「Imagination; 面影」 (Omokage)

Willpower and determination can make all the difference in the world sometimes and in this case, it helped Haruyuki alter his abilities in Accel World. To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of motivational speeches and “mental-strength-conquers-all” type of accomplishments; I find that a lot of these triumphs are gained through a lot of luck and help for the protagonist and purposely included for character development. It’s not very realistic in my opinion – but this is a TV show and not reality, so I will not judge it too harshly. In fact, it can be done right on more than one occasion and in an episode like this, I think it served to help Haruyuki redeem himself.

I will definitely give Haruyuki the benefit of the doubt in this situation – he’s a boy who’s reached rock bottom and really has nothing else to lose. Kuroyukihime is no longer with him, Takumu just punched him in the face, Chiyuri is also being threatened and on top of it all, he’s lost his wings. Even though I’m not a fan of Haruyuki, I still found myself cheering him on and wishing for his success. It’s not because he suddenly grew a pair and became a man in my eyes, I sadly have to say that it’s because I pity him and wish that life would throw him a bone. And it did! After 7 days (anyone else find their Engrish a little off here?), Haruyuki made it to the top and although he didn’t suddenly become super confident or jacked, the show still reinforced its original message, which I thought was the importance and strength of willpower.

The speed of his development made it key for this episode too. I hate dragged out episodes that lose focus of the big picture and I’m glad that there was enough going on here to keep my interest. On top of it all, we were introduced to Sky Raker in person. I wasn’t expecting that so soon.

So what’s Sky Raker like in person? Or rather, how adorable is she?! I love her character design and even the fact that she’s running on prosthetics does not bother me at all. I actually love that subtle mention of her legs in real life. That explains why her avatar can jump so high and her dream of flying. What actually touched me the most was how quickly Haruyuki realized that he obtained something so easily (and I almost want to say – took for granted something) that Sky Raker was trying to achieve for years. She even gave up her Gale Thruster (which I only assume to be a tool to help Haruyuki fly later) in order to help his cause. All the while, I feel as though he never truly cherished this ability he was given until it was taken away and he got to meet the one girl who even cut off her own legs to try and achieve it. That’s a very depressing thought, but I guess it brings about a good message for people that don’t realize what they’re given until it’s taken away.

Anyway, lots of rambling here… but a good way to help Haruyuki get back on his feet. I’m excited to see how he takes flight again and especially how Noumi’s finally going to get his ass kicked. Just a quick note: I apologize for the delay in this week’s post. My next week’s posts may also be a bit behind schedule since my following 2 weekends are pretty busy, but I’ll try to get them out as soon as possible. Ta!

Full-length images: 04, 08, 13, 28

 

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45 Comments

  1. Sunrise with broken English… LOL
    I totally didn’t think Sky Raker’s anime design were going to be this good! She looks amazing (with or without her dress…) funny how she is the only Avatar that had “clothes” on xD
    The big revealation this week is of course Xin Yi, or incarnate system… It’s an awesome system, even though game breaking xD By the way, did people remember how Aqua Current erased Haru’s memory back then? That “memory leak” power is also incarnate system at work 🙂

    ps. Silver Crow should go for gymnastic at London, he might get a medal xD
    pps. Raker Sama, I have to wonder, did you flash your #%*+~ to Silver Crow? xD

    jrj
    1. i thought it was unusual as well, to hide the legs i guess…more importantly, good thing Haru slept on the floor….or Kuroyukihime might just have to hunt the both of them down! I wonder how much of that she gets to hear when she’s back lol.

      Breedo
      1. LOL… You got me there… The jacket of Ash Roller, I completely forgot about that 🙁 But I guess my point is Sky Raker is one of the most elegant Avatar so far with that dress 🙂

        jrj
  2. Sky Raker have been my favorite character ever since she was introduce in LN, she just so much fun to be with, especially with Ardor Maiden together but sadly don’t think we get to see her with only 24 episode.

    Benz
  3. Willpower and determination huh? This actually reminds me of the green power ring from Green Lantern as it requires great amount of willpower to be used and it’s power are limited to the user’s imagination. Wait, this means that Burst Linker can,… Oh. My. God.

    While I do find this somewhat underwhelming, I still however, manage to enjoy it. Hopefully, they’ll wrap things up in the next episode. And hopefully, Taku will be there to do something about Nomi (Hint: the opening).

    Terrorhunt
  4. Don’t worry about the delay. Thanks to it I was able to watch an episode before the post in here got out, this haven’t happened in months.
    Sky Raker sure was cute, both versions. Haruyuki realizing that he took his wings for granted while she did everything she could to fly, and the episode in general was really heartwarming. I already liked Haruyuki even before I started watching this show (I just like his design, fat short heroes are cool) but I like him even more now. I hope Sky Raker starts hanging with the band and makes up with Kuroyukihime soon.

  5. Sky Raker is the Alex Zanardi of Accel World, in all fields. Limits? That’s only a mental issue. Your will power will elevate you above anyone else no matter the disabilities. That’s what separates the real winners from the losers, and that’s exactly what Haru learn from her.

    SeedStriker
  6. Another great episode of Accel World.

    The theory of Accel World having no true limits is once again brought to the forefront as Silver Crow gains… well, I wouldn’t call it an upgrade, but the Incarnate system looks like it’ll give him a new edge in fights. After hitting rock bottom, both in the figurative and literal sense, it’s good to see Haruyuki regain his confidence. And it looks like he and Taku are going to team up to finally put Noumi in his place.

    Y’know, it’s kinda refreshing to get a mentor character like Sky Raker. Instead of being gruff and aggressive or downright patronizing, Sky Raker is kind, calm, and lovable. She’s no Kuryoukhime of course, but I wouldn’t mind seeing her again. Her backstory also highlights both the positive and negative aspects of the Accelerated World. On the one hand, it allowed Sky Raker to finally walk again, but drove her to near insanity on a quest to fly. The fact that she was in Kuryoukhime’s old legion is the most likely reason why Kuryoukhime never bothered to tell Haruyuki about the Incarnate system or why her legion dissolved in the first place. Now the only question that remains… is she now a member of Haruyuki’s harem?

    I guess Accel World is similar to Sword Art Online in that if you stay for an extended period of time, you have to actually feed yourself. And since Silver Crow can open his mouth, I assume Cyan Pile and Black Lotus can remove their masks as well.

    Oh and I already miss Ash Roller. I can’t wait till he comes back to the show. He’s the only character whose real life self I’m like dying to meet.

    Frontier
    1. You touched on a few different topics, they are all very interesting 🙂
      1. About incarnate system… It will definitely play a big part in this arc of course, but at the same time, it could be game breaking, so in a way it is a double edged sword for brain burst… You will know what I mean later (if sunrise pulls off season 2)
      2. About how the first Nega Nebulous dissolved… We are not going to get into that backstory this season 🙁 there just won’t be enough time to pack all that in here… So Sunrise better gives us season 2 (that backstory is pretty awesome by the way)
      3. Raker Sama’s relationship front… No comment, waiting to see how sunrise will entertain us with it xD
      4. About the masks, yeah, they can take masks off… But the only other person that has done so or will do so is Ash Roller 🙂

      jrj
    2. The Incarnate system is based off of Sword Art Online’s Cardinal system spread through the SEED. Despite the Cardinal system is built to imitate the real world, unbeknownst to Kayaba, those with enough will power and skill are able to exceed the limits of the system and do stuff like Neo, ei super senses, able to ignore status ailments and stuff like that.

      Suppa Tenko
      1. well… I don’t think incarnate system is based on cardinal system… cardinal system is a self-regulation AI that oversees the world, building new content, and stuff like that… What you are saying sounds more like Kirito’s skill connect (vol.8 SAO) to me… basically the principle is the same: great will and imagination that overwrite the game reality.

        but incarnate system is a step further. What Sky Raker and Silver Crow did here is only the basic of basic of incarnate system’s true power… the anime might showcase some of that, and I will add more later 🙂

        jrj
  7. Well I have only read the LN halfway into this arc and the anime already caught up. But it isn’t too hard to guess what kind of Enhanced Armament Sky Raker gave to Haru. Ash already said her nicknames: “ICBM” a missile?, “Icarus” fake wings? and the name of the equipment, Gale Thruster. Show Spoiler ▼

    Kamui04
    1. ICBM nickname will be explained after vol.6, so we won’t get to see it this season, but I guarantee it is awesome! As to Icarus, it is a reference to the wing that couldn’t truly fly (Icarus in the legend had wax wings that was melted by the sun as he approaches it), so here it is referring to her “semi-flying” ability 🙂

      jrj
  8. If think about it the whole food thing was part of Haru’s incarnate system training and he didn’t even know it. Remember Silver Crow never had a mouth until he wanted to eat the food.

    I guess it was to show that with strong enough desires you can do almost anything in Accel World.

    Dark
  9. The latest chp spin off manga of AW tht come out last week also had Ash Roller in it…..
    Conspiracy to sell the manga or total coincidence?

    And HNNNNGGGG Sky Raker IRL. And Silver Crow hv hv MOUTH lol.

    D-LaN
  10. Quite a Zen episode for a Matrix-like setting, as observed by other users above.

    I miss KYH dearly in this arc, but her good friend Sky Raker was a very good substitute for “soothing” of the heart, whether in her real self or in her Duel Avatar. Endo Aya can do no wrong, it seems.

    For some reason, Silver Crow getting a mouth kinds of reminds me of the Dilbert animated series, where Dilbert, who normally doesn’t have a mouth in the comic strips, has a mouth “appearing” on his face whenever he speaks. Lol

    Kinny Riddle
  11. So, she is originally without leg in real life and in AW she got leg and can jump to 100 meters, then she cut off her leg intentionally in AW to get higher, am I right??? And IS is a great system, so much cooler than can fly. Like a power up over another power up. And Sky Raker walk so normally in real life, she dun even look like she have defects…

    Tingster013
    1. well, it is not like Raker doesn’t have leg in RL… it is more like she had defective legs… so her RL legs are only partly artificial… once gale thruster is revealed, you will see why she wants to cut off her leg in AW 🙂

      jrj
  12. What are you waiting for? You’re faster than this. Don’t think you are, know you are. Come on. Stop trying to hit me and hit me.

    What are you trying to tell me? That I can dodge bullets? No, Neo. I’m trying to tell you that when you’re ready, you won’t have to.

    I don’t know why but while I was watched this episode,I feel like I watched training in the matrix.

    Topboy

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