Sword Art Online II - Episode 14 Discussion / Poll

[Rising Dragon]

Thanks for the explanation on the syringe, guys. Sounds neat. As someone who doesn't really like needles and has had to use epi-pens (though not on myself, thank god), it sounds attractive.

Though I wouldn't want one used on me while I'm playing a game, you understand. :k

Also, all of you who are complaining about Kirito referring to Asuna as his friend: she is. They are dating, but that does not change the fact that they are still friends. Friendship is needed for a stronger relationship. Stop making such a big deal about it.

[IceHism]

The connotation of the word wasn't really translated well. They used "Nakama" to mean comrade. It basically means that both Lizbeth and Asuna were also trapped in the same SAO death game that kirito was trapped in. At least in this situation.

[Rising Dragon]

Yeah, I know. Still, people are throwing around the word "friend" like it's an insult, and there's no reason for them to see it that way.

[IceHism]

Originally Posted by Rising Dragon

Yeah, I know. Still, people are throwing around the word "friend" like it's an insult, and there's no reason for them to see it that way.

I'm of the same opinion as you. It's not like kirito is openly cheating on asuna. I never understood why your gf/wife can't be your friend at the same time.

[Rageth]

Originally Posted by Rising Dragon

Yeah, I know. Still, people are throwing around the word "friend" like it's an insult, and there's no reason for them to see it that way.

I'm certain that most of those people feel threatened by Shino being best girl, and want to protect their OTP of Kirito / Asuna.

[Rising Dragon]

Probably. That said, speaking as a Kazuto/Asuna fan myself, they're not doing themselves any favors.

[dniv]

Originally Posted by GDB

Or they could, you know, plan ahead? Cut some of the worthless filler crap they'd been doing that made it too long already so they have time to explain things so they make sense? Wanting useless things to not be stretched out while wanting important things explained is not a contradictory sentiment.



Get off your high horse. There's absolutely no reason to believe, based purely on the anime, that they rehearsed this introduction at all. Hence why we have Kirito make fun of both Asuna and Liz, with Liz getting irritated enough to attack him. If they say otherwise in the novel, that's fine, but just say that instead of acting conceited and talking down to people like they should just shut up and let the novel readers be the only commentators.

I wasn't trying to speak from a high horse or be combative at all... I was just saying that from what happened in the anime/novels it was rehearsed (at least not the insults ) to some degree in order to make Asano feel more at place.

I agree that the first time seeing this episode you may not be able to notice that they had planned this event before. However, after reviewing it a bit, you could notice that 1. Asuna/Liz already knew about the plan to introduce the two Survivors to her.
2. Kirito told Asano that he already told Asuna/Liz about her past and that they had come up with this plan for that reason (which also implies that they already discussed about Sinon before he saw them then at the bar).
3. Friends was unfortunately a translation that couldn't capture the entire meaning of what was supposed to be conveyed, while comrades would just feel out of place.
4. There was no filler in this arc (except the Sinon panty shots). Everything that happened was canon. In fact, they cut a lot out of this arc in order to make it shorter. So they were probably pressed for space to the point where they couldn't have put in that helpful explanation.

I'm also not suggesting that anime-only viewers shouldn't have things to say; however, I just saw people saying the same thing on other sites and just getting angry for the heck of it. (I'm not saying you were one of them--I was just responding to all people expressing concern over the "friend-zone"--because that was really NOT supposed to be the focus of this emotional episode--and I didn't want such a trivial mistranslation to ruin the mood of what was otherwise a great adaptation.) I wanted to make a clarification to help your understanding of what was going on--because that was what they were trying to animate. (It's a good point for comparison.)

I'm also pretty sure I didn't attack anime-only viewers--and I'm pretty sure I've never done that for SAO--so if I offended you in any way, then I apologize. But I wanted to clarify that misconception ASAP.

[~Yami~]

I think in the novels there is a moment when Sinon realized about Asuna's status and getting down because of it
well, I'm expecting that moment but it seems the anime really skipped that part

At least I can see jealous Asuna

anyway, Kirito is so manly in this episode
Rescuing the girl... and then picked her up from the school with cool-looking bike

well, it is good to see how Sinon finally manage to keep herself and moving forward

good arc anyway...

[Mangonel]

The 'friendship' reference is a problem with translation/localization. Its considered poor taste to broadcast who you're romantically involved with in Japanese culture.

Those who aren't satisfied with the amount of Asuna/Kirito pda should look up chapter 16.5.

[Triple_R]

It was a nice wrap-up episode in many ways. While Kirito getting protected by an electrode is kind of cheesy, it's more than made up for by the fact that he had to be saved by Sinon (rather than the other way around).

My main criticism is that the whole handling of the Asuna/Kirito/Sinon situation is a wee bit too smooth and completely non-contentious for me to easily believe.

Asuna's not the least bit concerned over Kirito getting this close to a female VRMMO player that Asuna doesn't know at all?

Sinon's not the least bit disappointed that Kirito has a steady girlfriend? After everything the two of them have been through?

I can appreciate them wanting to go for a totally "feel good" resolution, but just a touch of tsundere from Asuna and/or a bit of subtle disappointment on Sinon's part would have made this a bit more believable to me.

Still a good ending though.

[screaming4vengence]

Originally Posted by Solace

It's still not widely used, but the technology exists and is continually improving. Eventually, the traditional syringe will be obsolete.

how intresting,thanks for the clear up

Originally Posted by Mangonel

The 'friendship' reference is a problem with translation/localization. Its considered poor taste to broadcast who you're romantically involved with in Japanese culture.

Those who aren't satisfied with the amount of Asuna/Kirito pda should look up chapter 16.5.

and once again that explains a lot thanks to both

[Darthtabby]

I remember finding the novel this is based on to be rather ambigious with regards to whether Sinon is romantically interested in Kirito or not. Granted it's also my understanding that compared to the original web novels the official novels toned things down between Kirito and girls other than Asuna (including Sinon).

[Rising Dragon]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Asuna's not the least bit concerned over Kirito getting this close to a female VRMMO player that Asuna doesn't know at all?

I can appreciate them wanting to go for a totally "feel good" resolution, but just a touch of tsundere from Asuna and/or a bit of subtle disappointment on Sinon's part would have made this a bit more believable to me.

One, most of the people Kirito hangs out with are women; if there's any jealousy before, she's had plenty of time to figure out he really only has eyes for her. Two, you missed the "you're treading on thin ice" glare she and Rika gave him when Shino mentioned that he was embarrassing her.

[kukuru]

Originally Posted by dotdotslash

The two things that left me thinking "wtf" were: 1. as pointed out, why the need to have Kritio "stabed", it would seem to work just as well if Shino does the head bashing right before; and b) I can understand keeping the fight to 3 characters, the timing works fine.. but I just kept wondering "where the heck is Asuna, wasn't she right in the hospital".. kind of felt like a bit weird to have her at the hospital only to not follow Kirito to the apartment and to not have any explanation of resolution of why.

Kirito needed to get stab for Sinon to finally break her shell.

Her fear turned to rage when she saw kirito "killed" and then turned to revenge and took action with the boombox.

While it's cliche for the hero to take a bible save, it is in fact a well written trigger that deepens the redemption of Sinon as a character.

The anime made a good exploration of that, I don't see why people missed it.

And as for Asuna, Read and find out.

Also some people ragged on the Sinion past revelation. That's another well written closer, as Kirito himself is projecting his salvation onto Sinon's from Survivor guilt. If he can save prove Sinon did the right thing killing people, it is mentally proving he also did the right thing killing people.

I think some people just totally ignore or otherwise gloss over how tightly this anime glues all the pieces together. We only spent 1.5 eps having a Kirito-Sinon merge story and people then go "hey why is this going on"...

Turn on thought process isn't the best for this type of anime, but it does well matter.

[frodonk]

Originally Posted by IceHism

The connotation of the word wasn't really translated well. They used "Nakama" to mean comrade. It basically means that both Lizbeth and Asuna were also trapped in the same SAO death game that kirito was trapped in. At least in this situation.

This. It was translated as "friend", so of course people would be confused (including me, probably), it was probably one of those situations that the "comrade" translation would have been a perfect fit.

I have no problems with that though, considering how they were trying to make sinon comfortable with being there and with what would come next.

[c933103]

and I think the Nakama was only used to refer to Liz only?

[Rising Dragon]

Originally Posted by c933103

and I think the Nakama was only used to refer to Liz only?

No, the line in question was when, according to the fansubs, he said "My friends from SAO." If you listen closely, he says nakama there.

[Haak]

I may have missed something but just to confirm, the gun that the bullies had was a fake right? Because I just can't imagine giving the gun back to someone who just tried to mug you with it. Hell even if it was a fake, I wouldn't consider it appropriate to give it back...

[TwilightsCall]

It was like an airsoft gun. It would hurt to get hit by it, but it couldn't do any serious damage unless they shot her in the eyes or something. Also if they actually shot her with it, she could actually get them arrested and actually get them in some very serious trouble.

Spoiler for LN Content that got skipped:

And it's not like she hasn't called the police on those three before, so I wouldn't doubt she'd do it again if they did something stupid.

[screaming4vengence]

Originally Posted by TwilightsCall

It was like an airsoft gun. It would hurt to get hit by it, but it couldn't do any serious damage unless they shot her in the eyes or something. Also if they actually shot her with it, she could actually get them arrested and actually get them in some very serious trouble.

Spoiler for LN Content that got skipped:

And it's not like she hasn't called the police on those three before, so I wouldn't doubt she'd do it again if they did something stupid.

couldnt you get busted just for pointing it at someone (in public)? or if there was any officers near by, well im sure that wouldnt go well..