Sword Art Online - Character Discussion - Asuna

[GenjiChan]

Originally Posted by noobita

Yeah...something around there.

....Hmmm.. I like what your thinking...*snif

[willx]

Originally Posted by DurararaFTW

Indeed, the author is apparently going release an edited versio of the Aincrad arc that does accomodate for Aria.

Sorry to dig up an old post, but is this true!? I'd love it if they could incorporate more of the "daily life" sort of things during SAO..

Lisbeth and Silica just sort of "appear" in the SS

Spoiler for minor spoiler for future events...:

and in Vol 3 onwards too..

[Rayrah]

Originally Posted by willx

Sorry to dig up an old post, but is this true!? I'd love it if they could incorporate more of the "daily life" sort of things during SAO..

Lisbeth and Silica just sort of "appear" in the SS

Spoiler for minor spoiler for future events...:

and in Vol 3 onwards too..

I don't think that it'll be a daily life type of thing, but it's main purpose is to make everything more coherent. It's called Sword Art Online: Progressive.

[LoweGear]

I was reading posts on another forum on SAO, and I came across this post that suddenly puts Asuna's actions into perspective:

Originally Posted by Hidcyan

It's kind of hilarious in a cute sort of way how seriously Asuna takes everything Kirito says. I mean, it's like

Kirito: Hey, you can put cream on bread and it tastes better.
Asuna/ Maxes out her cooking skill and spends a year analyzing every seasoning in the game
Kirito: There are limits to what a soloer can do. Join a guild sometime.
Asuna/ Becomes second-in-command of the strongest guild in the game
Kirito: Man, it's too nice outside to spend the day in the dungeon. You should take a break.
Asuna/ Falls asleep instantly
Kirito: Hey, maybe I should spend the night at your place.
Asuna/ Starts stripping

[sky black swordman]

^Woah well now that you mention it, it does look like that is the case.

[erneiz_hyde]

Originally Posted by LoweGear

Spoiler for length:

I was reading posts on another forum on SAO, and I came across this post that suddenly puts Asuna's actions into perspective:

I think everyone should be more careful with this bit. Some people who reads it might accuse that it has a hidden sexist value (that women should always be submissive/listen to their men). Not saying I think so, but I can see people interpreting this that way. Just a warning to not be surprised if anyone went and did it anyways.

[LoweGear]

If they think that, then I'd think they already had intentions of seeing it as sexist in the first place. All the post is saying is that Asuna appears to take Kirito's words far too seriously, no more, no less, no hidden meaning.

[Anh_Minh]

Kirito's word aside, she does seem like the overachiever type...

[Unknown Soldier]

That's because she is the overachiever type.

[Gearhead]

Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.

[Wild Goose]

This is light novel spoilers, but it does shed some light on Asuna:

Spoiler for Light Novel information on Asuna & family life:

Asuna's the 2nd child of the CEO/Owner of Recto, which developed the NervGear - IIRC Argas, the game company that made SAO, is also owned by them. They're sorta like Sony in that regard.

Asuna grew up being spoiled sweet, but she also had tremendous obligations placed on her, and she was raised to be an overachiever. Whenever there are family reunions, it isn't a time when cousins meet, hang out, be friends, occasionally fall in love during the summer - it's more like a competition as they see what they've achieved this time.

Asuna also isn't even a gamer - she's been so focused on studying and living up to the overachieving expectations of her parents that the closest she's gotten to gaming has been the occasional cellphone game, which means Tetris, Snake, or Angry Birds. And given that her mother is a tenured professor at a prestigious university...

Her brother is being groomed to take the helm of Recto, and she's been raised from birth to be an overachiever. SAO was the first proper game she actually played.

This will have repercussions later in life - a significant part of tension in her relationship between herself and her mother is that she's no longer the overachieving obedient little girl she used to be. She also feels a significant disconnect from the rest of her cousins, who look down on her as having fallen out of the running in the family rat race thanks to being stuck in SAO.

This causes her to instead grow closer to her friends from SAO, which is hardly a bad thing.

Much of this is explored during Volume 7, Mother's Rosario, where Asuna of that arc is no longer the same overachieving clearing monster she used to be, but can instead relax and take things easier...

...on the other hand, she does her homework in ALO And makes sure the other girls do their homework as well.

tl;dr: Asuna was raised to be an overachiever, which spilled over into almost everything she did in SAO. Meeting Kirito is what taught her to slow down and relax.