My Theory On Tsukasa and Subaru

Emerick Belasco · Post by **Emerick Belasco** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 12:22 am

I posted this awhile back on another forum, so I thought I'd post it here too. Respond, if you will.

I am of the opinion that Tsukasa and Subaru's relationship is romantic in its nature. Now I've thought about this long and hard and think I've found some evidence from the show itself. Now .hack//ZERO, the official novel, and the .hack Encyclopedia have been confirmed to have information supporting this perception of their relationship, but they haven't been enough to quiet the controversy. So, I'll present what I have found. The idea that they are just good friends can be flawed in the sense that Tsukasa already has a good, devoted friend in Mimiru. She attempts to get Tsukasa to want to logout, with little success. But it was Subaru's involvement with Tsukasa that ultimately lead to his logging out of the game. And what did she promise him? That they would meet on the outside, essentially the same thing Mimiru promised. This means that Tsukasa and Subaru must have something more than a friendship.

But this isn't enough to prove it. So, you then have to look at how others look at their relationship. The Silver Knight (Ginkan) shows feelings for Subaru very early on in the series, and shows some jealousy for what Tsukasa and Subaru have. He only backs down when Sora tells him that Tsukasa IRL is a girl. Meaning that without that knowledge about Tsukasa, it is very easy to believe that they are lovers. In fact, the only reason that this argument exists is that Tsukasa ultimately is female.

In the scene immediately afterwards, BT has a conversation with Subaru during which she understands just what Tsukasa and Subaru have. She then stops herself from telling Subaru the truth about Tsukasa for the sake of what they have.

The rest of what I have deals with the last few episodes. During this time Tsukasa has the revelation that he is in fact a she. Prior to this he had been in his state of total dispair and had been brought out of it to the extent that he could bring himself to move around. After his talk with Crim it is very likely that he would have gone straight away to meet Subaru, but he was stopped by a memory. He had a vision of his real world self as a girl, and the truth became obvious. You have to understand that up until this point Tsukasa thought he was a guy (from how warped his mind was from Morganna's influence) and, as such, thought of his relationship with Subaru as a guy would. This is what kept him from leaving the cathedral, this is what brought him to tears. The thought that he could never be with Subaru the way he imagined. The thought that he now truly had no reason to want to return to reality.

Tsukasa ultimately brings himself to go meet Subaru at Net Slum to find out what her reaction would be. He goes there knowing that she would reject him, that she wouldn't want to see him IRL. He tells her the truth, and she shows no negative reaction. She still wants to see him. This brings a look of surprise to Tsukasa's face. If she meant that they'd just be friends, and if my theory about Tsukasa's way of thinking is correct, he'd probably have a slightly more negative reaction than the one dipicted.

And now I return to perception. And who better to know Tsukasa's feelings than his "mother" the omnipitent entity of pure evil Morganna. In the final episode she makes one last desperate effort to ruin Tsukasa. She appears to Tsukasa as Subaru and to Subaru as Tsukasa. Before I move forward, the fact that Tsukasa was so accepting of what M/Subaru was saying to him is due to the fact that he had earlier built up a resistance to whatever rejection he'd recieve. Anyway, M/Tsukasa tells Subaru a number of things. Among them he/she tells her that if they met on the outside Subaru would just be dissapointed, even offended. Why would Subaru be dissapointed and offended? Because that was what Morganna saw happening between them, hence she knew just what their relationship was. Morganna could never have imagined that Tsukasa being female IRL wouldn't change their relationship. It is a good bet that Tsukasa's identity IRL was Morganna's "ace in the hole," and here she uses it to the best of her ability.

Well, thats all I think I'll write for now. It may not be worthy of Harold Bloom, but I think I did fairly well. If you've read all this congradulations, respond with what you think. If not, I might post the Cliff Notes version later. And now auf wieder sehen.

CRtwenty · Post by **CRtwenty** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 12:36 am

Yes, they are beyond simple friendship. It is a romantic relationship. I feel this is pretty obvious, most of the people I've talked to that disagree with this are only against it because of the fact that it involves two females in love. I'm not saying that everybody who thinks that their relationship is simply friendship feels like that, but this is the response that I've gotten.

All in all, a very good post. You explained pretty much everything, without getting on the topic of "Tsukasa and Subaru's "h07 l32814/V 23XX0RZ!"

Spike Spiegal · Post by **Spike Spiegal** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 1:06 am

Its like that new movie with chalize theron in like a prostetic face, and she falls in love with another girl since she hates men (shes a feminist) and the only reason shes in love with her is because shes never been in love before, and it doesnt matter that shes a girl or not.
sorry to drift off topic.
and my left index finger is numb so i cant type with it, so theres not good punctuation and whatnot. w/e

Cyral · Post by **Cyral** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 4:23 pm

I got warned for encouraging this kind of topic...

It was inevitable that this would happen.. I knew it, but, however there is a moral to the story... you don't know who you are talking to in the online world...

And also, there is a possibly a good chance that they are just going to be friends....(Even though that last scene that I saw when they were holding hands) kinda gave me an idea(without knowing that Tsukasa is a girl) that they were in love(then when they told us 'audience' that Tsukasa is a girl online) then I said.... something absurd and later shocked, then later, start guessing how would Subaru take it... and there's the answer.......

The writing was good... and (Who the heck is Harold Bloom?)

Eggplant of the Twilight · Mon Jan 26, 2004 5:29 pm

Cyral wrote: It was inevitable that this would happen.. I knew it, but, however there is a moral to the story... you don't know who you are talking to in the online world...

Yeah, but it wasn't a blind meeting. They ended up with a pretty good idea of the IRL identities by being told, and from the way the PCs acted.

And CR, no fair...I wanted to say that. >_< Anyway, yeah, I also am of the opinion that it's a romantic relationship. Go Subaru and her acceptance of Tsukasa!

aura_Key_of_the_twilight · Mon Jan 26, 2004 9:29 pm

I heard from someone who read .hack//ZERO that they do get into a relationship in the real world. They go shopping, and there's even parts where Tsukasa lays her head in Subaru's lap. (Sorry if that sounds a bit wierd, but I'm having trouble remembering thier names in the Real World).

CRtwenty · Post by **CRtwenty** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 9:40 pm

Tsukasa's name is "An" I can't remember Subaru's name.

Emerick Belasco · Post by **Emerick Belasco** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 11:23 pm

If I remember correctly I believe Subaru's name is Mariko.

Ookami Shanks · Post by **Ookami Shanks** » Tue Jan 27, 2004 2:01 am

Yeah. But I still feel bad about leaving Krim and Mimiru in the loveless dust.

CRtwenty · Post by **CRtwenty** » Tue Jan 27, 2004 2:36 am

Well Crim brought it upon himself... he could have gotten B.T. so easily, but he decided not too... and she wound up with Bear instead.

As for Mimiru, I don't think she cares...

MeultimaSama · Post by **MeultimaSama** » Tue Jan 27, 2004 9:31 am

....>_> <_< >_> Am I the only person who finds it normal for people to have their heads in other's laps even if they're not having a relationship?

*Is hit out of topic by a stray scud*

Andy00 · Post by **Andy00** » Wed Jan 28, 2004 2:51 am

Mariko/Subaru also refers to her get-togethers with An/Tsukasa as dates and trysts.

And .hack//encyclopedia says they're romantic.

MeultimaSama · Post by **MeultimaSama** » Wed Jan 28, 2004 4:49 am

Note the use of the word 'even'... But honestly, the only people I see putting their heads in other's laps aside from Bear is in the usual Mother-child type of relationship...

CRtwenty · Post by **CRtwenty** » Wed Jan 28, 2004 1:13 pm

Yes, but that's not Subaru + Tsukasa, they're more of a romantic type

Tsukasa · Post by **Tsukasa** » Wed Jan 28, 2004 4:41 pm

Cyral wrote:I got warned for encouraging this kind of topic...

No, no... You got warned for a whole different kind of topic entirely. Unfortunately for the ones that I got upset about, what Emerick posted was exactly the kind of thing we created this board for- starting a topic and presenting logical evidence to back it up.

I'll say no more, as I'm feeling nice. Otherwise, I don't like that kind of attitude towards people on here. I might not be so nice next time.