Sword Art Online |OT| Batman, now with more wings

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Episode 24

OMG! That was awesome! It was just 23 minutes of troll faces, awesome running animation, more troll faces, the most epic and hilarious NTR scene in non-hentai anime ever, and more troll faces, etc. I guess at some point the people working on the show finally snapped and just accepted this awful story arc for what it was. It was like watching the final episode of Accel World again, except with more troll faces and a more ridiculous plot twist at the end. Did I mention troll faces? Looooooooool.

I can't believe there's one more episode of this shit.
 
Hahahaha. That was a hilarious cruel streak.

Sets pain reduction to 0. Is told before that setting pain reduction below 3 has an effect on human body.

Slices the guys face, his arm off, then his leg off... then pierces his brain.

It's meant to be VR, but the guy is probably comatose from pain right now. It's like a futuristic torture porn simulator on top of everything else. Brilliant.
 
The conclusion was pulled from so far up his arse it's no wonder the author didn't have a brain by the end of it.
 
I was totally drunk when I came home and watched that yesterday night, which was probably for the best considering how terrible this episode was. I think I was laughiing hysterically at the licking and trouncing parts.
 
Hahahaha. That was a hilarious cruel streak.

Sets pain reduction to 0. Is told before that setting pain reduction below 3 has an effect on human body.

Slices the guys face, his arm off, then his leg off... then pierces his brain.

It's meant to be VR, but the guy is probably comatose from pain right now. It's like a futuristic torture porn simulator on top of everything else. Brilliant.

I'm assuming Pain Reduction = 0 is the equivalent of SAO. Die in the game and you die in the real world. Sucks for Fake Joker, I guess.
 
I was totally drunk when I came home and watched that yesterday night, which was probably for the best considering how terrible this episode was. I think I was laughiing hysterically at the licking and trouncing parts.

I don't think you need to be drunk to be laughing hysterically at the entire episode. It was really quite funny. Lulz.
 
lol Terrible episode.

I liked the return of Kayaba, even thought it was somewhat strange. But Sugo.... He was a total mess of a character. I didn't know if he was a joke character or a real villain. I don't think it can be any worse. Fortunately, he died. :D
 
I'm assuming Pain Reduction = 0 is the equivalent of SAO. Die in the game and you die in the real world. Sucks for Fake Joker, I guess.

Well, when you die in SAO, its the nervegear that blows up your brain, not because it induces so much pain that you die.

Also, it didn't seem like SAO was significantly more painful than the pain induced by ALO. I mean SAO veteran Kirito was already clutching his chest and crying like a baby with pain reduction @ 10.
 
Hahahaha. That was a hilarious cruel streak.

Sets pain reduction to 0. Is told before that setting pain reduction below 3 has an effect on human body.

Slices the guys face, his arm off, then his leg off... then pierces his brain.

It's meant to be VR, but the guy is probably comatose from pain right now. It's like a futuristic torture porn simulator on top of everything else. Brilliant.

Stay tuned next week
to see the physical damage done
if they adapt the novel properly. and yes it's very painfull.
Well, when you die in SAO, its the nervegear that blows up your brain, not because it induces so much pain that you die.

Also, it didn't seem like SAO was significantly more painful than the pain induced by ALO. I mean SAO veteran Kirito was already clutching his chest and crying like a baby with pain reduction @ 10.

The damage limiter in Sao was certainly not @ 10

-----
Also :

Someone in my facebook contacts shared this
 
So I started this yesterday, and am on ep. 21 now. Is his cousin in love with him? Like LOVE LOVE?!

edit: Had the episode on pause and then she flat out says it. :lol
 
Well it does apparently have guns and some semblance of a wild west theme.

Edit: Hmmm, I might be wrong on the wild west thing. Definitely has guns though.

it's a futuristic setting with
both real guns and fantasy guns ( with each type of gun offering a different experience regarding your build ) With real guns using ammo ( that cost weight) and hitting hard ( lots of damage ), and fantasy guns required small or no ammo but hitting low ( low damage but sometimes some special effects ).

This other setting is quite intresting because there are some cool rules added to give each side/build a chance of survival.

Those intrested by the third world setting can reveal the spoiler if they want

I hope the next world is cooler. THe fairy one was huge letdown compared to the awesomeness of the first one.

To be fair , we have got time to explore the ALo world since kirito was racing against the clock to save asuna .. They also cut a part that could have given some insight on how the ALO world works better..
It's highly probable that by the second season or oav , you'll see better how the ALo world is and you might change your opinion.
 
After 18 I have been resisting to go back to this but I'm still curious :(

Tell me not to do it! Save me!

I dont know, I thought ALfheim Online is really good, better than the first half of the anime. Never a dull moment now

I hope the next world is cooler. THe fairy one was huge letdown compared to the awesomeness of the first one.

Isn't it like the biggest hit since K-On? I doubt they will end it.

I think Horizon on the MIddle of Nowhere, Fate/Zero, Kuroko's Basketball are as big as or bigger than Sword Art Online...

Anyway, knowing there is Accel World, it almost feels as if all of this game and setup is just serving as some huge prequel to Brain Burst and each of those stages in that anime, so I hope the next world is better as well, since I have no clue what it is.
 
I watched the first 2 anime episodes last night after seeing it mentioned in another thread, does it keep the MMORPG feeling and the physical vs virtual situation?
 
I dont know, I thought ALfheim Online is really good, better than the first half of the anime. Never a dull moment now
The problem I had is that without the death penalty all the drama felt ridiculous, like "I don't leave anyone in my party!"

I think Horizon on the MIddle of Nowhere, Fate/Zero, Kuroko's Basketball are as big as or bigger than Sword Art Online...
Fate/Zero? Really? That's great news. I just saw SAO dominate LightNovels charts in a way I never seen any other LN do it, so I assumed that.

Anyway, knowing there is Accel World, it almost feels as if all of this game and setup is just serving as some huge prequel to Brain Burst and each of those stages in that anime, so I hope the next world is better as well, since I have no clue what it is.
I started watching Accel World yesterday and it's pretty nice... but why in the god's name did they make the main hero be be a fat dwarf?
 
Except they didn't care anywhere near as much as Kirito did, who still acted like it was life and death.
Because kirito was in a race against the clock.
If he died and nobody would/could have saved him(And most players wouldnt given his race) then he xould have restarted deep in the spriigan territory far from leafa and from his goal.

For kirito it was much more important to not die than most plzyers.
 
Because kirito was in a race against the clock.
If he died and nobody would/could have saved him(And most players wouldnt given his race) then he xould have restarted deep in the spriigan territory far from leafa and from his goal.

For kirito it was much more important to not die than most plzyers.
Umm..which is why it makes zero sense. He risked his own death to save his party members. Sure, dying without party members would have him screwed up, but he rushed to pretty huge risks there, even bigger than venturing alone would be.
 
Umm..which is why it makes zero sense. He risked his own death to save his party members. Sure, dying without party members would have him screwed up, but he rushed to pretty huge risks there, even bigger than venturing alone would be.

Before being crushed by the undoable grand quest , kirito was overly confident that he wouldn't be defeated no matter what stood in front of him : the fact that his stats were still there , the fact that he considered a game were you can die as inferior and so on ..everything that happenned on the way to the capital only served to make him more confident .

As the risk his death to save party members , well the stigma of the first guild he joined in SAO is still present in kirito mind ...that's something he would have done regardless of other matters. And it will be untill the show ends
 
ep 25 (end)

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Alright final episode, kind of questioned why its even full length as they could have honestly just made the previous episode extend by ten minutes to incorporate content here and close stuff out. This episode really just felt like something to please us for watching the previous 24 episodes
so many smiles and feelings of nostalgia when Klein appeared and Agil, Imouto, and some other characters, as well as those details on the collapse of the VRMMORPG to its now present rise and connectiveness between each other
Best moment
Kirito being proven to be exceptionally skilled offline, suspenseful moment wen he was knifed the first time but the triumphed.

It probably could have gave more of an indication as to what could happen after this, though I wouldn't mind if something occured at the school or got them even more involved with bridging their online lives with their offline ones as not being wholly in one world keeps things interesting to me.

-

Anyway Sword Art Online started off intense then dropped a bit of quality, then finally became a huge blast from the climax and resolution of the first 14 or so episodes to all throughout ALfheim Online. ALfheim Online made the anime really shine for me and Im willing to buy this anime on BD from Aniplex for whatever price they command as I really liked that one. The flight engine, the world, the focus on just Kirito, his feelings, the drama with Imouto and stuff just made it fun and have elements that the first half was lacking or had but didnt explore. First portion just felt lacking focus and tried to introduce too many characters (outside of the main plot, the stories were all misses, except for
the dragon
, if they had all been connected to each other or something, or stuck around more, then it would have felt a bit better.

Music was really good and probably one of the five best osts of 2012 (Accel World, K, Horizon in The Middle of Nowhere), and action was usually good. I just wish they animated it better and what not as sometimes it was really lacking. However all big moments looked fantastic.

Kirito still main reason for watching and the plot and characters complemented him well, 8 / 10.
 
Episode 25 (END)

That was... actually quite good? I don't know anymore. Having watched all 25 episodes of this show, I've probably done significant and irreparable damage to my brain. But having said that, aside from the fact that the entire ALO arc is fucking awful, the ending itself seems really strong. It is conclusive, it ties everything up, and it actually has a fitting climax at the end which is true to the spirit of the show and totally consistent with the characterizations in the series. It's probably the ending anyone who watched it to the end deserves. If you liked the series, the ending is a strong conclusion to the entire two-arc story. If you didn't like the series, then any pain and suffering you experience here is your own fault. They did a great job with the final scene. 10/10
 
Sword Art Online 25 {FIN}


That was a partially mediocre episode and a marginally unsatisfying conclusion to the show, since, much like the entire arc that preceded it, it was badly paced and moderately uninteresting, particularly much of the latter half, save for the final shot. It was, however, a surprisingly conclusive episode, momentarily touching upon nearly every significant character that had previously appeared, and largely resolving many of the lingering threads. Essentially, this was a tale of two incredibly dichotomous halves. The first arc, though not particularly great, was consistently enjoyable and surprisingly impressive in it’s ability to craft an entertaining and relatively cohesive narrative. On the other hand, ALO was, for the most part, decidedly terrible, save for several action sequences,
Kirito and Asuna’s reunion in the real world
, and Suguha’s thoroughly satisfying
rejection
. Everything else though, following the fourteenth episode, was an exercise in painful futility.

Thankfully, this episode dealt with the consequences of the
destructive tendencies within SAO and ALO
, effectively darkening the perception of
virtual worlds
, however temporarily, which was a surprisingly realistic development. The information concerning the
world seed
was rather intriguing, but strangely handled, since the seemingly mutual
friendship between Kirito and Kayaba
, not to mention his acceptance, though certainly beneficial, to
freely provide the seed to everyone
, despite the slight potential for unforeseen
consequences
, is unrealistic, to say the least, especially following
Sachi’s supposedly forgotten sacrifice
.

Even though, after Suguha, I’ve actually grown to mildly appreciate Lizbeth, since she, at the very least, represents an average secondary character, Lizbeth and, in particular, Silica’s
initial appearance in the latter half of the episode
was completely unnecessary and highly uninteresting, since these moments only reestablished that
both, especially Lizbeth, are still hopelessly in love with Kirito, but are “sympathetically” allowing Kirito and Asuna one month of peace together
, which I couldn’t care less about, since, at this time,
their clinging affections for him will never be reciprocated, and mostly serve to illustrate them as pathetic characters
. Klein’s reappearance was great though.

Sugou and Kirito’s fight
was far too brief and unimpressive. Although predictable and quite understandable, it’s simply unfortunate that
Kirito didn’t kill him while he had the chance
.
Kayaba
certainly wasn’t a terrific villain within the first arc, since his motivations were, at times, seemingly indistinct, but, despite certain flaws, he was quite compelling. Sugou, on the other hand, was nothing of the sort, since he was portrayed as an extremely unthreatening, laughably one-dimensional “antagonist”, only ever
cackling with madness
or
continuously groping Asuna
.


Kirito and Asuna’s interactions provided several of the best aspects throughout this episode. As such, though this episode was noticeably lacking in memorable moments, one of my favorites was
Kirito and Asuna’s reunion and subsequent kiss
, since their relationship, though not particularly great, was actually one of the more engaging elements within the show, and I felt that this
intimate interaction
was a very satisfying conclusion to their story. There was a certain tranquility throughout this moment that was rather effective in establishing an appropriately
romantic atmosphere
; one that excellently complemented the depth of their mutual emotions. Of course, this necessary development and several that followed throughout this episode should have existed as the fifteenth episode, as it would have left me with a far better impression of the show as a whole, never having the chance to filter tedious developments throughout the latter half or to have introduced Suguha or Sugou, but, unfortunately, such a beneficial development was inconceivably deemed impossible.

Asuna’s involvement throughout ALO was disappointingly thin, since she was essentially non-existent much of the time and her character was needlessly relegated to some awfully contrived
damsel in distress scenario
, in which she was artificially isolated from the potential for any meaningful development. As such, though
Asuna’s kidnapping and Kirito’s attempts to rescue her
were supposedly used to elevate the level of tension, it wasn’t effective at all, since the narrative was stretched to such a degree that it seemingly rid
her plight
of any noted importance for
Kirito
, while the story consistently diverted from the main point. Thankfully,
her unnecessary seclusion
was partially rectified in this episode, leaving the way for substantial development, which should have occurred much sooner.

Suguha was the worst character in the story, by far, since her considerably tangential, nearly imperceptible relevance to this arc and the progression of the narrative was entirely meaningless, as her irritating appearances within each episode strictly revolved around excessive fanservice and a ridiculous, incessantly tiresome
love for her “brother”
, which was explored far too often, much to the detriment of the show. Essentially, she was pointless, indicative of a noticeably ancillary character being continually forced into a more prominent role. This lack of purpose was illuminated, yet again, by her
involvement within this episode
, since, during the scene in which she
dropped from her ascent into the clouds of ALfheim
, another moment of fanservice was lengthily focused on, followed by her
bashfully conversing with Kirito
, then
“lovingly” dancing with him
, which was unintentionally hilarious. As such, one of the biggest flaws within this episode was the questionable decision to focus on
Suguha’s fractured, uncertain emotions throughout the final scene
, and the entire arc, for that matter. At least this episode contained a satisfying amount of her
tears and forlorn expressions due to her romantic “distance” from Kirito
and his own
budding romance
with an immensely better character.


The characters were one of the weakest aspects of the show, especially the secondary characters. Yui was easily the best, since her involvement in the narrative was legitimately useful and largely necessary throughout, and, unlike many of the other female characters, she wasn’t miraculously chosen to be
another girl in Kirito’s ever-expanding, yet perpetually disappointed, “harem”
. The character interactions were much weaker throughout the second half of the show, solely relying on an unfortunate prevalence of Kirito and Suguha’s dreadfully dull and unconvincing dynamic, which heavily detracted from several episodes, since the majority of their moments together were entirely inconsequential, primarily focused on
Suguha’s love for him
, which irrevocably diminished whatever importance could be temporarily gleaned from their friendly relationship.

The direction, though occasionally stale, was one of the most impressive elements throughout the show, so it’s unfortunate that such talent was needlessly wasted on badly-written material, especially evident during ALO. Musically, the show was decent, but disappointingly unremarkable, since Kajiura’s work throughout was, despite several good selections, consistently unimpressive, rarely elevating the emotions or accentuating the atmosphere in any particular sequence. The art was fantastic, especially noticeable throughout ALO, as the second arc possessed an abundance of beautiful backgrounds. For instance, the shot of
the castle of Aincrad hovering in front of the moon of ALfheim
was very visually striking, as was the shot of the
various players racing towards the lit castle
. Although ALfheim Online’s world was more creative, both it and Aincrad were surprisingly intriguing settings. However, neither was explored in a satisfying manner, particularly ALfheim.

All in all, Sword Art Online was a woefully inconsistent show, riddled with a plethora of flaws, particularly in it’s thoroughly middling attempts at characterization and the loathsome excuse for a story throughout ALO. Although the show could have been quite good, the second half was an immensely contrived and monotonous arc, wholly devoid of any particularly memorable element. As such, ALO was atrocious in nearly every way, as it possessed a detrimentally unfocused, highly contrived story throughout, since, though the nature of the primary complication wasn’t exactly exceptional, there was a considerably excessive amount of diversions from the narrative, while hardly any of them were close to interesting. As such, ALO failed to construct even a slightly compelling narrative, instead crafting one of simplistic insignificance. Despite my immense dislike of ALO, it was easily the worst arc in the light novels, and
GGO
, the following arc, is the best, so, though I’d be considerably reluctant, I wouldn't necessarily abhor the idea of a second season. Of course, I wouldn't really be looking forward to it either.
 
Surprisingly, I actually thought the ending was really great. At least, compared to the rest it was good. Except that bit right at the beginning as a bit odd.
 
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