Sword Art Online - Episode 6 Discussion / Poll

[don_Durandal]

Originally Posted by Child_of_Sierra

But how was she "killed" in her room? Doesn't that take us back to the rule of no-one being able to PK inside the safe zone?

She wasn't.
1) Grimlock sets the teleportation crystal's destination to "Laughing Coffin's hideout"
2) Grimlock anonymously gives the teleportation crystal to Schmidt
3) Schmidt places the teleportation crystal in Griselda's room
4) Griselda enters her room
5) teleportation crystal activates and teleports Griselda to Laughing coffin's hideout
6) Laughing Coffin members PK Griselda

[styr]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Pretty much. He put an exit for the teleport crystal in her room, which he could enter because they're in the same guild. Grimlock then gave the crystal to a red player who did the deed.

@Lightning0 - The deed that Anh_Minh speaks of was what Kirito and Asuna discussed in ep5. Sleep PK. Kirito even mentions that when Griselda was murdered Sleep PK was still a relatively unknown trick. They were only aware of it happening in outside areas, but..

That didn't stop those red players. They had it all thought out so they could still "get" players inside INNs. Quite devious and extremely well planned, really. The very definition of premeditated murder.

I'm glad they handled things well with the marriage stuff between Kirito/Asuna, although they skipped my favorite part from the LN, alas.

During Asuna's talk about marriage in SAO being pragmatic and romantic... she went full tsun:

Spoiler for Vol 8 Murder Case spoilers, scene omitted from ep6:

Here's the quote from Vol 8:


"...It's because of this kind of system that the responsibility of 'marriage' in this game is so big. Once married, both people's item storage will be linked together, right? In that case, what treasure that can be easily hidden can't be hidden once married. On the other hand, if someone once hid a rare item he picked up, he can't get married to a member of his own guild. The «Storage Link» is actually a rather pragmatic system, but I feel it's rather romantic."

That tone of hers really has a sense of longing. I couldn't help but blink a few times. Then I don't know why I even got excited all of a sudden as I said in an excited voice without thinking much,

"Is, is that so. I see. The, then, if I party with you next time, Asuna, I definitely won't hide any drops I get."

GATAN! With that sound, Asuna immediately fell back together with the chair.

As the room was not lit, I can't see her face, but I can see some expressions on «The Flash»'s face while under the blue and white light. She finally raised her right hand and yelled,

"Do…don't be stupid! Such a day won't happen in ten years! Ah, I, I'm talking about partying with you! I say, are, are you seriously watching? What'll happen if you lose him!"

[MrTerrorist]

I enjoyed this episode and how Yoruko and Kains faked their deaths was smart. Grimrock reasoning for killing his wife is something i'm not surprised. I seen crime documentaries on how husbands killed their partners over various reasons including selfish ones.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by don_Durandal

She wasn't.
1) Grimlock sets the teleportation crystal's destination to "Laughing Coffin's hideout"
2) Grimlock anonymously gives the teleportation crystal to Schmidt
3) Schmidt places the teleportation crystal in Griselda's room
4) Griselda enters her room
5) teleportation crystal activates and teleports Griselda to Laughing coffin's hideout
6) Laughing Coffin members PK Griselda

That's not how teleport crystals work, or teleport-PK would be a much bigger problem...

Besides, you didn't pay attention. Schmidt put the crystal into the guild's storage after he was done.

[Arya]

I liked this episode more than the last one. The mystery didn't stir my curiosity then and the way it was solved kept not stirring me. But I liked the logic behind the explanation. And dat sandwich!!!
even if I'm not much fond of side stories I understand that these are meant to prep us, to let us understanding the logic, the rules and the mechanics of the game so to enjoy better all the eventual facets of the main story. Or so it seems. And I'm glad that they are giving them all as appetizers instead of scattering them within the main arc (they are doing so, right? ) So I was not bothered by how the whole Griselda and his husband parts felt a bit rushed. His "reasons" were quite realistic and in the end I think that the Grimlock/Griselda bad story was meant to enlighten how the game changes people in a good or in a bad way, and even affecting people's sanity, even against their loved ones. (Worst case scenario).
Anyways, Asuna and Kirito are too cute, I can't get enough of them. Mixed with the really, really good work the show is doing in portraying the MMO world feeling, it makes it one of my favorite show of this the season. (but still, waiting for main arc to start )

[don_Durandal]

Ah right, I did miss that part. The rest still stands though. Either she was sleep-PKed in her room after a "to the death" challenge was issued, or she was moved out of the room after the culprit teleported inside.

Spoiler for more info from the novel:

The place where the tombstone stands is where Griselda was killed. It's where her items dropped when she died. Someone who knew her found the items and mailed them to the Guild, hence why they know the spot.

[Eratas123]

Is it just me, or does the Kirito's and Asuna's voice sound different? Kirito in particular sounds higher pitched.

[halibonga]

not much action in recent episodes but the story is not bad

[Kaioshin Sama]

Alls well that ends well for what's left of that guild I guess, that wrap up for the arc sure was swift though with the two just bowing and sauntering off into the mist and on their merry way as if just witnessing the death of one of their former comrades didn't really phase them or affect their spirits in any lasting manner. Still I like that they're continuing to bring in-depth talk about game mechanics back into this show and making it a focal point of the writing, I just wish there was the same level of complexity in how combat has been dealt so far with as there is in say discussion of item decay. I was almost certain Grimlock would turn out to be the culprit since there were hints that their perfect marriage may not actually be what it appears on the surface, but the interesting twist was that it really was the perfect marriage in real life and much like with KYH in the sister series Accel World this week it turns out that both ended up with a corrupted sense of identity after spending too long in the game world and that it caused him in particular to make a rash decision to try to preserve what remained of the IRL Griselda before she became a 100% completely different person.

Tough break for both of them, but that's the increasingly bitter world of Kawahara Reki Light Novels for you.

[Archon_Wing]

Episode was nice and they introduced an actual antagonist. Kirito and Asuna's interactions were explored a bit more, but unfortunately I found myself bored through a lot of this-- side story hell is a bit tiring.

[M.A.D]

Originally Posted by don_Durandal

Spoiler for more info from the novel:

The place where the tombstone stands is where Griselda was killed. It's where her items dropped when she died. Someone who knew her found the items and mailed them to the Guild, hence why they know the spot.

You got the wrong place, dude.

Spoiler for Place:

The place where Griselda was killed was just outside the town of the current frontline at the time. Her tombstone was placed in the village where the Golden Apple set up their headquarter

[Iron Maw]

Meh, the last two episodes have been pretty lame and only empathize how ridiculously disjointed this series has have been. World building is not an excuse to stall a plot indefinitely, especially when there is no sense of "bulid up" or "direction". Believe or not a good series can do world buliding, plot advancement, and development all in one episode.

Grimlock's entire reason for killing his wife unbelievably shallow and stupid. The events surrounding the mystery to lure him out and find out the truth didn't come off much more then contrived either. The appearance of that PK Guild "Laughing Coffin" was pretty much the only worthwhile thing that happened and they were only around for a minute at best and basically had nothing to do with the episode. And yes we get it, Kirito and Asuna will probably hook up and get married, whoop.

The show really needs start picking up the pace now and have "something happen" because I'm losing a lot of the interest I had in the premier. For this week 6/10.

Originally Posted by Sphire

I can only give an anime-only view, but I expected more from SAO then what we've gotten so far. So far it's focused a lot on 'other' stories kinda like how Kino's Journey or Dantalian no Shoka are, except way less interesting.

Maybe once the main story picks up I'll be interested again. So far only ep 1 was really interesting. Ep 2 was okay content-wise but seemed rushed as hell. The rest have been those side-stories. And color me surprised at just how much time passes in the show. More than a year already? Seriously?

Overall, it makes me feel like I should just wait for the whole show to be done before watching.

Indeed.

Originally Posted by RegalStar

People are probably looking to see people fighting stuff rather than people interacting with each other.

Except character interaction and action are not mutually exclusive, furthermore there is nothing special about SAO's dialogue or writing in general that I really care about it outside MMO mechanics. This isn't Bakemonogatari or Baccano/Durarara where the entire series is all about character interaction and full of clever writing.

[Kmos]

The mystery of safe area deaths was meh. I had a feeling it was all self-inflicted, but thought there was a holographic item involved instead of tele. What I didn't know was item destruction looks like death? I try not to think too much on it cause I knew it's still revealing how the game works. I guess it was the same for Kirito and Asuna cause it occurs to them late to check friend list. Maybe players can choose an offline hiding option, who knows. Once they mentioned shared storage we get a prime suspect so the Griselda murder mystery was wrapped up quick. Nice plan by Grimlock to try to clean up if it weren't for those meddling kids and that darn horse!

Being an anime only viewer, there's some frustration in watching SAO and the others have already pointed out a lot of it. I agree with making episode 2 into a 2 parter would've been better to flesh out dungeon clearing maybe or Asuna//Egil/Klein relationships. I don't mind the pace too much otherwise, I rated this epi good. This one works out well as it explains some more of how SAO works and woman make sammich (I accept Asuna now ). I don't mind animes taking 6 of 24 epis to introduce a lot of things if the rest of the series is amazing. It's still good and watchable, but not an awesome, great start. One minor thing is for a 2 cour? they're over half way to level 100 and 1.5 yrs in game and this is only episode 6. I don't want to know any details just hoping the story's pace isn't too slow/fast.
I'm guessing Laughing Coffin will have a spot in the story(ies) to come and there might be some good action and maybe pk? Don't tell me.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Iron Maw

Meh, the last two episodes have been pretty lame and only empathize how ridiculously disjointed this series has have been. World building is not an excuse to stall a plot indefinitely, especially when there is no sense of "bulid up" or "direction". Believe or not a good series can do world buliding, plot advancement, and development all in one episode.

I don't think the "plot is stalled" at all, just that a different story (or a different type of story) is being told than the one you're waiting for.

The primary plot of these last two episodes is the story of how Kirito and Asuna went from being colleagues at odds to good friends. That's how the arc started, and that's how the arc ended, and that was the single common thread throughout the two episodes. I think that this particular plot was very clearly portrayed in these two episodes, and appears to me to be very central to the overall story of the anime (and not just "world building").

The secondary plot of these last two episodes was the story of the Golden Apple guild. Now, the primary purpose of this secondary plot is two fold: 1) as a catalyst for the primary plot, 2) to provide more explanations of game mechanics and systems that we don't know about yet. I would agree with (I think) the majority that the actual plot points here are handled a bit more clumsily and less effectively. As a mystery, I'd have to agree that it wasn't terribly compelling. Nevertheless, I do think it accomplished the two purposes I described above reasonably well.


Which brings us to the overall plot of the story, and the big unknown question for anime-only viewers (including myself). What is the "primary plot" of SAO? (Note: Novel readers: do not answer this question!!!)

a) The story of Kirito and Asuna's friendship

b) The story of how everyone freed themselves from the Game

Of course that's sort of an unfair question, because I think the answer is "both". But how you see this particular arc's contribution to the story really depends strongly on which of these two plot threads are most important/central to you. This arc contributes strongly to the first, but is only foundational ("world building") to the second.

Speaking for myself personally, I like both major plot threads, so I was okay that the second was delayed temporarily as they built strongly on the first. Since it is a 25-episode series, they do have some time yet.

[Wild Goose]

Overall, solid execution on the episode. A certain amusing scene was removed from the novels, along with a discussion of game mechanics with Heathcliff, but it trims down the plot to the essential elements.

If I had to describe the adaptation of SAO so far, I'd say you're getting steak, with less potatoes and trimmings. You still get the steak, which was the whole point of going to the restaurant.

What does bug me a bit is Griselda appearing at the end. Best explanation I can think of is that it's an echo of her ghost, somehow, a partial... copy? Manifestation? Something? that's captured by the game and appearing due to a bug. Or something. Or her ghost is now residing in the machine, like what the Major and Kuze did in 2nd Gig. *shrugs*

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

Alls well that ends well for what's left of that guild I guess, that wrap up for the arc sure was swift though with the two just bowing and sauntering off into the mist and on their merry way as if just witnessing the death of one of their former comrades didn't really phase them or affect their spirits in any lasting manner. Still I like that they're continuing to bring in-depth talk about game mechanics back into this show and making it a focal point of the writing, I just wish there was the same level of complexity in how combat has been dealt so far with as there is in say discussion of item decay. I was almost certain Grimlock would turn out to be the culprit since there waere hints that their perfect marriage may not actually be what it appears on the surface, but the interesting twist was that it really was the perfect marriage in real life and much like with KYH in the sister series Accel World this week it turns out that both ended up with a corrupted sense of identity after spending too long in the game world and that it caused him in particular to make a rash decision to try to preserve what remained of the IRL Griselda before she became a 100% completely different person.

Tough break for both of them, but that's the increasingly bitter world of Kawahara Reki Light Novels for you.

You'll need to be clearer on who you're referring to, but from what I see and read in the LNs, Golden Apples were a mid-levelish guild, and weren't part of the clearing group, so they're practically strangers to Asuna and Kirito. Not sure what you mean by former comrades. And I don't recall anyone dying in this episode - Yolko faked her death, Schmitt got hit by a dagger with paralysis effect, but other than that nobody else died.

As for it being the perfect marriage, I disagree. It's quite obvious that the relationship wasn't healthy. Perfect in Grimlock's eyes, maybe. But not healthy.

[jzmagic]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

I'm not really satisfied how things went after that as well: the way how Yolko etc carried him, along with that BGM: as if "everything is fine now" despite it isn't. Of course, it was definitely an attempt to have a case solved impression, but it is slightly off.

Yea I was bothered by how the mood was set so that "everything was OK" now, as they walk off into the sunset. Ummm, the man still killed his own wife.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by jzmagic

Yea I was bothered by how the mood was set so that "everything was OK" now, as they walk off into the sunset. Ummm, the man still killed his own wife.

Well, don't disagree, but I suppose it's not like he was a likely re-offender if you really think about it. His crime had a twisted internal logic, and all of the actual murders (and attempts) were performed by proxy by the assassins. He's a complete coward through and through. Plus, they all know each other and his secret's out; it's not like they're going to let him get away with it.

Granted, I too thought something was off about that scene (particularly the sudden change in tone with Asuna's one line), but I suppose there may be some logic to it all the same.

[jzmagic]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

Well, don't disagree, but I suppose it's not like he was a likely re-offender if you really think about it. His crime had a twisted internal logic, and all of the actual murders (and attempts) were performed by proxy by the assassins. He's a complete coward through and through. Plus, they all know each other and his secret's out; it's not like they're going to let him get away with it.

Granted, I too thought something was off about that scene (particularly the sudden change in tone with Asuna's one line), but I suppose there may be some logic to it all the same.

He might not have been the one who actually committed the murder, but he was still the orchestrator behind it, which is just as bad. He got off way too easy, it looked to me like they were going to give him a slap on the wrist and let him do the generic "atone for my sins" garbage. He should have been killed off somehow, either by a random mob spawn or a rogue PKer (not the ones he hired).

[Rakshasa]

Originally Posted by jzmagic

He might not have been the one who actually committed the murder, but he was still the orchestrator behind it, which is just as bad. He got off way too easy, it looked to me like they were going to give him a slap on the wrist and let him do the generic "atone for my sins" garbage. He should have been killed off somehow, either by a random mob spawn or a rogue PKer (not the ones he hired).

They've been in there how long, 2 years or so?

He isn't the first one to have issues with mental health, and won't be the last one. It's fair to say they would be better positioned to decide on what to do with him than some internet hardguy.

[zeniselv]

the word to describe the solution of this mystery was the one misused this episode "pragmatic"; lots of things were of, the whole fake death plan was probably way to intricated for just a confession, since this pretty much showed they already knew that armor guy had info, the whole reason for the husband to arrange kill was really unconvincing, this whole mytery really bummed my out, but the interactions between kirito and asuna pretty much saved the episode for me, its rare to see normal man to woman interactions and relationship development in japanmedia, and the buriki endcard was certainly a plus.