Sword Art Online Discussion Thread

[ookamigirl]

Two years into the game and he's still soloing the front lines.
Asuna & Kirito meet again. This time about a cooking thing.
Looks like her guild became something she's not too happy about.
Well, some things are better in smaller amounts ^^
Seems like everyone is slowly forgetting about home & the real world.
Asuna's guard was acting more like a stalker and that guild of hers sounds more like a prison.
Kirito vs Kuradeel was a nice bonus.
Asuna & Kirito in the dungeons again. That was nice, but those 2 taking on a boss alone is not a good idea.

[bear]

Seems like we're back on the main track. Asuna is prettier than ever and her fighting style spectacular.

[Fencedude]

That was really damn good. Asuna's glorious.

For the first time I'm really looking forward to the next episode.

[strangefour]

-Two years in the digital coma. Maybe the crazy creator of this game made this all as his last creatrion before dying of cancer or something. Why would you assume he's still around. Or he could have unplugged himself and run away to avoid facing punishment. Hell, maybe the authorities found where he was by looking at the server logs, tried, convicted and unplugged his ass. The assuming he's still in the game is a dubious one.
-Fresh roast rarebit!
-A breast grope... really? We did not need that.
-Oh hi Baphomet.

Uh why did this episode feel so much more like a by the numbers boy meets girl show? I want my cleverly written MMO anime back.

[HitokiriShadow]

Lots and lots of Asuna, yay! And we get to see her look pretty damn awesome, even if it was just a generic mob enemy. With Yuki Kajiura music playing.

And I really love Kirito/Asuna. Definitely the standout pairing of the season. Can't wait to see things develop more with them.

Really wasn't expecting an accidental boob grab/revenge punch scene in this show. Could have done without that though I guess it was less irritating than most, somehow.

And now, a boss fight!

[something]

Episode 8:

- October 17th means almost two months after the previous episode. This opener reallllly feels like "hey, the main storyline is starting now".

- Kirito gets magical stat boosting rabbit! But he can't cook for shit to use it.
- Enter Asuna, with her maxxed cooking skill. And she wrangles half the bonus out of it for her services, heh.
- God Asuna's character design is astounding. I love her armor too. She's definitely one of the best looking characters of the year.
- Well, Kirito just made himself a jealous old man enemy. Kick his ass, Kirito.

- Asuna in casual clothes. My god those legs. We are not worthy.
- Two years completely immersed in a game world that is, for all intents and purposes, real. That certainly would mess with your sense of what is reality and what isn't.
- Heh, she's teasing him about marriage. These two have such a lovely chemistry.
- Yes! Party with her, damnit! Force this show to depict a competent female fighter.
- She doesn't exactly give him much choice. Fuck I adore Asuna.
- So, what, the ingredient was... just tasty? No stat boosts or anything?

- Ohhhhhhh come on, SAO. I thought you of all shows wouldn't need to go with the "herp derp I don't know what boobies are derp herp what's this soft fleshy thing on a girl's chest herp derp". Don't do that to Kirito, goddamnit. He's better than that!
- And now she's hiding behind Kirito's back like she can't handle this "bodyguard" jerkwad.
- And Kirito has to duel for her because what the fuck I have no idea why.
- And right after she gets a chance to act badass - which was slightly changing my opinion of that scene - she almost faints.

About 10 seconds of her being awesome at the end helps, but fuck I really hope SAO got that earlier shit out of its system with this episode. Like purging poison or something.

I tolerated Sachi being weak because her role was to die and guilt trip Kirito.
I tolerated Silica being weak because she's inexperienced and we did see some growth in her abilities in just that episode and she'll probably be way tougher when we see her again.
I tolerated Liz being weak because she's a smith, not primarily a warrior.

But never, ever do that to Asuna. ::glares:: You do not need to use her as an excuse to let Kirito show off. I think it's been very, very clearly established just how badass awesome he is by now. We know.

The episode before the grope and after the duel was as amazing as it's always been. Kirito and Asuna's chemistry at dinner was spectacular. I liked the cooking mechanic, and Asuna teasing Kirito. They're so adorable together. But man that grope and duel were so beneath this show. I'm keeping a close eye on you, SAO. I'm going to be severely disappointed if such a phenomenal show turns me off because it felt the need to pull dumb shit.

[something]

Originally Posted by strangefour

-Two years in the digital coma. Maybe the crazy creator of this game made this all as his last creatrion before dying of cancer or something. Why would you assume he's still around. Or he could have unplugged himself and run away to avoid facing punishment. Hell, maybe the authorities found where he was by looking at the server logs, tried, convicted and unplugged his ass. The assuming he's still in the game is a dubious one.

Presumably he's coded in some kind of self destruct that would kill everyone in the game if he were arrested or killed. Hell the police might even know exactly where he is and how to get him, but can't do a darn thing because he has thousands of hostages.

-Oh hi Baphomet.

OP boss. I wonder if he'll really last through the first cour until we get a new OP or not. Probably not, but there are a lot of ways to tie this fight into Asuna's guild's tensions. Unfortunately one of them is for Asuna to get badly hurt and have the guild turn on Kirito for putting her in danger (or on Asuna when she defends him).

[HitokiriShadow]

Originally Posted by something

The episode before the grope and after the duel was as amazing as it's always been. Kirito and Asuna's chemistry at dinner was spectacular. I liked the cooking mechanic, and Asuna teasing Kirito. They're so adorable together. But man that grope and duel were so beneath this show. I'm keeping a close eye on you, SAO. I'm going to be severely disappointed if such a phenomenal show turns me off because it felt the need to pull dumb shit.

I wasn't thrilled with that either but I was willing to overlook it here because it came across as her just not wanting to deal with the guy, and because of the reason he was there and their relationship, it wasn't something she could just solve by kicking his ass anyway. Then after it was over, they mentioned some other stuff going in the guild with her and the people in it to give some plausible reasons for her to behave the way she did and not simply order him to shove off from the get-go. And we have to keep in mind that all that side story stuff of Kirito showing off hadn't happened (for the readers) when this did, so this was how Kirito established his badassery there.

So I was okay with it here.... and don't want to see the show ever do anything like it again.

Nothing excuses the grope/punch bullshit though.

[ZenErik]

Looks like we're back on track. I agree with the groping part seeming out of place.

[superdry]

That was a fun episode seeing Asuna and Kirito interact on a more personal level without doing a quest or whatever. She's pretty awesome.

I wonder what the Laughing Coffin dude is going to do? Ambush the two during the boss battle or when they leave the dungeon?

Originally Posted by something

- Asuna in casual clothes. My god those legs. We are not worthy.

We also get a shot of her cute butt for one second, too. haha.

- Ohhhhhhh come on, SAO. I thought you of all shows wouldn't need to go with the "herp derp I don't know what boobies are derp herp what's this soft fleshy thing on a girl's chest herp derp". Don't do that to Kirito, goddamnit. He's better than that!

I found that to be rather silly and absurd. Really? Really now?

- And Kirito has to duel for her because what the fuck I have no idea why.

Kirito wasn't dueling for her really since Kuradeel explicitly challenged him to a duel. He even turned to her for approval since I think she wanted to show Kuradeel that Kirito is capable of dungeon crawling with her - she could have easily stepped in and stopped it immediately. What would a duel between the two guild members accomplish? Really nothing since Kuradeel is pretty headstrong and thinks of Kirito as not good enough. I think Asuna probably tried to tell him otherwise, but he wouldn't listen and a duel would just shut him up at that point since he initiated it. I'm glad Asuna stepped in before thing got out of hand.

- And right after she gets a chance to act badass - which was slightly changing my opinion of that scene - she almost faints.

I saw it as she almost faints/breathes that sigh of relief due to finally getting Kuradeel off of her back since it looked like he was hounding/chasing her the whole way to where she was to meet Kirito.