Sword Art Online - Episode 8 Discussion / Poll
 

Welcome to the discussion thread for Sword Art Online, Episode 8.

Black & White Sword Dance - 黒と白の剣舞 ~ Kuro to Shiro no Kenbu

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I wonder if this can be posted here...

Preview video for Episode 8:

^ It's already been posted in the Spoilers & Speculation thread for light novel readers, and the Speculation & Theories thread for anime-only viewers.

Anyway, very excited about this episode. :nod:

Lol Asuna is not afraid to fork up this relationship lol. XD

Damn, that's sexy. Stoopid text, though. :(

I pick this one... :D



Anyway i'm waiting (impatiently) for the raw now... damn looking at all the screencaps giving me the vibes that today's episode is so full of win.

The fact that Kirito

so armor has it weakness ha

So followed original material pretty good, only notable changes were after duel, one added scene and one taken away.

Next week is finally boss fight since second episode.

My body........is at its limit........ :eyespin:

Don't worry, we'll get it textless soon enough. :D

Of all the base material, that was one thing I definitely expected them to leave out of the anime...... :twitch:

If they're keeping that in, I have high hopes for the episodes to come. :D

Why would they take that out? It's a cliche anime thing. Frankly I wish they had taken it out because it doesn't really add anything.

That's exactly why I thought they would.

Yah me too... especially on certain part... i have high expectation on that one. I don't mind if its going to be in OVA or movie, as long as they don't ditch that certain part away :D


Here

So, actually there was second "added" scene just after duel, ohai there random mysterious laughing coffin member you were not in the novels!

Best part of the episode = Blood knight's wtf face.

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Thank you! :3

Definitely looking forward to this episode. And who knows, maybe we'll get less folks complaining about side stories.

[mod edit: remove discussion of future novel chapter]

Btw

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/3052/rabbitop.png

Makes you wonder how much meat would a cow going to give...

That's exactly like a real MMO. That scene made me feel right at home and appreciate the writers for their attention to detail (this appreciation was shortly lived). Games are not supposed to be realistic, they're supposed to be games. You kill a rabbit and a slab of meat magically appears in your inventory.

is that Rabbit Ear on the end of the bone?

LOL, that rabbit really was packing some meat on it, it even has a giant bone through the center where the tail and head should be. I would guess a cow would give the same amount of meat, from past MMO experience.

This episode felt like a completely different series compared to the side stories -- the story had time to breathe, the animation was back to the level of episode 1 (despite a couple still shots in the fight scenes) and the music actually sounded like Yuki Kajiura. Hopefully next week's boss fight will show us what they've been saving the animation budget for.

The winner announcement appeared after Kuradeel teleported away, so presumably the game counted that as him resigning the duel.

To all Novel Readers:

If you're going to post in this thread, please actually discuss the anime. Don't just tell me "nothing to say, because you can just read the book". Not everyone has read the book, nor is everyone going to read the book! The whole reason people are reading this thread is because they want to read and participate in discussions about the anime! We also have a special thread just for anime-novel comparisons, so if that's really all that's interesting to you, the other thread may be better.

In fairness, other things were also said, but then it got into "I hope they adapt this future chapter for the novels" and a lengthy discussion of whether they will or will not -- and that chapter hasn't even happened in the anime yet!

Please, please respect the rules of this thread. It's outlined in the opening post, and in the Spoiler Policy that isn't so hard to understand.

The problem was that the duel was still ongoing after another player attacked him. Either that shouldn't be allowed to happen in the first place (the reasonable answer) or it should count as a forfeit of some sort. How does the duel system mean anything at all if any old bystander can freely intervene without changing the result in any way? That's just... not a duel.

That is kind of a mistake in the adaptation. Anyways, is the english subbed version out or only the RAW version.

I just saw it on CR and yeah.

Shame they couldn't throw in some of Kirito's Spider-man'isms (Namely "you idiot" after hearing Asuna maxed out her Cooking Skill, his thoughts about the cost of Asuna's mansion and forgetting the witty retorts he had planed out in the occasion that he accidentally got some).

Other than that, pleasantly surprised they kept the pedal off the gas, I was kinda scared they'd rush though the boss to further the story along at a quicker pace but I guess that's where A1 and Sunrise differ in terms of getting pacing right.

I think this episode really serves as a transition from what we've seen previously to a story that seems more centred on what is happening on the front-lines. This episode had callbacks to almost all the previous episodes in one way or another, including references to Kirito joining a guild, working hard for the merchants who support the frontliners, a glimpse at a laughing coffin guildmember -- they're still in this -- and so on. So I think they they did a pretty good job of linking this episode to the previous set, while setting the stage for this obvious shift in focus.

The other story here is about Asuna's role in the guild and how her priorities in the game are starting to change. She is hinting very strongly that, though she still wants to go home, she wants something more from her game experience than just being a tough boss focused on clearing the game at all costs, and she thinks that some of the current tension in the guild is because she's had that attitude for so long. Obviously, the implication here is that she wants a more personal connection with Kirito, which she acts upon right away by joining a party with him (despite the rather... pointed approach... she used to get her way :heh: ).

About the "guard" guy (Kuradeel)... I'm not sure whether he's suspicious, or just an idiot (or both?). You'd almost think that he has feelings for Asuna with his attitude, but who knows. The one thing I will say is that it's been a long time since someone used the "beater" term... I would have thought that people would have gotten over it by now, but clearly some people haven't. I don't understand why he figured he could beat Kirito despite Asuna already saying he was 10 levels above him, and him already know he's a beater (if there's any value in that title, shouldn't you expect them to be better?). With the way that Laughing Coffin guy was placed there, I almost wonder if he was told to fight with Kirito so that the other guy could observe for some reason... though I don't know why that'd be necessary. Anyway, I'm sure this issue will come back later; this guy seems stupid enough to try something underhanded in revenge.

Other than that... lots and lots of dialogue in this episode to help us refocus on the story going forward. I suppose some might complain slightly about the lack of action, but it's pretty clearly being set-up for next week. The boss shown appears to be the same as the one in the OP, so I guess we know how that's going to turn out... :heh: (Well, not that we should expect otherwise.)

Enjoyed the episode this week, as always.

Yes! Worth the wait and all the setup. Asuna's intro felt so natural (compared to the novel). Things like item break do not need to be explained, etc.

Though in retrospect I do agree there should have been an episode or even a scene or two inserted between the last 7 episodes to show floor progression. Even if it is going to be anime original material to explain how he got his sword and other gear.

It is going to be a long week till episode 9.

Didn't see any reference about the limit of the skill one can actually take and no explanation of what actually completing the skill means or maybe there will be later....

yeah, that one thing is bad adaptation, its just like that the PvP thing in Aincrad can be interrupted by a third party before the battle finished
well now we can see a laughing coffin member seeing the battle there lol

finally some battle scenes with Yuki Kajiura music style in it, hope that it will be greater when the boss fight begin :D

next episode will be finished by fighting the boss I guess...

If it's like most RPGs I've played, then I assume it just means that you have the most benefit you have in that particular skill. For example, with a cooking skill, this probably affects the ingredients you can use and the likelihood of your meals cooking successfully. At max cooking skill, you can use the best ingredients of the game and still have them be successful. With the tracking skill that they mentioned in earlier episodes, it probably affects the range and accuracy. Maxing out a skill probably just means "it doesn't get any better". You could then presumably use the skill points to level up other areas. Since I assume there's a limit to the amount of skill points you can earn, you probably have to choose your skills carefully. (I don't know if it's like some games where you can pay money to refund your skill points if you want to start over and make new choices... I'm thinking they may not have this here.)

Personally, I'm not too sure that would have really added anything important to the story. I'm sure he got his equipment by playing the game, fighting bosses, and using money to buy things. I mean, they could make a story about anything, I suppose, but I'm not sure that it was needed.

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.

Sachi was retraining from a spear user to a shield user, so clearly you can redistribute points, but it's not as easy as paying some Cor and maxing out another skill instantly. Most likely it's kept somewhat separate from character levels or else there wouldn't be lower level characters with higher level crafting skills (like Lisbeth).

Speaking just from my own experience as a WoW player, they had "profession skills" like cooking which would go up with uses. You max out cooking by cooking a lot. The hardest part of doing so is finding enough ingredients, and of course you need high level ingredients to get the high levels of the skill. However, you only had a certain number of skill slots, so if you leveled up cooking you'd lose the slot to level up tracking or whatever.

I'd imagine SAO has a similar system.

LMAO at the "boob grab" tag. That's kinda funny. Anyway, still shots sucks, I wish they'd get rid of it. [mod edit: removed speculation about future episodes]

[mod edit: removed speculation about future episodes]


Anyway, great episode with relatively good production value (considering the fact they may be saving some budget for future episodes), and I really like the ominous cliffhanger end. :heh:

They are not planning to take on the boss. They just want to gather some intel about him and run away. Fighting with a teleport crystel in your hand isn't very convenient :heh:

Huh? >.>

Great episode. Props to the SAO team. :3

Huh, what? The mechanics in this game (beside the VR system) are quite similar to other MMORPGs on the market today. So a lot of the systems in this game probably have a lot in common with current games. I think the skill trees, for example, seem pretty similar.

This episode was the first one I truly enjoyed. It's because of Asuna I think. Unlike Kirito, Asuna has a greater longing for the real world, and I think I can empathize with that. Kirito is a bit too much of game addict, and I don't even play this sort of games so it's hard for me to put myself on his place.

Anyway, looking forward to the Boss battle (if they do end up fighting it, that is).