Bear

"I fear now that avoiding conflict is not just a matter of turning off your terminal."

- Bear

Bear (ベア) is a male Blademaster with an appearance similar to Orca. He is a caring player that likes to help out newbies in The World.

Appearance
Bear is a large, burly Blademaster. He wears relatively little armor, and most of his body and face is covered in blue wave tattoos.

Personality
Fairly easy-going, Bear usually prefers to relax in The World. He acts as a sort of helper for newbies, and tries to give off an experienced air. When he does go adventuring he usually travels with either BT or Mimiru. He has the habit of quoting obscure authors to help make a point.

Basic Info
In the real world, Bear is a famous author and novelist named Ryo Sakuma. He is the author of the acclaimed novel "Annwn" and is in his mid forties. Divorced from his wife, he is constantly pestered by his adult son, Teddy in The World, with demands for money, demands that he usually gives into. Following the events of SIGN, he became An Shoji's legal guardian, and is using his money to support her as she attends boarding school.

Hobbies
Aside from playing The World, Bear enjoys reading books by famous authors, as well as writing books of his own and he is also a fan of the theatre while being known as a smoker. His computer is equipped with various dictionaries which enable him to research required information.

.hack//SIGN
At the beginning of the anime, Bear discovers the strange player Tsukasa and begins to investigate into the player, however, BT warns Bear not to get too involved with Tsukasa´s life unless he is willing to take responsibility for him. When Bear finds out about Tsukasa's miserable real life outside of the game, he offers him the decision of allowing Bear to become his legal guardian once he logs out from The World.

.hack//Intermezzo
During Intermezzo, Bear travels to the bottom of the unbalanced dungeon with Mimiru to see the remains of Mimika.



.hack//Games
Kite and Elk run into Bear at the bottom of a dungeon. Kite thinks he's Orca at first, but Bear says that he's not even close to being that famous. Bear introduces himself as a newbie helper, but says that players of their level really don't need his help. After staring at Elk for a bit, he admits that Elk reminds him of an old friend. As a token of their meeting Bear gives Kite his sword. Later he can be found wandering around the Root Towns; he has several rare items available to trade.

.hack//Unison
During Unison, Bear meets most of the SIGN cast and several of the game characters in a bar in Carmina Gadelica. He travels with them to Net Slum where Helba is hosting a party.

.hack//GIFT
Bear is PKed by Orca at the beginning of GIFT, but since their avatars look so alike everybody assumes that it was Orca who was PKed instead. Bear finally catches up to Orca at Helba's hot springs, and the two begin a sword fight. After getting tired, they decide to stop the fight and relax in the springs. Orca admits that the only reason he killed Bear and tried to take his place was because he wanted to be a part of the plot for a little bit. Being the understanding person he is, Bear forgives Orca. Later, Bear peeps on Subaru, Mimiru and BT as they bathe in the hot springs.

.hack//Link

 * Main article: Bear (LINK)

Trivia

 * Ryo's novel "Annwn" is erroneously referred to as "Annwyn" in the subtitles.
 * Bear is the first normal PC to successfully finish off a Guardian (although it was a joint effort, Bear dealt the final blow).
 * Bear gives Mimiru three chances to guess his real-life occupation. In Epitaph, she guesses "Detective," and in Party she guesses "College Professor." She never uses her third guess.
 * The name "Bear" is most likely a derivative of the player's Japanese surname, Sakuma, "kuma" being the Japanese word for bear.

Bear