Continuation of yesterday, my thoughts about .Hack//G.U.
So yesterday I talked about the story behind the story, and how that is the main thing driving my interest in the series. But as sweeping and exciting as that is, it's just backstory. The focus of the series is not on AIDA or the creation of this God, but on the struggle of those trying to oppose it. G.U. is really Haseo's tale, and to a lesser extent the story of all the Epitaph Users. So today I'm going to talk about what I thought about the Eight.
Haseo: Oddly enough, I don’t have the absolute worship of this character many people do. Don't get me wrong, he's a good character - the perfect character for the role he plays. He's obsessive, he eats, drinks and breathes his mission, whatever the mission happens to be at the moment, which makes him far more of a force to contend with than his abilities and power level would suggest. Game mechanics wise, he's really what is needed. I wouldn't change him at all.
However, for my own personal tastes, I like characters who spend as much time negotiating with their difficulties as they do simply overpowering them. Haseo is reasonably bright, but no genius. He is a great leader of few, but a poor leader of many. He is locked into his own agenda to such a degree that it doesn't even occur to him what other people must be thinking or feeling until their actions smack him in the face. Though he broods plenty, he is not a tactician, but rather a "jump in head first" kind of guy. This works both as a failing and an asset. His enormous faith in himself and his beliefs gives him the subtlety of a wrecking ball, but it also gives him the power of… well… a wrecking ball.
His costume … oi. Yes, Haseo, it makes your butt look fat. In pretty much every incarnation it would fall in the "worst dressed" category. The belt bra costume seems to be the least unfortunate. The others might as well be clown-suits for the amount of time I spent laughing at them.
Atoli: She grew on me as the series went on, which is good because she started off making a really poor impression. That impression was that she is very, very, very stupid. My final impression of her is that she is merely somewhat stupid, but has bought into the idea that showing any sign of brains is unfeminine. She fights somewhat stupidly, but her large natural abilities still put her on the "quite useful" side.
She also gave me the first impression that she is emotionally fragile. This is utterly not the case. She is actually too tough in the sense that scorn and abuse simply wash over her without triggering any desire for self-preservation. In her own way, she is just as fanatical to her beliefs as Haseo is, it just happens that where his beliefs are all turned outward, hers are turned inward, towards living up to a flawed and ridiculous set of standards for behavior. By being perfectly accommodating and nice, she manages to be perfectly annoying and spineless. She later revises her beliefs to become marginally less useless.
Her costume: Pantaloons aside -- pretty, slimming, feminine.
Pi: I've mixed feelings about Pi. On one hand, she's abrasive and disdainful and she seems to think the way to show confidence is to look down on those around her. On the other hand, she genuinely comes off as more mature and competent than most of the other characters. She is intelligent and crafty, and does quite a bit of battle planning and a fair amount of the investigating in the series. Sadly this doesn't translate into her in-game usefulness - ie: fighting skill, which frankly sucks ass -- and makes her seem like she's all bluff and no bite. But her role is primarily as an information gatherer and coordinator, and as such she appears to do a good job. She does have a rather embarrassing moon-eyed crush on Yata, which is the major chink in her otherwise impervious composure. I ended up wanting to like her more than I actually did, I think mostly because the mechanics of the game really didn't showcase her abilities that well, and rather shortchanged her in the fighting department.
Her costume: Oooh-la-la. What little of it there is works quite nicely. She is one back that was not hard to watch at all. If only there were more reason to have her in the party.
Kuhn: I have a not so secret crush on flirty male characters. Something about guys who spend all their time chasing women makes me want to hold them lavish them with sex - often unwillingly, mostly with other guys. So admit to viewing his character with a great deal of positive prejudice. That said, I really like him. He doesn't have the confidence that Haseo and Pi have, but he does have a core of faith in himself, unlike Atoli. He has an even, easy-going temperament, and a good heart. He is concerned and self-motivated to solve the AIDA problem.
Kuhn doesn't want to be a hero, he just wants to enjoy the world, however he feels a moral obligation to fight the fight. Sadly for him, he can't seem to succeed at anything without Haseo at his side. Perhaps it's because he lacks the fanaticism. His tentative quality seems to trip him up. So he manages to fail his way through the entire series.
But to me this makes him deliciously vulnerable humanizes him -- cuts him down to life-size and makes him approachable. After all, a schlubb who tries his hardest and fails is more exciting than one who breezes through his successes without effort. Of course, it would have been nice if he managed to have things go his way once. Honestly, I think the writers have a bit too much fun humiliating him.
His costume: Sadly for me, his costume gives him those awful birthing hips that so many other male characters are saddled with -- but somehow this is less obnoxious on him than it is on many. Perhaps it's because his thick long hair serves as a distraction and a focal point so your eyes don't just hover on his XXL sized posterior.
Endrance: Once I got over the titillation factor of having someone be openly gay for another character, I found him strangely… unlikable. Mainly because he hits a lot of my "eh" buttons. Endrance is far too selfishly emo for my tastes, and more importantly, he doesn't really have much for me to like. Now I don't mind a bit of brooding and introspection especially for a greater cause, but Endrance seems endlessly mired in the pit of his own angst. Not even the threat to the real world is enough to pull him out of his self-absorbtion. His one interest in anything other than himself is Haseo, but even that has less to do with Haseo actions than the idea of Haseo Endrance builds up in his mind.
Despite having the Temptress as his epitaph, he is chilly, condescending, and antisocial. It is only his interest in pleasing Haseo, or protecting Haseo that motivates him to do… well… anything. Endrance rarely interacts with anyone other than Haseo, not even Saku who dogs his side like a poorly trained terrier. He doesn't care about AIDA or the lost ones. He has no life outside the game … and really none within it either. The upshot? I find it hard to muster up any sympathy or interest in a guy who is basically phoning it in.
It's interesting to compare his cold dismissive personality now, with the friendly, cheerful and caring one he had as Elk. Sure he loved Mia, but he also liked other people as well back then. Somewhere along the line he must have died inside or something.
Game mechanics wise, however, he is totally kick-ass - probably the most useful character outside of Haseo himself.
Costume: Not as bad as Haseo's, but still not particularly attractive either. He runs around looking like a cross between a girl on prom night and a wilted tulip.
Sakubo: For some reason I just couldn't buy this character at all. It just felt false to me. Of course the set up is the only one that could make Gorre work, but nonetheless Sakubo doesn't seem quite crazy enough to be as crazy as they'd have to be to be… them. They left me the impression that the writers only did the most superficial research possible on the disorder they were trying to portray. And maybe they didn't even realize that they were portraying a serious disorder and not just a quirky personality trait anyone could manifest. Anyway, I found it obnoxious in the same way presenting schizophrenics as being cheerfully goofy is obnoxious.
But it's not just the mental illness aspect that the writers fell down on. Almost everything about the character makes no logical sense. Saku spends almost all her clip time undermining Bo's friendships, spending his money, and pursuing her solo interests, even though some violate Bo's sensibilities. She acts like a complete selfish brat. Yet despite all this, everyone seems to think she is somehow protecting Bo, and that he needs her. Say what? Why Endrance puts up with her is a complete mystery, especially since she attacks Haseo right in front of him. Dude - Endrance's one major drive is to impress Haseo with his loyalty, by all logic he should hate Saku for trying to come between them, yet he apparently seems fine with her behavior. Does Not Compute.
Meanwhile, supposedly sweet Bo is easily forgettable, quiet, timid and all but invisible. Whatever interests he might have he seems to keep to himself, stirring only to defend his friends against Saku, and occasionally Saku against his friends - which really puts him as more of a protector figure than his sister. Fight mechanics wise he's just as capable as she is. Socially he is more likeable and less sociopathic. Now why Haseo thinks it's a good idea to encourage him to believe he's dependent on Saku, I don't know.
Costume: Not too bad. A bit goofy and childish - as befits characters their age.
Yata: Yata is another of those characters who I don't quite buy, but luckily he's so far in the background you barely even see him. Most of what bothers me about Yata is his supposed age. We are lead to believe that he is 17, and yet he has the world-knowledge, research capability, and apparent real world contacts and respect of a post-graduate adult. What's more he's had these since he was 10. Er… no. Genius is dandy, but it can't overcome prejudice, time and access problems, and it doesn't automatically come with maturity.
More importantly, Yata never demonstrates any actual genius. He doesn't appear to learn any faster than any normal person, nor does he make any grand leaps of imagination. While he can pry apart code, so can anyone who studies computer languages - with about the same level of success. He shows no more insight than would be expected from someone who has backdoor access to the system and who has the time and inclination to scour the World for anomalies. So while he's not a genius, he is something else: patient.
So throwing away his age, he makes perfect sense as a career researcher/programmer, with above average intelligence and the maturity you'd expect of someone about 30. That would also put his poetry hunting days in his early 20's - a far more normal age for doing research into random, esoteric subjects than any other age.
It's hard to say if he's likable or not, because we almost never see him. And we really don't have much use for him because even after Haseo gets his member-address, he's more of a liability than an asset in the party.
Costume: Other than the hoopskirt, strappy high heels and huge ankle bangles his outfit is very * cough * manly.
Ovan: The game would like to paint him as a misunderstood good guy, but his actions speak far too loudly for that. Instead he is a sympathetic bad guy, which to me makes him far more interesting. He is also smart and competent, two things I admire in any character. In fact no one even comes close to being able to outsmart him. He gets what he thinks he wants - but if it really is what he wanted we don't know. I rather highly suspect not.
I admit I also have a fetish for domineering charismatic bad guys with soft, creepy voices and a talent for confusing the fuck out of people. So Ovan is quite enjoyable. He demonstrates far more strategic capability than Yata - routinely thinking 4 or 5 steps ahead of everyone else. He has a way of commanding attention and respect just by sheer force of presence. He fanatically follows his cause, manipulating the fuck out of everyone who comes near him. He has power - in spades - but his moral compass appears to have cracked somewhere along the line.
My only regret about him is that we barely get to see him in action at all. But that is totally in line with the way the whole series tends to hide what is really going on.
Costume: Aside from the 32 gallon trash barrel on his arm, he is surprisingly well dressed - for this series. He's got a bit of an air-pilot look going on. Naturally when I'm finally presented a character whose ass I wouldn't mind looking at, I never get the chance to.
Haseo: Oddly enough, I don’t have the absolute worship of this character many people do. Don't get me wrong, he's a good character - the perfect character for the role he plays. He's obsessive, he eats, drinks and breathes his mission, whatever the mission happens to be at the moment, which makes him far more of a force to contend with than his abilities and power level would suggest. Game mechanics wise, he's really what is needed. I wouldn't change him at all.
However, for my own personal tastes, I like characters who spend as much time negotiating with their difficulties as they do simply overpowering them. Haseo is reasonably bright, but no genius. He is a great leader of few, but a poor leader of many. He is locked into his own agenda to such a degree that it doesn't even occur to him what other people must be thinking or feeling until their actions smack him in the face. Though he broods plenty, he is not a tactician, but rather a "jump in head first" kind of guy. This works both as a failing and an asset. His enormous faith in himself and his beliefs gives him the subtlety of a wrecking ball, but it also gives him the power of… well… a wrecking ball.
His costume … oi. Yes, Haseo, it makes your butt look fat. In pretty much every incarnation it would fall in the "worst dressed" category. The belt bra costume seems to be the least unfortunate. The others might as well be clown-suits for the amount of time I spent laughing at them.
Atoli: She grew on me as the series went on, which is good because she started off making a really poor impression. That impression was that she is very, very, very stupid. My final impression of her is that she is merely somewhat stupid, but has bought into the idea that showing any sign of brains is unfeminine. She fights somewhat stupidly, but her large natural abilities still put her on the "quite useful" side.
She also gave me the first impression that she is emotionally fragile. This is utterly not the case. She is actually too tough in the sense that scorn and abuse simply wash over her without triggering any desire for self-preservation. In her own way, she is just as fanatical to her beliefs as Haseo is, it just happens that where his beliefs are all turned outward, hers are turned inward, towards living up to a flawed and ridiculous set of standards for behavior. By being perfectly accommodating and nice, she manages to be perfectly annoying and spineless. She later revises her beliefs to become marginally less useless.
Her costume: Pantaloons aside -- pretty, slimming, feminine.
Pi: I've mixed feelings about Pi. On one hand, she's abrasive and disdainful and she seems to think the way to show confidence is to look down on those around her. On the other hand, she genuinely comes off as more mature and competent than most of the other characters. She is intelligent and crafty, and does quite a bit of battle planning and a fair amount of the investigating in the series. Sadly this doesn't translate into her in-game usefulness - ie: fighting skill, which frankly sucks ass -- and makes her seem like she's all bluff and no bite. But her role is primarily as an information gatherer and coordinator, and as such she appears to do a good job. She does have a rather embarrassing moon-eyed crush on Yata, which is the major chink in her otherwise impervious composure. I ended up wanting to like her more than I actually did, I think mostly because the mechanics of the game really didn't showcase her abilities that well, and rather shortchanged her in the fighting department.
Her costume: Oooh-la-la. What little of it there is works quite nicely. She is one back that was not hard to watch at all. If only there were more reason to have her in the party.
Kuhn: I have a not so secret crush on flirty male characters. Something about guys who spend all their time chasing women makes me want to hold them lavish them with sex - often unwillingly, mostly with other guys. So admit to viewing his character with a great deal of positive prejudice. That said, I really like him. He doesn't have the confidence that Haseo and Pi have, but he does have a core of faith in himself, unlike Atoli. He has an even, easy-going temperament, and a good heart. He is concerned and self-motivated to solve the AIDA problem.
Kuhn doesn't want to be a hero, he just wants to enjoy the world, however he feels a moral obligation to fight the fight. Sadly for him, he can't seem to succeed at anything without Haseo at his side. Perhaps it's because he lacks the fanaticism. His tentative quality seems to trip him up. So he manages to fail his way through the entire series.
But to me this makes him deliciously vulnerable humanizes him -- cuts him down to life-size and makes him approachable. After all, a schlubb who tries his hardest and fails is more exciting than one who breezes through his successes without effort. Of course, it would have been nice if he managed to have things go his way once. Honestly, I think the writers have a bit too much fun humiliating him.
His costume: Sadly for me, his costume gives him those awful birthing hips that so many other male characters are saddled with -- but somehow this is less obnoxious on him than it is on many. Perhaps it's because his thick long hair serves as a distraction and a focal point so your eyes don't just hover on his XXL sized posterior.
Endrance: Once I got over the titillation factor of having someone be openly gay for another character, I found him strangely… unlikable. Mainly because he hits a lot of my "eh" buttons. Endrance is far too selfishly emo for my tastes, and more importantly, he doesn't really have much for me to like. Now I don't mind a bit of brooding and introspection especially for a greater cause, but Endrance seems endlessly mired in the pit of his own angst. Not even the threat to the real world is enough to pull him out of his self-absorbtion. His one interest in anything other than himself is Haseo, but even that has less to do with Haseo actions than the idea of Haseo Endrance builds up in his mind.
Despite having the Temptress as his epitaph, he is chilly, condescending, and antisocial. It is only his interest in pleasing Haseo, or protecting Haseo that motivates him to do… well… anything. Endrance rarely interacts with anyone other than Haseo, not even Saku who dogs his side like a poorly trained terrier. He doesn't care about AIDA or the lost ones. He has no life outside the game … and really none within it either. The upshot? I find it hard to muster up any sympathy or interest in a guy who is basically phoning it in.
It's interesting to compare his cold dismissive personality now, with the friendly, cheerful and caring one he had as Elk. Sure he loved Mia, but he also liked other people as well back then. Somewhere along the line he must have died inside or something.
Game mechanics wise, however, he is totally kick-ass - probably the most useful character outside of Haseo himself.
Costume: Not as bad as Haseo's, but still not particularly attractive either. He runs around looking like a cross between a girl on prom night and a wilted tulip.
Sakubo: For some reason I just couldn't buy this character at all. It just felt false to me. Of course the set up is the only one that could make Gorre work, but nonetheless Sakubo doesn't seem quite crazy enough to be as crazy as they'd have to be to be… them. They left me the impression that the writers only did the most superficial research possible on the disorder they were trying to portray. And maybe they didn't even realize that they were portraying a serious disorder and not just a quirky personality trait anyone could manifest. Anyway, I found it obnoxious in the same way presenting schizophrenics as being cheerfully goofy is obnoxious.
But it's not just the mental illness aspect that the writers fell down on. Almost everything about the character makes no logical sense. Saku spends almost all her clip time undermining Bo's friendships, spending his money, and pursuing her solo interests, even though some violate Bo's sensibilities. She acts like a complete selfish brat. Yet despite all this, everyone seems to think she is somehow protecting Bo, and that he needs her. Say what? Why Endrance puts up with her is a complete mystery, especially since she attacks Haseo right in front of him. Dude - Endrance's one major drive is to impress Haseo with his loyalty, by all logic he should hate Saku for trying to come between them, yet he apparently seems fine with her behavior. Does Not Compute.
Meanwhile, supposedly sweet Bo is easily forgettable, quiet, timid and all but invisible. Whatever interests he might have he seems to keep to himself, stirring only to defend his friends against Saku, and occasionally Saku against his friends - which really puts him as more of a protector figure than his sister. Fight mechanics wise he's just as capable as she is. Socially he is more likeable and less sociopathic. Now why Haseo thinks it's a good idea to encourage him to believe he's dependent on Saku, I don't know.
Costume: Not too bad. A bit goofy and childish - as befits characters their age.
Yata: Yata is another of those characters who I don't quite buy, but luckily he's so far in the background you barely even see him. Most of what bothers me about Yata is his supposed age. We are lead to believe that he is 17, and yet he has the world-knowledge, research capability, and apparent real world contacts and respect of a post-graduate adult. What's more he's had these since he was 10. Er… no. Genius is dandy, but it can't overcome prejudice, time and access problems, and it doesn't automatically come with maturity.
More importantly, Yata never demonstrates any actual genius. He doesn't appear to learn any faster than any normal person, nor does he make any grand leaps of imagination. While he can pry apart code, so can anyone who studies computer languages - with about the same level of success. He shows no more insight than would be expected from someone who has backdoor access to the system and who has the time and inclination to scour the World for anomalies. So while he's not a genius, he is something else: patient.
So throwing away his age, he makes perfect sense as a career researcher/programmer, with above average intelligence and the maturity you'd expect of someone about 30. That would also put his poetry hunting days in his early 20's - a far more normal age for doing research into random, esoteric subjects than any other age.
It's hard to say if he's likable or not, because we almost never see him. And we really don't have much use for him because even after Haseo gets his member-address, he's more of a liability than an asset in the party.
Costume: Other than the hoopskirt, strappy high heels and huge ankle bangles his outfit is very * cough * manly.
Ovan: The game would like to paint him as a misunderstood good guy, but his actions speak far too loudly for that. Instead he is a sympathetic bad guy, which to me makes him far more interesting. He is also smart and competent, two things I admire in any character. In fact no one even comes close to being able to outsmart him. He gets what he thinks he wants - but if it really is what he wanted we don't know. I rather highly suspect not.
I admit I also have a fetish for domineering charismatic bad guys with soft, creepy voices and a talent for confusing the fuck out of people. So Ovan is quite enjoyable. He demonstrates far more strategic capability than Yata - routinely thinking 4 or 5 steps ahead of everyone else. He has a way of commanding attention and respect just by sheer force of presence. He fanatically follows his cause, manipulating the fuck out of everyone who comes near him. He has power - in spades - but his moral compass appears to have cracked somewhere along the line.
My only regret about him is that we barely get to see him in action at all. But that is totally in line with the way the whole series tends to hide what is really going on.
Costume: Aside from the 32 gallon trash barrel on his arm, he is surprisingly well dressed - for this series. He's got a bit of an air-pilot look going on. Naturally when I'm finally presented a character whose ass I wouldn't mind looking at, I never get the chance to.