Sword Art Online: Alicization - Episode 22 Discussion / Poll

[Kairin]

Welcome to the discussion thread for Sword Art Online: Alicization, Episode 22.

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[blakstealth]

Wow, that fight ended very quickly At least we got to see OG Kirito again in his Aincrad outfit.

Also wasn't expecting Charlotte to come back. What a good spider friend ;_;

[BluePhirePB]

Huh, a lot of these "epic" battles are finished up pretty quickly. I wish they were longer drawn out.

[BloodyKitty]

Originally Posted by BluePhirePB

Huh, a lot of these "epic" battles are finished up pretty quickly. I wish they were longer drawn out.

They cut out some Alice solo with Chudelkin before he summon Fire elements. They're currently adapting the last 4 episodes from 1 volume and the pacing is suffering because the volume is packed with events. They're rushing to a certain conclusion in cour 2 finale, so if they don't rush now there won't be room to breathe in last 2 episodes.

In Chudelkin fight there should be some Kirito's inner character breakthrough, anime just have to cut it so it became a very bland scene:

Spoiler for more context of Chudelkin fight in LN:

So far he has always been trying to dissociate with his Black Swordman persona so he can have any semblance of normal life (basically he doesn't like being treated as a hero by others in the real world, sometimes he can't save everyone and he hates having to kill again in UW). In an earlier cut monologue from the anime he also went over to why he couldn't make male close friends because boys either worship him or are too childish for him, Klein and Agil are good companions but they never became that close to him (didn't remember exact words but I think because age difference), Eugeo is the sole exception for not falling into any of those categories, which is why Kirito can be himself with Eugeo without putting up hero image.

But for this fight he had to step up and overcome his spychological barrier and internalizing his past as part of his identity, so he consciously channeled his Black Swordman self and used his signature move Vorpal Strike from SAO to kill Chudelkin.

But as always, the anime doesn't care to characterize Kirito like the books, so he looked OP using the move all of the sudden.

[Frontier]

Kirito becoming the Black Swordsman again for a brief moment to skewer Chudelking was a pretty awesome moment .

It was interesting actually getting more into Quinella's perspective through her dialogue with Kirito, as she justifies her actions as an attempt to exert meaning and control in her life rather then bow down to the whims of Rath and the purpose they forced upon her world. I'd almost kind of respect her for it if not for all the awful things she's done as a result .

It must be a pretty big shock for Eugeo and Alice to learn that Kirito isn't actually from their world but from the "outside," and that their entire world and civilization could be reset at the flick of a switch. If it wasn't for what was already going on in front of them I imagine that could be pretty horrifying .

Somehow it really doesn't surprise me that Quinella eventually planned to phase out the Integrity Knights for, basically, robots. And frankly I don't blame her. That Sword Golem was able to take our heroes out in five seconds, could you imagine an army of those at Quinella's command ?

I never thought I would feel so bad for a spider. I guess it also deepens the question of the value of an artificial life, especially when one that isn't even supposed to be as advanced as the AI of the Fluctlight's with their souls still makes the choice to sacrifice itself of it's own free will .

With Cardinal is in the fray it's finally final boss time .