RJ Writing Ink

Sword Art Online: Alicization, Episode 17 Review/Recap

Let’s go through this one more time. After getting arrested by the Axiom Church, Kirito and Eugeo escape and vow to take down the corrupt Axiom Church. After fighting through the Integrity Knights, the pair finally face their childhood friend, Alice, who the Church turned into their weapon. After a brief fight, Kirito and Alice are thrown from the Church to the outside. And that’s when we pick back up; should be interesting.

LINK START!

Recap

Kirito manages to save Alice and himself by digging his sword into the side of the Cathedral, even though Alice insists on letting her fall. After arguing for several minutes and calling each other idiots, Kirito convinces her to call a truce until they get back inside. Working together, they begin to climb up to the 95th, where they can get back in.

Back in the real world, Asuna and Rinko are eating breakfast when they notice that one of the Ocean Turtle’s escort ships is moving away. Something’s not right, but the SDF is not telling them.

In the Underworld, Kirito and Alice have made progess, but with the sun setting, they won’t be able to make it up any higher. That’s when they’re attacked by monsters. Somehow, winged creatures made with dark magic from the Dark Territory were able to roost on the Cathedral’s walls. It takes some teamwork (and more arguing) but Alice and Kirito beat them. Kirito even mildly impresses Alice with his sword skills.

As all this is going down, Eugeo continues up to the top of the Cathedral on his own, where he comes across a massive bath, and the one inside is the commander of the Integrity Knights, Bercouli.

Review

It may be because I watch too many slice-of-life anime, but I found the sight of Kirito and Alice yelling at each other funny. Those two are as stubborn as they come, and Kirito has a way of getting under a girl’s skin. And yet, they somehow end up falling for him; one of life’s mysteries, I guess.

At the same time, it’s weird to see the normally stoic Alice lose her cool because of Kirito’s antics. She’s acting like a classic tsundere.

While it may seem like it’s beating a dead horse, too, I enjoyed seeing Kirito break down Alice’s arguments about the Axiom Church. It may be because I’ve read a lot about this stuff in history books, but I have a deep hatred of people who abuse their power like this. And my opinion on religious groups who do that is even lower.

No matter what Alice may say, I’m going to say that what Kirito and Eugeo did was justified. Those two pieces of trash would have hurt their friends. It was unfortunate one of them had to die, but I didn’t mourn for them. Plenty of people would have done the same to protect their friends. I would have.

If the next episode ends up being as awesome as I have heard, then I think I will be in for a treat.

I Give “Truce” a 4/5

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Sword Art Online: Alicization Episode 16 Review/Recap

I was too busy dealing with the fact that Game of Thrones and Star vs. were over that I forgot to write my review for the last episode of SAO: Alicization. I have to admit, though, that this show’s now starting to get a bit repetitive. Still, I promised that I would do every episode, and I will keep it. Or my name isn’t Roderick J Fritz!

It’s not; that’s just a pen name. And until I say otherwise, that is what it will remain as.

LINK. START!

Recap

So after that cliffhanger ending last time, Kirito manages to unleash his ultimate attack and is able to beat Fanatio, but he doesn’t have the heart to let someone that good die because of the Axiom Church’s corruption. So he decides to use one of those four dagger things to save her, even though Eugeo thinks he’s crazy to do so.

And then, as if to reinforce that the Axiom Church is evil, Kirito and Eugeo hitch a ride on an elevator with an attendant whose calling has been to work the elevator. For centuries. She can’t even remember her name.

After that sad scene, we finally get to see the main event, as Kirito and Eugeo manage to make it to the floor where Alice is waiting for them. Another epic battle ensues, their teamwork.and while Kirito has a hard time keeping up with her and her OP sword, Eugeo and Kirito restrain her with their teamwork.

Just as they’re about to use another dagger on her, though, she breaks free, and then the wall breaks open, sending Kirito and Alice falling outside of the Church. Before Eugeo can do anything, the building regenerates, leaving him alone, without his two best friends.

Review

So, a couple of things. While I didn’t mind seeing that elevator woman, I thought that they wasted time on her just to establish something that we already know: the Axiom Church is evil and the “Sacred Task” thing is like slavery with extra steps. I wanted to see Kirito and Alice fight some more! Since Alice’s return, it felt like the plot was making the fight between Kirito, Eugeo, and Alice a huge deal. Instead, it lasted about two minutes. That’s lame!

And I know that Kirito and Alice aren’t dead. Even if they didn’t have plot armor, those two wouldn’t let falling out of a building kill them. The whole point is to get Alice separated and make her see that she’s being used as a tool by the Church.

If what my fellow blogger Karandi says is true, Eugeo is going to have one of the best fights of the season in the next few episodes, while Kirito and Alice are stuck with exposition dialogue. Not looking forward to that, unless they make it interesting somehow.

So, this episode was a bit of a letdown after what happened in the previous episode. I hoped the fights would get better, but they didn’t. Not giving up hope, though.

I Give “The Osmanthus Knight” a 3/5

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Sword Art Online: Alicization, Episode 12 & Episode 13 Review/Recap

I am terribly sorry for the delay on this, but I was busy all week, and now I’m trying to play catch up. However, Episodes 12 & 13 both tell the same important story. That story will define the remainder of the first half of SAO: Alicization. So I figured, just kill two birds with one stone and do them both at the same time. And that’s why we’re here now.

LINK START!

Recap

“The Sage of the Library”

Eugeo can’t shake the feeling that he’s heard Eldrie’s name before, but considering how they’re about to fight him with only their chains and system commands, that’s not as important. They do their best, but they can’t beat him. Just he has them on the ropes, Eugeo remembers who Eldrie is: Eldrie Woolsburg, the winner of the most recent Unification Tournament.

Since this means that that whole “summoned to this world” thing isn’t true, Eldrie starts to mentally break down, and its revealed that he has some sort of crystal implanted in him that blocks his real memories. Before they can make him remember everything, another Intergrity Knight ruins everything, and they have to run for it.

Just as they hit a dead end, a glowing door appears in the courtyard, with a girl inside beckoning them inside. Inside is a massive library, containing the history of Underworld and the Sacred Arts. More important, though, the girl’s name is Cardinal, the former regulator of Underworld.

While Eugeo goes to take a hot bath, Cardinal tells Kirito the truth: while the Gods of Underworld are super-accounts for emergencies, everything else is a lie made by the Axiom Church. Cardinal is, in fact, the manifestation of the Cardinal System that has run nearly every VR world Kirito has been in. Then she tells the true history of the world.

One of the four Rath employees who built Underworld was corrupt and instilled a sense of arrogance in his children, which led to the creation of the nobles. From their ranks, a girl named Quinella was born. Quinella attained an unheard of mastery of the Sacred Arts, which she used to fool everyone into believing she was a prophet of the gods. She then built the Axiom Church and the Taboo Index to ensure no one else could surpass her.

When she eventually grew old, she used the Sacred Arts to restore her youth, and then usurped the Cardinal Systems authority over Underworld, becoming the Administrator.

“Ruler and Mediator”

Even with all her power, Quinella hit another wall: her fluctlight had reached its memory capacity. Thus, she used a young girl as a test dummy to gain control of another’s Fluctlight. That would become the basis for the Integrity Knights Synthesis.

While it helped save her memories, Quinella’s plan backfired, and allowed Cardinal to use the body of the little girl as her own. Quinella was too strong for her to defeat, though, and she was forced to flee to the Great Library. She’s been hiding there while she sent animal agents to find someone who can help her take down Quinella.

It gets worse: Rath has designed an endgame to Underworld. Very soon, the inhabitants of the Dark Territory will invade the Human Territory, which will result in Underworld’s bloody destruction. If Kirito and Eugeo help Cardinal defeat Quinella, though, she will make them a deal. She can save ten people in Underworld, while she deletes the rest. Even though Kirito agrees to help Cardinal, he refuses to give up on Underworld.

After meeting up with Eugeo, Cardinal explains how to break the brainwashing of the Integrity Knights: by recovering the memory fragments of the Knights, located in Quinella’s quarters, and put them back in the Knights. Which means they need to fight through all the Integrity Knights to get to Quinella.

Cardinal then gives them some power-ups that will help them beat the Integrity Knights, and then she sends the two of them on their way, towards the fight of their lives.

Review

Now you see why I loathe the Axiom Church, the Noblility, the Taboo Index, and Quinella. That woman represents everything I despise in those who govern: she’s arrogant to the point of considering herself a goddess, and she abuses her power to oppress those beneath her and keep them from standing up to her rule. Her dumb rules are why Alice was taken away, and why Ronye and Tiese were nearly raped. She’s everything wrong with Underworld, and I am looking forward to the day that Kirito takes her down. It’s already happened in the anime; we just need to get to that point in the dub.

What should be of greater concern, though, is Cardinal’s prediction for the fate of Underworld. I know for a fact that she’s correct. The Dark Territory will invade, and the Integrity Knights won’t be able to stop them. The only chance Underworld has to survive is for Kirito to take down Quinella and rally the humans of Underworld. That, though, will be a story for another time.

Regarding the episodes themselves, I personally enjoyed them. I know that a lot of people may not like having to deal with exposition and flashbacks in shows, but they are necessary to move the plot forward at times. In this case, these two episodes establish what we had already suspected: that Underworld wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Next week, we start a new chapter in the Alicization saga, as Kirito and Eugeo must fight to save Underworld from Quinella’s tyranny and the coming apocalypse. If Karandi is right, then the next few episodes are going to become repetitive and boring. Since I didn’t start watching until the dub, though, I reserve judgement. I’m hopeful, though.

These episodes had far more talking than they did fighting, but they were some of my favorite episodes of the show so far, as they revealed a lot of important information about what’s happening. That, and I’m a sucker for a good flashback story

I Give “The Sage of the Library” and “Ruler and Mediator” 3.5/5 and 4/5

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Sword Art Online: Alicization, Episode’s 8 and 9 Review/Recap

Two weeks ago, an issue with broadcasting led to the dubbed premiere of an episode of Sword Art Online: Alicization to freeze mid-broadcast. As such, they had to re-air the episode last week to make up for it. Which is why I had no review for it last week.

To make up for it (and possibly to fill out the time slot for Megalo Box), last night gave us a double dose of SAO: Alicization. So, I’m doing the same. It’s a good thing, too, since the plot’s split into these two episodes. TWO FOR TWO, PEOPLE! LINK START!

Recap

“Swordcraft Academy”

It’s been two years now since Kirito and Eugeo left Rulid Village. Together, they’ve journeyed to Centoria and entered the Swordcraft Academy, spending their days training to become swordsmen in order to join the Integrity Knights and find Alice. They’re both serving as apprentices to elite swordsmen, and, of course, Kirito’s mentor is a girl, Sortiliena Serlut

Sortiliena’s the second-ranked student at the Academy, and she’s going to graduate once the semester ends. She’s been practicing with Kirito every day to get better, because she wants to beat the top student, Volo Levantein. Meanwhile, Kirito gets a brand new sword, forged from the branches of the Gigas Cedar.

Kirito’s so excited that he can’t wait to test it out. That turns out to be a bad idea, because he ends up getting dirt on the top student’s uniform.

As punishment for staining his uniform, but really just an excuse to fight him, Volo challenges Kirito to a duel for the entire Academy to bear witness to. Despite his mentor’s advice, Kirito refuses to back down from this challenge, and accepts the terms: first person to get a hit wins.

“Swordsman’s Pride”

The duel between Kirito and Volo is so epic, instead of saying anything, I’ll just show you what happens.

The main thing that Kirito take from this fight is the notion that in Underworld, people can use the power of their will and imagination to make things that would be otherwise impossible possible. Sort of like what he did when he beat Kayaba all those years ago.

Kirito’s pride at fighting the top student to a standstill is cut short, though, when its discovered two pompous noblemen students had wrecked his gift for
Sortiliena: a rare type of flower she loves that normally can’t be grown in the north

Kirito gets really upset, not only because he can’t give his mentor her gift, but because he saw himself in the flowers: things living in a foreign land, just like him. Just when he starts crying, a voice tells him to use the power of his will and imagination to save the flowers

Thanks to that, Kirito is able to save his flowers. Not long afterwards,
Sortiliena beats Volo to graduate as the top student at Swordcraft Academy, with Kirito giving her his gift on her graduation day. Kirito and Eugeo thus advance to become Elite Disciples, meaning they’re the fifth and sixth top students in the academy, with valets of their own: Tiese Shtolienen and Ronye Arabel.

DO I HEAR SEVEN GIRLS?!?

Review

When I first saw these episodes last week, I thought that it was a nice treat to get two episodes of SAO in one night. After watching them again, I still think that. Though, to be honest, I think it seems silly for Kirito to have to be in a school about being a swordsman. He’s already one of the best swordsmen there is. Is what I used to think.

Watching him train at the Academy, though, made me realize that Kirito still has a lot left to learn about being a swordsman, especially in Underworld. The one thing that I really like about these two episodes, though, were the visuals in Volo and Kirito’s fight. The image of Volo’s ancestors using their will to strengthen his own sword was pretty cool to watch. I haven’t seen the rest of the show in sub form, but I hope that they do more of this stuff.

Granted, I am aware how corny the idea of using “imagination” to strengthen one’s attacks in Underworld sounds. If the Abridged series ever gets to it, they’ll probably make fun of it. I take it as a sign of how the will of a person can influence a virtual world. Someone with a good enough understanding of how a virtual reality works would pretty much become a god. Add on the will and creativity of the human condition, and that’s a recipe for something amazing to happen.

Wait…. this feels familiar. Am I thinking of what’s going to happen ahead of time? Ah, well.

Next week, we are going to deal with the inevitably controversial episode of the season. Buckle up, people. We’re going to need to steel ourselves.

I give “Swordcraft Academy” and “Swordsman’s Pride” 3.5/5 and 4/5, each.

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Sword Art Online: Alicization Review/Recap, Episode 4

Remember how I had said that Sword Art Online: Alicization was going to be a slow burn? Well, a slow-moving story can be worth it as long as the payoff is worth it. As this episode of Sword Art Online shows, the payoff comes in the form of epic fight scenes. Say what you will about SAO, the fight scenes are always awesome.

LINK START!!

Recap

We pick up where the last episode left off: a horde of goblins about to fight Kirito and Eugeo, and Eugeo scared out of his mind. Given everything that Kirito’s been through, this is like another day at the office.

Kirito then comes up with a plan: he fights the boss, while Eugeo deals with the small fry. The fight that follows lives up to the standards that the show sets.

Quick note: unlike previous VRMMO’s, Underworld is meant to be as close to our world as possible. That means when people get cut with swords, they bleed. When they get their arms cut off, they bleed a lot. Just like that goblin leader when Kirito cuts his arm off.

Another quick note: pain is very much a thing in Underworld, and Kirito’s at a disadvantage here. He’s been playing VRMMO’s for so long, he hasn’t experienced pain in a while. When that goblin slashes Kirito across the chest, he is in agony.

Fortunately, Eugeo finally finds his courage and distracts the head goblin, but is mortally wounded in the process. Enraged, Kirito manages to decapitate the guy. The rest of the goblins quickly retreat.

After freeing Selka, she then leads Kiritio in performing an incredibly risky sacred art : transfer their life into Eugeo to keep him from dying. It manages to work, but just before Kirito passes out, he hears a voice. It’s Alice, telling him that she’s waiting for him and Eugeo at the top of the central cathedral in the capital of Centoria.

A few days later, Eugeo and Kirito are back on their feet, and Kirito tries out Blue Rose again. He leveled up from that fight before, so now he can use the sword. And it takes a chunk of life out of the Gigas Cedar!

Eugeo then begs Kirito to train him as a swordsman so he can bring back Alice, and he readily agrees. He also dubs his sword style “Aincrad Style”.

One training montage later, Eugeo can handle Blue Rose like a pro, and just like that, that giant tree’s chopped down. The whole village celebrates! And, in a convenient plot device, Eugeo is now free to choose a new sacred task. He goes with the swordsman, and so Kirito and Eugeo depart for Centoria to become master swordsmen and bring back Alice.

Review

As I said before, the fights in Sword Art Online, however brief they may be at times, can be worth the wait. I’ve read the light novels, so trust me when I say that this was just a warm-up. The second half of the season is going to have some Dragonball Z level fighting.

It was a good warm-up, though. The choreography was good, the pacing and animation met the standards the show has set, and the music was on point. You know it’s going to be good when they start using a remix of swordland.

On that note, though, I do have something I want to discuss: are they overusing swordland? I know that it’s one of the best songs in the show’s soundtrack; it always has. When you hear it, it conveys a purpose, letting the audience know that this fight is going to be good. But it seems like they are using it a little too often now. When they were healing Eugeo, I swear I could hear a soft instrumental remix of it playing.

I like the song, but don’t rely on it exclusively or else its going to get really old really fast.

Also, Selka, why would you go into the mountains on your own? I get that you were trying to prove to yourself that you’re not Alice, but trying to do what got her in trouble isn’t going to help that argument. At least she admits tbat she’ll find her own way of surpassing Alice through the Sacred Arts. She’s got latent talent, so I’ll give her that.

The only other gripe I have about this episode is that they missed a few scenes that were in the light novel. They say the goblins were supposed to fight amongst themselves to determine a new leader, but we never see that. Also, I remember reading that Eugeo announces he’s going to be a swordsman, that jerk guard fights him for it. He doesn’t even show up here. I think it was a wasted chance to see a jerk get clobbered. I don’t even remember his name at this point.

Actually, according to the wiki, there was a lot of creative liberty taken with this episode. There are a lot of differences for each of the previous episodes that I never even knew. Them’s the breaks for not reading the first half of the arc.

So, in the end, this episode was at least 40% action, and 60% dialogue and moving the plot forward. Since this is just the first fight, though, I will give it a pass. I just hope that the fights continue to get better as time goes on.

I Give “Departure” a 3.5/5

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Sword Art Online: Alicization, Episode 2 Review/Recap

When I said that I would be doing every single episode of Sword Art Online: Alicization last week, I meant it. Someone who saw my post on LinkedIn said that I was a mad man for doing something like this. Well, maybe I am crazy. But some of the most important people in history did things that were crazy, so I see no reason why I can’t. On to the Underworld. Now: Link, START!

I never talked about this in my first post, and I regret that. One major yet potentially overlooked quality to a good anime is the opening song. Often sung by J-Pop idols or bands, the opening song’s job is to get people ready for what’s to come. Some of the greatest anime of all time can even be associated with an iconic opening song. For Dragon Ball, it’s “Cha-La-Head-Cha-La”. One Piece, it’s probably “We Are”. For Sword Art Online, it’s “Crossing Field”. That said, I think the new opening, “Adamas” by LiSA is my second place.

Recap

After the horrific events of the first episode, Kirito wakes up in a field in a forest with no memory of how he got there or even where he is. His memory of what Johnny Black to him will take some time to come back, but he’s quick to realize that he’s now in Underworld.

He also realizes that unlike the last time, he remembers everything about the real world. After some walking around, he then comes across the Gigas Cedar shown in episode 1, and a certain young man continuing to chop away at it, Eugeo.

Over the course of the episode, certain key plot points are gradually revealed.

• First: despite having met during Kirito’s first dive into Underworld, Kirito has no memory of Eugeo. Likewise, Eugeo has no memory of Kirito.
• Second: Despite this, Eugeo remembers what happened to Alice and how she was unjustly taken by the Integrity Knight. Which means all that happened.
• Kirito has the vague feeling that he’s heard Alice’s name before.

After confirming that Eugeo’s not an NPC, Kirito keeps the fact that he’s from the outside world a secret. He goes along with Eugeo’s idea that he’s an amnesiac with no idea where he is, and takes Eugeo up on his offer to come back with him to Rulid Village.

There, they run into the village bully and chief guard, Jink.

Kirito takes an immediate dislike to Jink and his snobbish attitude (and so do I). So he decides to tell the two that he’s a swordsman, and demonstrates his skill.

This leads Kirito to discover the one advantage he has over everyone else in Underworld: he has all his skills from the VRMMO’s he’s played over the years. So cool.

Thanks to Eugeo, Kirito gets set up to stay at the local church, and as the sun sets, he decides that he needs to learn more about Underworld, how he got there, and how to get home, bringing his first day in Underworld to a close.

Review

Let me make something clear: from the moment I saw this episode, I had a realization about this season. This is going to be one of those seasons that’s a slow burn. That is, not as much action’s going to happen in the episodes as some would like, thus leading to problems with the pacing.

I would like to point out, though, that this is adapting the longest arc in Sword Art Online‘s history. It runs a total of nine volumes, and it’s gonna be broken up into 50 episodes. That’s about the number of episodes as the first two seasons combined. So, we should be in this for the long haul. I know I am!

Despite the slow pace of this episode, I ended up liking it, but not for the reasons you may think. I have played a lot of RPG’s and JRPG’s in my time, and I felt the opening to this was similar to a classic setup found in some of them: a mysterious young person wakes up in the middle of nowhere, has no idea who they are aside from their name, and discovers they inexplicably have skills that set them apart from everyone else.

It’s slightly subverted, though, as Kirito remembers who he is, but has no clue why he’s back in Underworld. Since he can’t find a way to leave, he decides to just roll with it and see what happens. He’s going to have to do a lot of that this season.

If I had to best describe it, I’d say this episode is like the prologue to a JRPG, meant to serve as exposition and ending at the point where the player would save their game for the first time. It’s a weird analogy but roll with it. I’m looking forward to seeing where this will go next week.

I Give “The Demon Tree” A 3/5

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