「Obligation; 宿命」 (Shukumei)

Finally, a whole episode devoted to action and straight out battles between Level 9 kings! Not only did it include Black Lotus – but Scarlet Rain and Yellow Radio as well. Definitely worth all the build up and wait because I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. It was full of history, while giving each character some screen time and development. I even got a good sense of the type of person that Yellow Radio (Ishida Akira) is – a selfish jerk. He’s also not one for head-to-head combat and I see him scheming a lot more to get what he wants rather than simply confronting an issue. The whole setup with Chrome Disaster is a good example of how he’s spent all this time just to reach Level 10 (and even risk going against the treaty). He talks big about the rules of the treaty and how Red Scarlet goes against them, but he’s a hypocrite in that sense and I hate hypocrites.

What I liked most about this episode was actually how the writers managed to combine all my favorite aspects in a story together. I loved the short little blurb on Red Rider (Tsuda Kenjiro) and I even got to see a brief look at his personality – seemed like a very chill dude (and his Purple girlfriend?). It seemed like a cheap way to take out Black Lotus from the battle, but it was a great way to develop Cyan Pile as a side character. I thought he really proved himself as one of the main characters and not simply another side duelist that was thrown in. Takumu played his role well and he got his moment to shine which I was thankful for. He seemed to be shafted to the side a lot (along with Chiyuri) these days.

Scarlet Rain and Haruyuki also got their own little moment fighting together as a team. Although it didn’t go very far, it was great for character development and the Red King proved to hold up well on her own (and her crazy facial expressions!). I actually felt very uncomfortable watching all these men crawling up on her. When they started ripping her apart, it was like they were violating her or something… it made it really saddening for me to watch. And once again, Haruyuki has the ability to wake Black Lotus from her slumber (like back in episode 5). However, I liked how she not-so-subtlety reminded Haruyuki that he is her first love; it would have been super romantic if not for the dire situation. It also cleared up any misunderstandings that I (or others) may have had about her relationship with Red Rider.

Just when I thought the fight couldn’t get more intense, we’re left with another cliffhanger! What’s the deal with that?! I’m beginning to really wish I could just put Accel World off for its remaining episodes and marathon it all later. I’m super impatient, but I’ll try not to spoil myself! Chrome Disaster appears and pierces right through Yellow Radio! I’m guessing that this “kills off” Yellow Radio… but that means another full blown battle against Scarlet Rain, Black Lotus and Silver Crow next episode! Can’t bloody wait…!!

Full-length images: 01, 04, 05, 11, 18, 24, 25.

 

Preview

69 Comments

  1. Unless Level 9s are killed by other Level 9s they’ll die normally and lose points. Given how many points they have, it’s basically infinite res. Anyways, Onoken OST #1. Can’t wait till Incarnate System comes into play, although I’m kind of dreading the next arc

    Sheapy
    1. 2 reasons, first of all, next arc Haru and his friends will face their biggest pinch at that point… very dire situation (much more so than facing against chrome disaster in my opinion)

      also because of the awesomely placed cliffhanger, reading LN vol.3 is indeed a dread…

      jrj
      1. True true the next arc which is novel 3 & 4 is the most annoying for me to read, and a bit bore too, even thou this is where they introduce us Sky Raker it still the most annoying arc in the whole series for me.
        I guess part of it is because the bad guy at the end didn’t get the punishment they deserve, let just say if I was haru I would either beat the shit out of the prick in real life, or expose his cheating to the school and the ppl he beat in the tournament so Karma will come hunt him and bite his ass, he either get expell from school and get hunt down by those he fought against using cheating method.
        But in the end they act like nothing happen, I just cannot accept letting ppl go just like that, I will have vengence.

        Benz
  2. Hmm… this episode made even merry-go-rounds seem sinister. However, clowns are always evil.
    I was hoping Haru would wake Kuroyukihime up with a sweet kiss on the…dark, shiny mask but alas, it wasn’t so.

    BACKSPACE
    1. your wish is at this point still too hard for our self-loathing Haru, but I predict it will happen before the whole LN series is over… of course it still depends on how the author handles it… it might go into something else, who knows… 🙂

      jrj
  3. thanks for the post as always, Cherrie!
    Chi will get her chance to shine in the next arc, and Taku will get his… when we get season 2…
    the battle sure didn’t disappoint 🙂 I hate yellow king as much as you do, but I got to give him some credit for being able to hold against black lotus in 1 vs. 1 battle for so long… till chrome disaster showed up 🙂 the cliffhanger couldn’t been placed any better! As to scarlet rain being torn apart, the LN did describe it as a bunch of guys trying to violate a loli…
    Purple Thorn is indeed Red Rider’s GF… though for some reason I didn’t see that much of a chill dude personality from Red Rider in the LN, oh well, he is just in the flashback…
    next week will have another heated battle for sure… can’t wait…

    jrj
    1. If Yellow Radio couldn’t hold his own against a fellow Lv.9, then he doesn’t deserve to be a King. His strength lies in his indirect illusions to confuse his opponents, but illusions alone is not going to help him win any battles, it’s probably a given that he spent some of his level up bonuses on close quarter combat skills.

      Mixed Milkshake
  4. Although Yellow Radio is a complete jerk, you can’t help but admire his subtle planning for over two years just to bring down a King and thus obtain the same level of advantage against other Kings as Black Lotus and move one step closer in becoming a Lv.10. This sort of work requires wits, guts and luck to pull off and not to mention the endless patience to wait for all the pieces to fall into place – times 1000.

    Scarlet Rain didn’t disappoint in this episode, letting loose all hell upon the Yellow Legion, it kinda reminds me of a certain scientific white-haired Lv.5.

    Black Lotus’ battle is quite a treat, decimating 8 members of the Yellow Legion in a flash before going all out against Yellow Radio, pity we didn’t get to see her use her Special Attack, Death By Piercing.

    Mixed Milkshake
    1. well, you will have chance to see that attack in later episode, as it is one of her most used special attacks…
      I am saddened to not see radio’s special though (well, except the merry-go-round) up to this point, there hasn’t been much mention of most king’s special attacks in LN 🙁

      jrj
    2. If Yellow Radio was planning this ambush for that long, he sure has a weak Legion. I say this because Taku and Haru, two L4s, are able to hold off many of his legionnaires. Shouldn’t he have more higher level lieutenants?

      bertman4
      1. To be fair, Taku doesn’t do much but guard Haru and Niko and take out one other avatar, and Haru has the ability to fly. Yellow-colored avatars in general are centered around indirect attacks and disables (as demonstrated by YR’s Silly-Go-Round and the other avatar’s jamming), though legions aren’t limited to a single color (you may notice, though, that most of the avatars present from YR’s legion are red or yellow). Sure, Haru takes out one or two avatars, but to be fair Niko and KYH are the cause of 99% of the destruction.

        michaemlan90
      2. @michaemlan90
        Look closer…Yellow Legion is not just made up of yellow-colour avatars. There are other colours as well. The one who shot at Haru when he was aiming for the jamming equipment was a red colour avatar

        k
      3. And if you had read my previous message closer you would have realized I clearly pointed out that a legion is NOT limited to members of a single color; you corrected me for a mistake I did not make.

        michaemlan90
    1. Yellow King reminds me of a certain OTHER king in yellow, parodied by another show this season.

      That guy looks weak BTW. WTH is with that one hit KO from Chrome Disaster? It can 1-h KO kings?

      The Moondoggie
      1. Kings in the end are still players, not gods. They can still be defeated, though you’re gonna have a tough time taking one down. Remember, Scarlet Rain lost to CD, though CD is an unfair monster so yeah.
        And only Legion leaders have the one hit skill Judgment Blow to force their members to uninstall their program. And YR is still moving, though he’s very much shocked with our big friend’s appearance. And of course very much in pain for getting stabbed. But in no ways is YR a weakling. He’s a level 9 for a reason.

        belatkuro
  5. Watching this I can’t help but think AW would turn quite better if they talked less (like in stop the big cheesy talk while you are in a big brawl) and get more sweet battle scenes.

    Ananas
  6. When they started ripping her apart, it was like they were violating her or something…
    Especially since one of them had a crotch drill for a weapon.

    Good to hear Akira Ishida again, I hope he won’t die too soon.

    SingerOfW
  7. If this is the end of Yellow Radio, it would have been a fitting end, him getting literally impaled by his own creation.

    But as it is, YR is voiced by Ishida Akira at his smarmy best, so I’d expect his voice talents would not be wasted on just a few episodes. Just hope he doesn’t go “COOOOOOL~~~!!!” like he did in Fate Zero. lol

    I take it that like YR, Taku wasn’t defeated by a Level 9, and so we should hopefully see him respawn, no?

    Kinny Riddle
    1. Well it’s not his creation per se since CD has been around for 4 generations now but since he was the one who unleashed it, getting impaled by it is a cruel irony indeed.

      And yes we’ll see Taku respawn again. That pic with his marker has the timer. Players respawn again in UNF after one hour game time (3.6 seconds real time). Meanwhile, they can walk around as a ghost within a 10 meter radius of their marker.
      The special rule with the level 9s only apply when one level 9 fights another level 9. So yeah, when Niko was said to have been defeated by CD, her Brain Burst didn’t uninstall since the possessed player, Cherry Rook, is still level 6 or 7.

      belatkuro
  8. I had a sadistic thought. Seeing as players could only log out of the Infinite AW at designated logout points (not unlike the Matrix), what if a player was sick enough to capture an enemy player, chop off all his limbs so that he could not escape and log out, thus rendering his real life body into a vegetable?

    And coupled with how long his real life body could last, this poor sod could be stuck for millennia in the Infinite AW, unable to escape or die.

    Kinny Riddle
    1. I’m pretty sure that such massive damage would’ve depleted that Burst Linker’s HP Bar already, although said Burst Linker can always roll over to the Logout Point… I just thought of Kuma rolling around…

      Mixed Milkshake
    2. well, Silver Crow often gets his limbs cut off due to attack without dying, so that part is certainly viable… As to make people staying in upper field, there exist a faction called physical knocker (PK) that will do something like this…

      jrj
    3. What happens if you are physically disconnected? IIRC Taku forced Haru to logout of Brain Burst by physically removing Haru’s neurolinker in a previous episode (when Haru accidentally leveled up}. Does that work or would your mind remain in Infinite AW?

      bertman4
      1. @bertman4, Show Spoiler ▼

        jrj
  9. This episode was everything you’d want from an action show. Watching the characters try and find a way out of this dire situation was quite riveting, watching the kings go nuts with their powers was awesome and every character got some part of the spotlight. And yeah, Yellow Radio is a hypocritical scumbag, though he makes a good villain. I like the development of the characters from this show in general, and this episode especially showed how they acted under duress (and with Haruyuki you can already see he’s got more self-confidence now than he had while fighting his last big battle, Cyan Pile).

    But gah, cliffhangers. The wait is killing me!

    Dvalinn
  10. Best episode so far hands down! Seeing what Scarlet Rain could really do and finally getting to see Black Lotus in action was a real treat. Taku’s “sacrifice was also pretty awesome.”

    Although I can’t wait for the next episode I’m also sad it’s ending soon. I want another season.

    Roguespirit
  11. Your screenshot seem to miss out on the white king… which we have next to no info about up to this point.

    Of the other 4 kings… we know that:
    Blue – honorable/forgave cyan pile
    Green – Defensive type, kind of like a turtle
    Purple – red rider’s jealous g/f, and love Black Lotus to death
    White – unknown, aside from his cultist look.

    Could it be that the white king is Black Lotus’ guardian?
    It is a good setup for black vs white.

    Bladewind
    1. Well we’re not that far into the anime so I’m not surprised that we don’t know that much about any of the other Kings. But from what I remember, even readers of the LN know very little of the White King at this point? Correct me if I’m wrong…

      Cherrie
    2. Sorry, I can’t help but notice this sentence of yours:

      Purple – red rider’s jealous g/f, and love Black Lotus to death

      Surely you meant “HATE Black Lotus to death”? If not, are we looking perhaps at some delicious duel avatar yuri here? lol

      Kinny Riddle
    3. to cherrie’s point, there is almost no information about white king what-so-ever in the LN, aside from this appearance and some inference from later events… so don’t blame her for not mentioning white king. to be fair, I don’t even recall white king’s name after reading all the LN so far…

      as to the other kings, you got it pretty much, of course the yuri purple king is … LOL

      jrj
    4. The Avatar that appeared during the meeting wasn’t the White King. The White King never appears during any events, he sends his Vice-Commander Ivory Tower in his stead. The ‘cultist’ looking guy is Ivory Tower.

      Mixed Milkshake
  12. I have to hand it to Sunrise, they’re really bringing their A-Game to Accel World. Seeing every character get their moment, Black Lotus finally letting loose, our first Level 9 fight, and all in great animation, was a real treat.

    Finally seeing what really happened, I can see why Black Lotus felt so bad about killing Red Rider. From what little we saw, he seemed like a good guy and I guess for lack of a better word, a “cool” character. I always expected him to be more regal and serious. His personality completely belies the fact that he’s a Level 9, which is probably why Black Lotus chose to cut his head off. Even taking into account its an easy kill, she probably wasn’t sure herself if she could beat Red Rider in a straight fight. After all, sometimes passive people turn out to be the strongest fighters.

    Considering what happened in the past, I’m surprised Purple Thorn hasn’t been more active in
    attacking Black Lotus. She probably disliked Lotus even before Lotus killed Red Rider, where it most likely turned into pure hatred. Of all the Kings she has the most reason to want Black Lotus dead.

    And I smiled when Black Lotus seemingly woke up just to make sure Haruyuki knows she was never in love with Red Rider and that he is indeed her first love. Haruyuki is a lucky boy.

    And with that cliffhanger, I’m counting the days until the end of the first course of Accel World and the battle with Chrome Disaster!

    Frontier
  13. While the show is undeniably fun when the action rolls, it also has world building and atmosphere building problems. Accel World has a nasty habit of introducing laws either every two episodes or in the middle of fights, which oftentimes kills the momentum. Meanwhile, Takumu’s sacrifice and Kuroyukihime’s deactivation didn’t have much buildup or suspense, and that really hurts.

    I’m a bit confused why the seven Level 9 characters decided to form a treaty in a place where you can kill freely, instead of a different map. Can anyone clarify this for me?

    Click
    1. I’m a bit confused why the seven Level 9 characters decided to form a treaty in a place where you can kill freely, instead of a different map. Can anyone clarify this for me?

      It’s not clear really if they did their meeting in the Unlimited Neutral Field or they did a free for all battle in the Normal Field. Because in episode 3, KYH said that when she took the head of Red Rider, she tried to fend off the other Kings and the timer ran out and she logged out from there. If they did do the meeting in the UNF, then what KYH meant back then is that she escaped in a log out point close to there. If it was in the Normal Field then it’s a usual log out. So yeah.

      Plus the Kings reached level 9 at the same time and you can assume that they’re very close to each other. So they trust the others to not kill each other in their meeting since the special ruling with level 9s is a cruel ruling and no one wants to have their games be uninstalled.

      belatkuro
      1. Thanks for the explanation, bud. I still find it odd that the seven would choose to work out their differences in either of those conditions, though. I’m trying not to over think this, but it bugs me. Do conflict free areas exist? The spectators for the Normal Field matches seem fairly civil, so wouldn’t that work as well?

        Click
      2. But to be in the spectator place, you have to be present in a duel, like in the fight with Ash Roller and Cyan Pile. You have to add a certain player to be invited to view his/her duel(it doesn’t consume a single Burst Point). While it may look like a safe place as I don’t think spectators are allowed to fight there, that’s really not a good place to have an important discussion like the non-aggression treaty.

        belatkuro
    2. add to belatkuro’s point, since there are dangers in the upper field (unlimited neutral field) such as enemy and ambush and the like, meeting of that magnitude often take place in normal field (the actual method will be revealed in later arcs once we get a season 2)… that is why black lotus was forced to log out in 30 minutes…

      as to the reason why they set up the treaty in the first place, kuro hime already explained in episode 3 or so… when you have such strong power as acceleration, you don’t want it to go away, so kings don’t want to fight each other. given they are all leader of legions, they need to protect their members, and therefore the treaty also expand to no fighting between legions.

      jrj
  14. Electric Guy: *while being spun around in by Silver Crow via electric cable* “Wait! I’m still charging my battery!”

    Silver Crow: “Why should I”?!?

    Electric Guy: “A fair point!” *is hurled away by Silver Crow*

    Me and my friends in front of the PC: *laughs* XD

    The_Magus_Killer
  15. Kind of stupid for yellow radio to use such a dangerous piece of equipment just to bluff her, what a idiot… Scarlet Rain is really one badass you dun want to mess with…

    Tingster013
  16. @ Cherrie

    Your Full Length Pictures ARE Amazing!!!
    I just wanted to know how much work does it take to make these???
    and could you explain how people make them :O

    and could you provide information as to what “Image Stitches” are?
    and are they the same as the Full Length pictures? – In the way you make them…

    before i forget to say this again “Thank You!” 🙂 for covering this Show and for your In depth Reviews and your “quirky” style of writing 😀 (It will take some time to get used to it)

    Very Different Style Compared to Other writers e.g. “Devine” and “Stilts”
    Nevertheless It’s still Really Good – Different means Variety and also means not boring to Read I’m happy to say 😀
    (Never Stop Writing !!!)

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