Sword Art Online - Episode 22 Discussion / Poll
 

Welcome to the discussion thread for Sword Art Online, Episode 22.

Grand Quest - グランド・クエスト ~ Grand Quest

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Kirito . . . the day where you have to reveal your secret for Leefa should just come already, i,ve got enough of this obliviousness contest.

Thread will be flooding of posts by tomorrow.. must sleep early.. Night!!!

Kirito you.. you...

It's END CARD TIME!

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Also, this entire episode can be summed up with two words.

Now that kinda blew up.

And this is why I really hate adding more girls that falls for the MC when there is a couple already , even if the new girls are better than the main main girl coughZeronoTsukamacough.

Well, one of the things about having all these girls fall for Kirito is that despite the women who willingly throw themselves at his feet, Kirito's LOYALTY lies only with Asuna.

i agree this is the only thing i hate on this anime, why making girls falling for him to in the end they get heartbreak, this is only 1 fo the many reasons i hate "harem" animes,(mc totally idiot who keep making girls falling for him but total oblivius to this, or mc who never can choose because is a half womanizer "can't say no to a girl even if already in love for other", MC who let girls do anything they want even if him dont want because he "dont have the balls to say no", Mc with chikening girls sick) i stoped to watch this anime in the end of the first arc, and what i get from the LN only get even worst on romance ground, on the futures arcs, why the author make Asuna the main girl and only real love interest for kirito if him gona keep throwing more and more girls just to give him a "false harem" with many womans in love with him but in the end he aways only love asuna, and how kirito is so a "dense guy" to no see the chikens keep falling for him.

for the romance part i give 0 to this whole second i'm just waiting to watch the last 2 episodes where really the things gona happen for me on this arc:frustrated::frustrated::frustrated:

Pointless when the formula is gonna be used with more and more new female characters, we know that Kirito is loyal then why making these poor girls to fall for him? =___=;

Errrr... NO.

I do watch harem anime, and depending on how is the mc portrayed I can overlook his obliviousness when there is no obvious choose for a girl, thus the spectator can root for one of the girls.

But here in SAO, its damn obvious who is: Asuna. Same for Zero no Tsukaima: Louise. Yet the keep throwing more girls for the MC. Heck, even 2chan and many other sites feels sorry for Suguha...

That is what I hate. This is why I consider ALO a failure regarding character relations... and plot too (mind previous dumb villains).

There we go... *sigh*, well it was a sinking ship right from the get go, and surely nothing is surprising, although it still leave me a very bad aftertaste that the author had to use such ploy to bring drama that shouldn't be brought to be begin with.

Really, Suguha as a character isn't really a problem (I actually prefer her over Asuna), and the fact she doesn't get Kazuto's romantic attention isn't an issue either.
Simply, having her dragged in the love equation, using the generic "non blood related sister" device, and wrecking the character twice in a row doesn't bode too well: not only it basically reduces the said character into an one sided romantic foil that had no chance to begin with, but it also tries to stuff drama that not only has little substance in term of narrative, but hurts the momentum big time.

Really, it isn't like Kawahara needed to pull the romance over there, and so forth, he could potentially just put more emphasis on Kazuto's quest of "freeing" Asuna. Heck, even Suguha could be used as a real sister who discovers her brother's devotion to maximum extent. But instead, we got a sledgehammer double one sided triangle that literally lead to an unsighlty "look, she had no chance, and now she is crushed!" scene. In fact, the author had to go with the "cruelest" way for her to discover, instead of... let's say Suguha barging in Kazuto's room and finding out the nervegear along with ALO. Truly, I still have little to no idea why it had to come for that kind of plot device.
And no, there was no need to add girls left and right to emphasis Kazuto's love for Asuna at all: having him pouring all his efforts to find clues for Asuna's whereabouts would be quite enough, pretty much a man on his mission (which hardly was shown once we got in ALO, until Yui found out Asuna's ID). Instead of having an extensive narrative on his desperate attempts to find her, they had to make him enjoy the game a bit, while pushing Leefa and other girls... That's flat out unecessary.

The fun fact is that as ALO Kirito, Kazuto figured out Leefa's feelings when she was about to confess, but for "some reason", he thinks Suguha is upset because he was wearing the nervgear once again.

Combining this with Sugou's parodic evilness, and surely ALO has little to no appealing aspect compared to SAO arc, save perhaps the sceneries and... "fanservice" for some. And speaking of fanservice, I can't help but notice emphasis on Leefa's "assets", albeit not as exaggerated as in Episode 20. Well, not like it wasn't the case over the course of this arc anyway.

This is why I hate it when MC gets a girlfriend so early in the series and keep going and then more girls are thrown at him and only to be rejected and heartbroken...

Poor Suguha............ ;~;

WHY KIRITO WHY?!!

SCREW U ASUNA GO AWAY D:<

it's not Asuna's fault it's author fault to make kirito being a oblivion MC who is totally unable to see a girl fall for him and being too much "ladiesman", what the problem if when him go to another world and start to get alone with a girl and say to her first who he already have a girlfriend??? instead of keep it a secret(not because he being bad or pervert but because he think "no others girls gona fall for me and for this i dont need say who i already have a girlfriend"), this reason when romance come i prefer animes like chuniibyou, hyouka, kioukay senjou no horizon, fairy tail, because they dont need all girls fall in love to mc to show gorgogenous girls.

It's her own damn fault for not asking if there's a 'mama' involved also when Yui keeps saying 'papa'.

I'll have to check again, but I'm pretty sure she even referred to "Mama" directly a few times, and at the end of Episode 20 she told Kirito not to "cheat". I guess Leefa just didn't really understand what Yui's comments were supposed to mean (or that they should be taken at face value). The true depth of connection that Kirito had to "Mama" probably wasn't clear until she realized who Kirito and "Mama" were. So I don't really "blame" her... but at the same time, the hints were there. As Klashikari alluded to, from her perspective, it probably didn't help that Kazuto/Kirito had so quickly "friendzoned" (sister-zoned?) her and they were getting along so well. It played perfectly well into the scenario she wanted to have play out, even though there too hints were dropped that he didn't see her that way.

In the end, this sort of heartbreak is always the result of some degree of mutual misunderstanding anyway. I can understand people who don't like the fact that it was written this way... but personally I don't mind it.

We all knew what was coming, and we knew it wouldn't go down easy. Suguha found out the hard way that she wasn't going to win in either world.

mine personal problem is the author gona do this repetitively on each new world/arc, aways gona be: kirito find a new game then gona get separated from asuna then a new girl pop up and gona fall for him while he total oblivious to this then in the end the girl gona find who he already deeply in love with other girl and gona heartbreak, a very repetitious plot like the author is unable to do anything different from that.

Watching this ep, I was thinking "Goooo Kirito, save your wife!" while at the same time "Let me punch your face in just this once, okay?"

*cries* nooo suguuuuu, that's a really harsh way to learn about the truth, given how hard she had tried to just bring him out of the "dungeon" and revive him. Poor girl, though she had guts to come out and say all that. I'm glad she did though

I don't know what happens in the novel, but I highly doubt the author is going to repeat this sort of arc. This arc is a continuation of the first arc and a resolution to SAO. Once it's over, I should think the story will branch out into new territory. I highly doubt the author will keep playing the "separated from your true love" all over again.

Then again, like I said, I don't know the novels, so if you really want to know, you can ask there. It isn't something that can be discussed in this episode thread.



Anyway, as for the episode in question... I expected Leefa to come in and save Kirito's sorry butt a bit sooner, but I guess it works to have him "die" there. I guess if she didn't save/revive his essence, he would probably be transported back to his starting point? I also liked the way the scene with Suguha played out at the end -- no music, just raw emotion. Even though the ED is up-beat, it seemed a bit more tragic after that ending.

Next episode, I am supposing the cavalry will come (because they should have been able to prepare by now). Honestly, Kirito's "I'll go crazy if I wait another moment" was noble (so his calmness thus far was an act?), but he should know by now that going it alone is dumb (even if you can't "die").

Ah it's pretty crazy how Kirito does such a crazy thing when entire armies can't even do it. xD

Also they included a bit more introspective dialogue huh. O_o

And oh jeez. You could see the exact moment where Sugu's heart breaks into tiny little pieces. :C

So close, yet so far away...
The driven Kirito really is something special!
It's amazing what the power of love can do.
I was half surprised to see Leafa run to his rescue.
Well, the first attempt failed.. Sugu's cover got blown as well.
Her confessing love to Kirito was kinda sad.

well like i told this is what i get after get some spoilers from anime and novel, i told this because this is what almost happened since the start, since SAO arc where many girls fall for him and him ended with asuna and some of then get heartbrake too, now the author used a excuse to have asuna kidnapped just to "pop up that non-blood related sister" to fall for him i dont know in japan this is normal but on mine country is not that common non-blood related brothers and sister falling in love especially when grown together, maybe more easy when they are totally unknown whose parents just got married and one of them was recently adopted, but the point is:

[mod edit: remove spoilers]

mine point who this type of "romance" is a very "shit", if in the end kirito and asuna gona end together why the author need put all that too much girls on the screen, and if the focus is the love of then, why he need "pop up' girls to prove they love are "more strong" than wonderful girls, like i told if the author want show many pretty girls he can do this without need this, or if him want do a drama have many others ways to do this, and if the focu on this arc is the rescue of asuna why he need make her fall for him... just more shit to make kirito the "harem master" of the invisible harem who gona grow more and more biger

Well all those claims of Kirito being a Gary-Stu are really bunk now. If he was one he wouldn't have failed to get past the guardians alone in this episode. :heh:

My main concern with this episode though, didn't they say last week that the area around the World Tree is off-limits? Shouldn't that mean noone can enter that area without authorization? Odd how folks could just walk in and challenge the quest there then. I suppose maybe the enemies in the quest itself could be programmed to an unreasonable level though to assure noone being able to complete it.

And the revelation is finally made to Suguha. That should be the end of that relationship now. Time to go back to a friendship status which is much easier to take seriously.~

Well hopefully this will satisfy the God Mode Kirito haters somewhat. It wouldn't be surprising if the guardians are meant to be unbeatable, after all you can't have random players wandering into the lab since the promise to change the winning race into ALFs is clearly a lie.

I'm supposing they mean that, if you want to get up the tree, the only way in is through the giant doors. You can't try to go around the doors and climb up the tree from the other side or anything, and as we saw flying up doesn't work either. So there's only one way in, and yeah, it seems like something of a suicide run. I suppose this is why people wondered if there was some trick or special quest needed to actually make that quest achievable.

i want this arc to finish already

Ok, Asuna hears Yui and decides to throw down that card she took last episode, and it conveniently falls down right in front of Kirito.
I wonder what would happen if she hears Yui, throws down that card but is on the other side of the world tree?
He says he wants to go to Asuna as soon as possible, but he lands in front on the gate and decides to walk up the last stairs like a boss. :uhoh:

If every light on that wall spawns one Guardian, there must be hundreds, if not thousands of them, from the ground to the top. Maybe the higher you go, more and stronger Guardians will spawn?

The awkward moment when you log out and your party member knocks at your door. :eyespin:
The cat is out of the bag, more emotional stuff next episode.

Where have you been in the past 15 years of anime harem. If anything SAO's harem is toned down relative to other animes.

Suguha ima let you finish, but Asuna is the best female of the show ( and possibly out of all the shows out there :heh: )

But srsly, Suguha's character was okay to me except the whole I'm in love with ma brotha thing. Glad that's over :D

Awesome Fight! and very good episode, after this episode i think people will stop complaining that Kirito is immortal/invincible/unstoppable .

About Sugoha, poor girls but....everyone saw this coming.
There was really someone expecting that Kirito could break up with Asuna and stay with Sugoha? seriously.....

Yeah, this was a bit funny in terms of the way it was portrayed -- he didn't even have to shift at all. But in terms of the position, keep in mind that Yui had told Kirito the coordinates that were right above them. So he could have been positioned pretty close to the right place, assuming she dropped it straight down and didn't throw it -- he probably wouldn't have been on the wrong side. But I do think he should have had to move a little bit to catch it. :heh:

Agreed. Those last few minutes were especially harsh, doubly so because we know she never had a chance. Poor Sugu. :T_T:

I actually felt the opposite. It was brutally clear from day 1 she was introduced that her feelings for him were 100% hopeless. It was impossible for her to be a serious love rival as Kirito would never look at her in that fashion. As a person I feel sorry for Sugu, I mean no one should have to go through that kind of heartache not once but twice from the same person no less, but the fact that this never was serious kept me from any real investment.

If anything I'm glad this pointless diversion is out of the way. This doomed romance was meant for drama but all it accomplished was filling in time during the episode.

Why does the battle reminds me of Kingdom Hearts in a strange way? :confused:

Meh... At the end of this episode were Suguha's mad at Kirito... I mean seriously come on your cousins and plus she should of knew from when she saw him holding her hand while they were at Asunas hospital room... The end was so annoying

I thought Sugu knew that Kirito was her brother , omg.

I find that this romance is quite appropraite given that this ALFheim Online has references to Shakespear (Fairy King is the Jester, Titania is the princess that fell in love with a monkey which the monkey being Kirito)

We can't have Shakespear without a little bit of taboo: Leafa and Kirito.

Quite entertaining. Though I wish Kirito could explain himself a little more to Leafa, being that Kirito regret not making amens towards his sister during his time in SAO and tries to redem himself through changing his ways and help others (the dragon tamer girl), etc etc.


Honestly, I think Leafa and Asuna should make an agreement to share... ==

I wouldn't say that this "diversion" is any more "pointless" than the arc itself, to be honest. This "romance" was doomed to fail just as much as our arc villain is doomed to be brought down. If you eliminate the one "pointless diversion" you're just left with the other, and it's not as if Kirito chasing after Asuna is all that compelling on its own (I mean, not the relationship, but the overall circumstance they find themselves in).

That may seem like a knock on the show, but if your engagement is limited by whether or not the destination is foreseen, I'm not sure there's much to this whole story arc. I think you have to enjoy the journey. I thought the journey of Suguha's feelings and how it wove through the story was fairly-well realized for what it is, even if a bit more of it came together at the end of this episode than might have otherwise. I also don't think this is the end of her journey either -- now that her feelings are out, she has to decide what to do next. This too isn't so unpredictable, but we'll still see how she is able to stand herself back up again. That's really the emotional core of this arc: Suguha learns to accept her doomed feelings for Kazuto and move forward, as he remains fixated on his one true love. I'd say she's really more the focal point than he is, to be honest.


Agree with this, by the way. The story isn't over yet, so it'd be good for them to have this chat to close these open plot threads.


I'm still surprised that people thought she knew. Wasn't the whole point all this time that she didn't?

Can't wait for those doushinjis