.hack//Liminality

In the year 2007, an MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) known as ‘The World’ is released in the US and becomes insanely popular, spreading worldwide and reaching up to 20 million players. One day, a mysterious phenomenon occurs where all the monsters in the game become increasingly powerful and harbour otherwise unheard of abilities. Along with this, players are unable to make any progress with their characters. Naturally, these occurrences render The World rather unplayable, so a player who goes by the name of Kite decides to get to the bottom of it.

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While playing the newly released MMORPG “The World,” Minase Mai and Tomonari Kasumi collapsed in the real world and were sent to the hospital after hearing a mysterious sound. Only Mai had recovered while her friend Kasumi had slipped into a mysterious coma. Mai is later approached by the creator of “The World,” Tokuoka Junichiro, who unveils to her that, just like her friend, six other players across the country had also collapsed while playing “The World” and are now in mysterious comas. What exactly is “The World,” what is this mysterious sound Mai keeps on hearing, and why are people slipping into comas from this game? Minase, Junichiro and their acquaintances set off to get to the bottom of this problem before any further harm happens.

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While characters within the MMORPG entitled “The World” attempt to unravel the mystery that threatens their lives, others are trying to unearth the conspiracy in the real world. This is the story of these people, an unlikely group consisting of a strange middle-aged man, two young girls, and a young woman. United by their desire to find the truth, they delve into the labyrinthine nature of “The World” and its creator.