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「悪魔の樹」 (Akuma no Ki)
“Devil’s Tree”
It’s a shame that every single episode isn’t 45 minutes long.
General Impressions
After last week’s cliffhanger ending, I wasn’t sure how episode two could kick things off. Amazingly, it looks like my concerns were addressed since we’re back in the Underworld with a properly aged Kirito intact with all his memories. However, it’s tough for me to go on some conjectures since I accidentally spoiled this part of the story when I was doing my research for the season preview. Luckily not much happened this week since most of the time was spent establishing the foundation of the world and giving us a concrete point to jump off of.
If I were to pick something that really piqued my interest though, it’d have to be Kirito’s little monologue right at the end of the episode. As someone who’s well-versed with the virtual world and games in general, I was really digging how he dove straight into the logistics of how he was going to overcome the situation he’s not facing. From considering his current options to determining just how he’d be able to make it to the center city, it really makes you wonder what games would be like if there truly was a “open-world MMORPG” that literally gave you the freedom to do anything. Another thing that I wish the story gave us a little more information about was Eugeo and that eye of his when it showed a real interesting error message. Seeing how it’s clear he’s something in-between a real person and an NPC, it makes you wonder what kind of capabilities this new full-dive technology has (or whether or not some of these individuals are a construct of the people who are participating in the dive).
Again, I wish there was more to talk about but it feels like we haven’t progressed all that far from episode one. Luckily, it looks like things should pick up speed soon since we have Kirito back in his usual form and ready to find out just what the heck is going on and why he’s back in a virtual world with all of his memories intact.
Also, thanks again to everyone for being patient with this post. I know it’s a little late, but I don’t think there’ll be anymore unexpected 12 hour drives in my future. In any case, I’ll catch you guys next week where I’m stoked to see just where this season of SAO is going to take us. See you then!
ED Sequence
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ED: 「アイリス」 (Airisu) by 藍井エイル
Preview
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Don’t go plucking at young plot points before they’ve matured. The show’s just beginning after all, though some points will be resolved much later. I guess what I’m trying to say is to not get hung up on the small stuff at first.Reminds me of Kyoukai no Kanata where we had that one episode to fill in the gaps, or perhaps like Madika Magika.
I’ve only recently fully caught up on SAO II bad can finally jump into this. I’m digging the mystery nature this time around.
Meant to say “and” after SAO II. Where art thou, edit option?
hope ya watched Ordinal Scale (SAO Movie) inbefore. some references are there, but i’m not into SAO myself, so dunno if that movie is required.
its a shame that kirito is still alive, I thought he’s dead last episode
DO I WANT TO WAIT A YEAR to marathon this 50 ep show, i swear its going to be so good but 1 year wait…
I’m surprised to say this, SAO maybe goes in a good direction.
At least they´re taking their time developing Underworld, makes sense since they have many episodes to adapt the novels the right way.
Kirito’s smug attitude usually annoys me, but shoving it in the gate-guard’s face felt good.
“Callings” sound like such BS right now, I’ll be glad when they start making some sense.
Interesting, so his sword abilities carried over yet again and didn’t start from 0. Any other player would just be weak starting a new avatar.
I will be a 100% honest with this episode, I am more fascinated with Johnny Black from Laughing Coffin and Kirito’s current condition in the real world. He was injected with some kind of substance that took him out after all.
So what I want to know with the up coming episodes is if this Virtual world was materialized by Kirito’s mind. Processing what had happen while Kirito lays unconscious somewhere in a hospital being cared for. Maybe Asuna had put Kirito into the full-dive tech (what-cha-ma call it) sending Kirito to the Underworld while the doctors treat Kirito’s condition.
Since it looks like you’re mistaken, note that Kirito’s conjecture was that the townsfolk were originally copies of newborns’ souls, which are basically clean slates since they’ve not experienced anything yet. Not copies of test players.
I didn’t finish reading the arc in the LN, and memories of what happened are hazy, but this episode reminded me of why I found this the most enjoyable SAO arc by far. It was what I liked about SAO when I first started watching it – inserted into virtual world with the whole isekai feeling with world building, with a sense of exploration and story to go along. It was everything I hoped SAO would have been, before it sort of changed focus in the later arcs.
Plus, having another male protagonist makes it very enjoyable for me, he is my favourite character in the series by far, and watching him and Kirito going around doing stuff is lovely. The world building looks like it would be great here compared to how it more or less got neglected after the aincrad arc, I’ll be glad to tag along for this ride.