.hack//Legend of the Twilight

.hack//Legend of the Twilight

Premiere Date: Jan 9, 2003 to Mar 27, 2003

Episodes:12

Genre: Adventure, Sci-FI

Languages: Japanese & English

Similar Shows: Sword Art Online, Grimar: Ashes and Illusions, Summer Wars

Hello everyone! I restarted my Funimation quest from last year. Funny enough, Funimation added over 20 new shows that fell under it the A through C letters, so the best thing would be to start fresh.

Kicking things off, we .hack//Legend of the Twilight. Off the initial episode, it's obvious where SAO initially drew its inspiration from.

Two siblings win a contest to receive custom avatars set a log into "The World," a VRMMO. They probably could have been a little more creative with the name of the game, but it's good enough, so I'll take it. Upon playing, a "hack" kills players in-game and puts them in a coma in real life. This includes Rena, one of the main characters. To save his sister, Shugo must get stronger and defeat the irregularities in the game.

Check out the trailer from Funimation below:

I rotated between the dub and sub. As expected, the dub was pretty terrible. I know that it's expected, but I hope to find a Dub better than the original sub one day. Unfortunately, the voice acting wasn't the worst part of the show…

Animation:

Being that this was made in 2003, don't expect anything extraordinary in terms of the animation. While the character designs are reasonable, there were still a lot of areas that were lacking. For example, I wasn't sure if the character's eyes were cross-eyed on more than one occasion, making it a little more challenging to take some moments of the show seriously.

For this part-time pretty boy, part-time Rena stalker; he was one of the worst-designed characters. Although his obsession with Rena was creepy, he deserved better.

Additionally, I know that this was very common during the period for anime. Finally, most of the characters are straight-up children. I know they range between the ages of 13 to 16, but Shugo and Rena's main character looks no older than 10.

Pacing:

To be perfectly honest, I got lost halfway through the season. This wasn't due to the pacing and more so due to the show, just not my cup of orange juice. From the first to the last episode, we had a clear indication of the issues. We knew how the characters solved the problems with The World. Still, I wasn't sure whether or not the show was aiming to be serious or comedic. The parts that I figured to be serious weren't really that thrilling, and the comedic parts, I just sat there confused.

At the end of the day, I can't complain too much about the pacing because at least it was consistent, and I didn't see anything that I could straight up disagree with.

Character Development:

Here is my chance to rant about the two main characters Shugo and Rena. Throughout the show, they were personable and managed to make a boatload of friends. I had zero issues with this except that they were actually the most annoying characters.

Both are twin siblings, but their relationship seemed more inclined towards incest than a typical familial bond. I know I have seen many shows where this is come about, but it will always gross me out.

Shugo becomes the character that everyone looks towards as a sign of strength. He rescues The World from its current problem and saves Rena when she gets abducted. It's often that the male always saves the female. Anime’s favorite trope.

From the beginning, Shugo was always the weaker of the two siblings; I find it extremely hard to believe with the bit of training he did get with friends that it would help him to take on the hackers that were messing up the game for everyone.

When Rena is abducted, and Shugo is forced to go and save her. They said in the final episodes why she was kidnapped as opposed to him but nonetheless because she was the stronger of the two. This didn't make complete sense to me; while she was waiting for him to come and save her, she went from being a strong character to a damsel in distress. I just want a little bit of consistency with the two, but it looked like the only consistency I got was the borderline incest.

Overall Score: D Rank (I acknowledge it exists)

Overall the show was cute. It had some funny moments, but overall, it just lacks significantly. I do get that this was essentially the beginning of the Isekai genre. Giving years down the road, we have a slew of VRMMO shows. This just doesn't seem to set a high standard. Correct me if I'm wrong. The characters were utterly annoying, and if I had a dollar for every time one of the characters repeated another character's name three times in a row… I honestly would be rich by now. I was virtually screaming at my TV, asking Shugo why he felt the need to call Rena's name four more times in a row when he knew she was around or even when they were.

Another major issue with this show was that Rena was ultimately 14. It seemed like she had more than enough suitors knocking at her door. Of course, I know the objectification of young teens is common in anime, especially since the 2000s. Still, I... Instead of catering to the demographic, I’d like it if Loli’s didn’t exist. So my first instinct is to skip it, but if you must, it's an excellent show to run in the background.

If you care about OP and CL songs check em out.

OP: New World by OP Round Table

CL: Emerald Green by See Saw