaki and drawn by Rei Izumi which has been adapted into a 12-episode anime of the same name. The word "Bracelet" in the title was removed in North America, shortening the title to .hack//Legend of the Twilight.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Set four years after the .hack games, the manga follows the adventures of a pair of twins that are separated--Rena and Shugo. After winning a contest by CC Corp, Rena is in possession of a pair of chibi avatars in the design of the legendary .hackers known as Kite and Black Rose. After an odd occurrence, Aura appears and gives Shugo the Twilight Bracelet.

For some time this was the finale of the .hack franchise, taking place after everything else, and tying up a few loose ends, but the recent announcement of .hack//G.U. (which takes place 3 years after UdeDen) seems to have changed that.

 
.Hack manga, volume 1 (North America English version)The manga is published in English in North America by TOKYOPOP, and it is published in Singapore in English by Chuang Yi. The Singaporean translation is imported to Australia by Madman Entertainment. Due to a fansub translation error made famous by the somewhat-related anime, it is sometimes (incorrectly) called .hack//DUSK. (It should however be noted that "tasogare" in Japanese can mean either "dusk" or "twilight", depending on context.) However, this may also be thought of as a way of downsizing the "wordiness" of its official title in favor of a more casual-use name reminiscent of .hack//SIGN. The third and final volume of the manga is twice as large as the first two, and could have been released as two separate volumes.

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Characters
 
Shugo in the .hack// anime.Shugo (シューゴ Shūgo): He is a 14-year-old boy who thought he had outgrown computer games. He is in puberty and as such all the effects are applied to him. He is Rena's twin brother. He uses a chibi version of the avatar of Kite and is always looking after Rena, especially when other boys are around. Indeed, Shugo is often possessive of Rena, as well as confused regarding his own feelings for her. Outwardly, he is the stereotypical guardlike elder brother, yet at times he notices that Rena is a woman coming into her prime and is unsettled. One thing that remains constant in either frame of mind is his desire to be with Rena. He later receives a Bracelet from Aura, which gives him the power to reduce any virtually-real threat to a comical parody of its former monstrosity (often to the delight of Mireille, who collects them). This is an entirely new Bracelet, not belonging to Kite. His class type is Twin Blade. Sometimes Ouka likes to flirt with him in order to make him uncomfortable.
 
Rena in the .hack// anime.Rena (レナ): Shugo's twin sister. She introduces Shugo to The World (the MMORPG where this all takes place). She won a pair of rare avatars from a contest (which Aura rigged so Rena would win), which take the form of former heroes from the games. She uses a chibi version of the Black Rose avatar, while giving the other to Shugo. Her class type is Heavy Blade, which is sensible seeing as how headstrong she is. She wishes more than anything for Shugo to be able to become a hero, hence her constant demands that he rescue her. She also wishes for their broken family to be re-united. She also narrates the next episode previews by giving out "special event information". In A.I. Buster 2, it is revealed that Rena used to play a Blademaster (I believe) named Bridgit before Black Rose.
 
Mireille in the .hack// anime.Mireille (ミレイユ Mireiyu): A rare item hunter, meaning she collects anything with the word "Rare" in its description. She seems to have an odd sense of smell that goes off around rare items, though she will not tolerate hackers who create their own rare items, as then she would not be a "true" rare hunter. She is Mistral's (from the .hack games) 4-year-old daughter in real life; a child prodigy. Her avatar is her mother's, with a name change. Her class type is Wavemaster, "sub-class" Rare Hunter. She calls herself, "The Rare Item Hunter of Love and Justice". In every anime episode, she says the phrase "rare item" at least once. Being obsessed therewith, Mireille sometimes has a covetuous eye on the Twilight Bracelet. It should be noted that she shares the name of one of the protagonists of the Noir, also produced by Bee Train
 
Ouka in the .hack// anime.Ouka (凰花 Ōka): A career werewolf, Ouka is a fearsome fighter. She originally meets Shugo and Rena at a special cherry blossom festival, when coming to see them and Mireille. Shugo takes an instant attraction to her, especially in wolf form as he "loves puppies." Ouka is all too happy to respond to Shugo's affections in kind. Like Shugo, it's not known how far she really wants this interaction to go, though Ouka appears to milk it for all its worth. As a character, Ouka has two alternate shapes; a white wolf that can use human languages, and a tall, pale, voluptuous human of uncertain age, with wolf's ears. In real life, she is an extremely nerdy-looking student who has a part-time job as Mireille's tutor. Her class type is Werewolf, due to The World expansion pack available to very strong players. Ouka's one interest is challenge; she is all the time seeking "a worthy foe". This has led to some suspicion that if Shugo fulfilled his sister's expectations of heroism, Ouka would deem him such a foe and kill him.
 
Hotaru in the .hack// anime.Hotaru (HOTARU): She is a kindhearted magic user. Half Japanese and half Irish, she initially joined the Japanese server to be more close to her mother's culture (from the AI Buster 2 manga). She is American, but visits the Japanese server where the others play, because she felt it was one of the best ways to learn the Japanese language. On her first visit, she met Sanjuro, who taught her about her name, and became her friend. She is often confusing words or using common Japanese phrases, and sometimes adding unneeded "-desu" to her words. She loves all animals, which can sometimes be a problem for her party members (she just can't attack the monsters). She nurses a Grunty back to health with the help of Shugo, and keeps it as a pet. Later named Puchiguso-san (in the anime), she normally is found hanging off of her cap. Her class type is Wavemaster, her avatar is similar to Elk (.hack game series). (disputed — see talk page) [1]
Sanjuro Sunaarashi (砂嵐 三十郎 Suna'arashi Sanjūrō): One of the original .hackers, Sanjuro makes it his responsibility to train Shugo. He is an American who plays on the Japanese servers also, as well as one of Hotaru's friends who originally invited her to the JP server, and acts as her Japanese language tutor. His class type is Heavy Blade, with an avatar of a ronin samurai. (He only appears as a supporting character in the anime, but mentioned in the manga.)
Balmung (バルムンク Barumunku): He is the Knight of the Azure Sky, as per his titles (given by the web poet W.B. Yeats, aka Hokuto) "Souten no Balmung" (Balmung of the Azure Sky/Heaven) and "Fianna no matsuei" (Descendant of Fianna). One of the more powerful denizens of The World, who has been playing long before anyone else listed here, and was one of the original .hackers. In .hack//UdeDen, he was made a System Admin by CC Corp, and he organizes very weird events for the players. He decided to do this after the events of the final episode of .hack//SIGN, UNISON. His class is Blademaster, "sub-class" System Administrator, and uses an angelic-knight avatar. In the 2nd book he is fired as an administrator. He takes on more work than he can handle, often shoving it all to his assisant Reki and falling asleep in front of his computer, putting his character in a napping position.
Reki (レキ): Assistant to Balmung, works for CC Corp. Although he hides it from Balmung, he complains to himself about being constantly overworked, since he's constantly finishing whatever work Balmung starts. He becomes fond of Balmung, in a professional sense, but sometimes there's what some consider a secret hint of shounen-ai. His class is Wavemaster, with an avatar like a scholar. In the anime, he later betrays Balmungs trust after he gives in to Kamui's temptations. But in the manga, he remains loyal to the end, checking up on Balmung when he becomes detained.
Kamui (神威): Leader of the Cobalt Knights (This is the translation of 碧衣の騎士団 used in the official English translation by Tokyopop. Fans have mistranslated it as "Green" or "War" Knights. A very literal translation would be "Knights dressed in blue"), CC Corp's debugging squad. She is possessed of an extreme hatred for any kind of hacker, cheater, or wandering AI and will ruthlessly order her Knights against any she finds. She often butts heads with Balmung. Her class is Long Arm (a class that uses spears, halberds, etc.), "sub-class" System Administrator. In the (considered non-canon by many fans) anime, she was formerly the real-life lover of Balmung. She later seduces Reki in an attempt to get the drop on Balmung. However, nothing of the kind happens in the manga; Kamui doesn't like Balmung (on principles, perhaps?), and calls Reki "Balmung's little add-on". In the third manga, Balmung makes her realize the real reason she protects The World, but only after teasing her.
Magi (マギ): Magi is to Kamui as Reki is to Balmung, she is Kamui's assistant and just as (if not more) loyal to her Knight as Reki is to his. She loves fighting as much as Ouka, but tends to do it in the name of the Administration. Magi is also a Wavemaster, with a scholar avatar similar to Reki's. Appears to be personal friends with Kamui.
 
Aura in the .hack// anime.Aura (アウラ): A Wandering AI in The World. She helps Shugo in his first log on and gives him the Twilight Bracelet. She is said to be the Goddess of The World; therefore it's been said that no programmer or designer can truly take credit for creating The World, for Aura could be considered its true creator.
Zefie (ゼフィ): A Vagrant AI, and Aura's apparent daughter. She shows up one session and is attached to Shugo. She originally came to Shugo because she smelled Aura's scent on Shugo's bracelet. Zefie's story is that she's lost and is looking for her mother, in which Mireille quickly claims is a character-specific "sub-quest" that could result in the rarest of rare items. She is always trying to get the affections of Shugo, and is rude to all who try to stop her, namely Rena. Zefie also has the ability to control The World and avatar appearances however she sees fit, which can either be very useful, or very annoying.
Komiyan III (コミヤン三世): Played by Komiyama, a classmate of both Shugo and Rena (specifically Class 3-A). He is always with his pet grunty, Oscar. He has a desire for Rena, and is always after her affections (and her socks). His voice (in both the manga and anime) is always recognized by his unique (and annoying) laugh, "Kii shi shi shi shi." Shugo detests Komiyan for this, often threatening to delete him from the game. In one scenario, Shugo unleashes a "data drain" from his Twilight Bracelet, changing both Komiyan and the monster attacking him into fish for Mereille to take.

Music
The music for the anime was composed by Yuji Yoshino, with vocals by Yoko Ueno. The opening song is New World, by ROUND TABLE featuring Nino and the ending song is Emerald Green, performed by See-Saw. There are 29 songs in the soundtrack, not including the OP or the ED songs.

Episodes
Hero of Legend
Kite's Bracelet
The Wings of Phoenix
The Night of Tanabata
Mansion of Terror
Trap of Steam
Twilight Moon
Lonely Noble Knight
Impending Doom
Phantom City
End of The World
The Beginning of a Legend
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Trivia
TOKYOPOP's first printing of the first volume of the manga confusingly referred to Ouka as "Orca" (also the name of an entirely different character in the .hack continuity). This error has been corrected in subsequent printings.