.hack SIGN - Gestalt (Vol. 3)

Tensions between reality and the cyber-realm of the "the World" intensify as Wave Master Tsukasa remains trapped within the game, unlike the other characters who log on and off when they choose. Bear believes that Tsukasa is actually a girl in a coma whose consciousness has become divorced from her physical existence, but Tsukasa dismisses this notion. As they search for the mysterious Key of the Twilight, the characters converge on an upside-down dungeon that echoes Befuddle Hall in Winsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland. Crim remembers how to reach it from earlier versions of the game; Tsukasa simply teleports there. Confronted by an aged man who "failed as a father," Tsukasa announces, "I may have found it"--only to be struck down by the Puss-in-Boots figure who has guided him. Every revelation introduces new mysteries as this intriguing adventure continues. (Rated 13 and older: violence) --Charles Solomon