Quote:
Originally Posted by kyp275
Asuna started to develop feelings for Kirito about 1 1/2yrs in, starting with a certain event in the Murder Case side story. Kirito on the other hand is less clear, but it's something that slowly developed over the first half of vol.1
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With Aria/Rondo/Monochrome, the situation becomes a little more ambigious. I personally think that in the revised time-line, Asuna would leave Kirito sometime before the Black Cats Arc on a reasonably amicable note, Kirito being considered a friend, but not yet a love interest.
So, her feelings in Murder doesn't pop out of no where - it's roots laid in Aria/Rondo/Monochrome, but only really comes into being in Murder.
As for Kirito, I think it's worth remembering that about half of his time in SAO revolved around replacement Gold-fishes for Su-chan. Sachi (April), then Silica (February the next year, and possibly even up till the eve of Murder). And I still wonder how he got the courage to help Silica after Sachi. I wonder whether, in SAO Progressive, we might actually see Asuna interacting meaningfully again with Kirito even before Murder- perhaps even on the 50th Floor boss fight, where she manages to repay back what Kirito did for her in Aria, and get Kirito out of his semi-suicidal funk. Because I cannot see how RNR completely stopped that tendency.
It's an interesting commentary - the First Fourth of Kirito's time involved being a "Beater", his early adventures with Asuna, a period of loneliness. The next fourth kicks off with the Black Cats and Sachi, their lost, his hardcore "Solo" state, where he becomes more of a Soloer then than at any point before or after, and ends with RNR. The next Fourth covers the period between RNR and Murder- which includes the matter about Silica, but likely also quite alot of front-line fighting. It is only in the final Fourth, from Murder onwards that Romance becomes a consideration.
Unless Progressive re-writes quite alot of things, including the whole RNR affair, I'd say that Kirito spent anywhere between a quarter to half of his SAO time relying on replacement Goldfishes of Sughara for human contact and comfort. The other half of the time, Asuna was likely his main source of regular human contact and confidence. (Yes, I know I'm not counting Klein in, but it's quite vague how often Kirito interacting with him, and whether both of them ever deeply confided with one another).
When all this is taken into account, poor Sughara never stood a chance in ALO, just from the events of RNR alone. And so, she joined Kirito's Unrequited Feelings Club. If you were younger than Kirito, odds are, after Sachi. he might have been adverse to getting too close to Imouto-like figures like Silica. In a sense, I think if Asuna was younger than Kirito significantly, and not his equal, Kirito would never have opened up to her.
And I just watched some of the Cynical Brit's Videos. I'm now trying to think what it would be like if HE was trapped in Aincrad. (Yes, I know the ALF/Army is a good indication of the same scenario).