History Characters / SwordArtOnlineKazutoKirigaya

** Nobuyuki Sugou, the other contender for Kirito's most despised enemy other than [=PoH=]. He finds out that Sugou trapped Asuna in a game and intends to forcible marry her, while rubbing it into Kirito's face that there's nothing he can do. Sugou subjects Asuna to extreme humiliation, dressing her provocatively and keeping her locked in a cage. When Kirito finally comes to rescue Asuna, Sugou uses admin privileges to beat Kirito down, then tortures him by turning down the pain absorber and stabbing him with his own sword while [[ForcedToWatch forcing Kirito to watch]] as he [[AttemptedRape attempts to rape Asuna]]. It's no surprise that once Kirito breaks free thanks to Kayaba, he puts Sugou through a [[KickTheSonOfABitch world of pain]], proceeding to completely turn off the pain absorber and brutally kill his in-game avatar, to the point where Sugou is left permanently injured IRL. The feeling is very mutual on Sugou's side, who comes to hate Kirito so much that he wants him dead above all else and tries to kill Kirito in the real world. When Kirito turns the tides of their real life fight, he is very nearly tempted to kill Sugou then and there before deciding to turn him over to the police when Sugou passes out from fear.

* DirtyBusiness: He killed members of the red guild "Laughing Coffin" while on a mission to capture and imprison them. [[KickTheSonOfABitch Not that they didn't deserve it]], but [[ThouShaltNotKill he'd rather not have]] and brought them to justice instead. Given [[AlwaysChaoticEvil the nature of those psychotic sons-of-bitches]], it's not like he has any choice in that matter. [[spoiler:Averted near the end of the Alicization arc when Kirito [[IRegretNothing shows no remorse]] in sending [=PoH=] to his FateWorseThanDeath turned KarmicDeath.]]

** Kirito reveals he has no regrets [[PayEvilUntoEvil for what he did to Sugou]] when he put the bastard [[KickTheSonOfABitch through a world of hurt]]. He tells Klein in ''Memory Defrag'' that while he felt no remorse for what he did, he does wish the circumstances were different as it ended up ruining the reputation of Asuna's father.

* KickTheSonOfABitch:
** After acquiring Kayaba's Administrator ID, Kirito proceeds to use it on Sugou, brutally chopping up his avatar, followed by beating him up in the real world, and finally leaves him to the police as retribution for his actions up to this point.
** [[spoiler:He also has no problems imprisoning [=PoH=] in a tree for putting the lives of his friends in grave danger (especially Asuna's), beating him up while he was still suffering from his GameBreakingInjury, and for his exploits back in Aincrad and their after-effects, followed by giving Gabriel [[KarmicDeath poetic justice]].]]

* DudeLooksLikeALady: His GGO avatar is a rare M9000-Type which cranks his already feminine looks up to eleven. When he sees his own reflection in-game, he thinks he got gender-flipped. He looked so much like a girl that his IRL friends recognize him not because of his face nor his name but his sword style.

* LetsGetDangerous: Lisbeth notes during the ''Mother's Rosario'' arc that Kirito won't break out the DualWielding unless it's no longer just a game. Sure enough, since the end of ''Fairy Dance'', he's only broken out the second sword in ALO on two occasions - during ''Calibur'', after Yui noted the risk of Ragnarok destroying the world data, and to hold off the boss-clearing guild for the Sleeping Knights and Asuna in ''Mother's Rosario'', because fighting the boss has personal significance for the Knights.[[note]]A Q&A does claim that he's trying to recreate Starburst Stream as an Original Sword Skill, which suggests he's doing some training in dual-wielding, but he's not shown exercising this against any actual opponents.[[/note]]

'''Main series''': [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineMajorCharacters Major Characters]] ('''Kazuto Kirigaya''', [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAsunaYuuki Asuna Yuuki]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineSuguhaKirigaya Suguha Kirigaya]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineShinoAsada Shino Asada]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineEugeo Eugeo]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAliceZuberg Alice Zuberg]]) | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAincrad Aincrad]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAlfheimOnline Alfheim Online]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineGunGaleOnline Gun Gale Online]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineUnderworld Underworld]] ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineIntegrityKnights Integrity Knights]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineDarkTerritory Dark Territory]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineCardina Cardina]]) | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineUnitalRing Unital Ring]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAntagonists Antagonists]] ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAkihikoKayaba Akihiko Kayaba]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineLaughingCoffin Laughing Coffin]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineNobuyukiSugou Nobuyuki Sugou]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineQuinella Quinella]]) | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineBosses Bosses]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineOthers Others]]\\

* AngstComa: [[spoiler:Spends almost three books being stuck in this state until [=PoH=] shows up while Rath fixes his brain damage in the RW.]]

** In the video game continuity especially, he's also this to [[ArcherArchetype Sinon]], who often refers to him as her teacher proudly. Yuuki also thinks of him as a big brother with how he looks out for her, much like she thinks of Asuna as a CoolBigSis.

* CoolGuns: In GGO, an FN Five seveN is his secondary weapon.

-->''Kirito'': No, this is the end. You won't be logging out of the Underworld.

** [[spoiler:Ending Quinella's reign in UW.]]
** [[spoiler:And finally, pulverizing '''two of the most dangerous player killers''': [=PoH=] and Gabriel.]]

* LetsGetDangerous: Lisbeth notes during the ''Mother's Rosario'' arc that Kirito won't break out the DualWielding unless it's no longer just a game. Sure enough, since the end of ''Fairy Dance'', he's only broken out the second sword in ALO on two occasions - during ''Calibur'', after Yui noted the risk of Ragnarok destroying the world data, and to hold off the boss-clearing guild for the Sleeping Knights and Asuna in ''Mother's Rosario'', which has personal significance for the Knights.

* {{Irony}}: The reason Kirito always wears black is he believes he can blend in with the shadows and will draw less attention. However, it actually causes him to stand-out more in a crowd.

* FragileSpeedster: Almost [[InvokedTrope invoked]] in two separate battles in Aincrad, where Kirito focuses everything he has on speed. The first one ends with him on one HP, [[spoiler:and the second almost gets him killed when speed turns out not to be enough to penetrate Heathcliff's defenses.]]
-->''Faster... I can be even faster!''

* FromNobodyToNightmare: In the Underworld, Kirito starts off as just a low class villager in Rulid, to an elite disciple in the Swordcraft Academy, then to one of Cardinal's forces in bringing down Quinella, before finally becoming [[spoiler:the [[GodEmperor Star King]] who is the legendary ruler and deity of the Underwolrd.]]

*** [=XaXa=], who has held a deep grudge against Kirito ever since he was defeated during the Assault Team's raid on the Laughing Coffin hideout. He faces off against Kirito in GGO as "Death Gun", determined to test if Kirito is the truly the same person from SAO and deal out revenge. His presence terrifies and haunts Kirito in a way no other enemy has, due to hitting Kirito's deeply rooted PTSD and SurvivorsGuilt. For Kirito, defeating Death Gun is more than simply stopping another bad guy, but a representation of Kirito being able to firgive himself and move on.

*** [=XaXa=], who has held a deep grudge against Kirito ever since he waa defeated during the Assault Team's raid on the Laughing Coffin hideout. He faces off against Kirito in GGO as "Death Gun", determined to test if Kirito is the truly the same person from SAO and deal out revenge. His presence terrifies and haunts Kirito in a way no other enemy has, due to hitting Kirito's deeply rooted PTSD and SurvivorsGuilt. For Kirito, defeating Death Gun is more than simply stopping another bad guy, but a representation of Kirito being able to firgive himself and move on.

** To Quinella. Out of all the people who have resisted her in the Underworld there doesn't appear to be anyone who Quinella despises as much as Kirito. Even all her other opponents like Alice, Eugeo, and even Cardinal she holds a trace of affection for and desiring to control. But not Kirito, who she never tries to win over and derogatorily refers to as "Boy" instead of the pet names she calls the others by. This is due to Kirito being from the "Other Side" and the first other than Cardinal who is able to paint Quinella's reality for her. While at first Kirito only sees Quinella as a threat and the one responsible for the state of the Underworld, [[ItsPersonal it becomes very personal]] when Quinella takes the lives of several people who are dear to Kirito, [[spoiler:in particular [[LivingEmotionalCrutch Eugeo]],]] which drives Kirito to hate her with a burning fury.

* AffectionateGestureToTheHead: Kirito ''loves'' doing this, typically to all the girls in his life, ranging from his daughter Yui, his sister Suguha, and even to his wife/girlfriend Asuna. Creator/SarahWilliams once commented that Kirito has a ''head patting fetish''.

* In the gameverse he has a bit of a habit of unintentionally adopting AI girls as his daughters, all three of which he treats as though they were human and even as full members of his family willing to go to absolutely insane lengths to keep them safe if the need arises.

* {{Bishonen}}: Applies to his physical self as well, but it should be noted that it's due to being essentially stuck in a coma for two years and still recovering. Sinon realizes this, so she never makes fun of him for looking so effeminate.

** [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructed]] several times in the ''Fairy Dance'' arc, where Kirito is [[SmugSuper overconfident]] in taking on a game where he's allowed to die, believing he's so overpowered that he's above the system and could ignore the limitations that were set. He attempts to take on the "[[HopelessBossFight Grand Quest]]" entirely on his own, and ultimately finds he's way out of his league and dies for it. He then reflects that his arrogance and ignoring the rules led to his downfall and this was his punishment. It happens again while fighting Sugou, who is a [[TheGMIsACheatingBastard GM who abuses his power]], with Kirito ''completely'' outclassed and he seems to submit to the system that he once defied, where only a [[BigDamnHeroes timely intervention]] from Kayaba's VirtualGhost is he able to bail out of this one. That said, Kirito's few losses in ''Fairy Dance'' ultimately serve to reinforce his invincibility, as he only loses due to his opponent cheating. The Grand Quest was deliberately set up as an ImpossibleTask by Suguo, who, during the final fight with Kirito, is immediately overpowered once the Kayaba levels the playing field. Really, Kirito's biggest mistake was assuming that his opponent would play fair.

* HurtingHero: Believes letting the Black Cats of the Full Moon die is unforgivable. He's also haunted by the fact that he killed three Laughing Coffin members. He'd also rather storm the gates of Hell than let anything happen to his friends.

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