First Impressions / Sword Art Online

「失格者の烙印」 (Shikkakusha no Rakuin)
“Stigma of the Disqualified”

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「血と命」 (Chi to Inochi)
“Blood and Life”

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「剣と拳」 (Ken to Ken)
“Sword and Fist”

I think it’s safe to say that the Dark Territory is getting their butts kicked real hard.

General Impressions

With three episodes of SAO:AWOU to cover, you’d think that there’d be a lot to talk about. Except throughout these past three episodes, not much has really happened outside of the Dark Territory getting their asses completely handed to them. Which I guess in hindsight isn’t too crazy since they’re going up against an army that has individuals who have been training for hundreds upon hundreds of years. However, even with a crap ton of time and experience under their belts, it’s kind of ridiculous the difference in firepower between the two nations. With only a handful of Integrity Knights to flesh out their army, it’s kind of ridiculous to watch them mow down thousands of enemy combatants while barely breaking a sweat.

That said, the whole prospect of the Final Load Test isn’t what has me coming back week after week. What has been keeping me coming back for more is the promise that Asuna and friends will eventually make their way into the Underworld — something that has FINALLY happened (I think). However, I’m a little confused about how the story is going to explain all of this when you consider the circumstances revolving around her sudden appearance. Besides using skills that have never been seen before, I’m very interested in seeing how the story explains Asuna’s appearance as a literal goddess. I guess it makes sense if you compare how that psychopath on the other side made his appearance, but I can’t wait to see what happens when Asuna goes and tries to wake up Kirito.

But yeah — not really all that much to talk about when you really look at what’s happened so far. Literally three episodes of watching the Dark Territory get their butts kicked with the Axiom Church doing pretty well. Sure I’m willing to bet that the tension will start to rise once Vector (Gabriel Miller) enters the fight.

Anyways, I’ll catch you guys next week where we’ll hopefully get deeper into the Final Load Test together with Asuna. See you then!

P.S. I might sound a little negative about all the battles, but I have to admit that watching them has been a total blast. A lot of awesome moments all around — just not a lot for the overarching story.

 

Preview

32 Comments

  1. I think the evil administrator girl was right all along. All the dark territory ppl are so weak, they would have passed the final load test with flying colors easily. She was right all along

    yodad
    Reply

  2. “With only a handful of Integrity Knights to flesh out their army, it’s kind of ridiculous to watch them mow down thousands of enemy combatants while barely breaking a sweat.”

    So you’re telling me this is the perfect template for the next Dynasty Warriors/Musou crossover game?

    And Asuna being a goddess makes ton of sense. She was given an account with the highest authority level so being a literally goddess of the world make sense, especially when the villain ended up being a dark god.

    YanDaMan
    Reply

    1. Also if theres anything we really learned in the last few episodes, most of the dark territory races/people arent really all that bad save for the dark mage wench.

      I guess they were just unfortunate to be born on the wrong side of the world, and Alice even pointed that out how their fluctlight are warm.

      YanDaMan
      Reply

  3. https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20Alicization%20WoU%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2032.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20Alicization%20WoU%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2005.jpg
    It is a waste to see Waifu beauties being killed off. One of the few Waifu I don’t see often in anime, Waifu that have tan skin and Waifu that have lovely muscles.

    https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20Alicization%20WoU%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2018.jpg
    A part of me now wants to look for semi-emotionaless Waifu, they are cute in their own way.

    Anyway, part of me can now confirm that Quinella is completely dead/deleted and Asuna has taken the roll as the “goddess” of the digital world. Why is she so god-like?

    I forgot what KoB and “Lightning Flash” came from.

    Greed
    Reply

    1. KoB iirc is referring to Ketsumei Kishidan or the Guild (Clan?) Asuna was a part of during Aincrad. I dunno if the actual title is Lightning Flash (I thought it was just The Flash), but its referring to how fast she was with her rapier also during Aincrad.

      Takaii
      Reply

  4. FINALLY ! Asuna arrives in game !
    I was so excited when she did.

    Because how time runs faster in game compare to real life, it’s only now that Asuna appears.

    6 days to wait.

    Dionysos01
    Reply

  5. I just want to say…that sound effect that Asuna made with her actions…I know it was in the novel, but hearing it in the anime just sounded strange. It kind of reminded me of the chorus in Thor Ragnarok during the Tragedy of Loki when Matt Damon died.

    Anonymous
    Reply

  6. Before the Integrity Knights win and stabilize the gate, even with Asuna reuniting with Kirito, this psycho will cause a lot of damage and death.

    https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20Alicization%20WoU%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2036.jpg

    This scene with Alice and the Wolf, their conversation shows us that the monsters are not war driven or evil. I hope any future episodes will show the knights trying to negotiate with the monsters.

    https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20Alicization%20WoU%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2006.jpg

    RenaSayers
    Reply

  8. If you ship Alice, ur gonna love what’s coming next when she meets Asuna. Oh boy do they have a good chemistry with each other. If Unital Ring’s cover picture has the three of them in it, you can pretty much guess how those two will treat each other after their first meeting in the Underworld.

    seancorr
    Reply

      1. You could say her feelings for him changed over the 6 months she was with him hence the epic crying part in the first ep scene. Basically she had no emotions while being a knight and here comes someone who changed her world and she starts to learn about feelings. I wonder if the anime will properly describe this important bit later on in the series which was explained in the novels.

        seancorr
        Reply

    2. When you put it like that, I suppose I understand, and I guess that the situation is a little to bizarre for any one of them to have rational thoughts at the time, but you think that by the end of it all, there’d be a concept of boundaries or respect for each other’s relationship and whatnot.

      Anonymous
      Reply

    3. I dont ship her and dont get why people do. Oh, because the mangaka has the dumb idea to make a pseudoharem anime where the main characters are confirmed to love eachother and yet are always apart and one is constantly put in situations with clingy pseudo harem characters that want his joystick. Man i loved season one of this show and this shit gets so old. Always dangling the carrot. For shippers of the main couple, the carrot is more time with Asuna. For harem fans, the carrot is the other side. The result is general unhappiness post first season.

      alice
      Reply

  12. I’m very interested in seeing how the story explains Asuna’s appearance as a literal goddess

    They set this up in the first season and the beginning of this one. Asuna’s logging in using one of the admin accounts and the admins are the gods in this world’s creation myth.

    dave_k
    Reply

    1. Exactly. The screen showed four accounts for the admin which were locked to the Ocean Turtle invaders. Asuna certainly isn’t interested in becoming a goddess of anything, she just wants to help Kirito and the world he’s in.

      Lyfe
      Reply

  14. Are we just going to ignore the fact that Ronye not only pre-emptively stopped but also parried about five blows from Vecta’s right hand man, which is impressive considering both she and Tiese were paralysed by fear from seeing a goblin, which is probably extremely low on the power scale compared to the literal second-in-command of the Dark Terrtory army.

    LAsuka
    Reply

  15. I couldn’t help myself, right after this episode, I searched for the light novel and read everything that will come after. And oh, my God! This war will be so epic, especially the 2nd half!!! (and I dunno, maybe become a bit controversial in some aspects too? LN readers, you probably know what I mean) Wait, is this considered a spoiler? Sorry if it is…

    But yeah, epic war that goes full circle!

    Is this season going to be a half-cour then break? or straight 2 cour-season?

    Kaz
    Reply

    1. It’ll be 23 episodes, with a hiatus after Episode 12. So 12 & 11 episode blocks. If I remember right the show will return in the Spring 2020 season(April 2020). In terms of content there’s a logical end point which I’m sure will be reached with Episode 12. But whats left of this arc is obviously the stakes being raised significantly. So expect lots more battles lol.

      Lyfe
      Reply

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