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Sword Art Online: Alicization, Episode 14 Review/Recap

First, I would like to offer everyone my deepest apologies for not getting this done sooner. I have been so busy in my life right now, so I am trying to keep up with a lot of things at once.

That said, let us get started with the second part of Sword Art Online: Alicization. For the record, I have not read any of Karandi’s articles on it lately, as I want to experience it for myself and make my own judgement

LINK. START!

Recap

After retrieving their swords from the armory, Kirito and Eugeo now face a brutal, dungeon style gauntlet ahead of them. They need to fight past the Integrity Knights, find Alice, make it to the top floor, and kick Quinella’s butt. It doesn’t take them long to find their first opponent in the form of the Integrity Knight that attacked them earlier, Deuesolbert Synthesis Seven.

The Crimson Knight proves to be a formidable opponent, wielding powerful fire magic and a powerful bow, but he proves to be no match for Kirito and Eugeo’s teamwork. As Kirito holds off his attacks, Eugeo charges in with his Blue Rose Sword and overpowers the knight with powerful ice magic.

As Deusolbert lays defeated, Eugeo recognizes him as the Knight who took Alice away, something he himself can’t recall. It ends up confirming Kirito’s suspicions about Quinella erasing the Integrity Knights memories and then lying to them. The man is shocked by this, but he recalls a faint memory of someone from his life before he was an Integrity Knight, seemingly confirming it for himself.

Eugeo and Kirito choose to spare their enemy’s life and continue to move up the tower. As they stop to rest, though, they are met by two little girls.

Review

From what I heard from Karandi, the rest of the episodes are going to follow the same basic formula, Kirito and Eugeo fight through a different boss fight to reach Alice and beat up the hag who refuses to wear clothes. I don’t care how hot Quinella looks: she’s still a hag!

That said, this should make for some interesting fights, if this is any indication. That duel between Kirito, Eugeo and the Integrity Knight was really awesome the fight between fire and ice.

As far as the plot goes, I don’t think we’ll be expecting that much from it. It’s pretty much gratuitous fighting scenes at point with the plot being put on the back burner.

In action shows like SAO, trying to balance between plot and the action can be a tricky task, and they don’t always do it right. Balancing the two’s going to be what I look for in the show going forward. I know SAO has its detractors, and they do make good points. But I’m not giving up on the show yet.

I Give “The Crimson 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 11 Review/Recap

If you haven’t watched the rest of the anime yet, then last episode will have gotten you confused: how is Alice an Integrity Knight now?

Well, that answer will be revealed in due time. For now, though, Kirito and Eugeo are about to go through a literal boss tower in order to find the answers behind the Axiom Church and that stupid Taboo Index.

LINK, START!

Recap

Picking up where the last episode left off, Eugeo’s positive that the woman before them is his childhood friend, Alice. Alice, on the other hand, doesn’t even recognize him or Kirito. Kirito advises that they do what she says until they get inside the Central Cathedral, and after a brief farewell to Ronye and Tiese, they are hauled back to the tower.

The scene then switches back to the Ocean Turtle, where Asuna is lamenting the fact that she has no role to play in this part of the story. She also encounters a prototype robot that RATH has built.

Once they manage to get one of the Underworld residents to develop into a full bottom-up AI, they plan on transferring them out of Underworld and into a robot body for them to inhabit. Fortunately, the newer models are becoming more human-like. Remember this for later: it will come in handy in the final part of the arc. Oh, and Asuna passes these two guys in the hallway that made my Spider-Sense go into overdrive, so I’m guessing they’re enemy spies or something.

Back in Underworld, a full day has passed since Kirito and Eugeo got thrown in the slammer. Bored with sitting around, they decide to finally break for it. Using their chains durability against it, they’re able to shatter the chains, and then walk right past the sleeping guard.

After making it onto the ground floor, their next step is to retrieve their swords. They also come to the conclusion that the Axiom Church has been erasing people’s memories in order to turn them into Integrity Knights, which explains why Alice seemed like a completely different person than what Eugeo remembers. To add onto the mystery, they run into Alice’s junior, Eldrie Synthesis Knight Thirty-One. According to him, he was only “summoned” a month ago, but Alice put him in charge of stopping Kirito and Eugeo once they busted out.

Review

Continue off the theme of comparing this to an RPG, this would be the point at which the hero ends up going through the wave of bosses in a dungeon tower. If this were a normal game, this may be the final act of that game. But since this is only the first half of the fifty episode Alicization Arc, this would be the end of the first disc, like with Final Fantasy VII.

I skimmed through what happens next, but I can tell you this: from here on out, Kirito and Eugeo are going to be spending the rest of the season fighting their way through the Integrity Knights in order to learn what happened to Alice and the truth behind the Axiom Church. From what my fellow blogger, Karandi, wrote, these next few episodes are going to be either really fun to watch or a snooze-fest. Either way, I am going to keep doing this series.

I would normally criticize the pacing of this episode, but I understand that’s done in order to set for what’s to come. As long as the payoff ends up being good, then I will consider this worth it in the end.

I give “Central Cathedral” a 3/5

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Sword Art Online: Alicization, Episodes 9 and 10 Review/Recap

I knew this day would come, but I’ve dreaded it all the same. Why on earth did Reki Kawahara think that this was a good idea? I even put off watching these episodes for a week because I didn’t want to deal with what I saw. Well, there’s no point in delaying the inevitable. Here are the episodes of Sword Art Online: Alicization that caused controversy before Shield Hero was a thing. And unlike Shield Hero, these episodes were legitimately controversial.

LINK, START!

Recap

“Nobleman’s Responsibilities”

Time has passed since Kirito and Eugeo became elite swordsmen at the Sword Mastery Academy, and Eugeo’s skill continues to grow. After realizing that he doesn’t have that spark to his attacks that others have, Eugeo begins to train himself even further.

Then these wastes of human flesh show up: Humbert and Raios. They’re the Nobles who wrecked Kirito’s flower bed last episode. They also represent the worst kind of upper class people: the kind that gets off bullying everyone beneath them, like Eugeo. That’s probably how they get the number one and two spots in the academy. In order to gauge how powerful he is and how strong they are, Eugeo duels Humbert. The brat’s power is formidable, and literally fueled by his arrogance, but Eugeo manages to fight him to a standstill.

A few days pass, and Kirito and Eugeo are taking their valets, Tiese and Ronye, for a picnic. After a while, Tiese and Ronye bring up a big problem their friend, Frenica, is having. Humbert’s her mentor, and ever since their duel, he’s been forcing Frenica to do things that are borderline sexual harrassment. He’s been forcing her to massage him in the baths in her underwear. Just typing this makes my stomach churn.

It all goes back to the Taboo Index and how flawed it is, and Kirito doesn’t buy it. Doing what one knows is right is more important than following some dumb rules.

When the two confront Humbert and Raios, they admit it, but they can get away with it because of the Taboo Index.

I can’t stand it. Watching people in power abuse it for their own sick desires makes my blood boil and my stomach churn. The worst part is that this isn’t limited to fiction: this happens in real life.

That evening, Tiese confesses to Eugeo that, she graduates, she will be forced to marry someone of higher status, and she’s terrified that it will be someone like Raios and Humbert. If Eugeo were to rank high enough in the future Four Empire Unification Tournament, he’ll be granted a rank of nobility. I think you know where this is going.

“Taboo Index”

A few days later, Eugeo gets a knock on his door and meets Frenica. The poor girl reveals that Tiese and Ronye went to confront Humbert and Raios and never came back.

Yep, the two have been kidnapped by the monsters, and as they punishment for their “disrespect” they’re going to violate them. When Eugeo tries to stop them, the cowards invoke the Taboo Index as justification. Remembering his inability to save Alice and what Kirito said in the last episode, Eugeo overcomes the Taboo Index through sheer willpower and slashes Humbert’s arm off.

When Raios tries to kill Eugeo for attacking them, Kirito intervenes, and proceeds to slice Raios’ hands off. The living pile of crap then bleeds to death while his fluctlight tears itself over using Humbert’s life to save himself and violating the Taboo Index.

As Kirito, Eugeo and their valets process what just happened, that creepy face that showed up when Alice broke the Index appears again. The boys know what this means. The next morning, an Integrity Knight shows up to take them to the Central Cathedral for punishment. The knight in question shocks Eugeo, though. She looks just like Alice.

Review

I don’t know what Reki Kawahara was thinking when he thought that this moment was a good idea, but it may not have been any good. I was already pushing it with what happened with Asuna back in the Fairy Dance Arc, but this was just as bad. That’s why I put off watching it until now.

That said, the original Web Novel version was actually worse. What Humbert and Raios planned to do to Tiese and Ronye actually happened in the Web Novel. Which is just as bad!

After watching this, I have to admit that it was as cringeworthy as I thought it would be. The worst part, though, is that part of the story wasn’t even included. In the Light Novel, Eugeo had this internal struggle over defying the Taboo Index. In here, we barely even see it..

I mentioned back when I started this that I loathed the Taboo Index with every fiber of my being. This moment is why. It’s a rule that literally keeps people from doing anything when they see something they know is wrong happen in front of them. I’m proud that Eugeo was able to do what he did. I would have done the exact same thing.

As for the Integrity Knight who looks like Alice, I can assure you that its really her. Read the wiki, remember? How she got to be like this is going to be revealed over the remaining episodes this season. Next week, we begin the second half of this season.

I Give “Nobleman’s Responsibilities” and “Taboo Index” A 2/5.

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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, Episode 6 Review/Recap

This post would have been up sooner, but there were technical difficulties. In the midst of the dubbed premiere of episode 6 of Sword Art Online: Alicization, it. froze up.

Fortunately, I can be very resourceful. I went online to a website I know I can trust to get me the latest episodes of animated shows, and I watched it from there. So here it is, my review/recap of Sword Art Online: Alicization, episode 6

LINK, START!

Recap

The episode picks up where the last one left off, with a very pissed off Asuna demanding one thing from Kikouka: Take me. To Kirito. RIGHT. NOW.

Kikouka then explains the reason why they basically kidnapped Kirito from the hospital: because a hospital wouldn’t be enough. Johnny Black’s attack damaged Kirito’s brain too much for normal tech to heal him. But with the STL, they can create a new neural network, saving his brain. Asuna is happy with this, but Rinko wants her own answers: what is RATH really doing.

Kikouka drops a bombshell: the whole purpose of Underworld is to create a bottom-up AI. Unlike a top-down AI, which is programmed with knowledge to respond to situations. But they can’t respond to situations they don’t know the answer to. Yui may be an exception due to her bond with Kirito and Asuna, but that’s about it.

A bottom-up AI, though, is recreating the human brain through technology. They use the STL to scan people’s mind and souls, then put them into a virtual environement where they can grow and learn like normal humans.

Key thing to note: they can’t just copy an adult’s fluctlight or soul. The copy can’t stand the fact that they’re a copy, go crazy, and kill themselves. So, they have to raise them from infancy. Hence, why Underworld exists. Combine that with accelerating the time in Underworld, and they have an entire civilization.

The only problem is, they refuse, or can’t, go against the Taboo Index. They have no real free will, to choose what to do. Or who to kill. RATH wants to create bottom-up AI to fight in wars so human beings wouldn’t.

Asuna is obviously pissed at this, and so would Kirito if he weren’t in Underworld. But the reason he was in Underworld in the first place was part of an experiment: to see if a human could break the Taboo Index. That led to Alice breaking the Index, and then the Axiom Church took her away, and RATH was too slow to react.

After explaining this to her friends in Alfheim Online, Asuna gets to see Kirito. Afterwards, Rinko tells Asuna that she had helped Kayaba create SAO. She then looked after Kayaba, and she begs Asuna for forgiveness.

In spite of all that happened, though, Asuna’s grateful for being in SAO. It’s how she met her friends, Yui, and Kirito, and she’s grateful for it.

Review

I get why some people don’t like exposition in a story: they want to get on to the fun stuff, like the fights and the plot. But I appreciate it when they do this stuff anyway. It’s necessary in order to explain the backstory behind the characters and their motivations.

This was the episode that was meant to explain everything that was going on: Underworld, Kirito’s involvement, Kikouka’s motivations, and how important Alice really is. It’s necessary to move the plot forward. And honestly, I liked it. Especially considering how next episode, it’s back to the Underworld for the forseeable future.

The only thing I didn’t like was how the whole “reading the soul” thing seems like bullcrap that’s delving into rabbit holes I don’t want to get into. A lot of philosophical, moral, and scientific issues are being brought up here. Right now, I just want to see cool sword fights. Still, I appreciated how Reki Kawahara thought everything out and gave explanations.

Overall, this episode gave me back hope for this season of SAO. And if it doesn’t pan out like Karandi says, then I got the second half of the season to look forward to. Or I can just switch to Rising of the Shield Hero. That’s a good anime.

I Give “Project Alicization” a 4/5

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Sword Art Online: Alicization Episode 5 Review/Recap

I’m just going to come out and say it: Karandi, you were right. I had high hopes for Sword Art Online, and I still think that the show’s going to get a lot better. Especially considering what’s going to happen in the second half of the season. For now, though, it’s going to going at a slow pace.

There, I said it. That said, I made a promise to review every episode of Sword Art Online: Alicization in dub form, and I aim to keep it. So, LINK START!

Recap

Remember when Asuna was the main heroine of the anime? Yeah, good times. Say what you will about the dub, but I think hearing a character be voiced by a VA you’re a fan of can make a dub better. In this case, Asuna’s voiced by Cherami Leigh.

I’ve been a fan of Cherami Leigh since I first heard her play Lucy Heartfilia in Fairy Tail, and I’ve followed her work ever since. Next to Lucy, I think Asuna’s one of her best characters. She brings about a feeling of confidence and strong-willfulness, but also has a sweet and caring nature to her voice. It’s why I was so quick to like Asuna, and Sword Art Online.

Asuna’s taken a back seat in some of the series adventures, but she’s still my favorite, and this episode focuses entirely on her efforts to help Kirito.

After Johnny Black attacked Kirito, we learn that he was taken to the nearby hospital where he was stabilized. Thanks to the drug, his heart stopped for more than five minutes.

In the medical field, five minutes is the limit that the brain can go without oxygen. After that, brain cells begin to die. If Kirito’s to make a full recovery, he’ll need the best treatment in the world. That’s where his acquaintance from the government, Kikouka (who I just realized is voiced by Matt Mercer) comes in. He’ll take Kirito to the best medical facility in the world.

Only, Asuna and Suguha can’t get to him, because he’s not where they said he would be.

Realizing quickly that something is up, Asuna and the others start digging around, and they confirm that Kirito had been loaded onto a helicopter that then traveled outside of Japan.

The group nearly gives up, but then Asuna remembers someone that Kirito had spoken to: Rinko Koujiro,, Akihiko Kayaba’s former research partner and lover. Rinko had been getting emails from Kikouka to work with him on the big project Kirito was a part of.

A few days later, Rinko arrives at Rath’s main location: a giant ocean facility called the “Ocean Turtle”. Her and her assistant, May- Asuna. It’s Asuna in disguise.

As soon as she’s onboard,d Asuna ditches the disguise and flat out tells Kikouka “Take me. To Kirito. RIGHT. NOW.” And then the episode ends.

Review

I will be honest with you guys: I do not think that this part of the story really requires more than one episode to finish. Whereas the last episode was focused more on the action, this one was all about the exposition. Moving the plot forward with dialogue is important, but if it’s not interesting, then we get bored quickly.

Hell, if SAO: Abridged were to get to this part, they would probably skip all the way to Asuna ditching her disguise and then give us a quicker answer like she used her and her boyfriend’s contacts to track him down. That, or they’d make a joke about that heart monitor app doubling as an actual tracking device. Abridged Asuna would do something like that.

My point, this and whatever’s going to happen in the next episode could have been placed inside a single episode.

As for the show itself, as long as the second half of the arc is epic, then I will put up with whatever they throw at us. Granted, I know what’s going to happen (read the light novels) but I still want to enjoy it.

I give this episode 2.5/5

Karandi, I hope you’re reading this!

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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 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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