Sword Art Online: Alicization- War of Underworld Episode 37 Review/Recap

After seven long months of waiting, Sword Art Online: War of Underworld has returned at last. Thus, it’s time for me to finish what I started. I will review this series to the end, and it looks like that end is going to be epic. To recap where we left off: the bad guys tricked an army of American Players into logging in to Underworld. Asuna’s held them off with the Underworld residents, and then Sinon showed up to wipe the floor with them. However, none of that will matter if Gabriel gets Alice to the portal and out of Underworld. The real war of Underworld’s about to begin!

Been waiting to say this again: LINK START!

Recap

Thanks to the arrival of Sinon, the Underworld Army has been saved from being annhiliated by the Americans, with the two girls having a heartfelt reunion. Asuna gets Sinon up to speed on what’s happening, and Sinon leads the army to a series of ruins where they can hold out. Like Asuna, Sinon’s heartbroken at the sight of a catatonic Kirito, but it hardens her resolve to fight for Underworld. Since she can fly, though, Asuna has her go after Garbiel.

Meanwhile, Lilpilin, the Chief of the Orcs whose lover we saw be sacrificed for a spell, is mourning the loss of his comrades. Then, all of a sudden, Leafa drops in to Underworld. Sadly for her, while Lilpilin tries to understand why she’s not afraid of him, she gets captured by that hag Dee Eye Ell, who’s somehow still alive. When she tries draining the life from Leafa, though, Lili snaps and attacks her. It doesn’t do much damage, but it gives Leafa the opening to free herself and kill the hag.

Back with Bercouli, the leader of the Integrity manages to bring Gabriel to the ground near the portal. What follows is a clash of titans; one that, sadly, Bercouli is at a disadvantage, since Gabriel can absorb his incarnations. With Alice’s life on the line, though, Bercouli refuses to back down.

As for Asuna, she and the others are fighting well, but there are simply too many enemies to face, and they’re in danger of being overrun. At that moment, though, a bright light shines down. Before Asuna knows what’s happening, Klein appears and wastes the Americans. The cavalry is here!

Review

See, I told you that the War of Underworld was about to get good! The top Integrity Knight vs. the Emperor of Darkness. Sinon and Leafa have joined the fight using god-accounts. And top it all off, Klein and the others seem to have convinced their friends and allies to join the war. In other words, get ready for a war with all hands on deck.

Since this is (likely) going to be the last hurrah for SAO, I think it’s necessary for the show to end on as big a bang as possible. And nothing’s bigger than having all the secondary and recurring come together for one epic final battle. At least, that’s what I like. If you don’t, then I will not judge.

Seriously, though, I think that this is going to be worth the wait in the end.

I Give “The Great Underworld War” a 3.8/5

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Edens Zero Chapter 96 Review/Recap

Well, of all the events that I expected to happen in the fight against Drakken Joe, I don’t think that this was one of them. Also, I’m sorry that I didn’t post this sooner, but I’ve been busy with a lot of stuff. So let’s do this thing!

Recap

More than 60 years ago, on Norma, Weisz’s mom passed away when he was young. The doctor’s had no clue what was wrong with her; all they knew that her, and many others, were suddenly dying. As though their life force was being sapped. After she died, he learned how to use Ether Gear from an old machine he bought. And when he thought Sibir stole his Mom’s pendant, the two had a massive falling out, and Sibir kicked him out of their gang.

In the present-day, Weisz tries to take Joe down in a blind rage. It goes about as well as you’d expect.

Before Joe can finish him off, though, Shiki steps in to save Weisz, saying that a friend gives help without asking. Finally coming to his senses, Weisz and Shiki stand back to back, ready to take the terror of the Sakura Cosmos down for good.

However, before the fight can continue, Hermit finishes hacking into that life-stealing machine, and reverses the flow of energy from it. As a result, it returns all the life that Joe stole from Belial Gore. However, while it does weaken him, Joe begins to mutate into this giant, Akira blob monster.

WHAT THE HECK?!?!

Recap

Well, I’m officially stumped as to what’s happening to Joe. My current theory is that the loss of all that life force was too much for his body to bear. As a result, he’s lost control of his Ether Gear, and it’s turned him into this hideous abomination. Beyond that, I have no clue as to what’s going with Joe. All that I know is that it can’t be good for anyone.

Disturbing reference to Akira aside, I think that this chapter did answer the questions we had about Weisz. I mean, I knew that Joe killed someone close to Weisz, but at least now we know who it was. If it wasn’t a family member, it was his girlfriend. Hopefully, next week we’ll see Shiki and Granbell waste the monster formerly known as Drakken Joe.

I Give “A Young Man’s Memories” a 3/5

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Rising of the Shield Hero, Episode 21 Review/Recap

I had been wanting to post about this since the start, but I never found the time to do it. That said, I couldn’t help myself from wanting to write something for this moment.

If you haven’t been keeping up with anime, Rising of The Shield Hero was one of the big names to come out of winter 2019. It’s an Isekai story about Naofumi Iwatani, a college student who gets summoned to another world as one of four heroes meant to save it from destruction. Standard Isekai, until you learn that Naofumi is the Shield Hero, who can only use a shield to defend and nothing else. It gets worse.

The show got a lot of controversy from the first episode when Naofumi was wrongfully framed for attempting to rape a party member, Malty. Then comes the fact that Naofumi’s first real companion is a slave girl he bought. So, there’s controversy about this thing. Not that I care.

Long story short, the anime just had Naofumi take down the corrupt religion of the Church of the Three Heroes that was behind his troubles. In doing so, though, he almost died.

Recap

Naofumi wakes up in a high-class hospital after being saved by the Queen, Miriela Q. Melromarc. He’s been asleep for three days while his friends Raphtalia, Filo, and Melty have been by his side. He’ll live, but it will take a month or so to heal.

The Queen then explains that everything Naofumi went through wasn’t supposed to happen. The Four Heroes were supposed to be summoned seperately by different countries. The Church of Three Heroes, though, decided to be turds, summoned them anyway, and hogged them all to Melromarc. The Queen was all over trying to stop an international incident while her husband and daughter put Naofumi through hell.

The Queen is, understandably, furious beyond words. She outlaws the Three Heroes Church, but she goes the extra mile to convince Naofumi to stay in Melromarc. If he leaves, the international community will invade Melromarc for what they did to him.

At the Royal Palace, with the entire country watching, the King and Malty are tried for treason, incompetence, and being pieces of garbage.

Malty’s put under a slave crest to make sure she tells the truth, but despite all that, she continues to lie. About framing Naofumi for raping her, kidnapping Melty, trying to kill her sister.

The sentence for both of them: death. Yet Naofumi’s not satisfied with that, and decides to make the rest of their lives hell. Instead, the King’s name is changed to “Trash”, and Malty to “Bitch”; her adventurer name will now be “Slut”.

Good thing, too. The Queen was willing to offer up her own life in exchange for her horrid husband and daughter. Naofumi decides to stay in Melromarc, but he plans to help everyone in the world from here on out. So he, Filo, and Raphtalia set out once more, only this time, everyone knows that they’re heroes.

Review

There were a few differences between what happened here and what happened in the manga, and light novels. First, Naofumi was the one who called for their deaths rather than wanting to spare them. It took the Queen to convince him to make them go through a fate worse than death.

Second, in this episode, even Motoyasu turns his back on Bitch after he learns the truth. In every other version, he’s on her side despite it defying all logic.

My point is that the way they react ends up being out of character for both of them. Every adaptation of Shield Hero, in fact, has gotten lighter in tone to make Naofumi more heroic. In the web novel, he could be just as bad as everyone else.

Everything that I just mentioned, though, is me nitpicking. It doesn’t tread water against the moment we’ve all waited for: Trash and Bitch get what they deserve. In regards to that moment, the anime did it better than any other version.

Having the two pieces of filth stand trial while broadcasting it across Melromarc was a great idea. That never happened in the literature or manga, so it made the whole thing more enjoyable.

The best thing, though, was seeing the anime version of Cersei Lannister crying and in pain. Every time she got shocked, I was grinning ear to ear.

I know it sounds sadistic, but let’s remember everything she’s done:

• She stole Naofumi’s gear
• She falsely accused Naofumi of trying to rape her
• She manipulated Motoyasu to fight Naofumi so she could take Raphtalia away from him, and likely hunt her down and kill her for fun.
• Charging an unfair toll to a distant village, then cheating in a race against Naofumi
• Framed Naofumi for kidnapping Melty, tried to kill her, and burned down a forest to flush them out.

That’s not even the worst of it. The Web Novels say she pulled what she did to Naofumi on other men. She’s a monster, and seeing her in pain is cathartic.

So, it may irk me a bit that the episode ends on a positive note, like everything’s right with the world. It isn’t, and there are going to be more troubles in the future. I will overlook it all, though, because it was worth seeing Bitch get what she deserves. It’s what I wanted to see Cersei Lannister go through in the end.

The anime is going to keep going for a few more episodes, but this felt like the perfect way to end the show; or at least the first season. By god, it was worth it, though. One of the best anime I have seen in years!

I Give “Naofumi’s Triumphant Return” A 5/5. I’m going to watch this episode over and over again.

Edens Zero Chapter 39 Review/Recap

What’s worse than a troll/griefer that abuses the power of technology to make other people’s lives miserable? One that doesn’t give up on anything. It would seem that the Digitalis Arc has not quite wrapped up, and since I am a week behind on this due to working on my Game of Thrones stuff, I will doing this back to back with the new chapter.

Recap

Years ago, Ziggy told the Four Shining stars that he was retiring to his hometown of Granbell to raise Shiki, and that they were free to decide their lives from then on. While Hermit initially wanted to join Ziggy, she decided that she wanted to become friends with people.

In the present, the crew of Eden’s Zero was able to bring back Hermit, but she’s still in her state of depression. Also, for some reason, being in those suits in stasis made them all really, really sweaty.

As Sister and Witch explain, she may be back physically, but she’s still not back to the cheerful self that she was in the past. Just as Shiki decides to go talk to her, alarms start blaring like crazy.

As it stands, they need Hermit and her computer skills to protect the Eden’s Zero from within cyberspace. Without it, it’s easy prey to hackers like this ugly mug.

According to Rebecca, he’s one of the top five hackers in the Sakura Cosmos. In Digitalis, he was Jamilov. Now he has hacked into the ship as payback for them ruining his plans. As a result, the ship is tearing itself apart. The only one who can stop Jamilov is Hermit, but she still refuses to do anything while being locked in the Clothes Factory

The chapter then ends with another flashback where it’s revealed that a group of scientists asked for her help in creating a device that can help machines. Hermit happily agreed to help at the time.

Review

I have been wondering since we first met her how Hermit got to be so sad and hate humanity so much. Now I’m starting to get a clearer picture. Whatever those scientists promised her turned out to be a lie that hurt a lot of machines. That’s why she hates humans so much.

This is just a theory, though. Until the next chapter comes out this week, I can’t be sure of anything. Given that this is a Shonen manga, though, Shiki will end up making her realize that some humans are worth trusting. I’ve read this “tragic backstory” scenario long enough to become genre-savvy at it. That said, I’m still looking forward to seeing what it has in store for us.

I Give “The Genius Spider Hacker” a 3/5

Some Stray Observations

• Anyone notice how bummed Pino was to be back in her robot body?

• BABY SHIKI!

• 

Edens Zero Chapter 33 Review/Recap

Well, this story certainly took a twist. The Digitalis Arc is shaping up to be a momentous one for Eden’s Zero as Shiki faces unexpected opposition, and may be betrayed by someone he thought he could trust.

Picking up where the last chapter left off, the players that Jamilov had impaled glitch out like the characters from Tron. Actually, this is exactly like Tron or Sword Art Online. Death in Digitalis will kill a player in real life.

I’m going to ignore how unoriginal this concept is and hope that Mashima doesn’t lean on other people’s concepts. The bigger issue is Jamilov’s weapon, Maria.

The only other weapon I can think of that can do that kind of thing is Samehada from the Naruto Franchise. That could only absorb Chakra, though, while Maria seems to eat everything. Very creative, and deadly! It doesn’t change the fact that Shiki manages to kick Jamilov’s butt by dropping a tower on him.

Before the fight can go any further, Jamilov is suddenly called away by Drakken Joe, and hightails it out of Digitalis. As fate would have it, he didn’t get everyone in the village

The villagers are grateful enough to the crew that they tell them where Hermit is: she’s sitting on a hill to the north of the town.

This is the first thing that Shiki says as soon as he finds her:

Really skipped a lot of key details, Shiki. I guess that being overeager is a recurring theme in Mashima’s heroes. After explaining everything in detail, it doesn’t matter: Hermit’s not going anywhere.

Yeah, she really does not like humans. Hermit hates them with every fiber of her being

I can only guess why Hermit hates humans right now, but it may have something to do with Ziggy disbanding the original crew of the Eden’s Zero. So, now they have to deal with this mess for the time being.

There’s a bigger problem, though: Homura ran off on her own to explore the city. That’s what she said, but it turns out, she’s meeting someone.

“Undercover stuff”? What could that possibly mean, and what does Homura have planned for Shiki? I have so many questions right now, and sadly, I don’t have enough info to start making theories! All I know is that I did not see this twist coming.

What do you guys think about what’s happening? Leave your thoughts down below in the comments!

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Sword Art Online: Alicization, Episode 3, Review/Recap

Hey, everyone, it’s me, J! Now that Kirito went through the introductory cutscenes, it’s time for him to start learning how to play the game. I know this isn’t actually a video game, but I wanted to stick with the “setup to a JRPG” I mentioned last time. Let us continue Sword Art Online: Alicization.

LINK, START!

Recap

As dawn begins to break, Kirito begins his second day in Underworld… at 5:30 in the morning. The nun introduced in the last episode, Selka, nearly has to tear the sheets off of him. He then wakes up to an image of his cousin/little sister, Suguha.

Kirito joins Eugeo as he continues with his (pointless) job of chopping the Gigas Cedar. Once he’s done with his morning work, Eugeo talks more about Alice, and reveals that Selka’s actually Alice’s little sister. Alice’s sacred task was to study the Sacred Arts, which are really the world’s system commands. The Underworlders just think they’re magic.

Alice was apparently a prodigy at the Sacred Arts, the best the village (Rulid Village). She even found a Sacred Art to stop a person’s life from decreasing. Eugeo then mentions the creators of the Taboo Index, the Axiom Church, located in Centoria.

Chop Down a Tree With A Sword

Suddenly, Kirito hits upon a bright idea of finding something stronger to chop down that stupid tree. Eugeo gets his most prized possession: the Blue Rose Sword. It was left behind by a famous hero after he slew a white dragon in a cave near the village; the same cave Kirito, Eugeo, and Alice went to in the first episode. A few years later, Eugeo went back and got it.

Kirito immediately tries to use the sword to chop the dumb tree down. He ends up flat on his back, but he was able to make a dent. If they want to use the sword right, they need to master it first. The problem is, they lack the authority to use it.

Simply put, System Authority’s like a level in Underworld. In order to wield the Blue Rose, Kirito and Eugeo need to raise their System Authority to match the sword.

That night, Kirito thinks over the Taboo Index and the Axiom Church. Right now, the Index’s the only thing keeping Eugeo from getting Kirito to Centoria. He then talks with Selka about Alice, and just how important she was to her and Eugeo.

Eugeo can’t stand the fact that Alice was taken away and he couldn’t do anything about it, which is why he seems so sad all the time. Kirito then tells Selka why Alice was taken by the Integrity Knight.

The next morning, Selka is nowhere to be found. Before they could figure it out, I knew what it meant: Selka had gone to the cave the three went. Thats when they find her being held by a group of Goblins. They’re quickly spotted, and the last thing we see is Eugeo paralyzed by fear.

Review

Continuing with the whole “JRPG” thing from last episode, I would say that this episode would be the part where the player character (that’s Kirito) begins the tutorials and starts being able to move around and do what he wants. There’s still plenty of cutscenes, but they’re for the purpose of explaining the mechanics of the game; in this case, Underworld. After basic movement’s done, they move on to the combat tutorial, which is what the next episode will be about.

Speaking of combat, it may be because I’ve watched Goblin Slayer, but the design of the goblins in this show feels similiar. The main difference between the two is that the goblins in Underworld are more intelligent. They’re capable of speech and rationality, which makes even more dangerous. The fact that they’ve captured Selka is proof of that. Forgot to mention that part.

Once again, this series is progressing slowly and focus on exposition. I get that that’s important to a story, but leaning on it too much can cause it to suffer as a result. That’s bad. I just hope this show doesn’t do that as much.

I’d give this episode a passing grade of 3.5/5 stars. It passes, but barely.

Next episode, we should finally see some much-needed action. I’m looking forward to it: the fights in Sword Art Online are usually very entertaining.

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Sword Art Online: Alicization, Episode 1 Review/Recap

As I established last blog, I like Sword Art Online. If you don’t agree with me, you’re welcome to say so. Free Speech is a two-way street. That said, I am moving forward with my plan to review each and every episode of Sword Art Online: Alicization as the dub becomes available. I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum for those who haven’t watched it. Also, I know the entire plot from the light novels, so I may know things that the anime-only fans may not.

Part 1 Recap

The first half of the one-hour premiere starts off with a younger looking Kirito inexplicably in a medieval fantasy world, Underworld, with not mention how he got there or the outside world. He spends his days hanging out with his two best friends in this world, Eugeo and Alice. One day after they finish working, they decide to go on an adventure that ends up taking them close to the edge of Human Territory, and Alice accidentally, barely, touches the soil of the Dark Territory, where humans are forbidden to go.

The next day, one of the holy knights, called Integrity Knight, comes and tells their village that since she broke the rule, she is to be arrested and then probably executed. For breaking a dumb rule. Kirito tries to stop the knight from taking Alice away, but no one else helps him.

Okay, confession time: I didn’t watch this through because A.) I knew what happened beforehand, and B.) the whole angers me beyond belief. Sounds dumb, I know, but I want to explain.

The “no touching Dark Territory” rule is part of a larger set of rules called the Taboo Index that everyone has to follow. Not because they want to or choose to, but because they have literally no other choice. If they even think of defying the Taboo Index, their eye will turn red, and the Taboo Index will try to stop them from breaking the rules. Like with Eugeo:

Look at him. He’s got that “deer in headlights” thing going on, and he can’t do anything about it even if he knows its wrong. Anyone who breaks the Index anyway will meet Alice’s fate.

Maybe it’s from years of reading up on history or watching too many films about fighting against oppressive groups, but the Taboo Index is a concept that I hate with every fiber of my being. It’s basically saying “follow these rules, or die”. Do you know how many people were unfairly treated throughout history because of that mindset? Too many to count! Thus, it offends me on every level possible.

Okay, rant over. Back to the show. Kirito then wakes up in a machine somewhere in a cold sweat, with no memory of what has happened. Which leads us into Part 2

Part 2

The setting shifts to GGO, where Kirito and his friends are fighting against a mysterious group of players that have been appearing recently and only seek to hunt other players. They get their butts kicked by the group, so the mystery guys retreat at their orders of their commander, who says this is “practice” for some big mission they have coming up.

Like I said before, I know the Light Novels so I know what happens, and who these guys are. Not telling, though, since that would ruin the fun. I will say this, though: this was a nice way for them to make an early-bird cameo. Good job, animation people.

At the Dicey Cafe, Sinon, Kirito, and Asuna hang out and they agree to enter the next BoB tournament. Kirito also explains how he’s working for this company called RATH, and how what we saw in Part 1 was part of his work. He was diving into a new virtual world, the most advanced ever created, to help them develop their new tech. It’s all about learning about the secrets behind the human soul; it’ll make more sense as time goes on.

Kirito and Asuna walk home and start talking about their future plans. Kirito has decided to go to America see the advances in immersion technology, and Asuna decides she’ll go with him. Her exact words were “it doesn’t matter you (Kirito) go. As long as it’s with you, then I’ll be okay”.

This is why I like Kirito and Asuna so much as a couple, despite the flaws in the show at times. Their relationship is built on years of mutual trust and respect in each other; they’re partners and equals, both in-game and in real life. That’s the kind of relationship I’d want to have with people, especially someone I love.

Their romantic moment is ruined, though, when an old enemy from SAO/GGO shows up: Johnny Black, the last member of the murder guild, Laughing Coffin. He’s been on the run ever since the “Death Gun” Incident, but now he’s back for revenge against Kirito.

Before Kirito can do anything or Asuna can help, Black injects him with the drug Death Gun used to stop people’s hearts! The final scene of the episode is of Kirito lying on the ground as the drug begins to take affect.

Review

This is going to be the biggest arc in the franchise’s history. That’s not just because it’s important, either: at 9 light novels, it’s the longest arc in the series. Ergo, they had to start it off with a bang. For all intents and purposes, they managed to do that. The hour-long special manages to set up the premise and plot of the season fairly well and even throws in some foreshadowing for fans who know what to look for.

That said, I think the pacing could have gone better, especially in the first half. That’s one of the reasons why I blew through it: it was going too slow for me, and since I have made my hatred for the rules of the Underworld clear, I didn’t want to linger. I’m weird like that.

What I did like, though, was getting to hear all the voice actors again. I have made it no secret that I think Bryce Papenbrook and Cherami Leigh do a great job as the leads. It’s why I chose to wait to watch this season even though the subs are close to the halfway point of the arc. I wanted to hear their voices.

If this is any indication, then Sword Art Online: Alicization is going to meet my expectations, and I have some high expectations. I want to see the show improve on the source material and give fans the epic they deserve. The second half of the arc is going to be on a scale that you would see in Game of Thrones or Hollywood, so I want it to be good.

I give the first episode of Sword Art Online: Alicization a 4 out of 5 stars.

Pros

• Good voice acting
• Nice animation
• Nice foreshadowing of future plot points
• The new opening song is the best since the original

Cons

• Pacing’s a little off
• I hate the Taboo Index and everything about it

Side Observations

• Did anyone else think the app Asuna has to monitor Kirito’s health was a little creepy? Like Yandere creepy?
• There are references to “Alice in Wonderland” than I thought.
• Did you guys catch the remix of “Swordland” when Kirito and Asuna were fighting the PKers? That was awesome!

Check back next week for my review of episode 2!

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