Recap: We find that Kirito has joined a small guild and is protecting them as they continue to level. After a devastating event, Kirito searches for an item that might be able to reverse the damage.
We meet Klein again! We see that Klein’s doing well with his guild and doesn’t seem to be dying anytime soon so I think that we’ll get to see him plenty of more times. Also, Sword Art Online now has PvP enabled! Towards the end of the episode we get to see Klein’s guild face off against members of one of the leading guilds in the game; however, we don’t get to actually see any of the fighting, which is a let-down. I wonder whether they actually kill each other or just duel until a side admits defeat. Anyways, we finally get to see some skills that players can use such as teleportation as well as more interactions with menus and such making it feel more like an MMORPG. Towards the end of the episode, Kirito starts looking for an item that acts like Phoenix Down. The Nerve Gear is supposed to fry your brain if you die so using the revival item un-fries your brain? Well, it doesn’t have to make sense, but, unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to exist either.
There was a bit of confusion when starting the episode. The episode begins with a group thanking Kirito and asking him to join their guild. I was pretty confused how he got there, but I realized that takes place long after Kirito cleared the first level. We get a sense of time when we are given a few dates. The only other way to get a sense of time is when we hear news of a group clearing an upper floor we can assume that some time has passed. While all the jumping around can make things a bit confusing, it makes sense to do so because covering every floor in Sword Art Online can become repetitive and boring.
My only complaint is that this episode should have gone on for one or two more episodes. While we understand that Kirito has been with Sachi and the guild for a long time and is upset over her death, we, as the audience, haven’t had the time to grow attached to Sachi to evoke enough emotion from her death. Still, Sachi’s message at the end of the episode did make get teary-eyed especially at the part where she hums the song. This episode was just full of sadness. The episode becomes a bit depressing when we find out that the guild leader commits suicide and that Kirito blames himself for the death of Sachi and the others.
Rating:
If you really want to figure out what goes on after, I recommend sneaking a peek to baka-tsuki’s SAO light novel translation project.
:)
Gee! Thanks for trying to tempt me! I really want to! But I don’t want to ruin it before I watch the anime. I’ll most likely read the light novel afterwards though! (:
Loved the recap. Lots of good insights. Agree about what a tfrireic satire Alan Ball has created with the vampire politics. My favorite moment was when Nan Flanagan (‘we’re no threat to humans anymore, we drink synthetic blood’) was about to sink her fangs into a juicy femoral artery.Especially liked your point about how Tara’s experience in the support group reminds us how victimized Tara was and that Franklin is not deserving of our sympathies. As much as I love the character, I have to disagree about his demise I LOVED how the guy went out. I loved that Tara got a chance to tell Franklin off and stand up to him and show her rage, and I love that Jason (finally!) got his moment as a hero. He did something decisive and effective and got to put some of his Soldier of the Sun gear to really good use. I’m a fan of the books too, but I love that True Blood can pull surprise moments like this.
I hate the fact that they skipped a large number of floors(from floor 1-47!! WTF!), and I’d love to see the battle between Kirito and the special boss which grants REVIVE, and how he survived the trap room… I think it wouldn’t be boring even if they run the story from floor to floor as long as they make fight scenes and boss battles per floor.. ^_^
When I think about an RPG where I have to go through 100 floors, I always end up spamming the same moves over again and meeting a bunch of re-skinned monsters. As long as they make each floor unique and exciting, then I’d love to see that!
That’s exactly right Barbara, i was tnhiknig that too! Stefan still made Damon drink. Love Kristen’s reviews! I don’t like the idea of Delena. Maybe Elena’s cousing or something comes to town and Damon falls for her (just an idea) but not Elena. Klaus, what an ass!!! he is sooooo evil. I hope Damon and Bonnie and the crew release the originals and then the fight is on! I don’t like the fact that stefan has an addiction issue and is not in control of himself but will be interesting to see his bad boy side. Damon does a better job of being a bad boy though. Love that Jeremy may have some supernatural powers! I hope it’s something cool, not just that his dead ex’s are attached to him. An Ric is awesome, loved that he stayed over with Jeremy and you could tell that jeremy was glad he did, especially since jenna is gone. I don’t like Katherine, hope she dies but she will be a interesting twist in the stefan situation. Want Elijah back! Love tyler and want to see him more and hope he and caroline get together. I hoped damon would become a hybrid somehow and be able to kick Klaus’ ass, but maybe tyler and caroline will make a hybrid (LOL!). Can’t wait for next season.