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.hack//Link
Tokio
Voiced by: Yuko Sanpei (Japanese)
World Identity: Himself.
Real Identity: Ordinary High-School Student
Appears in: .hack//Link (game), .hack//Link: Twilight Knights (manga), .hack//Versus
Tropes Associated With:
- Anime Hair: While this isn't a new thing to the series and is also justified due to the MMORPG setting it has most of the time, Tokio is notable for having anime hair in the real world in a series where most of the actual players behind the characters tend to have more realistic appearances. It's greatly toned down in .hack//Versus
, however. - Accidental Pervert: In the manga.
- Beware the Silly Ones: He beats Posaune badly, leaving Saika and BlackRose having What-the-heck faces.
- BFS: His swords turn to this in his Xth Form. And Mistral turns his blade to this in her Cross Rengeki.
- Big "NO!": When he's too late to join the player selection by CC Corp to get The World R:X in limited period of time.
- Blade Run: Performs this in almost every Cross Rengeki.
- Butt-Monkey: Watch the Cross Rengeki with Tokio and his party members. Over half the time, he gets injured or looks like an idiot during the process.
- Some examples: when he gets used as a stepping stone by Haseo to get to the enemy; gets accidently zapped (along with the enemy) by Atoli, nearly turned into colateral damage by Azure Kite's attack, and B-st Haseo turns to attack him at the end of their "combo" attack.
- Call-Back: He wields two swords and the smaller one refers to Kite's weapon in Link itself.
- Character Development: Tokio does start out acting rather stupid. While he matures dramatically, through presented actions he remains a Moron, just more self-aware that he's a moron so can hold his tongue.
- Crisis Crossover: Brings all of the .hack series characters together. ALL of them. Even some of the ones in Alternate Continuity. They're all A.I.s.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome
- Color Coded Timestop: In Versus, where everything goes rather blue/white.
- Crossdressing Voice: Yes.
- Custom Uniform: Do you go to school with goggles, long headband and large bracelets on your arms?
- Darker and Edgier: By the time .hack//Versus kicks around, he has almost completely shifted in characterization and design, being more Bishōnen mixed with a bit of In the Hood as he is notably more quiet and to the point with his dialog. Turns out he's on the run and trying to evade being detected by the "Mama" eco-terrorist organization.
- Dual Wielding: .hack//Link only.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: His hairstyle has drastically changed in Versus.
- Everything's Better with Rainbows: His final attack in .hack//Versus.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: In .hack//Versus.
- Gratuitous English: In Versus; "Go to heaven!", "Finish!".
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Manga only, where he only wields one sword.
- Heroic BSoD: When he realize he's still too weak to help anybody else. This was made worse when he enters the .hack//Roots timeline and his attempt to help and save Shino failed, prompting Haseo to blame him for Shino's apparent death.
- Heroic Wannabe: SO BAD. At first he was so childish about his responsibilty to become a hero, but later on he matures.
- Hidden Eyes: Subverted later.
- Idiot Hero: His characterization in LINK. He gets better by his appearance in .hack//Versus.
- In the Hood: His appearance in Versus, under his alias "9".
- Invulnerable Knuckles: Wields twin knuckledusters in Versus tied into his new powers.
- Lazy Bum: Subverted, he's super lazy with his school but extremely diligent in terms of playing games.
- Lightning Bruiser: His character growth constantly makes him faster and stronger than before.
- Luminescent Blush: With several girls he had Cross Rengeki with.
- Meaningful Name: The word "toki" from his name means "time", same as his awakened true power.
- His alias in Versus, 9, comes from his surname Kuryuu, which can be read as "nine dragons"
- Motif: Gears.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: 90% of the Fandoms Issues with the character and .hack//Link as a game originate from him doing this ALL THROUGHOUT Link just so Tokio can be glorified in fixing them. Tokio's actions leave Kite effectively dead, turns Haseo into the villain of his own storyline segment to the point he lost Kuhn and attempts to outright murder Atoli, and much of the prior-era cast members end up possessing outright character derailment from their interactions with him. And due to his obsession with being a hero, by the storyline's finale he even ends up being the direct cause of why Aura is driven crazy by a virus in his Body that the "villains" of the game were trying to prevent from reaching her; meaning while he was manipulated into much of this, his xeal is the direct cause to why unrelated people in real life end up Real Digitized, and why AIKA has to sacrifice her life to fix the whole mess. In short, everything the guy touches tends to turn to suck.
- Power Fist
- Only Sane Man: In both .hack//Link and .hack//Versus, he's the only PC with real player.
- Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: One of his attack in Versus.
- Say My Name: He calls the name of every character he's with currently on the party.
- Small Name, Big Ego: So much in the manga.
- Spin Attack: In his Xth Form.
- Swiss-Army Weapon: In his Xth Form, his swords has Killer Yoyo (s).
- Time Travel: In game, Tokio is able to and from the different .hack eras; and bring people with him. Yes, that would include people like Sora and Haseo. At the same time.
- He does so by using the "Akashic Records" built into The World, and he's clearly not actually traveling through time, as a lot of what happens is completely different from what actually happened (and this is pointed out). Also, Sora isn't playable. Unless you count the Early-Bird Cameo, who is a genderswapped Expy of Kite and not the same Sora as past Ryou.
- The Chosen One: Saika knows that Tokio had Real Digitalization since he was 6 and chose him to get the job done.
- The Hero: Saika and Princess AIKA both said that Tokio was their hero.
- The Power of Friendship: "A gear can't move without the others!"
- The Only One: He's the only person in the real world who gets Real Digitalization.
- Time Stands Still: Has this power in Versus.
- Too Dumb to Live: Mostly in the manga, to the point where he almost got himself killed. The main game has a lesser version of this more expressed in how he screws up other characters as a result of his oblivious actions.
- The first time he met Kite and Fluegel, he did recognize Fluegel as the bad guy since Kite fought him. But when Fluegel offers Tokio a lollipop, he begin to wonder if Fluegel is a good guy.
- Took a Level in Badass: You would have a hard time recognizing his Versus self - different fighting style, different powers, and even a different appearance - until he takes off his hood.
- Trapped in TV Land: Is either a copy of his physical self mentally pulled into the World(s); or has been physically pulled into the World.
- Unwitting Pawn: To Geist.
AIKA
Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu (Japanese)
World Identity: A mysterious princess in Tokio's dreams who looks like Saika.
Real Identity: A variants of AIDA that fused with the princess of a different online MMORPG that Tokio once played. It followed him to The World; and wanting to help, took the physical form of Saika.
Appears in: .hack//Link
Tropes Associated With:
- Back from the Dead: Subverted, according to a conclusion (or statement) made by Helba that AIKA may (or may not) be revived in the form of the (fixed) Chim doll Tokio gave her earlier.
- Big Good: In the case of .hack//Link.
- Cute Clumsy Girl
- Damsel in Distress: In the game that Tokio played when he was 6.
- Deuteragonist: Though she appears for real in the middle of the story.
- Genki Girl
- Girl of My Dreams: Ever since Tokio was 6 he always have dreams about AIKA. This is because AIKA was originally an NPC from a game that Jyotarou created, Akashic Line and he himself, after finishing the event, had unknowingly do a Real Digitalization.
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: She's so happy when received a Chim plushie from Tokio.
- Heroic Sacrifice: She sacrifices herself to restore Aura back to normal and saves The World.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Saika. She lives inside Saika's head.
- Hidden Depths: She's actually an evolved AIDA. The reason why she's able to communicate with them.
- Pimped-Out Dress: Big time. Her dress is about as wide as she is tall.
- Platonic Life-Partners: With Tokio, as they only have friends relationship instead of lovers.
- The Stinger: But it's still unconfirmed whether she's back again or not.
- Technicolor Eyes: Her pupils even star-shaped!
Saika Amagi
Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu (Japanese)
World Identity: "Panzer Saika", a heavily armed version of her real self with a really big gun and a German Uniform. (Although, it apparently exists only in the manga.)
Real Identity: Cousin/adopted sister of the man who went crazy and nearly destroyed the World with the Aura Reclamation Project that turned R:1 into R:2.
Appears in: .hack//Link
Tropes Associated With:
- Academic Athlete: Shown in the manga.
- Beneath the Mask: She has double masks. Everyone else in the school thought that she's a perfect School Idol. But in The World, Tokio discovers her true color. But he hasn't seen more until later in the story.
- Big Brother Worship: She truly admires Jyotarou regardless of his faults and her main motivation in LINK was to find and save him.
- Big Damn Heroes: Manga only, where she comes to save Alkaid from the Brainwashed Haseo, though she didn't make it.
- Big "NO!": When her brother gets Real Digitalization and turns into, uh, an Eldritch Abomination.
- Cool Big Sis / Onee-sama: To AIKA.
- Girl of My Dreams: Subverted. Due to great resemblence to AIKA, Tokio's first reaction was this.
- Heroic BSoD: Goes into one after her Big "NO!" moment above. She gets better.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With AIKA.
- Hidden Depths: She has her own reason to made Tokio goes into The World other than to defeat Schicksal.
- The Informant: Serves as such to Tokio until the finale of LINK.
- Magic Skirt: In the game.
- Mission Control: Serves as this for Tokio until the game's finale.
- Ms. Fanservice: Manga only.
- New Transfer Student: Her first appearance. She transferred to the school Tokio is in to Real Digitize him into The World R:X.
- Lack of Empathy: In the games, Saika is accused of this by Tokio after he suffered from a Heroic BSoD regarding Shino's death in the .hack//Roots timeline when she claimed that there's nothing that can be done to change Shino's fate and her excitement at finding Shino's Chrono Core right after the Heroic BSoD was shut down with Tokio being upset at Shino's apparent death and what ensued after (Haseo blaming Tokio for Shino's fate and the Twilight Brigade breaking apart) because everything that he experienced is real.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Recruiting Tokio and Real Digitizing him to The World R:X ended up playing a part to the Big Bad's plans. While most of the actions that helped the Big Bad are Tokio's fault, she's as responsible of the whole mess as Tokio was, since she was the one that brought him to The World. Something that she admits in the finale when Wiseman brought the subject up.
- Platonic Life-Partners: With Tokio. But maybe (just maybe) subverted in the end of the story.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: In case of panty shots. Megane Kikuya (the mangaka) even draws an illustration of her with words; "I'm not ashamed even though my panties are visible." Subverted, when Tokio accidentally sees her in underwear.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Deliver this to Queen of Demise Aura but it didn't reach her.
- Small Girl, Big Gun: In Panzer Saika PC.
- Strong Family Resemblance: She resembles her mother so much that Joutarou mistook the grown up Saika for her mother near the finale of LINK.
- Took a Level in Badass: Manga only, when she fights Haseo in Panzer Saika PC.
- Unwitting Pawn: To Geist, who fooled her with a mail claimed to be from Jyotarou.
Ayaka Amagi
World Identity: She does not play The World.
Real Identity: Mother of Amagi Saika and aunt of Amagi Jyotarou who passed away before the start of the game.
Appears in: .hack//Link
- Plot-Triggering Death: Her death is the main source of Amagi Jyotarou's reasons to create the Aura Reclamation Project.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Her first appearance was in the finale where we see her funeral but her death is also a Plot-Triggering Death that sets the events that led to the creation of The World R:2 and the events of LINK to motion.
.hack//Quantum
Sakuya
Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa (Japanese), Trina Nishimura (English)
Real identity: Asumi Aida. Asumi is a bright and cheerful high school student in Aomori Prefecture. She plays The World with her actual personality. Unlike Eri and Iori, she's bad at studying.
Appears in: .Hack//Quantum, .hack//Versus
Tropes Associated With:
- Always Save the Girl: Given that Quantum is just a 3 episodes OVA where there's a friend of Sakuya and Tobias who needs to be rescued.
- Beware of the Nice Ones: She suddenly hop onto IYOTEN while still being tied inside a bag, defending Hermit.
- Call-Back: Her weapon(s) are also Kite's starting weapon(s) in Infection.
- Also, she got data corruption on the same hand where Kite got his Twilight Bracelet.
- Cheerful Child
- Chronic Hero Syndrome
- Curious as a Monkey: Her curiosity is part of the reason why her and her friends ended up ACCIDENTALLY setting off a ton of traps on the Yata Raven guild who were also participating in the event.
- Damsel in Distress: Together with Hermit being kidnapped by IYOTEN and Asta with their men.
- The Ditz: Dumb enough to made herself to bounty, which is not look what it seemed.
- Expy: Of Kite.
- Feel No Pain: When she was caught by IYOTEN and Asta, she was thrown onto a wall. At first she think it'll hurt but then finds out that it's not.
- Genki Girl: Think Sakuya as a hyperactive version of Kite.
- Heroes Gone Fishing: Literally, she did gone fishing in a river in Mac Anu.
- Keet: So very much. She always excited of new things, especially when The One Sin appears in front of her eyes.
- Kind Hearted Simpleton
- Master of Unlocking: She unlocks Shamrock's control room and the Admiral Cannon barrier (which has been locked for a long time) by her corrupted right hand.
- Nice Girl: She quickly befriends Hermit who she's yet to know.
- No Sense of Direction: Two times.
- Platonic Life-Partners: With Hermit.
- The Only One: That can calm Hermit down from his rampage.
- Proper Tights with a Skirt: In the real world, when she wears her uniform.
- Right Hand of Doom/The Corruption: On a positive note, as her corrupted right hand is the only thing that can delete the Data Bugs that Hermit unleashed.
- Say My Name: "ERI!!!"
- Spin Attack: One of her attack in Versus.
- Took a Level in Badass: In .hack//Versus.
- True Companions: Together with Mary and Tobias. Plus Hermit in the end.
- Took a Level in Badass: Actually she's not a straight badass but she has this moment a lot.
- Unnecessary Combat Roll: One of her attack in Versus has this sequence.
Mary
Voiced by: Ayumi Fujimura (Japanese), Lara Woodhull (English)
Real identity: Eri Etou. Eri started playing The World after she was invited by her long-time friend Asumi, who she is constantly looking out for. Every morning she comes to get Asumi, who is always on the brink of being late for school.
Appears in: .Hack//Quantum
Tropes Associated With:
- Beware the Nice Ones: Her kindness has its limitations.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Attacks her friends under command of Hermit.
- Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind: No one even saw her and Tobias come to rescue Sakuya (and Hermit).
- Cool Big Sis: Between Sakuya and Tobias.
- The Corruption: When she protects Sakuya from the unknown bug which later puts her to coma.]]
- Expy: Of BlackRose
- Godiva Hair: When corrupted.
- Hidden Eyes: When corrupted.
- Luminescent Blush: In real world, when Sakuya says she still want to spend more time with her and Iori.
- Plucky Girl: The only one of the three who actually willing to draw out her sword.
- Proper Tights with a Skirt: In the real world, when she wears her uniform.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: In real world.
- Seen It All: Despite being brainwashed by Hermit she still knew the events that has happened.
- Tron Lines: Pink ones when her PC was corrupted, mirroring her real world self in gray color.
- Turn the Other Cheek: Her kindness almost places her at All-Loving Hero levels.
Tobias
Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (Japanese), Anastasia Muñoz (English)
World Identity: Tobias is a Blade Brandier modeled after Balmung. He is an experienced player of The World who befriends Sakuya and Mary. He is commonly known as "Tobias the Information Merchant", taking into selling information much like Wiseman did.
Real identity: Iori Ikuta. Iori is classmates with Eri and Asumi. Her sense of fashion in The World is not reflected at all in the real world. Her family owns one of the best and oldest hot springs resorts in Aomori.
Appears in: .Hack//Quantum
Tropes Associated With:
- Commanding Coolness: To the other players when they got trapped in the game because of Hermit.
- Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind: Together with Mary when rescuing Sakuya (and Hermit).
- Crossdressing Voice: In case of her online persona.
- Cross Player: Yeah, she's a female playing a male character.
- Custom Uniform: She even wears pants instead of her uniform's skirt to the school. Plus she brings a weird mask.
- Distressed Dude: Captured by Hermit.
- Expy: of Balmung
- Gender-Blender Name: In the real world. Hmm, a girl named Iori...
- Luminescent Blush: In real world, when Sakuya says she still want to spend more time with her and Eri.
- Non-Action Guy: Subverted. He doesn't pull out his sword for most of the time, but he does sometimes.
- Tomboy: Judging on how she dressed in the real world.
Hermit
Voiced by: Yui Ogura (Japanese), Lindsay Seidel (English)
World Identity: A strange character with an illegal appearance modeled suspiciously after both Mia and Macha. Whether Hermit is a PC or NPC is unknown, but it appears to be looking for something... Hermit befriends Sakuya after she managed to escape some pursuers chasing her through town.
Real identity: Touha Tanagami. Touha Tanagami was an American citizen of Japanese descent, hospitalized as a child with an unspecified disease, possibly some form of immunodeficiency.
Appears in: .Hack//Quantum
Tropes Associated With:
- Ax-Crazy: After he finds out the truth.
- Badass Adorable: Doesn't look like one, but beware of that little stick...
- Because You Were Nice to Me: To Sakuya.
- Big Bad
- Big Bad Friend: To Sakuya.
- Cheshire Cat Grin: After he saw that Sakuya is willing to come to his place.
- The Chessmaster: He seemed to anticipated all things to be done by Shamrock and made his move.
- Crossdressing Voice
- Cute and Psycho: He even seemed to trying to PK Sakuya at their first meeting, but then he stops when she says that Mary and Tobias are her "friend".
- Deadpan Snarker: To everyone else except Sakuya.
- Death Seeker: After know that he's dead, he plans to end The World along with himself.
- Distressed Dude: Together with Sakuya.
- Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: After finding the truth and decides to create riot in The World.
- Expy: Of Mia and Macha.
- Feel No Pain: Averted. Even though it was just his brain that plays the game he still experience pain.
- The Glomp: Give this to Sakuya, causing both of them fall into the river.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: Soon when he finds out that in the real world he's already dead. But his brain still alive though.
- Gratuitous English: Given that he's an American citizen. He wrote a job offer letter to Geek with an excellent English.
- Hidden Depths: His looks totally masked him of what he really is.
- I Cannot Self-Terminate: So he asked Sakuya to end his life. Fortunately, she refused to do so.
- Knowledge Broker: He has the most Haplotype Data of people with microchips from around the world.
- Laughing Mad: When replying a PK'er that she only can kill in virtual world, then...
- Let's Get Dangerous!: When the PK'er wants to PK him, the little stick comes out and... bye-bye...
- Loner-Turned-Friend: He was actually surprised and happy at the same time when Sakuya blatantly says that he's her friend now.
- Luminescent Blush: Several times. The sweetest one is being when he asks Sakuya to hug him as his final wish.
- Meaningful Name: Averted. "Hermit" refers to someone with a calm and collected attitude, but his personality doesn't match this.
- Mercy Kill: Asks Sakuya to do this to him as he already lost reason to live. Fortunately, Sakuya refuses.
-
Moral Event Horizon: After knowing the truth, he just lost his mind and passed this.]] - No Body Left Behind: He actually put those bodies in his pariah folder.
- Person of Mass Destruction: He hacked Sophia (CC Corp's own anti virus), he made many people become Sleepers due to his search for the right donor, he hacked The One Sin and The One and he hacked a Lost Ground statue to live. Houston, we got a problem.
- Platonic Life-Partners: With Sakuya.
- Playing with Fire: He sets out a restaurant in fire when he Go Mad from the Revelation.
- Rare Random Drops: Unintentionally, one of his item which actually contains a list of a number of people's Haplotype Data.
- The Sociopath
- Trapped in TV Land: He was actually being Real Digitalized, like Tokio.
- Unstoppable Rage: See above to know how fearsome he is.
- When She Smiles: Gender flip, and too cute to be true.
- Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: He sneaks to every place Sakuya visit.
Shamrock
Voiced By: Sanae Kobayashi (Japanese), Stephanie Young (English)
World Identity: Shamrock is a Shadow Warlock and the guildmaster of the Yata Mirror guild. She and Smith try their hand at The One Sin special event, but end up chasing after Sakuya, Mary,and Tobias after they accidentally spring a bunch of traps on them.
Real identity: Reiko Saeki, the player of Pi.
Appears in: .hack//Quantum
Tropes Associated With:
- BFG: She uses the Admiral Cannon to blow off the walking statue Magnifie which is Hermit's place to end the riot in The World.
- Black Magician Girl
- Call-Back: Considering that she has an Avatar back then in R:2, she still has the ability to Data-Drain.
- The Captain: Of Yata Mirror guild.
- Commanding Coolness:
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: Downplayed. At times but she's mostly "hard" instead of "elegant".
- Expy: Of Aina.
- Foreshadowing: The name of her guild Yata Mirror, while seemingly named after one of the 3 treasures of japan, is likely a subtle reference to her identity as Pi due to her obsession with Yata
- Good Is Not Nice: She beats Hermit's informant badly unless he spit out some information. Which is ironically, he didn't know as well.
- Hidden Depths: She looks like an ordinary PC, but actually she has experienced and knew things with Haseo back then in R:2.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: With Smith, she is the tiny girl
- Playing with Fire: Her spell, when she blows of everything within a radius.
- Older Than They Look: Her voice tells.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: In the real world.
- Tron Lines: Data Drain
Smith
Voiced By: Masami Iwasaki (Japanese), J. Michael Tatum (English)
World identity: Smith is a Lord Partisan and the second-in-command of the Yata Mirror guild.
Real identity: Reiko Saeki's butler.
Appears in: .hack//Quantum
Tropes Associated With:
- Battle Butler: In the case of inside The World.
- Expy: of Piros the 3rd and Moonstone
- The Faceless: We never got a chance to see his face in both real world and in The World.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: He often lets Shamrock ride on his shoulder.
- The Quiet One: He doesn't talk much.
- Undying Loyalty: To Shamrock.
.hack//Beyond the World
Kite (Sora)
Voiced By: Nanami Sakuraba (Real Identity), Sayaka Aida (Avatar)
World Identity: Kite, a new Twin Blade-class character in The World FORCE:ERA, the successor to The World R:X that was designed to return to the game series' roots in Emma Wielant's Epitaph of Twilight. Her character model, as the name implies, is based on the real Kite from the The World R:1.
Real Identity: Sora Yuuki, an average 14-year-old Japanese middle-schooler.
Appears in: .hack//LINK, .hack//Beyond the World, .hack//Versus
Tropes Associated With:
- Assist Character: Her final attack in .hack//Versus, where Balder and Gondo assists her to attack the opponent.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: In her Cross Rengeki in Link.
- Cross Player: Sora is a female gamer who won the avatar of the Legacy Character—Kite, a male avatar, and simply played the game with it.
- Determinator: "I will save The World!!"
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Since Sora never bothered to hide her true gender while playing with her male avatar, many gamers just look pass her avatar and treat her as a girl.
- Early-Bird Cameo: She appeared in .hack//LINK as a secret guest character before the movie she stars in was officially announced.
- Freak Out: When Balder confess that he likes Sora Yuuki directly in The World.
- Legacy Character: The next to use the Kite model after Sakuya.
- Major Injury Underreaction: Her leg was broken by the Data Bugs but he doesn't respond a bit to it.
- Megaton Punch: In the end of her Cross Rengeki in Link.
- Naïve Newcomer: So naive that she didn't understand a single thing. Maybe because her grandfather forbids her to play games so that she didn't understand a thing about games.
-
The Other Darrin: Sakuraba Nanami replaces Sayaka Aida who previously voiced her voice in Link. - Read the Freaking Manual: All the problems she has with the game can be solved by reading the manual. If only she actually remembers it.
- Screaming Warrior: In Link, and it's in a cute way.
- The Chosen One: By Aura to keep and fertilize Aura's data seed until it matures and strong enough to exterminate the spreading Data Bugs.
- Took a Level in Badass: When she have to reach the top of Aura's giant statue in order to reach the core of The World and return the data seed back to Aura.
- Also in .hack//Versus.
- Tron Lines: When Aura's data seed keeps on expanding within her.
- Also in her Exceed mode in .hack//Versus.
Balder
Voiced by: Tanaka Kei (Real Identity), Nobuyuki Hiyama (Avatar)
World Identity: Balder, a Paladin in The World FORCE:ERA. His model is based on Balmung's.
Real Identity: Tomohiko Okano
Appears in: .hack//Beyond the World, .hack//Versus
Tropes Associated With:
- Call-Back: There's a scene where he and Gondo defeats a giant dragon, possibly referenced on how Balmung and Orca might have killed The One Sin.
- Heroes Prefer Swords
- Knight in Shining Armor
- Legacy Character: The next to use Balmung's model after Tobias.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy
- Love Triangle
- Mistaken Identity: Due to their avatars concealing user identities with built-in professional voice actors’ vocal system, Sora assumed his player is Tanaka, while Tanaka is actually playing as Gondo.
- Nice Guy
- The Paladin: His Job Class.
Gondo
Voiced by: Matsuzaka Tori (Real Identity), Yasunori Masutani (Avatar)
World Identity: Gondo, a Berserker-class character in The World FORCE:ERA.
Real Identity: Kakeru Tanaka
Appears in: .hack//Beyond the World, .hack//Versus, Thanatos Report
Tropes Associated With:
- Asleep for Days: 2 days to be precise, when he's in coma.
- BFS
- The Big Guy
- Call-Back: There's a scene where he and Balder defeats a giant dragon, possibly referenced on how Balmung and Orca might have killed The One Sin.
- Facial Markings
- Hidden Depths
- Legacy Character: He's the second character in the series to use Orca's character model.
- Love Triangle: Didn't even realize he's in one!
- Mighty Glacier
- Mistaken Identity: Due to their avatars concealing user identities with built-in professional voice actors’ vocal system, Sora assumed his player is Okano, while Okano is in fact, Balder.
- The Stoic: In the real world.
- Stoic Spectacles
- The Quiet One
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: In the real world.
- Walking Shirtless Scene
Takefu Yuuki
Voiced By: Kenichi Ogata
Sora's Grandpa.
Tropes Associated With:
- Hypocrite: He forbids Sora to play any online games. Turns out, he was actually playing The World.
David Steinberg
Voiced By: Greag Dale
World Identity: Kusame, an anthropomorphic jackal-like character he uses throughout Beyond the World to keep track of (and later aid) Kite (Sora).
Real Identity: David Steinberg, an American agent for the Network Administration Bureau. Thanatos Report reveals that he's an FBI agent working secretly within the NAB in order to retrieve Aura's data and keep it out of Mama's possession.
Appears in: .hack//Beyond the World, Thanatos Report
Tropes Associated With:
- Artificial Limbs: David has at least artificial arms and an eye by 2025, a year after Beyond the World. This is most likely due to Eleanor shooting his actual arms when she betrayed him, combined with David igniting a grenade on himself and the armed men that were about to take Aura's data from his body in order to escape. He uses one of his eyes to store Aura's data, while using its previous location of his necktie clip as a Red Herring to fool Eleanor and her followers. In his dying moments, he transfers the data to his artificial fingertip, which also serves as waterproof data storage.
- Badass Normal
- But Not Too Foreign: He uses Japanese name for his PC.
- Determinator
- Egyptian Mythology: His avatar in The World is an Anubis-looking character. Fits with his Japanese, which is of an old-fashioned style.
- Killed Off for Real: He is killed off by Eleanor's men while avoiding pursuit of her and protecting Aura's data.
- The Informant
