Talk:Hotaru

Gender
So... if it wasn't a mistranslation in the anime, then she is most likely a girl. I mean, look at her photo in the manga. Clearly, it's female, not another Bridget Incident. Kulaguy 20:24, 14 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I mean in the sound drama, when they say she's a guy, that's what they actually said in Japanese, not a translation mistake. And as far as the picture goes, I've seen an awful lot of anime and that might very well be a guy. Shorts are something character designers like to use when they want to confuse the hell out of you, like with Subaru in Sakura Taisen V... -Kuukai 21:06, 14 June 2006 (UTC)


 * But the problem is, .hack isn't like other anime, AFAIK. I doubt they would use cliches like that. Plus, is there any other character in .hack that looks like the opposite gender than what they really are? Kulaguy 21:12, 14 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Lots of people thought Silabus might be female at first. And irl Hotaru doesn't look the opposite to me, just really androgynous, possibly a young bishounen. -Kuukai 22:07, 14 June 2006 (UTC)


 * They *did* say Hotaru was a guy, but I'm pretty sure they were only joking.--OtakuD50 21:51, 14 June 2006 (UTC)


 * In the context of that CD Hotaru was a guy. And it wasn't exactly GIFT. But yeah, like I wrote in the article, it wasn't exactly "100% Canon Guaranteed" either. I'm not trying to make a case for Hotaru definitely being male, just that he is in one branch of the canon, and in the other we really don't know because nothing explicit has been said, all we have is a picture we can't seem to agree on. -Kuukai 22:07, 14 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Now I'm as confused as ever. Kuukai, you got AI Buster 2 in Japanese, don't you? Are you able to translate part of Firely? Specifically, a little bit before chapter 3, when Hotaru meets some players. One of the players says "He's a gaijin", which means Hotaru's character could be a boy. Kulaguy 22:24, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Interesting. Actually I don't have it (I have a bunch of the stories in it from where they were originally published, but not that one), I could check with someone who does if you want though. Usually Tokyopop just pulls pronouns out of nowhere though, so it's likely gender-neutral. And even if it wasn't, I have to say that it could very well be a mistake on the speaker's part. And we're talking about in-game, right? That still really doesn't bring us closer to irl gender... (though the audio drama made the claim that Hotaru was male even in The World, and Shugo was the only one who never realized this) -Kuukai 22:40, 14 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Well it seems pretty obvious that Hotaru is a girl in the Legend of the Twilight manga. She's refered to as female on multiple occasions, and there's the fact that she gets hit on by like 5 guys at once. The way I see it she's a female avatar at least in both the anime and manga. Her gender irl is still up for debate, though I still imagine her being female (in the manga at least, the anime is open for dicussion). --CRtwenty 11:56, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, people can make mistakes. Also, I'm betting at least half the gender-specific language in the English version wasn't there in the Japanese version. As far as the anime continuity goes, her PC is male though, it would seem... (Magi too I believe). Whatever, I'm happy with the "controversy" section, people know we don't really know, so I guess I'll leave it at that... - Kuukai 18:43, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

Oddly, in AI Buster 2, her gender is listed as ???. It's like they are trying to feed the Hotaru=Boy fire, or something.


 * Well, they did that because you weren't supposed to make the connection between Firefly and Hotaru until the very end. --CRtwenty 00:28, 19 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Time to bring this debate back up. One character saying Hotaru is a boy isn't enough proof. Hell, if it was in the Tokyopopo version, it's not really saying much. Most of the manga has characters, like Shugo and Rena, referring to Hotaru as a girl. Oh, and which page in analysis does it say that the Udeden anime is canon? Kulaguy 22:55, 16 March 2007 (UTC)


 * I have to agree. The evidence for Hotaru being female outweighs evidence saying otherwise. The only real evidence is Let's Meet Offline, which is non-canon. None of the characters in the LotT manga even hint at her being male. Besides, isn't she supposed to be like, the female version of the Elk/Tsukasa/Luke avatar? Also, whenever there's a costume change, Hotaru is always seen wearing female outfits. For instance in the Rena Special Pack all of the male characters dress in doctor's outfits, while all the females wear nurses outfits. Hotaru wears a nurses outfit. She also appears in several of the female only pinups. --CRtwenty 01:09, 17 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Time to bring this debate back up.
 * Gah, do we have to?
 * Hell, if it was in the Tokyopopo version, it's not really saying much.
 * I don't have either, and I didn't add this part. Someone else will have to confirm for either version...
 * Most of the manga has characters, like Shugo and Rena, referring to Hotaru as a girl.
 * Magi is called "she", Bo is called "he" (I think he's referred to as male when Haseo first meets him, in Japanese at least). Unless you can prove there's some feature to check player gender, I don't know how we can assume it's actually clear to the players. In addition, I still need to read the manga, but how much of what they said about Hotaru was gender-specific in the original is unclear, so this might not be as much of an issue.
 * Oh, and which page in analysis does it say that the Udeden anime is canon?
 * 79, 84, 89, and others all state as canon things that are only true in the anime.
 * Besides, isn't she supposed to be like, the female version of the Elk/Tsukasa/Luke avatar?
 * Actually, I forgot this in the controversy summary, but this was one of the other reasons cited for thinking her PC is male. As far as we know, is there a female Tsukasa-type? (outside of G.U. at least)
 * Also, whenever there's a costume change, Hotaru is always seen wearing female outfits. For instance in the Rena Special Pack all of the male characters dress in doctor's outfits, while all the females wear nurses outfits. Hotaru wears a nurses outfit. She also appears in several of the female only pinups.
 * But... No chest at all. Are you aware of Bridget? Anyway, my point is that there isn't a definitive word on this, just like Sophora's gender. We had a heated debate about Magi, despite there being official evidence for that, and since the only sources I know of for Hotaru's gender are tainted by information about the anime (which subsequently retconned it) is it that insane to just leave it blank and have a section explaining both sets of reasons? - Kuukai2 07:26, 17 March 2007 (UTC)
 * I never agreed with the thing on Magi either, but that's another topic. There is official evidence of Hotaru being female in the game, they specifically call her a girl several times in the actual series. The only evidence of her not being a girl is in the clearly non-canon Let's Meet Offline. If Hotaru was a boy, don't you think that it would have been a plot point they'd touch on, like oh... say Tsukasa, or Sakubo? So far the only evidence I'm seeing from you is either non-canon, or based on the fact that she doesn't look feminine enough to you. --CRtwenty 07:47, 17 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Rei Idzumi herself says that Magi's PC is male, in the manga volume itself, how can you not agree with that? Magi's gender was never a plot point, so no, I don't think it's necessary. People in the series thinking Hotaru is female doesn't clear this up any more than people in SIGN (namely Tsukasa himself) thinking Tsukasa was a boy irl, and again I'm not even sure to what extent she is actually gender-labeled by them. There's some definitely cross-pollination of ideas between the anime and the canon media, such as Sanjuro and Hotaru meeting in AIB2, and as the only explicit official statement of her gender at all has only been for the anime version. For all of the anime, her gender situation was the same as the manga, I don't see any specific factor that would imply it has to be different just because it's the manga vs. the anime. This of course isn't proof, I'm just saying there's doubt, and it's weird to just throw that out without any explicit evidence that warrants doing so. Especially since even the "canon/non-canon" line is something drawn by fans, not them, in the first place, which is why analysis and pretty much all timelines and official statements have ignored it. I kinda really wanna get ahold of Firefly in Japanese and see if it clears this up at all... - Kuukai2 08:46, 17 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Shut up Kuukai. "LAWLZ HOTARU ISNT A GIRL CUZ ANALYSIS HAS CARL'S CLASS WRONG!" The fuck does that have to do with anything? If you don't wanna use Analysis for this page, then remove every single piece of info taken from Analysis from all pages. Heck we can't have info that could possibly be wrong because they got a few classes wrong in the book. Unless you can disprove Hotaru being a girl other than the bullshit excuse you're using now, Hotaru is a girl. More than one piece of media supports it. All I see is someone who wants Hotaru to boy. Kulaguy 02:12, 24 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Errors like that account for only about 5% of my objection with using the gender from analysis. In my opinion, any of the Udeden character information in analysis is, indeed, complete crap, since it treats the anime as canon, in fact over the manga when they overlap. I guess Kamui has no past with Albireo, but has dated Balmung? Then they went and retconned Hotaru's gender in the anime universe anyway, so I think the validity of that entry is even more questionable. Outside of that, where is her gender explicitly revealed? Only in the anime, to my knowledge, and in that she's a he. Under normal circumstances I'd agree she looks like a female and that's enough (that's what we do for most characters), but that's no reason to just decide her irl gender is female and also remove anything about her gender in the anime continuity. And under these circumstances, where the only known version of her is male, I'd say it's better to be careful. It's not like she's particularly more feminine in the manga version. Other characters thought she was female in both versions, that's not any sort of sign. Whatever, it's your site. I don't "want" Hotaru to be male, I just want the page to be accurate. I'm the unofficial site nitpicker. We really have no information either way, and I think a degree of uncertainty in what we portray as fact is warranted since one version of her is male, and the other is not particularly known to be female. Anyway, I asked Shinsou Wotan about Firefly, hopefully that will settle things one way or the other, and ease my mind. - Kuukai2 06:03, 24 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Me: Hello, I have a question. Do you have Firefly in Japanese, and does it reveal anything about Hotaru's gender? There's sort of an eternal debate going on, but I've never actually gotten AIB2...
 * Shinsou Wotan: Yes, I have it, and I've read through it looking for exactly that. There is one and only one line which may support the Hotaru=boy theory. It may be referring to Hotaru's voice changing (as in, not happening yet), though I think it may be ambiguous enough that it could also refer to using voice-changing software. Other than that, the story is remarkably gender-ambiguous.
 * Now that I know what I'm looking for, I've found native Japanese-speaking readers like this one gave the former interpretation. The latter seems weirder and not worth mentioning in my opinion (and others'). The fact that they seem to have gone out of their way ambiguous, though, again calls into question whether or not we should be jumping to one or another when not even Shinsou Wotan has been convinced either way... - Kuukai2 00:40, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm honestly not sure how canon link is...there are so many weird things about it. I don't know if Hotaru and Hotaru (LINK) are the same person. --Rpg 05:04, March 21, 2010 (UTC)

Ok, even I'm not sure what gender Hotaru actually is, but what I know is that in The World, the Wavemaster Hotaru plays IS a girl. Plus, that sound drama is part of the anime, right? So, the anime is non-canon, so the sound drama shouldn't be canon, either. 173.32.79.97 22:26, July 6, 2010 (UTC)
 * The sound drama is actually either standalone or part of the manga canon. Outlaw said he couldn't find anything in there that disagrees with canon, but I myself haven't seen it in a while. The VAs are totally different from the anime, though. Regardless, Hotaru and Sophora's PCs are both male, we know this for sure now. - Kuukai2 04:23, July 7, 2010 (UTC)
 * Use the oppertunity to do a recheck on my behalf. But I hadn't noticed anything contridictive. It would make sense if that image at the end of the comic had something to do with it. Bah no spell check >.< Outlaw630 16:37, July 9, 2010 (UTC):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUt-uHS440k

Baby Grunty?
Do you think we should make a section dedicated to her Grunty here? Or do you think it should get a seperate page? He is a fairly important character in LotT. --CRtwenty 20:35, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Speech
Seeing as Hotaru, from what I gather, knows the basics in japanese and whatnot, I was wondering, in volume 3 she said "Hai! Of course", if Tokyopop was purposely doing this to emphasize on her speech in japanese. ---Twilusk 03:19, 24 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Probably, she talks about her heart going "Doki Doki" at one point too. The running gag is that she occasionally messes up her Japanese phrases. --CRtwenty 04:11, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Ah. I see. Thank you for clearing that up.--Twilusk 00:43, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

Hotaru=Male IRL: Final Round
Ok. Firefly (in Japanese at least) indicates that Hotaru is often mistaken for a girl because his voice hasn't deepened yet. All Japanese readers of the book I can find on the intarweb support this. It's there. What more do you need? - Kuukai2 06:35, 28 April 2007 (UTC)
 * There's no line like that in the English version of it. All I could find is a point where Sanjuro is surprised that Hotaru is 13 years old. Hotaru then says something about voice changing software and wonders if Sanjuro is actually a cheerleader or something in real life. There's no mention of Hotaru being mistaken for anything. --CRtwenty 07:34, 28 April 2007 (UTC)
 * That's probably the line, but mistranslated. I'll try to get it in Japanese.  That might be one way to interpret it, but I can't find a single context-wise Japanese reader on the internet who has... - Kuukai2 07:42, 28 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Well the quote in English is: --CRtwenty 07:50, 28 April 2007 (UTC)
 * "This is an online game, so things are different from the real world. I don't doubt your story. Legends say that only innocent children can see fairies anyway!" As he looked at a gondola drifting by, Sanjuro laughed out loud. "I'm thirteen", I said. "Fairies wouldn't come to me at my age." "Thirteen?! Is your voice altered?" I heard that you could alter your voice using specific software. In cyberspace you could change your voice, your age, your body type, or even your gender. The thick, manly voice of the samurai could actually be coming out of a cheerleader or a polite business executive. You never knew whom you were really dealing with. -(Firefly, AI Buster 2 pg. 166)
 * That might even be a correct translation, actually. I don't see how this is really even a point of discussion if Hotaru's supposed to be female.  I'll get back to you with the Japanese one, though.  Actually I think I'll just ask Shinsou, rather than trying to snag the book from a friend... - Kuukai2 08:00, 28 April 2007 (UTC)
 * 「疑ってはいないよ. 妖精がそこにいるという、きみの話しは信じよう. 妖精は、心がきれいな子供にしか見えないともいうし…はっはっは！」
 * ゴンドラが流れていく運河を見詰めながら、砂嵐さんは豪快に笑った.
 * 「ぼく、一三歳ですよ……？　もうピーターパンが迎えに来るような歳じゃあ、ないんだけど」
 * 「そうなのか？　……声、変えてるのか？」
 * 「声変わり、してないんです. まだ」
 * 専用の音声変換ソフトを使えば声質さえたやすく加工できるそうだ. ネットでは性別も年齢も思いのままだ. この野太い声のミスター・サムライが、チアリーダーの女の子の可能性だって、ないわけじゃない.
 * (Where I have used bold text, the original used a different font to indicate that they were speaking in English) --Shinsou Wotan 21:40, 29 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks a lot, Shinsou Wotan. Ok, I see how you can go either way, but I think 「声変わりする」 only refers to a passive action, I don't think you can use it for things like "I changed my voice".  Google (not the world's greatest linguistic database, I know) seems to support this.  I think I'll ask my teacher to clarify, but this is the way people seem to be reading it.  Then there's the ぼく thing, but since it's in "English", this is really open to debate...  Maybe ぼく is what all Americans use, or maybe it represents the ability to better subtly represent his gender in his native tongue.  I guess I'll drop that and just focus on the voice changing thing.  This would be my stab at the translation:
 * "I don't doubt your story. It's said that only innocent children can see fairies..."
 * As he looked at a gondola drifting by, Sanjuro laughed out loud.
 * "I'm thirteen", I said. "I'm too old for Peter Pan to come and get me."
 * "Thirteen?! Is your voice altered?"
 * "No, my voice hasn't changed, yet."
 * I heard that you could alter your voice using specific software. In cyberspace you could make your age, or even your gender, anything you want. There's always a chance that even the thick, manly-voiced Mr. Samurai could actually be a young cheerleader girl or something.
 * So, the way it seems to be read by native readers, Hotaru is justifying his child-like voice by saying puberty hasn't hit him yet. This makes sense as, like I said before, this is hardly a topic of conversation if Hotaru is a girl. - Kuukai2 23:54, 29 April 2007 (UTC)
 * It's still not proof of anything, especially since it can be read multiple ways. Hotaru is referred to as female several times by multiple characters in the series. And in all official real life drawings is clearly female (look at the first page of chapter 18 if you don't believe me). There is no conclusive evidence that Hotaru is male. --CRtwenty 01:18, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
 * I think there is sufficient doubt, though, to remove the "female" label, and return it to what's said in the one and only outright mention of Hotaru's gender ("??", from the title pages of Firefly). I see nothing wrong with Kuukai's translation. --Shinsou Wotan 01:25, 30 April 2007 (UTC)


 * First of all, my contention (which I'm working on confirming), is that it can't be read multiple ways. Secondly, even supposing it could be, this conversation makes no sense if Hotaru is a girl.  Long hair doesn't = female, simply effeminate.  Is Kaoru Ichinose female because his hair is long?  No one thought that Magi's PC could be male either, looks apparently aren't everything...  Gah, it would be helpful if I actually had the book, I didn't even know about this "??" business...  Oh, also, digging around for information, I noticed that the back of Vol.2 of Udeden actually does confirm that Hotaru has the same PC type as Elk... - Kuukai2 05:26, 30 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Hotaru's player is male in the anime and female in the manga, so therefore, her real player gender is female. Both Analysis and characters from the series refer to Hotaru's player as female. And don't say "LAWLZ ANALYSIS GOT SOME STUFF WRONG!! IT CANT BE TRUSTED!!" You can't pick and choose what is true in Analysis. That's like religious people picking and choosing which commandments to obey and ignoring the rest. The only thing contradicting Analysis's claim is a few lines up to interpretation. If one of your arguments that Hotaru's player is not female because Analysis was sometimes wrong, then we would have to remove every single piece of info from Analysis because it "could be wrong". Kulaguy 03:39, 1 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Actually, the lines aren't open to interpretation. I got a response back from my Japanese teacher this morning and he said with absolute certainty, as a native speaker and a linguist, that it's not ambiguous at all. "声変わりする" only refers to a voice changing through puberty. I made especially certain to ask about changing one's voice with software, as well as just deepening it on purpose, but it can't be used for any of those. You can ask your own Japanese expert if you don't believe me.  If I was gonna make this up, though, I'd have done so earlier. So, Hotaru is a male irl according to Firefly, has a male PC according to Udeden Vol.2, and people don't refer to him as female all that often in Japanese (and even when they do, who can blame them, as he does look/sound like a girl). - Kuukai2 12:13, 1 May 2007 (UTC)


 * I don't see anywhere in vol. 2 where it specifically says Hotaru's PC is male. There's just the extra comic near the end where it says she's the "same type" of character" as Elk and Tsukasa.  This doesn't necessarily mean anything aside from the fact that Hotaru is a Wavemaster with a similar design, but who's to say that there can't be male and female variants of the same PC type?  There is a rather distinct difference between Hotaru and Elk, and I don't just mean the color scheme.  By the way, girls' voices do change during puberty as well. It isn't as dramatic a change, but their voices DO get deeper.--OtakuD50 03:42, 2 May 2007 (UTC)


 * They say "Elk and Tsukasa have the same PC type" and then "Hotaru does too". "Same PC type" has always meant this in .hack.  The way PC types are shown in analysis, fragment, the opening of G.U., the SIGN script, and various other places, gender is an inherent part of a "PC Type".  The puberty thing is a good point, though.  I don't particularly see Sanjuro being so shocked by that, but I guess I'll look into whether or not you can say that for the voice changing of girls. (probably) - Kuukai2 03:58, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

If it is still unclear whether Hotaru is a boy or a girl in real life (infobox), why does the Hotaru article itself say (Offline - Anime), that he/she is a boy? same for the Let's meet Offline-Article.... - milay 20:19, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Hotaru is male in Let's Meet Offline, but outside of that it's under dispute. - Kuukai2 20:40, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

Picture
Anybody up to getting a scan of Hotaru from the manga, or AI Buster 2? --CRtwenty 01:56, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

Conflict
So, just to clarify, the conflict is between analysis and AIB2? - Kuukai2 03:15, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Analysis, AI Buster 2, Legend of the Twilight anime and manga, Rena Special Pack, Let's Meet Offline. Kulaguy 03:25, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
 * The Rena Special Pack doesn't conflict with AIB2. So Hotaru crossdresses and shares a towel with a bunch of girls, that isn't proof of being female, he's just Bridget. The manga doesn't disagree either, in fact the trivia in Vol.3 subtly confirms it. (Hotaru "I've got them/They're attached" Shugo: "Got what?/What's attached?") Let's Meet Offline and the anime disagree with the manga and thus aren't canon, though it's possible they aren't actually part of the same continuity either (different voiceactors for one thing). The only thing that I know of that explicitly disagrees with the canon is analysis.... - Kuukai2 03:36, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Pretty much everything mentioning Hotaru conflicts it because they either say Hotaru is a guy or girl. Hell, the manga says she's a girl, but the manga also says she's a guy. The quotes in the template are from Let's Meet Offline and the first chapter in the manga Hotaru appears in. Page 126, I believe. Kulaguy 03:43, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Just because Shugo thinks Hotaru is a girl, there's a conflict in the manga? - Kuukai2 04:02, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
 * It's not just Shugo that calls Hotaru a girl. Her character description at the start of each volume refers to her as female. Not to mention Komiyan III refers to Hotaru as "Madam" when he talks to her. Not to mention that in all cosplay scenes Hotaru wears female clothing, and the fact that Hotaru appears in the female only pinups. Without a doubt Hotaru's PC is female. The only evidence you have that Hotaru's PC is male is one line in an omake strip, which isn't even that specific. "Like Elk" could mean anything. --CRtwenty 04:19, 2 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Any reference to Hotaru's gender in the character introduction is a mistranslation. It says:
 * 生きとし生けるものすべてに優しすぎる博愛精神の持ち主. そのためか、時としてズレた行動をすることも….


 * Komiyan isn't particularly smarter than Shugo and, as you guys have established, Hotaru looks like a girl. When did they imply there's anyway ingame to "check" a character's gender, aside from PC type? And when was the last time Shugo or Komiyan would bother doing such a thing?


 * Crossdressing isn't without precedent. For the title page of Login 11, it shows Magi crossdressed too, and the in the trivia Rei Idumi specifically says Magi's PC is male. You can't beat a direct statement from the artist with your opinion of their art. Not in fiction, at least.


 * It's not "like Elk", it's "Hotaru has the same PC type as" Elk and Tsukasa. Fairly explicit. - Kuukai2 05:02, 2 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Plus, the english manga translated the "I've got them" line totally different. In the english version it's. Hotaru: "I'm very happy!" Shugo: "About what!?" --CRtwenty 04:21, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Actually, it's Hotaru: "I'm very lucky!" Shugo: "What about?" At least in the copy I have.--OtakuD50 04:30, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
 * In the original, the joke is that Hotaru may or may not be talking about having balls. I never said it proves anything, but that is the joke there, and I was just using the fact that they make such a joke in the manga as an interesting sidenote to my assertion that Hotaru's irl gender is left open in the manga, and doesn't "conflict" with anything...
 * H: ついてマス
 * S: 何が？！ - Kuukai2 05:02, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Ok, i have an account but i am about to sleep so ill writte this for you guys:
 * Hotaru's Sex is a delicate thing
 * in Manga and Anime she is a SHE (redundant)
 * in Let's meet offline and extras he is a HE (again redundant)
 * but you guys all now that .hack doesnt care much about stuff like sexual preferences (endrance, subaru x tsukasa, the Parody mode from trilogy that jokes with haseo liking saku and bo, etc)
 * so IT (yeah, my gender for hotaru) can be a man and doesnt seem a story problem, and can be a Girl
 * JUST IN THE MANGA that appears Hotaru's offline image, you have 2 options again:
 * JUST IN THE MANGA that appears Hotaru's offline image, you have 2 options again:

its a girl WITH NO RIGHT TO THINK THE OPPOSITE

or its a boy and WTH!?!!?!
 * it is up to you n.n
 * Fan\\Sign [[File:Mistralchat.gif]] [[File:Tsukasachat.gif]] [[File:Mireillechat.gif]] 17:59, February 26, 2011 (UTC)
 * I think that Hotaru ought to be thought of as a girl, because in the mainstream of the anime and the manga she is posited as a girl. The writers may have went off on branches of that main river during the extras and Let's meet offline, but it seems that the most solid position to take is to keep to the main body of material, relegating the conflicting parts to quasi-noncanonical until\unless the writers clear this matter up (this is pretty characteristic of the way I think we should deal with anything like this, as long as we do it consistently) - since it hardly seems to be the purpose of the main work to make this matter important (as it was in sign) - this is pretty characteristic of the way I think we should deal with anything like this, as long as we do it consistently. "IT" is not a satisfying position, as the author seem ambivalent about her gender, not vague as that word is.
 * (P.S. - I've created a blog post about the nature of Tsukasa x Subaru, if anyone wants to discuss about that).
 * Fan\\Sign [[File:Mistralchat.gif]] [[File:Tsukasachat.gif]] [[File:Mireillechat.gif]] 17:59, February 26, 2011 (UTC)
 * The reference to Hotaru having the same character as Elk/Tsukasa seems to indicate at first that Hotaru is indeed a boy. But since this was not really of the main storyline, it seems possible that when the authors were presenting that information they were simply trying to feed the fans some immediate info, and didn't necessarily mean "like Elk" in the strict sense of the word. The refernce to voice-changing in Legend of the Twilight Bracelet seems to me to give indications that Hotaru is male, but ultimately I think that Hotaru's friend could quite legitimately have been reacting to Hotaru's very effeminate voice, which does make Hotaru seem quite young. The idea that Hotaru had voice changing soft-ware, in view of the facts, seems unlikely and hardly makes sense anyways - why would Hotaru seek to make the voice of her PC as effeminate as it is? Whether male or female, why would Hotaru seek to seem younger?
 * Fan\\Sign [[File:Mistralchat.gif]] [[File:Tsukasachat.gif]] [[File:Mireillechat.gif]] 17:59, February 26, 2011 (UTC) By the way, what does "Bridget" refer to? I tried to look it up but I am not "aware of the Bridget incident", whatever you mean by that.
 * Fan\\Sign [[File:Mistralchat.gif]] [[File:Tsukasachat.gif]] [[File:Mireillechat.gif]] 17:59, February 26, 2011 (UTC) By the way, what does "Bridget" refer to? I tried to look it up but I am not "aware of the Bridget incident", whatever you mean by that.
 * Fan\\Sign [[File:Mistralchat.gif]] [[File:Tsukasachat.gif]] [[File:Mireillechat.gif]] 17:59, February 26, 2011 (UTC) By the way, what does "Bridget" refer to? I tried to look it up but I am not "aware of the Bridget incident", whatever you mean by that.

18:36, March 3, 2011 (UTC) When Shugo said "What about" I thought he had stopped midsentence, and was referring to their exclusion of any info about for such nontrivia(still a joke in that case). Random guys hit on Hotaru in the "on/off coin" chapter of LoTB part 2, so Shugo isn't all that dumb, relatively speaking. Her costume isn't exactly the same as Elk/Tsukasa: where they have a loose collar to their robes, she has a diamond fastening it; where they have angular hats, she has a round hat (a masculine/feminine contrast); and where they have plain color sleaves, she continues her diamond motiff. Her PC type is basically the same as theirs, but different genders may have basically similar PC's (like alph & mireille, for example). Where they do differ, her costume falls on the more feminine. Since this page is inactive except for me, I will edit the PC information to say as much. The real world Hotaru is more questionable, but could fall in the same gender.
 * They have clarified as of last year, in Epitaph of Old Testament. And you can see above (or ask any native Japanese speaker) for how the statement about voice can't possibly be related to software. Also, please don't post fanart to pages, we generally only use official images. - Kuukai2 07:04, March 3, 2011 (UTC)
 * fan\\sign 18:36, March 3, 2011 (UTC) I look at "Epitaph of Old Testament" then. I agree with you that the statement about voice isn't related to software at all; I've already stated as much. What I did say was that since she has a rather light and soft voice even for a girl, she was attributing her voice to the fact that her voice hadn't gotten deeper yet, as girls' voices do at puberty, only to a lesser extent than boys. Sorry about the fanart... but do you have any official picture of Hotaru's manga color sheme, 'cause they seem hard to come by and I think that the wiki needs one on this page.

Hotaru likes the Boston Celtics
In .hack//Firefly the translation of Hotaru's Character info it says
 * Job: Wavemaster
 * Sex: ??
 * Skill: Beginner
 * Like: Boston Celtics

I know Tokyo Pop sucks at translating, so if someone can check on this that would be great. If the graphic novel is cannon then wouldn't putting this up about offline Hotaru make sense? Or even the trivia section would probably be good too.Caileen 17:37, 6 May 2009 (UTC)