Sword Art Online: Alicization - Episode 23 Discussion / Poll

[Kairin]

Welcome to the discussion thread for Sword Art Online: Alicization, Episode 23.

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[Magewolf]

Well,that was definitely 22 minutes of animation. No one can deny that.

I think there might have been some fighting. But I kept going to sleep so do not quote me on that since every time I woke up someone was just standing there asking to be killed.

[leongsh]

Originally Posted by Magewolf

Well,that was definitely 22 minutes of animation. No one can deny that.

I think there might have been some fighting. But I kept going to sleep so do not quote me on that since every time I woke up someone was just standing there asking to be killed.

*feeds this troll*

You're contradicting yourself. If you saw 22 minutes of animation but kept falling asleep and only waking to seeing someone asking to be killed, it doesn't mesh.

[Magewolf]

Originally Posted by leongsh

*feeds this troll*

You're contradicting yourself. If you saw 22 minutes of animation but kept falling asleep and only waking to seeing someone asking to be killed, it doesn't mesh.

You are right. There could be large sections of the episode that even the staff were too bored with to animate. I was merely assuming that they were putting forth at least that much of a bare minimum of effort for the show but that goes against the evidence of the prior episodes so I am sorry for my error.

If you made it through it can you tell me if they did actually animate the whole thing? But if you did not do not worry about going back to check I would hate to put anyone through that.

[Applehell]

I-I 'm not really getting why Cardinal had to die? I doubt Administrator was gonna keep her end of bargain with no more than mere words and things like promises or likes mean nothing to her. It doesn't change what she gonna do afterwards even if she did let Kritio and rest go. Cardinal didn't have fight Sword Golem either and could have still transformed Eugeo into a sword to do so.

[Anh_Minh]

For once a guy other than Kirito got the girl! I mean, he had to give up his body and his life (in that order) but he still came out on top of the Kirito x Alice x Eugeo triangle! Sort of.

[BloodyKitty]

You know how sad it is when 1 screenshot from the OP did a much better job at hammering what that Sword Golem is made of than 5-7 minutes of talking.

Images

OP screenshot (tw: Quinella & blood)

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

Originally Posted by Applehell

I-I 'm not really getting why Cardinal had to die? I doubt Administrator was gonna keep her end of bargain with no more than mere words and things like promises or likes mean nothing to her. It doesn't change what she gonna do afterwards even if she did let Kritio and rest go. Cardinal didn't have fight Sword Golem either and could have still transformed Eugeo into a sword to do so.

My mind is blurry around this part because I didn't read the LN volume the 2nd time for obvious reasons, but I can at least recall that at that point in time all the 3 kids were still so traumatized from the Sword Golem to the point of not being able to move from their frozen fear of death (remember they were stabbed to near death in mere seconds last episode as well as the fact that it's made of 300 living human units that they didn't have enough resolution to destroy).

The situation is dead end for Cardinal then: all the exits were sealed and Cardinal can't directly kill 300 human units because it's against her program code to do so, the 3 kids were literally dead weights for Cardinal, if Cardinal attacked Quinella, the SG will attack the trio and vice versa. So in her mind there is now only the slim chance that because Quinella had done everything just to lure Cardinal out of her 200-year hiding, that Quinella would do everything to ensure killing Cardinal first, and her sacrifice would get enough time and motivations for the 3 kids to snap out of their fear, live on and defeat Administrator later. By the time Eugeo thought of the plan, it's already too late for Cardinal.

Also Cardinal never wanted to tamper with a human unit like Quinella, she only transformed Eugeo because it's his wish to fuck morals and sacrifice himself to destroy the SG and Quinella, after all there are no more worries after you resolve to die anyway.

[Metaneo]

Originally Posted by BloodyKitty

You know how sad it is when 1 screenshot from the OP did a much better job at hammering what that Sword Golem is made of than 5-7 minutes of talking.

Images

OP screenshot (tw: Quinella & blood)

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

I dont really get how this image shows that the swords are really people being made to fight because they think anything in front of them is trying to stop them from achieving their goal of being with the one they desire.

[Frontier]

It's kind of interesting seeing the similarities between Quinella and Cardinal despite the fact that they are so opposed to each other. Both have somewhat outsider awareness of the world they are in, and don't acknowledge the identities they once had, but it comes off very differently between the two of them.

Somehow I'm not surprised Quinella managed to turn the Sword Golem into something even more sick and twisted, while also making me feel even worse for the Integrity Knights .

Quinella's beat down of Cardinal was tough to watch, but it was also a moment where I feel that Quinella's "mask" of serene calmness finally fell off and she exposed the truly psychotic and sadistic woman that she is .

The Opening had honestly kind of made me think something bad was going to happen to Eugeo, but it was still really hard for me to see him make the sacrifice play to stop the Golem and wound Quinella, even if it was pretty awesome. I wonder if the Blue Rose Sword freezing his body was enough to stop the bleeding ?

I keep expecting Kirito to dual-wield at this point. Look, Eugeo has become a sword, will Kirito dual-wield that? Nope. Okay, how about the Blue Rose Sword? Well, looks like it's broken .

I liked that getting reminded of Asuna getting struck by Heathcliff is what finally motivates Kirito to stand up .

So it's time for the final showdown between Kirito and Quinella, and while Eugeo/Cardinal have left her without an arm, somehow I don't think that's going to give our hero that much of a handicap .

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

For once a guy other than Kirito got the girl! I mean, he had to give up his body and his life (in that order) but he still came out on top of the Kirito x Alice x Eugeo triangle! Sort of.

There's still Knight Alice .

[Applehell]

Originally Posted by BloodyKitty

My mind is blurry around this part because I didn't read the LN volume the 2nd time for obvious reasons, but I can at least recall that at that point in time all the 3 kids were still so traumatized from the Sword Golem to the point of not being able to move from their frozen fear of death (remember they were stabbed to near death in mere seconds last episode as well as the fact that it's made of 300 living human units that they didn't have enough resolution to destroy).

The situation is dead end for Cardinal then: all the exits were sealed and Cardinal can't directly kill 300 human units because it's against her program code to do so, the 3 kids were literally dead weights for Cardinal, if Cardinal attacked Quinella, the SG will attack the trio and vice versa. So in her mind there is now only the slim chance that because Quinella had done everything just to lure Cardinal out of her 200-year hiding, that Quinella would do everything to ensure killing Cardinal first, and her sacrifice would get enough time and motivations for the 3 kids to snap out of their fear, live on and defeat Administrator later. By the time Eugeo thought of the plan, it's already too late for Cardinal.

Also Cardinal never wanted to tamper with a human unit like Quinella, she only transformed Eugeo because it's his wish to fuck morals and sacrifice himself to destroy the SG and Quinella, after all there are no more worries after you resolve to die anyway.

Thanks for the clarification. That makes more sense then how the anime portrayed things.

[BloodyKitty]

Originally Posted by Metaneo

I dont really get how this image shows that the swords are really people being made to fight because they think anything in front of them is trying to stop them from achieving their goal of being with the one they desire.

Oh sorry I didn't say it right, originally when I watched the OP and see the shot, I really anticipated that the anime would animate how the Sword Golem is made with interesting and haunting visuals to beat into viewers' mind how low Quinella can fall down to, instead we only got 7 minutes of talking.

Originally Posted by Frontier

I keep expecting Kirito to dual-wield at this point. Look, Eugeo has become a sword, will Kirito dual-wield that? Nope. Okay, how about the Blue Rose Sword? Well, looks like it's broken .

Alice also said in this episode that the UW rules only allow 1 person to have emotional connection with 1 weapon at a time so you can't just dual-wield easily even if you can find another sword. There are other reasons, but let's go with that basic rule.

Though in anime rules are made to be broken, so whatever any character says can be pointless...

Originally Posted by Applehell

Thanks for the clarification. That makes more sense then how the anime portrayed things.

Yeah it's disappointing. In the last few episodes the anime didn't portray most characters' psychological turmoil well so it affected the narration terribly.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by BloodyKitty

Alice also said in this episode that the UW rules only allow 1 person to have emotional connection with 1 weapon at a time so you can't just dual-wield easily even if you can find another sword. There are other reasons, but let's go with that basic rule.

Though in anime rules are made to be broken, so whatever any character says can be pointless...

Yes, but I thought they'd use Eugeo-as-a-weapon to bypass that rule. Kirito would have an emotional connection to one weapon (his wooden sword) + one sword-shaped person.

[BloodyKitty]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Yes, but I thought they'd use Eugeo-as-a-weapon to bypass that rule. Kirito would have an emotional connection to one weapon (his wooden sword) + one sword-shaped person.

I won't confirm or deny anything now, just wait and watch

[azenable]

Originally Posted by BloodyKitty

I won't confirm or deny anything now, just wait and watch

I believe this question will pop up again later in the last fight.
using the sword is 1 thing, being able to go Bankai, i mean release recollection with it is another thing.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by BloodyKitty

Alice also said in this episode that the UW rules only allow 1 person to have emotional connection with 1 weapon at a time so you can't just dual-wield easily even if you can find another sword. There are other reasons, but let's go with that basic rule.

Though in anime rules are made to be broken, so whatever any character says can be pointless... .

And it's Kirito. If he needs to, he'll find a way to dual-wield .

[Metaneo]

Originally Posted by Frontier

And it's Kirito. If he needs to, he'll find a way to dual-wield .

It's basically the same situation as ALO. You can wield two swords if you want, but there's (usually) no benefit to doing so.