I'm going INSANE over this! (DEBATE! YAY!)

[YamiJared]

ok, not only am I being driven insane by this topic, but it's a desperate effort to save the board from dying slowly like it is T.T

ok, Dusk. anime and manga are completely different in ways so large that I have never SEEN in anime/manga before (and i've seen alot of anime and manga) now, people like Dudewhosadude would think that there's a way to combine the anime and manga or something, although I don't know how this would work, but that is not the point! the anime is great and all, it really is, but I cannot accept it as part of project .hack, and here is WHY!

ok, first let's look at Aura, is it just me, or has she actually become INFERIOR since the games? she's supposed to be the ULTIMATE AI for cripe's sake! and yet she gets younger, loses power, and needs to hire another newbie (Shugo) to get rid of a stupid Wandering AI which she should be able to delete easily, where did Moruti come from anyway? she just popped out of nowhere and wanted to figure out what death was! WTF? if she wanted to know, then ASK or READ or something, don't go around killing people like a jackass! some people said she's a fragment of Morganna or a failed clone of Aura, or some kind of advanced Data Bug. BAH! humbug, I say! all these explainations don't change the fact that Aura should be able to do more than repeat what she did as a Limited AI! thankfully, Moruti isn't in the manga, and Aura has full Godlike power!

oh, and what about Kite and Blackrose? why did they dissapear from the World? some people say they were banned, which would explain Blackrose, but Kite has the Book of Twilight protecting him, what happened to him? did he quit playing? and if so, why didn't Aura email him and tell him the World was in trouble? why were Shugo and Rena chosen? why not someone like Balmung? atleast she had an excuse for choosing Kite. thankfully, the World isn't in danger in the manga, Aura just had a crush on Shugo and wanted to bring him back in the World after he stopped playing when he met her in ZERO ((of course, in the anime, Shugo is a complete and total n00b, which conflicts with ZERO, OMFG! possibly one of the best points of this case >.>)

oh yea, and where did Helba and Net Slum go? it simply isn't .hack without these elements these are in the manga, though, so yay

and what is up with these hacker kids? how come they have uber Admin powers with a GAME CONTROLLER? and what kind of butthole kids put people in a coma to help a computer program? what a bunch of stupid brats! didn't it even OCCUR to them that they're HURTING people? what a bunch of sadistic FREAKS! thank GOD they aren't in the manga!

and Zelphi, we can't forget about her! besides Aura, she's probably one of the most important figures, her power is only topped by her mother! why isn't she in the anime? you'd think someone as important as her would be in the anime if it was part of the true project .hack!

also, in the part of the anime where Shugo is fighting Moruti and everyone has a virus, Aura is being effected! ok, one, I don't think Aura would have a member address, but she could, whatever, but here's the main point: Morganna, Aura's INFERIOR, had virtually unbeatable virus protection, changing all viruses into ANTIviruses and whatnot, and yet Aura, the GOD OF THE WORLD, can't even fend off a virus made by a few script kiddies! WTF? I'm sorry, but this one one of the biggest peices of bull I have ever seen in my life!

that's my case on the subject, everyone is free to bring in their side of the debate

[mannshjj]

I can't comment much on this, because I don't know that much about DUSK.

Kite and Blackrose:It's likely that they just stopped playing, because they accomplished their goal in "The World" (to save the coma victums, defeat Morganna ect.) I say this because, at the end of .hack//QUARENTINE, Lios stopped being a pig-head, and was greatfull to them for saving the "The World", and from what I understood, Lios had a moderately high position among the Sys. Admins, and I don't he would let them be deleted so easilly. He might have even been the one that saved their character models, so no one else could take them. Aura could have sent an email to them, but if they stopped playing, it really wouldn't do any good.

Why She Didn't Choose Balmung:Aura could have chosen Shuugo because he's a kid, and pretty much has all the time in the world. Balmung, or any off the other Sys. Admins for that matter, allready have important jobs, to manage "The World", moderate the boards, ect. Obligations not including defeating viruses, he seems to spend much of his time allready just doing simple jobs, imagine if he had to go around fighting data bugs too. Plus, Balmung could find it too stressful, and quit any time, (since he was roped into to being a Sys. Admin to begin with, he didn't WANT to be a Sys. Admin.) Shuugo has his mind set on being a hero and protecting his little sister.

Helba and Net Slum:Helba could have gotten deleted, and or arrested for cyber crimes. (she is a hacker after all.) Net Slum could have gotten deleted also, since it really didn't have any other purpose, except for harboring trash data. (BTW yes, I miss the plot too.)

Hacker Kids (The Ones From Ep.5?):They could be old enemies of Kite and Blackrose (from school), who looked up hacking info on the net. (Kids today seemingly have no morals, so I wouldn't be surprised.)

[YamiJared]

1. Aura was the one that gave Shugo and Rena the special character models, because CC Corp said that they never sponsored a contest like that

2. well, I didn't mean like, a Sys Admin or something, but maybe a powerful character like Sanjuro or something @_@

3. I doubt that these hacker kids (who are too young to know Kite and Blackrose from school, since technically Kite and Blackrose would be in COLLEGE) and the things they're doing to the World wouldn't even effect Kite and Blackrose now >.> another thing, as a hacker myself, I'll tell you that you can NOT find hacking skills THAT GOOD on the internet, because true hacking skills can't be TAUGHT, and sure, they might not have morals, but even then, I doubt someone would go through the time and effort to destroy a game just to get back at a couple of kids they don't know that look like old rivals (plus, Kite and Blackrose don't go to the same school)

4. almost forgot this, but knowing Balmung's obsession with keeping the World stable, he's struggling as it is to keep the World safe by fixing hacked feilds, so he'd probably welcome the Bracelet as a great tool, fix things, reminice about Kite and Aura, and get rid of the Bracelet when everything's fixed >.>

5. Helba and Net Slum are in the Manga, so being arrested is no excuse! they probably wanted to focus more on saving Rena or something

[ZandrisIV]

3. I think the two-dimensional motivations of the hacker kids only further showcase how inferior the anime is as compared to the manga. That sort of self-destructive and morally bankrupt behaviour is most often observed in villians from B-grade movies. As such, their inclusion in the anime only serves to make it look all the more stupid.

My honest opinion is that the anime should be treated as an A.U (alternate universe) flick rather than and event in the original Dot Hack timeline. There are far too many inconsistencies and the whole thing looks like a rush job with limited quality control. The manga, IIRC, was written *before* or during the original series, and as such carries much more weight than the anime, which was made recently. Furthermore, I'm quite sure that the manga's author actively corroborated with the main Dot Hack project designers, while Bandai (or the project designers) didn't control the anime production, resulting in .... in .... the piece of nonsense we see now....

Bottomline:
DUSK anime is bad, watch it only for the sake of completeness
DUSK manga is good, read it to know the full REAL story...

[Elk]

In all fairness, I must say that most of your questions are already answered within the manga & anime.

Plus, with the Aura supposidly being the ultimate AI; now, would that much much more of an interesting story to have her do all the work herself? Of course not.

[thedudewhosadude]

*Bangs head repeatedly, then breaths in deeply* Firstly, please present your argument more formally; a rant isn't exactly looked as a good debate. Secondly, the anime of a series is JUST AS IMPORTANT AS THE MANGA of that same series. The people in charge wouldn't make something just for fun; it's called money. That's an answer to one of your questions, about Moruti in the anime and not in the manga and the same with Zephie. They obviously wouldn't make a manga or an anime exactly the same as its counterpart, as that would be a waste of money.

Helba con Net Slum: Well, according to reports about the third manga, Net Slum still exists. Helba makes a breif cameo in the opening of the manga (as herself, not just someone who might look like her) and her silhouette appears in the opening to the anime.

Hacker Kids: Hey, remember who made Pluto's Kiss? It was a little boy. Remember that anime/manga is not real, and thus would have realistic logic in it. For example, Mireille is only 4, yet can speak like a proper person, play a game, and use logic!

Hacker Kids Hurting others: Wake up, the world isn't all that it's cracked up to be. I don't mean to sound like a "The Truth" ad, but it's the first thing that came to my mind. Tobacco industries are killing people with their products every day, yet they still persist with their marketing. Another example would be yourself. I don't really mean you in particular (I don't even know who you are aside from a puchiguso with glasses and an animated Aura av) but the general public. There is no such thing as a pure soul. The human brain craves for information, to know what there is to know. Knowledge of some things may cause you to do certain things (i.e. People generally carry money with them, and don't give it up easily. The world revolves around how much money you have, so the more you have, the better off you are. Now if you were to use force to take that money from that person, then it could be yours. Maybe you'd have to mug them, maybe you'd have to kill them.)

Zephi: She's not in the anime because she's in the manga. It's either Moruti and the hackers (which you don't like) or Zephi, and it's Zephi.

"...if it was part of the true project .hack!" I am not going to say it again. Regardless of if you want it to be or not, both the .hack manga and the anime are part of project .hack. Moruti is just as important as Zephi (Moruti can kill people, Zephi can........well, she can make afros, but that's really all we've seen her do.....at all)

Aura being affected by the virus: Who knows if those kids are script kiddies? Even so, those could be some damn good scripts...And anyway, Aura may be the god of the world, but she was still created by someone else. Does this mean to say that if Harald was alive he couldn't stop her if he wanted to?

"...biggest peices of bull I have ever seen in my life!" Get ready to see a whole lot more shit then, cuz if just an anime conflict is bothering you this much, then you really have to sort out your priorities. Chances are my harsh tounge here will get me banned, but, well, it's been fun (just incase i do get banned)

P.S. I don't really mean any offence to you; it's just annoying to have to state the same thing over and over.

[ZandrisIV]

It's quite fun as it is having to describe how badly the anime sucks again and again as well.

The problem with your first point that "the people in charge" is that the anime was apparently made by a different team than the one that created the original Dot Hack series and thus, could not be the original creators' vision of the series. Furthermore, if you had read my post, I also noted that the author of the anime actively corroborated with the design team. If this does not give more importance to the manga as compared to the anime, then I suppose you'll be saying that fanfics are just as important canon as the original SIGN series soon.

Helba con Net Slum: Dunno and don't care. But they were important plot points running through the series, shafting them merely shows how far removed the anime's design philosophy is from the original series.

Hacker kids: It's a fictional world, this could be plausible.

Hacker kids hurting: Hmm, this is also plausible, if what you say is true. However, it is still a lousy excuse for bad character development. The original 'villians' from the past series were more interesting and well-written as compared to the 'I wanna see death, I'm a brat' kids in DUSK. Frankly, this is a discussion about the anime and the manga, not a discussion on life's philosophy, so back on topic, please?

Zephi: No comment

Aura being affected by the virus: Look at it this way. Harald created Morganna as well. Harald was alive, and looky what happened when he tried to stop her.... Now, Aura is superior to Morganna, and supposedly an 'Ultimate AI'. I do not think four brats with too much free time could hack to that extent.

I understand that most of your points may be pointed at Yamijared, but I hope you will not overlook my points.

Cheers

[Duskino]

I might make a question/statement that's already been said, but I'm too lazy to read right now, so here goes:

I thought that Kite and BlackRose weren't banned, but instead, just retired from the game. There wouldn't be any reason to ban those characters anyway, and that Shugo and Rena's PCs -are- Kite and BlackRose, but everyone calls them by their real names.

I could be wrong, though.

[YamiJared]

Duskino, I think Rena and Shugo only got the graphics of Kite and Blackrose, because they start out at level one with nothing good -.- plus Shugo would start out with Kite's Bracelet, meaning he would have two (sweet ^_^)

[mannshjj]

Plus, there's the chance that Kite or Blackrose might decide to log back in one day, (unless they did get deleted) and find that they can't, because someone else had their characters. Wouldn't Shuugo and Rena been deleted (or at least forced to change their avatars), because CCcorp never held an event to give out the avatars of the legendary .hackers, and no one else was allowed to take them?

[FireDraconian]

Of course, if the Bracelet protected Kite, it would now protect Shugo, wouldn't it?

[Wavemaster Minka]

I won't get into anything else, it's mostly all been answered. Though, here's my opinion on this issue:

and what is up with these hacker kids? how come they have uber Admin powers with a GAME CONTROLLER?

I'll tell you that you can NOT find hacking skills THAT GOOD on the internet

Keep in mind that .hack//LOTT is set in... 2014, was it? This year is 2004. Technology does NOT stay the same.

And I also think you're taking the whole anime and manga difference thing way too seriously.

If they were both the same, where would the fun be in reading or watching either of them?

For example, let's say you watch the anime first and love it. And then, you hear the manga is coming out soon... but why bother even reading it? It'll be just the same as the anime; you'll already know what happens. Sure, maybe the art'll be a little different, but there's no real difference plot-wise. See what I mean?

They both have their pros and cons, and they always will, it's something you can't change, so why not just enjoy both?

I'm actually very happy that they're both very different from each other. It's a very good thing if you think about it.

[FireDraconian]

Is the manga available in the US yet? Or online? I mean, it's hard for me to debate whether one is better then the other when I have no idea half of what you guys are talking about.

[YamiJared]

alright Minka, I'm sorry, but I'm just alittle obsessive, and I'd enjoy them more without evil plot holes like 2D characters and villians >.> and Mannshjj, in the manga, CC Corp does try to delete Shugo and Rena, but like Kite, their data is protected by the system, also, I just thought of something else, even with the possibility that Kite and Shugo simply stopped playing, and they were hailed as heroes, why were their character models restricted

[mannshjj]

alright Minka, I'm sorry, but I'm just alittle obsessive, and I'd enjoy them more without evil plot holes like 2D characters and villians >.> and Mannshjj, in the manga, CC Corp does try to delete Shugo and Rena, but like Kite, their data is protected by the system, also, I just thought of something else, even with the possibility that Kite and Shugo simply stopped playing, and they were hailed as heroes, why were their character models restricted

I thought it was restricted to all characters except Kite and Blackrose. Meaning that the regular players couldn't copy their character models. Since they are heros, many players would probably want to copy them, and if that happened, their character models would no longer be "special", because they would be Kite and Blackrose avatars everywhere. They're heros, so they're character models should be unique.