Got the first two .hack manga!

Andy00 · Post by **Andy00** » Mon Jun 30, 2003 5:27 pm

Yaaay me! Ah, amazing what you can get on E-bay if you're willing to waste money. <g>

Unless you are a freak like me, I don't suggest you do this. Purchasing anything from Singapore requires an additional 20-30 dollars! At least via conventional bank money orders. Just wait a month or two, it's coming out here real soon.

Lessee.....what to say about it.

It is in english, the translation is actually rather quite good. I've heard horror stories, so was slightly concerned. The grammar is excellent, if there are any complaints, some of the name spellings and class translations are different. (Wavemaster is simply "spell-user" for example. I think I'll survive.)

Plot differences from the anime and neat things to note.

Shugo and Rena are not seperated via divorced parents, in fact, they play the game side-by-side in the same room.

Thank GOD the pseudo-incest is either toned down, or removed completely. Shugo just innocently pervs over _everyone._ <g> Things like the swimming race, Shugo wanted to win in order to prevent anyone else (like Komiyan the Poof) from perving on Rena.

Something interesting. It seems an upgrade has occured such that you can actuallly _feel_ things in The World now. Shugo pokes at a mat and notes how real it feels. Well, the data had to be in there somewhere, since Tsukasa could. However, there isn't mind-consuming pain when attacked by monsters. Good thing, CC Corporation would have quite a few lawsuits on their hands.

Random note: Like the games, there's now a chance that using the Twilight Bracelet causes bad status effects. This wasn't present in the anime.

Random note: Kaz and the original Blackrose's players (from the games) were Shugo and Rena's next door neighbors four years ago.

Balmung, like the anime, has gotten the stick out of his behind from the games, and has embraced the flaming fruit within. He's now a combination GameMaster and Admin. Though he at odds with CC.

Instead of Sanjuro from the games, Wiseman is. He knows a lot more about the Twilight, and he and Balmung tend to trade exposition information. (Sidenote, Rachel and Nuke Usagimaru do cameo in one scene, as trader associates of Mireille.)

The plot is similar to the anime up until it diverges during the Haunted House episode. Instead of Rena being attacked, Shugo starts actually kicking some ass, because he's been paying _attention_ on how to play. Shortly after, they meet a little girl AI named Zelfi. According to her, Zelphi is Aura's daughter, and is looking for Aura.

....Zelfi is FUNNY, btw. She acts a lot like Ruri from Nadesico, or Ichigo from Onegai Teacher. She gloms onto Shugo as her "big brother" and dislikes the other members of the group. I was LOLing
when Shugo's party members were making jokes about Zelfi being Shugo's daughter. Just what were you _doing_ with Aura, hmmm Shugo? (Ah, Shugo, king of the dorks, may all lesser dorks bow down. When _Hotaru_ makes fun of you, that's the ultimate evidence that you get no respect at all. <g>)

That being said, she's also very unsure of the point of her existance. Shugo is really cute in how he comforts her, telling her that even if she were pointless, she has a point and she makes The World better just by existing. (I'm reminded of Mia's philosophizing on the need of futile things from the games.)

Zelfi has interesting powers. For example, she can add poofy pink hair to any player character (or Puchigoso.)

Which brings us to the antagonist. (As of the second manga, there's no sign of the Kid Hackers or Moruti.)

Kamui, leader of the Green Knights. The Green Knights actually _are_ mods, as opposed to the civilian social organization that the Crimson Knights were. I must admit, in the anime, I respected and even understood Kamui. She was just doing her job banning players who hacked their information. (They really did break their user agreements.) She really was looking for information to help wake up the people in coma's, despite what Shugo thought, and was doing an okay job at it. She didn't understand what Shugo was doing, but even that was understandable.

That being said...the Kamui in the manga SCARES ME. She's got Lios's pathological hatred of AIs and then some, and even tortures one (not Zelfi) before killing her. She and the Green Knights are out to kill all AIs. (Pity Moruti isn't in this version. At least, she hasn't shown up yet.) So far, noone's in a coma yet, so that fantacism isn't as easily explained.

Side note: She's got two different colored eyed, and black hair. She looks more like Albileo from AI Busters. (Green Knights are similar to Blue Knights, except they're non-covert.) She takes things more personally, from what I can tell from the his description. To him, it was just a job.

Like everyone else, I'll just wait for the english version of the 3rd manga to come out in the U.S., so further reviews will have to wait till then!

Brad_Evans · Post by **Brad_Evans** » Mon Jun 30, 2003 7:45 pm

is the 3rd japanese manga out already? 0.o Oh, so that cute girl is an ai, I thought she's a heavy axe ^^; I got the japanese ones. quite hard to translate T_T

Xeno · Post by **Xeno** » Mon Jun 30, 2003 8:05 pm

Thx for the summary Andy, I'm still waiting for the manga to make it over here. I could be waiting a while.

Rubedo · Post by **Rubedo** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 1:17 am

Oh thank you very much, Andy00. You just made me want the manga even more. =)

hat being said...the Kamui in the manga SCARES ME. She's got Lios's pathological hatred of AIs and then some, and even tortures one (not Zelfi) before killing her. She and the Green Knights are out to kill all AIs.

@_@ I don't think I like Kamui, and the Green Knights very much.

YashaOokami · Post by **YashaOokami** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 3:53 am

I never liked them at all either,they are more strict than the Crimson Knights were,stupid Kamui :/

Jejune · Post by **Jejune** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 4:37 am

Andy00 wrote:It is in english, the translation is actually rather quite good. I've heard horror stories, so was slightly concerned. The grammar is excellent, if there are any complaints, some of the name spellings and class translations are different. (Wavemaster is simply "spell-user" for example. I think I'll survive.)

Well... based on how bad the translation of the little AI Buster ad was, I'd be kind of cautious. Just because the writing is good doesn't make it accurate. ^^;

Random note: Like the games, there's now a chance that using the Twilight Bracelet causes bad status effects. This wasn't present in the anime.

Didn't it cause status effects in the cherry blossom episode and the... either last or next to last one?

Side note: She's got two different colored eyed, and black hair. She looks more like Albileo from AI Busters. (Green Knights are similar to Blue Knights, except they're non-covert.) She takes things more personally, from what I can tell from the his description. To him, it was just a job.

Green Knights is just another translation of Blue Knights/Azure Knights/Sapphire Knights. (The word used can refer to blue or green.) They're the same debugger group.

Tsukasa · Post by **Tsukasa** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 4:57 am

Random note: Like the games, there's now a chance that using the Twilight Bracelet causes bad status effects. This wasn't present in the anime.
Didn't it cause status effects in the cherry blossom episode and the... either last or next to last one?

Actually, that is exactly what happened. I think Balmung had paralysis, Mireiyu had a mute-like effect, and Rena had charm on. They were fairly easy to see, I think. o.o;

Andy00 · Post by **Andy00** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 6:30 am

Ah, so it did, now that I think about it. Weird, I never made that connection.

Rhyste · Post by **Rhyste** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 9:54 am

(Pity Moruti isn't in this version. At least, she hasn't shown up yet.)

Which brings us to the antagonist. (As of the second manga, there's no sign of the Kid Hackers or Moruti.)

And Ford I hope they never f***ing show up. ;D

As for the Blue/Green/BLUE-GREEN Knight crap... they're actually hired staff persons of CC Corp, which is PROBABLY why they're actual moderators. Plus, hence their name "debugger," they're supposed to "de-bug" buggy crap... ie: Zephi/Xefi/Shugo's Wet Dream. And Kamui's electronic sadistic pleasure could just be a side effect of role playing. :3

Brad_Evans · Post by **Brad_Evans** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 7:36 pm

too much role playing ... heh ;D well that's scary ;D

and it was the animes that makes that shuugo-rena incest stuffie, not the manga. The manga came out first. ^^

Rhyste · Post by **Rhyste** » Wed Jul 02, 2003 7:04 am

BTW, Andy: did the auction look something like this?

Andy00 · Post by **Andy00** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 3:15 am

Same guy, exact same offer. (I arranged to get both)

Oh...something...interesting.

When the threat of Kamui occurs, Zelfi asks if she's going to be deleted....again.

"Again" eh? Interesting....

Akki · Post by **Akki** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 3:53 am

*beats Kamui down with a fish* ph34R. -.-; I never liked her. She reminds me of my best friend's mother (

) She gets this sick pleasure from bashing/destroying gays with her Godly PwRZ...Kamui is her clone. I bet. -.-

Jejune · Post by **Jejune** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 3:01 pm

Andy00 wrote:When the threat of Kamui occurs, Zelfi asks if she's going to be deleted....again.

"Again" eh? Interesting....

Yeah... I noticed that. The encyclopedia says that it's because, when Lycoris ran away from the knights at the beginning of AI Buster, she hid one of the "segments" of herself, setaf.cyl, in Wotan's Spear (Albireo's weapon/debugging tool). If you assume that Kamui is using the same spear that Albireo did, it kind of makes sense.

The only problem with that is, in the AI Buster/Wotan's Spear side story, one of the guardians that Maha has around shatters the spear. It's... confusing. ^^;

Andy00 · Post by **Andy00** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 3:32 pm

Oh, Jejune...your pic reminds me. Someone was asking about pointy ears in The World, since Hokuto in AI Busters had them. They still exist. <g>

At the very end of Login 9, right after Kamui terrorized Reki, and we see Zelfi dragging Shugo around, we see a cut-scene of what Ouka's been doing. Being admired in dog-form by a bunch of girl players. ("Eee! She's so cute!") One of them, (in Tsukasa/Elk's type of outfit) has elf ears.

.hack//INFO

Got the first two .hack manga!

Got the first two .hack manga!

Re: Got the first two .hack manga!

Re: Got the first two .hack manga!