Sword Art Online - Episode 24 Discussion / Poll

[Aqua Knight]

Originally Posted by Byakou

Now that the second story arc has ended, it's a good time to reflect on the evolution of this anime. The first ep when we discovered that people were stuck in a game was a great 'oh shit' moment. The anime looked great back then, full of potential. Then for me the story went downhill with the introduction of all the mushy romantic crap between Asuna and Kirito (cabin near the lake), which last far too many episodes. Then further downhill with the introduction of Yui, with the whole mommy and daddy stuff. And then the anime degenerated in the land of generic knight saves the princess held hostage by grotesque villains with shitty character development. Boy, seems like shinsekai yori is the only airing anime worth watching now.

I think this was the worst part of the series. It's very annoying when teenagers who aren't even 16-17 are playing Mommy and Daddy at this age.

And also:

Set level of the opponent to 1.
Give him the badass sword.
LET'S FIGHT!

And then 1-hit-ko him => Lame

Though Sugou's evilness in this episode was kinda funny

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Izayoi

It was an explicit rape scene dammit!

It definitely was not an "explicit rape scene"; there was no rape at all and nothing explicit was shown. He was definitely touching her inappropriately, no doubt... but I think you may be over-reading into it a bit. 12/13 may indeed be a bit young, but I would have said that more for the violence than the "sexual content", personally. I would have rated the show 15+, I guess.

Originally Posted by TheEroKing

I'm fairly certain they will add the nipples for the BDs just to boost the sales, clearly this isn't PG-13 stuff.

I'm honestly not sure that they'd add nipples to that scene. I personally doubt it. The intent of that scene was not as "fanservice", I would say.

(Maybe some of the other Suguha scenes, perhaps.)

Originally Posted by Aqua Knight

Set level of the opponent to 1.
Give him the badass sword.
LET'S FIGHT!

And then 1-hit-ko him => Lame

He didn't set his "level" to 1. He set the pain absorber level to 0. Sugou was free to fight with all his skill if he wanted; the implication is that he's just not actually very good at the game...

[Aqua Knight]

Set ID "Obern" to Level 1.

It was clear as day that Kirito said that

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Aqua Knight

Set ID "Obern" to Level 1.

It was clear as day that Kirito said that

That's administration level, not skill level. ALO doesn't have a "levelling up" system, since it's based on skill. He was just preventing him from calling on his GM powers.

(Perhaps that's what you meant though, in which case sorry for the confusion.)

[Aqua Knight]

Ah, okay, well, then I understand.

[Pocky Yoshi]

I'm not a fan of rushed stuff in any stories, but I'm gonna have to treat this Episode like Code Geass. Fun ride, but a few hiccups along the way.

I wouldn't mind it being stretched to a few more episodes to at least wrap it up nicely.

What I do like is everything is resolved. What I didn't like was it was bit too odd(for a lack of a better word).....however that's what happens when you quit shonen stuff only to find another such as SAO only to get well......"shonen withdrawal syndromes".

To be more specific on my "shonen syndromes", I want the cliche fight drawn out for a few episodes. Beginning, middle, end. Hero meets villain, Hero struggles and tries to figure out the villain in this next episode, hero finds the solution and strikes the villain down.....


I don't know if what I'm saying makes sense, but this episode kind of threw me in a loop....I'll wait and hope the next episode is at least better. ^^;

Pardon my ramble.

[kyp275]

Overall a decent episode, which more or less continued the trajectory this arc has been for me, which is probably best summed up as "hmmmm.....eh". Nothing really unexpected happened, though personally I think the anime team went a bit over the top on Sugou's portrayal. It certainly did make for more entertaining values, but I'm not so sure if it was in a good way

Here's hoping that A-1 knocks it out of the park with ep.25, which is going to have my favorite scene of fairy dance (and one of the top moments in both SAO/ALO arc). As uneventful as this adaptation has been, it's had a few moments of brilliance, and I hope that's what happens next

Originally Posted by KokoYoshi

I don't know if what I'm saying makes sense, but this episode kind of threw me in a loop....I'll wait and hope the next episode is at least better. ^^;

I know what you mean, but SAO/ALO in general doesn't really go into much detail for most of the fights, nor was there really enough episode counts or room for pacing for that to happen. The later arcs will have more detailed fight scenes, but you'd have to wait for a season two, assuming there is one

[miroku2192]

But the 300 SAO captives Kirito...what are you doingggggg

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by miroku2192

But the 300 SAO captives Kirito...what are you doingggggg

They can be sorted out one the server's seized by the police and their teams of technicians.

[NoemiChan]

Until now, I still can't believe why they have to make a "virtual lab" that could be access from the game.

[eiyuu99]

Sugou is bad for a villain and his avatar dies with a squeal.
I wonder if his real life body will suffer a seizure or something.

[Divini]

Originally Posted by GenjiChan

Until now, I still can't believe why they have to make a "virtual lab" that could be access from the game.

What would they do if they didn't? Hook up their brains in plain sight in a public hospital during an incident that obviously got worldwide attention?

It's the best way to keep things covered up, of course.

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by eiyuu99

Sugou is bad for a villain and his avatar dies with a squeal.
I wonder if his real life body will suffer a seizure or something.

No, nothing really, it'll only give him an ugly face when he log out..

ALO is different from SAO...

[miroku2192]

Just want to throw this out there but...without the help of Yui, Kirito x Asuna = gone...seriously.

She opens the "door that was never meant to be opened", breaks down walls and leads Kirito to Asuna (anyone else notice how they seemed so close to Asuna, yet it pans from a bright, sunny day to a setting sun scene? Sure, it makes it all nice, fuzzy, warm and cozy, but come on, lol.

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by Divini

What would they do if they didn't? Hook up their brains in plain sight in a public hospital during an incident that obviously got worldwide attention?

It's the best way to keep things covered up, of course.

No, that doesn't make any sense either. You would rather not have the "lab" in a "in game physical sense". Instead, you would have these 300 people in their usual hospital bed, and a remote server that monitor their test instead.

But a ingame lab? That is just silly: that means you have to log in and log out all the frigging time to check on the experiments and whatever other surveillance required. Like debated weeks ago, there is an incredily exaggerated "realistic" setup of ALO shady departments, with "in game" privilege access items, in game consoles, in game labs etc... that's as if they thought it was a good idea, whereas anyone datamining the game might found some weird "modern area" data.

[miroku2192]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

No, that doesn't make any sense either. You would rather not have the "lab" in a "in game physical sense". Instead, you would have these 300 people in their usual hospital bed, and a remote server that monitor their test instead.

But a ingame lab? That is just silly.

Well the underlying assumptions were:

1) No player was ever going to reach where they were without GM status (technically).
2) They had some crazy fetishes to begin with --> I mean, they were in a slimy tentacle monster like form as "mad scientists".

But yeah it's pretty stupid, but w/e. They probably just thought they were invincible and were stupid about it.

[TimeSkip]

poor Kirito. He probably thinks Sugou has been sexually assault Asuna for months since she was brought to ALO. Who would believe that glasses SOB actually did this the first time? Well yes, he had made advances towards Asuna many times but never this bad.

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by TimeSkip

poor Kirito. He probably thinks Sugou has been sexually assault Asuna for months since she was brought to ALO. Who would believe that glasses SOB actually did this the first time? Well yes, he had made advances towards Asuna many times but never this bad.

Sugou wants it "live". It's his fetish..

[Faerie]

Originally Posted by Chiibi

Excuse me, "immature infatuation"?

You do NOT risk your life for someone out of "immature infatuation."

Further more, Asuna and Kirito both depend and trust each other wholeheartedly. They show their weaknesses and worries to each other and they ACCEPT every flaw and every strength about each other. People in the real world will be married and still not understand how important this is.

Would be good not to take that quote out of context.... I'm not even saying that it IS, but that it's being portrayed as such, and has been ever since the stupid lake house arc. And thus I cannot like their romance as much as I did before it turned into the main focus and mushy, cheesy stuff that I myself can't stand. I can't stand that kind of romance.
And yes. Loads of people risk their lives out of immature infatuation in fiction and have forever?
Romeo and Juliet anyone? Just saying.
Twilight?
To name just a few very obvious examples.

And whether or not they "depend and trust" each other really isn't what I was saying at all, but that their relationship appears to have KILLED their individuality and turned them into dependent, sobbing, whiny blobs whose only concern is each other. Which is the DEFINITION of an infatuation as opposed to mature love.

AND I said clearly that this kind of singular focus on a sappy romance might be acceptable for SOME, and that is absolutely fine if that's what you enjoy- but isn't what I expected from this show going in. I expected plot.
And when the romance plot became apparent, I expected substance, not teen angst.
As relentlessflame said, this might just be down to circumstance and change in the future, and I am perfectly open to that. I welcome it, as I used to enjoy these two. But this is the impression from what we've seen SO FAR.

And how you didn't see anything wrong with the cheesy, corny resolution in this episode overall either... confuses me o.O I mean, there was no climax, the (already thin) drama was cheapened by deus ex machina, and the "boss fight" (lol) was laughable. Come on. The way it was done wasn't good. And my standards aren't even half as high as many here.

[eiyuu99]

Originally Posted by GenjiChan

No, nothing really, it'll only give him an ugly face when he log out..

ALO is different from SAO...

Nothing, are you sure? Sugou mentioned when pain absorber level goes below Lv 3, it will affect your physical body.