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View Poll Results: Critique of Episode 08 | |||
10 out of 10: Near Perfect... | 56 | 38.62% | |
9 out of 10: Excellent... | 52 | 35.86% | |
8 out of 10: Very Good... | 24 | 16.55% | |
7 out of 10: Good... | 9 | 6.21% | |
6 out of 10: Average... | 1 | 0.69% | |
5 out of 10: Below Average... | 1 | 0.69% | |
4 out of 10: Poor... | 0 | 0% | |
3 out of 10: Bad... | 0 | 0% | |
2 out of 10: Very Bad... | 0 | 0% | |
1 out of 10: Torturous... | 2 | 1.38% | |
Voters: 145. You may not vote on this poll |
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2012-08-25, 16:11 | Link #41 |
Okuyasu the Bird
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Alberta, Canada
Age: 32
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So from what I understand, this is the first since episode 2 or so that is actually a part of the main story? A lot of the quality seems to be put into these particular episodes because 3 through 7 weren't exactly the greatest IMO, and those were all side-stories.
While the episode was pretty entertaining for the most part, it was still rather stupid at points. Like the pointlessness of having to remove armor to cook in a game, or Asuna's random groan-worthy comment on guys proposing to her and completely contradicting previous episodes by saying Kirito's "not close to any other girls", and not to mention her threatening him TWICE with a knife. Of course the most stupid thing overall was the grope scene.....no......just no. But yeah, this was probably the best episode, for me at least, since episode 2. Most of Kirito and Asuna's interaction was worthwhile to watch and the fights, even if short, were great to have since we haven't had much of those lately.~ It seems we may have an antagonist of the series in Kuradeel. He's very likely not going to accept being defeated and humiliated by Kirito like that. Not sure what he may try to pull later though. Next week is looking promising. A whole episode dedicated to a boss fight sounds really awesome considering how well this show has been doing fight scenes.~
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2012-08-25, 16:14 | Link #42 |
Me, An Intellectual
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: UK
Age: 33
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This was a solid and enjoyable transitional episode for the most part but I still didn't like that little cliché Accidental Pervert moment. I felt the show was pushing it a bit with Asuna threatening Kirito all the time but let it off but that was just annoying.
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2012-08-25, 16:18 | Link #43 | |
Human
Join Date: Aug 2004
Age: 37
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2012-08-25, 16:18 | Link #44 | |||
I disagree with you all.
Join Date: Dec 2005
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2012-08-25, 16:21 | Link #45 |
Human
Join Date: Aug 2004
Age: 37
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Remember, the weapons (and probably armor) actually have simulated weight. We saw Lisbeth react to how heavy Kirito's sword was last episode. So it's not hard to imagine that wearing your armor and weapons indoors is looked on as kind of weird because it's uncomfortable. We've also seen people undressing to go to sleep in previous episodes.
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2012-08-25, 16:24 | Link #46 |
Seishu's Ace
Author
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Kobe, Japan
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For the first time in a while (maybe since the premiere) I’m blown away by what a fascinating dilemma SAO represents. In a way, it’s like a giant social experiment, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Kayaba Akihiko (whose I’ll wager is more interesting than any character in the series, if given the focus) had exactly that in mind. What happens if you take a large group of predominantly young people, with a disproportionately large percentage of socially awkward individuals, and throw them together in a VRMMO where cooperation is literally essential to survival? What of those for whom Aincrad is better than RL? If their bodies are lying in a hospital somewhere hooked up to feeding tubes and catheters, well, so what? Maybe some of them came to SAO because they wanted to escape that world – maybe all of them did, and it’s just a question of degree. This isn’t such a problem in RL now, where VR isn’t so “R” as to provide a convincing second life – but what if it was? Why should those people be so desperate to go back, when they’re living out a fantasy in Aincrad? Just be careful and don’t get yourself killed, and let someone else worry about the big stuff. It’s not that surprising, really, that only 500 people are actively trying to beat the game and free everyone inside it.
The details of the world continue to amaze me, from the “immortal object” popups to the interior design of the living quarters to the daily essentials of survival. When Asuna started cooking the “ragout rabbit” and chopped everything up merely be touching her knife to it, I thought “Wow – where the joy in that? Cooking isn’t that boring!” And a few seconds later Asuna gave exactly the same response. That’s exactly the sort of thing that tells me that Kawahara really understands what’s compelling about this premise he’s created – the way this world differs from our own, and how our minds will react to the different kind of stimulation it provides and the notion that we may never be able to escape it. I’m going to have to accept that this is a show that I watch for the plot and the big concepts and not the character interaction, I guess. Although that’s not my natural inclination when it comes to anime, I think I can enjoy SAO a lot on those terms – and to be honest, the character interaction still feels awkward and stiff to me. All of the characters we’ve met so far (with the exception of Kayaba and, ironically, Klein) feel much more like archetypes than real people. Surely the irony of that is obvious, given that this is an anime of a LN depicting an MMO – these “player-characters” feel very much like player-characters. But in an anime, that leaves something to be desired. Asuna is about as classic a tsundere as can be imagined, and while she’s a lovely character design and Tomatsu-san is doing her usual yeoman’s work to give her depth, scenes like the silly accidental breast-groping-followed-by-beat-down just feel incredibly tired and played-out. And Kirito seems as trapped in the avatar cage as Asuna (and most of the other supporting players) are in their trope one. I’d like to say Kirito and Asuna have great chemistry and make a winning couple, but for me at least that’s not the case so far. We have enough time left for that to change, though my experience with Kawahara as a writer doesn’t make me optimistic that it will. I am optimistic, though, that he’s got what it takes to spin a very interesting story around the ingenious premise he’s crafted here – and that the series has finally decided to cast aside the distractions and go about doing just that.
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2012-08-25, 16:25 | Link #47 |
Barrel!
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: still under a rock
Age: 34
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That meat was massive compare to the rabbit.
Great episode, though it was short, the battle with the skeleton was amazing. If only chopping/cooking was so simple: Forgot to add, I need that OST.
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Last edited by Kaihan; 2012-08-25 at 16:48. |
2012-08-25, 16:44 | Link #50 |
Human
Join Date: Aug 2004
Age: 37
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I don't have the statistics, but I get the feeling that most MMO players are more Klein than Kirito. Twenty-somethings who are vaguely comfortable with their lives but without much ambition. Probably working at a dead-end job that he doesn't like much but doesn't exactly hate either. Well, those are the kinds of people I meet most anyway.
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2012-08-25, 16:46 | Link #51 |
U mad?
Join Date: Apr 2012
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Are you for real? That poor little rabbit was killed and dropped some rare meat. That is fine, but why is the meat easily twice the size of the rabbit
As someone who cooks for himself, I wish I'd only need to tip some ingredients to cook... Asuna scene was awesome, threaten Kirito with a kitchen knife, then threaten him with a sword skill Quite a long time (1 minute) until the duel starts, but looking just at Cradil's sword you know it can easily break, what a difference in thickness between the upper and lower parts. They did a pretty good job with the slow motion and conclusion, but just how did Asuna interfere with Cradil's attack? We know from Ep.5 that a winner message appears after the duel, interfering with a duel isn't 'fair'. The message appeared after Cradil teleported Laughing Coffin is back, who will they kill next 74th boss <The Gleam Eyes>, 4 HP bars and what looks like a great sword. Since even grunt units can do sword skills, maybe the boss will have some boss only skills?
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2012-08-25, 16:48 | Link #52 | |
Seishu's Ace
Author
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Kobe, Japan
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2012-08-25, 16:51 | Link #53 | |
Bash'a no falor talah
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Great episode, near perfect rendition from the novel. Looking forward to next episode, too bad this episode's title is so misleading and made me think he was gonna use his black and white swords >.>
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2012-08-25, 16:55 | Link #54 | ||
Human
Join Date: Aug 2004
Age: 37
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2012-08-25, 16:59 | Link #55 |
Member
Join Date: Jul 2012
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SAO has always been about the telling of a human story where people find themselves struggling between two realities. I'm very glad this idea is finally starting to take shape in the dialogue and actions mostly conveyed through Asuna.
Once again, if you've noticed the sudden improvement in story and dialogue with this week's episode -- it's because the side stories are over and we've just begun the actual main story. 10/10 (seatbelts fastened. Ready to be wow-ed again)
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2012-08-25, 17:02 | Link #57 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
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very happy with the episode.
Raging with the way asuna interfered with the duel... *slap* for mood killer. The combat what great. Cant wait for the next episode. And what it means. XD Though imagine the Gleam Eyes Demon would be more dark, and not that colorful. The food part was great. Its amazing seeing it animated. PD. Relentless Flame on Killing Spree... -__- |
2012-08-25, 17:03 | Link #58 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2004
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Solid episode but the blue flame lights the dark boss room looked way cooler in 16-bit than it did in this episode and if you know what game I'm talking about I'll give you +rep.
Well said, the more I watch this show the more I wish that the writer of the LN would have let someone else write the character aspect of the story.
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2012-08-25, 17:13 | Link #59 | |
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2012
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Spoiler for Comparison to the novel:
Last edited by relentlessflame; 2012-08-25 at 20:34. Reason: When comparing to the novel you must use spoiler tags |
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end card, weekly spoiler discussion |
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