2013-02-02, 04:45 | Link #1 |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 42
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Origins of Kirito and Asuna's Romance: Theories and Discussion
I received a request for a discussion topic, and I think it could result in some interesting discussion.
One of the main plot threads in the SAO Aincrad arc was the development of the romance between Kazuto (Kirito) and Asuna. But it can be a bit murky to trace the exact origins of their feelings for each other and how those developed. So, for consideration, these two questions: 1. When do you think Asuna fell in love with Kirito? Please explain and justify your answer. 2. When did Kirito fall in love with Asuna? Please explain and justify your answer. You may also use this thread to discuss other topics related to the development of their romance in the story, but please do not discuss matters from beyond the animated content outside of clearly-marked spoiler tags. (If you don't know what I mean by "clearly-marked", please read this first.) Also, should be obvious, but this thread should not be used for any converse shipping purposes, or for anything that is better covered by another thread in this sub-forum.
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2013-02-02, 06:56 | Link #2 | |
Banned
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2013-02-02, 07:47 | Link #3 |
Kuro-chan
Join Date: Mar 2012
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1. Episode 5. More specifically the time she fell asleep beneath the tree. She explained this already to the fisherman, Nishida, in episode 13 so I'm just gonna paraphrase/repeat it a bit.
She was hard-pressed to clear the game and would use any means to clear floors, as seen in the first part of episode 5. Then she saw Kirito laying back, sleeping well, and enjoying life in the game later in the same episode. She saw someone treating the game as another reality and living well in the present. She wanted to know more about him after the whole mystery incident. Eventually, she fell for him, as hinted in episode 7 with her reaction to seeing Kirito after the Liz quest, meeting him up in Agil's shop in episode 8 and so on. 2. Episode 9, after the boss fight with Gleameyes. Asuna was willing to take a break from KoB and party with him. And she showed concern for his reckless action in the boss fight that touched Kirito. The short flashbacks of Asuna kind of said that he's warming up to her. He even confessed to her about the Black Cats guild in episode 10 as a sign of trust. He expected her to be disgusted with him for being the only survivor. But she stayed on his side and even said that she'll protect her. He refrained from embracing her though but he did raise his hand up, indicating that he wanted to return the action. The final push would probably be the Kuradeel attempted murder in the same episode. He wanted someone to be with him after that incident. You could call it a spur of the moment or a suspension bridge effect though but he fell for her there and even declared that he'll protect her. I'm not good at arguments though so pick it apart if you'd like. |
2013-02-02, 08:07 | Link #4 | |
Pleased to Meet You
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Philippines
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This will end well...
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2013-02-02, 12:33 | Link #5 |
Banned
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Visual Dream Panire
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I personally think that the feelings were going on slowly.
The first "spark" was the time when they were eating bread and Kirito gave Asuna something to put on top of it. No one actually had any feelings to be that close as they were in the end at that time, nor thought of that. The second impression was the look on Kirito's face when Asuna's hood fell down, showing her being a girl. After the 1st boss was beaten, Asuna went after Kirito to the top of the stairs, and she must have felt something because she took what he said to her seriously. She took on the front-lines extremely well with no grace, as we can she later how she wanted to beat the boss by sacrificing the NPCs of a town, saying how they can respawn on which Kirito disagreed. After that, there were many moments that brought the two closer and closer. However, there was a huge moment under the tree, for Asuna, at least. The most beautiful weather in the most beautiful time of the year, as described by Kirito. As we can see later, that is what made Asuna loosen up, and she was really thankful for Kirito to show her what life can be like. They were getting closer and closer even more, and there were a lot of dramatic moments as saving each others' life or asking for each other to get married. Anyhow, the steps went on perfectly and they ended together as two people in mad love. Really nice, Romance of SAO is on it's maximum. |
2013-02-02, 13:09 | Link #6 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: UK, Middlands
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thank you very much for taking my thread request relentlessflame im sorry for the long email and making you sit through my weird conclusions befor the thread was even made but these are my thoughts on the matter im popping them on spoiler as they do have refrences from the manga and light novel
Spoiler for combination of manga light novel and anime ref's:
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2013-02-03, 06:09 | Link #10 |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 42
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I've no problem with a specific topic getting its own thread as long as it seems like it might generate interesting discussion. At this point, the amount of topics to discuss has gone down anyway, until the next anime season is announced.
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2014-09-03, 16:45 | Link #11 | ||
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2014
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Sorry i'm about a year late, just watched this series
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I would say during the boss fight of the first floor... and really forced the issue when she Tsundere'd him when she invite him over for dinner after he joined the guild Quote:
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2014-09-03, 22:12 | Link #12 |
Professional Hikkikomori
Join Date: Feb 2009
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Okay I'm gonna go slightly off topic here. It's generally accepted that the two did the nasty numerous times during SAO and in ALO now as well. So how does that work anyway? Do they get to have all the fun without any of the consequences?
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2014-09-03, 22:20 | Link #13 | |
Goat Herder
Author
Join Date: Jun 2008
Age: 37
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The only real consequences would be how it affects their relationship and their mental states, and there's nothing the game could do about that. But the physical dangers likely aren't present.
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2014-09-04, 00:18 | Link #14 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
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Does ALO even have that feature enabled?
One complication with the origins of Kirito and Asuna's romance is that newer material like the Anime and the Progressive stories/manga retcons them as having met earlier in the game. Though I guess having them interact a lot more early on doesn't necessarily mean they were falling for each prior to the events that the novel indicates made them fall for each other. Though I wouldn't necessarily mind a retcon in that regard if it did a better job of leading up to them getting together. |
2014-09-04, 00:24 | Link #15 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2014
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That said I would say the first time Kirito realized he had feelings for her was when she undressed infront of him in her house, me being a male understands his denseness to the opposite sex feelings and takes something like that for men to realize what their acctually feeling. Also that scene still makes me laugh to this day |
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2014-09-04, 02:39 | Link #16 | |
Professional Hikkikomori
Join Date: Feb 2009
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A better question would be if he actually cockblocked himself that night. I mean Asuna was throwing herself at him so I would be pretty mad if they didn't do it since that's just not cool. Last edited by omimon; 2014-09-04 at 02:52. |
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2014-09-04, 06:25 | Link #17 |
Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
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Presumably
I guess a bit OT, but from the anime presumably ALO does have 'that feature', although it could be imagined that enabling it requites GM override. At least that's the implication of Sugou's threats at the end. If not then what was he going to do, continue to lick Asuna's tears until he broke her and then repeat the same IRL?
The LN version of Kirito's and Asuna's relationship is a bit too compressed for my taste, it works but could be improved with some fuller details (which the side stories retcon on). IMO, the other problem is that the relationship was really part of the single arc for Aincard and while I find it nice that the author has kept them together, it's also a bit of a pain because given the origins of their romance there would seem to be a lot of interesting ways to explore its implications further which are largely ignored in favor of going to a semi-harem approach (albeit with none of the other girls having a chance). |
2014-09-04, 11:20 | Link #19 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2012
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I'm surprised there weren't giant sex parties going on in Aincrad, given that it was fully-immersive VR and these people didn't know if they'd ever get out of there alive.
(Then again, maybe there were, it's just that nobody talked about Fight Club.) |
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