[Deltaray]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

Just finished watching the episode.

Spoiler for Episode 14:

That ending... whoa. Waking from that hospital bed with only one thing on his mind: Asuna. The way they conveyed that was really, really powerful to me. The entire ED with him walking slowly down the hallway clutching the IV -- really, really powerful ending. And then with the next episode title of "return"... the story isn't over yet. Indeed, as I said earlier, this isn't a story about clearing the game. It's a story about Kirito and Asuna. Since both Kirito and Asuna were congratulated for clearing the game, and he's alive, that means she is too. Time to find her.

Spoiler for Comparison to Accel World:

I thought it was interesting at the end that they got to meet Kabaya as a sort of prize for beating the game. This reminds me a lot of how the "prize" for reaching Level 10 in Accel World is also being able to meet the creator and ask him questions. Interesting that this element carried over here.

Kirito's "last moment" in the game was played a bit "trickily" in the anime. At first you think he just disappears, but then they do the effect and you understand that that was just his imagination of how he'd die, and that he hasn't actually disappeared yet. I'm not exactly sure what it was supposed to mean that Kabaya was suprised that Kirito was still able to move Asuna's sword in his "pre-disappearance" state... Kirito was somehow holding his existance in the world?

Post to be continued...

Actually I would say that element carried from here over there.