Sword Art Online: Alicization WoU Part 2 Episodes 13 to END

[Metaneo]

It still probably shouldn't have taken Leafa as long as she did to realize said woman was beyond any sort of redeeming qualities.

[Jaden]

We have to get weirded out by at least one rapey scene every season, or it wouldn't be SAO.

I guess Leafa never experienced SAO, so she can approach the situation like a normal game and not be very scared. Yeah, there might be some pain feedback when you lose HP, but it doesn't seem to be that realistic. The villains who are diving from the real world don't even make a big deal out of it when they get cut in half.

[Frontier]

From the standpoint of the Underworld, it would probably seem like a farce that they are putting all of their lives on the line against enemies who have nowhere near as much at stake in the battle, almost to where all the fighting and death seems pointless. What was the point of Bercoulis sacrifice if Miller can just shrug it off like a slap on the wrist? At the same time, the lives in the Underworld and the experience of those in it is still worth something, even to those from the real world who are living in it, like Kirito .

Sheyta and the Champion are on their last legs, but finally realize their feelings for each other and that, even in-spite of dedicating their lives so much to the fight, they finally found someone they would rather spend their lives with than fight. They even argue over how to raise their future child .

That was a good talk between Sinon and Alice, and not just because Sinon finally admitted her feelings for Kirito .

Nice to see everyone getting in on the action now! Even Lisbeth .

I feel denied! I want to see Kirito and Klein's reunion .

Dang it Asuna, never seem so sure you can win something when you're only in the third episode .

So Vassago was apparently PoH, the leader of Laughing Coffin, this whole time. Man, these sicko's are like cockroaches who won't stay down after SAO. Who would've thought this group introduced in that murder incident way back in season 1 would end up being so long-running a sub-plot? At least with Vassago there they have a chance to finally nip Laughing Coffin in the bud permanently, but I doubt he'll make it easy for them .

America didn't quite cut it so now the bad guys are casting a wider net for their army, enlisting China and Korea and making it look like Japan is the bad guy and it's all just a game. So now it's almost become an "everyone vs. Japan" story even if the Japanese are just trying to defend the Underworld. At least some of the players seem to realize something strange is going on with the story, so hopefully more realize this isn't just a game and the Japanese aren't the real problem here .

Asuna coughing up blood? Has she been straining herself that much? She doesn't seem to have been using her Goddess ability a lot but she probably has been stretching herself fighting off so many soldiers and healing when she can .

Miller is apparently using his GGO account of Subtilizer to re-enter into the Underworld but he seems to have far more capabilities and power than you would expect from someone using that account. I mean, that entrance, that beast, and Miller can apparently choke out Sinon mentally? Even Vassago seems to have a power boost. What is going on here ?

And...just when Higa is about to help bring Kirito back, Yukai pulls a gun on him. As if things couldn't get any worse .

[GDB]

Originally Posted by Frontier

So Vassago was apparently PoH, the leader of Laughing Coffin, this whole time. Man, these sicko's are like cockroaches who won't stay down after SAO. Who would've thought this group introduced in that murder incident way back in season 1 would end up being so long-running a sub-plot? At least with Vassago there they have a chance to finally nip Laughing Coffin in the bud permanently, but I doubt he'll make it easy for them .

To be fair, if I recall there were only 3 members of Laughing Coffin left after SAO. You had Death Gun, his partner, and PoH. Death Gun was arrested after the GGO incident, and his partner went on the run. Said partner is the one who tried to kill Kirito via poison at the start of Alicization. I believe he was arrested after that incident.

So this is literally the last of Laughing Coffin.

Originally Posted by Frontier

Miller is apparently using his GGO account of Subtilizer to re-enter into the Underworld but he seems to have far more capabilities and power than you would expect from someone using that account. I mean, that entrance, that beast, and Miller can apparently choke out Sinon mentally? Even Vassago seems to have a power boost. What is going on here ?

Only thing that makes sense is if their prior account status (Dark God and Dark Knight) got transferred to these accounts. Otherwise yeah, doesn't really make sense.

Originally Posted by Frontier

And...just when Higa is about to help bring Kirito back, Yukai pulls a gun on him. As if things couldn't get any worse .

I like how they made this whole deal about how Yunai had to go with Higa because Higa wouldn't know the way otherwise, and only those two could go because the passageway was so small. Then we see that what's her name went with them to the opening, and from there it was a straight shot down, with Higa knowing where the panel was. So Yanai had literally no reason to go with him. Further, "it's too small for anyone else"? That corridor is at least 10 feet wide each way. And the entrance had more than enough room for what's her name to peer through while crouching.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by GDB

To be fair, if I recall there were only 3 members of Laughing Coffin left after SAO. You had Death Gun, his partner, and PoH. Death Gun was arrested after the GGO incident, and his partner went on the run. Said partner is the one who tried to kill Kirito via poison at the start of Alicization. I believe he was arrested after that incident.

So this is literally the last of Laughing Coffin.

Never expected their one appearance during that murder case would spring forward into a saga-spanning arc, but there you go .

[rladls2121]

So all those AIs in the Underworld being "killed" by "foreign" players from the "Real World", I wonder if these somehow counts as unintentional murder? Kirito is going to be completely devastated if he was actually conscious and seeing this bloody sight. No need to worry about the players too much because aside from intense pain, all the players are still live, right? Even after all this is done, governments in all countries tracks the players address, lot of investigations of how much they have been involved. Maybe, some intentional "Player Killers" might get arrested for killing lot of AI Knights inside the Underworld or something, like the one who almost killed this one girl before Stacia Asuna descended from the sky.

Looking back, considering timeline was 1000 times-ish faster in the beginning of this season when Kirito grew up inside the Underworld since he was a child, lot of progress in relationships with Alice and Eugeo. Then Eugeo, dead. Kirito's friends finds out how much he loves this world.

Aside from ALO players, these "foreign" players knows so little about this "Underworld" and its connection between Kirito. They just go after their "enemies" because well, for being gullible? This situation is getting so ridiculous, these cute characters like Ronye and Tiese are just going to be killed by those misguided and blindly emotion driven international players at this rate? Damn it, and it seems way too impossible to start a converse between them in a "Battlefield".

So it also makes me wonder what is at stake here. Aside from the bigger picture as in, if Alice in taken away from the Underworld. Of course Kirito's life is at stake here because he is still recovering and well, I think getting killed in the Underworld might actually kill him. And all these AIs in the Underworld, there are opinions from many sides whether their lives actually counts or not.

[GDB]

No one got put away for actual PKing in SAO. No one's going to get put away for killing AIs.

[l.kostas]

“…Here he comes,” Sinon muttered to herself.
She had spotted what looked like a black dotted line extending down from the red sky like a thread.
She wanted to charge her Annihilation Ray to maximum power and destroy the enemy as soon as he physically materialized. That way, he wouldn’t be able to defend or evade.
But the actual thing for her to do right now was buy time. If the enemy could simply generate high-ranking accounts infinitely, for example, killing him was meaningless.
First, she would get him into a patient battle of attrition to see how he reacted. If he seemed to treasure his life, to play cautious, that would suggest that this was a precious account that could be used only once. Then she would attack with full power and destroy him so that he couldn’t log in with the account again.
If this was a mass-production account, however, she couldn’t go ahead and kill him. She needed to draw out the battle as long as possible, to give Alice enough time to travel to the World’s End Altar.
So Sinon did not draw her bowstring. She hovered in the air and waited for the enemy to materialize. The black line of data descended upon the spot where Commander Bercouli’s body had lain until a few minutes ago.
So Sinon did not draw her bowstring. She hovered in the air and waited for the enemy to materialize. The black line of data descended upon the spot where Commander Bercouli’s body had lain until a few minutes ago.
Alice had put his (Bercouli's) corpse over the saddle of one of the dragons. She said that she would have it taken back to another Integrity Knight waiting for him in the human realm—a woman.
“A love rival?” Sinon asked.
Alice just smiled and said, “You’re my rival.”
Good grief.

Wol-Saeng (Moonphase) didn’t have a particularly positive image of Japan. Beyond the history and territorial arguments between the countries, there was an insular nature to the island nation, a derisive kind of arrogance, as if to say that they were the only East Asian country worth caring about. The fact that The Seed Nexus was open to Europe and North America but closed off to Korea and China was an excellent example of that attitude.
But…
Japan as a whole did not represent every single individual from Japan. Going back to pre-VRMMO PC-gaming days, there were a few titles with international servers where you could play with people around the world. He’d had bad experiences with Japanese players, but also many good ones

[Frontier]

So Yanai turns out to be the guy who helped Sugo with his human experiments all the way back in Fairy Dance and tentacle raped Asuna, so he was an utter slimeball in both the real and virtual world. And that's not even taking into account what he's done since then to carry out Sugou's "will," which includes leaking Alice to the Americans and basically causing all this and helping Quinella with her insidious plans with the Underworld. I hope this dude gets what's coming to him, because it's been a longtime coming .

I didn't think Miller would be that dangerous in his GGO account, but he's got practical Force powers and the ability to alter reality at will to some extent. He also seems to have some variant of his ability to rob people of their will that he had as Vector. And was he really trying to kiss Sinon or does he just have a really perverse and sexual way of expressing his desire to kill people :?

Even in a coma, Kirito finds a way to save his girls! And that was a practical second kiss from Sinon .

You know Sinon's serious when she ditches her fantasy bow and arrow for good ol' Hecate .

Props to Siune and the Sleeping Knights for trying to talk some sense into the players who have no idea what's really going on, but Vassago has fanned the tensions too much for her to reach the entire army. At least she managed to talk two people into realizing this is all wrong .

Just when Sheyta and Iskhan have resolved to die together, in comes Leafa with the cavalry! Now there's her awesome entrance !

Poor Asuna. She's watching AI's who are practically real people that she's been trying to protect get slaughtered by people from her world who have no idea what they're doing and she's utterly powerless to do anything about it. To say nothing for the fact that her friends and allies are also getting killed out there, which Lisbeth also feels guilty about for bringing them into this. And on-top of that now they have to watch PoH have his way with a comatose Kirito .

Man, Klein looks really weird without his bandana on. I almost didn't recognize him .

PoH is one sick SOB. Not only did he sell out his own guild and watched them get slaughtered from the sidelines, but he did it so that he could turn the clearers into killers like him. I guess that's the kind of mind you can expect from someone who ran a guild of serial killers. I can only imagine what sick and twisted thing he has in mind to do with Kirito .

"Prince of Hell?" Is that...PoH ?

[Kakurin]

Americans, South Koreans and Chinese massacring Japanese players and the AI characters they protect... that's uh... let's just stop here.

Also, smells like a Deus Ex Machina Kirito-saving-the-day-again development is incoming. How very original.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Kakurin

Americans, South Koreans and Chinese massacring Japanese players and the AI characters they protect... that's uh... let's just stop here.

That wasn't really my takeaway from it at all, but I guess if you look at it from that perspective...although I think the Americans are just as protective of their anime waifu's .

Also, smells like a Deus Ex Machina Kirito-saving-the-day-again development is incoming. How very original.

They've already set up the means of Kirito coming back, so now it's just finally executing it. They could definitely use something at this point to turn the tide .

[FlareKnight]

I'm really glad to see the Korean and Chinese player base so emotionally moved by the plight of American players that they dropped everything they had going on to come avenge them . Of course have never been that much of an MMO player so who knows, maybe everyone truly is just that darn happy to lend a hand. After all the American players were dumb enough to jump into an incredibly suspicious join request where they could be guaranteed to suffer horribly painful deaths .

Much as I love Kirito...how the heck is he supposed to turn the tides here? He's not that OP. At least I hope he isn't.

It is interesting to have a creepy traitor make his appearance and one that has a link with another creepy psycho. But at the same time...did they really need this guy? Sorry to say, but the main goal of this project was corrupt and evil even without this traitor's interference. They wanted to clone people's minds to create AI to use as drone soldiers. This project and the people running it were always evil.

Anyways glad things didn't go as badly for Sinon as expected. Seriously expected Leafa 2.0 there...Especially with how instantly he was able to mess with her. I'm not even sure how much of Miller's actions were in-game powers rather than just Sinon's PTSD.

So yeah, this was all rather unpleasant.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

I'm really glad to see the Korean and Chinese player base so emotionally moved by the plight of American players that they dropped everything they had going on to come avenge them . Of course have never been that much of an MMO player so who knows, maybe everyone truly is just that darn happy to lend a hand. After all the American players were dumb enough to jump into an incredibly suspicious join request where they could be guaranteed to suffer horribly painful deaths .

From what I've read, this isn't all that inaccurate regarding the hostility between China and Korea towards Japan, which is probably partially why the players are so gung-ho about believing Japan is the bad guy here.

Much as I love Kirito...how the heck is he supposed to turn the tides here? He's not that OP. At least I hope he isn't.

I keep wondering where Yui is. And there was that suspicious SAO machine after the credits...

It is interesting to have a creepy traitor make his appearance and one that has a link with another creepy psycho. But at the same time...did they really need this guy? Sorry to say, but the main goal of this project was corrupt and evil even without this traitor's interference. They wanted to clone people's minds to create AI to use as drone soldiers. This project and the people running it were always evil.

I'd say it was more morally dubious than outright evil, it just got even more twisted thanks to Yanai's efforts than what the project had even intended.

Anyways glad things didn't go as badly for Sinon as expected. Seriously expected Leafa 2.0 there...Especially with how instantly he was able to mess with her. I'm not even sure how much of Miller's actions were in-game powers rather than just Sinon's PTSD.

I think it was Miller forcing Sinon into a PTSD state using the abilities of his character.

[GDB]

Yeah, pretty sure Miller just has his GGO stats + the power of incarnating darkness due to having been the Dark God. Incarnating is also how he and Sinon made their GGO weapons. The rest was basically her getting mind broken from PTSD brought on by the incarnating darkness choke.

I'm more surprised that the Alfheim players got rolled so easily. Like, these are supposed to be the best of the best, and apparently their equipment is only marginally better than cookie cutter default Dark Knights? Even Eugene, who would have probably been one of the top 4 strongest players of Alfheim (top 3 after Yuuki's death).

Also, for having fought together for so long, their strategy and tactics are so obscenely worse than a group of literal whos that have mostly never even met each other and are given no orders beyond "GO!"

Further... wtf is Asuna even doing? Use your damned Goddess power for more than minor healing and stat boosts. There's plenty of space at various points that you could easily make a canyon under/in front of the enemy and be done with it. Or hell, you're all in a circle. Maybe just launch the ground you're on up and make a mountain? Not like anyone but PoH could follow you from the enemy side.

I guess this confirms that the Pugilist didn't actually break the Seal of the Right eye, but rather just removed the eye entirely to get past the pain of pushing the limits of the rules. Not sure how that works, exactly.

[Kakurin]

Originally Posted by GDB

Further... wtf is Asuna even doing? Use your damned Goddess power for more than minor healing and stat boosts. There's plenty of space at various points that you could easily make a canyon under/in front of the enemy and be done with it. Or hell, you're all in a circle. Maybe just launch the ground you're on up and make a mountain? Not like anyone but PoH could follow you from the enemy side.

Well, the situation in which Kirito comes in and saves the day has to be created right.

Found the entire second half of the episode to be just incredibly lazy writing. But maybe that's just me.

[Friday]

I wouldn't be surprise the next episode will be of Kirito trying to wake up and when he does....

to be continue

I could be wrong......

4/5 for this episode

[rladls2121]

It makes me wonder about how real this situation or not.
What is the purpose of the Underworld's existence?
Rath made this, and knowing which country it is from.
I have this bad feeling that even if the red enemy players learns about the original purpose of the Underworld, they might be more than willing to kill all Underworld people considering in this particular situation, AIs may not be treated as fellow human beings.

Would people believe Alice being used by US military as a weapon will not make any other Underworld people harmless?
I was thinking about how these AIs potential danger would be Ultron or Aida's level threat if messing them around in many dangerous ways.
We already seen Yanai and Quin er something.
People would rather want to shut down the whole server as the easiest way, though i wonder if the Underworld is even considered as a server.

Then there is the original SAO game, no what Kayaba guy used the electronic helmet to trap people's conscious inside somewhere with no way out.
Even with this incident, people still play ALO and GGO through VRs.
And this Underworld incident, more AIs will be created for only god knows what good or bad reasons they are going to be used for.

[l.kostas]

How did Lieutenant Kikuoka fail to vet this scumbag’s background?! Higa wondered, incensed, but he realized just as quickly that it would have been impossible.
Rath was a group camouflaged as a tech start-up, an attempt to create a purely domestic military industry that did not rest upon the bedrock of the American defense-system monopoly. In other words, their existence would pose a threat to the market share and profit of the existing conglomerate manufacturers and defense companies.
That made it very difficult to put together their engineering department. They were getting almost no engagement from the major companies, so the chance to recruit Yanai, who was part of RCT’s full-dive R&D department, was a huge opportunity they couldn’t pass up.

“…I’ll let you in on a little secret. Did you know that the one who told you people where to find the Laughing Coffin hideout was me?”
“Wha…?”
Asuna, Klein, and even nearly dead Agil were shocked.
“What…? Why would you…?”
“I mean, partly I just wanted to see you apes killing one another…but the biggest reason was this: I wanted to make all of you murderers, too. The great and mighty frontline conquerors, everyone’s heroes. It was hard as hell to set that up…to time everything so that I warned Laughing Coffin ahead of time, but only just enough so that they could fight back, rather than abandoning the place and running.”
So that’s why we found evidence that our plan to ambush the hideout had leaked ahead of time, Asuna realized in shock.
Because of that, the superior frontline team—in both level and equipment—found themselves on the defensive and suffered a few casualties. It was Kirito’s fierce fighting, as a solo player who was accepted among the group, that turned the tide of battle. It was when he cut down one of the principal members of the gang that things turned for good…
“So you…wanted that to happen?” Asuna whispered. “You wanted Kirito…to have to PK someone…?”
“Yes, absolutely, yes,” PoH said in English excitedly. “I was in hiding, watching the battle play out. In fact, I nearly lost my cover by busting out laughing when Master Black snapped and killed those two idiots. My plan was to paralyze him and you with poison and give you a nice long interview about that experience…but I wasn’t counting on a premature ending at the seventy-fifth floor.”

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by GDB

Yeah, pretty sure Miller just has his GGO stats + the power of incarnating darkness due to having been the Dark God. Incarnating is also how he and Sinon made their GGO weapons. The rest was basically her getting mind broken from PTSD brought on by the incarnating darkness choke.

Incarnation is a scary thing .

I'm more surprised that the Alfheim players got rolled so easily. Like, these are supposed to be the best of the best, and apparently their equipment is only marginally better than cookie cutter default Dark Knights? Even Eugene, who would have probably been one of the top 4 strongest players of Alfheim (top 3 after Yuuki's death).

I don't know if they're getting rolled over easily. Sakuya was cutting through swathes of soldiers to save Alicia and even Siun was able to hold a sword with her hand, it's just they're getting overwhelmed by the sheer numbers. Asuna is probably more skilled at swordsmanship than any of the Dark Knights but she's still gotten cut numerous times because there's only so much she can defend against and she's tanking hits because she has a Goddess account.

Also, for having fought together for so long, their strategy and tactics are so obscenely worse than a group of literal whos that have mostly never even met each other and are given no orders beyond "GO!"

I don't think they were prepared for another zerg rush coming right behind them.

Further... wtf is Asuna even doing? Use your damned Goddess power for more than minor healing and stat boosts. There's plenty of space at various points that you could easily make a canyon under/in front of the enemy and be done with it. Or hell, you're all in a circle. Maybe just launch the ground you're on up and make a mountain? Not like anyone but PoH could follow you from the enemy side.

Asuna was coughing up blood a few episodes ago so I assume she's strained most of her Goddess abilities by that point. I wouldn't be surprised if her Earth-shifting ability is even more taxing than her healing and even that was enough to do her in a bit.

I guess this confirms that the Pugilist didn't actually break the Seal of the Right eye, but rather just removed the eye entirely to get past the pain of pushing the limits of the rules. Not sure how that works, exactly.

Sheer guts ?

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Kakurin

Americans, South Koreans and Chinese massacring Japanese players and the AI characters they protect... that's uh... let's just stop here.

Also, smells like a Deus Ex Machina Kirito-saving-the-day-again development is incoming. How very original.

At this point, I'll take it. I just want this shit to be over.