Sword Art Online: Alicization WoU - Episode 8 Discussion / Poll

[Kairin]

Welcome to the discussion thread for Sword Art Online: Alicization WoU, Episode 8.

Thread Guidelines

• Raw requests and offers are not permitted anywhere on this forum.
• Spoilers or hints about future events must not be posted in this thread.
  If you need to reference something that would spoil a future event, reply directly with a private message, or seek out a more appropriate thread.
• Discuss your expectations of the episode if it has not aired yet.
• Be polite to your fellow forum members.
• Please try to keep the discussion on-topic.
• Character bashing is not on-topic and will not be tolerated.
• Do not post multiple times in a row. Please edit your existing post if you wish to add additional thoughts.

Episode Thread Spoiler Policy

• Any comment that discloses events, characters, plot or other information before it is revealed in the anime is expressly forbidden whether or not it is behind spoiler tags.
  Spoiler tags should still be used where appropriate.
  Please consult the AnimeSuki Spoiler Policy for more information.
• Adding a Spoiler tag:
  

  Just highlight your spoiler and click the button found on the "Quick Reply" and "Reply to Thread" forms. Make sure that you include a useful title!

• Please use the Report button if you see any inappropriate spoilers:
  

  Click the button found to the left of the post, just under the poster's avatar. Using the Report button is anonymous and helps the Moderators locate and deal with problems quickly.

• Posting inappropriate spoilers may result in a ban.
  Note: Reporting a post does not mean the poster will be banned instantly.
  The Moderators will use bans if warnings are repeatedly ignored.

[Frontier]

As if losing so much of her forces and having to prostrate herself to Vector wasn't enough, Dee has to endure the indignity of a butt shot .

I'm starting to feel more bad for the monster forces of the Dark Territory. The ogre's just wanted to live in peace and the orcs had to willingly sacrifice themselves in the most horrific way possible just to fuel the war machine. Not that it surprised me that Miller would condone such a means .

Fanatio looking at Bercouli...so much left unsaid between them .

Eldrie was never my favorite Integrity Knight, but he went out a hero. Taking on that entire attack and even going negative on his armor just to save Alice and the rest of them...he truly proved his worth and earned my respect. At least he got to die in the arms of the woman he loved and admired, and remembered his mother one last time .

I actually wonder if part of Eldrie's feelings for Alice were brought on by losing his memories of his mother, and Alice fulfilling his need for a maternal, nurturing, figure to make up for it. Not that I'm doubting the sincerity of his feelings, just something I thought of...

Was that arm that pushed Eldrie on to keep going...was that Eugeo ?

Man, Alice really has it out for cute dark mage girls. Maybe they remind her too much of Quinella .

I get Alice's need to declare she's basically going to take on the main Dark Territory force, but now she's completely revealed herself to the bad guys who are after her for reasons she's not entirely aware of. Not to mention Miller is now projecting the childhood friend he killed onto her .

[thundrakkon]

Quote

Originally Posted by Frontier

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

Well, the Oedipus Complex is strong in this one.


Hmm... There is only 12 episodes this season, and then we have to wait until April for the last 11 episodes next year? I guess they needed the time to animate part 2.


Well, I did predict earlier that Kirito will be out of action at max for 10 episodes, but I'm beginning to think that 10 episodes is when Asuna will make her goddess entrance. Maybe Kirito will return by episode 12?

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by thundrakkon

Quote

Originally Posted by Frontier

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

Well, the Oedipus Complex is strong in this one.


Hmm... There is only 12 episodes this season, and then we have to wait until April for the last 11 episodes next year? I guess they needed the time to animate part 2.


Well, I did predict earlier that Kirito will be out of action at max for 10 episodes, but I'm beginning to think that 10 episodes is when Asuna will make her goddess entrance. Maybe Kirito will return by episode 12?

Yeah, I give Asuna showing up 1-2 more episodes now that Alice is in the vicinity of the main villains. I think we'll need one more episode for the tide to turn against the Integrity Knights and they end really needing some help .

[FlareKnight]

At this point I have no idea when Kirito and Asuna are going to get involved . You'd think it would be soon. Alice has drawn the attention of the major villains (as opposed to the minor villains sending Asuna in) and she's getting ready to make a run for it to draw troops her way. If they wait much longer than Alice is going to get pretty far away from Kirito. And while I'm sure some may want Kirito to stay out forever, the main character has to show up at some point in the show . But I was expecting Asuna 2-3 episodes ago, so I can't begin to make valid guesses now.

I guess we'll see what happens though. A fair amount of focus on what is going on amidst the dark forces. Naturally they aren't all evil though some are definitely that. Plenty of room for a long standing peace if they deal with the Dark Emperor business and Rath seeking them all being turned into weapons of war.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by thundrakkon

Hmm... There is only 12 episodes this season, and then we have to wait until April for the last 11 episodes next year? I guess they needed the time to animate part 2.

This better not take another season break. Basically nothing has happened this season as it is, and honestly it's been pretty boring.

Like, we're on episode 8, but the amount of actual content we've had feels like we should only be on episode 3 or 4.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by GDB

This better not take another season break. Basically nothing has happened this season as it is, and honestly it's been pretty boring.

Like, we're on episode 8, but the amount of actual content we've had feels like we should only be on episode 3 or 4.

It's basically been one long, drawn out, war showcasing the Integrity Knights and the Dark Territory.

I'm not sure how they could've condensed things down to where the sense of impact and pacing would've been completely thrown off (at least in my opinion).

[GDB]

By not focusing on characters we've either never met before or barely had any interaction with. By not spending like half an episode just showing how cowardly this never-before-seen Knight is, and then another half on his struggles, backstory, etc. By not showing the Integrity Knights basically steam rolling this entire war thus far while barely suffering any loses.

By actually showing off numbers that would indicate a war of the scale they're talking about. Like, they said they were sacrificing 3,000 orcs or pigs or whatever, but it looked like there was only a couple dozen there. Similarly, Alice's attack apparently took out a ton of enemies, but it looked like only a couple dozen again.

There's absolutely zero sense of scale. They're just throwing a few enemies at groups a bit at a time and then telling us how big it's "supposed" to be. And now we've only just had our first real "loss" for the Integrity Knights, which only happened after the enemy lost 10% of their remaining troops (and subsequently lost more after Alice went HAM on them... seemingly with no pushback by the enemy at all).

To make matters worse, we know none of this matters. The only players that matter are the two humans on the Dark Side, Alice, Bercoulli, Kirito, Asuna, and maybe Fanatio. Don't waste half the season trying to show off these other characters who either die immediately or will get benched within another episode or two.

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by GDB

By not focusing on characters we've either never met before or barely had any interaction with. By not spending like half an episode just showing how cowardly this never-before-seen Knight is, and then another half on his struggles, backstory, etc. By not showing the Integrity Knights basically steam rolling this entire war thus far while barely suffering any loses.

By actually showing off numbers that would indicate a war of the scale they're talking about. Like, they said they were sacrificing 3,000 orcs or pigs or whatever, but it looked like there was only a couple dozen there. Similarly, Alice's attack apparently took out a ton of enemies, but it looked like only a couple dozen again.

There's absolutely zero sense of scale. They're just throwing a few enemies at groups a bit at a time and then telling us how big it's "supposed" to be. And now we've only just had our first real "loss" for the Integrity Knights, which only happened after the enemy lost 10% of their remaining troops (and subsequently lost more after Alice went HAM on them... seemingly with no pushback by the enemy at all).

To make matters worse, we know none of this matters. The only players that matter are the two humans on the Dark Side, Alice, Bercoulli, Kirito, Asuna, and maybe Fanatio. Don't waste half the season trying to show off these other characters who either die immediately or will get benched within another episode or two.

On the other hand...if they never focused on characters you never met before there wouldn't be any show. Couldn't focus on Kirito in episode 1 of the first season since we never met him .

No doubt they could have condensed it down by eliminating things like the Renley fight. But I don't think it was a big deal. This is a pretty major conflict and spending a fair amount of time showing the scale of the conflict isn't a total waste. They end up using the time alright anyways to focus a bit on the dark forces which probably will matter for later. It adds to the lives that are on the line for this Rath plot on top of the likely aim to reach a legitimate peace between all the peoples involved in the Underworld.

Maybe you can cut an episode or so out. But too much and there's no point even adapting any of it and you should just summarize the war in an opening text crawl. Which I personally wouldn't like to see them do.

[magnuskn]

Originally Posted by GDB

This better not take another season break. Basically nothing has happened this season as it is, and honestly it's been pretty boring.

Like, we're on episode 8, but the amount of actual content we've had feels like we should only be on episode 3 or 4.

This has been the most interesting SOA ever was for me, so I disagree completely.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by GDB

By not focusing on characters we've either never met before or barely had any interaction with. By not spending like half an episode just showing how cowardly this never-before-seen Knight is, and then another half on his struggles, backstory, etc. By not showing the Integrity Knights basically steam rolling this entire war thus far while barely suffering any loses.

By actually showing off numbers that would indicate a war of the scale they're talking about. Like, they said they were sacrificing 3,000 orcs or pigs or whatever, but it looked like there was only a couple dozen there. Similarly, Alice's attack apparently took out a ton of enemies, but it looked like only a couple dozen again.

There's absolutely zero sense of scale. They're just throwing a few enemies at groups a bit at a time and then telling us how big it's "supposed" to be. And now we've only just had our first real "loss" for the Integrity Knights, which only happened after the enemy lost 10% of their remaining troops (and subsequently lost more after Alice went HAM on them... seemingly with no pushback by the enemy at all).

To make matters worse, we know none of this matters. The only players that matter are the two humans on the Dark Side, Alice, Bercoulli, Kirito, Asuna, and maybe Fanatio. Don't waste half the season trying to show off these other characters who either die immediately or will get benched within another episode or two.

We're focusing on Alice's perspective, so I think it makes sense to focus more on her fellow Integrity Knights and gain more investment on the human side of the conflict. Personally I found them pretty interesting back when Kirito and Eugeo fought them, so I'm good with it .

I also liked what we saw of Renly's struggle and what that says about the system and world of Underworld, so I think it was fine to have that in there. I think the tide is about to turn on the Integrity Knights anyways now that Miller knows Alice is there and they've suffered their first major loss (Eldrie) .

As far as scale...it feels like a war to me, just in a tight, closed, space. I feel the impact of the major moves each side is making. But that's just me .

I don't think the show is wrong for focusing on other characters and expanding the world. It makes the Underworld feel more alive and relevant on both sides of the conflict .

[Jaden]

Yea, all the side characters are slated to be deleted eventually, but Alice is relevant, since both sides want to extract her from Underworld. In that sense, everyone related to Alice is peripherally relevant.

Sense of scale? Yeah, adaptation fatigue. It reminds me of some video game where your character participates in a war, and maybe you get one shitty CGI panorama of people fighting, then you face a couple waves of 5 mobs each, and finally declare victory and get praise for your superior strategy.

Bruh