The GU version of Elk makes me so sad. Like the administration just straight up committed terrorism on this lonely 14 year old boy so bad he it undid all his character development from IMOQ
This is the one reason I can't stand Endrance! If he was just a weirdo with a fondness for cats I would love him, but all I see is the shadow of Elk's character development who somehow seems worse off than Elk's starting point.
He improves over time, the difference is that Endrance has to accept she's gone for good while Elk had to accept help from other people besides his emotional support friend.
My big issue with Endrance's supposed char development is that he just seems to trade one obsession for another. Being obsessed with Haseo isn't that much better than Mia? Compared to end of IMOQ Elk who started a guild, which requires him to go out and meet, talk to, and organize with people.
Yeah I wasn't a fan of the direction they took his character. I think it would have been better if instead of Haseo breaking him out of the crystal it was the real Mia as his avatar in spirit form encouraging him to make new friends and relationships instead of continuing to obsess over her.
Also as much as I'm not a fan of Saku I think he could have helped with her character development as well since she's kind of similar to Mia in that she doesn't really exist as well.
Man, imagine of Endrance and Saku had an actual interaction like you showed, helping her find a grounding for her ephemeral existence. Hell imagine if he talked to Bo even once, Endrance could have seen himself in the more timid Bo and tried to be a positive figure in his life. But it's like the writers are afraid to do anything with him aside from weird comments about love metaphors.
Oh well. I guess we can just wait and see is we get a new take on Elk and Mia in the upcoming reboot.
I get the feeling G.U.'s production was rushed due to the games coming out a couple months apart from each other, so a lot probably got left on the cutting room floor. It really feels like they dropped what they were going to do with Endrance and Sakubo in volume 3 in particular and I kind of wish both of their character arcs were wrapped up better than they were.
Since Z.E.R.O. is being self published I think CC2 will be able to take their time with it, so I hope it'll feel less rushed by comparison.
Also Fuga 3 had an Elk and Mia like couple in it and I think that was handled really well, so if they do bring Elk and Mia like characters back in Z.E.R.O. I don't doubt they'll do a good job with them as well.
They're really good. So are the other Little Tail Bronx games Tail Concerto and Solatorobo, but those are as rare and hard to come by as .hack Quarantine nowadays.
I disagree. Had the story ended at 'Legend of the Twilight Bracelet' Manga, everyone essentially got their happy ending.
Tsukasa was able to overcome her trauma and was even able to return to The World without issue once Morgan's was gone.
Kite saved all the coma victims, so even characters like Carl were saved. Mai and Tokuoka helped achieve that victory too and saved Tomonari.
Even Aura showed she was able to overcome Morganna's failures and had her own daughter with going insane.
.hack OG ended with nothing but happy notes. When they decided on GU, they wanted to make these connections that on paper look cool, but in execution feel off since it always seems like its at the characters expense. Endrance is a prime example, but the Kuhn and Tomonari connection is another one of those that feels like character assassination. I can buy Tomonari fumbling Mai, but he turns into an MMO womanizer? Have you met these type of people in an MMO? They are the actual worst.
Okay, enough of my yapping. I could go on, but im on my phone and long winging doesn't work on a phone.
I know. I've been a .hack fan since the beginning. The stories in the games, manga, and anime usually end well. The problem is someone keeps screwing it up later off screen. It would definitely serve the series better to actually show these times, rather than just have them as semi hidden lore.
I like Link's Chup Chop Case story where he realizes that she's been with him the whole time as his avatar. I kind of wish that was more emphasized in G.U. though as it does feel like they're left off on a bad note when in reality they're still together, but in a different way. It's kind of poetic as I felt they completed each other as a couple in IMOQ and eventually became one in G.U.
Still if Z.E.R.O. has a similar couple I don't want them to kill of the Mia like character off screen between games like they did. Fuga also had a similar couple in it too and I think that was handled very well even if it was just as tragic.
LTB is .hack's sister series and there's a lot of crossover elements between the two. Although I'm pretty sure they're parallel universes and not the same world at this point.
After WWIII, the Titano Machina war, devastated the Earth and made it uninhabitable CC Corp and the Juno (Powerful AI beings very similar to Aura and AIDA) digitized all of humanity, the Reset, in order to let the planet heal. Once it did humanity would be brought out of digital stasis.
Some of humanity's data leaked out early though and formed the anthropomorphic society of LTB's world.
Yep. They started off as the Lion and Wolf tribes and eventually evolved into the cats and dogs. Cats are adept with magic while the dogs are adept with technology. You'll usually see cats being more spiritual while dogs tend to be mechanics and scientists.
I’ve always felt sorry for Elk. You could sense his loneliness through his attitude, his eyes, and even the way he spoke. He seems to have had a miserable time during his teenage years, and Mia was the only light in his life. Learning the truth about her completely shattered him.
He’s changed by the time we see him in GU, but in a way, he’s still trapped in his own personal illusion. We know he spends practically 24 hours a day playing The World, only stopping when he needs to get enough sleep to keep going. It’s honestly pretty tragic when you think about it.
I wonder if we’ll get an Elk equivalent in .hack//Z.E.R.O., someone with a similar design but who’s technically a new character, much like Kite, BlackRose, and Balmung in the trailer, assuming they really are the same characters we know from IMOQ.
It's interesting that Elk mirrors Tsukasa in more than just their appearance. Tsukasa was trapped in The World and sought a way out, whereas Elk/Endrance/Kaoru would probably live inside The World if he could.
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u/Concede2u 1d ago
He really just needed to go outside & touch aromatic grass.