Sword Art Online: KiriAsu Authorized ShipCenter®

[blkmage]

Kirito's parents are dead. Or if you mean his "parents", then they're around.

Suguha's love thing gets dropped pretty quickly (or already) because she recognizes that Kirito's already completely taken away by Asuna already. Where that ends up leading is hilarious though.

But if you're looking forward to Kirito being hax, then you're in the right arc.

[GeneD]

Kirito's parents are dead. Or if you mean his "parents", then they're around.

Oh yes I remember now there was that flashback bit. I was actually wondering why there was no one around who would try to keep him the heck away from any more online games. As I imagine parents would in this kind of situation.

Suguha's love thing gets dropped pretty quickly (or already) because she recognizes that Kirito's already completely taken away by Asuna already. Where that ends up leading is hilarious though.

Okay good.

But if you're looking forward to Kirito being hax, then you're in the right arc.

Okay good again.

[MangaRocks!]

Episode 17:

Holy crap, as if that creep couldn't get any worse...

Also, Kirito trying to fly continues to be hilarious.

Anyway, as always, can't wait for the next episode!

[blkmage]

A lot less happened in that episode than I was expecting.

[blkmage]

34000, if you were wondering

[MangaRocks!]

^

...Pre-orders/sales? How much it costs in Yen? Kirito's in-game level?

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

That's combined DVD/BD sales of the first volume.

[MangaRocks!]

^ Thanks.

[blkmage]

Yes, which, so far, puts it in third place so far for 2012, behind Nisemonogatari and Fate/Zero 2.

[MangaRocks!]

Episode 18:

Oh dear, I feel pretty sorry for that poor kid who likes Suguha in real life.

HA! Good for Asuna! I'm glad she figured out a way to help herself (plus get info on Kirito in the process).

And interesting end...

[blkmage]

Since it may not be obvious, it's worth reminding ourselves that up until this point, Asuna had no idea what happened to Kirito, even whether he made it out or not. Remember that both of them were in SAO limbo the last time they saw each other. And so, because she knows he's alive and made it out now, she trusts that he'll be able to get to her and so she has the motivation to do something to help herself and help him get to her.

[Falx]

Looks like it's getting pretty close to where I stopped reading. I'm a bit worried though, that with all the censor steam in this episode that they're going to sex up the DVD/BD versions too much and I won't want to buy them.

[blkmage]

oh yeah, I also enjoyed the logging off scene, pretty hilarious

[GeneD]

Is it bad that I find Oberon (can't be bothered with real world names) hilarious?

Also, is it weird that my suspension of disbelief is at different levels for online and the real world? I can take all the stuck-in-a-game things no problem, but I can't wrap my head around the fact that Kirito hasn't just walked into his sister's room and seen that poster by this point, or just looked into it as he passed by for crying out loud. Okay I know she can just keep the door shut permanently but still, it bugs me.

[MangaRocks!]

Episode 19:

No surprise on the stuff with the one leader dude; I figured that was coming. Monster bit was interesting though (so instead of a mere 'illusion' it was actually an avatar transformation... wonder how that'll be used in the future).

On another note, when I heard the words "Cait Sith," I thought it was a FFVII reference for a minute-- but then I did a search and discovered that "Cait Sith" was originally a real-world Celtic myth I'd never heard of before. Ah, the things you learn from anime.

[GeneD]

I miss Kirito and Asuna being awesome together.

[blkmage]

I miss Kirito and Asuna being awesome together.

This has been the biggest source of my disappointment with every post-SAO arc.

[A_Yellow_Dress]

^ It's like Asuna has been demoted from being a character, to being a plot device, to being a decoration. Was she even mentioned in this episode?

Personally, I don't I like Alfheim as much as SAO. (By the way, was I the only one who didn't notice until this episode that the spells are in English....? Totally missed that one. XD)

[blkmage]

Fairy Dance ranks relatively low in terms of my favourite arcs. This isn't really spoilers, since the arc names won't mean much at this point, so here goes:

Mother's Rosario > Caliber > Aincrad (SAO) > Fairy Dance > Phantom Bullet > Alicization (so far)

To be a bit more specific, the way GeneD puts it perfectly sums up my experience with SAO after Aincrad perfectly, even if she hasn't read it. Kirito and Asuna don't really do much awesome stuff together.
[spoiler]Kirito does awesome stuff, which is expected because he's the main character and he's hax. Asuna does some awesome stuff too, and if you read on or if they do another season, you'll get to see some of that. Kirito and Asuna are together a lot, since they're going out and everything. But the following arcs don't let them be awesome together anymore, which is a shame. Like, I said, Asuna becomes a strong character of her own again after getting demoted in Fairy Dance, but the stories are either about Kirito or about Asuna but it's never about the two of them. This is a shame because the setup, having a couple being awesome and having to rely on each other, has great potential and would've been more interesting than what we got.[/spoiler]

[A_Yellow_Dress]

Fairy Dance ranks relatively low in terms of my favourite arcs. This isn't really spoilers, since the arc names won't mean much at this point, so here goes:

Mother's Rosario > Caliber > Aincrad (SAO) > Fairy Dance > Phantom Bullet > Alicization (so far)

To be a bit more specific, the way GeneD puts it perfectly sums up my experience with SAO after Aincrad perfectly, even if she hasn't read it. Kirito and Asuna don't really do much awesome stuff together.
[spoiler]Kirito does awesome stuff, which is expected because he's the main character and he's hax. Asuna does some awesome stuff too, and if you read on or if they do another season, you'll get to see some of that. Kirito and Asuna are together a lot, since they're going out and everything. But the following arcs don't let them be awesome together anymore, which is a shame. Like, I said, Asuna becomes a strong character of her own again after getting demoted in Fairy Dance, but the stories are either about Kirito or about Asuna but it's never about the two of them. This is a shame because the setup, having a couple being awesome and having to rely on each other, has great potential and would've been more interesting than what we got.[/spoiler]

[spoiler] That's thoroughly depressing. Some of my favorite scenes are of the two of them fighting side by side. It is good to know that Asuna gains some of her independence back though. Thanks for the response! [s]By the way, the light novels are ongoing, right?[/s] Nevermind. Wikipedia has got it covered. [/spoiler]

[GeneD]

To be a bit more specific, the way GeneD puts it perfectly sums up my experience with SAO after Aincrad perfectly, even if she hasn't read it. Kirito and Asuna don't really do much awesome stuff together.

Yeah this basically stopped me from checking out the light novels. What's the chance that they'll change things to fix it in the anime if there's another season?
[spoiler]Glad to hear that Asuna will get some of her mojo back though.[/spoiler]

[blkmage]

The way each arc is set up intentionally excludes the other from being able to help.
[spoiler]Phantom Bullet is about Kirito on a secret mission for the government.
Mother's Rosario is about Asuna getting recruited into another guild for a bit.
Alicization is about Kirito getting stuck in a virtual world for fairly spoilery reasons.

Caliber is the only arc where they're in-game together and that's only because it's the only arc where they're actually playing the game instead of getting wrapped up in nefarious plot.[/spoiler]
Right now, SAO is looking more and more like a vehicle for the author to talk about the social and philosophical implications of VR and games and it seems like he's either uninterested or incapable of further developing his characters.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

I think the problem is not just that Kirito and Asuna don't get to be awesome together anymore (which is unfortunate) but there isn't quite this fun romp through the game like SAO had. When SAO kicked off it gave a goal, then the characters got to go around having fun video-gamey adventures and that was fun to watch. We haven't really gotten anything like that yet, with everything being like GOTTA SAVE ASUNA there isn't any time for the characters to really go be fun people. The way Suguha isn't all that good a character doesn't help

That said, the past couple episodes were better and a noticeable step in the right direction, not that I expect it to suddenly become like SAO.

[blkmage]

Yes, that's actually not a bad observation. My favourite parts of SAO are when they're not really doing much (Domestic Life Online, real world hanging out, etc.).

Also, nice fight this week.

[MangaRocks!]

Episode 20:

That was one seriously fantastic fight. [spoiler]Pretty cool weapon skill from the baddie, too, though of course it didn't help him all that much in the end. [/spoiler] Also, YES [spoiler]Asuna escaped! Though it might be a little awkward if they don't meet on the way and then Kirito gets up there and the cage is empty, LOL. [/spoiler] This was a far better episode than the previous few have been.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

The fight was nicely animated and exciting but I couldn't help but lol at the fact that after it explicitly points out that Kirito doesn't have Dual Blades in ALO but he's just so awesome he can steal Suguha's sword and use it to suddenly defeat the best fighter in ALO. And then I like how it totally won't get into the implications of what would happen if the Salamander dude realizes he's been duped, which must happen soon. Or why the guy from earlier lied to cover Kirito's butt.

Actually this is one of the better episodes it's had in a while but it was pretty lol the whole time.

[blkmage]

This is where some of the lost narration helps.

SAO had sword skills, which are basically combos you activate and the game would make you do the moves. This was also sort of mentioned in episode 14, when Kirito realizes that he wouldn't be able to use sword skills against Heathcliff, who created the game, so he'd have to rely solely on skill.

There are no sword skills in ALO, with magic essentially replacing it. The physical combat relies solely on skill, so there's nothing stopping a guy from using two swords if they really wanted to, but the time and effort that it'd take to get good at it is not worth it to an incredible degree. Kirito would suck too if it weren't for the fact that he spent a good chunk of two years using two swords.

And the guy vouches for Kirito as sort of returning the favour for not killing him.

--

It's not directly related and it's slight future spoilers, but why Kirito is so good (which is not solely due to hax stats) is actually one of the more interesting ideas that the author explores as part of his weird fascination with virtual reality.

The idea is that a lot of VR is getting used to control in VR, which improves the more you do it. The people who were stuck in SAO obviously have tons of time controlling their bodies in VR that their reflexes in VR are much better than those filthy casuals and their movements feel more natural in a VR environment.

[GeneD]

The fight was great, I'm glad we finally got a good one, it's been a while.

[spoiler]Asuna escaped![/spoiler]

[spoiler]I really hope she actually gets away properly and doesn't just get re-caught like two minutes later. I'm tempted to look it up in the light novels so I don't get my hopes up.[/spoiler]

It's not directly related and it's slight future spoilers, but why Kirito is so good (which is not solely due to hax stats) is actually one of the more interesting ideas that the author explores as part of his weird fascination with virtual reality.

The idea is that a lot of VR is getting used to control in VR, which improves the more you do it. The people who were stuck in SAO obviously have tons of time controlling their bodies in VR that their reflexes in VR are much better than those filthy casuals and their movements feel more natural in a VR environment.

If some of this made it into the anime at an earlier stage it might have helped tone down Kirito's Mary Sueness, which I've seen some people complain about. I mean at the beginning it clearly shows the beta testers have an advantage over normal players but it doesn't really specify why exactly. Kirito (and Asuna) Mary Sue-ing is actually one of the things that don't bother me at all in this though.

[blkmage]

The beta tester thing is unrelated. The VR acclimatization is a different issue that comes up only after the Aincrad arc is finished since it stems from them being trapped in a VR environment for two years and even then, it isn't really explicitly explored until after Fairy Dance.

The beta tester thing is more of a normal MMORPG thing, where the beta testers have knowledge about the game and specific encounters and other useful information that the regular players don't just because they've played it for a few weeks before everyone else. It's this information that allows Kirito to solo and level up so quickly, because he knows where to grind to avoid respawn limits. You see this a lot of this beta testing to gain knowledge in WoW, where the top progression raiding guilds spend a few weeks in a beta for an upcoming expansion to learn the boss fights and they end up clearing the entire game within 24 hours once the expansion goes live for real.

[Falx]

Thinking about it would've been nice if Kirito freaked out the first time someone died in AFO and nobody cared.

Or maybe that there was more of a hint that being trapped in a kill-or-be-killed world had more of a mental affect on him.