Sword Art Online

We've seen Kirito broken before, though. Just rewatch the final episode of the Aincrad arc where Asuna breaks the rules of the game through the Power of Love to pull off a Heroic Sacrifice (yet another reason why Aincrad is the best arc).

That one doesn't count, it ends up being fine anyway.

Yes, it's a cheat, but he still completely lost his will to live for about a minute or so there.

The books are written in first person, right? I'm curious as to how the narration reads during that scene. Given how heart wrenching it was in the anime, I imagine it being much more effective if given first person narration.

I don't agree on principle, due to lack of visuals(no illustration) and voice acting, but it also hits too close to home for me to have a normal reader's opinion.

... But your imagination is supposed to provide both of those things for novels. Reading is simply no fun if you aren't actively imagining the scenes in your head. Surely you've seen a work where a character who normally bashes reading as boring but then starts reading a good book for some reason, falls in love, and says it's like TV just in your head.

Unless, of course, the narration is lacking. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if that's the case.

I've never seen a fictional character like that, though I have seen real people like that.

Words on a page give me about as much sound information as playing a video game(that I've already played with sound on) with the volume turned down entirely and visual information never gets beyond too vague without at least character illustrations (I watched the anime first though, so that much isn't a problem for me.) So it's kind of like watching TV except all the music and sound effects are too quiet while the visuals are like watching blurry photographs with bad lighting magnified to 800% for the purpose of covering the entire screen.

I'm just stupid though. I'm not like my math friends who can learn everything and anything about how it works after looking at the example for like 10 minutes at most and like my art friends who can't even understand how I don't have enough imagination to guess what an alternative perspective on a whale skeleton looks like based on the side and front view references.

Watching the new episode.

Woah, they almost totally changed the opening now.

MOM, YOU CAN'T PAUSE AN MMO. GOSH.

Jun is awfully fast for a tank. Not that movement speed buffs/equipment are rare in MM Os, though.

Yuuki so cool~

Obligatory Kirito scene. inb4 haters

edited 22nd Nov '14 10:06:39 AM by YuukiAsuna

I'll have to echo the sentiments said earlier and say that this doesn't count. He's broken for a while sure, but in the long run it does nothing to hinder him as he beats the bad guy and gets the girl in the end anyway.

In GGO, he angsts over having killed Laughing Coffin members, but it does very little to disadvantage him. Sure he has to face his demons by fighting Death Gun, a former member, but in the fight itself, it seemed as if he fought as he always did, with no repercussions.

There really isn't much actual "inter-personal conflict" that goes on with Kirito, just the physical conflict and the inter-personal conflicts of other characters that he helps them through, which kinda accentuates how overly ideal he is as a hero.

Now, I have no clue if any of this changes in Alicization, so hey.

edited 22nd Nov '14 7:46:42 PM by LatverianBadger

Hi Sleeping Knights, whose names I won't bother to remember! :3 Yuuki's so energetic Though Jun's voice does sound familiar.

"You took 2 years of YOUR LIFE. You'd think you'd never want to see it anymore." YES! Oh my GOD this is exactly the argument we all made in Season 1! What idiot youths would want to keep using this equipment that almost endangered their lives?!?

Oh wow two headed monster!

..oh okay… they….. fought it off-screen. … that's not typical for this show

... oh right. Kirito's in this show. -_____-

I will admit that it would have been a lot better if Kirito at least had nightmares over the fact that he saw Asuna die in front of him. Even if she didn't really die, that's the kind of psychological scarring that'll stick with you for very long time.

Of course, in order to do that, the writer would have had to acknowledge Asuna more so yeah.

He had major trauma in the GGO arc.

He doesn't get the girl defeating the bad guy, he doesn't have to lose the girl even after she makes her sacrifice for him.

I don't remember any interpersonal conflict(besides whatever issues he has with his enemies) occuring on Kirito's side. We're talking about the guy that is innocent enough to think this:

That's an appropriate response given that conversation's context.

shut up I don't want my misanthropic expectations to apply to Kirito of all people too

I mean

I guess? Though I'd be more likely to hear someone dodge the question instead or simply go in denial.

Why? Any other reaction would get you into some serious trouble. I mean, that's really kind of the main things about love that I've seen brought up the world over. Due to human nature, it's impossible to fully understand someone or to truly know them. Even still, when you love someone (be it romantic or familial or what have you), you want to know them more and to truly understand them. If learning something new about a person makes you stop loving them then you never truly loved them in the first place.

Seriously, personal beliefs aside, that's something I've seen brought up in fiction numerous times.

Kirito's response was the correct one which is precisely why the next line of dialogue is Asuna saying "Good answer."

edited 22nd Nov '14 8:56:40 PM by Zelenal

I don't remember Asuna specifically replying like that, but anyway my point is that I don't want it to be essentially "here have this obligatory socially acceptable answer that won't get you angry even though my actual feelings on the matter are probably different" instead of sincere.

Besides, I don't think anyone human actually follows that. Even parents, hailed to be the apex of unconditional love, don't. Not even stereotypically(you'll hear them going all "My child would never do X!" instead.) Even those blinded by their illusions of their sexual targets being perfection itself are disturbed by the thought of those people being human. Treachery isn't considered so horrible for no reason.

edited 22nd Nov '14 9:23:13 PM by YuukiAsuna

Episode 20:

• Yo, Sleeping Knights. Pleased to meet y'all.
• I...guess Asuna's mom has a point about being crazy enough to continue playing VRMMOs after that incident. B-But, well, it's...fun...now...? W-Well, therapists don't exist anyway, and the ones that are implied to exist are useless anyway(remembers Shino's ordeal).
• Heh, Asuna and Yuuki are pretty tight. At least it looks like they are. That was quick. Not that I'm complaining.
• Good news, Kirito won't allow you guys to ruin their last winter together. ...Hey now, at least he's not gonna help them take down the boss.

Speaking of Kirito, I'm pretty surprised his name only appeared like, once on that boss winner memorial.

Man, you guys don't know shit about how serious MMO addiction can be.

edited 22nd Nov '14 11:24:21 PM by YuukiAsuna

So...no one's commenting on his Ironic Echo? Okay...

They only showed two columns of it. I notice Sakuya's name appeared, at least.

And I suppose Kirito has never been one to take a leader role if he can help it. It's quite possible he participated in lots of boss fights, just rarely as a group leader. More surprising might be the absence of Asuna's name.

The OP is the same as last week's though.

Siune's face constantly looks a bit too dopey. I think they overdid the droopy eyelids thing. (Yuuki is still too cute though. And that voice!)

Ultimately, though, the thing I have with Kirito (since SAO 1, anyways) is that he doesn't really act human. He says all the right things at all the right times, so he rarely has to deal with crisis in his personal life. Everybody loves him (Both in a platonic and non-platonic manner). Heck, it turns out the only reason Yuki didn't let him into the group was because he "knew her secret".

He never slips and says something stupid. He deals with compromising positions like what happened in SAO 1 with Asuna with ease, and complete and total innocence. He is too much of a paragon of valor and chivalry with no sense of flaws or weaknesses.

In short: Kirito stinks. But on to episodes 18-20.

I agree with an earlier poster who asked if he was the only one who appreciated a arc focusing on someone besides Kirito. It is a big gulp of fresh air.

Granted, none of the characters in the Sleeping Knights have shown themselves to be characters yet, but they have potential. And Yuki is a charming character.

Asuna, meanwhile, gets some rather interesting introspective segments where we see how miserable she is in the real world. It was also a nice character moment to see her awkwardly react to the Sleeping Knights' trust and friendliness to her (and much more genuine than anything Kirito has ever said. Moving along...)

Of course, Kirito has to pop in to save the day again.

I hope you're right about him not fighting the boss. I have a bad feeling he's going to end up helping with that in some way...

edited 23rd Nov '14 5:22:00 AM by Clannadisawesome

I swear I saw her name, it was near the middle I think?

It would have been awesome for the SK to be able to defeat all of them. But let's be realistic, only kirito can do that.

You can rest assured.

edited 23rd Nov '14 5:31:27 AM by HanabiraKage

That's right.

That's a relief.

@Asuna last post of previous page: Could you remind me when that was? I'm not doubting you, I'm just forgetting...

edited 23rd Nov '14 5:57:22 AM by Clannadisawesome

Sachi.

Oh, that's right. SAO part 1 was the only time I ever felt Kirito was a well-rounded character. Poor Sachi though...