Anime Markings

[Squall]

When you watch .hack, you notice those markings everyone has? Tsukasa's got those ones on his cheeks, Crim's got one on his chest, ect. ect. Normally, I would dismiss it as just artwork thrown in to make the charicters look better, but then when you see the opening sequence, when all the players go around and are cut in half, in the backround it shows all the markings being plastered on Tsukasa's face! What I'd like to know is:

1) What do the markings mean? Do they pose any significance?

2) Why were they all plastered on Tsukasa's face in the beginning?

3) How come Sora, BT, and Silver Knight are markless?

4) Just about anything else.

[OtakuSennen]

[color=midnightblue]Well, according to what I have read, the markings have two specific reasons to be there:

[b]What do the markings mean? Do they pose any significance?[/b]
In MMORPGs like The World, there are many, many users. Now, if the system only has, let's say, twenty different hairstyles for girls on non-custom character skins, plus maybe 50 varieties of different pieces of clothing, each relying on the character's class and age, how many characters are there going to be who look very similar? Having the different colored markings on faces gives more differenciation to characters, so that almost no two characters look exactly alike.

Also, the .hack novel states that the colors of the markings are to signify elemental strengths. I'm guessing orange or red is fire, blue is water, and so on. And I suppose, like in some games, The World has characters who are more well-rounded and have no particular elemental strength, if any at all.

[b]Why were they plastered all over Tsukasa's face in the beginning?[/b]

That's a good question. But, I suppose, like almost everything in the beginning and ending credits of .hack//SIGN, this is symbolism and is open to interpretation. Maybe the creators don't even know what they were doing, and just thought it looked nice. I'm thinking that if you don't see any other characters with multiple markings, this is another aspect that makes Tsukasa different. Or maybe they represent multiple strengths that Morganna gives to Tsukasa.. There's a ton of possibilities, I suppose.

[b]Howcome Sora, BT and Silver Knight are markless?[/b]

Sora and BT have items of clothing which cover their foreheads. Perhaps their markings are hidden under there? And Ginkan (Silver Knight).. Well, if he's covered in armor, for all we know his arms are covered in pink triangles. So they could either be "non-specific" characters element-wise, or just covering their markings up.

[b]Just about anything else[/b]

Okay, then. I think Subaru's mark on her forehead looks like either an E with a dot, or a very cursive "Hi" slanted down (Yeah, that wasn't important).[/color]

[KKC]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by OtakuSennen [/i]
[B][color=midnightblue]
for all we know his arms are covered in pink triangles.[/color] [/B][/QUOTE]

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Sorry, that was just so funny though!
*cough*

Ok, anyways. I have something to add about the symbols. Symbols can also have a religious meaning. I have so idea how, but they could. Another one could be that the symbol stands for a personality like: Courage, Wisedom, ect. Or they could just be there to make the characters look really cool (like Crim).

I read on another MB that the markings that appear on Tsukasa's face are "waves" I have no idea what that person meant by waves, but if you want to do some reasearch on it that might help.

And about Subaru's mark. If you look at it side ways it looks like a cusive [I]h[/I] with a dot before it. (like Sennen said) Many people think it stand for .hack.

(I support the idea of Silver Knight having pink upside down triangles up and down his arms!)