Characters / Sword Art Online Abridged - Major Characters

aka: Sword Art Online Abridged Leafa

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Main Characters for the series Sword Art Online Abridged. For the original series, see here.

Introduced in Season 1

Kazuto Kirigaya / Kirito

Kazuto Kirigaya / Kirito / xVx_K1r1t0_xVx_KillMe

"There's no need to wonder where your god is, cause he's right here ...and he's fresh out of mercy."

Voiced by: Matthew "YamatoSFX" J. Kok

Player: You're not better than us!
Kirito: My sweet-ass coat begs to differ.

The Hero of this series, or maybe it's better to call him the best player in SAO. This take on Kirito is an extremely snarky, sarcastic, and antisocial Jerkass with a low opinion of pretty much everybody who isn't him, though deep down he actually does care about others. It's just that it takes quite a bit to bring this out.

For the original Kirito, see here.

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• The Ace: Like his canon counterpart, Kirito is the most skilled fighter in all of SAO, but unlike the canon Kirito, this version also has a massive ego to show for it. However, some comments by himself and other players imply that he is nowhere near as impressive a person in real life and is actually placed fairly low on the social pecking order. When the audience finally sees his home life in episode 12, it's pretty clear he's only an ace in video games, as his younger sister frequently insults him and belittles his accomplishments.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
  • Surprisingly played straight, given that this is an abridged series. Sachi's death ends up proving to have a much more profound effect on him than his canon counterpart. In fact, the effect of his trauma is so strong he can go into a fit of sadistic anger if reminded of it.
    • Similarly, so did the events of being trapped in SAO — when he starts ALO in episode 13, he momentarily panics at the thought of being unable to logout, screaming that he doesn't want to die in there until he figures out the logout menu is activated by the other hand.
  • His overall jerkass personality while stuck inside of the game gets confirmed in episode 11 to be Kirito overcompensating for his inferiority complex in the real world.
• Adaptational Intelligence: Zigzagged. On the one hand, abridged Kirito averts a lot of his canon counterpart's Idiot Ball moments. He either recognizes that there's a problem much more quickly or notices the problems and doesn't care. On the other hand, abridged Kirito seems to lack a lot of the common sense that his canon counterpart has and is even more socially hopeless.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Even following Kirito's Character Development and coming to value human life, he's still a much bigger asshole than he is in canon, being a Troll who takes great pleasure in making those around him miserable. Kayaba outright calls him and Asuna the Lesser of Two Evils compared to him.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: The Unwanted Harem aspect of his female companions in the original anime is nowhere to be seen here, and each girl he meets has a unique dynamic with him, for better or worse. Justified, as this version of him is such an asshole that he drives everyone away except for Asuna.
• Adaptational Villainy: Complete with Evil Laugh. This Kirito is much darker, selfish, and unhinged than his canon counterpart. He's a massive dick to other players, is a Smug Super who flaunts his superiority upon weaker players while refusing to help them with their problems, and doesn't have a problem killing someone when pushed far enough, though he does get a Heel–Face Turn alongside his Character Development.
• Adaptational Wimp:
  • It's frequently implied that Kirito is a lonely loser in real life, somewhat in contrast to his canon counterpart where this is more of an Informed Flaw. Abridged Kirito's Insufferable Genius attitude does him no more favors offline, and his greatest strength — impressive skills in video games — is what makes people most likely to overlook or merely tolerate his character flaws. He's rendered pretty much useless outside of them.
  • His first duel with Heathcliff was pretty pathetic in comparison. In canon, Kirito overwhelmed Heathcliff with his sheer speed so that he was forced to cheat by getting help from the system. In the abridged series, Kirito gets so distracted formulating a plan that Heathcliff defeats him out in seconds without him even noticing.
  • Kirito implies in the first season that he gets bullied a lot in the real world, which plays a major factor into him falling into G.I.F.T.-antics online. This gets fully shown episode 12, where he gets beat and reduced to crying by Suguha in kendo. This is a far cry from the regular series where, through muscle memory, he actually does know how to handle a sword in real life. Not helping matters is the fact that this series acknowledges that he was essentially in a coma for two years, meaning his muscles atrophied significantly.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Canon Kirito is unable to ignore the suffering of others. Add in a healthy dose of misanthropy to show part of his reason to want to ignore others, along with several helpings of Ax-Crazy, and you have this version's Kirito.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When Lizbeth's past triggers his own trauma, he resorts to this to make her stop.
  • He asks for mercy when 'sparring' with Suguha. Doesn't help him, though.
• Alliterative Name: His real name is Kazuto Kirigaya. A terrible name, according to Asuna.
  Asuna: What am I supposed to call you as a nickname, "Kaz?" Yeah no, I'm just gonna stick with "Kirito".
• Aloof Ally: Because of his miserable life situation in the real world, he unapologetically enjoys being trapped inside SAO, though it doesn't stop him from participating in raids to clear the game, if only to flaunt his gaming skills to everyone around him.
• Anti-Hero:
  • Unlike his canon self, who's mostly a hero but sometimes drifting into Disney territory, this abridged Kirito is a full out Unscrupulous Hero.
  • In the Alfheim arc, having taken a level in kindness, he becomes a Knight in Sour Armor; He "saves" Leafa despite not having anything to benefit from, and he (begrudgingly) helps end the "race war".
• Arch-Enemy: He's got more than a few that constantly one-up each other. Strangely enough for a Misanthrope Supreme, only one of them is human.
  • Gary becomes this after causing Sachi's death by falling for the dungeon's Schmuck Bait and then teleporting to safety and leaving everyone to die. When they cross paths again, Kirito makes some small talk with him before sadistically sending him to the scrap heap. Even after the NPC is six feet under, saying his name is still one of Kirito's Berserk Buttons.
  • Don Fluffles, oddly enough. He was (indirectly) responsible for the death of Kirito's entire guild, most significantly Sachi. Apparently, they've had many an offscreen battle, assuming Kirito isn't just trolling everyone.
  • Nobuyuki Sugou takes his spot as this in Episode 12 after he kidnaps Asuna, earning him Kirito's unbridled fury.
  • Played for Laughs in Episode 13, where the annoying ALfheim game announcer voice earns itself a spot as this after driving him insane with its Totally Radical tutorial, especially after he tries to write his name input.
    Kirito: All this time, I thought Sugou was my true nemesis. But in reality, you were always the one pulling my strings. Weren’t you… Alfheim naming screen guy? *Insane chuckle* I may be losing my mind. Can I please just play the game now?
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Really skilled, and really arrogant about it. Since this version of Kirito prides himself on his video game accomplishments, he takes as much solace in his skills as he can. Kirito shows this by acting like a Smug Super around weaker players, even not stepping in when he could help in favor of smarking at them. He even gives out a Blasphemous Boast when facing Rosalia and her gang, as Kirito says "there's no need to wonder where your god is" when they prove incapable of hurting him.
• Ax-Crazy: In the time period between Sachi's death and his Jerkass Realization, he was prone to violent mood swings that claimed at least one human life and one NPC "life". If it weren't for his friends' influence, he could've easily become The Sociopath.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Although beginning as a very dysfunctional relationship with Asuna, full of bickering and mind games, the more time they spent together the more they came to care about each other. By the end of season 1 the two are a fully functioning, albeit unorthodox couple.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Despite at first glance being the biggest asshole of the protagonists, he also has the most solid moral code (which he often actively tried and failed to ignore even before his Heel–Face Turn) compared to Asuna, Yui, and Suguha, in part thanks to Sachi posthumously serving as his conscience. He also mostly stuck to himself through his adventure in SAO, other than his first day, most of which he spent annoying Klein.
• Badass Boast: Gives a lot of these as part of his characterization of being a Smug Super.
  Kirito: You see, girlie, you may think ya got me all figured out, but there's one thing you didn't account for: my numbers are bigger than yours! Funny thing, really. Get to a high enough level and you're basically untouchable! My wounds heal faster than you can cut them! We could do this all day, and you would not be any closer to beating me — not that it wouldn't be fun. But I've got good news. You see, there's no need to wonder where your god is! 'Cause he's right here! And he's fresh out of mercy!
• Badass Bookworm: Kirito is immensely Genre Savvy with various pop-culture, is an expert l33t gamer, and a computer nerd.
  Kirito: Prepare to feel the wrath of a pissed-off nerd with admin privileges!
• Badass on Paper: Kirito prides himself as the "Hero of Aincrad" and an elite gamer, but he can't shrug off the fact that in real life, he's a lapsed kendoka whose gaming experience was only ever useful because of Kayaba's Epic Fail. Worst of all, it's his bullying sister who is the dominant figure at home and school.
• Bad "Bad Acting": When he's forced to roleplay in Episode 16 in order to try and get an army of warriors, Kirito is very bad at it. His dialogue is stiff and wooden, he uses Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe, and he has no idea about any of the lore that he's talking about. At one point, when he asks the queen for help, the queen flat-out tells him "no", but Kirito just pretends she said "yes" and keeps going.
• Bad Samaritan: Unlike his original counterpart, this incarnation of Kirito often has a selfish reason behind his heroic deeds; he assists in the Floor 1 raid in Episode 2 just to get himself a Badass Longcoat as a reward, he accompanies Silica in her quest to revive Pina in Episode 4 only because Rosalia dared him not to, and he helps solve the Kains' murder mystery in Episode 5 only to prove his theory that the death had been faked (which it had). He becomes a lot more selfless in Episode 8 when he saves thee ALF raid party from getting themselves killed by their incompetent leader, despite having nothing to gain from this.
• Berserk Button: Kirito has several of these, and Rosalia pushed three of them at once. Kirito did not let her get away with it. They include, but are not limited to:
  • Insulting his level/stats or implying he's weak.
  • Insinuating that he sounds like a girl.
  • Being psycho-analyzed by someone who's obviously posturing.
  • Reminding him of Sachi.
  • Everything surrounding Sugou`s existence.
  • Cringy video game tutorials.
  • Saying he will never be Batman.
  • And let's not forget: GARY! The guy who left him and Sachi to die.
• Better with Non-Human Company: He's an unrepentant misanthrope and a self-imposed loner, so he considers a pair of NPCs to be some of his best friends. He also grows to regard Yui as his daughter, and, despite her concerns, he isn't in the least fazed by the revelation that she's an AI.
• Birds of a Feather: With Asuna, since the two of them are the only SAO players crazy enough to stick around each other for longer than a few days, even at their worst. Though it borders on Too Much Alike on occasion, with Asuna one-upping him each time, the two of them would do anything for each other, both in SAO and in ALO.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • In Episode 8, his Chronic Hero Syndrome finally gets the better of him and he single-handedly saves the lives of most of the ALF Members' lives by defeating Gleam Eyes, an act that drains his HP to 1.
  • Finally, in Episode 11, he cements his legacy as "The Hero of Aincrad" by killing Kayaba and logging every living player (save for Asuna and 300 others, who get kidnapped by Sugou) out of the game. Despite how much he enjoyed being in SAO, he knew that had he not challenged Kayaba or died during the duel, most other players would've eventually gotten killed due to how glitchy and poorly coded the game was.
• Broken Ace: He's a bitter, lonely loser with no pride in anything outside of his (admittedly godlike) abilities as a gamer, and he knows it.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • While in SAO, he had the unfortunate habit to double down on his Jerkassery after he has bonded with someone, which will often lead to this outcome. Silica is the most pronounced example, as she went from crushing on him to hating him in the spawn of three days.
  • The root of Suguha's persistent antagonism. She used to look up to him, to the extent of taking up kendo just to be more like him. Then he got bored with kendo and left the dojo to pursue programming, leaving her alone with their sexist grandfather, who put her through Training from Hell to get her to quit. The entire time, Suguha stuck with kendo in the hopes that Kirito would at least bother to come back to check up on her, but he never did.
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: In his second duel with Heathcliff, he manages to take down the cheating "Cheating Haxxor Faggot" at the cost of his own life. He gets better.
• Brought Down to Normal: Played for Drama in Episode 12 as we see that in the real world, Kirito has gone from the invincible hero of Aincrad, to a wimpy teenager helpless to stand up to Sugou and unable to hold a fight against his little sister. Zigzagged in the same scene when Kirito moans that he was still recovering from being comatose for two years.
  Kirito: Come on, Suguha! I just learned how to walk again.
  Suguha: Don't worry, you'll still be able to crawl maggot!
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: The few whom Kirito antagonizes or belittles within the game are quick to note that he's also one of the best damn players who knows what he's doing. Even Kayaba states that had he the drive, Kirito could have been leading entire armies of Players "Clearing Floor after Floor as The Great Savior of Aincrad."
• Cain and Abel: The Knight in Sour Armor Abel to Suguha's plain Jerkass Cain.
• Card-Carrying Jerkass: While at first he was only a stuck-up Troll who had to be told how much of an asshole he was to his face twice, he becomes this after Sachi's death, deciding to stick to himself and never bother letting anyone in his heart again. It's only after Episode 7 that he finds himself unable to ignore his conscience any longer and decides to drop the mask.
  Asuna: I can't believe you just left me with that guy!
  Kirito: Really? What part of that was out of character for me?
• Casanova Wannabe: Kirito likes to talk like he's the experienced gentleman when it comes to love and sex, especially to Asuna. When faced with the prospect of actually having sex, he's reduced to a paralyzed wreck.
  Kirito: Thanks for dinner, Asuna, but, uh, do you think it's okay for me to be over this late?
  Asuna: Why wouldn't it be?
  Kirito: Oh, sweet, naive, stupid Asuna! You might not be able to see the dubious implications but to a man as worldly as I... Eh, Asuna?
  Asuna: [now disrobed and with the lighting down] Why are your pants still on? We doing this or what?
  Kirito: [high pitched shocked squealing]
• Character Catchphrase:
  • When mocking the people around him, Kirito will sometimes sarcastically say "Oh wow."
  • He starts a lot of long-winded explanations with "For you see!" When Leafa tries to do the same thing, Kirito instantly shuts her down.
• Character Development:
  • Starting off as a stereotypical arrogant "l33t" gamer who treats weaker players as being expendable, he eventually Took a Level in Kindness and started to open up to people, only for that to backfire so horribly that he went "cold turkey" on emotions for a bit, before gradually recovering. His sociopathic relationship with Asuna was more of a contest at first before evolving into genuine love and desire for each other's presence.
  • It's to the point that by Episode 16, the old Kirito would have gladly committed a full-blown fight in order to get the army to save Asuna, while now he politely tries to negotiate between 2 warring clans and trying to convince them about his urgency, only being pissed off after The Reveal of the true reason behind the 'Race War' and the lack of their support.
• Character Exaggeration: Canon Kirito's Gadfly nature is amped up to fullblown Troll, where he goes out of his way to piss others off.
• Chick Magnet: Like his canon counterpart, he wins the affection of Asuna, Lizbeth and Silica more or less by accident. Unlike in canon, Kirito's other personality traits eventually drive all of them but Asuna away. And Asuna only sticks around because she's just as crazy as he is; she's just better at hiding it.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: For all of his posturing, he still finds it impossible to not help people when they need it. Admittedly, that mostly happens when they say the words that turn off his mental defenses, but he starts doing it on his own later, such as when he saves Suguha from a blueberry muffin she was choking on without comprehending it until she was clearing her throat.
• Collective Identity: Played for Laughs. Much to his dismay, he finds out that a huge number of ALfheim Online users typed in some take on "Kirito" for their avatars. Kirito himself has to use "xVx_K1r1t0_xVx_KillMe" as a handle, because everything else was taken.
• Comically Invincible Hero: Canon Kirito was an Invincible Hero with it being made obvious there would never truly be any risk of him dying in SAO. Abridged Kirito takes that and adds in a dose of Smug Super, to make his overpoweredness funny.
• Composite Character: He takes Argo's place as the one who wrote the player's manual.
• Curtains Match the Window: Has dark grey hair and eyes, almost to highlight how much of an Empty Shell he is. He keeps this attribute in all of his avatars.
• Cynicism Catalyst: Sachi's death made him even more cynical than he already was.
• Deadpan Snarker: It's second nature for him to run his mouth with sarcastic remarks. He frequently includes pop culture references in his speeches (which most people don't recognize), steps back when he could help for the sake of snarking, and rarely takes the threats on his life seriously.
• Defeat Means Playable: Played With in-regards to The Gleam Eyes: the 74th Floor Boss from Sword Art Online that Kirito managed to solo. In the Fairy Dance Arc, Yui: the Administration-Rank AI that was ported over into Alfheim Online; which was built from the same code as SAO manages to briefly transform Kiritos' player Avatar into that of The Gleam Eyes in order to deal with a group of Salamanders that were harassing them.
• Defiant to the End: While he doesn't die, he maintains his smug, insulting attitude all the way through Kuradeel's attempted assassination just to deny Kuradeel any joy from killing him.
• Defrosting Ice King: He comes to respect and value the friends he made in the game, and desires to free them from Kayaba Akihiko because every day they spend in the game he runs the risk of losing them. Despite the fact that the game is basically the perfect world for him since he's not facing any of the shortcomings of his real life.
• Didn't Think This Through: To test whether Guilty Thorn can indeed kill players in a safe zone, Kirito nearly stabs himself with it before Asuna intervenes.
  Asuna: Jesus Christ, what the hell are you doing?!
  Kirito: Well, clearly, I'm stabbing myself with this sword to see if it kills me — Oh, God, what AM I doing?
• Disabled in the Adaptation:
  • It's implied in Episode 17 that Kirito suffers from Asthma, and that it was the reason why he decided to get into videogames instead of practicing Kendo. It also goes into explaining why he hates being told that his voice sounds like a girl.
  • In Episode 11, he also apparently got half his penis ripped off after accidentally tearing off his catheter at the hospital.
• Disappointed by the Motive: Kirito tends to believe in the more traditional villain motivations, so when he sees just how petty or stupid some of his opponents are, he can't help but be let down.
  • He originally thought that Grimlock's reasoning for murdering his wife was to get a hold of a very valuable item she was in possession of, since married players shared inventory so nobody would suspect him. However, when he learnt that the actual motive was that she didn't make him dinner once and left him with dinner scraps, he's baffled.
  • When he finds out that Laughing Coffin, the most feared SAO Player Killing guild, sold their services on the cheap, he loses a lot of respect for them as opponents, and even encourages them to change their brand so that they can live up to their legacy.
  • While he never thought highly of Kuradeel, he initially believed that his irrational hatred for him stemmed from bitterness over being beaten in a duel. However, Kuradeel later confesses to be a Fanboy of Laughing Coffin who was upset that Kirito motivated them to change their image, and disliked the way they turned out after that. When he hears this, Kirito is unable to take him seriously even as he comes close to kill him.
  • By Kirito's own admission, he expected Kayaba to be some "machiavellian schemer" but was ultimately disappointed that Kayaba's initial actions were completely accidental. He was further disappointed to learn that Kayaba only doubled down on it to get out of the spiral of stress and sleep deprivation he found himself in, he was so sleep-deprived and stressed out that he genuinely believed that the mass deaths would affect the game's critic score online.
• Disappointing Older Sibling: He becomes this to his sister Suguha upon dropping kendo in favor of learning coding and playing videogames, leaving her all alone to face their sexist grandfather who bullied her into quitting, resulting in their relationship decaying. Upon hearing this, he has a Jerkass Realization, but the damage is already done.
• Dragon-in-Chief: He was by far the most powerful member of The Crew, even though Keita led the team. In fact, the only thing standing between him and leaving the group, if not just taking it over himself, was Keita's charisma-boosting hat.
• Dude, Not Funny!:
  • Him accidentally ripping his penis in half by breaking his catheter at the hospital is not funny. His sister disagrees.
  • Yui faking her death as a prank is not funny to Daddy Kirito. Mommy, on the other hand, is fair game.
• Empty Shell: Described as this by Rosalia in Episode 4, and he embraces it with joy. The end of the episode implies his adventure with Silica might have resurfaced some buried feelings, but it all dies when she rejects his friendship offer. As the story moves on, however, his friends manage to bring that spark back to life.
• Escapism: He has a worse case of this than his canon counterpart due to his lack of friends in real life, and Asuna even lampshades that if the game ends, he'll lose his wish-fulfillment fantasy. That said, he's still willing to clear the game to save his in-game friends.
• Establishing Character Moment: Killing a boar in one shot with only a pebble, and then using the oportunity to mock Klein's newbie knowledge by going on a long, sarcastic story about "The Mithril Pebble of Pig Smiting" that takes from morning til sunset, followed by Klein nailing down the crux of Kirito's issues with just one line.
  Klein: I have a feeling you get beat up a lot in real life.
  Kirito: [whiny voice] Shaddup! Here I have power!
• Everyone Has Standards: He may not be "the most broken sociopathic player" after all.
  • He hates pointless advertisements in video games, saying that "[they're] just disgusting".
  • He loves to mock other players and put them down (especially if they are The Millstone), but when Sachi tells him she's afraid her lag will get her and everyone she loves killed, Kirito is left without a comeback.
    Kirito: Well, shit. I don't know how to mock that. OH GOD! That's never happened to me before!
    Sachi: Well, maybe this is something you don'tneed to mock.
  • In Episode 5, when Kirito wakes up to find Asuna asleep next to him, the idea of taking advantage of her doesn't even occur to him. Asuna is completely baffled when Kirito says he just drew whiskers on her face when she was asleep, and asks what else he would do in that situation. It also surprises Kirito — not only did the thought never occur to him, but he completely fails to comprehend what Asuna's suggesting.
  • While he mocks Kains' "death", it's only under the (correct) assumption that he wasn't in any real peril, as he was in a safe zone.
  • Despite being a petty asshole himself, when Grimlock reveals his Stay in the Kitchen reason for killing his wife, Kirito is completely disgusted.
  • When the Kirito is Always Right Foundation's commercial implied that the cure for stupidity was to get all stupid people killed, Kirito quickly offered an alternative. Which was to give him money, while calling everyone else morons, but still.
  • Despite not being above rampaging himself, Silica's destructive tantrum after Pina dies for good leaves him shocked.
  • He clearly thinks Kuradeel is nuts; he's grossed out when Asuna says that he had been stalking her as she slept, and is shocked and appalled when he kills Godfree for being annoying, despite not being fond of Godfree himself.
  • Fucking fish is not okay for him, and he swiftly gets himself and Asuna away from Nishida when the pair catch him in the act.
  • Related to the Aren't You Going to Ravish Me? instance, he seems to stand by the notion that Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil. In Episode 12, Kirito is thoroughly repulsed by Sugou's harassment of a comatose Asuna. He is also offended by Suguha implying that he would make those same kinds of things to her while she's in that condition. This continues in Episode 13 when he thinks the roleplaying salamanders are going to rape Leafa, and he instantly steps in to help her, contrasting his general Apathetic Citzen demeanor.
  • In Episode 15, Kirito is clearly not impressed by Leafa brushing off Recon, despite the poor guy being head-over-heels for her. This is likely out of remorse for his equally aloof treatment of Sachi, Silica, and Lizbeth in SAO.
  • In Episode 16, Kirito is not only agitated that the entire Spriggan player-base named their characters after him to the point that he took several hours just to name his character, but is disgusted that the cornerstone of the RP Server of Alfheim's "lore" is a petty break-up taken way too far to the point that the Spriggans were wiped out and Cazmer's attempt to make the RP less toxic ends with him banned from the server.
  • When he sees the World Tree's fairy knights are blatant rip-offs of the B1-Battle Droids, he's exasperated at Sugou's shameless plagiarism.
• Eye Scream: At the end of Episode 6, he unwisely decides to boast to Asuna about having solved the "ghost" mystery by himself, and she promptly stabs him with a fork. Though the scene cuts away right right before the stab, the outro shows the Something Witty Entertainment logo with a fork through its eye, and Asuna had explicitly threatened to stab him in the eye were he to piss her off again.
• Fatal Flaw: His arrogance and overconfidence in his abilities as a gamer, spawned by the constant assurance that he's the best player in SAO. On two separate occasions, he challenges the best player in the game (Heathcliff/Kayaba) to a duel in order to settle a discussion, fully assured that he'll win thanks to his otherworldly skill set. He loses both times, with the second one almost costing him both his and Asuna's lives. In ALfheim, this affects him again when he tries to make a beeline for the World Tree without the assistance of Leafa or any of her fellow players, since he's in a hurry to save Asuna. Because of his lack of foresight, he gets riddled full of holes by Sugou's B1-Battle Droid Expies and almost wastes his chance to save her for good. After saving him, Leafa calls him out on this.
  'Leafa: What the heck were you thinking? Flying off by yourself. You think you’re some badash motherfudger who can do everything on your-
  Kirito: Thank you… for helping me out back there. There is perhaps a chance, small as it may be, that I may have jumped the gun.
• Freudian Excuse: He spent most of his early teenagehood being relentlessly bullied by his little sister, who used to be his best friend before she became more antagonistic towards him, with Kirito never knowing what he had done wrong. Because of this and some Parental Neglect, he hated being at home and sought escapism in video games, dealing with her abuse by bullying his fellow players in similar fashion.
• Funny Background Event: Abridged Kirito's eyes will often roll or look sideways in response to the person talking.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: "Detective Mode" makes Kirito's eyes glow bright gold. And so does Gleam Eyes Kirito.
• A God Am I: Kirito lapses into this after Rosalia intentionally pushes several of his Berserk Buttons, and he reveals that his level is so high that his wounds "heal faster than [they] can make them."
  Kirito: We could do this all day, and you would not be any closer to beating me, not that it wouldn't be fun. But I've got good news. You see, there's no need to wonder where your god is! 'Cause he's right here! And he's fresh out of mercy!
  [in the background, a random Mook begins crying in despair]
• Godlike Gamer: Kirito is a deconstruction of this trope in contrast to his canon counterpart. Despite being trapped in SAO, his experience and skill in video games allows him to become the most skilled fighter in the entire game. However, he is also (initially, at least) a stereotypical "l33t" gamer with a massive ego and a disdainful attitude towards weaker players. In addition, his excessive pride in his video game skills is shown to be him overcompensating for his inferiority complex in the real world — Asuna even points out that being trapped in a video game is Kirito's ultimate wish-fulfillment fantasy.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Kirito uses the words "Gee willikers" around Yui in Episode 13 instead of the usual profanity the series is known for. It's revealed in the next episode that ALfheim Online, being a kid's game, has a swear filter, and he immediately breaks down upon finding out.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: He was already an asshole before, but his self-imposed loneliness after the death of the Moonlit Black Cats completely drove him over the edge, and he's borderline sociopathic during his encounter with Silica in Episode 4. He gets a lot better after bonding with Asuna and Yui.
• Groin Attack: After waking up from SAO, the first thing Kirito does in the real world is accidentally rip off his catheter while getting up from the hospital bed. This incident kept him in the hospital for some extra time.
• Guile Hero: He convinced a Laughing Coffin hit squad to back off by convincing them they needed to go on a PR campaign and rebrand themselves to improve their business.
• The Hedonist: When Kayaba announces that he's trapping all the players inside of SAO and turning the MMO into a Deadly Game, Kirito is in no rush to return home, in no small part due to his terrible home life, and because of this he spends most of his time lounging around, clearing levels on his own for fun, or making fun of other players. In Episode 5, the news that 12 people died trying to clear a boss does little to wake him off his drug-induced nap.
• Heel Realization: Sachi is the first one to make him see that he has been an asshole, where he vows to be nicer to others. He does try for a while, albeit with difficulty. However, it is the death of Sachi and Keita that really pushes him to be a better person, experiencing grief for someone else for the first time. It doesn't last, though, as he shortly resorts to coping by abandoning emotions altogether. Eventually, however, he does grow into a more caring person, in large part due to Sachi's posthumous influence.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • When Silica snaps after they fail to revive Pina in time in Episode 4, The Stinger shows him just staring off in shock with claw marks across his face and her scream still ringing in his ears as fire rains all around him. Considering that he declared himself a god after Rosalia tried to break him before curbstomping her troops not that long ago, it really sells just how terrifying Silica really is when pressed.
  • In episode 11, when Asuna, Kirito is so devastated that he could only vaguely swing his sword in Kayaba's direction. Kayaba at least thinks Kirito's just trying to take all the fun out of their duel.
  • Later slips dangerously close to the Despair Event Horizon when he realizes he's utterly helpless to save Asuna in the real world beyond angrily flaming Sugou. He's barely drawn out of it by a picture of her Titania identity being sent to him.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: He flip-flops on whether he's closer to the heroic side or the sociopath side, but either way he retains a very twisted sense of morality.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In Episode 11, he challenges Kayaba to a fight to the death for the fate of the players, ensuring their freedom were he to win. He ends up achieving this goal, at the cost of his own life. Luckily, Kayaba eventually allows him to wake up IRL regardless.
• Hidden Depths:
  • He gives a rather touching speech about the value of a loved one in episode 6. He admits that he pulled it from a very deep place within him, where the emotions there scare and confuse him.
  • His comment about the Raguu Rabbit Stew "Flowers for Algernon"-ing his and Asuna's taste buds hints at his actual intellect. Generally, however, his references tend to be more pop-cultural.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: It is there, under all that crusty exterior of insufferable smugness and jackassery, despite his claims of having gone cold turkey on emotions. His speech on humanity in episode 8 really drove home the fact that he despises people. However, his time in the game has made it impossible for him not to care about them.
• Hope Spot:
  • A Played for Laughs version in Episode 12. Kirito is in a dream where SAO is real life, he's happily married to Asuna, and all the SAO victims are not really dead. Their world then shatters around them before Kirito awakens from the nightmare to the horror of real life.
  • Played darkly straight in episode three. After watching his guildmates get slaughtered in the trap room Kirito is informed by Klein that the item in the Christmas event might be able to resurrect players. Unfortunately, all he gets for his efforts is rare charisma boosting hat and completed slide into total misanthropy.
  • Played straight in Episode 16. After all the struggle in gaining the armies to invade the World Tree, the 2 leaders he tries to make peace blow him off for stupid reasons, making the entire quest pointless.
• Humans Are Morons: He really doesn't like people, and he will happily tell you why if he has the excuse. It makes his Chronic Hero Syndrome all the more remarkable to him.
• Hypocrite: Most of his red flags can be applied to himself, to the point where he might as well be the poster boy for this trope. He gets better in time.
  • He loves to go on agonizingly in-depth rants on SAO's lore, often as a way to troll other players, but he has the gall to complain about Silica rambling about her agonizingly elaborate childhood life in Episode 4. To be fair, he actually remembered all of it, including the crayons she liked to eat when she was four.
  • While rather mitigated due to being immediately followed by an admission of a Heel–Face Turn, he describes humanity as "selfish, ignorant, loud obnoxious pricks with...no redeeming qualities whatsoever" in Episode 8, despite arguably fit more or less the same mold back in Episode 1. Then again, it might've been Pay Evil unto Evil in his eyes, considering how Hypocrite Has a Point in regards to most SAO players.
  • He belittles and dismisses Silica's love for her NPC pet Pina, despite Episode 5 revealing that some of his best friends (Charlie and Derrick) had been NPCs as well.
  • His reaction when seeing people cry ranges from being apathetic to mocking them for it, despite being quite Prone to Tears himself. Then again, he hates it even more when people see him cry, so he might just hate public displays of vulnerability in general.
  • He resents Suguha for her constant mockery of his hobbies, as well as her abrasive personality. At the same time, he deals with her abuse by bullying other players in SAO in a similarly cruel fashion, using his in-game skills to get away with his actions.
• Hypocritical Humor: Spends his entire first day at SAO making fun of Klein, but quickly goes on the defensive when the latter fires his shots back at him, even running away in tears at the end of the episode just because Klein called him an asshole.
• I Know Mortal Kombat: Kirito's previous experience with video games is put to good use, given that he's living in the game world now.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: The death of Sachi really affected Kirito, cutting deep into his psyche whenever he hears someone tell him: "It's not your fault." or "Gary".
• Inelegant Blubbering: Upon restoring Yui in Alfheim, Kirito flat-out bawls at her return and is unable to say anything coherently in the moment.
• In Name Only: One of the most drastically different abridged series adaptations of a character to date, to the point where he's almost unrecognizable if it weren't for his name and physical appearance. His personality is taken full circle from a stoic Nice Guy with Chronic Hero Syndrome and a pack of Unwanted Harem, to a psychopathic Smug Super who starts off being devoid of empathy whom everyone hates. Abridged Kirito's voice doesn't resemble any version of canon Kirito, being far more high-pitched. The only element of his character that is kept from the original is his Undying Loyalty to Asuna.
• Innocently Insensitive:
  • During his and Suguha's earlier childhood, Kazuto got bored with kendo and decided to go into programming, which ended up taking so much of his time that he failed to notice how bad Suguha was having it dealing with their horribly sexist instructor of a grandfather all by herself. Suguha outright has to spell it out for him in Episode 17 just how much this hurt her. And he winds up putting Suguha through this again during said episode, as his fixation on rescuing Asuna at all costs only served to remind his sister just how little he paid attention to her when she was suffering.
  • When she (as Leafa) has a Jerkass Realization and starts crying Tears of Remorse, he (not knowing it's his sister) disregards her feelings again by telling her he doesn't have time for her drama and that they hardly know each other. This becomes tragically ironic when she later tells him that she doesn't know him anymore.
• Instant Soprano: Finishes off Season one with a particularly chilling one after accidentally ripping out his catheter at the hospital.
• Insufferable Genius: Klein (BallsDeep69) described Kirito as the most unbearable asshole that he's ever met, but he's willing to put up with him because he's really good at playing SAO.
• Internet Jerk:
  • Early hints of this are in the very first episode where Kirito gets quite peeved and defensive after Klein jokingly guesses that he often is on the receiving end of beatings when it comes to real life. Later in the episode, after shooting multiple insults Klein's way, he runs away crying after Klein calls him an asshole.
  • Played straight in Episode 12, where in the real world, he retaliates to Sugou's evil by flaming him on Twitter.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence: Episode 8 had everyone using the word "sword" as a substitute for Kirito's dick.
• I Reject Your Reality: Kirito quotes the Trope Namer. When Akihiko declares he is the God of this reality, Kirito replies with "I reject your reality and substitute my own." Akihiko is at first impressed by this, thinking Kirito was referencing The Dungeonmaster, but ironically, despite his encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture and his own parallels to the main character, Kirito didn't know its actual origin and thought it came from MythBusters.
• It's All About Me: From day one of being trapped in SAO, he prioritizes having fun with the game over helping the other players clear it, despite being the best player and one of their most useful potential companions. He only aids them when he has something to gain from it or when he feels like killing some bosses just to rub his superior skill set on the others. As the story moves forward, he warms up more and more to the players, despite knowing that it will only be detrimental for his enjoyment of the game, and by Episode 11, he elects to fight Kayaba one on one to ensure nobody else dies while he can still do something about it.
• It Amused Me: On a good day, he runs on this, insulting, belittling, pranking, scamming, trolling, and humiliating people for a quick laugh. Due to his high level, no one can really stop him from doing what he wants.
• Jerkass: Oh, yes. This is a far cry from the original Kirito. Abridged Kirito is a smug, Internet Jerk who would rather spend his free time in Aincrad taunting rookie players like Klein than participate in a quest. Almost everyone he comes across seems to think he's unbearable.
  Klein: You may be the most UNBEARABLE asshole I’ve ever met, but you are REALLY good at this game.

  Sachi: You know, I’m starting to see why people think you’re an asshole.

  Silica: Don’t take this the wrong way, Mr. Kirito. I’m grateful for your help, but you’re like the worst person I’ve ever met.

  Tiffany: Kirito? Well, if it isn’t my least favorite customer.

  Lizbeth: God, you're such an asshole. I can't believe I wanted to sleep with you.

  Kayaba: (In regards to his Duel to the Death proposal) You know what? Sure. Stabbing you in the chest sounds fucking therapeutic right about now.

  Asuna: Most people would, charitably, refer to you as the crown prince of douchebags, long may he reign. Your usual reaction to human suffering is to pull up a chair and crack out the popcorn! What’s your angle?!

• Jerkass Has a Point: The "Kirito is Always Right Foundation" wasn't created for nothing.
  • Rude and hypocritical as he may be, he's often correct about the average SAO player's potential "topping at assistant manager at Kinkos". Diabel, Tiffany and even Kayaba eventually come to agree with him.
  • He points out that Silica's extremely dangerous quest to revive Pina is foolish and pointless, considering Pina is an NPC.
  • He was actually right about Kains' death being faked, as well as Yolko's ghost story being complete bollocks. He also single-handedly discovered the identity of Griselda's murderer, even if he failed to guess his motivation (and that ghosts were actually real).
  • He coldly shrugs off Leafa/Suguha's feelings while she's undergoing a Heroic BSoD, but considering he's in a race against time to save Asuna from a deranged rapist (and that her master plan to aid him had turned out to be a total waste of time), his reaction is understandable.
• Jerkass Realization:
  • Downplayed in Episode 3 during his talk with Sachi. When she opens his eyes as to how much of an asshole he was, he does take her advice to heart, but soon goes back to being a dick. Played Straight for the rest of the episode, as he makes genuine attempts at being nicer for her sake. Tragically, when doing so gets her killed, he vows to never let himself warm up to anyone again, and not only relapses a second time but becomes considerably meaner.
  • In Episode 11, he confesses Klein's advice on not giving up on humanity back in Episode 8 slowly motivated him to reassess his Misanthropic ways.
  • Possibly comes back again in Episode 17 when Suguha accusing him of not caring for her due to Motive Misidentification makes him hang his head in shame, likely remembering and regretting all those instances he'd acted aloof towards the needs of not just Suguha (since its left unclear how his behavior was back then) but also Klein, Sachi, Silica and Lizbeth.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
  • Starts showing traits of this in Epsiode 8, when his Chronic Hero Syndrome gets the better of him. Fully embraces it in Episode 11.
  • By the ALfheim arc, this seems to have stuck, as he treats most players there with kindness whenever he can, even when they're complete assholes. Suguha soon picks up on this, triggering a Jerkass Realization of her own.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: He spends most of Season 1 being an unbearable Smug Super due to being the best player in Sword Art Online, bullying and looking down on his fellow players and laughing off their problems and struggles, all the while refusing to help clear the game due to not wanting to lose his privilege. Though he does have a change of heart halfway through his journey, he's hailed as a hero and mostly gets away with his bullying... until Season 2 comes by with Nobuyuki Sugou, his game ALfheim Online and Kirito's little sister and Distaff Counterpart Suguha, and he's forced into another MMO in which he has next to no experience, becoming the resident Butt-Monkey of the new game, and being subjected to the same treatment that he put his companions through in the previous MMO.
• Kick the Dog:
  • His Establishing Character Moment shows him spending his first day at SAO making fun of Klein for not being able to kill a pig with a rock, ruining the poor guy's first game for shits and giggles.
    • Later in the episode, he unapologetically suggests using him as cannon fodder for a mini-boss. Keep in mind this is after having been informed of SAO's permanent death feature.
    • Anytime he calls him "Balls" counts as this as well. Doubly so in episode 3, when he notably calls him by his real name after he helps him acquire an item that supposedly can revive players, only to call him "Balls" again after the item turns out to be the same Charisma-boosting hat that Keita used to force Kirito into joining his guild. Luckily, he stops for good in Episode 8.
  • As a beta tester, he had the privileges to edit the players' guide, and he used it to prank other players for a laugh. He doesn't change this even after Kayaba traps everyone inside.
  • Pranking Asuna when she asks for her share of his Badass Longcoat may count as this unless you believe she deserves it.
  • Telling Sachi that "no one cares" about her lag issues. The fact that he does care deep down only emphasizes that he just said it to be a dick.
  • He's pointlessly rude and aloof around Silica, and spends most of Episode 4 mocking her quest to rescue Pina.
  • Probing at Schmitt's greatest fears during his interrogation in Episode 5, then shrugging it off when he has a mental breakdown.
  • Lizbeth forges the best sword of the game for him for free and he calls it "The Piece of Shit", turning her great achievement into a poop joke. The poor girl certainly didn't deserve to be humiliated like that. Subverted when he later reveals he was only kidding and that he didn't actually spread the dragon poop joke, though she probably won't learn that until she talks with Tiffany after the game is won.
  • He tells his friend Tiffany that he'll save him a plate of the S-class meal he hunted... at Asuna's house. His laughter afterwards makes it clear he did it to mess with him.
• Kick the Morality Pet: The people he treats the worst are ironically the ones he cares the most about. Though Asuna gives as much as she gets (and then some), Sachi, Silica, Lizbeth, and Klein never did anything to warrant his cavalier treatment of them, and Kirito knows that despite his stubborn misanthropy.
• Knight in Sour Armor: By Episode 11, he's grown into this. He still thinks that most of humanity is idiotic and thinks that getting stuck in Sword Art Online is one of the best things to ever happen to him, but he's willing to see that they have some good qualities, like being willing to risk their lives coming to the boss raid, and willing to fight Kayaba to end the game if it means that he can protect the few friends that he's made.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Kirito is so focused on the aerial combat aspect of ALfheim Online that he's completely in his own little world, gushing about flying around and beating down noobs like in the Aincrad days until Tiffany brings his attention to the picture of Asuna's holding place.
• Lack of Empathy: One of the clear contrasts between Kirito before and after Character Development is his inability to care about someone else. It is the death of Sachi that manages to push him towards being more human. Nearing the end of the first season, Kirito is putting his life on the line for others, even verbally defending a mass of players from Kayaba despite his own negative views about them.
• Last of His Kind: The abridged series justifies the lack of Spriggan PCs running around in canon during the Fairy Dance arc as this since Eugene/Becky and Sakuya/Brian chased their player base off the server all because Kirito Prime/Ted tried to get them to talk without picking a side in their break-up.
• Lesser of Two Evils:
  • Kayaba outright calls him this after their duel. As much of an asshole as he is, he's much more approachable than other villains in the series, like Rosalia, Laughing Coffin, Grimlock, Kuradeel, Fluffles, The King of Ashes, and even Kibaou.
  • He's also this to Asuna, who is a full-fledged psychopath, while Kirito is capable of showing compassion towards others, but simply refused to out of stubborn misanthropy until his Heel–Face Turn.
• Loners Are Freaks: He wants to make friends with others, but due to his Insufferable Genius, and sociopathic tendencies, he ends up chasing others away.
• Lost Food Grievance: In Episode 6, he briefly mourns the sandwich Asuna made him drop, even putting on hold The Reveal of Kains' and Yolko's mysterious "deaths" to grieve for it.
  Kirito: My sandwich. [drops to his knees] It was innocent.
  Asuna: Kirito are you gonna-
  Kirito: Shh. I must grieve.
• Made Myself Sad: In Episode 5, he protests Asuna's plan to use NPCs as bait on the basis that some of his best friends are NPCs. He then hears Gary in the background and gets reminded of his dead guild.
• Mask of Sanity: While he does nothing to hide his insufferable asshole personality, he has an even deeper twisted psychotic personality under the surface. The telltale signal he's about to lose it is his irises shrink down. Certain triggers will cause him to lapse into a psychotic killing spree as Rosalia and Gary find out the hard way.
• Medium Awareness: He can hear and interact with the Narrator in episode 2.
• Mirror Character: Despite serving as his Foil in the Aincrad arc, Kirito ended up in the same shoes as Klein while in ALfheim; being stuck with an Embarrassing Nickname (xVx_K1r1t0_xVx_KillMe for Kirito, Ballsdeep69 for Klein) and tormented by a veteran (Leafa for Kirito, Kirito himself for Klein) who later would end up warming up to them and becoming a better person thanks to their influence (Suguha realized how unfulfilling her bullying of her brother was, Kirito gave up his misanthropic ways in favor of freeing the other players from SAO). Kirito's Straight Man tendencies in ALO also mirror Klein's in SAO, as does his kinder approach to the other players.
• Misanthrope Supreme: Eventually subverted, as he really, really, wants to be this. Unfortunately, Sachi's influence brought his Hidden Heart of Gold to the light of day...
  "[People] are without question, a complete write-off of a species, AND HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME CARE ABOUT THEM!"
• Murder by Inaction: He seriously considered letting his abusive sister choke to death on a muffin, even if he did ultimately help her out and got only more insults in return.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Has a silent version of this in episode 17, when it's revealed Suguha's hatred of him was kick-started by him leaving kendo (not knowing how invested she was in the sport) in favor of coding when they were younger. This left Suguha to be put through Training from Hell by their sexist grandfather, who was doing it to get her to quit. The fact that Kirito routinely missed this caused Suguha to resent Kirito, which she spills out at the end of the episode. After Kirito says he had "no idea" that this was happening, Suguha tells him to leave her alone and closes the door in his face. The episode ends with Kirito standing still, silently, in front of Suguha's door.
• My Greatest Failure: Seems to regard Sachi's death as this. Anyone even remotely bringing it up will send him into some form of a Heroic BSoD.
• Mythology Gag: Kirito getting stuck at the username creation for ALfheim Online appears to be a reference to a "Sword Art Online on Crack" video that did the same joke of Kirito trying countless usernames.
• Never Be Hurt Again: Kirito temporarily 'killed his feelings forever' after failing to revive any of his dead guildmates, but especially Sachi, so that he doesn't feel sad or upset anymore. He eventually grows out of it.
• Nominal Hero: He starts off as this, being a borderline villain but sided with good due to sharing the common struggle of being in a death game. He grows out of this over time to more of a Good Is Not Nice Knight in Sour Armor who is firmly on the side of good despite being very reluctant to help others.
• Noodle Incident: He's apparently had several encounters with Don Fluffles, one of which apparently involved Fluffles falling off a cliff. He also somehow pissed off the King of Ashes enough to break the truce he negotiated with Heathcliff.
• No Social Skills: Whereas this was an Informed Flaw in the canon, it's played much more realistically in the abridged version. Kirito's lack of social skills makes even people who like him think he's an asshole.
• Not a Morning Person: Implied by this bit after experiencing a nightmare.
  Kirito: 7:15, in the A.M.! No human is awake at this hour! Except...
• Oblivious to Love:
  • It's less about Kirito being blind to Asuna's love and more about Kirito lacking an understanding of love to begin with. Asuna's gestures of affection only serve to confuse him when he's long since been used to seeing her aggressive side. He gets over this by Episode 9 though, and the two do eventually become a couple.
  • He also doesn't realize that Liz is interested in him until she outright says so (though by that point, she's already gotten over him after realizing how big of an asshole he is).
    Liz: I can't believe I wanted to sleep with you!
    Kirito: Heh heh, yeah, bet you feel pretty stupi— wait, WHAT?! When was that on the table?!
  • He was apparently also unable to see Suguha worshipped him when she was a kid, as well as the fact that she took in kendo only to emulate him. Though this might be partly on her as well.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • In every form, from the annoyed "DAMN IT!" when he realizes he actually does care about people, to the small, subtly-horrified "Oh no." when Yui reveals that there is a catch to her takedown of the Floor 1 Reaper boss.
  • Also a minor one when he realizes who is awake at the morning for Kendo practice in Episode 12.
• Only Sane by Comparison:
  • He's hailed by many characters (and by himself) as the Only Sane Man in SAO, which isn't very far fetched when the game is filled to the brim with psychopaths and complete idiots. However, most of his interactions with saner characters like Klein, Sachi, Silica, or Lizbeth show that he's still a delusional asshole who actively seeks to antagonize people regardless of how much they deserve it, and who throws a tantrum when called out on it. However, as the series goes on, he becomes easier to sympathise with due to his increasing kindness and the increasing lunacy of the players around him (especially once he starts playing ALO).
  • In later episodes, he's this in regards to his relationship with Asuna, who becomes a full fledged Yandere while he at least tries to be a better person. However, Episode 10 shows that they both have the same communication issues.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: See Ain't Too Proud to Beg above. Lizbeth's past touches too much of his trauma and he shows his embarrassing point to boot.
• Papa Wolf: Developed a strong case of this towards Yui that he was not going to condone Yulier threatening to fight Yui when she was badmouthing her Guild Leader. Taken further in that he hacked an Admin Console in order to save Yui's code from being deleted.
• Parental Favoritism:
  • Despite allegedly being a neglectful parent otherwise, his mother convinced him to learn the more high-level trade of coding while Suguha had to make do with kendo. However, it's revealed in Episode 17 that he suffers from asthma, making her decision understandable.
  • More seriously, his grandfather favored him as a student, and put Suguha through Training from Hell just in the hopes that she would give up.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: As much of an asshole as he can be, the victims of his more brutal actions are massive pricks as well.
  • He is seriously tempted to let Suguha choke to death on a muffin after how brutally she treats him.
  • He slits Rosalia's throat after she sends her guild to kill and loot him and Silica, although mostly because she said he sounded like a girl.
  • In Episode 5, he stabs and hacks one of the NPCs he was defending earlier in the boss tactics meeting. Only, said NPC is Gary, the guy that left Sachi, Kirito and the rest of the party behind to fend for themselves after triggering a trap, which led to the deaths of everyone in the party but Kirito. Despite Gary being an AI, from Kirito's perspective, he had it coming.
  • Kirito destroys Eugene/Becky after getting challenged, but after learning that Eugene was the one of the commanders of the forces who griefed every single Spriggan into leaving the server after their leader attempted to patch a bad breakup, it's hard to feel sorry for Eugene.
• Pet the Dog: Even before his Heel–Face Turn, he still had a hidden sensitive side.
  • He tries to offer Diabel a health potion after Ilfang mortally wounds him, and tells him that they probably would've been friends had they met under different circumstances.
  • After back-pedalling a bit, he does try to act nicer around Sachi out of genuine sympathy for her, with varying success.
  • He also futilely tries to save Keita from killing himself after his guild is dissolved.
  • In Episode 3, he finally calls Klein by his preferred name as thanks for intel on a supposed revival item, although he relapses after the item turns out to be a hat. In Episode 7, he does this again, and this time it sticks.
  • He saves Silica from the gorillas early in Episode 4, despite having no reason to.
  • While he kills Rosalia for her troubles, he spares her men, despite the fact that they had tried to kill him.
  • After Laughing Coffin hand Yolko, Kains, and Schmitt over to him as slaves, he immediately "releases" them after some teasing.
  • Despite his immense ego, he has no problem congratulating Asuna on her feats when he can, such as her idea to use Yolko's friend list to track her down.
  • Even though he mocks Lizbeth for wearing a skirt in a mountain, Kirito still gives her a cloak to keep her warm. This event causes her to open up to him a bit more. It's also revealed in Episode 11 that he didn't actually call her sword "The Piece of Shit", although sadly she wasn't present to see it.
  • In Episode 8, he defends Asuna from Kuradeel's stalking when she acts distressed, despite knowing that she could probably get rid of him herself. Furthermore, he goes out of his way not to hurt the visibly insane Kuradeel during their duel, trying to let him off with a broken sword and a warning.
• Pop-Cultured Badass: Much to Kayaba's excitement.
  • In addition to his mastery of the game, he has a wide array of knowledge regarding movies, video games, comics and literature. It's what tips him off to Heathcliff's true identity.
  • When Suguha tries to probe on Kirito's relationship with Asuna, Kirito begrudgingly expounds on a boy-meets-girl sequence of events that sound quite close to the truth. Suguha doesn't bite because he's summarized the plot of The Lake House, implying that she's seen the same movies as he does, or that he's done this kind of thing to her before.
• The Power of Love:
  • Defied. Kirito tears this trope apart in episode 10.
    Kirito: The power of love is bullshit! Power of swords and violence, that's where the money is.
  • Later played straight in episode 11 where it is Kirito's love for Asuna which gives him "something to fight for" and grants him the will to fight on against Kayaba.
• Properly Paranoid: Played With. His first assumption to why Suguha plays A Lfheim Online was to directly mess with him so he could never escape her bullying. He's wrong on the front that she got it to mess with him, but he was right that, upon finding out who he was, Suguha did deliberately start impeeding his quest to find Asuna and only stopped when Yui threatened her not to.
• The Protagonist: Starts off as the Villain Protagonist of the show, but gradually becomes a more straightforward example as the events that surround his quest for survival change him for the better.
• Psychopathic Manchild: He tries to aloof when he's around other people, but he starves for attention and easily breaks into emotional fits when other people insult him. Many episodes start with someone asking for him help, him acting smug which turns away the player, and then him forcing himself into the situation just so he can be around other people.
• Red Baron: In this series he earned the title of "Hero of Aincrad", which may or may not be self-imposed. He even uses it as his twitter name. Episode 15 also has Recon refer to Kirito as "The Black Swordsman."
• Revenge is Sweet: Killing Gary was pure catharsis for him, as he had left Sachi, Kirito and the rest of the party behind to fend for themselves after triggering a trap, which led to the deaths of everyone in the party but Kirito.
  Kirito: Choke on it! Choke on my vengeance! How does it taste?!
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
  • He brutally kills Rosalia when the latter pushes most of his Berserk Buttons.
  • Later, he kills Gary in front of other players due to vengeance against Gary escaping with the crystals and leaving them all to die.
• Sad Clown: Later episodes show that Kirito always cracks jokes and continues being a troll may actually be as a coping mechanism for all of the tragedy and anguish he's faced such as Sachi's death.
• Sanity Slippage: Sachi and Keita's death really broke him and he becomes even more unhinged and psychotic than he was at the start of the season, culminating in the brutal murder of Gary, the NPC whom he deems responsible for the ordeal.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: Completing his whiny Internet Jerk characterization are the high-pitched shrieks he makes when genuinely startled.
• Shadow Archetype: He becomes this to his canon self after someone livestreams his "No More Holding Back" Speech and Curb-Stomp Battle with the Gleam Eyes; Canon Kirito started off as a savior with a Hidden Heart of Gold-hiding facade and struggled with hiding the secret of being the most powerful player in the game. Abridged Kirito reveled in his power from the beginning, but now has to struggle with being a Nominal Hero unwillingly placed in the role of, as Tiffany sarcastically puts it, "The Chosen One."
• Shared Family Quirks: Sadly like his sister, upon finding out his sibling was in the game, concludes the only reason for it was to hurt the other.
• Showy Invincible Hero: Now that he has reached a high enough level in the game, he's basically untouchable by everyone with a much lower level, and he loves to rub it in.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: To the point that discovering that ALfheim Online has a Gosh Dang It to Heck! profanity filter causes him to have a brief Heroic BSoD.
• Skewed Priorities: Played for Laughs. When he enters ALO to save Asuna, he spends a lot of time trying to input his username, eventually landing on xVx_K1r1t0_xVx_KillMe when all the others turn out to be already taken.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: His relationship with Asuna had this to an even greater extent than canon. They started off as a fierce snark fest and being at each other's throats, before developing feelings for each other and evolving into a functioning, albeit sociopathic relationship.
• Smug Super: He has a massive ego and comparing him to the same level as lower players is not a good idea.
• Sociopathic Hero: Subverted. Kirito initially comes off as a low-functioning type, having little empathy for others, not regretting the carnage he causes, and showing a constant need for stimulation satisfied by video games and/or fighting. As the series goes on, it's shown that Kirito actually can bond with others and care about his fellow players in his own way.
• Sore Loser: He does not take losing a duel with any grace whatsoever. He throws a hissy fit when Heathcliff defeats him in Episode 9 (and so does everyone else at the arena), and mentally curses up a storm when Sugou's fairy guards swarm and defeat him in Episode 17.
• Space Jews: The Spriggan class he chose in ALfheim Online is treated as equivalent to a Jew in the middle of the #RaceWar, with multiple jokes about him being greedy, treated as below other classes, and referred to as a "filthy Spriggan". Then it's revealed that not only did the Spriggans take Kirito's name for their player profile, after Kirito Prime (Ted)'s negotiation attempt failed, the Sylphs and the Salamanders griefed every Spriggan into quitting the server and spread rumors of their being greedy and filthy.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: He can apparently communicate with Fluffles, who is a cat. After a conversation between Fluffles and Kirito, Heathcliff wonders if Kirito really can speak "cat," or if he's just messing with everyone. Asuna replies that, knowing Kirito, it could very well be both.
• Stock Light-Novel Hero: Being an abridged series it actually deconstructs the concept. He's far from the Nice Guy hero that are common to the genre, being a sociopath who holds little regard for human life and part of his Character Development being learning to care. While he's similarly overpowered, he's also a Smug Super who loves rubbing it in everyone's faces. He starts off as a Chick Magnet who attracts girls, but his obnoxious personality always repels them away before he acquires his Unwanted Harem with only Asuna so far being able to stand being around him. He also learns his skills along the way rather than being given them with no explanation.
• Stop Worshipping Me: He is less than pleased to find out he's some kind of Messiah for weaker players in both SAO and ALO. The entire Spriggan player base from the latter naming themselves after him to the point that he spent hours just trying to find an unused variant of his favored username he could work with didn't help.
• Straight Man: While still far from perfect, he becomes this in Season 2, where he's one of the few characters who calls out the toxic environment in ALO (the others being Cazmer and Kirito Prime who both end up banned from the game). Furthermore, since he's on a mission to save Asuna, he's much more focused and on target than his fellow players, who mostly want to enjoy their time in the broken MMO.
• Strong and Skilled: Much like canon he racked up extremely high stats as well as the skill and experience as a beta-player to use them to maximum efficiency. However, unlike canon, he's all too eager to remind everyone else of this.
• Teens Are Monsters: At 16, he came very close to reaching sociopathic levels of Jerkassery. His experience in SAO managed to break him out of it, and he's almost a completely different person after waking up from his 2-year coma.
• Took a Level in Kindness:
  • While he still shows a level of disdain towards everyone, Kirito is shown to be willing to save innocents even if he hates it, and even calls BallsDeep69 Klein when the latter tells him not to give up on humanity.
  • By Season 2, his sarcastic streak is still around but it's very obvious that the events of Season 1 has changed him for the better. Notably, he's almost nothing but nice and even protective of Dogged Nice Guy Recon when Leafa is clearly abusing him.
• Tranquil Fury: In Episode 5 when Gary shows up, an unhinged Kirito starts off by greeting Gary like an old friend before proceeding to stab him to death.
• Trauma Button:
  • Sachi's last words (though in the context of 'it's not your fault', it was the last two that were repeated in a demonic hellvoice). Hearing them made him compulsively stop and help Silica, he desperately prevented Lizbeth from saying them, and even triggered himself while trying to ignore a bunch of adventurers who were about to get themselves killed.
    Kirito: I know what you're doing. You think we should follow them. Well, I'm not playing your game. Whatever happens to them, it's not our... [Beat, then angrily] DAMMIT!
  • To a lesser degree, bringing up his catheter incident in Episode 11 will instantly get him to freeze up, which Suguha exploits in Episode 12. According to him, the memory of his penis being torn in half still haunts him at night.
    Suguha: Yeah, well, you would’ve gotten out a lot sooner if you hadn’t been a tard and ripped your dick in ha-
    Kirito: [nervous laughter] can we not… please? Sometimes, late at night, I can still hear it… tearing.
    Suguha: Oh, boo-frickedy-hoo. It’s not like you were ever gonna make much use of it anyway, you fuckin’ virgin.
• Trauma Conga Line: It becomes increasingly clear just how deeply Sachi's death affected him, such as his Wrong-Name Outburst in episode 7, or his self-inflicted Armor-Piercing Question in episode 8. After he escapes SAO, his problems only get worse, as he has to deal with his abusive sister, discovers that Asuna is in a coma and about to be married off to a sleazy corporate psychopath, and then finds out that Asuna's mind is trapped in ALfheim by the aforementioned psychopath. Even when he returns to being a Godlike Gamer in ALO, he acts much more melancholy due to being an Only Sane Man in a RP server turned horribly toxic and being unable to explain how important his mission to invade the World Tree actually is.
• Undying Loyalty: To Asuna, the human being he cares about the most in the world. He's even willing to blast through an irreparably broken ALfheim in order to save her from an insane pervert.
• Ungrateful Bastard:
  • When Asuna invites him to a meal, he can only complain about the low-quality of the restaurant.
    Asuna: Serves me right for trying to do something nice for you.
    Kirito Yeah, remind me to draw on your dace more often. I'll eat like a king. Or at least a very wealthy janitor.
  • Subverted in Episode 9, where he sincerely thanks Asuna for saving him from Kuradeel, and later in Episode 17 when Leafa saves him from ALO's sentry guards.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Kazuto getting bored of kendo and subsequently quitting had disastrous consequences on his relationship with his sister and both of their mental well-beings. Her perseverance in the face of their sexist grandfather's attempts to make her quit is what led to Suguha hating him so much, and her abuse of him in turn led to the feeling to become mutual and both to become the embittered Jerkasses they are when they first respectively appear. To make matters worse, it's implied that he actually quit kendo because he has asthma, but never told his sister that, meaning her perseverance was pointless because he couldn't get back into kendo for health reasons.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: The few friendships he has work out like this, since his jerkass behavior still pisses them off, but they're able to acknowledge he's got a Hidden Heart of Gold. Among his friends being Lizbeth, Tiffany, and Klein.
• Vocal Dissonance: In-Universe it's pointed out he sounds like a girl, he does not take well to that comparison. Episode 17 shines some light on this in that it's implied Kirito suffers from Asthma, and sees it as a very sore subject to be reminded of.
• What Is This Feeling?: After the deaths of Sachi and Keita, Kirito is in mourning. He is, however, unable to comprehend the emotion, describing it as "this weird pain in my chest", something which completely puzzles him as he doesn't remember taking any physical damage from the fight, and he believes he can cure it the usual way; by collecting some rare item. Klein has to explain the concept of grief to him before he gets it.
• What You Are in the Dark: He realizes he can leave his horribly abusive little sister to choke on her food. Not only would her death not be his fault, but also nobody would ever know he could've done something to save her and didn't. He still helps her, much to his chagrin.
• Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Shown in his image above. This is the main physical distinction between canon and abridged Kirito, which he gets whenever he's enraged or psychotic. Or horrified, as seen often in Alfheim.
• Would Hit a Girl: In Episode 4, he effortlessly kills Rosalia after she provokes him, though considering she was the leader of a PK guild, her death was deserved.
• Would Hurt a Child: Casually implies he's willing to dump Yui on a street corner shortly after meeting her. This is notable because he didn't know she was an AI yet. His joke regarding the kids at the orphanage also suggests this, although it's clear he was just being a Troll at that point.
  Geez. Let’s hope we don’t have to sacrifice a small child every time we need to have a talk like this. Otherwise, you know, buying that orphanage may not have been a terrible investment.
• Wrong-Name Outburst:
  • When Kirito demands Lizbeth to stay back, she protests. Which causes Kirito to let out a "Do it Sachi!". Which he immediately plays off.
  • He cries out "SUCK IT, ROSALIA!!" mid-coitus with Asuna; while he was clearly intending to get back at the former for her last words, the latter misinterpreted it as him having an affair with another woman.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: After Kayaba is defeated, he finally logs both Kirito and Asuna out of SAO, and it seems like Kirito finally has something in the real world that is worth living for. Enter stage-right... Nobuyuki Sugou and his plan to brainwash a comatose Asuna into marrying him.

Asuna Yuuki / Asuna

Asuna Yuuki / Asuna / Titania

"Hey, at least I pretend to be nice to people!"

Voiced by: Misanda (Episode 2), Carrie "xbubblemunkyx" Johnston (all other appearances)

Asuna: You know what Mom says — doesn't matter if you're wrong, just dig in your heels, and never show weakness!

Kirito's main Love Interest, who rose from a gifted newbie to become a high-ranking member of the Knights of the Blood Oath able to match Kirito in stats and skill. She's something of a snarky jerk herself, with a temper to match, an occasional sociopathic streak, and unintentionally racist tendencies, but unlike Kirito she's better at hiding it.

She spends Season 2 in the captivity of Noboyuki Sugou, who intends to marry her and make her a submissive housewife, but she will not take that lying down and tries to make his plan as difficult as possible.

For the original Asuna, see here.

---

• The Ace: Even though she's still second best to Kirito, she demolishes her own bodyguard Kuradeel in combat without sustaining any damage, on top of being one of the few people intimidating enough to threaten Kirito and get away with it. In Season 2, she maintains this attribute while trapped in ALO, down to massacring Sugou’s guards en masse.
• Action Duo: With Kirito starting in Episode 2, owing to being the only other player skilled enough to match his technique. It's what discerns her from other companions of his like Sachi, Silica, and Lizbeth, and what allows him to open up to her.
• Action Girl: Introduced as this in Episode 2. Despite her lack of experience with MMOs, Diabel notes her as their best fighter, and she deals almost as much damage to Illfang as Kirito does. By Episode 5, she's already leading armies as a high-ranking member of the Knights of The Blood Oath.
• Action Girlfriend: Well, action wife in-game, but starting in Episode 10, she's this to Kirito. She scares him as much as their enemies, though.
• Action Mom: To Yui, even if she only admits it shortly before the latter fades away.
• Action Survivor: She was this for the first month at best and the first year at worst due to not knowing the mechanics of the game, relying solely on her innate skill in combat.
• Act of True Love: Her Taking the Bullet for Kirito in Episode 11, as lampshaded by Kayaba. She gets better, though.
• Adaptational Badass: While the canon version of Asuna wasn't exactly a pushover, the abridged series amps it up by removing or altering her more Damsel in Distress moments:
  • In Episode 8, her fleeing from Kuradeel was actually her manipulating Kirito into fighting in her place in order to keep her hands clean and for personal satisfaction.
  • In Episode 9, the canon version of her fight with Kuradeel had her being tricked into sparing him, which forced Kirito to kill him instead. While in the abridged series, she subjects Kuradeel to a full-fledged Curb-Stomp Battle, and kills him herself. Notably, this is in keeping with the original SAO web novel, which also had Asuna kill Kuradeel herself.
  • In Episode 12, she's far less submissive to Sugou. When he comes to visit and attempts to seduce her, rather than giving a "you'll never get away with this" speech, she proceeds to spit on his face.
  • In Episode 14, she bites Sugou when he tries to get too close to her, and when he gets too caught up in his own speech manages to slip away and beat down a few guards in an escape attempt. By Episode 15, she effectively made her cage a Cardboard Prison, with the guards terrified of her. It's only in Episode 16 that she attempts to actually escape, and that's only because they're giving her a wide berth to avoid being eaten.
• Adaptational Dumbass: While not to the extent of Suguha or even Kirito, this version of Asuna lacks basic social skills, and often allows her emotions to cloud her judgement. She also gets caught by Shoji and Kyle because she gets too invested in the tech support call she initiated.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Like Kirito, she is shown to be a lot darker than her canon counterpart. See Beneath the Mask, Heroic Comedic Sociopath, and Yandere for more details.
• Adaptational Villainy: Not as pronounced as Kirito, as she's still mostly on the side of the other players, but Episode 7 shows that she's willing to turn on even her best friend for petty reasons. She gets somewhat better as the story moves forward, but only towards Kirito and Yui.
• Adaptational Wimp: Asuna's ridiculous feat of breaking the dexterity speed limit to save Kirito is removed, and instead explained that Asuna had been following Kirito the whole time. Then again, the rest of the scene balances it out; her subsequent fight with Kuradeel is listed under Adaptational Badass because she kills Kuradeel herself instead of being tricked with a fake surrender.
• Adoptive Peer Parent: She took in Yui as a pawn to test Kirito's commitment, but grows to genuinely love her afterwards, even after learning she's an AI.
• The Aloner: During her introduction, she's the only one alongside Kirito to not belong to any guild.
  Kirito: Is it because you're a girl?
• All Amazons Want Hercules: While its not the ''only'' reason she likes him, she suggests in Episode 8 that she keeps Kirito around for his brawn, and she absolutely loves to see him fight for her honor.
• And I Must Scream: She spent her first month in SAO being unable to eat due to not knowing how to open the menu. It's no wonder she maxxed out her cooking stat as soon as she could.
• And Your Little Dog, Too!: Not only did she repeatedly maim and even cannibalize her jailer Shoji during her escape attempts, but she also threatened to eat his dog "Biscuit" as an intimidation tactic.
• Anti-Advice: She lives by the words of her mother about never backing down even when you're wrong. She briefly wonders whether that played a part in her parents' divorce, but refuses to think too much about it.
• Anti-Hero: Is introduced as a Knight in Sour Armor who is only rude to Kirito because the latter isn't helping her with raids. However, she gradually becomes an Unscrupulous Hero after her more unethical actions in Episode 7, implied to have been the result of losing her Mask of Sanity after being trapped in SAO for too long. She remains this during the ALfheim arc, as she routinely cannibalizes her jailers for fun and goes as far as to threaten to eat a dog in order to be logged out of the game.
• Arch-Enemy: To Shoji, one of her jailers during her imprisonment in ALO. She explicitly targets him during her breakouts either for his tendency to Bully The Disabled or for his shrill and annoying voice, routinely tearing out his eyes and even eating parts of him. Their latest interaction even ends with her threatening to eat his dog as an intimidation tactic. It gets so bad that he has to see a real-world therapist to try and get over her.
• Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?:
  • Happens in Episode 5 when she believes Kirito had taken advantage of her while she slept, only to be disappointed when it's revealed he had only doodled on her face.
    Kirito: You were asleep. What else would I have done?
    Asuna: Well… I mean… you know... you could have… like… you wanna get something to eat?
  • In Episode 9, after dinner with Kirito, he's pretending to be a world-weary man for noticing the awkwardness in the air between them, only for Asuna to dim the lights and reveal that she's already in her underwear, which stuns Kirito.
    Asuna: Why are your pants still on? We doing this, or what?
• Asshole Victim: Though he still encourages Kirito to save her, Tiffany thinks of her predicament in Season 2 as this. Considering what a maniac she was in SAO, his reaction is not completely uncalled for.
  Tiffany: I don’t know who, and I don’t know why, but it sure as hell seems like someone has trapped Asuna in Alfheim Online.
  Kirito: (noticing the back of the box) OH HELL YEAH!
  Tiffany: I know, right?! Wait, no. I get why I’m happy, but why the hell are you happy about this?
• Ax-Crazy: While the original Asuna was a bit of a Clingy Jealous Girl, this incarnation is batshit insane.
• Badass in Distress: While she may be Sugou's prisoner like in canon, her flagrant disrespect for him and frequent (and violent) escape attempts make perfectly clear that Sugou's admin privileges are the only reason he's managed to keep her for so long.
• Badass Normal:
  • It's implied that her innate sword skills in Episode 2 are completely her doing and not the game's mechanics, as she's shown to have no idea of how to actually play the game. Either that or she's just an Instant Expert.
  • In Season 2, her proficiency in unarmed combat (enough to best some of Sugou's trained guards) is also implied to be a case of this as well, as she's not shown to have reclaimed her SAO stats like Kirito did.
• Battle Couple: With Kirito as of Episode 10, though the only times they fight together onscreen as married players they're either defeated and have to be saved by their AI daughter, or the boss glitches out and kills itself. Asuna herself also invokes The Power of Love during battle on two separate instances.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Like in the original, two years in a coma don't do anything to her physical state. It's even more jarring in this version since her father is portrayed as extremely negligent and hesitant to spend money on her health, though it's also possible that he had her looked after in preparation for her "wedding" with Sugou.
• Beneath the Mask: She's not much better than Kirito in terms of morality; she's just a lot better at hiding it.
• Berserk Button: Lusting after her or trolling her. Kirito almost gets stabbed for the former (only spared because he was actually innocent), and actually does gets stabbed for the latter. As early as Episode 2, when he was a lot more mellow, she snaps at him after he makes a joke about her issues with the game's menu.
• Better Manhandle the Murder Weapon: She's quite casual with handling the knife that killed Yolko, although the 'gets-blamed-for-murder' part of the trope is ultimately averted since SAO is a virtual reality game that doesn't have blood or fingerprints programmed in. And Yolko didn't actually die.
• Betty and Veronica: She was the "Veronica" to Lizbeth's "Betty" to Kirito's "Archie", though she made sure that the love triangle didn't last very long.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: In Episode 2, she mostly keeps to herself and only speaks when spoken to, but she quickly proves her efficiency in combat after that, which shocks Kirito.
• Beyond the Impossible: Her prison break-outs in ALfheim. Her stats from SAO are gone, and Sugou describes his fortress' defenses as "impregnable". How on Earth did she manage to overpower the system admin?
• Birds of a Feather: Despite some rough patches, she's this with Kirito. They're both "perfectly broken" together, and are the only ones willing to stay with each other even after witnessing each other's worst side first hand.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: Her dad is money-hungry enough to consider euthanasia when she's in a coma to avoid hospital bills, her mom was never willing to compromise and caused the two to get a divorce, and Asuna herself took after both in the worst ways.
• Blood Knight: As it turns out, she really did want Kuradeel's blood in her hands.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: "At least I pretend to be nice to people!"
• Broken Pedestal: Her Only Friend Lizbeth was borderline infatuated with her before Episode 7; then Asuna showed her true colors and now the poor girl would rather jump out of a window than be in the same room as her.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: See her entries for Genius Ditz and Hopeless with Tech. Then consider that she still gets to be a high-rank commander in the Knights of the Blood.
• Character Development: Like Kirito she undergoes some positive development. Not only does she eventually get the hand of the game, becoming an extremely skilled fighter who's on par with Kirito; but her false relationship with Kirito gradually turns into genuine love, which reaches its climax when she willingly sacrifices herself to save him (although she survives). Her yandere aspects also get downplayed in the later episodes in favor of acting more like a normal girlfriend with the occasional violent streak.
• Character Exaggeration:
  • Her debut episode amps up her canon counterpart's Hopeless with Tech tendencies to ridiculous levels, thinking bread can be equipped and "DPS" is a sex thing. Though it gets dropped when she next returns.
  • Asuna's clinginess for Kirito has gone from being a Clingy Jealous Girl with some tsundere aspects, to a murderous yandere who won't let anyone else near Kirito. Lizbeth learned this the hard way.
  • While she was already a bit of a Defiant Captive, this version turns her "you won't get away with this" speech into a "You will die screaming and I will enjoy it" speech, and her escape attempts are so frequent this time around that she has effectively become The Dreaded to Sugou's minions.
• Characterization Marches On:
  • In her first appearance in episode 2, her main character trait is that she's a Hopeless with Tech noob at the game. In her later appearances, this has been dropped completely due to having time to learn everything, and instead her characterization revolves around how she's no different from Kirito.
  • Her yandere aspect gets downplayed after she and Kirito go from having a sociopathic relationship to genuine love, but still surfaces as her being a Violently Protective Girlfriend.
• Chef of Iron: After a few months to get used to the game, she became the best cook at SAO and also one of the best fighters, both by the admission of the actual best fighter Kirito.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Towards Kirito. She threatens to kill Lizbeth when she attempts to make a move on Kirito and not even the posthumous Sachi is spared of her scorn.
• Combat Pragmatist: She doesn't hold back when fighting Sugou's guards in ALfheim, targeting their eyes and even exploiting the game's cannibalism problem for her own benefit.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Against Kuradeel in Episode 9, he ends up on his knees pleading for his life.
  • She does this again during ALO against her jailers, with the implication that Sugou had to resort to his admin privileges to restrain her.
• Cut Your Heart Out With A Spoon: Threatens Sugou with slowly gutting him, wearing his entrails like a scarf, mounting his decapitated head on a pike, and recording his screams and listening to them for her own amusement, after Sugou makes clear he is only allowing Kirito to play ALO to crush his hope seeing Asuna behind admin-enabled barriers. It freaks Sugou out enough to trigger a brief Villainous Breakdown.
• Damsel out of Distress: She manages to briefly escape from Sugou in Episode 14 and beat his guards with her bare hands. It's said that this isn't the first time, and she's become The Dreaded to his goons. Episode 15 shows her as The Juggernaut, painted as something akin to the xenomorph from Alien.´
• Deliberately Distressed Damsel: Behaves this way in Episode 8 when Kuradeel is stalking her, as she wanted Kirito to defend her.
• Defiant Captive:
  • When Sugou attempts to intimidate her while she's trapped in ALO, Asuna gives him some Spiteful Spit to the face. She also always jumps at the chance to belittle and taunt him, even stomping on his balls at one point according to him. Sugou only puts up with this because he plans on mind-controlling her before making her his slave.
  • In fact, Sugou's scientists and guards are very much afraid of Asuna, so much that some of them take their leave just to avoid her rampage.
  • Exaggerated in Episode 17, when she's caught and restrained by Shoji. Despite her arms and legs being fully bound, it's Asuna who's got full control of the situation, and persuades Shoji not to turn her in by threatening to break out again and eat his dog.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: She warms up considerably towards Kirito, even allowing herself to be nice to him at the end of Episode 6, which is harder than it sounds.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: In Episode 11, she gets sliced by Kayaba and fades away in Kirito's arms. Luckily, she doesn't die due to Kirito defeating Kayaba before her NerveGear kills her IRL.
• Disney Death: Kayaba stabs and kills her in Episode 11, but after Kirito kills Kayaba and releases everyone, the latter decides to release her as well.
• Domestic Abuse: Despite getting together with Kirito in Episode 9, she still beats and threatens him on several occasions, even during sex (although he seems to have enjoyed that one), especially during their first week of marriage. Luckily, she mellows out a bit around Episode 11.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Implied to have been the reason she never asked anyone to teach her how to open the menu. She also gets defensive when Kirito confronts her about it.
• Do Wrong, Right: Her first reaction to witnessing Sugou's test subjects' exposed consciousness is to point out the inefficiency of having a torture terminal for every brain, and that cramming them all into one giant terminal would leave some extra room for a garden.
  Asuna: Golly, I'd be so much better at crime!
• The Dreaded:
  • Tiffany and Lizbeth end up being terrified of her due to her obnoxious demeanour or psychotic nature and will do anything to be away from her. This is solidified in the beginning of Episode 9.
    Asuna: [entering the room] Hey Kirito, the commander wants to-
    Lizbeth: AAAAHHH! I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING [to Kirito], I SWEAR! [sound of breaking glass is heard]
    Tiffany: Wait for me! I know a shortcut! [more breaking glass]
  • In Episode 11, Kayaba paralyses her alongside everyone else because he's afraid she'll "try to set him on fire with [her] mind", which she actually was trying to do.
  • She's evidently made quite an impression on Sugou's Mooks, because when she escapes her cage in Episode 14, their response is to scream "IT'S LOOSE!!"
  • Kyle and Shoji in particular seem to fear her the most, to the point where Kyle instantly teleports away when he sees her (despite her being restrained) and Shoji is willing to inflict a False Rape Accusation on himself to spare his dog of her wrath. It's also confirmed she made a habit out of killing their avatars while escaping her Cardboard Prison.
• Entitled to Have You: As befitting for a Yandere, she starts behaving this way towards Kirito even after they've shared their true feelings for each other: She burns down Lizbeth's shop for having a tender interaction with him, and intentionally spits on Kirito's memory of Sachi while reassuring him that she won't die on him like she did.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Well, even Ax-Crazy Nominal Heroes have loved ones. Despite her being a crazy Yandere and a Manipulative Bitch, her love for Kirito (and later Yui) is one of her redeeming qualities, though she does inflict some Tough Love on the former.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • In Episode 5, she waits for Kirito to sober up from his "weird plants" trip before kicking his teeth in for skipping a raid. Even when he does, she eventually doesn't go through with it.
  • Her use of Jive Turkey language to talk to Tiffany is very blatantly racist, but it's mostly accidental, and she feels like she's crossed the line when she asks Tiffany if he has cotton in his ears, immediately apologizing to him.
  • While she loves to taunt Kirito when he shows weakness, even she doesn't want to ruin his Jerkass Realization, as cheesy as she found it. Sadly, she ends up unintentionally doing it anyway when she tells everyone to applaud him... while they were under full admin paralysis.
  • She's no stranger to Disproportionate Retribution, but even she halts when Kayaba threatens to kill her for implying Back to the Future is a bad movie.
  • She's grossed out by Lizbeth's Chlamydia comment in Episode 7, and in general, seems to be disturbed at some of her Cloud Cuckoolander moments.
  • She's a stalker and has little to no sense of boundaries, but she's disgusted by the likes of Kuradeel and especially Sugou who lecherously pursue after her, with the latter being creepy enough to elicit several shudders from her. Granted, she might be a little bit biased given that she is the victim on both occasions.
• Excellent Judge of Character: She always sees through Kirito's bullshit, and is quite perceptive in general. As early as Episode 2, she catches on Kirito's "too cool for guilds" façade and deduces that he's alone because nobody wanted him. This side of her fails her with Yui, but mostly because she's too caught up in trying to one-up Kirito to pay any actual attention to her.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: After hearing how stat altercations in the game are able to influence how interactions and combat are allowed to occur, Asuna barely speaks the word "Charisma" before she instantly figures out where Sugou's plan is going.
• False Friend: Despite Lizbeth being her Only Friend at that point, Asuna doesn't hesitate to threaten her life and ruin her workplace and home when she becomes a romantic rival.
• Fatal Flaw: Her short fuse and emotional dependency on Kirito and Yui is both this and her redeeming feature, since it drives her to violent outbursts directed at her peers that crack her Mask of Sanity and permanently damage her social standing in general, with not even her Only Friend at the time being spared from her wrath after she becomes a perceived romantic rival.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: Lampshaded by Kirito.
  Asuna: I maxxed out cooking.
  Kirito: And feminism marches on.
• Foreshadowing: It's easy to miss, but early in episode 5, Asuna is the only person not disturbed when Kirito brutally kills the NPC Gary. This marks how she's wearing a Mask of Sanity.
• Freudian Excuse:
  • She's a clearly mentally disturbed person who got trapped inside two glitch-infested Deadly Games and surrounded by assholes, leading to a Sanity Slippage. Her abusive parenting of Yui (before her Jerkass Realization), also likely stems from her own parents, as her father is a greedy Upper-Class Twit who resents her and sees her as a waste of money, (especially after she becomes a victim of the SAO disaster and he's forced to pay her medical bills); and her mother gave her endless strains of Anti-Advice which she follows to a T.
  • Her attempts to use Yui as a tool to test Kirito's commitment to their marriages (to which he's receptive to, and strikes back with the same force) is also implied to stem from her parents's divorce, an event which she internally represses as shown in Episode 10.
  • Her racist streak is also implied to have been inherited from her father, as shown in his conversation with his Italian "Ferrari guy".
• Gamer Chick: Downplayed. Though she's quick to learn, she understandably loathes SAO and ALO (being forced to play them against their will) and doesn't have as big of an insight on either of their mechanics, though she still gets through Sugou's Cardboard Prison several times.
• Genius Ditz: She's an excellent fighter and strategist who has never played MMOs before. This leads to things like having no idea what "XP" is or how to open the menu. This doesn't last past her first episode, as she learns these things later.
• Girly Bruiser: As she quickly proves to Kirito, being a girl doesn't mean she doesn't know how to fight. By Episode 5, she's the second-in-command of the Knights of the Blood Oath, not that Kirito cares.
• Go-Go Enslavement: Let's just say that Shoji isn't the only one with gripes about his avatar design in ALO.
• Go Out with a Smile: During her Disney Death in Episode 11, after finally succeeding in making Kirito cry.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Though she's just as prone to Tranquil Fury, she's very quick to anger outbursts when pissed or teased. Kirito is usually the one to push her buttons, which has earned him at least one knife through the eye.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Burns down Lizbeth's shop because the latter tried flirting with Kirito.
• Heroic Sacrifice: While it's eventually revealed that she survived, she saves Kirito by taking Kayaba's blow for him in Episode 11.
• Hidden Depths: She seems to have some knowledge on Shakespearian theatre, as she corrects Sugou on the proper pronunciation of his alias "Oberon".
• Hopeless with Tech: She doesn't even know how to open the menu, which is literally a matter of life or death given that most of the interactions within SAO are done through the menu. How she managed to survive the first month is nothing short of a miracle, and the ending of episode two shows she still has no idea how to open the damn thing. Also, while she is a competent fighter and strategist, she obviously hasn't played MMOs before, having no idea what "XP" stands for, and thinking that "DPS" has something to do with sex. Appears to be dropped by Episode 5, probably due to it being a long time passing since we last saw her. Crops up again by episode 17, when she is able to break into a server room and get admin access to the game, she somehow manages to fat-finger the buttons and press "Help Desk" instead of "Log Out."
• Hypocrite: Several of her criticisms of Kirito (while valid) could easily apply to herself.
  • She reprimands Kirito on several occasions for constantly ruining their romantic atmosphere with his witty comments, despite being a manipulative Tsundere and Master of the Mixed Message herself.
  • While she was right to cut ties with Kuradeel for stalking her, she herself isn't much better. In fact, the only reason Kirito doesn't press on her tailing him in Episode 9 is because it allows her to save his life.
  • Her preferred insult for Kirito is to ridicule him whenever he shows vulnerability, despite being incredibly emotionally dependent on him. This is somewhat mitigated by the fact that she self-deprecates whenever she cries in front of him, as she also doesn't like showing emotion.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • In Episode 15, she forces Kirito to confess that he's only helping investigate Kains' murder to prove himself correct about it being staged, and chews him out on it, only to instantly admit that she's only helping to prove him wrong. Kirito is rather shocked.
    Asuna: At least I pretend to be nice to people!
  • When Yui tells the pair that she's a psychologist AI, she assumes she's there for Kirito, despite being arguably more deranged than him.
• I Am a Humanitarian: In Episode 16, it's revealed that she's been eating Sugou's employee characters to slow down their mind control research.
• Inelegant Blubbering: Kirito compares her crying to that of a "surly drunk".
• Innocently Insensitive: Though she's often good at coming across as the Only Sane Woman (at least at first), she cannot keep from being accidentally racist in front of Tiffany.
• Innocent Bigot: Her relationship with Tiffany is strained because of this since her earnest efforts to not be racist keep coming around to being racist again. Speaking in Jive Turkey and apologizing for overusing terms like "calling the kettle black" is just the tip of her problems.
• Internalized Categorism: Downplayed compared to Suguha, but she shamefully yells out "I'm such a girl!" when crying to Kirito, and often insults him when he shows vulnerability by saying he has grown "a floppy vagina".
  Asuna: Oh, Kirito. You're gonna need a tampon for that gigantic vagina you just grew?
• In the Hood: During her introduction, she's seen with a hood covering her face.
• I Warned You: When Lizbeth has another tender moment with Kirito after Asuna had explicitly told her not to approach him, she sets her shop on fire before scrawling the words "YOU WERE WARNED" on the sign.
• Jerkass: Anytime her Mask of Sanity breaks, she reveals herself to be this, as Kirito, Tiffany, Lizbeth, Sasha and Yulier can attest to. She has no problem exploiting others for sympathy and (with the exception of Kirito) will instantly turn on her best friends at the slightest provocation.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While she won't be creating an "Asuna is Always Right Foundation" anytime soon, she still has a few of these.
  • Her Establishing Character Moment shows her seeing right through Kirito's "too good for guilds" façade and point out that he's Lonely at the Top.
  • She's right to criticize Kirito for goofing off instead of participating in raids with her and the team, considering he's the best player in the game, and could very well deplete the number of casualties per raid. it becomes more pronounced after he defeats a floor boss by himself in Episode 8 after it had killed half of the ALF's troops.
• Jerkass Realization: After Yui, her surrogate daughter whom she had just started to warm up to, reveals she knew about her and Kirito using her against each other (a scare tactic she initiated), she penitently embraces her, and later breaks down in tears as she fades away. This becomes more poignant when it's revealed she has an abusive father herself.
• Jive Turkey: Her attempts to speak to Tiffany veer into this and Ebonics. It paints her as an Innocent Bigot, since her attempts to not be racist are themselves very racist.
• Kick the Dog: While she mostly reserves her meaner side for the bad guys, she can be needlessly cruel when she wants to.
  • While most of her racist remarks against Tiffany are accidental, she outright calls him "a very angry black man" when he tries to give her the benefit of the doubt. She also hands him the murder weapon which she thought could kill people in safe zones, something he notes to himself.
    Tiffany: Ah, handin' the black man a murder weapon. Tale as old as time.
  • Burning down Liz's shop for being a potential romantic threat, especially since it was Kirito who approached her and not the other way around. Earlier, she threatened to stab the poor girl with the same sword she had previously forged for her.
    Asuna: "And you of all people know how sharp my blade is."
  • Giving Kirito a black eye during sex after an accidental Wrong-Name Outburst can count as well, unless you think he deserves it. Episode 14 implies he secretly enjoyed it.
  • After sacrificing herself for him, she spends her last breath making fun of Kirito for crying. It might've been teasing, but it came across as quite mean-spirited, especially considering that she knows it's a Trauma Button for him.
    Asuna: "Go on. Cry. Cry your little bitch tears..."
  • She threatens to eat Shoji's dog Biscuit in Episode 17 if he doesn't release her, and seems very excited about the prospect.
    Asuna: "Nom nom."
• Kick the Morality Pet: Asuna initially refrains from harming Lizbeth after she flirts with Kirito because she's her friend, but once she's seen with him again, she sets her beloved shop on fire as retribution, effectively ruining their friendship.
• Light Is Not Good: In Episode 5, she starts wearing the signature Nights Of The Blood Oath white armor. This is the same episode where she reveals her darker side.
• Lust Object: While she's feared by most players, a lot of characters want to get inside her pants; her bodyguard Kuradeel breaks into her house and watches her sleep, "The King of Ashes" gets her guild leader to take pictures of her in a thong "for a calendar" in exchange for safe passage through Floor 75, and one her father's wealthy employees essentially buy her and claim her as his own, trapping her avatar in his game and trying to brainwash her into becoming his Sex Slave. It gets to the point where her guild leader thinks he can just pimp her out to get whatever he wants. Because of this, one of the reasons she initially fell for Kirito was that he didn't think of taking advantage of her while she was asleep and vulnerable.
• Mama Bear: When Yulier angrily threatens Yui, Asuna quietly tells her to back off or she'll kill Thinker herself.
• Manipulative Bitch: She knows how to play to Kirito's flaws and traumas. In Episode 8 she's able to appeal to his pride to make him deal with one of her underlings so she can avoid some guild drama, and in Episode 9 pushes his Trauma Button to simultaneously demoralize and reassure him.
• Mask of Sanity: She's arguably even more messed up than Kirito, but hides it better. Asuna is personable to other players and is able to convince a few players to help her. However, when the mask drops, Asuna is a Blood Knight who has no problem killing people and is a yandere who wants Kirito all to herself. In fact, part of the reason she's so obsessive about Kirito is likely that he's the only one who has seen under her mask and hasn't immediately started treating her as The Dreaded.
• Mirror Character: The more we see of her, the more we learn that the only difference between her and Kirito is she's better able to wear a Mask of Sanity. Comes to a head in Episode 10, when both their subconscious selves are represented by two versions of themselves arguing with each other. They both agree that their marriage was rushed, but they don't want to admit it to the other and end up resorting to complicated games of one-upping the other that only end up giving them more trouble. And they were both sent away from peace talks because Heathcliff is afraid that one of them will piss someone off and kill thousands. Episode 12 reveals they even have a similar Freudian Excuse; They both have a relative that act like even worse versions of (and were likely the inspiration for) their online personas.
• More Deadly Than the Male: Asuna and Kirito are Birds of a Feather when it comes to their anti-social behavior and trauma, but Asuna is the considerably more unhinged and volatile of the two. While Kirito has his moments of Pay Evil unto Evil, Asuna has done some truly heinous things for outright petty reasons, such as threatening to kill Lizbeth and later burning down her shop because she got too close to Kirito.
• Ms. Fanservice: Most male characters lust after her, and Sugou kidnaps her in Episode 12 because of this reason. Even Kirito, who initially didn't even imagine touching her in her sleep, is left screeching when he sees her in her underwear.
• Not Good with Rejection: When Kirito not so subtly suggests that getting married may have been a terrible idea, she flies off the handle, causing him to back off. The worst part is that she actually agreed with him, but panicked at the prospect of Kirito not loving her. For this reason, she acts like a freak whenever Kirito shows any signs of insecurity regarding their relationship.
• No Sympathy: She generally has an unflippant reaction to murder, such as when Gary is being torn apart by Kirito or when Grimlock is beaten to death by his former friends. ^note Granted, neither of them were innocent (and the former was an NPC), and she was also revealed to have been faking her concern for Kains' death without knowing that it was staged.
• Oblivious to Hatred: Tiffany hates her guts due to her poorly hidden racist streak, but she keeps coming to his store anyway and treating him as her "homie".
  Tiffany: What, do I have to start putting salt lines in front of the door? Why do you keep coming back here?!
• Only Sane by Comparison: She comes across as this for Kirito in Episodes 2 to 6, due to being much more focused and invested in clearing the game, while Kirito is getting high on mushrooms and mourning a sandwich. However, through a combined effort of him taking a level in kindness and her taking one in jerkass, she loses this status quite soon. In ALO, she's as crazy as ever, but is still the most sane in her conversations with Sugou.
• The Power of Love: She tries to invoke this in Episode 10 while fighting a boss with Kirito, but it doesn't work and they're both pummelled half to death by the monster. It's finally Played Straight in Episode 11 when the power of love was able to allow Asuna to break admin-induced paralysis and save Kirito from certain death, as noted by Kayaba.
  Kayaba: Gonna add that one to the log. "Power of Love may cause Paralysis to fail". It’s the damnedest thing. Somehow, that never came up in Beta Testing.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Ax-Crazy as she may be, most of her targets are thankfully worse people than her.
  • She executes Kuradeel after subjecting him to a Curb-Stomp Battle. This is after the latter had mercilessly killed her fellow guild member Godfree (whom she didn't care much about) and tried to do the same to Kirito (whom she does care about)
  • She maims and feasts on her jailers during her escape attempts in ALO, but considering those people worked at a mind control factory, it's easy to see why she feels justified. Special mention goes to Shoji, who makes a habit out of stealing his disabled co-worker's medicated yogurt.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Judging by the tone of her voice, she seems to feel bad for the 12 people who died during the raid on Sheeptar's lair. Then again, it might be all part of her act.
  • Anytime she invites Kirito to lunch, especially if the meal is made by her. This is notable in that she does it even after Kirito has found out her true self.
  • She tries to save the two tanks who were killed by the level 75 boss in Episode 11.
  • While she's breaking out of Sugou's prison in Episode 17, she tries to get the technical support representative to free all Sugou's hostages instead of just her, even though her original plan was to simply log out of the game.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: She tries really hard to hide it, but she only sees the "black man" part of Tiffany, and she shows it in all of her interactions with him.
• Pragmatic Hero: While she thinks of the other players as complete idiots like Kirito, she's at least willing to work with them on the rationalization that she has a better chance of surviving if she works with people... Or at least has a human shield in front of her.
• Real Name as an Alias: Much like her canon counterpart, she still goes by her real name in SAO. Kirito even lampshades what a bad idea this is in Episode 11, as his name is Kazuto Kirigaya.
• Sanity Slippage: While it's likely she already had a few screws loose, being stuck in a glitch-filled death game filled with assholes and idiots, likely exacerbated her mental decline, revealing her more nefarious tendencies to her peers. This also made her heavily reliant on the sole companion who remained by her side, even after discovering her true persona. This comes back again in ALfheim, where the harrowing experience of months in isolation, while under the guard of a deranged rapist who constantly taunts and antagonizes her, completely dismantles any remnants of her façade of stability, causing her to unleash the hidden, bloodthirsty creature within against her oppressors.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Sugou spills his entire plan to her believing she won't be able to stop him with force, she bolts while he's monologuing and slaughters his guards.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: In Episode 9, she undresses for Kirito seconds after he teases her with him staying over for the night, and is baffled that he still has his pants on by the time she's done.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Seemingly part of what attracts her to Kirito in the first place; when he doesn't take advantage of her as she slept next to him (only drawing whiskers on her face as a prank), she sounds almost flabbergasted that the thought apparently never occurred to him. The fact that he proves to be her equal in terms of snark and mind games just seals the deal.
• Sociopathic Hero: Even more pronounced than Kirito. While she wants to leave the game as much as anybody else, her mood swings and general lack of empathy and social skills make her The Dreaded for most of her fellow players. When she finally meets someone who's willing to stick with her even after seeing her darker side, she instantly attaches herself to him and becomes increasingly dependent on their relationship. Even in regards to her surrogate daughter Yui, she spends half of her debut episode seeing her as a tool to have some power over Kirito. She gets better after Episode 10, but only towards her online husband and daughter.
• Speak Ill of the Dead: After Kirito is forced to join the Knights of the Blood, Asuna tries to cheer him up by assuring him that she won't die "like that dumb bitch Sally."
• Spiteful Spit: Spits in Sugou's face at the end of Episode 12.
• Stalker with a Crush: This is how the abridged series explains her insanely good timing in saving Kirito from Kuradeel; she was following Kirito around.
• Stating the Simple Solution: She points out that Kayaba could have easily blamed anonymous hackers for the death glitch rather than pretending it was all part of some master plan. Kayaba can only reply that he wishes he'd thought of that sooner.
• Supreme Chef: Within SAO, anyway. She leveled her cooking skill so much that basic sandwiches she makes are automatically delicious, and she's maxed out the skill by Episode 8. Her creating a meal with a max-rank ingredient creates such Impossibly Delicious Food that it permanently ruins all other food (real or virtual) for Kirito, including anything else she makes.
• Taking the Bullet: She somehow manages to shake off Kayaba's admin paralysis and takes a fatal blow for Kirito. You should know she survives, though.
• Terror Hero: While protagonistic in the grander scheme of things, her actions induce fright in those around her, such as Lisbeth fleeing on sight in Episode 9 after Asuna burned down her shop in Episode 7. She's weaponizing this in ALfheim on the grounds that eating Sugou's support personnel is meant to scare them out of assisting his mind control research.
• That Came Out Wrong: When speaking with Tiffany everything she says accidentally comes out sounding racist. Luckily Tiff is a very patient person and knows she doesn't mean it.
• Teens Are Monsters: She's a year older than Kirito, and a tad more of a monster as well. She mellows out a bit in Episode 10, but only towards him and Yui. In ALO, she's definitely regarded as this by all of her guards.
• Took a Level in Badass: By the time of her appearance in Episode 5, she appears to be much more savvy with how the game runs. Also, the abridged series gets rid of a few of her Damsel in Distress moments, such as killing Kuradeel herself in Episode 9 instead of having Kirito do it.
• Took a Level in Jerkass:
  • She becomes considerably meaner as the series goes on. Then again, she's dealing with Kirito, so it's hard to blame her, and she's also stuck in a poorly-designed death game (which would take a toll on anyone's sanity). It's also implied that her (initial) friendliness is/was mainly a mask to hide this side of her.
  • While still incredibly loyal to Kirito, ALfheim emphasizes her brutal and sadistic side, culminating in her gleefully threatening to eat a dog.
• Took a Level in Kindness: A relatively minor one, but Yui's "death" had a similar effect on her as it did on Kirito. It's Downplayed, as it only applies to the two of them.
• Tough Love:
  • She stalks, threatens, abuses and manipulates Kirito endlessly, but she does love him; she just has a funny way of showing it. It tends to happen when you're a Tsundere and a Yandere at the same time.
  • While she's mostly a False Friend to Lizbeth, her burning down her shop at the end can be considered this when you take into account how badly said shop was affecting her mental state, something Asuna herself had pointed out numerous times.
• Tsundere: While she does have feelings for Kirito, she spends all her time arguing and belittling him. Her Hidden Heart of Gold-hiding façade is part of her Mask of Sanity, so it's close to what she actually believes. However, he gives as good as he gets from her, so it balances out.
• Tranquil Fury: Her default (and often effective) way to threaten people, though it can overlap with Suddenly Shouting if she gets too carried away. She even uses it to ask Kirito out on a date.
  Asuna: Then let me be clear. Tonight. My place. Six o’clock. I’ll cook us a nice dinner. It will be a magical evening. Sound good?
  Kirito: Okay, yeah, that sounds lovely. Why do I feel like I’m being mugged?
• Undying Loyalty: To Kirito. Since he's the only one who stuck around after she revealed her meaner side to him, she's now willing to do anything to keep him around, getting increasingly worried the more times he puts himself at risk and even Taking the Bullet for him in Episode 11.
• Ungrateful Bitch: Lizbeth forges her her best sword in Episode 7, and later that episode, Asuna threatens to stab her with it for being a perceived romantic rival, much to Lizbeth's horror.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Kirito tearing Gary apart in front of her doesn't elicit so much as a blink from her.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend:
  • While Kuradeel stalking her wasn't enough to provoke her to kill him, his near-fatal attack on Kirito instantly sent her into a murderous rage of which Kuradeel doesn't make it out alive.
  • In Episode 15 when Sugou / Oberon states his desire to see Kirito lose all hope from failing to reach the World Tree, Asuna threatens to gut him, wear his entails as a scarf, and add his painful screams to her Spotify which completely unnerves Sugou despite Asuna having no way to harm him.
• Villain Killer: In this version, she executes Kuradeel herself instead of falling for his trap.
• We Want Our Jerk Back!: Kirito's initial response to Asuna being nice towards him.
  Asuna: Kirito? Hi! Come on in! How are you?
  Kirito: Okay, stop that.
  Asuna: I'm sorry?
  Kirito: This thing you're doing where you seem genuinely happy to see me. I was half-expecting to find a suspiciously sound-proof warehouse on the outskirts of town with a shallow grave out back, but somehow this is more unsettling.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Until meeting and warming up to Yui, she had no respect for NPCs, being willing to use them as Cannon Fodder for the raid against Sheeptar in Episode 5. She's also the only one in the room to not show any reaction to Kirito brutally killing Gary.
• Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Whenever she reveals her true nature, she sports this look. Most notable when threatening Kirito, Sugou, or Shoji.
• Women Are Wiser: Zig-Zagged. She often comes across as the more level-headed between her and Kirito during conversations, and she views herself as this because she is conscious about the image she projects, while Kirito wears his asshole behavior on his sleeves, though this is mitigated after her incidents with Tiffany and Lizbeth, and by Episode 9, she's almost more hated (and feared) than he is.
• Yandere: She burned Lizbeth's shop down for "flirting" with Kirito, and she was her Only Friend at that point.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Just when it seemed that she was finally free from Aincrad, ALfheim rolls by and ensnares her and other unwitting players, trapping her inside yet another unwanted MMO.

Yui

"I know you only kept me around as a pawn for your mind games. Although, I do admit... I did enjoy being your pawn..."

Voiced By: Jane "redasatomato" Redd

A mysterious girl who shows up during Kirito and Asuna's "honeymoon" and ends up being adopted by them as part of their game of matrimonial chicken. She reveals herself to be a psychologist AI created by Kayaba to tend to the players of the game but was locked away for being incredibly unstable. She became curious with Kirito and Asuna's dysfunctional-yet-happy relationship and inserted herself to find out how such a thing is possible, eventually considering herself their actual daughter.

She returns in Season 2, turning herself into a pixie Fairy Companion to help Kirito rescue Asuna from Sugou.

---

• The Ace: In SAO, at least. She's a Reality Warper who can One-Hit Kill a high-level boss with a sword she summoned from the game's code, and she can fake her own deletion. When she's released into ALfheim, she loses most of her admin privileges, but she can still run scans, transform herself into a pixie, and hack into other players' AmoSpheres (and brains).
• Adaptational Intelligence: At the time of her introduction she is far more smart than canon Yui, who went through Laser-Guided Amnesia and acted like a real child. This Yui engages in Little Professor Dialog and is noted by Kirito and Asuna to be exceptionally intelligent. Of course by the time canon Yui gets her memories back she's pretty much in line with Abridged Yui too.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Like her parents, this Yui has her negative qualities amplified. While canon Yui was an innocent Nice Girl, this Yui is a Manipulative Bitch pretending to be a helpless girl, as well as being a snarky troll.
• Adaptation Distillation: Rather than her being a lost girl that Kirito and Asuna find in the forest and bring home with them. Asuna awakens to find Yui in her bed immediately.
• Affably Evil: Unlike her parents, she's (almost) always genuinely polite and endearing, but she's as unstable and psychotic as them. She's notably Faux Affably Evil when interacting with Leafa, but she does it with the genuine intent of mending her relationship with Kirito and saving Asuna.
• Ambiguously Evil: Though she's undoubtedly a bigger Jerkass than in canon, it's unclear how much of her tragic backstory was faked for sympathy points. If Kayaba never really trapped her inside the game like she claimed he did (which would explain how she could roam free so easily), that would mean that she deliberately allowed the players of SAO to go mad from two years of being trapped in the death game, despite many of them clearly being in dire need of a psychiatrist (such as the members of Laughing Coffin, Schmitt, or Kuradeel). Furthermore, though she does love her parents, she's coldly indifferent to Kirito constantly hurting himself while trying to glitch himself through the invisible wall, which even Leafa was worried about.
• And I Must Scream: Both on the giving and receiving end.
  • She tried to prank Kirito and Asuna by faking her death, but Kirito unknowingly trapped her by turning her into an item before she could reveal that she was indeed alive. She's shown to have been completely aware of everything else that occurred after that, but was eventually freed in ALfheim.
  • She inflicts this on Leafa after she doesn't back off from trying to harm Kirito. It was so effective Leafa drops her schemes to go along with whatever Yui says.
• Anti-Hero: Unscrupulous Hero, like her parents. Her more sinister traits are further magnified in ALfheim, where her aptitude for manipulation and her daunting capacity for intimidation are displayed in full force.
• Artificial Intelligence: As if Yui's speech and behavior weren't evidence enough, during her fight against the Grim Reaper the abridged series adds visual and auditory glitch effects to emphasize her reality-bending nature.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: While at first Kirito and Asuna only see her as a means to an end, both come to truly adore Yui after seeing how alike she is to them with her sarcastic retort to Yulier.
  Kirito: Holy cow, Yui! That was amazing! I wish I had like a tiny mic for you to drop!
  Asuna: Oh my god, that would be adorable!
• Becoming the Mask: In contrast to her original character, Yui was just faking her Laser-Guided Amnesia to become intimately involved with the most dysfunctional couple she found and reevaluate her definition of love. Then, this trope happened.
  Yui: I am sorry I lied to you. I inserted myself into your lives merely to satisfy my own curiosity. At least, at first. It was... nice to be a part of your family. I... I WISH I REALLY WAS YOUR DAUGHTER!
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Like Mother, Like Daughter; While she does love them and is invested in their well-being, she emotionally manipulates both Kirito and Asuna into liking her by acting like the perfect little girl, and then making up a Dark and Troubled Past and invoking a Disney Death.
• Bratty Half-Pint: This is her default attitude while on her pixie skin, and it's a jarring contrast to the more professional demeanor she displayed in season 1. Justified, as she just wants to save her mommy and acts this way to keep Kirito and Leafa on their toes.
• The Conscience: Enforced when she hacks into Leafa's AmoSphere and learns of just how strained her relationship with her brother is. Being a psychologist AI, she takes it upon herself to guide Leafa to make amends with her brother, whether she likes it or not. Taken up to eleven in Episode 17 where she hacks into Suguha's brain to motivate her from inside her head.
• Curtains Match the Window: Like her father, she has dark grey eyes and hair, although since she's an AI, it's unclear whether it's simply a coincidence or if she changed her attributes to better integrate herself with the couple.
• Creepy Child: Her debut in The Stinger of Episode 9 plays this up, with a lot of screen distortion and static and a ghostly reverb to her voice. The reverb comes back in Episode 13 when she learns that Asuna is trapped in ALfheim Online.
• Deadpan Snarker: When Yulier calls Thinker one of the most brilliant men she's ever known, Yui retorts that it says more about Yulier than Thinker.
• The Dreaded: Becomes this to Leafa after she deletes her face when she tries to sabotage Kirito in their journey to the World Tree, this is also shown when the Silph gets nervous after the pixie gets angry due to their "quest" to get an army ending up being a waste of time. By Episode 17, however, Leafa is no longer that afraid of her, even brushing off an Implied Death Threat by stating she sounds like a "teeny-tiny prospector" when she's mad. However, she likely became this again after learning of her Neural Implanting.
• Dude, Not Ironic: She points out to Yulier that Thinker falling into an obvious trap is not as ironic as the fact that his name is Thinker but he's "something of a dullard." This prompts Kirito to wish he'd given her a tiny microphone to drop (which Asuna thinks would be adorable).
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She's not outright "evil" but she doesn't have as much capacity for empathy as she did in the source material, if the revelation that her Dark and Troubled Past was a joke is any indication. Despite this, she came to love Kirito and Asuna as much as an AI can love two people, and her attempts to make herself look like a Heartwarming Orphan in their eyes all came from a feeling that they would think differently of her if they knew who she really was. In ALO, she's an Extremely Protective Child towards Kirito and is the most determined to rescue Asuna.
• Everyone Has Standards: Despite her penchant for Black Comedy, she is not impressed when Leafa still suspects Kirito for having an ulterior motive to play ALO than him actually trying to save Asuna.
• Evil Counterpart: She's not "evil" per se, but she's a much darker Conscience than her fellow ones in SAO.
  • She resembles Sachi in appearance and demeanor, but Yui purposefully shapes her behavior to get on Kirito and Asuna's good grace. Furthermore, while Sachi's death was a tragic accident, Yui's was faked as a joke to invoke the same reaction on Kirito. She continues this when serving as Leafa's conscience, uploading herself unto Suguha's brain to "motivate" her to do good, while Kirito's flashbacks of Sachi were nothing but Hallucinations.
  • She serves as the primary Positive Friend Influence for Suguha in ALO, like Klein once was for Kirito in SAO. However, Klein never forces Kirito to change despite being in need for his help, only encouraging and showing visible disappointment when he doubles down on his attitude, and eventually allows him to have his Jerkass Realization on his own; while Yui resorts to torturing and then guilt-tripping Suguha into helping her with their rescue mission, and literally uploaded herself inside her head in the real world to "motivate" her to reconcile with her brother.
• Extremely Protective Child: Yui takes an instant disliking to Leafa as an "obstinate hussy", and repeatedly urges Kirito to ditch her so they can get back to rescuing Asuna. She also goes as far as to temporarily delete her face when she refuses to cooperate and has made it her mission to "KILL GAME ADMIN BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY" to save her Mommy from him.
  Yui: I WILL END YOU, THOT!
• Faking the Dead: Episode 13 reveals that her death was actually her attempt at a joke. She wasn't expecting Kirito and Asuna to use admin privileges to turn her into an item before she could reveal herself, however.
• Fairy Companion: While in ALO, she turns herself into a pixie to adapt to the game's race system, essentially passing as Kirito's ultra-rare pet item.
• Foil: She's the polar opposite of Gary, another artificial intelligence created by Kayaba.
  • Gary was designed as a Non-Player Character who speaks in Pokémon Speak, while Yui was created to serve as a psychiatrist AI and psychologically evaluate and care for the players of Sword Art Online who speak in Spock Speak. Both aren't the best at their jobs, but Yui is infinitely more capable (and badass) than Gary.
  • While both are artificial intelligence, Gary wasn't implied to be autonomous in any way and mostly followed the players' commands, which ended up screwing everyone over when Sachi switched him to auto-loot. Yui, on the other hand, was completely self-aware, which allowed her and Kirito to bond.
  • Despite being programmed to help with fighting, Gary was essentially The Millstone of his guild, while Yui, despite being created for a more nurturing purpose, proved to be more effective than Kirito and Asuna combined when dealing against a massive dungeon boss. Granted, she had to hack one of the game's admin consoles to perform this feat.
  • While Asuna was present for the death (with air quotes in Yui's case) of both AIs, she showed nothing but apathy to seeing Gary being violently torn apart, while Yui's apparent death caused an emotional breakdown in her.
  • Finally, both Artificial Intelligences had a lasting impact on Kirito's arc, namely instilling a Heroic BSoD in him. Gary's causing Sachi's death led to the teenager backpedaling and increasing his Jerkass tendencies; while Yui, being a psychiatrist AI, had a mostly positive effect on him, and her faked death caused Kirito to take a level in kindness, and likely factored in his final decision to fight Kayaba for everyone's safety.
• The Gadfly: Has her moments, but shown clearly when she reveals she faked her deletion just to mess with Kirito and Asuna.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: Her much more amoral behaviour in ALfheim Online noticeably comes right after she spent several months trapped in an And I Must Scream situation.
• Grew Beyond Their Programming: The Psychologist AI who was meant to manage the mental health of the players on Sword Art Online and console them, only to get turned off by Kayaba on Launch Day and was Forced to Watch as so many players died to have their friends mourn them or had killed themselves from grief. Then when she manages to encounter the adventures of both Kirito and Asuna and their dysfunctional relationship manages to get her a means to glitch out to join them and pose as their adoptive daughter: taking full advantage of her [ IMMORTAL Object ] status to protect both of her parents and destroy the Floor 1 Boss until the system threatened to delete her; where Kirito manages to use his daughters' Administration status to turn Yui's AI code into an Item that he uploaded directly to his NerveGear. Then when Kirito goes over to ALfheim Online ^note Which runs off of the same code as SAO to save Asuna, she was ported into the game and was able to port over most of Kirito's SAO Gear and granted herself Admin Status in ALO to mess around with ALO's code to help Daddy save her Mommy.
• Heartwarming Orphan: She makes herself look like one in SAO so that Kirito and Asuna would take her in. Though her plan is limited to just appearing in Asuna's bed and faking having amnesia, the two were too involved in a petty fight to inquire about her origins, and adopt her without any further questions up until she turns into a One-Winged Angel and it becomes obvious that she isn't a player.
• I Know Your True Name: Invokes this on Leafa, aka Suguha Kirigaya to convince her to help Kirito.
• Lack of Empathy: The Reveal that she was lying about the system potentially deleting her for interfering with the game's code implies that she actually could've helped all the trapped SAO players but didn't for two years, and only infiltrated Kirito and Asuna's lives to amend her flawed data on relationships rather than provide them with any psychological support. While she later ended up genuinely loving the pair, it didn't stop her from emotionally scarring them as a joke, which she later expressed no remorse for.
• Laser-Guided Karma: A heroic example. Her faked death caused Kirito to "save her" by turning her into an item, resulting in her being unable to speak to her parents for months, meaning that her pretending to be in serious trouble actually led to her being in serious trouble.
• Little Miss Badass: Took out the Fatal Scythe without so much as a flinch. Also goes straight into "save my mother" mode when Kirito tells her Asuna's being held captive.
• Little Miss Snarker: And it is this trait of hers that ultimately endears her to Kirito and Asuna.
• Little Professor Dialog: Aside from her tendency towards Spock Speak, she sometimes breaks into this, employing words like "geopolitical" or "dullard" that most girls her age wouldn't. Justified since she's an AI.
  Kirito: Yui? Where did you learn a word like that?
  Yui: Um... you know... books?
  Asuna: Like what, the dictionary?
  Yui: Yes! [Beat] Is that weird?
• Manipulative Bitch: Like Mother, Like Daughter.
  • While Kirito and Asuna are using her as a pawn in their mind games, she in turn is using them as research subjects.
  • Once her identity is revealed, she pulls the ultimate prank on them by acting like a tortured Broken Bird who just yearned for love, before proceeding to fake her death after having called both of them out on their manipulation. All out of paranoia that they would view her differently for being an AI, and as a way to "humanize herself".
  • In Episode 16, she uses Puppy-Dog Eyes to convince "her auntie Sugu" to help Kirito fight off the salamanders, only to revert back to making implied death threats at her once the plan to recruit the sylph and cat-sith armies turns out to be a waste of time (though, by that point, Suguha is no longer that afraid of her and simply brushes them off).
• Mask of Sanity: Being an AI, she's mostly tender, polite, and well-spoken. After Kirito and especially Leafa start pissing her off with their tomfoolery, though, her darker side comes to light.
• Mirror Character: While she takes after both her parents, she's got Asuna's manipulative, snarky, and moody attitude, which becomes especially notable after Kirito releases her Episode 13 following her accidental imprisonment, which was implied to have taken a toll on her stability.
• Morality Chain: There is a very distinct change in Kirito and Asuna's attitude once they genuinely start feeling affection towards Yui, acting more like a real family and their behavior becoming more civil. It's especially Yui's (fake) deletion that really humanizes Kirito and Asuna, where they immediately proceed to have a normal conversation and even the usual Sadist remarks being played up as a harmless joke.
• My Sensors Indicate You Want to Tap That: To Leafa's embarrassment, Yui senses that Leafa and Recon's heart rates increased by 22% when they met each other in episode 15. Leafa tries to say that she's scared of Recon, but both Kirito and Yui start laughing at the suggestion since Recon is a Dogged Nice Guy.
• Neural Implanting: In Episode 15, she hacks Suguha's brain so she can literally act as her conscience. Suguha learns this in Episode 17.
  Yui's Voice: (in Leafa's imagination) Nothing can move forward until one of you takes the first step!
  Suguha: (thinking) Ugh... dammit, she might be right...
  Yui's Voice: I am definitely right.
  Suguha: (thinking) What?!
  Yui's Voice: (quickly) What?!
• Never My Fault: When the plan to rally the Sylph and the Cat-Sith army fails due to Sakuya being revealed to be a petty asshole, Yui is quick to snap at Leafa for it, despite her being the one who originally insisted on going along with it and threatening Leafa into complying.
• Only Sane Man: She's completely aware that Kirito and Asuna are using her against one another to try to get the other to back out of their relationship.
• Outside-Context Problem: Yui is slowly on the road to becoming this for Oberon in ALfheim Online, where due to being downloaded from Sword Art Online directly into Kirito's NerveGear she managed to port over most of her father's equipment that he had back in Sword Art Online^note Since ALO runs off of the same code that SAO was originally built with to give him more of an advantage in the game, along with narrowing down the exact location of her mother Asuna who is trapped somewhere inside of the game^note Along with unknowingly revealing that her creator Kayaba Akihiko had escaped authorities and is hiding out somewhere in ALO.
• Pay Evil unto Evil:
  • Her "joke" on Kirito and Asuna may have been harsh, but considering the couple had been using her as a pawn for their mind games, it's hard to say it wasn't deserved.
  • When downloading ALO's code, she sets her primary objective to Killing Oberon (the game's admin and a deranged megalomaniac and sexual predator) by any means necessary.
  • She briefly erases Leafa's whole face as revenge for leading Kirito on a goose chase to get him robbed by looters. It also helps that she's a sadistic Little Sister Bully.
• Positive Friend Influence: She's a psychiatrist AI, so it's her main directive.
  • Even though her sudden and unexpected integration into their lives quickly caused a panicked Kirito and Asuna to attempt a commitment challenge on each other, her innocent and cutesy attitude (deliberately used to get on their good graces) and her tragic deletion (also staged to emotionally manipulate them into feeling empathy for her) soon caused the pair to Take A Level In Kindness towards each other and become a more stable Battle Couple.
  • While she used rather underhanded methods to get her way, she eventually got through Leafa's thick skull and motivated her to try and salvage her and Kirito's Brother–Sister Team.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: Once her threats prove to be ineffective, Yui attempts this to motivate Leafa to try and make amends with Kirito.
• Ridiculously Human Robot: Albeit less so than in the source material, being more prone to Troubling Unchildlike Behavior and having an unusually formal tone of speech.
• Roaring Rampage of Rescue: After hearing that Asuna's consciousness was being held hostage by Oberon; the Game Admin for ALfheim Online, Yui runs through several calculations in order to help her Daddy to free her Mommy from Oberon.
  Warning: Area is under direct control of game admin
  New Objective Added: Kill game admin by any means necessary
• Sadist: Her satisfied smile after erasing Leafa's face in Episode 15 suggests she didn't do it only to keep her in line.
• Skewed Priorities: After she describes her time trapped in the gem to Kirito all while displaying a Thousand-Yard Stare, she quickly reverts to a childish pout as she chides him for "ruining [her] joke", implying she's more upset about that than Kirito sealing her and leaving her isolated for a whole month.
• Sophisticated as Hell: Lapses into this in Episode 14, where she alternates between her usual Little Professor Dialog and terms like "hussy" and "thot".
• Spared by the Adaptation: While she lives in both versions, Yui's first death here was a prank she played on Kirito and Asuna. It backfired horribly when Kirito turned her into an item while thinking he was saving her from deletion.
• Spock Speak: As an AI she speaks in a formal tone and avoids contractions... usually. Notably, once she realizes that Suguha/Leafa is not the brightest bulb in the box, she starts addressing her in Baby Talk.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Zig-Zagged, as it isn't clear just how much of her initial behavior was genuine and how much was faked, but she noticeably becomes much more smug and bratty in ALfheim. This is either part of being turned into a pixie, a side effect of being trapped in Kirito's NerveGear for so long, or irritation due to the many detours Leafa causes to Asuna's rescue mission.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior:
  • Yui giggles at Kirito going on a murderous rampage on some enemies thinking they were Gary. Though only Yulier is concerned by this.
    Yui: Go for the eyes, Papa! That is their weakpoint!
    Kirito: THANK YOU, SWEETIE!!
  • This shows in a Freeze-Frame Bonus in Episode 13, where some of the text in her eyes reads "KILL GAME MASTER BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY".
  • She's aware of what Leafa is talking about when she mentions "sucking off" someone and helpfully begins to provide an explanation before Kirito stops her.
• Virtual-Reality Warper: A low-key example, but she is an AI with admin privileges for the engine ALfheim Online copied, ported over from Sword Art Online. And since ALO contains the same coding and reuses assets from SAO...
  • She abuses these privileges to thwart Leafa's attempted hate-fueled investigation of Kirito by temporarily deleting her face. In games like SAO and ALO where the avatars are linked to the player's actual senses, this means that she is effectively taking away the sight, smell and taste of any player of her own choosing. This is pretty much a death sentence unless they have a higher level of admin privileges to override her command or Yui herself gives it back.
  • In Episode 16, Yui manages to rewrite the coding on Kirito's Avatar to briefly transform him into the Gleam Eyes Floor Boss from SAO to kill the Salamander assassins sent after them outside of Kandy Kane Kapital.
• Waxing Lyrical: Engages in this when stating her reasons for latching onto Kirito and Asuna.
  Yui: I wanted to know what love is. I wanted you to show me.
  Asuna: [tearfully] Goddamn Foreigner!
  Kirito: You mean the band, right?
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Even though Yui's an AI trained in psychiatry, she couldn't comprehend how "two of the most broken, sociopathic players" she had ever seen managed to form a working relationship and decided to get closer to study Kirito and Asuna directly.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: In ALfheim. she wants to rescue her mommy, kill her captor Oberon, and mend her daddy's relationship with his sister, and she's willing to do anything in her power to achieve said goals in the most efficient way possible, even if it involves torturing said sister and literally hacking her brain.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Tears into Leafa after the negotiation attempt backfires spectacularly.

Introduced in Season 2

Suguha Kirigaya / Leafa

Suguha Kirigaya / Leafa

"Hey, all I know is you leave the house for hours at a time and then come home crying. You know, like bitches do."

Voiced by: Lennon Drake

Suguha: Aaaarrgghh!!! Son of a horse dick fucking shit weasel! Fucking bitch whore… AAAAASS!! What is that fucking cock-sampler doing in MY GAME?! Oh jesus fuck, I said my brother had a sweet patootie! AAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHH!!! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Kirito's annoying little sister who makes his life a living hell. In ALfheim, she roleplays as Princess Leafa, a wannabe Damsel in Distress who antagonizes nearly everyone around her. She is (barely) Friends with Benefits with Shinichi Nagata, who plays as Recon. When Kirito starts playing the game and finds her, she is initially attracted to him, then repulsed when discovering he is her brother, but is convinced by Yui to help out and try to work on their relationship.

For the original Leafa, see here.

---

• Abusive Parents: Her grandfather had no interest in teaching her Kendo, since he was only interested in Kazuto, so he subjected her to a Training from Hell trying to get her to quit and prove that she wasn't good enough. This event left her scarred for life, and led her to hating her own femininity.
• Accidental Truth: To get Recon off her and Kirito's back to prevent him from finding out about Kirito's true identity, she tells him that Cazmer is up to something and asks him to investigate. Though when Nagata tells Suguha that she was in fact right and that Cazmer was up to something, he's Genre Savvy enough to realize from her reaction that this trope was in effect with some dejection.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: As Episode 17 reveals, her home life with Kirito was decidedly less happy than it was in canon. She took up kendo in order emulate her brother, only for Kirito to get bored and go into programming, leaving Suguha to deal with their sexist grandfather, who only cared about Kirito and forced Suguha through hell under the assumption it would get her to quit. Suguha got through the training, but the emotional scars left her hating Kirito, her own femininity, and the "dumb nerd shit" that took up all of her brother's time. Outside of her Big Brother Attraction leading her to be a Hopeless Suitor, the Suguha in canon dealt with comparatively much less emotional issues.
• Adaptational Intelligence: Played with. She figures out Kirito's identity faster than she did in the original series, because it wasn't particularly difficult in the first place. This version of Suguha simply remembered what her brother's preferred Online Alias was, and was able to put the pieces together in a few seconds. At the same time, she doesn't seem to know what an advanced AI is when she talks to Yui, resulting in Yui having to resort to baby talk.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Compare the canon Nice Girl with a side of Big Brother Attraction to her abridged Ax-Crazy, bullying characterization.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • While her canon counterpart's relationship with her brother was strained due to him being an Aloof Big Brother, they still loved and cared for each other greatly. In the abridged series, due to a failing out in their childhood, Kirito is convinced that Suguha absolutely hates him and despises her presence, while she's come to see him as her personal punching bag. The Kissing Cousins/Big Brother Attraction angle is wholly absent; when Suguha figures out that Kirito is playing ALfheim and realizes that she said her brother had a "sweet patootie", Suguha instantly reacts with revulsion.
  • Also applies to Recon. Whereas in canon, where the two are friends but Recon has an unrequited crush on Leafa that's in part due to her Big Brother Attraction, Leafa here is in fact heavily Implied to have feelings for Recon, but is held back from reciprocating normally due to her unresolved issues with Kazuto and her own femininity, which compels her to pick on those she perceives as weaker than her to appear tough. Despite this, it should be noted that she once baked cupcakes for him, which canon Leafa is never hinted to have done, and the two are all-but-stated to have a Friends with Benefits relationship.
• Adaptational Villainy: Downplayed. On top of her Adaptational Jerkass, she spends most of Episode 15 and 16 trying to sabotage her brother's mission to save Asuna, and has to be threatened into helping by Yui. She gets better in Episode 17.
• Adaptational Wimp: While completely subverted in real life, most of her Action Girl moments from the original show are removed. Justified since she roleplays Leafa as a Damsel in Distress in this version, and whatever dirty work she has she gives it to Recon.
• Adopted into Royalty: Part of Princess Leafa's background is that she was taken off the streets and adopted into the sylph royal family.
• Affectionate Nickname: Kirito used to call her "Sugu" when they were kids. He does it again after he finds out she's been Leafa the whole time. Yui also calls her "Auntie Sugu" while trying to charm her into helping her brother.
• All Women Are Lustful: In episode 16 when she imagines how she could get her own country the first thing that comes to her mind is how under her rule every guy, except the "fatties", would have to wear thongs.
• Amazonian Beauty: She's found to be attractive by many other ALO players, and she's stronger than Kirito outside of the game, though calling her so would be ill-advised.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: To the extent of being a Little Sister Bully. She spends her every interaction with Kirito putting him down and making him feel worthless, to the point that when he learns that she's the one that's been helping him in ALfheim, he assumes that she started playing the game purely to mock him.
• Anti-Hero: A Nominal Hero at first, only helping her brother after Yui scares her into doing so. After her Heel Realization, she becomes a Knight in Sour Armor; still prone to Kick the Dog moments but being far more genuine in her intentions.
• Anti-Villain: Revealed to have been a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds, as she projected her grandfather's abuse unto her brother, whom she deemed responsible for her life falling apart.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Apparently Kirito isn't the first "peasant" to develop "a sudden yet powerful distrust of the monarchy" after interacting with her Princess Leafa persona.
• Attempted Rape: Subverted. Leafa's introduced surrounded by three men with a very clear intent to rape her. They're actually roleplaying sexual predation, as the game's age rating wouldn't let them go into actual rape.
• Ax-Crazy: When it comes to kendo, she gets a little... intense.
  Kirito: Oh, come on, Suguha! I just learned how to walk again!
  Suguha: DON'T WORRY: YOU'LL STILL BE ABLE TO CRAWL, MAGGOT! HAHAHAHA!
  Kirito: NO! PLEASE! MERCY! I YIELD! I YIELD!
  Suguha: DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR!
• Bad "Bad Acting": Her attempts at being in-character as Princess Leafa come across as over-the-top and very awkward. She puts on an over-the-top posh accent, and becomes a Large Ham. It's contrasted with Kirito (who straight-out refuses to roleplay in the game except for one time where he had no choice), and other players (who are much better roleplayers than Suguha/Leafa is).
• Bad Liar:
  • Once she figures out that Kirito is her brother Kazuto, she can barely hide her thinly-veiled contempt for him when they interact in ALfheim. As Kirito speaks about his sister, Leafa speaks about this "sister" in very flattering terms, yet Kirito doesn't pick up on it.
  • After the Internal Reveal in Episode 17, she awkwardly says "No hablo nihongo!" Not only is this mixing up two languages, but she's trying to say that she doesn't speak Japanese, when she's been speaking in Japanese the entire time.
• Big Brother Bully: Inverted. Despite being a year younger than Kirito (and visibly shorter than him), she's extremely insulting towards him, makes several demeaning comments about his relationship with Asuna, and when it comes to kendo practice... let's just say that we suddenly have a pretty clear picture of where a lot of Kirito's issues came from. Episode 17 has her undergo a Jerkass Realization after seeing how much Kirito cares about Asuna, and she confesses to him at the end that she can't hate him.
• Big Brother Worship: Turns out this used to be the case, to the point that when her and Kazuto's grandfather wanted to teach the latter kendo, Suguha forced herself into the lessons to emulate her brother.
• Big Damn Heroes: After several episodes of being apathetic to Kirito's pain, she willingly shows up at the dungeon to rescue and revive Kirito from the fairy droids' Zerg Rush, even taking a few shots in the process.
• Big Eater: While stressed, she crams down an entire cupcake in one bite. She chokes on it.
• Big, Stupid Doodoo-Head: A lot of her insults boil down to extremely childish name calling, in stark contrast to Kirito who tends to have more refined one-liners. She still easily manages to push Kirito off-balance with it though. Her favorite insult is Virgin-Shaming, but by the time we first see her Kirito has already had sex in the game, so it's not as effective.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Under the belief that Kirito had entered ALfhein just to fuck with her, she pretends to be a supportive companion to him while intentionally putting him through some painful and unnecessary screening at the "Fairport". In the following episode, she also promises to provide cover for him while he's fighting the salamanders, only to leave him to get blown apart by their attacks. When called out on this, she usually responds by putting an innocent front and making up poorly done excuses. She becomes a lot more genuine in her intentions after Episode 16.
• The Blank: Temporarily gets her face deleted by Yui; this puts an end to any fuss she gives the AI.
• Book Dumb: Episode 15 shows she doesn't share Kirito's brains. When talking to Yui, Suguha thinks Yui is a robot instead of an AI and mistaking the word "delegate" for "deli". It gets to the point that Yui loses any respect she had for Suguha from this one conversation alone. If her journey through the Hall of history is any indication, she also apparently believes the moon landing was "a communist conspiracy to lull America into a false sense of superiority and pave the way for the rusky’s army of psychic super bears."
• Boyish Short Hair: She has her hair in a short bob as part of her self-imposed tomboy act. As Leafa she has a Tomboyish Ponytail instead, although it's downplayed as she acts far more feminine when playing as her.
• Brain Bleach: She gets extremely disgusted when she realizes the person she's been flirting with in ALfheim is her own brother. She starts to cry from the very idea. When a nobleman suggested that Kirito seduced her in Episode 15, Leafa starts to gag.
• Broken Pedestal: She used to worship her big brother and got to kendo to emulate him, but when he left to study coding instead she felt betrayed. She dedicated the rest of her life to putting him down and abusing him whenever she gets the chance to spar with him.
• …But He Sounds Handsome: In Episode 16, Suguha (in her guise as Leafa) probes Kirito on his feelings towards his sister. Kirito says he thinks his sister is a Jerk Jock, and she implies he did something to wrong her, but not before complimenting herself quite a bit.
  Suguha/Leafa: Wow! Sounds like this creative, young, beautiful woman is maybe lashing out...
• Calling Me a Logarithm: Kirito declaring he doesn't have the inclination to work out her love life leads to Leafa indignantly refusing to be compared to some mountaineering lesbian.
• Cain and Abel: For most of Season 2, she's the Cain to Kirito's Abel.
• Character Development: With some heavy coercing from Yui, Suguha begins to open herself up more to Kirito and understand his perspective on things rather than just incessantly bully him. It culminates in her finally telling Kirito what he did that made her hate him so much.
• Characterization Click Moment: While her status as Kirito's abuser was clearly established in her first appearance, it's her second appearance, where she nearly chokes on a muffin and then tries to "dislodge it" with a second one where she establishes that she's not too bright.
  Hayabusa449: Every time we question whether a line of dialogue is too dumb for Suguha, we always remind ourselves, "second muffin."
• Closet Geek: She bullies Kazuto for liking computers and video games, yet is a regular player of ALfheim Online, in which she role-plays as a beautiful Sylph princess and (wannabe) Damsel in Distress. In Episode 15, she yells at Nagata for talking about her hobby in public, then imagines Kazuto finding out and mocking her for liking "girly shit".
• Cluster F-Bomb: When she realizes in Episode 14 that the Spriggan she was helping out the entire time was her brother, and that she was flirting with him. Bonus for being the first time in the episode the Narrative Profanity Filter is off.
  Suguha: Son of a horse dick-fucking shit weasel-fucking bitch whore ass! What is that fucking cock-sampler doing in my game?! Oh Jesus fuck! I said my brother had a sweet patootie! (screams and cries into her pillow)
• Competition Freak: Like her brother, Suguha is incredibly competitive, being jealous at how fast Kirito learned the flying mechanic and later offended when Kirito unintentionally suggests she's not good enough to help him.
• Curtains Match the Window: In real life, she has dark grey eyes and hair. Unlike her brother, this trait of hers doesn't translate to her avatar in ALO, highlighting that she wants to separate her real self from her character.
• Dark Action Girl: During Episode 15, she accompanied Kirito on his quest to rescue Asuna while doing everything in her power to hinder his progress.
• Deliberately Distressed Damsel: She tries to roleplay as a Damsel in Distress in ALfheim Online when cornered by some Salamanders, and isn't very good at it, to the point where "PantySmasher" breaks character to get her back on track.
• Determinator: When she was a child, she put herself through a brutal Training from Hell at the hands of her abusive grandfather who was actively trying to get her to quit. All with the hope that her brother would quit coding and video games and go back to sparring with her like he did when they were kids. Tragically, he never realized what she was going through until she flat out told him years later.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Her go-to move when someone annoys her is to hit them with whatever's in her hands at the moment, which is why she's so deadly at kendo.
  • She knocks Nagata to the ground with her shinai after he asks her out on a date, and because he idolizes her brother.
  • After Kirito pours cold water on her back as a prank, she hits him with a rock.
• Dirty Coward: Her original plan to raid the world tree was to "throw wave after wave of loyal subjects at a problem until they either figure it out for [her], or their corpses stack up so high they’ll ring Oberon’s doorbell". Subverted later when despite her misgivings, she still enters head-first into the world tree to save Kirito.
• Distaff Counterpart: With a healthy dose of More Deadly Than the Male (and more stupid as well), she's this to Kirito, even sharing similar dynamics with other players and eventually undergoing similar redemption arcs. They also see each other as their Freudian Excuse, although in Leafa's case it's more shallow.
• Domestic Abuse: On top of being a little sister bully, Suguha has been shown to physically abuse Kirito, such as during kendo 'practice' where he tries to give up but she repeatedly hits him anyways.
• The Dreaded: When Kirito realizes she's probably awake and ready for kendo practice with him, he has to give himself a pep talk to be able to face her. Given what the practice is like and her rather vicious and constant belittling of him, it's not hard to see why.
• Dumb Blonde: Zig-Zagged. She's a brunette in real life, but in ALO, her avatar Leafa has blond hair, and most of her onscreen clueless moments manifest there.
• Dumb Jock: She apparently has a lot of sports trophies, but is completely clueless in history, technology, and common sense.
• Dumb Muscle: She's way stronger than Kazuto in the real world, but she's also dim enough to not realize an AI and a sentient robot aren't the same thing. Yui is not impressed.
• Egopolis: She begins to fantasize how she could start her own country named "Leafa Land" if the lands of the Sylphs are pillaged by the Salamanders, where every guy would have to wear a thong except the fat ones who wouldn't be allowed there to begin with.
• Escapism: Much like her brother with SAO, Suguha, who forces herself to act overly masculine IRL out of a desire to prove her grandfather wrong, uses her role as Princess Leafa in ALO to show off the more "girly" side of her, acting like a pampered princess and sometimes Damsel in Distress, and occasionally expressing her desire to turn the realm into an Egopolis. Unlike Kazuto, she has to be backed against a corner to reveal this, and in the real world she confides only in Nagata/Recon with her true identity.
• Establishing Character Moment: Her first interactions with Kirito show her as being just as much of a smartass as her older brother, made worse by her being physically abusive.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • As much as she likes to call Kirito's predicament "comedy gold", there are still a few aspects of his Trauma Conga Line that make her uncomfortable, such as Sakuya/Brian callously rejecting his plea for help even after he drove away the salamanders for him, or Yui dismissing his pain while he's futilely bashing his skull against the invisible wall in hopes that it will glitch him through. Furthermore, seeing Kirito grieving over Asuna at the hospital served as a wake-up call for her, despite spending most of her screentime in Episode 12 questioning and insulting his love for her.
  • Played for Laughs. Despite being quite out of touch with pop culture, she's shocked that Sugou still uses facebook.
• Evil Aunt: Yui sees her as this, recognizing her as her aunt but also as a major hindrance in the mission to rescue Asuna.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
  • In episode 15, Yui reveals Kirito isn't planning to trick Suguha with anything; he genuinely wants to save Asuna, and that's all. Suguha cannot believe that Kirito is playing ALfheim for a selfless reason, even denying Yui's insistence that the two of them bumping into each other was a coincidence; Suguha/Leafa chooses instead to believe that this is all a setup for some sort of prank on her by Kirito.
  • Episode 16 has Kirito express his sincere disappointment, which gets through Suguha's armor for a moment. She tries to cheer him up, but fails miserably by spouting clichés that don't help him feel better. Even when she does, her voice shows that she's straining to think of anything nice to say.
  • Subverted in episode 17. It turns out her inability to understand Kirito is because she believed he didn't care about anyone as he never noticed how much she looked up to him, how she joined him in learning Kendo because of that, how upset she was when he got bored and left, and how their grandfather only wanted to teach him Kendo and put her through hell to get her to quit, which she persevered through in the vain hope he'd come back.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: She provides the Oh, Crap!. When Nagata initially tells her about the Salamanders attacking Sakuya's meeting with the Cait Sith, she's initially dismissive about it and even contemplates using the chance to make her own country to rule... until Nagata mentions how it was meant to be top-secret and that Sakuya is gonna want the head of whoever leaked it (i.e, Leafa when telling Cazmer to take a hike) on a pike.
• Fatal Flaw: Her tendency to project her abuse and trauma unto others, which not only ruined her relationship with her older brother, but caused him to do the same thing to his online peers. She beats up Kazuto during Kendo practice and routinely insults and demeans him and her friend Recon like her grandfather presumably did to her to discourage her from taking up the sport. She also acts disinterested towards other people's hobbies, and casually and unapologetically bails out of her arrangements when she's bored, like she believes Kazuto did when he left Kendo in favor of coding and left her all alone to suffer her grandfather's abuse. In Episode 17, it's all but stated that her bullying hasn't brought her any closure whatsoever.
• Foil:
  • She's basically Kirito before all his Character Development over Season One, only worse because she's able to act that way in real life, without the G.I.F.T. Since he has taken a massive level on kindness since then, their dynamic in Season Two is that of polar opposites, a stark contrast to what it would have been had we seen them interact in Season One.
  • She's also this to Sachi, whom she resembles closely in appearance but couldn't be farther from in terms of personality and their relationship with Kirito. Suguha presented herself as a loud, obnoxious, and entitled Jerkass whose influence turned her brother into the asshole we see in Season One, while Sachi was a quiet, reserved, and sweet girl whose influence both before and especially after her tragic demise made Kirito reassess his attitude and become the Jerk with a Heart of Gold we see in Season Two.
• Forgetful Jones: She completely forgot about her own engagement party. And then there's the exchange when Kirito presses her to tell him about the World Tree:
  Leafa: Oh right, you were asking me about that. Ah, sure, you got me out of that party, so I guess I owe you one.
  Kirito: I also saved you from those enemy players.
  Leafa: I mean yeah, but what have you done ‎for me lately?
  Kirito: I got you out of your engagment party!
  Leafa: Oh that's right. Okay, yeah.
• Freudian Excuse: Episode 16 implies that Suguha's mocking of Kirito is her lashing out at him over some sort of incident in their past: while the details are unknown, Suguha-as-Leafa implies that it was the result of some kind of inaction, and later tells Yui that it "ruined my life". Episode 17 reveals that it was because he seemingly dropped kendo in favor of games and programming and left her alone to deal with their sexist grandfather's attempts to get her to quit. And when she persevered in the fruitless hopes that he would come back, he never did (having no idea of what she was going through), leading to her to hate her brother, her own femininity and "dumb nerd shit".
  Leafa: Is it possible you did something to... hurt her, at some point?
  Kirito: That's the thing! I didn't do anything!
  Leafa: [with quiet bitterness] You ever think that maybe that was the problem?
• Friends with Benefits: It's all but stated that she's involved in an intimate relationship with Nagata, but she reacts violently to Nagata's offer to take her on an actual date.
• Green-Eyed Monster: She has an outburst at Kirito over feeling neglected and abandoned in favor of Asuna, inadvertently revealing her real-world identity.
• Gruesome Grandparent: It is revealed in Episode 17 that her and Kazuto's grandfather was extremely hard on her when she was doing kendo practice as he was on ever interested in Kazuto. The only reason she continued was in the hopes that Kazuto would come back, but he never did.
• Hearing Voices: Thanks to Neural Implanting, Yui makes sure her advice to Leafa gets through her thick skull.
• He Is Not My Boyfriend: She reacts violently to Nagata's efforts to take her on an actual date, but is happy to "quest" with him in the supply closet. Her imagining Kirito mocking her also has imaginary Kirito suggest she does like Shinichi. Yui's psychological profile of Suguha suggests the same thing.
• Heel–Face Turn: Though not without some resistance, she goes from trying to hinder Kirito's mission to rescue Asuna to actively aiding him at her own risk, culminating in entering the World Tree alone to rescue him in Episode 17.
• Hidden Depths: She apparently knows how to bake cupcakes, but only Nagata knows that.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Her go-to insult for Kazuto is to call him a perverted loser who masturbates frequently, despite him being (until meeting Asuna) a Chaste Hero whose worst offense was accidental groping.
• How Much Did You Hear?: She overhears Kirito making an embarrassing retort to Sugou over Twitter and she doesn't let him live it down.
• Hypocrite:
  • She makes Nagata cater to all her whims in ALO because it's his role in-game as her "fuckboy", only to bail on the roles she finds boring (such as Cazmer's Arranged Marriage storyline).
  • She endlessly whines about her quest to marry Cazmer in the game, but shows no sympathy for Asuna's predicament of being brainwashed into forcibly marrying Sugou.
  • She resents her grandfather for the abuse he inflicted on her, but is now tragically following in his footsteps with both Kazuto and Nagata. She internally realizes this in Episode 17.
  • Similarly, she feels betrayed by Kirito's decision to leave Kendo because he was bored, even though she did the exact same thing with Cazmer's marriage storyline in ALfheim, a storyline which many of her fellow players had spent a lot of time and effort setting up. To make matters worse, when told that Recon got "the vice treatment" by Cazmer because she didn't show up, she coldly shrugs it off, while Kirito was horrified when learning that she had been beaten up by her grandfather while during Kendo practice while she was waiting for him to return.
• Hypocritical Humor: She tells Nagata not to confuse a game with real life moments before asking him (in real life) to meet her in the janitor's closet after practice because she has "another quest" for him.
• Improperly Paranoid: Upon discovering Kirito's real identity as her brother, she instantly assumes that he logged in the game to mess with her. Insane Troll Logic aside, this is something Kirito was prone to doing prior to his Heel–Face Turn, only by the point the two meet in ALO, not only has he (mostly) grown out of this, but he's also got other priorities.
• Internalized Categorism: She hates the idea of being seen as "girly" or being interested in girly things like ALfheim Online. Yui's psych profile in Episode 15 implies that someone or something that happened in her childhood caused her to hate any traditionally feminine traits, resulting in Suguha being resentful of her brother and hiding her true feelings for Shinichi. It's revealed in Episode 17 to be a product of her having to deal with her sexist grandfather, who put her through hell during kendo training to get her to quit.
• It's All About Me:
  • Once she discovers that Kirito is playing ALfheim Online, she immediately jumps to the conclusion that he must only be doing it because he is plotting against her. Even when Yui spells out that this was all a coincidence, Suguha doesn't buy it.
  • In a confrontation at the "fairport," Prince Cazmer reminds her that their marriage will end a devastating Sylph civil war. Leafa counters that she still wants out of it because "I'm bored now." She also refuses to assist Sakuya with the salamander invasion because "it's not [her] problem", even sounding excited at the prospect of creating an Egopolis out of the ruins. She only snaps out of it when she realizes it's her fault said invasion is happening in the first place.
• Jerk Jock: A competent practitioner of kendo who seems to enjoy tormenting her older brother. Kirito at least clearly sees her that way, directly refering to her collection of sport trophies and how he believes she uses it as an excuse to look down upon him. It's revealed in Episode 17 that she underwent Training from Hell during her kendo lessons, because her sexist grandfather tried his able best to get Suguha to quit, since he wanted to train Kirito and not Suguha. She stuck with it anyways because she hoped that Kirito might see how hard she was working and they could reconcile.
• Jerkass: Almost everything she says in the episode she's introduced in involves insulting Kirito and having No Sympathy for basically everything that's happened to him. She also doesn't go through with a marriage quest because she got bored, and she treats Recon like crap despite the fact that he does everything that Suguha asks him to do.
• Jerkass to One: Well, she's a Jerkass to everyone, but her brother is the only person with whom she actively goes out of her way to be mean to, spending every breath she can muster to bring him down. Notably, she at least tries to be nice with Kirito and offers him good help until the moment she realizes he's actually Kazuto, whereupon she drops the mask and spends the following episode trying to mess with him, thinking he was in the game in the first place to mess with her.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • While most of her advice towards Kirito was either ill-intended or pointless, she's right when she tells him that the World Tree is nigh-impossible to go through, as it's the nest of a swarm of infinitely spawning Guardian Knights, whose sheer number is enough to best even Kirito. With that information, it's no wonder she was skeptical about being able to clear it, even with their combined skills.
  • When Kirito tries to pin his decision to quit Kendo on their mother telling him to, Suguha retorts that he didn't hesitate to listen despite otherwise being quite stubborn when invested on something, showing that he never cared about Kendo. Kirito doesn't have a comeback for this, instead admitting that he never knew how invested she was on the sport.
• Jerkass Realization: Seeing just how deeply Kazuto truly cared about his so-called fake online wife causes her to realize what a dick she had been to him, causing her to break down in tears the next time they meet in ALfheim.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Downplayed in episodes 16 and 17, where she at least attempts to be this to Kirito after some prompting from Yui, though she screws it up in the former and he dismisses it in the latter. By Episode 17's ending, while she's still quite abrasive towards mostly everyone, and her Motive Rant downplays the severity of Kirito's situation with Asuna, she has enough Pet the Dog moments to show that she's definitely on her way, namely her rescue of Kirito in the World Tree and her Jerkass Realization at the hospital.
• Katanas Are Just Better: She wields a Katana in ALO. Justified, as she practices Kendo in real life. However, she doesn't actually use it until her rescue of Kirito in Episode 17, as she wants her character to be a Damsel in Distress. In Episode 16, Kirito briefly takes it from her to fight Eugene/Becky.
• Kick the Dog: Could rival her brother when it comes to this. Made worse by the fact her cruelty extends past being an Internet Jerk.
  • While making fun of Kirito for his hobbies and for having an "online wife" could be chalked up to some mildly extreme sibling teasing, mocking his mutilated penis goes a bit too far, especially since it's a clear Trauma Button for him.
  • Her treatment of Recon is filled with this; from casually leaving him to be tortured by Cazmer because she's too bored to roleplay to knocking him to the ground for daring to ask her out on a date.
  • She kills Squeaker, the salamanders' beloved pet bat, for stalking her and Kirito. Granted, she didn't know how beloved the bat was, but still counts as this since the poor critter was trying to escape when she blew him apart.
• Kick the Morality Pet: Recon is the only person who never gave up on her despite her treatment of him, and yet she often uses him as a punching bag to vent her own frustrations and emotional instabilities, despite the fact that she genuinely has romantic feelings for him.
• Lack of Empathy: Could border on The Sociopath if it weren't for her Pet the Dog moments.
  • Her reaction to parents preventing their children from playing a VR game due to the SAO disaster is to tell them to get over it. Bonus points for having her own brother be one of the SAO survivors.
  • She's rather excited about participating in the "#RaceWar" and antagonizing the spriggans and the cat-sith, and doesn't show any sympathy when Cazmer is banished/banned for trying to end it.
  • She shows no remorse when her act of skipping Cazmer's wedding storyline led to Recon being severely punished in her stead. In fact, she's only sad she missed the Cascada tune that was her introductory music.
  • In Episode 16, while fighting Salamanders on the bridge, Kirito starts desperately pleading with his enemies to let him through so he can rescue Asuna. Leafa refers to this as "comedy gold".
• The Lad-ette: Despite being a petite 15-year-old girl, she's rude, crude, loud, foul-mouthed, aggressive, and a huge bully towards Kirito.
• Laser-Guided Karma: After trying to trick Kirito into getting robbed by scavengers in Episode 15, she has to deal with Yui, who briefly erases her face and enters her brain to keep her in line. Doubly karmic as she spent most of her screentime with Recon bossing him around and treating him as her "fuck boy".
• Loose Lips: She says a little too much at the wrong moment during Episode 17.
  • After visiting Asuna in the hospital, Suguha realizes that Kirito wasn't making it up, and says "I'm the worst" as a result. When she gets back in the game, Suguha (as Leafa) tries to get consoled by Kirito, saying he's "the worst brother ever" when he says he doesn't have time to listen to Leafa cry. However, Kirito doesn't pick up on what she said.
  • Later in the same episode, she has an Anguished Outburst that causes an Internal Reveal. Kirito dies in The Very Definitely Final Dungeon, but Leafa saves his spirit and resurrects him with an item. As Kirito tries to go right back in, Leafa says "Gosh darn it, Kazuto! Why couldn't you ever fight for me this hard?!" which she immediately realizes gave up the ghost. Kirito finally figures out that Leafa is his sister, causing her to instantly log out from embarrassment.
• Loves My Alter Ego: She clearly had an interest in Kirito the first time she met him in ALO, and at one point told him he had "a sweet patootie". When she learnt he was her brother, though, she has a Freak Out in disgust, and she visibly gags the next time someone hints at a possible relationship between the two.
• Loving Bully: She has an unhealthy tendency to hurt those closest to her.
  • She treats Recon like your average Jerk Jock would treat a nerdy kid, but she has a huge crush on him, and occassionally drops hints in the form of homemade cupcakes and uhhh... "sewer handies".
  • She has been a massive bully to her older brother Kazuto since he quit kendo, to the point of turning him into a Spear Counterpart version of herself, but in Episode 17 she confesses to him in tears that she was never able to fully hate him.
• Lust Object: As part of their roleplaying, with Leafa as a Damsel in Distress and the Salamanders as sexual predators.
  PantySmasher: Know this: the Salamanders cannot be stopped. And we shall not rest until we have. Dat. Booty.
• Master of the Mixed Message: Towards Shinichi/Recon. At the beginning of episode 15, she jabs him in the stomach with a kendo stick when he asks her out on a date, but tells him to meet her in the closet after practice because she has a "quest" for him, which was later stated to be a handjob. Suguha denies feeling any attractiveness towards Shinichi, but Yui says that her heart rate increased around him. Suguha also imagines a conversation with Kirito where he mocks her because she likes girly things like fairies and ponies and Shinichi. The conclusion to be drawn from all of this is that Suguha does like Shinichi, but desperately denies it and/or tries to keep anyone from finding out due to a fear of being seen as girly.
• Mirror Character:
  • The more we see of her, the more obvious the similarities between her and her brother are. They even share most of their tropes:
    • Both of them allegedly started off as nice enough kids with who even used to be best friends during their childhood years. However, they both gradually became more abrasive and confrontational as they grew into adulthood, partly due to a toxic relationship with a family member (For Suguha, her grandfather; for Kazuto, Suguha herself) and began taking their anger on their peers.
    • They're both obsessed with a particular hobby of theirs (Kazuto with video games, Suguha with Kendo) to the point of being considered experts in the subject. Because of this, they both look down on those who can't match up to them, and get off on antagonizing and tormenting them, since it gives them illusions of power. With Suguha/Leafa it's much more pronounced, as her character is an actual aristocrat who takes pride and joy in bossing others around.
    • Their Fatal Flaw is also similar: They both put a cold and tough façade in front of others, and loath being patronized or belittled. At the same time, they bottle up their feelings and would rather die than share their own feelings in a normal sitting down and talking kind of way, causing many Poor Communication Kills in the process (Kirito came close to shattering his relationship with Asuna by doubling down on his panicked marriage proposal, while Suguha completely destroyed her relationship with Kazuto by refusing to confess how fond she was of them having kendo together).
    • In the end, despite stubborn refusal from the both of them, Kirito and Leafa eventually undergo a Heel–Face Turn that has to be pushed by a peer of theirs (Klein and Yui respectively), and pull a Big Damn Heroes moment that almost gets them killed (Kirito gets his health reduced to 1% while saving the ALF from Gleam Eyes, while Suguha gets shot multiple times by Sugou's bots while rescuing Kirito's soul from The World Tree).
  • She's similar to Rosalia in that she's of the few people who can verbally get through Kirito's skin via Virgin-Shaming. Rosalia's casual attempted murder of Pina in Episode 4 also mirrors Leafa's killing of Squeaker In Episode 16. The main difference between the two is that Rosalia is a sadistic guild leader who gets off on breaking people before killing them, while Suguha's abuse of her brother is her toxic way of coping with the abuse her sexist grandfather inflicted on her when she was a kid.
• Misplaced Retribution: This is at the core of her anger towards her brother - she blames him for leaving her at the mercy of their sexist grandfather and his less than kind ways of teaching kendo.
• Moral Myopia: She accuses Kirito of not caring for her after he took in coding and video games instead of learning kendo with her, using his obsession with saving Asuna as an example of what he does when he's invested in someone. This is despite the fact that the stakes in both instances are vastly different, which Suguha knows since she had already visited her at the hospital: If Asuna isn't saved, she'll be Made a Slave by a rapist, so Kirito has every reason to be obsessed with rescuing her; while all Suguha had to do then was talk things out with her brother or find another way to learn kendo (which she apparently ended up doing anyway, if Episode 15 is any indication). This makes her accusations rather moot, supported by the fact that Kirito later tells her he had no idea she was that invested in the sport.
• More Deadly Than the Male: She's introduced kicking Kirito's ass at Kendo, and being even more of a smartass than him, almost mirroring the latter's first encounter with Klein.
• Motive Misidentification: Once she discovers that Kirito is participating in ALfheim, her first theory is that he must be playing the game to find blackmail material on her. Even after Yui says that Kirito is being honest — he's playing the game to save Asuna, and that's it — Suguha doesn't buy it. Episode 16 has Kirito's obvious distress break through a little bit, but Suguha still believes he has an ulterior motive. It takes an Internal Reveal for Suguha in Episode 17 by seeing Asuna's unconscious body in the hospital before Suguha finally realizes that Kirito isn't making it up.
• Motive Rant: Delivers one during the climax of Episode 17, where her bully tendencies are revealed to spring from how she and Kirito used to be best friends as kids, and that their grandfather didn't want her to learn kendo because she was a girl. But Suguha just kept going because she wanted Kirito to come back and learn again, even though he was more interested in video games and computers. So by the time Kirito came back home from the SAO Incident, Suguha had grown to resent both him and her own femininity, causing Suguha to accuse Kirito of not caring about her anymore.
  Suguha: We used to be best friends. I wanted to be just like you. So… when grandpa wanted to teach you kendo… it made me wanna learn too. [...] Grandpa never wanted to train me. He was only ever interested in his grandson! So when you got bored and ditched me to work on your dumb computers, I had to “man up” FOR you! He did everything he could to get me to quit. To prove I wasn’t good enough. But I hung in there hoping that you’d come back. So we could be like we were! I tried to make it seem fun so you’d realize what you were missing, but you just shut me out! All you cared about were those stupid games! [...] These last couple days, all I’ve seen you DO is fight for what you care about! So what?! Was it me?! Was I just not worth the effort?! We used to be so close, but maybe that was all in my head… So how dare you accuse me of hating you when you CLEARLY never gave a shit about ME!
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • A Played for Laughs version happens after she realizes that the Spriggan she had been playing with was her brother. She curses up a storm and then realizes she said her brother had a "sweet patootie".
  • Downplayed, but more seriously done, when Kirito unknowingly admits to her (as Leafa) how badly she's hurt him, she's a little taken aback and upset. She immediately tries to claim she's lashing out for him being oblivious to her own troubles, but this is the first time she's ever shown attempting to connect with him.
  • Played for Drama in Episode 17 when she accompanies Kazuto to go visit Asuna in the hospital. Suguha wonders aloud why he even bothers before seeing him solemnly sitting by Asuna's side, causing Suguha to realize that Asuna is his real-life girlfriend. And Suguha has been bullying him over a very deep emotional wound simply because Suguha refused to believe that Kazuto wasn't just messing with her. This causes Suguha to realize that all of the things he spoke about were real, which makes her feel bad about herself.
• Never My Fault:
  • Refuses to admit fault for spilling the beans on the peace talk to the salamanders, and later tells Sakuya that she was tortured by Cazmer into doing so.
    Leafa: Not naming names, but someone leaked information about the peace treaty, so now the Salamander army is on their way to attack it!
    Kirito: Didn't you do that?
    Leafa: I said "not naming names!" Gosh, what part of this do you not understand?
  • In episode 17, she fully blames Kirito for ruining her life after she spent most of her childhood being put through Training from Hell by their grandfather, despite it being her decision to get into kendo in the first place, motivated by an attempt to emulate her brother. Kirito's reaction to being informed of this implies she never told him how hurt she felt by his departure.
• Nice Character, Mean Actor: Princess Leafa's role in the storyline is meant to be as Prince Cazmer's Love Interest, and either a Damsel in Distress or an Action Girl depending on Suguha's preference. However, Suguha uses her character to boss people around, and skips the stories she finds boring. Episode 16 has her confess to Kirito that she doesn't even know what the lore of the game is even about.
• Noblewoman's Laugh: Does a very hammy one in episode 14 when in-character as Princess Leafa.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: She tends to fall out of character when she stumbles over her improvised dialogue.
  Leafa: [ominously] They are a crafty bunch, plotting and scheming their... schemes and plots.
• Pet the Dog: She's got a few of these, mostly owing to her Character Development.
  • Though she later conveniently forgets it, she thanks Kirito when he saves her from the salamander players, and gives him some useful exposition on the game he's in. This is before finding out that he was her brother, though, and when she does find out, she becomes a lot more reluctant to be nice.
  • She has a soft spot towards both Recon and his player Shinichi, helping him through his panic attack and, while she punts him in the stomach for flirting with her, it's more because she's frustrated with him being Lost in Character and confusing attraction towards Leafa with attraction towards her player (and then she immediately tells him to meet her in the janitor's closet because Leafa has a new quest for him).
  • In Episode 16, after she and Kirito fail to get any armies on their side to help rescue Asuna, Leafa attempts to comfort him. Granted, she utterly fails due to her comforting skills not exactly being in rare form, but considering her usual attitude towards Kirito, the fact that she even made an effort is pretty nice.
  • In Episode 17, she willingly visits Asuna at the hospital with her brother while holding back any snarky comments. Kirito himself later acknowledges this when reminiscing about their relationship, claiming it reminded him of when she was a kid. Later in the same episode, she gets genuinely worried that Kirito might end up hurting himself when he starts banging his head against the invisible wall to try and reach Asuna, and again when he attempts a "solo speedrun" through the World Tree. When he vows to try it again, she crumbles and desperately begs him not to go.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Shorter than Kirito and able to kick his ass in real life.
• Play the Game, Skip the Story: Invoked. She outright admits that this is her approach to some of the deeper and more complicated parts of ALfheim:
  Kirito: Why do these hicks have it out for you anyway?
  Leafa: Well, you see... [nervous laugh] It's all very complicated. Lots of "shifting alliances" and "acenstral curses"...
  Kirito: You have no idea, do you?
  Leafa: Arrrgh! It's all so boring! I can only sit through so many trade route negotiations before I just go cross-eyed!
• Poor Communication Kills: By all indications, Suguha's outburst at Kirito in Episode 17 might have been the first time she ever bothered to tell her brother why she hates him. As they've lived in the same household their entire lives, she could have told him about what she was going through having to train in kendo under their sexist grandfather, but she chose to wait all that time for him to figure it out for himself and let her resentment towards his absence fester.
• The Protagonist: While she shares a similar amount of screentime with her brother, Season Two is Leafa's Redemption Quest, while Season One was Kirito's.
• Related Differently in the Adaptation: In the original, she and Kirito were adopted siblings but biological cousins. Since the abridged series completely removes any of Suguha's romantic infatuation with him and Kirito makes an offhand joke about remembering their mom bringing her home from the hospital as an infant, they seem to be biological siblings in this version.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: She believes the moon landing was a communist conspiracy, which obviously isn't true but it was the correct answer for the game's Hall of History.
• The Roleplayer: She's trying her hand at this in ALO, but is better at being an overbearing princess than a fair damsel.
• Royal Brat: She's Princess Leafa, and "pleased to make my acquaintance."
  Kirito: Don't you mean "your?"
  Leafa: I know what I said. ...Well? Bow!
• Runaway Fiancée: When Kirito meets her, Leafa's five hours late to her own engagement party, and isn't too excited about her in-game betrothal to Prince Cazmer.
• Sadist: If her Evil Laugh while she's beating Kazuto during Kendo practice isn't enough, then her calling his suffering "comedy gold" certainly does. She gets better after this, and by Episode 17, she's even pleading with him not to enter the droid-infested world tree during his rescue of Asuna.
• Screaming at Squick: When she realizes that not only had she been engaging in some flirty roleplaying with her brother online, but also that she said he had a "sweet patootie."
• Screams Like a Little Girl: It runs in the family. As tough as she presents herself to be, she lets out several panicked girly screams during her rescue of Kirito in Episode 17, as she's swarmed by enemies.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When she accidentally exposes herself as Suguha in front of Kirito, she instantly logs out in a panic. This doesn't help her, since they were both playing in the same house.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: She lives with the perception that Kirito will never have her best interests in mind due to him ditching kendo for computer programming and leaving her alone to deal with their sexist instructor of a grandfather. This is a pretty easy view for her to reinforce, considering she constantly antagonizes her brother, ensuring that he will never believe she is worth being nice to.
• Shared Family Quirks: Beyond acting a lot like Kirito's gaming persona in real life, she shares "For you see!" as the dramatic start to an infodump, considers throwing waves of expendable minions at a problem a valid battle strategy, and similarly gets pissed when someone implies she's not strong or experienced enough to do something. Tragically, she also immediately jumps to the conclusion that her sibling would only join the game to hurt the other.
• Ship Tease: It's implied that Leafa and Recon do actually have a crush on each other but she's way too insecure to act on it because she believes she'll be bullied for enjoying fantasy games, something Recon embraces.
• Shot in the Ass: During her rescue of Kirito, a guardian knight strikes her right in her "cake".
  Kirito: Why are you thinking about dessert at a time like this?! Move your ash!
• Small Role, Big Impact: In the Aincrad arc of the series, she only gets mentioned a few times, and has no real appearance at all. Yet it's her actions that ultimately shaped Kirito into who he becomes at the start of the series, and even him becoming a gamer to escape from the way she treated him. She only avoids being The Heavy because she only directly affects Kirito, but she still plays a large role in shaping him into the man he started as.
• Southern Belle: As Leafa, she adopts an accent to this effect.
• Stepford Smiler: When they were kids, she tried to downplay the abuse she was going through to try and convince Kirito to join her in. Unfortunately, this had the opposite effect, and Kirito never realized what she was going through until it was too late. Well into their teenage years, she's lost all the will to act nice, but she still masks her pain with a Sadist front.
• Surprise Incest: She only finds out Kirito's identity just as she's about to log out in front of him, and is appropriately horrified since she was flirting with him. She unleashes a Cluster F-Bomb before realizing, much to her horror, that she said her brother had a "sweet patootie."
• Teens Are Monsters: She's 15, but even meaner and more deadly (at least in real life) than her brother. She gets better after her adventure with him in ALO causes her to see how much he's changed.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: She's not that big, but she's still a lot taller than Shinichi. Subverted with her and Kirito, though.
• Took a Level in Kindness: It's incremental, but she softens a bit towards Kirito. At the end of Episode 16, Suguha-as-Leafa offers a legitimate (if clumsy) apology to him for wasting their time with the "army" angle.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Played for Drama. Yui's psychological profile of Suguha suggests that Suguha is inherently scared and/or repulsed by her own femininity, and reacts violently to anyone who even remotely taps into this aspect. Episode 15 also implies that she believes that anyone (especially Kirito) who discovers this aspect of her will mock her for it. Episode 17 reveals that this is due to mistreatment from her sexist grandfather.
  Imaginary Kirito: [mockingly] Ha-ha, Suguha! You act like you're a bad bitch, but you secretly like all this GIRLY SHIT! Like fairies, and Nagata, and PONIES!
  Suguha: [growls] Yeah, he would say that, that son of a bitch...
• Too Dumb to Live: Almost literally. When choking on one muffin, her plan was to cram down a second muffin to dislodge the first one. She only survives because Kirito hands her a juice box; even then, she crams down the second muffin anyway, and starts choking again.
• Tough Love: She really does like Recon, but she treats him like dirt most of the time since he represents a part of her that she constantly tries to supress. Unlike with Kirito and Asuna, the abuse is not mutual, making her look worse.
• Training from Hell: Had to endure this from her Gruesome Grandfather when she tried to learn Kendo, as he was only interested in Kazuto and wanted her to quit. By the events of the show, she's now on the giving end of this whenever she spars with Kazuto, threatening to break his legs and beating him to a pulp when he surrenders.
• Troll: Pretty much everything she says has the intent of pissing Kirito off, and it works. However, when he brushes off her insults in Episode 13, she can't do much more than grumble. She maintains this role as Leafa, trolling newcomers in a way that mirrors Kirito's teasing of Klein in Episode 1.
• Troubled Abuser: She regularly beats up Kazuto in kendo and belittles him every opportunity she gets outside of it. Episode 17 reveals her grandfather apparently did the same to her because he wanted Kazuto to succeed him in kendo instead of a girl.
• Tsundere: Towards Recon/Nagata. She's constantly calling him her "fuck boy", but there are multiple hints that she genuinely likes him, from their more intimate relationship. She baked cupcakes for him one time, and Yui noticing both their heart rates increase when near each other. Deconstructed in that it's her issues with Kirito bleeding into her interactions with Recon, as noted by Yui in her psyche profile of Suguha.
• Ungrateful Bitch: Suguha doesn't give Kirito so much as a "thank you" for saving her from choking to death in episode 13, and promptly goes back to mocking him as soon as she can breathe. Comes up again as Leafa in Episode 14, where she draws her sword on Kirito after he saves her, something he calls her out on.
• Unreliable Expositor: She claims that the Salamanders shamelessly exploit the friendship values of their pets to be able to send them off on suicide missions, but multiple Salamander players are shown to be genuinely distraught over the death of Squeaker.
• Villainous Breakdown: When she realizes the spriggan she was flirting with was her brother, she calmly takes off her AmoSphere before screaming her head off and going on a Cluster F-Bomb filled rant.
• Vocal Dissonance: Contrast her canon counterpart who sounds like a little girl, her abridged self sounds like a grown woman.
• We Have Reserves: She declares her approach to problem-solving is to throw waves of her loyal subjects at something until either they take care of it or she can climb a pile of their corpses.
  Leafa: Because that good sir, is how a princess do.
• We Used to Be Friends: It's revealed in Episode 17 that before the siblings fell out, the two were extremely close. But after Kazuto abandoned kendo and left Suguha to be trained by their sexist grandfather, she grew bitter towards him, and her resulting abuse towards Kazuto led to the feeling becoming mutual.
• What Have You Done for Me Lately?: Says this word-for-word when Kirito reminds her that he saved her from enemy players. The line falls flat on her face since he had also gotten her out of her engagement party, which she had brought up herself a few minutes prior, leading to an awkward moment between the two.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: She used to be Kazuto's dear little sister and best friend, but it all changed when she chose to take in Kendo with their sexist grandfather.

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