History Awesome / SwordArtOnlineAbridged

''(Asuna's eyes [[RedEyesTakeWarning glow red]], fire burns behind her, and OminousLatinChanting is heard)''\\

* Creating an actual motive for Kayaba's actions beyond the canonical "I forgot." It's hilariously ''stupid'', but believable: he accidentally created a glitch that caused people to die, was sleep deprived and slowly losing his mind from rushing the game out, and so decided to pretend it was all according to some sinister master plan. It also reconstructs the source material's attempt to make him similar to the protagonists, since Abridged!Kayaba is just as much of a broken, fucked-up mess of a person as the rest of the cast and Kirito in particular, just trying to make the best of a bad situation he no longer has any control over.

** There's also the mafia enforcer briefly snarking at Kayaba's NeverMyFault tendencies during that speech. Sure, it ultimately [[DisproportionateRetribution cost him]] [[PayEvilUntoEvil his life]], but it was quite brave for at least one of the "idiot" players try to take the programmer who trapped them all down a peg.

* Asuna's campaign of psychological warfare comes to a head when she's captured by one of her perennial victims... and is able to menace him into setting her free. Sure, [[DoomedByCanon it doesn't last]], but damn was it a close thing!

** Her threats are so terrifying that Shoji would rather admit to an EmbarrassingCoverUp that jeopardizes his workplace relations (and potentially get him on a sex offender list) instead of risking his pet getting eaten.
** The meta context only makes this better. In canon, Asuna's capture and [[NaughtyTentacles molestation]] by the slug scientists was one of the most notorious scenes of the Fairy Dance arc, second only to the finale. The abridged version edits this scene and pairs it with Asuna's new status as TheDreaded to her captors, such that when [[TerrorHero Asuna's]] in the clutches of those same people, ''they're'' the ones panicking even while apprehending her, and the unsavory element of the whole scene has been spun into something comedic.

-->'''Announcer:''' Complete! FlawlessVictory! ''[[JustForPun Metallurgy!]]''\\

-->'''Klein''': [[BrutalHonesty I get the feeling you get beat up a lot in real life.]]

** Gotta give credit to Kirito, he improvised an entire lore surrounding some random pebble on the spot and kept it going for several hours.

* Asuna is [[ActionGirl just as competent in combat]] as she is in the main series, but this is magnified by the fact that in the Abridged Series, she's a complete novice to [=MMORPG=]s who doesn't know what "[=XP=]" means (suggesting she's never even finished a proper battle), and is so HopelessWithTech that she hasn't figured out how to open the game's menu. Yet she's still managed to survive a whole month in a game that is now literally life or death, while developing [[LadyOfWar her own fighting style]] that even [[{{Jerkass}} Kirito]] is forced to admit is flawless, allowing her to end encounters with enemies [[SingleStrokeBattle in a single, graceful movement]]

'''Shoji:''' H-how ''the fudge'' do you know about my dog?\\

'''Shoji:''' My therapist says the only power you have over me is what I give you! Do your worst! None of this is real!\\

'''Shoji:''' H-how the fudge do you know about my dog?\\