Sword Art Online - Episode 23 Discussion / Poll

[NoemiChan]

I find the monsters actually darkened the room by their numbers very funny.... C'mon, who ever spread about this quest is a big liar....

But... its a good place to grind and level up... oh.. there is no leveling up here...

[lateraldeath]

personally i wouldn't mind seeing kirito own with everyone else watching open mouthed but this is nice too. And gah, what a cliff hanger! I was this close to reading the LN after watching that.. I couldn’t help myself after last week’s drama and read ahead and I felt i didn’t enjoy this ep as much as i probably could have if I saw it fresh.Must.. not.. read ahead.. again…
I didn’t realize kirito’s shoes are magnetic to stones O.o, he was standing upside down with his wings retracted near the end. lol

[Obstinate]

I found this ep very entertaining. Of course the raid didn't turn out as I imagined it would be from the novel, but still pretty good. I'm guessing the Giga Drill and the reused scenes are because they are saving the budget for what's to come.

[Hiroi Sekai]

Nice nice, not bad at all. Everything felt pretty focused overall and it was enjoyable. Also, I shall give my props to everyone that was involved with the BGM, since that was pretty damn awesome.

[Rising Dragon]

For that magic attack of Kirito's I noticed that his eyes were colored gold again, just like when he defied SAO's system and took out Heathcliff. I guess that he was transcending the game's rules again--ALO was made from SAO, after all, so presumably the same exploits are still there.

[~Yami~]

why everyone give too much expectation about this episode?
I think it's already awesome enough... how long do you think Kirigaya siblings must sulk out and get depressed over this matter?
the way they settle it is good enough... duel... and both of them are intending to lose...
that hug scene (and should be kissing scene but they don't do it!) is really touching....

for Recon, I feel sad for you.... you confess your feeling in worse situation... and your sacrifice didn't really give much impact (but maybe you can win Lyfa's heart slightly by doing that heroic action)

Alicia is here again!!!! (and Sakuya too)
and they really spare enough time to picture that epic battle....
Kirito-Lyfa combi attack.. and finally that combined sword (damn! I prefer dual sword!)

for that door... talk about that cheating head GM... He really never intend to let players to finish the game... make me feel RAGE!

[Aqua Knight]

The drama and confession felt so forced.

Also the way that characters look i.e. very young adds silliness to the episode.
ALO part of SAO anime turned out much worse than the first part turning the whole series into generic mild-fantasy anime.

[azenable]

Originally Posted by Aqua Knight

The drama and confession felt so forced.

Also the way that characters look i.e. very young adds silliness to the episode.
ALO part of SAO anime turned out much worse than the first part turning the whole series into generic mild-fantasy anime.

Suguha was about to give up, it was actually the confession that bought life back into her again.

[lateraldeath]

Anyone know if it's the sound director's job do decide which part of Yuki's BGM goes to which scene or is that the music composer's job? Yuki's music is great but effort is still needed to make it shine by placing them in the right locations of the anime, and i think whoever did that in SAO done a brilliant job all throughout.

[azenable]

Originally Posted by Whitemoon648

Maybe it was done just for the sake of animation or maybe something similar to the dual blade skill he learned earlier in the series (Alo) version .

I am guessing if it's explained later it might be the latter.

there was no special skill mention in the LN version of this scene, so i guess its just for dramatic effect.

[Anh_Minh]

I always had a feeling Suguha wasn't trying to be "nice" or "charitable"... She just still had uses for him. Neither of them was quite sincere to the other, but Suguha more so.

[Znail]

I read something interesting recently that some how relates rather well to Suguo. It was a phsycologist that explained the behavior of some recent scandal involved people in the US. He said that it's common that high achivers are risktakers that believe that they are in control of reality as none of their plans has ever failed. This fits in rather well with Suguo as he deffinitly comes up with risky and potentially high profit plans while firmly beliving in his own infalliability.

It's kind of amusing that Suguo, who is in fact a very realistic character as he is far from unique in the real world, is considered by many a cartoon villain. While the villain with a complex background that somehow explains why he has to commit crimes to save his crippled little sister, is far more fictional and just made up as to make it easier for the audience to relate to them. Most people don't have delusions of grandeur and thus find someone like Suguo hard to understand, but that doesn't make him unrealistic, just different from most people.

[Krytonis]

I say, by far, this is the BEST episode in the Alfheim Online. I seriously couldn't help but shake with excitement as I saw this. I can't wait for next week! Go Kirito! To Asuna!

[ronelm2000]

Originally Posted by Znail

I read something interesting recently that some how relates rather well to Suguo. It was a phsycologist that explained the behavior of some recent scandal involved people in the US. He said that it's common that high achivers are risktakers that believe that they are in control of reality as none of their plans has ever failed. This fits in rather well with Suguo as he deffinitly comes up with risky and potentially high profit plans while firmly beliving in his own infalliability.

It's kind of amusing that Suguo, who is in fact a very realistic character as he is far from unique in the real world, is considered by many a cartoon villain. While the villain with a complex background that somehow explains why he has to commit crimes to save his crippled little sister, is far more fictional and just made up as to make it easier for the audience to relate to them. Most people don't have delusions of grandeur and thus find someone like Suguo hard to understand, but that doesn't make him unrealistic, just different from most people.

Crap, did you just realize that 40% of the people who hate Sugou are almost like that? (their own delusions of grandeur; is supposedly infallible)

[Benigmatica]

Originally Posted by Krytonis

I say, by far, this is the BEST episode in the Alfheim Online. I seriously couldn't help but shake with excitement as I saw this. I can't wait for next week! Go Kirito! To Asuna!

I can't wait, but I have a feeling that it's gonna be a rage-fest next week when Sugou returns!

Still, I have a feeling that Asuna is finally demoted to a damsel-in-distress… But at least she didn't forced to move to another castle. (like Super Mario Bros!) Don;t you agree?

[Kizoku Keenan]

Good episode...I liked the back up dragons near the end. It will be interesting to see how they finish this series off in the next episode!

[miroku2192]

So another thing that bothers me:

1) This is the second time Kirito has used someone elses' item.
a) Can you freely pick up other peoples' swords and what not and use it against them/against someone else? Or do you have to be in a PARTY of some sorts in order to "share" weapons like that.
b) If not a party, and you can freely take enemy weapons, is the enemy allowed to do something cheap like "unequip" item from menu? Or is it temporarily blocked due to the enemy taking your sword? And say you get killed, does that mean you lose your highly-valued item? Seems rather dangerous, I'm leaning towards option A to be more on the fair side.
c) Back to point A) and how Kirito got Sugu's sword again, does it disappear when the owner of said item is no longer in the same "lobby"/dungeon as the other party member who is wielding the sword?

I ask because Kirito got Sugu's sword to break through and got to the top, but when he pulled his sword out, it was just his own. I was seriously hoping he'd be able to go double swording to find Asuna, as well as it being a symbolical representation of Sugu supporting him on his way up.

Anyway can't wait for next episode to see how Admins take care of the situation. Really not sure how they're going to cram saving Asuna, getting evil boss-megane-bro to fess up to his evil mind-controlling schemes, and finally, the most important detail:

How the hell are they going to get Asuna to wake up? Was never once stated that just by finding her/evil boss dude, they could actually wake her up. With ALO bound to be closed up to some extent (maybe) if the whole mind-controlling scheme leaks out, when will the next "--O" game come out? I'm sure there will be (in order for Kirito to figure out away to save Asuna), but I wonder if the author will address such an issue, as this is two games in a row that someone has messed with real life humans. (time gap perhaps? poor asuna)

Still hoping Kayaba will make a nice return at some point down the road to aid Kirito in saving Asuna. The man "had things to do".

[Oroboro]

Guessing here, but I assume that items, including your party members an enemies weapons are meant to be freely manipulateable in the VR environment. So you can toss an ally a sword, or knock an enemies out of his hands.

I'd also assume the items are still bound to each player though, and return after some time if not specifically traded.

[miroku2192]

By the way, can't help but share this, Yui's scenes are always too cute:

Spoiler for gif for size:

Also, found this hilarious cross-over from Jormungand:

Spoiler for gif for size - Jormungand Crossover:

[Awrya]

Originally Posted by miroku2192

How the hell are they going to get Asuna to wake up? Was never once stated that just by finding her/evil boss dude, they could actually wake her up. With ALO bound to be closed up to some extent (maybe) if the whole mind-controlling scheme leaks out, when will the next "--O" game come out? I'm sure there will be (in order for Kirito to figure out away to save Asuna), but I wonder if the author will address such an issue, as this is two games in a row that someone has messed with real life humans. (time gap perhaps? poor asuna)

Shown in Ep.21, most likely they will meet up, Kirito/Yui using a GM console with the stolen admin card and log her out.

If the mind controlling scheme comes to light, RECTO will likely go bankrupt like Argus did, and the amount of VRMMO players will decline.

Exactly how did you think of a next '--O' game, where Asuna will be imprisoned (again)?
The reason she is in ALO is because her fiancé is locking her up, in the game his department produced, as to allow no objections to his marriage into the Yuuki family.
If Kirito successfully logs out Asuna, she won't magically transfer into another game without reason, unless another villain we never heard about spontaneously decides to redirect Asuna to his VRMMO game for some grand evil plan, it is very unlikely Asuna will be imprisoned again after the ALO arc.