Sword Art Online 16

Summary:

Kazuto goes to Egil’s Dicey Cafe and learns that the person resembling Asuna was spotted in the online game ALfheim Online. It appears that she’s held inside a cage on a castle at the crown of the World Tree in the centre of the Elf Home game world. All the players are aiming for the top but no one has been able to reach it yet due to the limited endurance of their wings. Luckily for Kazuto, he doesn’t have to splash out on new hardware as it is compatiable with his SAO Nerve Gear. After causing Suguha to choke on a muffin (and then helping her), he thanks her for the encouragement last night and then dives into ALO, choosing the same name Kirito again. But just as he’s landing, like a Haibane, into the town of his chosen race, Spriggan, the game reacts strangely and dumps him into neutral territory.

That’s not the only unusual thing. Kirito discovers his character has all of his SAO character’s parameters and even recovers Yui’s crystal. Happy reunion ensues. Yui, who can access data and maps, informs him that all the underlying programming is the same as SAO, except that Cardinal is less updated. Yui also teaches Kirito how to use his wings and he soon flies into a fight between two Slyphs, swordswoman Leafa and magic user Recon, and some heavily armed and armoured Salamanders. Leafa had been holding her own until Recon is taken out and she’s brought to the ground by magical fire. After a complete newbie crash landing, Kirito effortlessly takes out one of the Salamanders and asks who’s next.

Reaction:

Epi: Okay, so let’s see. You’ve spent the last two years of your life trapped inside a game you cannot leave, with a helmet that will fry your brain if you unplug it. You find out there’s a new game, that uses similar hardware. Do you:

1) Buy new hardware that is supposedly ‘safe’?

2) Use your old hardware that will fry your brain?

I was completely dumbfounded by how stupid Kirito was in this episode. The fact that he uses his old brain-frying hardware, AND he also uses his same login name is just asking for trouble. Although it seems he’s able to ‘log out’, we haven’t 100% confirmed it. Obviously with the various glitches he’s seeing in this new game, something weird is going to happen like oh I dunno… him being stuck in the game again? I guess the only ‘good’ that came out of this is that the system obviously recognized his presence maybe from his helmet and thus glitched his SAO SKILLZ back. More or less this is just a way for the story to speed things along, so we don’t have to see him try and ‘level up’ for the next week before Asuna gets married.

I do like though how 5 minutes into the new world and he’s already met a cute girl. This guy…

Finally I just find it completely implausible that a company could purchase the same software/hardware as SAO, and run a completely new game while people are still trapped within the world of SAO (I doubt this fairy game started after Kirito cleared SAO, or at the very least they launched it immediately after) and people are playing it in droves. I mean you’d think people would be just a bit more cautious, especially if they are using the same software and hardware?

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!

Zyl: Epi raises a lot of good points and I largely agree with him. But having dialed back my expectations, nowadays I just shrug at the stuff which was not so smart and, thus, I have leveled up massively in my Just Enjoy The Show skill. What interested me the most in this episode is Leafa. Based on the OP, we’re going to see a lot of her and I like what I see so far. The only thing I’m slightly wary about is… unlike post-hijack SAO, a player can choose their gender and their appearance is randomly generated. So… Leafa could be a guy. But as I don’t think this series is out to capture the BL/fuijoshi segment of the otaku market and I suppose Leafa is being set up as Asuna’s (no chance of winning) romantic rival in this arc, so Leafa should almost definitely be a girl and a pretty one at that.

But I didn’t manage to get any clues from the ED because she’s not credited. Which only leaves two possibilites: first, the studio has elected not to credit her so as not to give away her RL identity but I’m not sure union rules allow for not listing her at all. When this was done in Horizon S2 Ep 02 to hide the fact that Horie Yui was playing Kizuari, the role was still listed and the seiyuu given as “???” So the second possibility is that she is already listed in the ED credits, just like how Matsuoka Yoshitsugu is credited as Kirigaya Kazuto but not as “Kirito” – and that only leaves… Suguha. *goes back for a re-listen* Hmmm, Leafa does sound like Suguha. If this were some other more tightly written show, I would have dismissed it as too convenient and too much of a coincidence but, well, this is SAO, so I’m eagerly awaiting next week’s episode to confirm if this is indeed going to be Oniichan Complex Online.

Bartender Online, Starring Egil, the Warrior Bartender

Fencedude: So yeah, I’m somewhat surprised to hear from my co-bloggers that Leafa’s identity is supposed to be a secret. So…I’ll just leave Zyl with his speculation. I would like to direct his attention to Leafa’s preferred weapon. Mysterious blonde elves aside, this episode was pretty decent altogether. It was nice seeing Egil again, who looked dashing in his bartender uniform, who else would be up for Bartender Online, staring Egil? Couldn’t be worse than what we have. Waving aside the silliness of Kirito using the NerveGear, and just how very convenient it was that all his SAO skills just happened to transfer over, there wasn’t much to actually dislike about the episode. ALfheim Online is a pretty interesting setting, and its kinda nice to not have the constant threat of real-life death hanging over everyone. Though Kirito should probably cool it with the ostentatious displays of his OP Skillz.

My Little Sister’s Legs Can’t Be This Supple!

I feel like I’m forgetting something, what was it…oh yeah. YUUUUUIIIIIIIIIII!!!! Ok, yes. They did the blatant emotional manipulation with the flashbacks (though nice of them not to show their hand too hard and include scenes of her “death”), but its nice to have her back, regardless. She provided a convenient way to infodump (seriously Kirito, didn’t you read the manual?) and is just goddamn adorable. Seeing her sitting on Kirito’s lap was just diabeetus inducing, and then her Pixie Form was just killer. Things should not be allowed to be that cute. So next week the journey to save Asuna begins in earnest, as Kirito teams up with a random girl he just met for no particular reason. Yay!