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Sword Art Online: Alicization– War of Underworld Episode 34 Review/Recap

Ever since the actual war for Underworld began, I’ve spent weeks asking one question: when Asuna? After spending the majority of Alicization on the sidelines, Asuna decided to dive directly into Underworld and rescue her beloved Kirito. As we saw at the end of last week’s episode, I got my wish: Asuna’s in Underworld and ready to kick some ass. However, don’t expect much of “Lightning Flash” Asuna’s skill this episode.

LINK START!

Recap

After making her dramatic entrance last episode, Asuna gets her priorities straight: find Kirito and Alice. She doesn’t have to wait long, as a grateful Ronye and Tiese lead her to her boyfriend. However, this also leads her to meet Alice, who’s not happy to see a stranger near Kirito. 

Fortunately, Bernoulli arrives in time to talk Alice down. After a few more tense moments with Alice, Asuna gathers the leaders of the Knights and tells them the truth. How the real world created Underworld, the groups fighting for control over it, and Alice’s importance to everyone. Rather than flee with Asuna, though, Alice resolves to stay and defeat Vector. If he falls, the Dark Territory will stand down, and Underworld will be safe. Realizing that this is their best choice, Asuna agrees to help the world that Kirito risked everything to protect. Even if that includes RATH.

Review

Aside from the brief duel Asuna and Alice, this episode has nothing in the way of action. The rest consists of talking and exposition. However, while I’ve criticized the show in the past for this, here I’m okay with it. I enjoyed it!

I have two reasons for my change of heart. First, I’m thrilled that Asuna’s finally back in action. As my favorite heroine, I’m frustrated with how little Asuna’s done since Aincrad. There was Mother’s Rosario and the movie, but that’s about it. With Kirito incapacitated, Asuna and Alice are mostly the main characters. 

Which brings me to my second point: the interactions between Asuna and Alice. I’ve noticed that the two a lot in common:

• Both the strongest swordswomen in their respective worlds
• Have strong-willed personalities
• Are attracted to Kirito (don’t deny that Alice has feelings for him).

Their similarities and shared love of Kirito put Asuna and Alice at odds right away; to my amusement. Until now, Asuna got along great with the other girls Kirito’s friends with, so it’s refreshing to see her act so possessive about “her Kirito”. Seeing her and Alice verbally spar over who’s closer to the boy is comedy gold that had me chuckling. Then seeing Ronye butt in, followed by Liena (who’s back all of sudden) made it a sweet moment. Also, I’m pretty sure this makes eight girls who are into Kirito, or do I hear nine?

With the return of one of the best characters on the show, the war for Underworld’s about to take on a new stage that will, hopefully, improve on the last. Asuna gets the chance to let loose at long last, and I bet her other friends are soon to join her. In other words, things are about to get good.

I Give “Stacia, Goddess of Creation” a 4.5/5

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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 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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