[maelstormCaT]

Heh, my prediction on the 2nd episode was dead on. Though I admit it does missing something, it's still a good episode nonetheless. I like it.

I don't mind they tweaked Aria a bit. That story isn't part of the novel after, just a side story outside of the novel. It even have some inconsistencies with the vol.1 material; Asuna did not show much interest to Kirito until floor 40 or so. If they animate Aria properly, it would contradict that fact. So I'm actually fine with how they handle episode 2.

For RNR, there are 2 ways they can animate this in 1 episode.
First is to do it in a flashback mode, where Kirito himself remembering the story just before he face off with Nick the Apostle. Ending the episode with him walking away from the fight, throwing the item to Klein.

The other is to do it like the light novel, with the timeline keep going back and forth between past and present.

It would be tricky, but it's doable...
we'll just see how it'll go.