Sword Art Online: Alicization WoU - Episode 9 Discussion / Poll

[Kairin]

Welcome to the discussion thread for Sword Art Online: Alicization WoU, Episode 9.

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[magnuskn]

Great entrance by Asuna.

And contrary to others, I thoroughly enjoy this Kirito-less SOA. The writer definitely has a hand with making me care in a short time about those characters, even this "mini-romance through fighting" between the Pugilists Guild leader and that female Integrity Knight.

[blakstealth]

The fight between the fighter and Sheyta was great. Goddamn, Sheyta is amazing:blobaww.

And fuckin finally, Lady Stacia makes her appearance!

[GDB]

Originally Posted by blakstealth

The fight between the fighter and Sheyta was great. Goddamn, Sheyta is amazing:blobaww.

It helps when the enemy doesn't just job to show off the hero's ability.

Also, OP updated to remove Bercoulli's fight and add an Alice/Asuna tag team fight.

I have to imagine Asuna's little "engulf the earth" thing there takes a lot of mana or something to prevent further use, because otherwise this war is basically over.

[Frontier]

So many additions to the Opening to get hyped about. Leafa and Sinon apparently joining Asuna in Underworld with their own cool-looking Underworld designs, new action shots of Renly, showing off Sheyta's fight with the Champion, a cool Bercouli action shot, and Alice and Asuna tag-teaming Vector. I can't wait .

It also looks like Kirito's figure in Alice's eye has changed from Quinella's palace to the current battleground...foreshadowing ?

I've been wondering what Sheyta's deal is, so it was cool to have her be the focus of the episode. By Integrity Knight standards, she seems a little...off, and doesn't quite emote the normal way (similar to another Lynn role on We Never Learn), but she is absolutely deadly with the sword. So deadly that Quinella made her a sword that could cut through absolutely anything. Good thing she wasn't around when Kirito and Eugeo were making their way through .

Not only that, but she is an absolutely stunning lady knight. Especially after her armor got damaged .

Sheyta's cutting through the Pugilist's and then battling the Champion was pretty awesome, and it was cool to watch the two find an equal of sorts who could satisfy their respective cravings in battle and see each other off with a newfound respect. Definitely curious to see where that goes from there .

Good job on Ronie noticing Vassago and alerting everybody! I mean, it didn't do much good when he had them surrounded and with how dangerous he is, but still a good showing on her part .

"Senpai?" Yeah, I guess you probably wouldn't expect such a Japanese term in a medieval fantasy world .

They've been building up to it since that shot of her in the Opening, but Asuna finally makes her long-awaited appearance in Underworld, just in the nick of time to save everyone from Vassago and his forces by using her powers to cave them in. The Goddess Stacia has arrived to save the day, and I can't wait to see what she does next .

Vassago realized who Asuna is...I'm guessing he's going to single her out for the next player he tries to kill once he gets out of that hole .

[Cloudedmind]

Originally Posted by magnuskn

Great entrance by Asuna.

And contrary to others, I thoroughly enjoy this Kirito-less SOA. The writer definitely has a hand with making me care in a short time about those characters, even this "mini-romance through fighting" between the Pugilists Guild leader and that female Integrity Knight.

Even as someone who likes Kirito, I've enjoyed these episodes.

Is it OK to ship that!?

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Frontier

So many additions to the Opening to get hyped about. Leafa and Sinon apparently joining Asuna in Underworld with their own cool-looking Underworld designs, new action shots of Renly, showing off Sheyta's fight with the Champion, a cool Bercouli action shot, and Alice and Asuna tag-teaming Vector. I can't wait .

It also looks like Kirito's figure in Alice's eye has changed from Quinella's palace to the current battleground...foreshadowing ?

I've been wondering what Sheyta's deal is, so it was cool to have her be the focus of the episode. By Integrity Knight standards, she seems a little...off, and doesn't quite emote the normal way (similar to another Lynn role on We Never Learn), but she is absolutely deadly with the sword. So deadly that Quinella made her a sword that could cut through absolutely anything. Good thing she wasn't around when Kirito and Eugeo were making their way through .

Not only that, but she is an absolutely stunning lady knight. Especially after her armor got damaged .

Sheyta's cutting through the Pugilist's and then battling the Champion was pretty awesome, and it was cool to watch the two find an equal of sorts who could satisfy their respective cravings in battle and see each other off with a newfound respect. Definitely curious to see where that goes from there .

It reminded me of that fight we never got to see in Katanagatari, between the guy with the sword that could cut anything and bare-handed MC.

"Senpai?" Yeah, I guess you probably wouldn't expect such a Japanese term in a medieval fantasy world .

Well, they're inside a Japanese video game, European esthetics aside.

Vassago realized who Asuna is...I'm guessing he's going to single her out for the next player he tries to kill once he gets out of that hole .

Is that guy an SAO survivor? Because KoB was an SAO guild, not AlO or GGO.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

It reminded me of that fight we never got to see in Katanagatari, between the guy with the sword that could cut anything and bare-handed MC.

Is that the one where the entire fight was off-screen (even though it was in the preview) and they kept talking about how epic a fight it was ?

Well, they're inside a Japanese video game, European esthetics aside.

This kind of reminds me how it gets a little jarring hearing normal honorifics in isekai settings .

Is that guy an SAO survivor? Because KoB was an SAO guild, not AlO or GGO.

Now that you mention it, even if he read her name in the book on the SAO incident (since Asuna used her actual name) he seemed to recognize her by sight, so he had to have known her by her SAO character .

[Side-streetdog]

Asuna is like... "I'm going to get my boy in my harem back, BEGONE!!"

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Side-streetdog

Asuna is like... "I'm going to get my boy in my harem back, BEGONE!!"

Watching her meet Alice is going to be fun .

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Frontier

This kind of reminds me how it gets a little jarring hearing normal honorifics in isekai settings .

That's nothing. What really bugs me is when they make a point of "you're older, I should speak formally to you". That is such a Japanese thing to say. Especially when the difference is just a year or two.

[Wandering Soul]

Originally Posted by magnuskn

Great entrance by Asuna.

And contrary to others, I thoroughly enjoy this Kirito-less SOA. The writer definitely has a hand with making me care in a short time about those characters, even this "mini-romance through fighting" between the Pugilists Guild leader and that female Integrity Knight.

I don't hate Kirito, but I enjoyed thses episodes too, though I really didn't care much for the one about the cowardly knight.

I find myself with the urge fo ship Sheyta and the Pugilist leader.

[FlareKnight]

The Sheyta fight was pretty fun and entertaining. All the more curious as well in that she didn't kill any of them. Although that one girl's arm is...not well. Maybe hints at her desire for a good fight. She needed to pause the enemy and whittle them down a bit, but not necessarily slaughter them. So she just did enough damage and didn't go overboard. All the more so when it came to the fight with the Champion. She had openings to kill him. But it was too satisfying to see if she could overcome his strengths that she just kept the fight going. It did create this sort of amusing mini-romance.

If nothing else she was just really entertaining. Her whole "I'll allow you to call me Grandma" thing was worth a laugh. Even if she basically just showed up now, it worked well enough and was pretty fun.

Barely made it into this episode, but Asuna arrived. Probably a smart move to effectively make her a goddess of this world. Going to need some serious power to handle what is coming. Kind of curious to see what will happen first: knocking Kirito back to normal or a conflict with Alice ?

Good episode.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

The Sheyta fight was pretty fun and entertaining. All the more curious as well in that she didn't kill any of them. Although that one girl's arm is...not well. Maybe hints at her desire for a good fight. She needed to pause the enemy and whittle them down a bit, but not necessarily slaughter them. So she just did enough damage and didn't go overboard. All the more so when it came to the fight with the Champion. She had openings to kill him. But it was too satisfying to see if she could overcome his strengths that she just kept the fight going. It did create this sort of amusing mini-romance.

I was wondering if she was going for non-lethal wounds because Quinella mis-read her need to cut people or if she really was just going easy on them before she found a proper challenge. Even her fellow knights have difficulty getting a good read on her .

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Frontier

I was wondering if she was going for non-lethal wounds because Quinella mis-read her need to cut people or if she really was just going easy on them before she found a proper challenge. Even her fellow knights have difficulty getting a good read on her .

I think maybe she does have a desire to cut people up, but she doesn't want to indulge in that desire. That's basically how Quinella read her, but she underestimated her restraint.

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

I think maybe she does have a desire to cut people up, but she doesn't want to indulge in that desire. That's basically how Quinella read her, but she underestimated her restraint.

That would make sense. That desire is there within her and for that reason she tried to avoid people as much as possible. Could be her whole life has been a serious battle between the desire to cut and the desire not to kill anyone.

Kind of finding the perfect opponent for her in this case. Someone she can try to cut and yet it's not easy to do so. No real need to hold back. Of course he might still need some more training since she was eventually going to kill him at the rate things were going . Just needs to toughen up a bit more really.

[Frontier]

For some reason I get the sense that Sheyta was a killer or had some kind of murderous background before she got turned into an Integrity Knight. Quinella strikes me as the type who would have brainwashed a criminal into an Integrity Knight if she felt their skills were useful.