Sword Art Online - Episode 21 Discussion / Poll

[molitar]

I was a bit disappointed with this episode which made it not perfect. Things that seemed out of place.

1. Asuna taking an eternity to press the log out button why do the stupid Hollywood Drama scene? I hate that if she had just found the log out button than was grabbed before she had a chance to press it than that would of been believable but her taking what appeared to be the slowest moving finger in the world to press it was just plain stupid.

2. Yui is not a normal NPC yet he does not ask her to investigate anything at all.

3 Azuna, never tries her wings to fly at all.. she should of been able to practice flying than jump and activate her wings lower to the ground. But no she never even tries. Again that awful Hollywood Drama I hate it with a passion. Keep Hollywood drama out of anime it just plain sucks.

[Byakou]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

It's about understanding the immoral/amoral mentality of the scientists who work for him. If they were just following orders and doing what their boss told him, that'd make Sugou the one true bad guy. But their power-trip with the tentacles shows that they too have let the power get to their heads, and have no qualms treating people like objects for their own selfish enjoyment.

Pff imo that scene took away from the credibility of the story. It didn't provide any interesting insight, all it did was display botched, poorly-thought out characters. The villains are caricatured and grotesque. The author really dropped the ball in this part with Sugou and the others.

[Krono]

Originally Posted by molitar

I was a bit disappointed with this episode which made it not perfect. Things that seemed out of place.

1. Asuna taking an eternity to press the log out button why do the stupid Hollywood Drama scene? I hate that if she had just found the log out button than was grabbed before she had a chance to press it than that would of been believable but her taking what appeared to be the slowest moving finger in the world to press it was just plain stupid.

Asuna didn't take an eternity to press the logout button. The slug was coming up behind her as she reached for it, but due to Hollywood dramatic shots, it looks like she moves slowly, then pauses in pressing it, and the slug approaches during the pause.

2. Yui is not a normal NPC yet he does not ask her to investigate anything at all.

Yui's pretty restricted in ability at the moment. Flying off on her own to investigate is probably not recommended.

3 Azuna, never tries her wings to fly at all.. she should of been able to practice flying than jump and activate her wings lower to the ground. But no she never even tries. Again that awful Hollywood Drama I hate it with a passion. Keep Hollywood drama out of anime it just plain sucks.

Whoses to say Asuna's wings work, or that she knows they work?

I believe it's already been covered why merely moving away from the tree would not be a great help.

[eiyuu99]

In several games, those with Admin rights can teleport to your location, so flying away is useless. That's also assuming she can even use her wings, considering how Sugou can limit Asuna's direct vision on the controls. Asuna will want to log out of the virtual game, in which she tried.

[popsiclestix]

The game system considers Yui as a navigation pixie. If she diverged from this role, she could be subject to inquiry. She has no knowledge of Asuna's whereabouts until they "zoned" to the base of the World Tree.

[Dengar]

Originally Posted by molitar

3 Azuna, never tries her wings to fly at all.. she should of been able to practice flying than jump and activate her wings lower to the ground. But no she never even tries. Again that awful Hollywood Drama I hate it with a passion. Keep Hollywood drama out of anime it just plain sucks.

I ask again: Does she even know how to fly? Kirito had to be told how it works.

[Dauerlutscher]

He just said that Asuna could have at least tried to use them. Wings usually exist for a reason.
But it's not like that it would have changed anything if she could fly anyway.

[Rising Dragon]

You guys DO realize that it's entirely possible that Sugou put a restriction on flying for her, or for in general in Yggdrasil's dungeon regions, right?

[Dauerlutscher]

Originally Posted by Rising Dragon

You guys DO realize that it's entirely possible that Sugou put a restriction on flying for her, or for in general in Yggdrasil's dungeon regions, right?

Won't deny that possibility. If i was in his place, I would do that too.
It's just that I think it's reasonable to believe that if someone got wings, he/she would at least try to use them.

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by Rising Dragon

You guys DO realize that it's entirely possible that Sugou put a restriction on flying for her, or for in general in Yggdrasil's dungeon regions, right?

Considering what Sugou has -not- done, I would rather expect the opposite really
Well, explaining that would be easy: sadist intention of giving her wings, but like a bird in cage, can't use them for their true purpose.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by molitar

3 Azuna, never tries her wings to fly at all.. she should of been able to practice flying than jump and activate her wings lower to the ground. But no she never even tries. Again that awful Hollywood Drama I hate it with a passion. Keep Hollywood drama out of anime it just plain sucks.

She was kind of trying to be stealthy. Even if she knew that her wings could make her fly (and she had any inclination of how to use that game system, which she doesn't), don't you think that she's a lot more likely to be noticed if she's the only object flying around in the area? (Particularly given that she doesn't know how to control it, so she wouldn't exactly be good at it.)

We know that system admins can teleport people because the scientists told us so. So flying away was never a sensible option in the first place.

I think this isn't "awful Hollywood Drama", it's sensible decision-making.

Originally Posted by Byakou

Pff imo that scene took away from the credibility of the story. It didn't provide any interesting insight, all it did was display botched, poorly-thought out characters. The villains are caricatured and grotesque. The author really dropped the ball in this part with Sugou and the others.

I guess there are other things they could have done with the scientists rather than being also corrupt and following orders. For example, they could have had one of them be conflicted about it. Perhaps there's another opportunity for something to come of it, but I'm supposing probably not in the interest of time.

In general, I agree that the villains in this arc are more plot devices than real characters. But there are still interesting concepts being raised despite the "cartoony" villains.

[Oroboro]

I liked how careful Asuna was being at first, cautious enough to jump backwards when she just saw a panel on the wall around the corner. (The sprint to the console was silly, but rule of drama.) Little touchs and details like that often go unnoticed, but really add to the experience.

The constant cuts between Asuna escaping and the real world also highlighted the contrast between the two quite well, with reality seeming somewhat dull and gray in comparison. Kazuto especially comes off as plain and normal, compared to th bombastic appearance and attitude of Kirito.

[Rising Dragon]

I know that the sprint to the console was risky, but lemme put it this way: she could understand that, despite their appearance, the two that entered the room were scientists, and it was very unlikely that they'd be leaving any time soon. And every moment she lingers, there's a chance someone will discover that she's not in her cage where she's supposed to be, thus justifying her sprint to the console while they were still around.

[The Green One]

Also Asuna is in a race against time not only did she have to worry her absence in the cage could be detected in any second, she had been trapped for two months now on top of her already two year long SAO imprisonment, she'd be understandably desperate to escape at this point.

Also she had no clue how long this terminal would be open for use if at all, she already saw one system terminal forcefully throw Kirito out while he was in the middle of using it and for all she knew the same could happen to her.

[Rising Dragon]

That and there was probably a little bit of apprehension in her at the possibility of escape. Happens to the best of us.

[The Green One]

Or intense relief that she's thinking she's finally, FINALLY going to get back to her real body and it dulled her reaction time and spatial awareness for a few fatal instants.

[Zeelix]

Having read the LN, I found this episode to be pretty satisfying in it's portrayal. I don't really feel anything major was left out aside from the emotions being felt and all the more technical aspects of the game world which isn't new.

Spoiler for In regards to the missing storyline:

Honestly I'm not surprised they cut the Jötunheimr bit, it literally has nothing to do with the story other than introducing the biggest red herring plot point I've ever seen in any written literature. That being said, it was a really cool part of the novel.

Also, I'm really kind of surprised that people find the fact that Asuna was unable to escape on her own to be sexist or a detriment to her character; in fact, if anything, it truly drives home how much higher the stakes have been raised. The scene introduces the concept that the people in control of Alfheim Online are no longer playing by the game's rules like in SAO. The visuals help drive this concept home, the "GM area" is absolutely nothing like the rest of the game, and doesn't fit the theme at all. The "GMs" take the form of monsters(that likely don't even exist game-side)

Spoiler for LN side-note:

Though saying that, it's mentioned by Asuna in the LN that they resemble a slug from floor 61 of SAO so this might be a wrong assumption

instead of human NPCs. All of it is in stark contrast to the reality that the players are facing;that is, this is the scientists' work, they aren't playing a game and don't care at all about it.

And also, if Asuna escaped on her own there wouldn't be a climax to the plot, and that's even worse writing than her supposed subjection to being a damsel in distress.

So, to sum up, there is purpose in her escaping her cage because it gives the audience the opportunity to explore the admin-space of ALO, but there's also purpose in her failing to escape.

[Insane]

Weird. Why on earth Asuna wasn't hiding herself and waiting until those two scientists go away (there are soooo many brained pillars to hide herself) so that he could safely approaching the logout button? Meh, seeing her got captured so easily just made me facepalm.

[Rising Dragon]

Originally Posted by Insane

Weird. Why on earth Asuna wasn't hiding herself and waiting until those two scientists go away (there are soooo many brained pillars to hide herself) so that he could safely approaching the logout button? Meh, seeing her got captured so easily just made me facepalm.

Why? Because this:

Originally Posted by Rising Dragon

I know that the sprint to the console was risky, but lemme put it this way: she could understand that, despite their appearance, the two that entered the room were scientists, and it was very unlikely that they'd be leaving any time soon. And every moment she lingers, there's a chance someone will discover that she's not in her cage where she's supposed to be, thus justifying her sprint to the console while they were still around.

[Dawnstorm]

Originally Posted by Rising Dragon

Why? Because this:

Actually, I think the most plausible reason would be that, if the scientists leave, so does the card. She really can't rely on them forgetting it there, can she?