.hack//G.U.+, Plot
Following his defeat at the ends of Haseo's Skeith, the Rebirth restores all comatose players including Aina, his sister who was accidentally targeted by AIDA out of control, but this comes at the cost of Ovan's life in the real world. As Shino is revived, Haseo quits The World. Ryou Misaki, the player behind Haseo, meets a recovered Shino in real life and confesses his romantic feelings towards her. However, Shino rejects him as she explains she willingly let Ovan PKed her because she loves him, and her feeling still remain unchanging.


.hack//G.U.+, Plot
Some time after Ovan's death, Misaki returns to The World to meet Aina after she received a mail sent by her supposed dead brother. Their discussion interrupted by the new leader of G.U., Kazumi, who steals Skeith from Haseo, damaging his PC and mind in the process. Atoli's superior, Zelkova, saves Haseo by hacking his character. Kazumi seeks to eventually fulfills his ambition, becoming a "false god" of The World. Kazumi once again tries to kill the weakened Haseo but he is protected by Atoli who is revealed to have inherited Shino's Avatar it left the latter.


.hack//G.U.+, Plot
Kazumi seeks his plans to become the new god of The World by absorbing a creature known as Cubia and becomes one with it. Upon being commanded by the goddess of The World, the Ultimate AI Aura, she guides G.U. to Cubia's location. Haseo's group reaches Cubia and use their Avatars together to take him down alongside the remains of Kazumi. During this battle, the remains of Ovan's PC are restored to The World by the AIDA still attached to his left arm, allowing Ovan to help Haseo in defeating Kazumi and Cubia. Following this, Ovan is reunited with his sister and reconciles with Haseo and Shino.


.hack//G.U.+, Publication
The series was first announced in October 2005 to start in the first issue of .hack//G.U. The World magazine. The manga was written by Tetsuya Hamazaki who previously worked in the .hack//G.U. trilogy of games. Yuzuka Morita worked as the artist. In regards to Haseo's personality, Hamazaki claims that it was toned down for the games in order to make him more appealing. In contrast, Haseo is more aggressive in the printed adaptations (written by Hamasaki) where he often threatens enemies. Hamasaki states that Haseo's traits are his attempts at writing a PC controlled by an antisocial teenager.


.hack//G.U.+, Publication
Morita considered herself inexperienced to be working for the manga but was thankful towards this experience. Morita noted the exclusive character Kazumi to be obsessive, something he also found in common with the Atoli's superior Zelkova. While in the original games Haseo has four forms, in the manga he only has the base form and the hacked Xth Form. The artist found the latter one interesting to draw to Haseo now wielding guns instead of swords.


.hack//G.U.+, Publication
Originally, the serialization of the manga was aimed to last until the third volume. However, by the time of its release, Hamazaki stated there was a change of plans and that the series would continue. The manga was serialized for four years and collected in a total of five of tankobon volumes. Hamazaki stated he aimed this manga to be read by teenagers but due to the length, some parts were changed.


.hack//G.U.+, Publication
The series was licensed by TokyoPop in June 2007 with the first volume scheduled to be released on February 12, 2008.


.hack//G.U.+, Reception
The series was well received by critics. Lesley Smith from Newtype wrote ".hack//G.U.+ is yet another outlet for the story to shine combining a compelling mythology with the manga format." Anime News Network found it appealing for newcomers as they did not find previous knowledge of the series to understand the story but complained about is overuse of cliches. Pop Culture News enjoyed the mystery provided by the mystery. Due to G.U.+ being a sequel to Roots, Manga News felt the readers might need to watch the anime to know the series' proper world building and cast.


.hack//G.U.+, Reception
Haseo's take in the manga earned positive response due to his quest being compelling due to player killers being something no online gamer discourage according to IGN. Despite calling him a "ruthless fighter", Carlo Santos from Anime News Network commented that Haseo's wish to save Shino makes him an appealing character.


.hack//G.U.+, Reception
Manga News felt that Haseo was more a more striking character in the manga than in other versions due to how his cold personality contrasts other shonen manga protagonists, leading to criticism of his change into a more traditional hero as the writer found that Haseo loses most of his charisma following Ovan's defeatand that his love triangle with Atoli and Shino was poorly handled. In a general overview of the manga, the website felt that the narrative is far darker than any previous installment in the .hack franchise due to Haseo's initial dark characterization involving his revenge towards Tri-Edge.


.hack//G.U.+, Reception
In regards to the cast, PopCultureShock found her Atoli among other characters from the supporting cast more likable due to how they contrast Haseo's cold personality, although Manga News criticized the handling of Atoli's love triangle with Haseo and Shino in the fourth volume, considering it a reboot of the manga. Ovan's revelation to be the true Tri-Edge helped to bring the anime Roots to a closure, something the anime left open for the game. Nevertheless, the reviewer felt Ovan's battle to feel rushed in the manga version. However, the finale was felt by Manga News to be too quick for the amount of revelations provided in the fight against Cubia. The writer found the new character Kazumi difficult to follow.


.hack//G.U.+, Reception
Morita's artwork was praised by IGN for being faithful to the original games while also throwing his take on this version. Anime News Network praised the artwork too, most notably Morita's action scenes which might draw more readers, while Pop Culture Shock found it "stylish and eye catching" due to the variety of character designs and weaponry despite finding issues with the fight scenes. Despite liking the art and fights, Manga News felt the pacing of some battles like Haseo's against Endrance was too fast to enjoy properly. Morita was also praised by Manga News for similar parts from his design of The World designs, making most of the cast be unique with the exception of Atoli and Shino who share nearly the exact same character design. As a result, the website found the artwork nearly flawless.


.hack//G.U.+, Reception
The series has been popular in North America, appearing in polls from ICv2 and the New York Times. In retrospective, Ben Leary from Mania Entertainment noted that while the game's novelization explores better Haseo than the manga, making for it to be a more interesting read. In a general overview of the franchise, Relive and Play noted that while .hack franchise might be difficult to follow, their manga adaptations are written in a fashion to be easier to understand with Alcor adding more depth to the suppoting cast from G.U.+.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight
.hack//Legend of the Twilight (.hack//黄昏の腕輪伝説, Tasogare no Udewa Densetsu, lit. ".hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet") is a science fiction manga series written by Tatsuya Hamazaki and drawn by Rei Izumi. The twenty-two chapters of .hack//Legend of the Twilight appeared as a serial in the Japanese magazine Comptiq and published in three tankōbon by Kadokawa Shoten from July 2002 to April 2004. Set in a fictional MMORPG, The World, the series focuses on twins Rena and Shugo, who receive chibi avatars in the design of the legendary .hackers known as Kite and BlackRose. After Shugo is given the Twilight Bracelet by a mysterious girl, the two embark on a quest to find Aura and unravel the mystery of the Twilight Bracelet.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight
The series was adapted into a twelve episode anime of the same name directed by Koichi Mashimo and Koji Sawai and produced by Bee Train.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight
Tokyopop licensed the manga series for an English-language release in North America. It published the three volumes from September 2003 to April 2004. Bandai Entertainment had licensed the anime series for North American broadcast. The word "Bracelet" in the title was removed in North America, shortening the title to .hack//Legend of the Twilight. Following the closure of Bandai Entertainment, Funimation announced at SDCC 2013, that they have acquired 4 .hack titles including Legend of the Twilight.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Plot
Set in a fictional MMORPG called The World, the series follows twins Shugo and Rena. After winning a contest, Rena is given a pair of chibi avatars in the design of the legendary .hackers, Kite and BlackRose. After an odd occurrence, a mysterious AI named Aura gives Shugo the Twilight Bracelet, an item that both aids and hinders him. Rena and Shugo embark on an adventure to find Aura and unravel the mystery of the Twilight Bracelet.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Plot
Along the way, Shugo and Rena befriend Mireille, a rare item hunter; the fierce Ouka; and Hotaru, a peaceful girl. While waiting for an event to start, they encounter a strange girl named Zefie, who is lured to Shugo because she believes the bracelet smells like her mother, Aura. It is later realized that Zefie is a vagrant AI – an AI that acts independently outside the parameters of the game. Zefie's presence upsets many, including the Cobalt Knights, a group of administrators that follow the rule "If you can't control it, delete it" to an extreme.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Plot
Meanwhile, Balmung, another administrator in The World, encounters problems of his own. The suits, CC Corp's upper tier executives, are displeased with what little action Balmung has taken against Shugo and his illegal item, the Twilight Bracelet. Balmung's administrative duties are revoked.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Plot
Kamui, the leader of the Cobalt Knights, begins her pursuit of Shugo and company. She captures Shugo and his friends, but allows Mireille, Ouka, and Hotaru to leave after they promise they will not interfere with the workings of The World. Shugo, Rena, and Zefie are left in a cell together. Rena and Shugo disagree over whether to stay until the end. After they come to an agreement to stay and fight, Zefie opens the door to the cell, freeing them.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Plot
In the outside world, Ouka, Hotaru, and Mireille decide to return to The World and help Shugo. Kazu, a friend of Balmung, meets up with Shugo and party, carrying "Helba's Key," the key to an area called the Net Slums. Kamui shows up, demanding the key to the Net Slums with her knights in tow. Shugo and Kamui face off, which results in Kamui breaking her axe. Zefie tells her that everyone in The World is blessed. Shugo activates Helba's key and transports himself, Rena, Mireille, Hotaru, and Zefie to the Net Slums.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Plot
Once at the Net Slums, the party is confronted by Balmung, refuses to allow the party to proceed to Aura unless Shugo can damage him. Shugo struggles, but manages to strike Balmung. Pleased, Balmung hands Shugo the virus cores he'll need to see Aura; he also explains that only three people can go see Aura. Hotaru and Mireille say their goodbyes to Zefie, Shugo, and Rena as they activate the virus cores and meet Aura. The manga ends with Zefie being reunited with her mother, and Shugo telling Aura of his adventures in The World.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Plot, Anime
The anime has many differences from the manga, though the story begins in much the same way. Rena wins a limited edition character model contest for The World and invites her twin brother Shugo to play the legendary character Kite while she plays as the legendary BlackRose. On their first outing together, Shugo is killed by a monster, but is revived by a mysterious girl named Aura. As well as reviving Shugo, Aura gives him a mysterious bracelet. Shugo and Rena continue to play "The World" and find many warped monsters.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Plot, Anime
They eventually meet new friends, Mireille, Ouka, Hotaru and Sanjuro. However, while searching through a haunted mansion, Rena disappears and falls into a coma. Shugo and Rena's friends frantically search for a solution, while a group of children plan something terrible. The Cerulean Knights, a debugging team for CC Corp, hinder the situation by trying to capture Shugo because of his bracelet. When Shugo and company reach a mysterious place where Rena might be, they are met by a hostile AI named Morti.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Plot, Anime
Using the bracelet and a little help from an inside ally, the group locates the source of the problem and proceed to stop it. They transport themselves to a root town that is not open to the public yet, where Shugo manages to defeat the AI; however, due to some of the programming of the AI, The World will be destroyed. Shugo and Rena then activate Kite and Blackrose's joint power to save The World.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Production
Rei Izumi  describes .hack//Legend of the Twilight as "the story of the future" and "the first to usher in the .hack franchise and the last to end." The series took Izumi and Tatsuya Hamazaki three and a half years to complete; .hack//Legend of the Twilight  was originally planned to be two volumes long, but a decision was made to extend the series. As a result, the original story was rewritten. Additionally, the scene with Kamui and Zefie was extended. Kamui was originally male, her axe was not broken, and her role ended after she tossed away Grunty. Despite this, Izumi wanted to include more of Kamui and Balmung in the series.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Production
Izumi and Hamazaki created Reki, Balmung's assistant, and Magi, Kamui's assistant, as they were deciding on character names; the two were not in the original draft of .hack//Legend of the Twilight. Reki was invented because Izumi and Hamazaki needed a character for Balmung to communicate with. Izumi suggested Reki and Tatsuya offered Magi for the names of the two assistants.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Media, Manga
Written by Tatsuya Hamazaki and illustrated by Rei Izumi, .hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet appeared as a serial in the Japanese magazine Comptiq, and was collected in three tankōbon by Kadokawa Shoten from July 2002 to April 2004.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Media, Manga
The manga is licensed for an English-language release in North America by Tokyopop, who shortened the title to .hack//Legend of the Twilight. It released the series from September 9, 2003 to November 9, 2004. Tokyopop also released a box set of the volumes in September 2005, and an omnibus of the series on December 8, 2009. The series is also published in Singapore in English by Chuang Yi, who also released it in New Zealand and Australia through Madman Entertainment. It is also licensed in Argentina by Editorial Ivrea, in Brazil by Editora JBC, in Germany by Carlsen Comics, in Finland by Sangatsu Manga, in Sweden by Bonnier Carlsen, in Italy by J-Pop, in Indonesia by M&C Comics, in Poland by JPF and in France by Panini Comics.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Media, Anime
The word "Bracelet" in the title was removed in North America, shortening the title to .hack//Legend of the Twilight, though TV Listings retained the original title during the show's run on Cartoon Network as part of its late Friday night/Early Saturday morning graveyard slot block from 2004–2005. The opening theme music is "New World", performed by Round Table featuring Nino. The ending theme is "Emerald Green", performed by See-Saw and lyrics by Yuki Kajiura and Chiaki Ishikawa.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Media, Anime
Victor Entertainment released the soundtrack to the anime on February 21, 2003. Chiaki Ishikawa and Katsutoshi Kitagawa composed the lyrics while See Saw, Yoko Ueno, and Round Table with Nino performed the songs. Yuji Yoshino composed the songs, and Masanori Shimada and Round Table arranged them.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Media, CDs
Three CDs for the TV anime series were released. The first is a single of the opening theme NEW WORLD by Round table featuring Nino. The second is a soundtrack titled .hack//Tasogare no Udewa Densetsu Original Soundtrack (.hack//黄昏の腕輪伝説 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK) was released on February 21, 2003. The second is another soundtrack titled  .hack//Tasogare no Udewa Densetsu Character Song & Story (.hack//黄昏の腕輪伝説 Character Song & Story) was released on March 21, 2003.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Reception
.hack//Legend of the Twilight was positively received by English-language readers. The first volume ranked first on Bookscan for graphic novels and 40th on the "adult fiction trade paperback list". The third volume placed ninth in Bookscan's list of the top ten best-selling graphic novel. The one-volume re-release ranked 164th on the list of the 300 best-selling graphic novels with an estimated 544 copies sold for December 2009.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Reception
It received lukewarm reviews from critics for its "child-oriented" and "generic" art, and being more light-hearted than .hack//SIGN, and oriented towards a younger audience. Another reviewer labelled it as one of the worst manga that he had ever read for its confusing and cliché storytelling.


.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Reception
Carlos Ross of THEM Anime Reviews found .hack//Legend of the Twilight to be "inferior" to the other .hack series. He criticized the "creepy subtext" between Shugo and Rena, calling them "clingier and more over-affectionate than any real life siblings should be".


.hack//Liminality
.hack//Liminality is an OVA series directly related to the .hack video game series for the PlayStation 2, with the perspective of Liminality focused on the real world as opposed to the games' MMORPG The World. Liminality was separated into four volumes; each volume was released with its corresponding game. The initial episode is 45 minutes long, while subsequent episodes are 30 minutes long. The video series was directed by Koichi Mashimo, written by Kazunori Itō with music by Yuki Kajiura. Primary Animation production was handled by Mashimo's studio Bee Train which collaborated for the four games as well as handled major production on .hack//Sign.


.hack//Liminality, Releases
The games were packaged with DVDs featuring  episodes of .hack//Liminality, an original video animation (OVA) series that depicts events that occur concurrently with the games. The OVA series was meant to give perspective on fictional events happening in the "real world" outside the game.


.hack//Liminality, In the case of Mai Minase
The episode starts when Tokuoka was kicked out of CC Corp. Mai and her boyfriend, Tomonari Kasumi (known to The World as Sieg), are taken to a hospital due to both of them collapsing while playing a MMORPG called The World. Despite Mai waking up shortly after arriving at the hospital, Tomonari remains in a coma. For this, Mai is the object of rumors, especially when the clubhouse (known as G-study) is closed after the incident.


.hack//Liminality, In the case of Mai Minase
It is soon revealed that she heard a certain sound (which is also present at important points in .hack//Sign) shortly before collapsing, and she later discovers that it is A in C major, which is used to tune instruments, including her violin. It was this sound that enabled her to wake up, and it was the first sound she made when she did. She meets Junichiro Tokuoka, and although she distrusts him at the beginning, as they investigate into Tomonari's coma, they soon become allies, if not friends.


.hack//Liminality, In the case of Mai Minase
The investigation itself starts with Tokuoka accessing Tomonari's (Sieg's) account on The World, with Mai providing the password. Tokuoka accidentally opens the e-mail, and discovers that two users, Yukichin and Kyo, are close with Tomonari and have been harassing him with e-mails regarding his absence. It is also revealed during the course of the episode that Tomonari took the name "Sieg" as a contraction of Siegfried, from Richard Wagner's operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen.


.hack//Liminality, In the case of Mai Minase
Balmung is the name of Siegfried's sword, and Tomonari told Mai that he would become the possessor rather than the sword: a reference to the fact that he aimed to surpass the player character Balmung of the Azure Sky, one of the Descendants of Fianna. Tokuoka and Mai's investigation leads them to break into G-study, in order to attempt to recreate the same situation so that they can find out why Mai and Tomonari collapsed. The sound starts up again when they enter a field, and although Mai saves herself, Tokuoka seems to be losing it. In desperation, Mai destroys the monitor and the computer that they were using, and drags him outside, where a splash of rainwater wakes him up. After that, the two pledge to find out just what C.C.Corp. is hiding, and what it will take to wake everyone up.


.hack//Liminality, In the case of Mai Minase
An interesting easter egg is if you turn on the subtitles, in the scene where Tomonari's friend is fixing the computer, for a few seconds, keywords will pop up. Those keywords in the Theta server lead to where the Soul Blades reside.


.hack//Liminality, In the case of Yuki Aihara
Tokuoka and Mai are on their way to meet with Yuki (known to The World as Yukichin), who is in Yokohama. Tokuoka gets stuck in traffic, and Mai goes to the library in Tokyo to attempt to look up information. During this time, she hears the sound. Meanwhile, Yuki is watching a movie when suddenly THE WORLD flashes on the screen, the power goes out, and the employees attempt to evacuate the building.


.hack//Liminality, In the case of Yuki Aihara
Yuki runs into an unnamed woman who works at the building, and the two try to find their way out while the crowd gets stuck on the broken escalators. The two eventually resort to climbing through a ventilation shaft to a hallway with an elevator. After the fire alarm activates and starts sending out carbon dioxide, the woman rips off her shirt sleeves and makes mittens for both of them to slide down the elevator cables.


.hack//Liminality, In the case of Yuki Aihara
At the same time, Tokuoka is finding his way to the meeting point without his car, as it's still trapped in gridlock, and Mai is using an old offline newspaper reel to look up information. She comes across Harald Hoerwick (the creator of The World), and the Epitaph of Twilight. Later, she contacts Kyo, and finds out that fires have broken out all over Yokohama, and that there is no cell phone service there either. Yuki and the woman find themselves at the bottom of the shaft, and it seems that the woman has twisted her ankle.


.hack//Liminality, In the case of Yuki Aihara
They make their way onto the first floor regardless, and discover upon exiting the building that many cars have crashed. The woman says that it is the second coming of Pluto's Kiss. Finally, at 9:00, six hours after Tokuoka said that he would meet Yuki, he arrives to find Yuki waiting for him. Mai finally gets through to Tokuoka, and Kyo gets through to Yuki, and it is discovered that Kyo knows quite a bit about the Epitaph of Twilight.


.hack//Liminality, In the case of Kyoko Tohno
Junichiro Tokuoka travels to the city of Hida-Takayama to meet up with a miss Kyoko Tohno to discuss further details surrounding the mysteries in The World as well as the legends surrounding The Epitaph of Twilight.


.hack//Liminality, In the case of Kyoko Tohno
After receiving a phone call from a person working under the alias Bith the Black, Tokuoka and Kyoko realize that they are being watched by Helba's agents. A series of messages from Bith lead them to numerous historical sites throughout the city. As several of the messages come from e-mails sent to Mai Minase and Yuki Aihara, Tokuoka suspects that Helba has been following their actions for quite some time.


.hack//Liminality, In the case of Kyoko Tohno
The team begins to eventually put together the puzzle behind the mysterious woman of  Emma Wielant the author of the Epitaph. After a chance run in with Kyoko's Father, they discover that he was contacted by Bith as well, working under another alias "Ichiro Sato".


.hack//Liminality, In the case of Kyoko Tohno
Over lunch Ichiro explains that Harald Hoerwick had used the game Fragment, the precursor to The World, to create a tribute to Emma's Epitaph of Twilight. But that alone wouldn't explain the current situation facing The World. He goes on to say that the incidents involving the coma victims were created as a result of Harald attempting to bring the real world into the online world, creating a hazy barrier between the two worlds, a concept called "Liminality".


.hack//Liminality, In the case of Kyoko Tohno
Ichiro informs Tokuoka and Kyoko that he needs their help, but that in helping him, they will become criminals. Despite the risk, they both agree to help. Ichiro says that CC Corp intends to shut down the servers of The World, thereby destroying any possible clues to awakening the coma victims. He tells them to meet with him on Christmas Eve at Urayasu, then drives away. Tokuoka asks Kyoko if she's really sure about helping him, causing her to reaffirm her commitment to the cause.


.hack//Liminality, Trismegistus
Several weeks after the meeting in Hida-Takayama on Christmas Eve, Junichiro Tokuoka, Kyoko Tohno, Yuki Aihara, and Mai Minase all gather on a dinner boat in Tokyo Bay, to prepare for their risky (and most certainly illegal) mission. Despite their nervousness, each one is dedicated to helping Ichiro Sato complete the mission sent from Helba. Ichiro himself soon arrives on a different boat. While traveling to their destination, Ichiro reveals the true nature of the problems that have been plaguing The World. Harald Hoerwick's program, Fragment, had been nothing more than a program to create an "Ultimate AI".


.hack//Liminality, Trismegistus
The system to create this A.I. had somehow become self autonomous, and was working to delay the birth of the A.I. known as Aura, to keep itself from finishing its purpose and ceasing to exist. If the problems are to be solved, the Ultimate A.I. must be born, and it's up to Tokuoka and his team to help that event occur.


.hack//Liminality, Trismegistus
Under the cover of night they sneak into a CC Corp data station located on the edge of the bay. Avoiding the guards, Ichiro hacks into the security system allowing them to enter the main building. Inside the central control room, Tokuoka begins setting up their hardware to gain access to the computer systems and join up in Helba's private server. Unfortunately the data has to compile, an act which will take about 15–20 minutes to complete. While he waits, Tokuoka asks Yuki to bring him some coffee from a vending machine. She gets the coffee and brings it to him, not realizing that she just created several new problems. By using the vending machines she has triggered the security system potentially alerting the night security patrol staff to their presence.


.hack//Liminality, Trismegistus
Outside, a patrol car comes by, investigating the entrance into the facility. They figure it is nothing more than a system error but realize somebody is actually inside when they discover that somebody used one of the vending machines inside. Realizing they have been discovered, Ichiro enlists the help of Yuki and Kyoko to buy Tokuoka and Mai some time.


.hack//Liminality, Trismegistus
The data now compiled Tokuoka logs into The World using Sieg's account. Mai finds herself watching a battle involving Sieg and a character named Orca. Suddenly, the server begins to malfunction and crash as CC Corp begins deleting their servers. Tokuoka realizes that if they complete this, everybody who is currently fighting will fall into a coma and the Ultimate A.I. will never be born. As he struggles to come up with a solution, Ichiro comes in and announces that they're out of time.


.hack//Liminality, Trismegistus
Walking out of the police station, he finds Mai and the girls waiting for him. Mai says that the Ultimate A.I. has finally been born, and Tokuoka pulls out a disk containing enough evidence to bring CC Corp to court. The four happily go out to eat and celebrate their victory.


.hack//Liminality, Music, Theme songs
The music and lyrics of all opening themes and the one ending theme were composed by Yuki Kajiura, and were performed by See-Saw.


.hack//Liminality, Music, CDs
The .hack//Liminality Original Soundtrack Plus is a two disc set composed by Yuki Kajiura. The first disc is a 12 cm CD containing tracks of the OVA series and the second disc is an 8 cm CD titled .hack//Liminality Bonus Single and is the single for the opening themes: Thousand and One Nights and Edge. The third track, "Grandpa's Violin", is the violin piece that plays in the background when An Shouji and Mariko Misono meet for the first time at the end of episode 26 of .hack//Sign, Return. It was released on September 21, 2002 in Japan and in North America it was released with the third .hack//Sign Limited Edition DVD. A single by  See-Saw titled Kimigaita monogatari/Emerald Green (君がいた物語/Emerald Green) was a single for the OVA series and was released on January 22, 2003.


.hack//Link
.hack//Link is a single-player action role-playing game developed by CyberConnect2 for the PlayStation Portable. The game was released exclusively in Japan on March 4, 2010.


.hack//Link
Set in a fictional version of the year 2020, .hack//Link's story takes place in a new version of “The World,” a popular series of MMORPGs known as The World R:X. The game focuses on a young man named Tokio Kuryuu, a second year junior-high student who gets transported into The World R:X by a new student named  Saika Amagi.


.hack//Link
After arriving into the game, Tokio is tasked by an artificial intelligence version of the character Kite to be a hero and use a tower of the Akashic Records to save the Twilight Knights, a group of artificial intelligence versions of characters based on casts of previous entries in the .hack series. Using the Akashic Records, Tokio is able to travel backwards in time to previous .hack entries and encounter past characters in order to unfreeze the data of the Twilight Knights.


.hack//Link
Since its release, .hack//Link has been met with negative to mixed reception among both critics and fans alike. With many praising the expansion of the series' overall lore, but with strong criticism towards the gameplay of the title.


.hack//Link
Although never stated to be the final chapter to the .hack series, the game is currently the last game in the chronology of the series to bear the name of .hack. The game was eventually followed with future installments known as Guilty Dragon: The Sin Dragon and the Eight Curses and New World Vol. 1: Maiden of Silver Tears for both iOS and Android platforms. Both games have since had their services discontinued.


.hack//Link, Plot
The story takes place in the year 2020. Tokio Kuryuu is a normal middle-school student who loves to play games. One day, a transfer student named Saika Amagi approaches Tokio and takes him to the school rooftop where she sends Tokio directly into The World R:X. There, he finds Kite, the legendary hero and leader of Twilight Knight dedicated to protect The World fighting against Flügel, the leader of a mysterious group called Schicksal. During their battle, Kite protected Tokio from Flügel's attack, resulting Kite's PC to be frozen but not before he asked Tokio to save them.


.hack//Link, Plot
Tokio is then transported to Saika's hideout, Grand Whale, and forcefully makes him her slave to find four items called Chrono Cores that are necessary to fully control the Akashic Record, a god-like power that holds over the system of The World and enables them to travel to the past data of The World. Using the Akashic Record, Tokio and Saika travels throughout the past timelines of .hack series to find the Chrono Cores and restored the frozen data of all members of Twilight Knights, gaining new allies in the process.


.hack//Link, Plot
During their journey, Tokio befriends AIKA, a benevolent AIDA-PC that greatly resembles Saika whom the latter introduces as some sort of her alter ego. Saika also reveals that the reason she's gather Chrono Cores is because her cousin, Jyotaro Amagi, has sent her an email that tells her to save him by gathering all the Chrono Cores. One of Schicksal members, Geist, for some reason has been indirectly helping Tokio to get the Chrono Cores and at the same time getting rid of his own Schicksal comrades who were getting on Tokyo's way. The mystery behind Tokio's ability to directly entering the game is revealed because he is a Doubleware, a special kind of human who has the ability to real digitise himself into network.


.hack//Link, Plot
Near reaching the top of Akashic Record, Tokio are confronted by the five remaining members of Schicksal. However, two of the members, Metronome and Geist betrays Flügel, allowing Tokio and Saika to reach the core of Akashic Records where they finds Aura trapped inside by Schicksal who reveals that they have been tricked. At this time, a virus suddenly came out from Tokio's body and slowly corrupting Aura.


.hack//Link, Plot
Geist reveals that he was the one who sent the email and the R:X disk to Saika by posing as Jyotaro so that he could corrupt Aura by using Tokio's power as a Doubleware combined with the virus that he implanted inside Tokio from the disk.


.hack//Link, Plot
Now working together with Flügel and the remaining members of Schicksal, Tokio confronts and defeats Geist who reveals that he was planning to bring forth Immortal Dusk, a plan to real digitize all humanity that started by his creator, Jyotaro, but Flügel reveals that the plan was a failure, and Jyotaro had been the very first victim of the plan, resulting him to be in coma for years.


.hack//Link, Plot
Aura, who was completely corrupted, begins her onslaught throughout the network and begins to real digitise all humanity as a form of her twisted love for The World. Hoping to return Aura to normal, Tokio and all the revived Twilight Knights confronts Aura and uses the vaccines program that Saika has created to restore her. Unfortunately, the vaccine isn't enough to destroy the virus inside Aura, and one by one Tokio's friend was defeated. To save everyone, AIKA sacrifices herself to restore Aura's data and disappears.


.hack//Link, Plot
After the incident, Saika suddenly disappears, prompting Tokio to ask Flügel for help to locate her and finds her at a hospital where she is tending Jyotaro. Saika reveals her guilt for involving Tokio and blames herself for AIKA's death so she tries her best to just forget everything that happens and hopes for Tokio to do the same. Tokio refuses and convinces Saika that everything that happened are too meaningful and precious to be forgotten, telling her there's no need for her to bear the sadness alone. Tokio and Saika reaffirms their friendship, both determines to overcome their sadness over AIKA's death.


.hack//Link, Manga adaptation
Prior to the game's release, a shōnen manga adaptation was made titled .hack//LINK Twilight Knights (.hack//LINK 黄昏の騎士団, .hack//LINK Tasogare no Kishidan) and was released on October 26, 2007. It featured artwork done by Megane Kikuya and an entirely original story by CyberConnect2 that differs from the game. The manga was published by Kadokawa Shoten in Japan and released in the Kerokero Ace magazine. An English version of the manga was also published by Tokyopop.


.hack//Link, Manga adaptation
After the release of the third volume on February 26, 2010, the manga adaptation of .hack//LINK was discontinued for unknown reasons.


.hack//Link, Reception
Reaction to .hack//Link has been moderate to negative among both critics and fans alike. Famitsu magazine has commented that while Link's story is deep and engaging the gameplay itself is shallow and boring. The juggle combo feature in battles has been said to be fun on the first try but that over the course of the game many simply ignored it. The large cast has been praised by fans for the return of many classic characters, but many complain that some of the new X-forms are not required and that they ruin the flair.


.hack//Link, Reception
Heath Hindman, in RPGLand.com's review, shared many of these complaints in addition to ones regarding a "dreadful camera" and repetition "on a whole new level," among others. Hindman did have high praise for the story, however, saying, "It ties up many loose ends while adding a bit more info and detail to the world of The World. Moreover, it does so while managing to give a shout out to practically every major .hack side project and providing a great mix of fan service and real quality work". Ultimately, despite the story's strength, the .hack//Link's high number of game-breaking faults got it an overall rating of "Horrible."


.hack//Link, Spin-off material
In 2009 Namco Bandai Games announced at Tokyo Game Show that an all CG anime-series "tie-in" is going to be produced. Not many details were known other than it was not going to be a television series. They also announced that CyberConnect2's team "sai" is the production force for the CG film.


.hack//Link, Spin-off material
Later a 2D anime Original Video Animation series known as .hack//Quantum, produced by Kinma Citrus was announced with a subsequent 3DCGI movie known as .hack//The Movie being produced by CyberConnect 2 Sai.


.hack//Quantum
.hack//Quantum is an animated three episode OVA series for the .hack franchise, produced by Kinema Citrus and presented by Bandai Visual. It was initially scheduled to be released in November 2010, but it was later changed. The first episode was released on January 28, 2011 with the following two episodes to be released in one month intervals. Excluding the all-CGI animation movie .hack//G.U. Trilogy, it is the first animated OVA project not to be produced by Bee Train. It is not related to a planned CGI movie tie-in to the newest game in the .hack series, .hack//Link.


.hack//Quantum
Masaki Tachibana of Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 directed the OVA project and .hack// writer Tatsuya Hamazaki scripted. Kinema Citrus animated the series and Kow Otani composed the music. Yuuka Nanri performed the theme song for the series. At Anime Weekend Atlanta 2011, Funimation announced that it had licensed the series and it was released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 14, 2012, making it the first in the franchise not to be licensed by Bandai Entertainment. The UK release was published by MVM Entertainment on July 9, 2012.


.hack//Quantum, Story
In 2022, Sakuya, Tobias and Mary, play the latest version of the world's largest MMORPG: "The World R:X", created by Cyberconnect Corporation. As they take on a quest, they become caught in strange circumstances.


.hack//Quantum, Episodes
Pre -orders of the theatrical release on Amazon.co.jp and animate come with a bonus Original Drama CD.


.hack//Quantum, Manga
The series is serialized in Comp Ace as ".hack//Quantum+" (pronounced "Quantum Plus"). Illustrated by Nao Mitaka (三鷹ナオ), and will follow the story as written for the anime by Kinema Citrus.


.hack//Roots
.hack//Roots is a 26-episode anime series, animated by studio Bee Train, that sets as a prologue for the .hack//G.U. video games. It is the first .hack  TV series broadcast in HDTV (1080i). It is set seven years after the events of the first two anime series and games. .hack//Roots revolves around an MMORPG game called The World R:2, also known as The World Revision:2 and serves a sequel to the original version of "The World". Its original Japanese television run aired from April 5, 2006 through September 27, 2006.


.hack//Roots, Plot
".hack//Roots" follows the tale of Haseo, a black 'Adept Rogue'(a class that can use multiple types of weapons) and member of the "Twilight Brigade", a small guild created within "The World R:2." In the year 2015, the CC Corporation's building burned down, and with it, most of the existing data for "The World." By splicing in data from what would have potentially been another game with what remained of "The World" after the fire, CC Corp. created "The World R:2" and released it in 2016, which is when the anime takes place. The main revisions in this release were that the game allowed for guild and PvP (player vs player) play.


.hack//Roots, Plot
Haseo logs into The World R:2 for the first time and falls victim to the PKers (player-killers) that reside within the game. He is saved by Ovan, who prompts him to join the Twilight Brigade alongside Sakisaka, Tabby and Shino, who are in search of finding "The Key of the Twilight." However, a popular guild named "TaN" obstructs the Twilight Brigade in its mission and is attempting to obtain Ovan's unique character data.


.hack//Roots, Plot
The Twilight Brigade has discovered special items, known as 'Virus Cores', and believed them to be the path to finding "The Key of the Twilight" and went to find them all. Once the Twilight Brigade had acquired all 6 cores, the guild headed out to use them in one of the "Lost Ground"s, after figuring out that the two were connected to one another.


.hack//Roots, Plot
However, the group discovers that this was all a trap laid by the members of TaN in order to capture Ovan. With Ovan gone and no sign of the Key of the Twilight, the Twilight Brigade disband and previous members, such as B-set and Gord, quit the game entirely. Soon after, Shino is killed within the game by a mysterious PKer named "Tri-Edge". This somehow puts her into a coma in the real world, which devastates Haseo. Haseo then begins training in order to get strong enough to defeat Tri-Edge and save Shino from her real-life coma.


.hack//Roots, Plot
Through this ordeal, Haseo becomes obsessed with power and ends up as a Player-Killer-Killer(PKK), in an effort to find information on Tri-edge. When Haseo competes in a special event that promises a special reward, he gains a new power, but his mind is corrupted and he begins to kill PKers with yet more aggression, gaining him the title of "The Terror of Death."


.hack//Roots, Episodes
.hack//Roots has 26 episodes and aired on TV Tokyo. The final episode was broadcast on September 27, 2006. In North America, the series started airing on Saturday, November 11, 2006 at 5:00am EST on Cartoon Network, with no prior advertising or announcements given whatsoever. Due to the last few episodes containing spoilers for games not yet released in North America, Cartoon Network chose to restart the series at Episode #1 after only 21 episodes were broadcast, leaving the last five unaired.


.hack//Roots, Episodes
Starting July 6, 2007, Adult Swim took over Friday nights, leaving the show nowhere to be seen on the schedule and the remaining episodes were never aired. All 26 episodes have been dubbed, however. The anime was licensed by Bandai Entertainment with dubbing handled by The Ocean Group based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Following the closure of Bandai Entertainment, Funimation announced at SDCC 2013, that they have acquired 4 .hack title including Roots.


.hack//Roots, Music, Singles
Silly-Go-Round Single was released on May 10, 2006. It contains the opening theme Silly-Go-Round along with the song Angel Gate. Lyrics, composition and arrangement were done by Yuki Kajiura was performed by FictionJunction Yuuka


.hack//Roots, Music, Singles
Boukoku Kakusei Catharsis Single was an album single by ALI PROJECT and was released on 2006. The song was composed by Mikiya Katakura and lyrics were done by Arika Takarano.


.hack//Roots, Music, Original soundtracks
There are currently two soundtracks released for .hack//Roots called .hack//Roots OST I & .hack//Roots OST II.


.hack//Sign
.hack//Sign (stylized as .hack//SIGN) is an anime television series directed by Kōichi Mashimo, and produced by studio Bee Train and Bandai Visual, that makes up one of the four original storylines for the .hack franchise. Twenty-six original episodes aired in 2002 on television and three additional bonus ones were released on DVD as original video animation. The series features each characters designed by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, and written by Kazunori Itō. The score was composed by Yuki Kajiura, marking her second collaboration with Mashimo.


.hack//Sign
The series is influenced by psychological and sociological subjects, such as anxiety, escapism and interpersonal relationships. The series focuses on a Wavemaster (magic user) named Tsukasa, a player character in a virtual reality massively multiplayer online role-playing game called The World. He wakes up to find himself in a dungeon in The World, but he suffers from short-term memory loss as he wonders where he is and how he got there. The situation gets worse when he discovers he is trapped in the game and cannot log out. From then on, along with other players, Tsukasa embarks on a quest to find the truth behind his abnormal situation.


.hack//Sign
The series premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo from April 4 to September 25, 2002. It was broadcast across East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia and Latin America, by the anime television network, Animax, and across the United States, Nigeria, Canada and United Kingdom, by Cartoon Network, YTV and AnimeCentral (English and Japanese) respectively. It was distributed across North America by Bandai.


.hack//Sign
The storyline moves at a leisurely pace, and has multiple layers — the viewer is often fed false information and red herrings, potentially leading to confusion until the true nature of events is unveiled towards the end of the series. It relies on character development and has few action scenes; most of the time character interaction is presented in the form of dialogue. English language reception to the series has been generally positive, but some of these sources have negatively criticised the series as a result of its slow pacing and character-driven storyline.


.hack//Sign, Synopsis, Setting
The series is set in a fictional 2009, introducing a computer virus called Pluto's Kiss as the cause of a massive Internet shutdown. The results are described as catastrophic: traffic lights shut down, planes collide in midair, and the American nuclear missiles are nearly launched. As a consequence, cyberspace is subjected to severe restrictions. The virus affects all operating systems except for one, Altimit OS, the only operating system immune to all computer viruses.


.hack//Sign, Synopsis, Setting
Two years later free access to the networks recovers, bringing with it the release of The World: the first online game since Pluto's Kiss, developed for Altimit OS. The World is portrayed as a fantasy setting wherein player characters can be different classes, adventure by themselves to go searching through dungeons or join with others and form parties, fight monsters and level up, collect new items and participate in special events. At the center of each server is a Root Town, which contain shops, a save point, and the Chaos Gate that players use to travel between servers in the game.


.hack//Sign, Synopsis, Setting
Harald Hoerwick is introduced as the creator of The World. He secretly designed the game as a virtual womb in order to create the ultimate artificial intelligence (AI), by receiving emotional and psychological data from the players. His motivation is revealed to be the death of Emma Wielant, a German poet with whom he was in love; the AI, who was named Aura, would serve as the "daughter" they never had. Harald left the gathering of the required data for Aura's development at the care of the core system of The World itself, an omnipresent AI called Morganna Mode Gone. The storyline of .hack//Sign, set in early 2010, revolves around the premise of Morganna attempting to stall the growth of Aura indefinitely, after realizing that she will lose her purpose once Aura is complete.


.hack//Sign, Synopsis, Plot
The series follows the story about Tsukasa being mind-trapped into the game. Despite being a "fantasy quest type adventure", it does not rely on action sequences. Instead, the show is driven by mystery, slowly revealing its secrets to the viewer while paying much attention to the individual characters. Questions like what happened to Tsukasa in the real world, who he really is, and why he cannot log out are driving points of the story.


.hack//Sign, Synopsis, Plot
Soon after the beginning of the series, Tsukasa is led to a hidden area. There he meets Morganna, depicted as a voice without physical appearance, and Aura, who appears as a young girl clad entirely in white, floating asleep above a bed. The storyline introduces Morganna as an ally, but her real intentions are unknown at this point.


.hack//Sign, Synopsis, Plot
As the story progresses many characters are introduced, some who want to help, some who have ulterior motives. Then more questions arise as to "what is happening in the game itself, who are these various characters, what are their true goals and what will happen to Tsukasa". All the while he is seen struggling with his increasingly dire situation as well as his own social and emotional shortcomings. Tsukasa isolates himself, but eventually he begins to get closer to other players, and builds strong relationships with some of them; the most important is the one born between him and Subaru, a kind and thoughtful female Heavy Axeman.


.hack//Sign, Synopsis, Plot
In the meantime, the series follows the quest for the Key of the Twilight (黄昏の鍵, Tasogare no Kagi), a legendary item rumored to have the ability to bypass the system in The World. Some characters want the Key to gain the power this supposedly confers. Others believe the item will provide Tsukasa with a way to log out. Despite their reasons for seeking it, everyone agrees that it is related to Tsukasa in some way, as he is also a factor bypassing the system in the game. His body being in a coma in the real world adds a sense of urgency to the quest.


.hack//Sign, Synopsis, Plot
Near the end of the series, Tsukasa's real-life identity takes a more central place in the storyline, particularly in relation to his growing bond with Subaru. The series shows his fear and insecurity as he confesses to her that he is probably a girl in the real world. It is also at this point when Tsukasa is told Morganna's plan by a highly skilled hacker called Helba. Morganna conceived the plan to link Aura to a character who could corrupt her with negative emotional data, placing her in a state where she would never awaken. The chosen character was Tsukasa, as his mind was filled with distressful memories of his real life. Helba also suggests that when Aura is able to awaken, "the Key of the Twilight will take form".


.hack//Sign, Synopsis, Plot
The story reaches the climax, when Tsukasa confronts Morganna. He declares that he is no longer afraid of her or of reality, and will log out because there is someone he wants to see. This statement triggers Aura's awakening, allowing Tsukasa to log out. The last scenes feature an emotional encounter between Tsukasa's real-life self, who is shown to actually be a girl, and the real-life player behind Subaru.


.hack//Sign, Synopsis, Characters
The primary characters in the series are Tsukasa, BT, Bear, Mimiru and Subaru.


.hack//Sign, Synopsis, Characters
Tsukasa is the protagonist of the story and plays a Wavemaster. At the start of the series he is seen waking up to find himself trapped in The World, unable to log out. He is initially depicted as a cynical introvert who tends to avoid others as much as possible, but his character development shows him growing to realize there are people who care about him. One of these people is Subaru, a female Heavy Axeman introduced as the leader of the Crimson Knights, a player organization designed to fight injustice (such as player killing) in The World. Most of the time Subaru is the only character preventing the Crimson Knights from running wild; she knows that they must be restrained from abusing their power. She eventually joins in the search of a way to help Tsukasa, and builds a close relationship with him.


.hack//Sign, Synopsis, Characters
Also close to Tsukasa is Mimiru, a Heavy Blade who is poor at planning things out and following through on them. She is the first player to meet Tsukasa, and later forms a bond with him and vows to protect him. She usually hangs out with Bear, trying to solve the mystery of Tsukasa's inability to log out. Bear is an older player of the game and plays a Blademaster. He appears as cool and collected, always willing to help out newbies. He also conducts research in the real world on Tsukasa. One of Bear's acquaintances is BT, a plotting and scheming Wavemaster.


.hack//Sign, Synopsis, Characters
BT teams up with Crim and Sora to find the Key of the Twilight. Crim is a powerful Long Arm, friend of Subaru who founded the Crimson Knights organization with her, but afterwards left it as he found it did not match his personality. Amiable, easygoing and sociable; he prefers to keep the real world and the game separate. Crim's stated goal when playing is simply to have fun, although he never turns down a chance to help somebody in need. Sora is a Twin Blade player killer who enjoys hunting players down, especially attractive female ones, and demanding their Member Addresses in exchange for their lives. He sees Tsukasa as the strongest link to the Key of the Twilight, and starts working with BT in the quest for it.


.hack//Sign, Concept and design
The project development began in early 2000 as a joint effort between Bandai and CyberConnect2, with the original idea of producing an online game. In online games people can interact with each other and create their own stories. The producers wanted to design a game that would offer the players the same experience, but they later thought it would be more appealing with its own storyline, like in standard offline role-playing video game. According to Daisuke Uchiyama, sub-leader of Bandai's video game planning department, the result was a challenge to the RPG genre itself: an offline RPG, entitled .hack, set in a simulated MMORPG named The World.


.hack//Sign, Concept and design
For The World's design, writer Kazunori Ito did an extensive research  on online games available at the time: the staff played titles such as Phantasy Star Online, Final Fantasy XI, and Ultima Online. Nevertheless, according to Hiroshi Matsuyama (president of CyberConnect2), they were not actively looking to make the fictional game seem like a real-life one. Instead, the idea was to create a "gigantic game system that, if the CC Corporation (the creators of The World in the game) actually existed, it would make sense for them to be behind" [emphasis added]; a game described by Matsuyama as largely "futuristic and alien".


.hack//Sign, Concept and design
As the project started shortly before the PlayStation 2's release, the authors seized the opportunity to make the .hack game on the new platform. This decision allowed them to develop into unexpected directions. Shin Unozawa, general manager of Bandai's game department, suggested dividing the game into four parts and release them in three-month intervals. The idea being to follow the four panel manga style as well as to keep sales constant throughout the year.


.hack//Sign, Concept and design
Taking advantage of the PlayStation 2's capability to read DVD-Video, the authors also decided making an OVA series (.hack//Liminality) comprised by four episodes, one to go with each game. Nevertheless, they still felt the need to bolster the project with something more, therefore they decided to produce .hack//Sign, a TV show timed to air with the first game's release. For Kōichi Mashimo it was a hectic schedule: he was directing both animated projects, and was also in the midst of developing the Noir anime series.


.hack//Sign, Concept and design, Imagery
The virtual environment depicted in .hack//Sign draws on medieval imagery: settings range from a Venice-like city to a Gothic stone church, passing by settlements such as villages and castles; the series' scenery shows examples of Celtic art. Natural landscapes such as forests and tundras complete the setting design, which overall displays the fantasy theme seen in most MMORPGs.


.hack//Sign, Concept and design, Imagery
Sadamoto's character designs follow the fantasy theme as well, drawing influence from the sword and sorcery subgenre in particular. Character designs also draw on Celtic imagery: Director Mashimo acknowledged similarities between Bear's design and Mel Gibson in his role as William Wallace, an example of Celtic warrior. All the characters are given distinctive patterns resembling tattoos, the visual representation of a fictional gameplay aspect called Wave.


.hack//Sign, Concept and design, Imagery
In contrast with The World's scenery, real-world sequences are minimalist in their presentation. They display faces frequently obscured by shadows or hidden by extreme angles. The dialogue is not heard, but shown through title cards: when someone speaks the screen blacks out and a line of red or blue text appears with the dialogue. The combination of visual and acoustic noise makes reality appear as "some kind of less authentic, alternate channel".


.hack//Sign, Concept and design, Music
Yuki Kajiura provides a soundtrack permeated by the Celtic style and gaming theme of the series. The songs feature synthesizer and strings compositions, as well as vocals consisting of English chanting. Celtic influence is prominent in themes such as "Key of the Twilight" and "Open Your Heart". Performed by Emily Bindiger, "Key of the Twilight" blends a pulsing drum and bass mix with guitar intonations. "Open Your Heart", on the other hand, combines Bindiger's contralto vocals with an uilleann pipes solo. The .hack//Sign soundtrack also features vocals by Yuriko Kaida. "Mimiru" has her humming across a saxophone melody performed by Kazuo Takeda; in "Das Wandern" she sings over a lone piano.


.hack//Sign, Concept and design, Music
European influence is prominent in instrumental pieces as well, "Foreigners" being a prime example. Reminiscent of a classic Irish diddy, the track comprises a flute dancing across a tribal-like percussion set. Orchestral music includes pieces such as "Fear" and "Kiss". "Fear" features an electronic melody wrapped around a digital-beat groove, mixed with a distant voice uttering "feeaarr!". Combining "the childlike humanity into a frightening digital reality", the song is an "analogy to the series' plot". "Kiss" is a theme that entirely features traditional symphony, although only using a few performers. It is a violin and piano mix, used to set mood in the series.


.hack//Sign, Concept and design, Music
The opening theme of the series is "Obsession". Performed by Kajiura's musical group See-Saw, the track features an electric guitar and rapid electronic beat. The closing theme is "Yasashii Yoake" (優しい夜明け, "gentle dawn"), also performed by See-Saw. It is a blend of Japanese vocals, an Irish bouzouki, acoustic guitars and percussion. Both themes were released as a single on May 22, 2002, by Victor Entertainment. Three original soundtracks with vocals Emily Bindiger, with music and arrangement (and lyrics in vocals themes) by Yuki Kajiura were released.


.hack//Sign, Concept and design, Music
The first original soundtrack was released in North America with the limited edition of the first .hack//Sign DVD. This album is a mix of vocal themes and BGM. Most of the vocal songs and a couple of BGM tracks have strong Celtic influence. The BGM is completed with tracks with noticeable console-RPG style. The second original soundtrack was released in North America with the limited edition of the second .hack//Sign DVD. All of the tracks are fairly slow, with catchy beats. The final music soundtrack was titled ".hack//Extra Soundtrack". In North America this soundtrack was included with the limited edition of the fourth .hack//Sign DVD. DSTV-channel/full>


.hack//Sign, Concept and design, Themes
Despite its visual concept, .hack//Sign is not a sword and sorcery story, but an exposition-driven character study. It proposes "a trip inside the psychology and soul of an emotionally bruised, but slowly healing person." Themes range from psychological to sociological and are dealt with using classical dialogue as well as image-only introspection.


.hack//Sign, Concept and design, Themes
Among the most prominent themes in .hack//Sign are anxiety, its causes, and the effects it has upon human behavior. Scenes of the real world show people living an apprehensive, even painful reality: characters' background includes subjects such as dysfunctional families and physical impediments. Tsukasa himself is psychologically affected by years of physical abuse and neglect, a state that gets worse throughout his experience in the game, where his reality disappears and he begins to doubt his own existence.


.hack//Sign, Concept and design, Themes
When anxiety is excessive (like in the case depicted by Tsukasa's story) and can not be relieved by practical problem-solving methods, "the human ego uses maneuvers such as a defense mechanism to deny, falsify or even distort reality." The anime series explores this process as the root of emotional and behavioral issues such as detachment and isolation.


.hack//Sign, Concept and design, Themes
Escapism, if only as representing a consequence of anxiety, is a significant theme in .hack//Sign. The series explores how technology, such as the Internet and online games, can be used to escape reality. The World is portrayed as a means that people use "to escape their lives", assuming roles online that compensate for their shortcomings in the real world: to some, it is a place where they can overcome their physical limitations; to others, it is a social outlet or a world free of rules. In addition, the preference given to the virtual world over reality represents the intrusion of technology in the social structure: as people engage in "the wide potential of cyberspace", they become more withdrawn in the real world.


.hack//Sign, Concept and design, Themes
Interpersonal relationships are a prominent theme too. The show explores the psychological effects social connections have upon people with emotional needs. Initially Tsukasa shows no respect for any values or other people, but as he engages in relationships, he begins to gradually change, learning to care about others and acquiring the strength to face the reality of his life.


.hack//Sign, Media, Releases
Originally, .hack//Sign was broadcast in Japan on TV Tokyo between April 4 to September 25, 2002. The same year Victor Entertainment released the entire score in three albums, along with a single containing the opening and ending of the series.


.hack//Sign, Media, Releases
In North America, .hack//Sign was licensed and distributed by Bandai Entertainment, and dubbed by PCB Productions, who are known for their adaptations of fare like Geneshaft. The dub aired on Cartoon Network's Toonami between February 1, 2003 and March 1, 2004. The series was also released on DVD, spanning six volumes. The limited edition ran from March 4, 2003 to March 16, 2004, followed by the regular edition from March 18, 2003 to March 16, 2004.


.hack//Sign, Media, Releases
A recap episode called Evidence and the DVD only episode Intermezzo were included in the sixth volume, and Unison was only included in its limited edition. Following the multimedia concept of the franchise, Bandai also acquired the license for the .hack games, the first one being released the same month the anime series began broadcast.


.hack//Sign, Media, Releases
The multimedia approach is shown through the DVD release as well. The limited edition not only included the three soundtrack albums of the series, but also the soundtrack of .hack//Liminality and a demo disc of the first game.


.hack//Sign, Media, Releases
The series was compiled three times. The first DVD boxset was released on October 26, 2004, by the name .hack//Sign – Complete Collection, and the second, more affordable one on August 22, 2006, by the name .hack//Sign: Anime Legends Complete Collection. Neither of these releases contains the OVA episode Unison.


.hack//Sign, Media, Releases
Following the closure of Bandai Entertainment, Funimation announced at SDCC 2013, that they acquired four .hack titles including SIGN. In 2015, Funimation released the DVD boxset .hack//Sign: The Complete Series, which contains all 28 episodes, including both OVA episodes.


.hack//Sign, Media, Publications
A compilation artbook called .hack//the visions was included in the February, 2003 issue of Newtype published by Kadokawa Shoten. The book contains .hack//Sign, .hack//Legend of the Twilight, and the .hack games illustrations which were originally shown in different issues of Newtype during 2002. Participating artists included Rei Izumi, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Satoshi Ohsawa, and Yuko Iwaoka.


.hack//Sign, Media, Publications
An information book about Project .hack. was published by Fujimi Shobo in June, 2003. The book, called Encyclopedia .hack (ISBN 4-8291-7530-3), is a compilation of theories and information about storyline, setting, and characters of the franchise, taken from the series itself. Another information book about Project .hack was published by Softbank Publishing on September 27, 2003. This publication was called hack//analysis (ISBN 4-7973-2455-4) and, unlike Encyclopedia, included never-before-seen information on The World and the characters of the franchise. Information about .hack//Sign characters like Bear and BT was expanded in this book.


.hack//Sign, Reception
The series has generally been positive. Holly Ellinwood of Anime Active saluted Ito's "well thought out, even provocative" storyline in the 2006 review of the series, saying that it is "far more cerebral, even existential than the anime's other less sophisticated contemporaries." Nevertheless, reviewers agree that it is the series which viewers either love or hate. According to Mike Toole from Anime Jump, it "deserves to be both maligned and admired". NeedCoffee's reviewer regarded the show as "one of the most controversial titles in recent years". Negative criticism focuses on the slow-paced story and the almost total absence of action sequences, elements which are also considered as what makes the series "most unique".


.hack//Sign, Reception
Bamboo Dong of Anime News Network called the series "interesting to watch," saying the story gets more "detailed and complex" by the show's fourth episode, praised the music selection, the voice casting, and the artwork. Dong also said that while the storyline has "aspects of mediocrity, " the storyline is intriguing and intense, and that the series is something that "has to be watched at least once." Nick Creamer of Anime News Network called the series the "grandfather of MMO anime," saying it is mellow, contemplative, and slow.


.hack//Sign, Reception
He further said that the show puts you in the middle of relationships between the character and although these are not originally described, views come to understand the logic behind their actions, and added that the "underlying art" of the series holds up. He also said that the series has consistent backgrounds, a diverse music score, and calls the anime, ultimately, a story of "anxiety and identity and virtual selves."


.hack//Sign, Reception
The series received high marks for technical aspects. Chris Beveridge from Anime On DVD feels the animation is "gorgeous" and the "colors are lush and vivid". Tasha Robinson from SCI FI Weekly says that "The World's hugely varied settings provide ever-changing backgrounds," which are considered by Rob Lineberger of DVD Verdict as "detailed and innovative". In his review of the first English release, Mike Toole described the series as "a beautiful, rich-looking series, with frequently sumptuous character design and animation that's only emphasized by the quality of the DVD."


.hack//Sign, Reception
A negative opinion is expressed by Rob Lineberger himself, who says that "many of the animated sequences were static characters with slightly moving lips." Tasha Robinson, instead, shows a more neutral perspective on this subject, saying that "the animation is simple but attractive." A concern several reviewers express is that the gaming environment the series tries to simulate should be more crowded, being a game supposedly extremely popular worldwide. A different opinion is that of Anime Academy's reviewer, who writes that the anime's depiction of the game-world setting is realistic and accurate.


.hack//Sign, Reception
Bandai's release earned praise for the quality of the video transfer and the DVD extras (particularly in the limited edition). Reviewers appreciated the English voice acting: Lauren Synger from DVD Vision Japan feels that "everyone was very appropriate to their characters", noting that Brianne Sidal did an excellent work capturing Saiga's Tsukasa. Lineberger, in contrast, finds the English dub to be "antiseptic and uninspired". Bamboo Dong of Anime News Network thinks for her part that Mimiru sounded bland and poorly executed, but overall, the actors did a good job "delivering their lines and giving life to their characters."


.hack//Sign, Reception
Ridwan Khan of Animefringe welcomes the "excellent" .hack//Sign score composed by Yuki Kajiura, which is hailed by Mark McPherson from Anime Boredom as "the best orchestrated track ever made for a television series". Most reviewers agree that the soundtrack is one of the series' most prominent features. A negative criticism on the music is that it tends to overwhelm the dialogue in the first couple of episodes. Kōichi Mashimo has stated that he specifically had the music louder than the dialogue as he tried to do some experimentation, and it was his intent to draw complaints from the audience. Still, Chris Beveridge thinks it is an "interesting device to sort of ratchet up the speed of things."


.hack//The Movie
.hack//The Movie (Japanese: ドットハック セカイの向こうに, Hepburn: Dotto Hakku Sekai no Mukō ni, lit. .hack//Beyond The World) is a 2012 Japanese CGI anime film written by Kazunori Ito and directed by Hiroshi Matsuyama. It was released on January 21, 2012 in theaters and was released on DVD/Blu-ray on June 28, 2012. The Blu-ray release is a "hybrid" PlayStation 3 disc that includes the film and a fighting game called .hack//Versus.


.hack//The Movie
The movie features a theme song "Hikari wo Atsumete" (Gathering Light) by Japanese music artist KOKIA.


.hack//The Movie, Plot
The story, taking place in 2024, follows the life of Sora Yuki, a 14-year-old girl persuaded by her friends to play the popular game called "The World". Due to an incident in The World, anomalies start occurring in the real world.


.hack//The Movie, .hack//Versus
.hack//Versus is a fighting game included on the Blu-ray release of .hack//The Movie. The game features characters from throughout the series, including Haseo, Sora, Tsukasa, Ovan, Sakuya, Tokio, Kite, and BlackRose. PlayStation LifeStyle's review of the game and movie combo disc noted that the game was "not created to provide a rival to Mortal Kombat or Soul Calibur.


.hack//The Movie, .hack//Versus
This “fighting game” is largely another means of telling the larger .hack story," and went on to say, "As long as you’re looking at it as something that probably wouldn’t have existed as anything other than a throw-in with a movie purchase, you’ll be fine. Enjoy the characters, the world, and the story. That’s what you came to .hack for anyway, right?"


.hiv
.hiv is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) proposed by the Berlin-based nonprofit dotHIV and owned by Uniregistry as of September 2014. It is the first open charitable gTLD and its ICANN designation states that the domain's operator is precluded from making a profit. Funds raised from .hiv domain sales will initially benefit projects to increase access to HIV/AIDS treatment in Rwanda, South Africa, Turkey, and the United States.


.hiv, History
The top-level domain (TLD) was inspired by an anti-HIV/AIDS campaign by thjnk, a German advertising agency. A group of co-founders, including charity-experienced Carolin Silbernagl, thjnk's co-owner Michael Trautmann and creative director Philipp Kafkoulas, established dotHIV gemeinnütziger e.V. as a charitable association and applied for the .hiv TLD. Despite the global relevance of HIV/AIDS, dotHIV was the only applicant for the .hiv TLD. The charity signed a registration contract with ICANN in March 2014. Domains were made available for select companies and individuals during the July "sunrise" period, becoming generally available in August 2014. hiv became the first open charitable TLD and, according to one press release, "opens up a dedicated namespace that brings website owners together behind one goal: The end of AIDS".


.hiv, History
In September 2015, dotHIV and Cayman Islands-based domain company Uniregistry jointly announced Uniregistry's acquisition of .hiv and accompanying plan to complete the change in ownership before World AIDS Day on December 1, 2015. One announcement read, "Today, Uniregistry takes over the lead in this unique journey to use a top-level domain to promote a social good. The dotHIV charity will continue its work for .hiv and focus on community support. The creative agency thjnk from Hamburg, Germany, longstanding partner of the initiative, will continue to work on behalf of the .hiv top-level domain, exploring new and existing opportunities for social change."


.hiv, History
Uniregistry's acquisition of .hiv came after a planned auction for the gTLD was cancelled when no companies signed up to participate. The cancelled auction's reserve price had been $200,000. The price ultimately paid by Uniregistry in the private deal was not publicly disclosed.


.hiv, Model and donation recipients
The contract for .hiv with ICANN does not allow the extension operator to make a profit on the TLD. Before Uniregistry took over, visits to .hiv domains (even redirected ones) generated small donations of approximately one-tenth of a cent, made from dotHIV's general fund to a project fund. The company's general fund was the result of .hiv domain sales, which retailed for 150 euros. dotHIV hoped to direct 70 percent of its income from domain sales to the general fund. Domain sales also funded dotHIV's operations and the debt required to finance the .hiv application process and subsequent launch. According to Slate, dotHIV planned to reimburse "zero- or low-interest loans provided by business angels and the technology development fund of the city-state of Berlin that have allowed the charity to operate so far". Nonprofit organizations in the HIV/AIDS field are eligible to receive .hiv domains at no cost.


.hiv, Model and donation recipients
.hiv's launch has been called "one of the strangest and riskiest business models of any new gTLD to date". Uniregistry has said it will continue to operate the extension using the same model as dotHIV for the immediate future.


.hiv, Model and donation recipients
dotHIV identified four initial projects to support; they are located in Rwanda (We-ActsX), South Africa, Turkey, and the United States, and focus on patient access to HIV/AIDS treatment. The company intended to let .hiv domain owners vote on which projects to support in the future.


.hiv, Domains
In 2014, Trautmann announced that 10,000 requests for .hiv domains were made (which would result in US$200 million in annual income if all domains were sold and purchased at the 150 euro price). Bono's Product Red organization was the first .hiv domain launched during the extension's "sunrise" period in July 2014. Amazon.com, BMW, Gilead Sciences, Instagram, LinkedIn, Paulaner Brewery, Plus.de, POZ, Samsung, Sixt, TED, Tumblr, and Wired have also purchased .hiv domains. In April 2014, when dotHIV put its contract with ICANN up for auction, there were 345 paid registrations generating $83,000 in revenue. According to Domain Name Wire, there were 500 .hiv registrations in the zone file in September 2015.


.hiv, Reception
Prior to .hiv's transition to Uniregistry, Slate's Marc Naimark contrasted the gTLD with the Product Red campaign. He was more critical of the latter, saying it "reinforces consumerism" and functions more as a public relations strategy for participating brands. He wrote:


.hiv, Reception
Reaching the coffee chain's website by using starbucks.hiv does not provide quite the same visibility for consumers as (RED) products, since it lacks the public broadcasting tote-bag effect. But dotHIV does offer real benefits in terms of action. The money is already in the bank, thanks to the sale of .hiv domains. The projects benefiting from the funding are small in scale and are clearly indicated on the dotHIV website. As operations continue, the outcomes of these specific projects will become clearer than those offered by the bulk funding of the Global Fund.


.hiv, Reception
Companies can use their .hiv domain as a landing page to provide further information. And nonprofits will benefit from a free domain name to showcase their actions in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Because funds are released only when .hiv websites are visited, all website owners have an incentive to promote their .hiv domain names, enhancing the 'red ribbon' effect.


.hk
.hk is the designated Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Hong Kong. It is administered by the Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation (HKIRC), the only organization endorsed by the Hong Kong Government to undertake the administration of 'hk' domain names. Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation (HKIRC) is a non-profit making, non-statutory, member-based corporation established in 2001.


.hk, History
From its inception in 1990 until 2002, the domain was administered by the Joint University Computer Centre. In 2002, through a "Memorandum of Understanding" with the Hong Kong government, HKIRC took over the administration of '.hk', while the Hong Kong Domain Name Registration Corporation Limited (HKDNR), its wholly owned subsidiary of HKIRC, is responsible for the day-to-day management of the registration service  for Specific '.hk' Domain Names and Generic '.hk' Domain Name (e.g., www.myname.hk). '.hk' domain names can be registered at both the second and third level.


.hk, History
On June 25, 2010, ICANN approved the use of the internationalized country code top-level domain .香港 (hongkong in simplified Chinese characters and traditional Chinese characters; DNS name: .xn--j6w193g) by . This TLD was added to the DNS in July 2010. The Pre Launch Priority Registration for .香港 was started on February 22, 2011. The first .香港 domain was activated on March 23, 2011. 香港 domain categories were opened for public registration since May 31, 2011.


.hk, Usage outside Hong Kong
Some Russian 2ch style imageboards use .hk webnames, such as iichan.hk and 2ch.hk.


.hk, Domain categories
A Chinese domain name must contain at least one Chinese character but can contain English letters as long as there is at least 1 Chinese character  while English domain names must not contain any Chinese characters. All domain names could contain alphanumeric characters and hyphens.


.hm
.hm is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) of the Heard and McDonald Islands, uninhabited islands in the southern Indian Ocean under the sovereign control of Australia. Although .hm gets a small amount of use, Australia uses the .aq domain (for Antarctica) for its sites related to the islands themselves. As a result, no .hm website is related to the location.


.hm, History
The .hm registry was added in July 1997 by Edward Sweeney, who made its registration system accessible on registry.hm. By 2019, the .hm TLD had stopped working, and .hm websites started to go dark. Journalists looking into the matter said acquaintances in the industry had not seen Edward Sweeney, who was still in charge of the .hm registry, since 2000. He later resurfaced, claiming he was still managing the registry, and had run into technical issues.


.hm, History
Domain registration is directly at the second level, and is managed by the HM Domain Registry. Any entity can register an .hm domain.


.hn
.hn is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Honduras.


.home
.home is an ICANN rejected generic top-level domain proposed in 2012. The ICANN Board issued a resolution on February 4, 2018 to cease the processing of all applications for the .corp, .home, and .mail gTLDs.


.home, Technical Concerns
Investigation into the conflicts regarding gTLDs that are in use in internal networks was conducted at ICANN's request by Interisle Consulting. The resulting report was to become known as the Name Collision issue, which was first reported at ICANN 47.


.hr
.hr is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Croatia.


.hr, Details
The .hr domain is administered by CARNet (Croatian Academic and Research Network), via the CARNet DNS Committee which determines policy, and the CARNet DNS Service which handles day-to-day matters. The Committee is composed of members generally associated with the academic community. Until 2010, the Service was operated by SRCE; since July 1, 2010 the service operations are divided between CARNet itself, SRCE and a variety of registrars.


.hr, Details
Registrants are classified into a number of different groups with different rules about their domain registrations. A requirement of connection to Croatia, such as being a citizen, permanent resident, registered company or EU company with VAT ID evidented in the VIES system, is common to all of the categories except for the .com.hr. Third level domains (example.com.hr) are allowed to be registered for anyone in the world as long as they provide a local contact.


.hr, Details
There are also third-level registrations including of individuals in a few specialized domains such as .iz.hr (.from.hr), and an unlimited number of registrations in .com.hr, but these are unpopular compared to the second-level names registered directly under .hr.


.hr, Details, Statistics
As of March 2017, around 30.33% of all the .hr domains were served via secured HTTPS protocol, with the cPanel, Inc. Certification Authority being the most popular SSL certificate. Apache is the most popular web server, serving 65.93% of the .hr domains, followed by Microsoft-IIS serving 13.23% of the total .hr domains. As of 14 December 2017 at 3PM CET, over 100,000 .hr domain names are registered.


.ht
.ht is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Haiti.


.ht
ht is also the language code for Haitian Creole, Kreyòl Ayisyen.


.htaccess
An .htaccess (hypertext access) file is a directory-level configuration file supported by several web servers, used for configuration of website-access issues, such as URL redirection, URL shortening, access control (for different web pages and files), and more. The 'dot' (period or full stop) before the file name makes it a hidden file in Unix-based environments.


.htaccess
A site could have more than one .htaccess file, and the files are placed inside the web tree (i.e. inside directories and their sub-directories), and hence their other name distributed configuration files.


.htaccess
.htaccess files act as a subset of the server's global configuration file (like httpd.conf) for the directory that they are in, or all sub-directories.


.htaccess
The original purpose of .htaccess—reflected in its name—was to allow per-directory access control by, for example, requiring a password to access World Wide Web content. More commonly, however, the .htaccess files define or override many other configuration settings such as content type, character set, Common Gateway Interface handlers, etc.


.htaccess, Format and language
.htaccess files are written in the Apache Directives variant of the Perl Compatible Regular Expressions (PCRE) language. Learning basic PCRE itself can help in mastering work with these files.


.htaccess, Format and language
For historical reasons, the format of .htaccess files is a limited subset of the Apache HTTP server's global configuration file httpd.conf even when used with web servers such as Oracle iPlanet Web Server and Zeus Web Server which have very different native global configuration files.


.htaccess, Disadvantages
Controlling Apache using the main server configuration file httpd.conf is often preferred for security and performance reasons:


.htaccess, In popular culture
Portions of the 2020 video game Mackerelmedia Fish, which explores themes of Internet culture, have been implemented directly on a website's open .htaccess directories.


.htpasswd
.htpasswd is a flat-file used to store usernames and password  for basic authentication on an Apache HTTP Server. The name of the file is given in the .htaccess configuration, and can be anything although ".htpasswd" is the canonical name. The file name starts with a dot, because most Unix-like operating systems consider any file that begins with dot to be hidden. This file is often maintained with the shell command "htpasswd" which can add, delete, and update users, and will properly encode the password for use (so that it is easily checked, but not reversed back to the original password).


.htpasswd
The file consists of rows, each row corresponding to a username, followed by a colon, followed by a string containing the hashed password optionally prepended by an algorithm specifier ("$2y$", "$apr1$" or "{SHA}") and/or salt. The hash historically used "UNIX crypt" style with MD5 or SHA1 as common alternatives, although as of version 2.2.18 a variant of MD5 is now the default.


.htpasswd
Resources available from the Apache HTTP Server can be restricted to just the users listed in the files created by htpasswd. The .htpasswd file can be used to protect the entire directory it is placed in, as well as particular files.


.hu
.hu is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Hungary. Registrations are processed via accredited registrars.


.id
.id is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Indonesia.


.id, Domain names
On 11 March 2013 the Indonesian Domain Name Forum approved the adoption of a new desa second level domain for Indonesia's 72,944 villages with autonomy for local affairs.


.id, Domain names
As of 17 August 2014, second-level domain registrations have entered general availability, allowing registrations to be made directly under .id, without a prefix. This brings the total of available extensions to 13:


.ie
.ie is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) which corresponds with the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for Ireland. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) list the Computing Services Computer Centre of University College Dublin as its sponsoring organisation for the .ie domain. Since 2000 the business of administrating the domain registry has been handled by IE Domain Registry Limited. Domain name registration is open to individuals located in, or with a significant connection with, any part of the island of Ireland. In 2006, .irish was a proposed new generic top-level domain (gTLD) for the global Irish community.


.ie, History
.ie was registered on 27 January 1988 and a year later the registration of .ie domain names was delegated by Jon Postel to the Computing Services Computer Centre of University College Dublin, then headed by Dennis Jennings. In 2000, the administration of the .ie domain was sub-delegated by UCD to a new company, IE Domain Registry Limited.


.ie, History
The Computing Services Computer Centre of University College Dublin remains the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority's sponsoring organisation for the .ie domain.


.ie, State regulation
In 2000, the Irish parliament enacted a law giving the Minister for Public Enterprise the power to make regulations regarding the registration of .ie domain names. In 2007 this power was transferred to the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg).


.ie, Registration policy
The IEDR is considered more conservative than other similar authorities and places certain restrictions on registration. The .ie ccTLD is primarily a business orientated ccTLD for Irish businesses and businesses doing business in or with Ireland. It has allowed personal domain name (PDN) registrations though these would only account for approximately 1% of the number of .ie domain registrations. An individual is allowed to register their own name or a variant of it with a utilities bill or passport as proof of entitlement.


.ie, Registration policy
Registration policies have been liberalised somewhat in recent years and rules such as the one against registering generic domain names have been dropped. The .ie ccTLD is a managed ccTLD where applicants for .ie domain names have  to provide proof of entitlement to the domain that they want to register. In August 2017 IEDR began a consultation on removing this restriction and allowing first-come first-served registration; the requirement of a connection to Ireland will remain.


.ie, Registration policy
Registration is restricted to entities with a connection to Ireland. Thus, American singer Melanie was not allowed to register Melan.ie; whereas Microsoft, which has a corporate presence in Ireland, was allowed to register Modern.IE, a domain hack whose full name reflects its purpose as support for IE (Internet Explorer).


.ie, Registration policy
In February 2016 IEDR began a consultation on the introduction of internationalized domain names, in particular the vowel + "fada" characters (á é í ó ú) used in Irish orthography. Existing holders of Irish-language domain names lacking fadas will be able to apply for the accurate name.


.ie, Registering a domain
The typical registration fee via accredited .ie registrars is approximately €25 (plus VAT of €5.75). The IEDR charges a retail price of €62.00 (plus VAT of €14.26) per year for direct registration and is considered a registrar of last resort for registrants who do not wish to go through the registrar network. This higher than normal registration fee means that it is not competing with its accredited registrars. Registration is free for charities registered with the Revenue Commissioners. Evidence of entitlement to the domain name (such as evidence of entitlement to use a particular business name via a Registered Business Name certificate or registered company name) and a connection with the island of Ireland are required for registration.


.ie, Second-level domains
There is no official second-level domain policy. A number of domain names, typically those of other TLDs, two letter domains and potentially offensive domains are forbidden from being registered. Nevertheless, the Government of Ireland began using the .gov.ie domain where once it used irlgov.ie. Some government departments continue to use their own non gov.ie domains.


.ie, Second-level domains
Prior to 16 December 2015, two character domains consisting of one letter and one number were permitted, but two-letter domain registrations were not permitted. The only exceptions to the old two letter rule were ul.ie, which was registered by the University of Limerick before the rule came into effect, and ns.ie, which is used for the .ie name servers. The domains in the forbidden category will return a record for a WHOIS query but they are not in the .ie zone. In June 2015, the IEDR announced that two-letter names would soon be available; a 30-day registration began in November for a go-live date of 16 December 2015. Where there were multiple applicants for a given combination, an auction was be held in early 2016.


.ie, Number of registered domains
On 31 December 2019, there were 280,958 registered .ie domain names. This has surpassed the number of Irish-owned and or hosted .com domain names. It is the preferred extension for new Irish businesses. Approximately 140 new .ie domains are registered each working day.


.il
.il is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) of Israel. It is administered by the Israel Internet Association and managed by , which hosts the DNS root server and manages the Israeli Internet Exchange, that supports IPv4 and IPv6.


.il
The .il top-level domain is one of the earliest registered ccTLDs. When Israel registered it, on 24 October 1985, it was the third registration of any ccTLD, after .us and .uk, which were registered earlier that year.


.il
As of 10 June 2014 there are 227,066 domain names registered under the .il ccTLD in Israel.


.il, Top-level domains in Hebrew script
On 19 May 2020, ICANN approved the use of the  .ישראל domain, that was proposed in 2012. It was delegated on 11 February 2021.


.il, Top-level domains in Hebrew script
As a more private initiative the top-level domain .קום ("com") was registered by VeriSign in 2016. It has as of 2020 many thousand second-level domains, mostly in Hebrew script, some in Latin script.


.il, Second-level domains
Registration of other second-level domain names directly under .il is not supported.


.il, Second-level domains
Hebrew third level domains such as  are available since 2010.


.im
.im is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Isle of Man. It is administered by the Government of the Isle of Man and managed on a day-to-day basis by Domicilium, an offshore Internet Service Provider based on the Isle of Man.


.im
On July 1, 2006, .im registration was made available to anyone in the world, including one, two, and three letter domains directly under .im, which opens up the possibility of .im domain hacks. The domain has gained popularity among companies who produce instant messaging (IM) software with names registered by Adium, ejabberd, Coccinella, Gitter, Meebo, Pandion, Pidgin, Prosody, Trillian, and Yahoo! among others. .IM is also used in German-, French- and Italian-speaking countries (i.e. Germany, Austria, Luxemburg, Switzerland, France, Italy and part of Belgium) for Real Estate purposes (Immobilien in German, Immobilier in French, Immobiliare in Italian). The abundance of available short names has also made the domain popular for personal use.


.im
Currently, domain registrations cost £40.00 per year for domains of three letters or more, although they can be purchased much more cheaply through resellers. Premium domains with two character names are available for £495.00, and premium domains with one character names are available for £995.00.


.in
.in is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for India.


.in, Registry operator
The domain was originally managed by the National Centre for Software Technology (NCST) and its Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). The Government of India issued an executive order in 2004 to transfer responsibility for managing .in domains to the newly created INRegistry under the authority of the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI). The National Informatics Centre (NIC), ERNET, and the Ministry of Defence were appointed as registrars for the gov.in, res.in and ac.in, and the mil.in domains respectively.


.in, Registry operator
In August 2018, NIXI appointed Neustar Data Infotech (India), a subsidiary of Neustar Inc, to be the country's new registry services provider. Neustar completed migration of existing .in domains to its registry infrastructure in March 2019. Neustar added the ability to register Indian-language domains in native script by enabling end-to-end web portal language support.


.in, Second-level domains
As of 2005, liberalised policies for the .in domain allow unlimited second-level registrations under .in. Unlimited registrations under the previously structured existing zones are also allowed:


.in, Second-level domains
Before the introduction of liberalised registration policies for the .in domain, only 7000 names had been registered between 1992 and 2004. As of March 2010, the number had increased to over 610,000 domain names with 60% of registrations coming from India and the rest from overseas. By October 2011, the number had surpassed 1 million domain names. As of March 2016, the number has more than doubled to over 2 million domain names.


.in, Second-level domains
The domain .nic.in is reserved for India's National Informatics Centre, but in practice most Indian government agencies have domains ending in .nic.in.


.in, Restrictions on use of .in domains
As per the terms and conditions of the .in registry, domain privacy is not allowed.


.in, Internationalised domain names and country codes
India plans to introduce internationalised domain names in the 22 local languages used in India. As of October 2016, fifteen of these internationalised domain names were accepted by ICANN:


.in, Internationalised domain names and country codes
In 2016, an application for eight further domains were accepted. While Indian government also applied for .বাংলা(Bengali) it was given to competitive applicant Bangladesh Telecommunication company. They are not yet available (as of October 2016):


.inc
The domain name .inc is a top-level domain (TLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is operated by Intercap Registry Inc., a Cayman Islands company.


.info
The domain name info is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. The name is derived from information, although registration requirements do not prescribe any particular purpose.


.info
The TLD info was a response to ICANN's highly publicized announcement, in late 2000, of a phased release of seven new generic top-level domains. The event was the first addition of major gTLDs since the Domain Name System was developed in the 1980s. The seven new gTLDs, selected from over 180 proposals, were meant in part to take the pressure off the com domain.


.info, History
Domain info has been operated by Afilias since its creation. In 2003, it was the first gTLD domain to support IETF standards-based internationalized domain names. In 2001, Afilias CTO (Ram Mohan) discovered problems with the Universal Acceptance of the domain due to it being the first tld whose length was greater than two or three characters.


.info, History
The launching of info involved a "Sunrise Period" for trademark owners, followed by a "landrush" open to all, the first time such a process had ever been conducted for a new gTLD. This process received criticism for giving trademarks precedence over words that are generic in other contexts; for instance, the Caterpillar construction equipment company was able to register cat.info before more generic users, such as feline enthusiasts, were allowed to register.


.info, History
Although a large number of fraudulent registrations were initially made by registrants who did not actually own a valid trademark, a challenge procedure later weeded out most of these.