Sword Art Online - Episode 24 Discussion / Poll

[grey_moon]

Hoo hoo really enjoyed how that was wrapped up. I was wondering how they would get around Oberon's admin rights, but as a DEM that was really well played.

[blakstealth]

aw mah gawd, Mama's back, guys! Mama's back~!

The power of love triumphs over everything! :P

[Benigmatica]

Originally Posted by blakstealth

aw mah gawd, Mama's back, guys! Mama's back~!

The power of love triumphs over everything! :P

Don't get your hope up yet, we still haven't seen Asuna Yuuki yet!

[Kanon]

First time ever I've rated an episode 1, but this one deserves it. Sugou went from a mustache twirling villain to a caricature. I have rarely seen such exaggerated evil behavior. It was so over the top and unbelievable it was hilarious. It was so hysterical I felt none of Kirito's despair as a result. I actually wanted it to go on instead because it was comedy gold.

Kirito slowly cutting Sugou into little pieces was just as comical. They tried so hard to make it cool and satisfying it was plain ridiculous. It made Kirito even more irritating than he already was. For a moment it even made me wish Sugou had gotten the last laugh. That's how bad it was.

Asuna and Kirito finally reunited, and I remembered how artificial and grating their romance is. Should've chosen Sugu, pal.

I can't say I'm surprised this ended up being so terrible. This episode was nothing more than the pinnacle of this wreck of an arc. SAO was actually decent, but this... it was almost insulting.

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by SilverSyko

And your point? It was stupid back then too. Remember that I'm the guy who doesn't like the reality/virtual world contradictory crap in this show because of how it doesn't feel like a game at all. I've been against it since the start of the show.

I'm much more skeptical about game technology being this advanced in only a decade or so from now, which is supposedly when this series takes place.

Games are consistently improving their imitation of realism. Even with current day games we already have the technology to simulate waves if a person hits water and clothing getting wet and drying up. Objects breaking realistically is a technology that has been around for the past five years in video games and realistic cloth physics is nothing new either. The only reason we haven't seen much real-time cloth interaction in video games yet is because most games don't demand the technology. The advent of Virtual Reality would provide the motivation for this interaction and jump it's advancement.

Game technology advances at an insane rate. Just look at the games of 2002 and compare them to the games of 2012. Given that both realistic clothing and realistic molecular interaction already exists, seeing clothing being fully interactive in ten years when the technology that gives a need for this arrives is not as far fetched as you make it sound.

[Craxuan]

I'll have to agree with some parts Kanon said. What Kirito did - setting the pain absorber to 0 when level 3 is enough to affect the human body - is practically murder, and while I'm absolutely fine with that (Sugou is just as disgusting in the LN, the anime did NOT exaggerate), the fact that they made Kirito look so... I don't know, cool? was just horrendous. Especially the final part where he threw Sugou up into the air and stab him in the face, like, why the heck would you even try to make such a scene look 'artistic'??

By the way, I could absolutely see Sugou's character in many MMO games even though they're not VR. There are bastards out there whose character changed entirely when they're playing a game, and the fact that they can be worse than what we see from Sugou now (seen a couple, never want to see again and quitted MMO) just says how bad a person really are. 5 stars for not cutting corners and depicting Sugou's character at his worst; I could actually appreciate it.

But... just... my god, I don't see at all the cold fury and desire for revenge at all that driven Kirito to decapitate a person. After so many good episodes I wonder just what the hell went wrong with this second final episode.

[miroku2192]

Originally Posted by Benigmatica

Don't get your hope up yet, we still haven't seen Asuna Yuuki yet!

Sorry to inform, but your princess is at another castle.

[Swordstriker21]

It's the first time I've ever rated an ep so low and this is saying something because I happen to be an ardent fan of the series in general.

Spoiler for Novel comparisons here and there...:

Yes, Fairy Dance is the worst arc of the entire series for me but it was still pulled off well enough to not make it so annoying (at least in the books). Why A-1 decided to mess w/ this particular segment is beyond me. I guess they wanted to tone it down a little but they made it damn worse. They did away w/ the whip but turned Sugou into an even worse pervert than in the books. He didn't even get to her skirt there. Geez. And Kirito wasn't supposed to give off a cool dude aura either. It was more of suppressed frustration, anger and silent desire for revenge.

Oh well. Let's just hope the next ep isn't so meh.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Keroko

Games are consistently improving their imitation of realism. Even with current day games we already have the technology to simulate waves if a person hits water and clothing getting wet and drying up. Objects breaking realistically is a technology that has been around for the past five years in video games and realistic cloth physics is nothing new either. The only reason we haven't seen much real-time cloth interaction in video games yet is because most games don't demand the technology. The advent of Virtual Reality would provide the motivation for this interaction and jump it's advancement.

Game technology advances at an insane rate. Just look at the games of 2002 and compare them to the games of 2012. Given that both realistic clothing and realistic molecular interaction already exists, seeing clothing being fully interactive in ten years when the technology that gives a need for this arrives is not as far fetched as you make it sound.

OTOH, in SAO that wasn't quite the case. They had to use a menu to change clothes. I wonder if Sugou had that clothing thing developed specifically for his little rape fantasies? Wouldn't surprise me...

[GDB]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

OTOH, in SAO that wasn't quite the case. They had to use a menu to change clothes. I wonder if Sugou had that clothing thing developed specifically for his little rape fantasies? Wouldn't surprise me...

I figured it was more of a PVP type thing, where he just destroyed her shirt (or at least part of it), rather than merely unequipping it.

[Oroboro]

Originally Posted by GDB

I figured it was more of a PVP type thing, where he just destroyed her shirt (or at least part of it), rather than merely unequipping it.

Items and armor are shown to have durability / be breakable, after all.

Although I'm sure Asuna's was still a custom design. Would cause a lot if problems if you could just tear people's clothes off in the regular game.

[germanturkey]

mmm. borderline NTR. pretty epic finish. since the pain buffer thing was at 0, do you think sugou is permanently maimed?

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

OTOH, in SAO that wasn't quite the case. They had to use a menu to change clothes. I wonder if Sugou had that clothing thing developed specifically for his little rape fantasies? Wouldn't surprise me...

I suspect that they still do use a menu to change clothes, even if they can be removed by tearing (etc.). Sometimes you just want to put the clothing back in storage the normal way.

Originally Posted by Craxuan

But... just... my god, I don't see at all the cold fury and desire for revenge at all that driven Kirito to decapitate a person.

Well, he was just stabbed and made to watch while the guy sexually assaulted his girlfriend (and who knows how far he intended to go). He also indicated that he intended to assault her real body as well. Even with the pain absorbers set to zero (such that it may affect the body), I don't think he will die by that. And in the heat of the moment, and considering what happened last time he was stabbed and Asuna threatened in SAO, I'm not necessarily surprised that he snapped. Was it the morally upstanding thing to do? No, probably not. But should he have stopped and had mercy on him? Hard for me to judge that, but I can't imagine many people would in that situation.

[Oroboro]

Kirito is a good person, but he's no squeaky clean paladin either.

Don't forget, he straight up murdered a guy back in ep10

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

Well, he was just stabbed and made to watch while the guy sexually assaulted his girlfriend (and who knows how far he intended to go). He also indicated that he intended to assault her real body as well. Even with the pain absorbers set to zero (such that it may affect the body), I don't think he will die by that. And in the heat of the moment, and considering what happened last time he was stabbed and Asuna threatened in SAO, I'm not necessarily surprised that he snapped. Was it the morally upstanding thing to do? No, probably not. But should he have stopped and had mercy on him? Hard for me to judge that, but I can't imagine many people would in that situation.

I'd like to say it was practical - as close as he could come to disabling him over the network so the police would have time to collect him - but the most practical thing would have been to keep him and all the researchers from logging out.

[Dengar]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

I suspect that they still do use a menu to change clothes, even if they can be removed by tearing (etc.). Sometimes you just want to put the clothing back in storage the normal way.

Well, he was just stabbed and made to watch while the guy sexually assaulted his girlfriend (and who knows how far he intended to go). He also indicated that he intended to assault her real body as well. Even with the pain absorbers set to zero (such that it may affect the body), I don't think he will die by that. And in the heat of the moment, and considering what happened last time he was stabbed and Asuna threatened in SAO, I'm not necessarily surprised that he snapped. Was it the morally upstanding thing to do? No, probably not. But should he have stopped and had mercy on him? Hard for me to judge that, but I can't imagine many people would in that situation.

I am an extremely non-violent person.

Somehow I doubt I would have acted any differently than Kirito did, however.

[Rising Dragon]

Kirito's always had berserker tendencies, as he even admitted. And berserkers tend to be brutal when they finally lose it. So not at all surprised he'd go that far when he was finally able to hurt Sugou.

[Chiibi]

Originally Posted by SkullFaerie

Would be good not to take that quote out of context.... I'm not even saying that it IS, but that it's being portrayed as such, and has been ever since the stupid lake house arc. And thus I cannot like their romance as much as I did before it turned into the main focus and mushy, cheesy stuff that I myself can't stand. I can't stand that kind of romance.

You can't stand the type of romance that is built upon people supporting each other? How does this equal 'immature infatuation'?

And yes. Loads of people risk their lives out of immature infatuation in fiction and have forever?
Romeo and Juliet anyone? Just saying.
Twilight?
To name just a few very obvious examples.

You are wrong. The difference with these crappy examples is that the trust and support isn't there. It's like "omg we suddenly love each other but it's forbidden so let's make horrible, stupid decisions by keeping secrets because we totally know what we're doing!"
Kirito and Asuna are not like that at all.

And whether or not they "depend and trust" each other really isn't what I was saying at all, but that their relationship appears to have KILLED their individuality and turned them into dependent, sobbing, whiny blobs whose only concern is each other. Which is the DEFINITION of an infatuation as opposed to mature love.

It didn't "kill" their individuality. It made them much more mature and stronger than they were. Plus, give them a break. They went through a LOT of trauma. How would you expect them to act? Whiny? Okay, so you're not allowed to be 'whiny' when you're trapped in a game in which you could permanently DIE? You're not allowed to be 'whiny' when you've been rendered helpless in a cage while a villain taunts you about how he will sexually molest you and there's not a damn thing you can do about it?

Really?

And when the romance plot became apparent, I expected substance, not teen angst.

It's not teen angst. When Kirito and Asuna are together, they're unstoppable; a real power team. They're very happy just being with each other. They don't CONSTANTLY argue or make each other miserable. When they are torn apart, they still have firm belief in each other and don't lose hope.
It's a very GOOD, HEALTHY relationship. Believable from characters their age? Probably not. But this is fiction.

And how you didn't see anything wrong with the cheesy, corny resolution in this episode overall either... confuses me o.O I mean, there was no climax, the (already thin) drama was cheapened by deus ex machina, and the "boss fight" (lol) was laughable. Come on. The way it was done wasn't good. And my standards aren't even half as high as many here.

That's your opinion. Don't state it like a fact. I didn't consider it deus ex machina in the least. In fact, I thought it made sense. It was so freaking simple (using Kayaba's account)....yet nobody thought of it. I loved that.

Yes, Sugou acted like a weird, insane ero clown but that made seeing him get wasted by Kirito's sword all the more sweeter. Idiots getting a disgraceful death is pretty great to see onscreen.

Originally Posted by relentless flame

]I'm not necessarily surprised that he snapped. Was it the morally upstanding thing to do? No, probably not. But should he have stopped and had mercy on him? Hard for me to judge that, but I can't imagine many people would in that situation.

Mercy?
NO. No. Hell, no.
I was practically yelling at the screen for Kirito to waste Sugou. He did not deserve mercy. He was a pervert, a bastard, a complete enemy of women so when Kirito shishakabobed him, I pumped my fist yelling "YEAH BITCH!"



I have no tolerance for rapists. NONE.

Originally Posted by Kanon

Asuna and Kirito finally reunited, and I remembered how artificial and grating their romance is. Should've chosen Sugu, pal.

Riiiiight because suddenly developing feelings for Suguha wouldn't seem artificial at all.....

Had Kirito forsaken Asuna and chosen Miss Fanservice Sugu, I would have put my foot through the screen and lost all faith and love for this series.
And now, that I don't have to worry about bad reps anymore, nothing can hold me back from voicing my heart's true confession. Sugu SUCKS.

[Divini]

Originally Posted by Rising Dragon

Kirito's always had berserker tendencies, as he even admitted. And berserkers tend to be brutal when they finally lose it. So not at all surprised he'd go that far when he was finally able to hurt Sugou.

Honestly, who wouldn't if you saw the love of your life molested like that in front of you?

[GDB]

Originally Posted by Oroboro

Don't forget, he straight up murdered a guy back in ep10

Kill or be killed isn't quite the same as murder.