Sword Art Online: Alicization - Episode 4 Discussion / Poll

[Kairin]

Welcome to the discussion thread for Sword Art Online: Alicization, Episode 4.

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[Frontier]

So the Underworld kind of is like an MMORPG world in that there are Stats, goblins to fight, "magic," and you can level up through training and combat. About the only difference is that you can feel pain on a level you couldn't in the other VRMMO's, which I guess makes it closer to Ordinal Scale in a way .

The episodes since the premier have been a little low-key, so it's nice to finally get back to the classic SAO action of Kirito slicing things up with his sword. Pretty cool action sequence if I do say so myself .

"Kirito the Swordsman" doesn't really sound as cool as "Kirito the Black Swordsman," but I guess Kirito is still missing a black longcoat so he can't really pull that identity off this time .

It was good to see Eugeo conquer his fears and help Kirito here, and renewing his determination to save Alice. Watching him get trained by Kirito and finally felling that tree was also fairly satisfying. Good character development for him .

I am kind of curious that the events here didn't set of a "System Alert" like when Eugeo froze trying to save Alice. I wondered if that was partially because that kind of rebelling or going against whatever programming he might have, but it seems there might be more to it then that .

It was kind of interesting seeing Kirito in the role of a mentor with teaching Eugeo his "Aincraid Style" since we don't usually see him like that. I guess we saw him kind of mentor Asuna when they first met, if only to teach her about game mechanics she had no idea about (which is now usually his dynamic with his other female partners), but here we have Kirito teaching somebody how to fight like him. Kind of like how Sugu helped Kirito out with proper swordsmanship in Ordinal Scale .

I was expecting that last talk between Eugeo and Selka to end in some kind of a marriage proposal, but Eugeo promising to bring Alice back to her sister works too .

So Eugeo is keeping the Blue Rose sword, and I think Kirito is keeping that big Goblin sword ?

Given we have Asuna's voice doing the next episode preview (man is it good to hear her again), I'm guessing the next episode will finally explain what's going on and what happened to Kirito after Johnny Black's attack. And bring the focus back on Asuna .

[EroKing]

They must have quite the budget as the animation was movie level quality. Art-wise amazing as well. The studio is going all out

[kk2extreme]

Goblins are on the chopping board this week.

[FlareKnight]

It was kind of awkward how the budget was distributed in this episode. The regular goblins looked god awful. Even worse when the show had them try to move around and run away. Though points of the main fight did look great.

At least they cleared up the goblin situation, finished up the tree, had a bit of montage training and now they can get moving on this journey of theirs.

[Lukes YGO & WS on YT]

Spoiler for Episode 4 Comments/Feedback:

That't our Kirito for you, took out 10 goblins and then the leader, unfortunately there were the injuries he sustained in the process and poor Eugeo nearly got cut in half trying to save him.

That is quite the skill Selka has, it saved Eugeo's life, dangerous yes but very effective.

That training paid off, a sword skill to finish off that tree, way to go Eugeo.

Off to the city they go, really looking forward to seeing what happens next.

[Haak]

I'm honest to God surprised at how much I'm actually enjoying this show right now. The fight between Kirito and that big goblin was actually pretty thrilling and well animated. It made Kirito's skill feel a lot more convincing than the hack and slash I've usually seen, and what's more is that it's actually giving focus and attention to Eugeo. The episode was still about him as much as it was about Kirito and it's great to see that. However, I do hope Eugeo becomes more of an independent character and less reliant on Kirito going forward though. A few more minor nitpicks:

• The goblins being afraid of Eugeo's flower was quite the odd spectacle. There was moment when Eugeo confronted the big goblin and it looked damn ridiculous him waving that flower menacingly at a huge monster whilst the monster actually cowers away from it.
• I wish this show wouldn't glorify swordsmanship so much. There are plenty of cool weapons in Medieval Fantasy; not just swords. I just know we're in for one those scenes down the line where Kirito gets to DUAL WIELD and the show has a stupid nerdgasm about it.
• Those 3D Goblins were bizarre.
• When Eugeo asked Kirio was his style of swordmanship was, I was disappointed that Kirito didn't just say "Video Game Style".

[blakstealth]

Whoa, so that one girl at the end of episode 2/3 at the top of the tower was Alice? I thought it was a whole different character.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by blakstealth

Whoa, so that one girl at the end of episode 2/3 at the top of the tower was Alice? I thought it was a whole different character.

I don't think that's Alice. I think Alice is that gold knight we see briefly in the Opening, not the purple-haired naked (?) lady we see in the tower .

[blakstealth]

Originally Posted by Frontier

I don't think that's Alice. I think Alice is that gold knight we see briefly in the Opening, not the purple-haired naked (?) lady we see in the tower .

that's what I thought too. Ah, I'm not sure, anymore.

[DemonneoPT]

Originally Posted by EroKing

They must have quite the budget as the animation was movie level quality. Art-wise amazing as well. The studio is going all out

Indeed. That fight against the Goblin Boss was just gorgeous. But then again, it's already a SAO trademark to have such nice animation. I'm glad they still live up to the hype

So far, this is probably the SAO season i'm enjoying the most. The Alice world seems to be very interesting and with a lot of potential to become even better.

I wonder how Eugeo was able to use the Dragon's sword. Was it because of him practicing with the axe for years against the tree? Not that useless this Sacred Task afterall

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by DemonneoPT

Indeed. That fight against the Goblin Boss was just gorgeous. But then again, it's already a SAO trademark to have such nice animation. I'm glad they still live up to the hype

So far, this is probably the SAO season i'm enjoying the most. The Alice world seems to be very interesting and with a lot of potential to become even better.

I wonder how Eugeo was able to use the Dragon's sword. Was it because of him practicing with the axe for years against the tree? Not that useless this Sacred Task afterall

He damaged the goblin boss so he got a share of the XP, I think.

[DemonneoPT]

Yes, but he needed to already have an high level on weapons like Kirito, otherwise killing just one boss would not be enough.

[Anh_Minh]

We don't know that. We don't even know if Kirito had a "high level on weapons", or if he does now. It may have been as simple as going from Lvl 1 to Lvl 2.

[DemonneoPT]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

We don't know that. We don't even know if Kirito had a "high level on weapons", or if he does now. It may have been as simple as going from Lvl 1 to Lvl 2.

But we do know. Kirito needed only like 3 levels to be able to use the sword. Killing the goblin boss did the trick. Eugeo, however, i have no idea how he was able to do it tho.

[Anh_Minh]

Yes, but we don't know if Kirito's "command authority" was low or high. He may have been the equivalent of a level 1 character.

[Ulin]

I'm Really looking forward to seeing what is happening in the real world Anyway, any episode where you can listen to Swordland so many times has to be a good episode. It seems to me like the end of a mini arc at least.

Poor Selka by the way, she has not only to compete with her sister for Eugeo, but also with Kirito now :P

[Side-streetdog]

Damn, great battle scene as always
I just hope my other favorite series would just get half of battle scene quality from SAO

[ginger02]

It was so nice seeing these scenes animated. The first Alicization book was the first i read and I loved it.

Does remind me I haven't finished the 2nd one yet though....

[Applehell]

Despite a few minor criticism I had with it, that was a pretty solid fight there. But SAO has rarely failed to impress in that area, and more entertaining than it's dialogue heavy scenes. Now that we through really dry first 3 episodes maybe things will pick up a bit.