Tsukasa (.hack)

Tsukasa|司|}} is a fictional character from the .hack franchise that encompasses several video games, anime and manga. He is a Wavemaster and the main character of .hack//Sign anime series.

Tsukasa is a young silver-haired boy clad in grey robes. He has two red wave tattoos on his face and almost always carries a silver staff with him.

.hack//Sign
In order to prevent Aura's awakening, Morganna conceived the plan to link her 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 player's life was far from perfect; her mother had died at an early age, leaving her in the care of her abusive father. In order to escape from reality she had created Tsukasa.

Realizing this, Morganna sent a cat-like character called Macha to lure him into a trap. Acting as a friendly NPC, Macha took Tsukasa to the bottom of a dungeon, where a trap set by Morganna data drained him, trapping him inside The World, and partially erasing his memory, which made him believe he was a male in real life.

At the start of the series, Tsukasa wakes up to find himself in the dungeon. He has no idea why he is there or who he is. He soon discovers he is not able to log out and is trapped in The World.

Later he is led by Macha to a hidden area, where he meets Morganna as just a voice, who he initially believes is his mother, and the unborn Aura. Morganna gives him a "Guardian", a golden-orange barbell-shaped monster that defends him, and the ability to bypass the Chaos Gate and warp from field to field or server to server at will. These powers draw the attention of the Crimson Knights, who see Tsukasa as nothing more than a hacker trying to destabilize the system. Other players, such as Mimiru and Bear, become concerned about Tsukasa because of his inability to log out.

Various characters start to think that Tsukasa may be related to the legendary Key of the Twilight and begin to search for it. Tsukasa decides to join Mimiru and Bear and attempt to search for the Key himself. Eventually they meet with an AI copy of Harald Hoerwick, the original designer of The World. Through his ramblings Tsukasa realizes that the AI is talking about Aura, but an attack by Macha wipes his memories, and he forgets temporarily what he has learned.

As the series progresses Tsukasa is met by Subaru, the Guildmaster of the Crimson Knights. The two begin a relationship and start seeing each other frequently inside of The World. Tsukasa eventually brings Subaru to Morganna's hidden zone. Angered, Morganna Data Drains Tsukasa, leaving him in a vegetable-like state, and moves the unawakened Aura to a new area. However, Morganna fails to destroy him completely and he is able to recover.

After receiving a message from Helba he goes to Net Slum, an area created by Helba, where he is told Morganna's plan and realizes that if he wants to break free from her he will have to awake Aura himself. With the help of his friends Tsukasa manages to travel to the place she is holding Aura. There he declares that he is no longer afraid of Morganna or his reality and that he will log out and meet Subaru, triggering Aura's awakening. Morganna summoned Skeith to hunt him down, but Helba allowed them to escape, and Tsukasa wakes up in the real world.

.hack//Games
Helba creates a Tsukasa AI out of the data fragments that were left at Net Slum. This AI joins Kite's party. The original Tsukasa appears only in a few flashbacks in Mutation and Outbreak.

Unison
Tsukasa returns to The World for the first time after the events in .hack//Sign, and joins several other characters (including characters from the .hack//Games) in a celebration at Net Slum hosted by Helba. During the party, Tsukasa notices Sora and invites him to join. He dances with Subaru, and they greet Aura (who is looking down from the sky) with the same gesture she made when Tsukasa awakened her.

Offline

 * An Shouji (荘司杏)

In real life, Tsukasa is depicted as a female high school student named An Shouji. Her mother died when she was very young, so she was raised by her father.

As revealed by many flashbacks of An's past shown in the series, her father subjected her to physical abuse and neglect, going as far as to try to un-plug the life-support machine while she was in a coma. His abusive behavior also distanced her from her gender; he treated her like a boy, refused to allow her to use feminine products, and didn't provide basic hygiene products.

At the end of the series, An wakes up from the coma. Leaving the hospital, she is met by a girl in a wheelchair, who is Mariko Misono, the player behind Subaru. With tears in their eyes the two run towards each other. After the series Ryo Sakuma, the player behind Bear, becomes her legal guardian and allows her to go to a boarding school, and she and Mariko start dating.