Online Jack

Online Jack is an animation that plays at certain intervals in the GU Games.

The main character of Online Jack is Salvador Aihara, a news reporter for the show "Online Jack", broadcast by the NEAR-enter Corporation. He is investigating something called "Doll Syndrome." It is unclear what this is, although it is a medical condition that is affecting kids as young as elementary school, and is connected to The World R:2.

Episode 1
Salvador informs the audience that he has decided to investigate something called "Doll Syndrome", a medical condition that has affected several elementary school students. He visits the apartment of Taichiro Sugai, a researcher who wrote a book on the condition blaming online games as the cause. Though Salvador loses his lead after Sugai slams the door in his face he finds another source and investigates the school the children were attending.

Attempting to sneak into the school he encounters the teacher Michiru Tajima who mistakes him for a pervert and knocks him out. Awakening in the nurses office Salvador swears to continue his investigation.

Episode 2
Salvador travels with Michiru Tajima to visit the house of her student Osamu Kawaguchi. The house is closed off when they arrive, and Salvador, Michiru, and Salvador's cameraman enter on their own. They find Osamu mindlessly sitting in front of his computer, which has crashed and is only displaying static. Osamu turns to face them and softly says the word "Sakaki" before collapsing to the floor. It may also be noted that the word "AIDA" was written on what appears to be every electronic device in the room.



Episode 3
Wanting answers, Salvador goes to visit Osamu Kawaguchi in the hospital. After being momentarily distracted by the nurses he encounters Michiru Tajima and the Researcher Taichiro Sugai there as well. They go to Osamu's room, but find that he has disappeared, and that several unfamiliar words have been written on the wall in blood. The words are "Skeith", "Innis", "Magus", several other words are written as well, but Salvador is unable to make them out.

Episode 4
After Michiru and Salvador "invade" Professor Sugai's apartment, they are met by the professor who tells them everything he knows. Though he was unable to find out what the word "AIDA" meant, he was able to discover that the words "Skeith", "Innis" and "Magus" are the names of characters from the Epitaph of Twilight. Salvador recognizes the Epitaph as the poem The World was based on. Professor Sugai speculates that the current problems in The World R:2 are related to the incidents that occurred in The World seven years ago. He reveals that all of the children with doll syndrome in Michiru's class were members of the same Guild in The World, Moon Tree. Salvador suddenly realizes that the word Kawaguchi spoke before he collapsed was the name of one of the leaders of Moon Tree. Professor Sugai then shows footage of Kawaguchi and the other children in the hospital. All are hooked up to strange machines, suddenly one of the machines begins to spark. Michiru recognizes the student attached to it as "Tooru". As observation continues, Michiru receives a mysterious text message. After reading it she rushes out of the room, shouting that she has to stop something. A baffled Salvador follows closely behind her.

Episode 5
Outside of Michiru's Elementary School Salvador gives a quick recap of the events that brought him there. After Michiru rushed out of Professor Sugai's apartment Salvador followed her, convincing her to show him the text message she'd received. To Salvador's shock the message was from Kawaguchi, telling her that Sakaki had taken him and the other children to one of the school's computer labs. Concerned for her student's safety, Michiru prepares to enter the school. Salvador attempts to go with her, but his perverted antics cause Michiru to refuse his company. Still wanting to get his story, Salvador presents her with his camera headset, saying that it will "protect her in his absence". Armed with the headset Michiru enters the school and cautiously creeps to the computer lab. Entering she is shocked to see Osamu and three other students inside. Mindlessly they rise from their chairs and start stumbling towards her.

Episode 6
The episode begins with Michiru standing outside of the Elementary School. She says that despite attempts to censor the episode, that it will still be aired, and that everything shown on it is absolutely true. The episode then begins, continuing where the last one left off. As the zombie-like students advance towards Michiru, Salvador suddenly breaks in through a nearby window, having seen her plight through his camera. Knocking the kids back, Salvador is suddenly confronted by their ringleader Tooru Uike, the player behind Sakaki. Tooru says that he intends to change the world, and that he won't let anyone stand in his way. When Salvador attempts to get close to him, Tooru attacks him by shooting electricity out of his body. With Salvador out of commission Tooru commands the other students to attack Michiru, but is interrupted when a SWAT team breaks into the building. Faced with the police, Tooru and the other children fade away, leaving Michiru and Salvador behind. The episode then moves back to Michiru, who insists that what happened was real. As evidence she shows the bruises she received from the student's attacks. Pleadingly Michiru says that The World R:2 is being used for an evil purpose, and begs parents to keep their kids from playing it.

Episode 7
Michiru, now a reporter for Online Jack goes to see Salvador in his hospital room. To her surprise Salvador has left his bed, leaving a dummy behind as a practical joke. Laughing the real Salvador comes out of his hiding place in the corner and congratulates her on her new job. Michiru angrily tells him that it's his fault she got fired from her old job as a teacher, and proceeds to beat him up. After he recovers, Michiru tells him that even though she was fired she still considers Tooru and Osamu her students, and swears to help them any way she can. Salvador agrees to help her, and the pair go off to visit Professor Sugai.

With the heavy advertising he got with their previous episodes, Sugai has become an overnight celebrity. His book on Doll Syndrome recently topped the sales charts with hundreds of thousands of copies sold. Dodging other reporters, Salvador and Michiru enter Sugai's apartment and ask what their next move should be. Though giddy over his success, Sugai quickly becomes serious and tells them that his only concern is to help children like Osamu and Tooru, no matter what it takes.

Episode 8
The episode begins with Salvador, Michiru, and Sugai infiltrating CC Corp's #4 Lab at night. While Sugai attempts to hack (with the help of a hacker friend) into the lab door, the latter conversate about how players of The World infected by an entity (AIDA) ended up up with Doll Sydrome and others becoming "followers." Sugai swears to save the children even if it means loosing his job. Successfully hacking in, Sugai tells Salvador and Michiru how CC Corp knew the risks of the The World and observed patients in secrecy as a cover up. He also mentions the lab in which these observations took place, which apparently was closed down. They eventually find the lab, completely empty and run down.

As they later look around the lab, Salvador finds a "week old" bag of chips and begins eating them. They are all startled as the screen behind them turns on, The World's menu screen visible. The screen then briefly changes to the scene of Ovan and Aina before releasing the Rebirth and shutting off. Speechless, all three watch as the screen turns on again showing the Rebirth program being activated, with the word "Rebirth" being typed out between the code flashes. The screen switches to a blinking and alarming "Rebirth" and engulfs the latter in a blinding white light. The flash gone, they find themselves caught by CC Corp employees and aghast at what they just saw.

Episode 9
Michiru and Salvador are talking about AIDA and the events that have happened. They say all of the students are back and have no memory. They are in a hospital talking when Shino Nanao walks by. She tells them about AIDA before going in the elevator. Down the hallway a nurse is seen taking down a plaque with Shino's name on it.

Trivia

 * Early in the final episode when Salvador & Michiru are standing infront of a monitor various scenes will show up including a stock ticker. One of the companies scrolling by on said ticker is named Liminality. A nice throwback to the OVA series which accompanied the first .hack game series.