First Impressions / Sword Art Online

「襲撃」 (Shuugeki)
“Raids”

Now that’s what I’m freaking talking about!

General Impressions

After last week’s rather slow start to the new season, this week’s episode was exactly what I wanted to see (especially after re-watching the latter half of the first season out of boredom/preparation for War of Underworld). A mix of action, cool badass moments, and just enough exposition to answer some of the huge questions — what more can you ask for?

Starting with my favorite part, I absolutely loved how Alice managed to put everyone in their place when all hell was breaking loose. With a quick flip of her cloak and a gentle tap from her hilt straight into the ground, it felt so damn good to watch everyone just shut up and listen. Pair that with the less than positive feelings from last week’s episode and I dare say the entire scene felt euphoric. That said, I’m curious if Alice’s dad knew that Alice was an Integrity Knight. His little hint about needing to abide to Imperial Law felt a wee bit out of place as if he were looking for someone to exercise their authority to overrule the ridiculous order that had been put into place. Sure, it could have just been him covering his butt about ignoring a logical suggestion from his daughter, but I dare say you have to be pretty dumb to ignore the fact that Alice literally came crashing in from the sky. Last I checked, the laws of physics still apply to the Underworld and I’m pretty sure most people are still affected by the detrimental effects of falling at terminal velocity.

Moving on to the other half of the episode, I’m elated to see that Asuna may finally get a larger role in this whole Alicization storyline. As the other major player who inadvertently was the trigger that lead the story down this path, it’s been a damn shame that she hasn’t had an opportunity to do something cool. I’ll settle for her nearly strangling Kikuoka out of rage, but I know that we all want to see her dive into the Underworld to help bring back Kirito. Something that I don’t think would be all that crazy when you consider what went wrong with Kirito’s fluctlight. Imagine trying to stimulate him back to life with a two-pronged attack from Alice and Asuna!

Man, what an episode. There are so many different things going on and it looks like it’s only going to get messier from here. Anyways, I’ll catch you guys next week where we’ll hopefully get a little more information on the group that infiltrated the Ocean Turtle since I couldn’t for the life of me recognize any of them.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「unlasting」 by LiSA

Preview

15 Comments

    1. Asking some question (I do hope they are no Spoiler):
      https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20Alicization%20WoU%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2016.jpg
      Is she sharing the same fate like him?
      https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20Alicization%20WoU%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2032.jpg
      or is she really Show Spoiler ▼

      Well, there is a ending in the Air like in “Tron 2.0”. You know what i am telling about?

      worldwidedepp
      Reply

  5. https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20Alicization%20WoU%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2037.jpg
    My first thought was terrorists but I doubt terrorist are that well educated in software.

    Now I am wondering what will Alice’s fate at the end if this arc.

    https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20Alicization%20WoU%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2015.jpg
    Why did Rath include goblins? “Magic” I can understand but why goblins and mythical animals? I can barely understand how this contributes to creating A.I that can be used for war; they want to create A.I that can kill human soldiers, not non-existent creatures from myth.

    Greed
    Reply

    1. > why goblins and mythical animals?
      > they want to create A.I that can kill human soldiers, not non-existent creatures from myth

      Hi, while you have a point the official explanation given I guess was “we needed some playground to train our AI and lo and behold we found one ready-made for us – multipleer online games”; so I guess the story insists they just used what was available without investing much effort into developing it further.

      Anton
      Reply

    1. > Nothing better than a dragon’s air support

      Indeed, that was quite a bombardment! If _that_ power is not available to stopo the immenent invasion that invasion got to be immense.. Really, do the goblins have some kind of anti-air capacity? Or is the dragon liminted on the ammount of “ammunition” it can carry? It might seem like the war could be won entirely from air if not one of these assumed reasons..

      Anton
      Reply

    2. …ahh I seem to remember the Dark Territory could field some flying kingts of its own in the first half.. so perhaps integrity knights’ dragons can be taken out by enemy dragons..

      Anton
      Reply

  8. No, she didn’t. She spent just 6 months with Kirito which is the time she was with in coma. You can’t count the other Alice because that was a different person that died on last season, much like Kirito don’t even remember that Alice grew up with him on Underworld. Kirito only remember the 2 years that he was there since episode 2. So Kirito is in Underworld in 2 years and 6 months, so mentally he’s 20 years old, while physically, he’s 18. So yeah, now he’s mentally older than Asuna.

    Satan
    Reply

  9. Kikuoka was wearing a Hawaiian shirt in the novel:

    Even Takeru Higa, who was well aware of his first-class genius status, couldn’t have predicted the various events of the last two hours. But what was playing out before his eyes at the present moment was by far the most shocking of them all.
    A delicate girl, only eighteen or nineteen years old, was lifting a man six inches taller than her by his collar. His flashy Hawaiian shirt was stretched enough to tear, and the soles of his sandals hung in the air.
    As she glared at Lieutenant Colonel Seijirou Kikuoka with radiant fury, Asuna Yuuki’s shapely lips formed a razor-sharp ultimatum. “If Kirito doesn’t wake up, I’ll make sure you regret it.”
    From Higa’s position, the lenses of Kikuoka’s black-framed glasses reflected the lights in the ceiling, so he couldn’t make out the man’s expression. But the Self-Defense Force officer, who was a black belt in both judo and kendo, swallowed as though intimidated by her threat. He lifted up his hands in a sign of surrender.
    “I know, I know. And as it is my responsibility, I will absolutely see that Kirito is restored.”
    A tense silence filled the gloomy sub-control room. Neither Higa, sitting before the control console, nor Rinko Koujiro, who stood next to him, nor any of the other Rath staffers in the room could speak a word before the overwhelming force of the youngest person present. In the back of Higa’s mind, he recognized that she was indeed a true survivor of life-and-death battle.
    Eventually, Asuna slackened her grip. Finally free, Kikuoka nearly fell to the floor, exhaling heavily. The girl faltered, too. Rinko leaped forward, white coat flapping, to put a hand on her back for support.
    The physicist, who was Higa’s friend and mentor from their college seminar, clutched Asuna to her chest and murmured, “It’s all right. It’ll be all right. He’ll come back to you.”
    Asuna’s tension finally broke, and her face crumpled.
    “……Yes, of…of course. I’m sorry…I went too far…”
    Tears formed at the corners of her eyes; she hadn’t cried even during the attack. Rinko gently rubbed them away.

    l.kostas
    Reply

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