Games - Shugo Kunisaki

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	Games - Shugo Kunisaki

Shugo Kunisaki (Kunisaki Shugo; 国東主語/くにさき　しゅご) is the main character of the manga and anime series .hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet. He uses a modified copy of Kite's character model.

The Manga

In the real world, Shugo is a laid back, unmotivated fourteen-year-old boy who believes that he has outgrown video games. However, he decides to try the popular online game The World
when his sister Rena wins the special .hackers character avatars from an event and drags him in to play with her.

In The World, Shugo gains control of a modified copy of Kite's (the main character of the original PS2 games) avatar, who is a Twin Blade character class. Upon entering the game, he quickly learns how popular and sought-out his avatar truly is. Feeling a bit more positive about the situation, he becomes less reluctant about playing and heads off into a field with Rena, who plays a modified version of BlackRose's avatar.

In the field, feeling (over)confident, he quickly gets defeated by a level-one Monster (a 'Little Doggie'), even forgetting to use his weapons. Here, we catch a glimpse as to why he dislikes video games. Rena chastises him for not making proper preparations, which quickly deflates his confidence. Another part of his character is revealed at this point, as Rena manipulates him by telling him that she had really wanted to play with him; Shugo is incapable of turning people down (much like the original Kite), especially his sister.

At this point, the two are attacked by a high-level Monster (a level 40 Devil Golem) and Shugo, trying to protect Rena, is instantly defeated. However, instead of a GAME OVER screen, he meets Aura, who revives him (with a kiss on the lips, no less) and gives him the Twilight Bracelet (a modified version of Kite's original Bracelet, which is incapable of inducing comas, does not drain Items or Virus Cores, and does not require Monsters to be Protect Broken), allowing him to Data Drain the Monster. It is also at this point that he meets the Blademaster Balmung (who is a system administrator at this point), but does not know who he is, and a Wavemaster Mireille (who greatly resembles the character Mistral, a .hacker), who becomes an active member of Shugo's party.

Throughout his adventures in The World, he also meets and befriends Ouka, a Werewolf class character as a result of his love for animals (Werewolf-class allows one to transform in a wolf; Ouka first meets Shugo in this form), and Hotaru, a Wavemaster and another character he meets as a result of his love for animals (Hotaru finds a sick Puchiguso/Grunty and Shugo helps her find a cure for it). He also meets with Komiyan III, who is quickly revealed to be Komiyama, a student in Shugo and Rena's class (although they are not under very good terms).

In volume 2, he meets a Vagrant A.I. known as Zefie(Xefi in Japan), a fully sentient NPC and daughter of Aura who is capable of manipulating The World in any way she sees fit. She is immediately attracted to Shugo's Bracelet (it "smells" like Aura) and as a result, becomes hopelessly attached to him, who treats her as another sister (which also makes Rena jealous). Because of Shugo's inability to ignore people who need help, he takes it upon himself to help Zefie find Aura, learning bits and pieces about what happened four years ago (.hack games time) along the way. This, coupled with some prior, rather reckless use of the Bracelet, causes C.C.Corp. administrators (specifically a Long Arm known as Kamui) to capture him and his party and put them in a jail cell (where user data is deleted when one logs out). With the help of Zefie and her powers, however, Shugo, Rena, and Zefie (the other were released prior) escape in the next volume.

After escaping from prison and meeting Komiyama (who was the one who ratted Shugo out and got him and his party in jail in the first place), the whole party meet each other once more in the cathedral of Naval Lake, Hidden*Forbidden*Holy Ground. Here, they meet Kazu, who was once Shugo and Rena's neighbour four years ago (as well as younger brother to original .hacker BlackRose), and learn that Mireille is also the daughter of one of the original .hackers (Mistral). Kazu gives Shugo the Helba Key, a unique hack item that allows them access to Net Slums. They are, however, found out once more by C.C.Corperation administrators once more, led by Kamui. Shugo, Rena, Hotaru, Mireille, and Zefie all manage to escape while Kazu and Ouka hold the admins off.

After a final confrontation with Kamui, the five of them reach Net Slum, where they meet various damaged A.I.s (one of whom is a fragment of Lycoris, the original prototype of Aura from .hack//AI buster), and Balmung of the Azure Sky who reveals himself as one of the original and key members of the .hackers, led by Kite. Balmung tests Shugo to see if he is worthy of seeing Aura (Shugo was to inflict damage on him at least just once), and Shugo utilizes every bit of play knowledge he had ever acquired while playing The World (a large improvement from his first battle, where he did not even use his weapons). Despite the immense gap in levels (Shugo is roughly in his 20s~30s while Balmung is probably 99), Shugo manages to gain a hit (a single point of damage) on Balmung, his respect, and Virus Cores allowing him access to Aura's domain.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Shugo Kunisaki ]

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