[Utsuro no Hako]

This episode felt like a completely different series compared to the side stories -- the story had time to breathe, the animation was back to the level of episode 1 (despite a couple still shots in the fight scenes) and the music actually sounded like Yuki Kajiura. Hopefully next week's boss fight will show us what they've been saving the animation budget for.

Originally Posted by Clarste

Spoiler for episode 8:

For the record, I'm currently nerd-raging about the fact that Asuna was allowed by game mechanics to interfere with the duel and that Kirito still won after she did so. I can allow that there might be some badly programmed game that allowed outside interference from other players in duels, but to have that outside interference not affect the result kind of... undermines the entire point of having a duel mechanic? This little change, presumably to make Asuna look more competent, makes me think the directors have no respect for games whatsoever, which lowers my expectations of the anime several-fold. And it was already pretty low.

The winner announcement appeared after Kuradeel teleported away, so presumably the game counted that as him resigning the duel.