Sword Art Online

So it seems that Mother's Rosario is officially under way.

Get the tissues.

I was expecting a new opening...

THE BEST SLEEPING FACE.

Oh hey, anime-original stuff.

I think Agil's shop has a pretty nice atmosphere. It may not be the most decorative of places but it seems to be in great condition and comfortable enough.

If Agil's wife had entered Sword Art Online instead, I bet there would be people including her as evidence of this being a harem show.

I don't really recall Kirito having any particular feelings for wanting his family back...he was pretty distant to them before he got trapped in SAO.

I swear it's like all rich people have family problems or something. Hits close to home but still.

Tablets and smartphones don't seem to have changed in the last ten years or so. It's almost like an outdated writer in the future wrote it.

Holidays? Fuck that! We have MM Oing to do!

Oooooh, I fought that golem in Hollow Fragment before...although unlike here it was a cakewalk.

dem recycled Sword Skills

Sure is a convenient map for mages.

Welcome back, Switch-chan.

I like how there seems to be an actual reason to change to less battle-oriented equipment in VRMM Os. Don't know if there's any actual discomfort in wearing the usual though.

That's some awfully sophisticated programming for snow.

Eugene's such a beater.

Loving the new ending.

Why does Fate/stay night get crossed over with everything?

I started the anime that everybody says is terrible, and the only other significant part of the franchise I know about is that its an ero-game.

The premise is "League of Legends before League of Legends", and the main character, Shiro-what's-his-face, isn't particularly inspiring. It also started the "People die if they're killed!" meme.

Is it like Touhou where the setting/universe is broader than it seems?

Yes and no. The Fate series is a subset in the greater Nasuverse but the Nasuverse isn't quite as large as Touhou (well, maybe). You can understand the basics with any of the entries but trying to understand everything is quite the challenge as there's a lot and Nasu is known to contradict himself.

As for quality, you really shouldn't be watching Studio DEEN's work (the first anime and the Unlimited Blade Works movie). Instead, you should either read the VN (you can get the [Realta Nua] version which replaces the sex scenes with extremely stupid alternates if you insist) or watch the Unlimited Blade Works anime by ufotable (who's are working with Kinoko Nasu on it and it's really good). That anime's still airing so you'll have to watch it subbed on either Crunchyroll or Nico Nico. You can also start with the Fate/Zero anime that's available dubbed on Netflix (and maybe Hulu) but that will spoil a few plot twists.

As for Shirou, he's actually a really good protagonist and fairly well liked. His presentation in the beginning of the Fate route can rub some people the wrong way, though, especially if you ignore his character development in that route and then equally ignore certain things in the UBW route.

As for why it's crossed over with everything, that's because it's really popular and the setting is flexible enough that it's really easy to create crossovers. Some of them work really well, like the crossover with this series that I highly suggest everyone reads.

So, this is the Asuna arc I guess? It's kinda funny they way the tension just does down and down. SAO killed you, whats-is-face was messing with peoples minds, Deth Gun was just a psycho. Even the least arc would have massivly screwed up the game world at least. This guy.....stands there and duels people. It's probably to find someone...and it's probably asuna. Which probably tells us who it is. Well, not me, but everyone else I bet.

edit: This is an FSN corssover arc? Or are you talking about something else?

edited 8th Nov '14 3:01:30 PM by kiukiuclk

Hey now, those stupid alternates aren't remotely as stupid as the sex scenes themselves.

League of Legends = Historical figures duke it out with magic?

To be fair, Stuff like the iPad hasn't changed a lot cosmetically over the last five years IRL, so...

Says you. The alternates are Mana Transfer Dragon and Mana Tranfer Dolphin which are just as ridiculous as it sounds. They also make Shirou's interactions with Saber after the first one in the Fate route and Rin's reaction in the UBW route make not a lick of sense. In the story, the sex scenes are perfectly justified through the world's mechanics and both the second scene in the Fate route and the scene in the UBW route serve multiple purposes in regards to the romance subplot (Saber's in particular further showcases the dichotomy between the girl named Arturia and King Arthur).

What's worse is that the Mana Transference Ritual can actually be done with any bodily fluid (although I think semen and blood work best) so they theoretically could of replaced those scenes with something G rated but still using the same mechanic (although, of the options, semen certainly worked best since draining Shirou of his blood before the fight with Berserker would have made the fight a lost cause unless Avalon worked quickly).

Yes, those are hilariously bad, but no one can write a good sex scene so what else is new? I prefer them simply because that make far more sense as far as the narrative is concerned (which is the most important thing in the end, I think). And least they're pretty hilarious so they're still entertaining to read if you make fun of them.

NO.

New subject please.

Yeah, I still question the usage of sex scenes as for anything but fetish fuel, even they have a (rather dubious) explanation for them.

Heck, I can't help but wonder if the scene from Edge Of Tomorrow was a sort of Take That! at them:

*clears throat*

Hrh hrm.

Well, thank you Zelenal for that run down. Now I know which ones to watch, and that should be of great help to me. Anyway, I'm slightly surprised to see it crossed with Sword Art, but I suppose both settings are flexible enough to allow for such.

And perhaps I did misjudge Shirou, it's just I didn't watch it very far, maybe 3 episodes in, and the most I got from him was a guy with a Hero Complex (if I'm remembering the right red-haired protagonist) who became joined with a warrior deity of some sort. Nevertheless, my interest in the series has elevated, knowing there are better-received entries. Like Touhou, Puella Magicka Madoka, and Transformers, it gives off the vibe of a franchise with several, long entries that will take some time to digest.

@Yuuki Asuna

The concept is similar somewhat. Badasses from different worlds are summoned to a field of battle, while in-universe they are "controlled" or "joined with" summoners. Except its not a last man standing kind of situation (at least, I don't think), and I imagine that the magic system functions a little differently.

edited 8th Nov '14 5:37:58 PM by FOFD

A new arc, new OP animation, new ED, new girl, and a bunch of feel-good tidings all around this week.

Silica was especially cute this week too.

Shirou doesn't just have a hero complex, he's basically empty inside, and started trying to copy a heroic guy he knew so that he could have a purpose.

Basically the story is in three parts - the DEEN anime covers the first, the ufotable anime is covering the second, and a future ufotable movie will cover the third - but it's still best to read the VN. The story takes a while to pick up, mind, since the first route is mostly just establishing the setting. For more comprehensive info on all the spinoffs and everything, have a chart from 4chan.

edited 8th Nov '14 8:28:40 PM by Prime32

While that's a pretty good order, you really don't have to follow it in the slightest. For example, I read the first two route of Fate/stay night (yes, that's how it's capitalized), started up Fate/EXTRA, watched Fate/Zero, and now am watching Fate/kalied liner PRISMA☆ILLYA. Outside of direct sequels and prequels, they're all pretty disjointed from each other (and even then you can jump in at those places and be mostly fine).

However, as much as I love talking about the Nasuverse, this is all horribly off topic so let's move on.

Going back to that fan fic that began this derail, I can't help but think about how They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot with Aincrad. That fic is taking it's sweet time (it's almost at 300,000 words and I think they're on Floor 7 or 8) but it always feels like progress is being made and seeing all of these side characters interact and grow is great. In particular, due to a change in the outcome of the First Floor Boss, Kirito is spending a lot more time with Asuna (and people in general) from the beginning so we get to see their relationship slowly grow. All of the relationships are also progressing in a really realistic way (the characters will occasionally get into spats or get on each others nerves but they manage to move past it since it's rarely anything major). We're also seeing a completely different side of Kirito since the event with that one guild whose name I can't remember is a long way off from happening (assuming it ever will) so he hasn't gone full hero mode (which is fine before Shirou is more than making up for that and from the word "Go").

Also, just seeing Asuna interact more with other characters is great since it really fleshes her out. The author is good with her character since we can see precisely why she became second-in-command of the Knights of the Bloodoath (which probably won't be formed for a large number of reasons and she wouldn't join anyway since she joined Illya's guild as soon as it was made).

Really, I just cannot recommend that fan fic enough.

Episode 18:

• Sleep is contagious.
• Yay, Agil's actually speaking for once.
• Fairies in Aincrad. First time seeing it, I think.
• Gather round, folks. This is the Christmas Special about returning to that cozy cabin...
• Sleep is contagious.
• Asuna sure had it rough.
• This Zekken person's hot stuff. Look at all the people clamoring after his skill. Klein included.
• Yeah, Kirito need not fight for real anymore. And he's a log.
• Hm, so hot stuff, even Kirito feels inferior.
• HM? Asuna has a Sylph avatar as well? ...You can create another avatar?
• Sleeping Pina...
• Aw, the ending song's sweet. And the OP's the same, with minor adjustments.

Bring on the Asuna focus!

I don't think I've ever seen an MMO(in our universe I mean) where I couldn't create more than one character, though SAO!Aincrad is designed that way(for pretty obvious reasons.)

edited 8th Nov '14 10:17:20 PM by YuukiAsuna

Asuna has another avatar?! Where in Hell's real estate was all this noise!?

Go figure that VR would be the best place to do homework

Well, the point is that they don't really feel much physical fatigue at all when studying in VR. Plus they can zoom in if they need the increased magnification, and even look stuff up on the net directly from within the game. And I suppose there's also the fact that they can easily study together without having to go out of their way to make everyone's schedules mesh.

Spending half of the episode talking about awesome shit that happened off-screen is a major sin in my book. Why couldn't they just show us the awesome?

Because who the hell is remotely interested in sword fights? All that action, fighting, swording... no one wants that.

...... yes.. they do. ...or was that a joke?