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「創世神ステイシア」 (Souseishin Suteishia)
“The Goddess of Creation Stacia”
The moment we’ve all been waiting for has FINALLY COME.
General Impressions
After weeks upon weeks of teasing us, this week’s episode finally delivered on the promise of showing us Asuna in the Underworld. God, can you imagine how much easier things could have been had they just thrown Asuna in sooner? [/sarcasm]
In all seriousness though, I’m really happy to see the story finally shift away from the ongoing war between the Dark Territory and the Axiom Church. I’m not sure if the source material spent more time fleshing out both sides, but this whole “Final Load Test” has felt a little rushed with a ton of high value players just getting forcefully shoved into the story to create tension. Sure, it was cool getting to see some new Integrity Knights, but their introductions were done so quickly that you barely had any time to really learn anything about them. That said, I do have to give it up for how the story handled Sheyta’s introduction and subsequent battle. You know in retrospect, it would have made more sense to give more time to the two new Integrity Knights seeing how we’ve seen the rest in battle before.
Not one to cry over spilled milk though, let’s dive into the episode itself. First off, let me just say that Asuna did enter the Underworld with the administrator account that had the name of the goddess that the people worship. So while she may not have been a literal “goddess”, I dare say the ability to manipulate the landscape puts her one step over the rest of the population. Anyways, who would have thought that Asuna and Alice would be able to nip things in the bud so quickly? I figured after the chatter in the comments last week that we’d be in for some good ol’ bickering over Kirito but I never thought it’d turn into everyone just gushing over the guy. Because if I’m being honest, I really do miss hearing Kirito and watching him in action so if this is the closest we’ll get to seeing Kirito again, I’m all in!
At this point it feels like the story will need to make a big decision soon. The war between the Church and the Dark Territory feels pretty moot at this point. I think both sides realize that common ground can exist and that an all out war may not be the best way to decide things. So with the war out of the way, it looks like we either have to deal with the crazy psychopath who wants to eat Alice’s soul or figure out who the mole inside Rath is that’s been trying to sabotage the whole fluctlight plan. The thing is though, with Asuna inside of the Underworld, it feels like we won’t have or get enough time to find out just what the person who created Code 871 is aiming to achieve.
In any case, I’ll catch you guys next week where we’ll hopefully get to see a bunch of cool Kirito flashbacks. See you then!
Preview
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https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20Alicization%20WoU%20-%2010%20-%20Large%2030.jpg
Sword Art Online- War of Waifu
For some reason, this is where I feel Kirito should continue to pretend to be “brain dead” or there will be hell to pay when he awakens. Correct me if I am wrong, but this “Alice” is not the same Alice that loves Eugeo right? It is not an “Alice with Amnesia” but rather a completely difference “Alice.”
Anyway, Kirito now should start making “digital clones” of himself. That could solve the problem of so many girls wanting him.
Yes this Alice is Alice synthesis thirty which was born when the administrator ‘created’ her and she’s known by that name even in the real world.
About his harem…as the story progresses it’ll just be Asuna and Alice until further notice. Volume 22 is a compilation of shorties so the story will only continue in volume 23.
As for this eagerly awaited ep…as usual the anime downplays what was written in the LN. The emotions and character inner dialogues were not shown. I bet its gonna be the same when Alice gets out of the Underworld and what comes after that. Read the epilogue of this arc which is in Volume 18 if you’re keen to see how far Alice has developed in terms of feelings to our MC.
Here’s where it gets kinda complicated for me, though, about Alice. A fluctlight is originally copied from a real world newborn and installed into Underworld and eventually, it grows into its own personality. But with Alice, Alice Zuberg was essentially deleted and replaced with Alice Synthesis Thirty. My question, the source of my confusion, is this: If the original Alice was created by the same Fluctlight copying procedure, how was Alice Synthesis Thirty created? I mean, it just can’t be the same procedure, because then I’d call BS on the plot since then it’d be like Quinella somehow gained access to the real world admin powers that created the Fluctlights.
Doesn’t the integrity ritual involve suppressing memories?
In that case, the fluctlight of Alice Synthesis Thirty is the same as the fluctlight of Alice Zuberg, but the personality is different due to the suppressed memories.
Yes, I’m currently rewatching the whole thing in search of that, and you’re correct. Thanks 🙂
I just loved how Asuna started the “let’s talk about Kirito” conversation all superior with her “I’ve known him for years” remarks, then gets upped by the other girls (with the advantage of Underworld’s time differential).
I mean Asuna is his real waifu so really it gets old as hell after a while repeating this bs pseudoharem crap.
+1
A pity Eugeo wasn’t there to say “I’ve known him for longer than all of you put together”, which is technically correct.
Technically correct? Didn’t Asuna say she’s been with him for a total of 3.5 years? He’s known him for like 2. And no, kid Kirito doesn’t count, since that’s like a whole different personality that’s never been outside Underworld, let alone interacted with Asuna in any way.
I’m curious what the future of SAO anime will be like once Alicization is finished.
I’m not certain Unital Ring has enough content to fill 1-cour yet, so unless they choose to adapt Moon Cradle or Progressive in the meantime…And no telling how long Kawahara will take with Unital, since it’s the 1st LN-exclusive SAO arc not based on his original WN from long ago.
We just won’t see a Sword Art Online Season 4 for a few years. I think they’ll probably do another filler movie in mid to late 2021 to keep interest there before bringing the show back in late 2022/early 23.
That said they’ve still got the adventures of Llenn to produce in anime form, though thats just a spinoff from a different studio. There’s another material there for another season.
I also think they’ll find a way to cover Moon Cradle in 2020 as its literally just side story material in the Alicization Arc. Specials? Movie? Not sure. It wouldn’t make much sense to start a Season 4 with Moon Cradle material. If anything it’d be stupid.
Unital Ring is literally a new direction. From an obvious standpoint they’d want everything done before producing a new season with this material. So for any fans that hated Underworld, they can say thats done now. The arc(Set shortly after Alicization) is also named after the game itself, also named Unital Ring lol.
“That said, I do have to give it up for how the story handled Sheyta’s introduction and subsequent battle. You know in retrospect, it would have made more sense to give more time to the two new Integrity Knights seeing how we’ve seen the rest in battle before.”
In the novel their circumstances are explained more in detail, which makes the novel much longer.
CATFIGHT! CATFIGHT!
Best episode ever!! I wanna read this part of the novel so much….
same doaw, i just wish that kirito was kicking. But nice waifu fight.
Yup
I must admit I was looking forward to this, although for different reasons. This is not just the encounter between Asuna and Kirito, but also between two worlds.
It’s nice of Asuna to paint RATH as the good guys (minus a Judas that might have been undermining them), but when asked about their real purpose, she is hesitant. And why shouldn’t see? Imagine if God descended, said that he’s just an average guy with a couple of cheat codes and explained that the reason humanity exists is to produce advanced intelligence for military purposes. Oh, and God insistently calls his universe the “real world”, implying that our own world is “fake”.
A compelling sci-fi scenario, indeed. But I wonder what the moral lesson will be in the end.
Asuna being an “official” girlfriend is probably the worst thing this series could have done. Because if you’re just going to keep introducing new harem members every arc who instant falls for Kirito everytime, it just takes a lot away since Asuna technically “won” the harem war before it even began. It also gives her an excuse to act stuck up like she did this episode.
I mean, it’s all played for comedy. Nothing about this is to be treated seriously.
I always wondered….how would Alice react when she finds out that Kirito and Asuna had a child together? I always imagined that Alice would ‘back off’ in a sense after learning about that, but who knows.
Regarding the mole, in episode 11 of the last season Asuna sensed something:
https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20Alicization%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2018.jpg
…when someone asks you if you are a god, you say yes!
That would’ve been counterproductive. Asuna herself said her land altering power can only be used one or twice, and it’s important that the human forces don’t falsely worship a fake goddess or else they’d fall into the mind trap of relying on her to save them from the Dark Territory forces, and hence risk throwing all their morale to the trash. It was actually a good idea to get rid of all preconceived notions. That way, they’ll all operate through better teamwork and communication.
Like The Road to El Dorado
It was cool getting to see some new Integrity Knights, but their introductions were done so quickly that you barely had any time to really learn anything about them..
so the real war begins.