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Hm....how do I comment on this episode? I guess I'll do separate comments based on novel-only nitpicks and as a general anime.
Novel-only nitpicks: (There are no novel spoilers here, just my feelings as a viewer with novel knowledge)
- There's no way around it. If you've read Aria, most likely a part of you died inside when the struggle to cram it into one episode became a reality. My actual comment on this is less negative, but the fact remains that one episode was clearly not enough for...
- Oh depth, where art thou? I've only skimmed over the comments, and I can understand the complaints about some of the cut content. Honestly, I got one development scene out of the potential many so that was already more than I expected. Unfortunately, many scenes that did take place lost A LOT of the feeling behind them due to time constraints. Much significance/detail was lost with:
Diabel's ability as a charismatic leader
Kibaou's feelings representing the casual player (ie. Everyone) and subsequent hatred
Asuna bread scene
The significance of Beta Testers
How the battle was portrayed, and Kirito's actual role in it
Which turns out to be most of the episode. There's a difference between putting it in for the sake of having it, and putting it in to get a point across. Unfortunately these scenes only accomplished the former.
- On the plus side, to my surprise they were able to cut a character entirely with little drawback. Though I enjoyed said character, I'm glad it didn't add to the already over-sized content pile this episode had.
As an anime:
- It's hard to properly judge this neutrally since I was watching with certain expectations in mind, but I still felt as an anime-only viewer I would've felt extreme pacing issues anyways. It felt as if the events jumped everywhere at breakneck speeds, and the viewer barely had a chance to think about it before being presented with something new. That being said, my major issues lie with:
- Diabel. My end reaction being, "So...who was that guy?" You can put all the dramatic music that you want, but in the end I only knew him for 10 minutes.
- That fight scene. The initial charge. Brilliant, I got into it. Then I was presented with a bunch of still frames. What is that nonsense? Followed by a Diabel death scene that meant nothing to me. Luckily from that point the quality of the fight picked up again and I was able to enjoy it to its conclusion.
- The post-battle scene, which somewhat touches upon a novel comment. Why did Kirito have to become a "Beater" instead of just a Beta Tester? I know the answer was given through context, but the entire feeling behind his reasons were completely lost IMHO. The laugh was great, though.
- Lastly, and I hate the fact I'm saying this. I love Kirito and Asuna, I really do. But their "trusting relationship" by the end seemed out of place due to all of the scenes that were skipped (in which they become strangers who are comfortable to be in a party together). Having it implied reeeaaalllyyy didn't work here.
That should wrap up my commentary. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it enough that time flew by in a jiffy (for better of for worse), and gave it a 7/10. But there were definitely flaws.
I've never read the Red-Nosed Reindeer chapter of SAO, so I'll be going into next episode blind. Should be interesting what I think without prior knowledge of the source material.
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The true last samurai...
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It's just that through the rose-colored lenses of an LN-reader the 2nd ep just feels "lacking" so to speak. But that's the bane of novel readers right? Guess we just have to deal w/ it
Graphic Designer
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