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「Retribution; 応報」 (Ouhou)
There seems to be a small time skip from last week’s to this week’s episode, especially with developments between Haruyuki, Takumu and Chiyuri. Although I was a slightly confused at Chiyuri’s behavior in the beginning, I’m glad they chose to skim over the scenes they thought weren’t pivotal to be animated. It’s obvious that Chiyuri would be pissed at her friends, but in the long run, it seems that she’s not one to hold a grudge. What a great girlfriend! All she needs are sweets and a few books to relieve some anger and stress. I’ve chucked a book at someone before – not in the head but in a more sensitive area. You can imagine the rest.
The remainder of the episode focused on Haruyuki’s mistake of using up his Burst points to level up. I love how the anime keeps throwing in different elements and “rules” of the game to keep it interesting. At the same time though, I don’t like how these rules are introduced; it’s almost like a cheap plot device to keep the story moving forward. Every time Haruyuki overcomes an obstacle, the author throws in another one just to keep it challenging for the poor guy. The thing is Takumu (or Kuroyukihime) should have explained the usage of Burst points to begin with before throwing Haruyuki blindly into the game. I understand that they’re not deliberately holding information from Haruyuki (hopefully?), but the guy can never catch a break and there’s a lot more that he needs to learn. I know that I bash on Haruyuki a lot… but he’s actually beginning to grow on me every week. His character isn’t all that self-loathing anymore and he’s starting to confront issues on his own without relying on others.
When Takumu offered Haruyuki the chance to defeat him countless times – I actually did not think of it as a set up at all. Maybe I’m just ignorant and naïve (and have no sense of pride at all), but if a friend offered me that chance, I would probably take it. Not to the extent of taking half his points, but enough to keep my point level sustainable. On the other hand, Haruyuki flat out rejected the idea, and maybe that’s because he doesn’t want to take advantage of Takumu or feel anymore indebted to others… but asking The Bouncer for help, isn’t that the same idea? He’s still asking for help from others in the end. Perhaps it’s because The Bouncer does this for a “living” and it’s an excuse for Haruyuki to try new things on his own without relying on his friends anymore. Regardless of the motive, we’re introduced to a new character who reminds Haruyuki a lot of Kuroyukihime. Another strong female player with a demanding aura and knows what she’s doing. I’m not exactly sure of the role she’s intended to play (another girl to add to his harem perhaps?) but I like her idea of “payment”. Capturing a photo of a Burst Linker seems like a great way to gather a portfolio of your competition; if anything, at least you know what people look like outside Accel World.
The scene that caught my attention was actually the final discussions involving Takumu. Did he withdraw from school? And why is he challenging Black Lotus? I thought they were on even grounds now! This whole episode simply seemed like a set up for the battles we’ll be seeing next episode…which evidently features Black Lotus. I’m super excited to see her avatar in action; the OP makes her look pretty amazing.
Full-length images: 02, 03, 06, 07, 11, 20, 21, 22, 28, 31, 32.
Note: Thank you Divine for doing my screen caps and full-lengths again. I swear I’m not this lazy… I think Divine just misses blogging.
Preview
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She may be testing his loyalty…
that’s my best guess.
Most likely, Kuroyukihime’s giving Taku the match she denied him for so many times.
I think that he is aware that she has few points after using most of her points to save Haruyuki in the car accident so this is a way for him to give her half of his points just like he tried to offer them to Haruyuki.
It’s to redeem himself.
Show Spoiler ▼
Accel World is definitely getting better, and with the introduction of the Blue Knight, guess I’m sticking with this one along with the… 10+ other shows… orz
I think you are right it appears he simply withdrew from the tournament. And it was Kuroyuki hime who burst first in that duel at the end. My guess is that he either is going there to try to fairly challenge her to get her remaining points and try to win favor back with the Blue faction or he is going with the intent to fight his best and lose to give her points since she is also low on points.
I’ll probably watch it again as I’ve already downloaded them. I got really bored with the episodes as I already know what’s going to happen since I’ve read the manga. But as I’m seeing here this is where the manga left-off, perfect. I’m with you with the 10+ other shows to watch and 4 other college projects, bahhhh…
Oh the bad things I’d do to Chiyuri if I could burst..
I mean, wait, wat? :l
Definately loving this show. I’m glad it hasn’t disappointed me yet. Still you’d think that someone living in the information age would know to read something before you click yes. Internet basics for cryin’ out loud. I’m also looking forward to nextweeks battle.
That’s clearly a sign that he is from the information age. No one reads dialogs anymore and just tries to find the quickest way for getting rid of them. 😉
This week’s ep was good. The challenge (at the end) was a surprise – so I don’t
know what to expect. But, I wonder if he was being honest about letting Haruyuki
beat him to gain his points back (I’m think this guy’s playing both sides of the fence) –
an opportunistic bad guy – no clear objective, just whoever’s there and easy, IMHO.
I think the challenge at the end is meant to be a new beginning, she has been dodging Taku for months, now that she has finally revealed that she is still alive and still has her BB, she is probably accepting his challenge as a way to start anew. Once they have settled their fight, then Taku will be able to join her with all issues settled. Now i could be overly optimistic, but i dont see Taku risking his relationship with Haru, and more importantly with Chiyu, who seems to be the one person he does care a lot about.
Yelling “Burst Link!” in itself doesn’t constitute a challenge – but the episode preview clearly points at a Cyan Pile vs. Black Lotus battle.
I’m much more convinced that it’s actually Kuroyukihime that challenges Takumu out of the blue.
Overall, it was a slow episode to me… though Accel World has maintained one of its standard: leave us on compelling story hooks.
I don’t think Kuroyuki is going to fight Takumu.
Also you don’t know if the bouncer is a girl or not.
I have to say black lotus is one of the coolest avatars yet. I dont see why Hime thought it was an ugly avatar.
I think it’s because her entire body consists of only blades, it does not resemble human being, just tools for fighting and killing. Which make me wonder what nightmare she saw when the Brain Burst program was trying to create her avatar? And that brings me another question, what did everyone else see in the dream?
@Quikbeam, she think her avatar is ugly because it represents her mental wounds. While her swords are very effective weapons, she can’t do simple things like holding hands with others because of those swords.
@Serapita, it is not explicitly known what she saw during the dream, nor do we know who her “parent” was… all it is implied is that she didn’t live well with her family. As far as I know in the LN, there haven’t been mentions of what people dreamed about when BB form the avatars aside from Haru’s case (he is the protagonist after all). Though a couple of people have talked about how their avatar came to be the way they were.
I’m curious about her insecurities as well. Body of blades.. May it be some form of hedgehog syndrome? She does seem not easily letting people close up to her.
a little justice for Haru’s almost stupid leveling up… generally “parents” are supposed to teach their “kids” about this kind of things when they approach a new level, but since kuro hime is in the hospital and even she couldn’t imagine that Haru would gain points so fast with the help of Taku (she didn’t know he joined their cause at this point yet), she simply hasn’t got a chance to tell Haru these…
but one thing is for sure, there WILL BE a lot of more obstacles for Haru, or silver crow to overcome… trust me, they will be awesome!
on a side note about Aqua Current the bouncer: Show Spoiler ▼
beware the wrath of the bookworm girl!
aside from that… she’s a hamster! So cute.
Haru has cabled with three girls already. Guess no girl can resist his porkly charm. Lucky dude.
Except that the third one might be a dude.
At first, I kinda jokingly ship HaruxTaku because I found Chiyuri annoying in the LN. But this episode made me change my opinion of her, I think I’m finding her quite adorable now. However…why the heck did I went DOKUN DOKUN during the whole talk between Haru and Taku? I hate BL/Yaoi so much, seriously…I watched Tiger&Bunny and didn’t feel a single Yaoi vibe but why the hell am I feeling it from this show, and on top of that kinda go dokun dokun over it!???? Argh, it’s all ShuxGai again, damn it! Give back my straightness…;[]; *sobs*
I am looking forward to seeing Hime vs. Taku fight next week.
You’re not the only one ^^
First things first: Cherie, how can you have so few screen caps of Kuroyukhime looking absolutely gorgeous in her stunning ponytail? First pigtails, now ponytail. She is fast becoming the only reason I follow this show every week. 🙂
(Besides the intriguing plot, of course. )
I actually thought she looked really cute in the hospital scenes too =)
You’d have to take it up with Divine why he didn’t cap more shots of her… (or I’ll tell him to take more shots of girls next time lol)
+1 to this comment, wholeheartedly agree.
Agreed, need more Princess gorgeousness XD
There should be a full-length screen cap of her whenever she changes hairstyles imo! XD
It’s about quality, not quantity. I got the full-length shot.
Every picture taken is every picture viewed. What you see now in this post is what the blogger see in his/her point of view a.k.a first impression.
I’m just more surprised at the lack of screen shots in the first hospital room scene…
still, so many full-lengths…*is in awe*
EXACTLY.
I understand the logic behind “quality over quantity”, but it all depends on getting the right “quality” to begin with (i.e. caps from the said “first hospital scene”), which I’m afraid you’ve totally overlooked this time around, Divine. 🙂
Kuroyukihime and Chitanda are making me develop a nape fetish this season…
Man tht guy is blessed with harem.
spoiler
Wut spoiler?
Blue Samurai girls need more love..^^
i love those avatar designs, i don’t think i’ve seen an avatar that i didn’t like thus far, really top quality detailed designs, they even gave the analytical boxy robot glasses lol.
that robot looking avatar seems to be an anime original (at least didn’t appear in the LN). It works well as an tool to explaining things. So kudo to the studio for making him.
@jrj thanks for the info, i like voice they chose too he sounds like he’s a director or studio narrorator. i thought it was a great choice as well.
From what I’ve heard, Box guy with glasses is voiced by the author of Accel World LN.
Hope The Bouncer is a girl and not a Hideyoshi
Yay they showed the The Bouncer this early! Guess they are sticking to the time-frame of the light novels, rather than the light novels itself. The last part seems rather surprising though, as I don’t remember there was a fight between Kuroyukihime and Takumu. As for Aqua Current, the light novel seems to imply that Show Spoiler ▼
it is not just implied, but Aqua Current is Show Spoiler ▼
Wait, when you mean Show Spoiler ▼
Guess Takumu must have recovered a lot of points since he basically threw them away when he demonstrated the burst link to Chiyuri.
Man, I sure hope I can burst link… Think of all the awesome stuff you can do!!!
On Cherrie’s point about the new rules popping up, they might have it all worked out in advance but i’m with you it seems a bit dreamed up to suit the moments. It will be interesting to see if they don’t make a conflict in the plot looking back on them as a whole. I facepalmed when Haru decided to ride it out with Bouncer instead but i thougth maybe this is a better way to get more points back faster. I’m surprised that’s not considered an exploit but I guess it’s a risk for Bouncer too.
Damn funny scenes in the cafe. lol
On Haru did not want to accept help from Taku but accepted the Bouncer’s: The thing is that Taku offered to share his point, while The Bouncer service is protecting Haru while fighting to regain point. There’s a difference. Think of it as sort of not wanting to receive a gift of money from your friend when you are poor but feel OK with accepting help with job. Small difference maybe, but pride is like that. Beside that, Aqua Current does got some benefit to herself, both in the form of this RL id thing as well points from team fighting itself while in the case of point-sharing, Taku would just end up getting pummeled repeatedly for no gain to himself. I’m sure Haru would accept Taku’s protection in team fighting just like always, it just that Aqua Current is (supposedly) much better and experienced in this thing, so it will be safer and better to just hire her.
All I notice about this episode is they made a big advistisement on Mahouka Koukou No Rettousei, for those that don’t know, that is another great web LN that have 30 mil viewers, even the author of Accel world is a fan of Mahouka Koukou No Rettousei, I can see it being animated in the future real soon.
Beating Taku to gain Haruyuki’s point is not bad,because only this way came into my mind when I see Haruyuki’s poorly reminder point.But the chubby guy haven’t take it,perhap it’s an excuse for Haruyuki to try new things as you said.
Besides I am jedlous of Haruyuki.why sll the girls around him like to diretly link to him.what they regard the diret link as…………
In the manga, at least, Taku actually does tell Haru to not level up and how emphasizes how important it is not to.
I think the anime is just trying to be as sorry and dramatic as it possibly can.
Got to love this episode: the quality of the scenes. Just take a look at those pics above. All of them is wallpaper material!
Ponytails turn me on… that ponytail you had back then, it looked so good it was criminal!