Literature / Accel World

Burst Link!

"What if you could escape to an accelerated world?"

Faced with a Gang of Bullies in a chubby body, Haruyuki Arita, a shy seventh-grade teenager at Umesato Junior High School, finds escape from reality into a cyberspace world maintained by the school. He loses himself in a virtual squash game no one else plays and holds all of its high scores. Until the day he finds his own scores topped by somebody else by a considerable amount of points.

This sets up Haruyuki into an encounter with "Kuroyukihime", an enigmatic eighth-grader, School Idol and the Student Council Vice-President of Umesato Junior High — the girl who topped his squash scores — and offers him the opportunity to learn how to "accelerate to a faster world". The "Brain Burst" program, downloaded directly to a neuro-link attached to the bottom of the skull, allows a person to make time appear to stand still by "accelerating" their brainwaves; this can often be used as Hyper-Awareness, letting its users make decisions and strategies in seconds that normally take minutes. Unfortunately, there is a limit to how many times a person can accelerate. People with Brain Burst take Burst Points (BP) needed for acceleration from others by winning in a Fighting Game. The only way to avoid being challenged is to not be connected to the same network, which, in a world where constant network connection is the norm, requires being very careful and a lot of willpower.

Once in the game, Haruyuki turns into Silver Crow, and, in gratitude for bringing him into this world, decides to use his abilities to complete Kuroyukihime's goal: reach Level 10 of Brain Burst to meet its creator and discover its true purpose. The catch is that this requires defeating the current leaders of the game: six other Level 9 players (aside from Kuroyukihime) who have led the world for over two years and will do anything to maintain the status quo because one loss at Level 9 means Brain Burst will permanently uninstall itself from the loser, while reaching the endgame at Level 10 could potentially cause all players to lose Brain Burst forever.

Accel World is an ongoing 2009 Light Novel series written by Sword Art Online creator Reki Kawahara, published by ASCII Media Works and serialized in Dengeki Bunko, with illustrations by HiMA. It has a manga adaptation, illustrated by Hiroyuki Aigamo, in print since 2010, as well as two spinoffs: Axel World, a 2010 yonkoma series illustrated by Ryuryuu Akari, and Accel World / Dural: Magisa Garden, a 2012 story illustrated by Ayato Sasakura focusing on the younger sister of a deceased member of Kuroyukihime's guild, Nega Nebulus.

A 2-cour anime adaptation produced by Sunrise aired during the spring 2012 season and has been licensed for streaming by Viz Media.

The light novels and manga adaptation have been licensed by Yen Press for a Western release. While the first couple of light novels have earned a very mixed response from American critics, as for the Japanese, the series has attained much more positive attention from them over time.

• Two video games, Accel World: Awakening of the Silver Wings & Accel World: The Peak of Acceleration, based on the series were developed by Banpresto and published by Namco Bandai Games for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable.
• Accel World VS Sword Art Online: Millennium Twilight a video game crossover announced with Sword Art Online for the PS Vita and PlayStation 4 released in Japan during March 2017 and in the west in July 2017.

An anime film Accel World: Infinite Burst was released on July 23, 2016.

Kuroyukihime was chosen to represent Accel World in the crossover Fighting Game Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax by Sega, where she uses her avatar from the game world; Haruyuki was chosen as one of the support characters.

Please move any character tropes to the proper Character page.

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Accel World provides examples of:

#-G

• 20 Minutes into the Future: The series is set in 2046 but it doesn't seem that different from modern day Japan, aside from a few technological differences.
• Absurdly High-Stakes Game: Not quite. Burst Linkers are granted special abilities in the real world, powered by Burst Points taken from defeated foes, but anyone who ends up with zero points is banned from the game and has all memories related to it erased, which may or not may be a good thing depending on whatever experiences you had there. Stakes are higher in "all points in" fights like those between Level 9 players.
• Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: In the anime, Sky Raker calls Black Lotus her Only Friend, which contradicts later revelations that Raker was close with the other Elements of Nega Nebulus, and had a Friendly Rivalry with Blood Leopard. The novel has Raker make the more accurate observation that she'd driven her other friends away with her obsession, and Black Lotus was the only one who understood her desire to fly.
• Adapted Out: Chiyu's mother briefly appears when Haru visits the Kurashima residence in the first volume of the manga, but is absent from the equivalent scene of the anime.
• Adults Are Useless: Twice over.
  • First off Haruyuki was unable to tell adults about his bullying, so none of them interceded.
  • Secondly no adult can Accelerate because one has to have the link installed since birth and the technology only came out around 15 years ago so the oldest persons who can accelerate are 15.
• Alliterative Name: Brain Burst. The fact that both words start with the letter "B" seems to be a deliberate choice, as it is the second in a series of three games- Accel Assault 2038, Brain Burst 2039 and Cosmos Corrupt 2040.
• Ambition Is Evil: Kuroyukihime is treated as the highest criminal in the Brain Burst world for trying to reach level 10 and disrupting the Balance of Power. Haruyuki tells her reaching for that goal is only normal.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Kuroyukihime to Haruyuki right before she uses Physical Full Burst to prevent him from getting hit by Araya's car.
• Animal Motifs: Kuroyukihime is heavily associated with butterflies, along with designing her public avatar as wearing a butterfly dress.
• The Apunkalypse: Inserting Ash Roller into the End of Century stage launches straight into this trope, at least as a visual motif.
• Arc Words: "I want to get stronger" in Volume 2.
• Ascended Fridge Horror: The various unethical and downright vile things players could do to gain points, from kidnapping someone in real life and repeatedly dueling them, to bullying someone and using them as a point source, are touched upon.
• Augmented Reality: How users of Neuro-Linkers see the world. There are many applications including: vision correction, school work, camera, digital wallet, etc.
• Awesome McCoolname: The one who takes the prize of coolest name is without doubt Crimson Kingbolt. It's so cool he was instantly recruited by the Purple King into her Legion without knowing his ability was not a powerful lightning bolt. In fact, a kingbolt is just a type of screw.
• Balance of Power: Because of the risks involved with getting to level 10, the top players of Accel World have signed a peace treaty with each other and are perfectly happy to not try and "complete" the game. Kuroyukihime and now Haruyuki do not play by these rules and plan on upsetting the balance.
• Barbaric Bully: Araya is this, actually threatening Haru with the "Pork Bun Punishment" if the latter doesn't follow through with his threats, and the "Pork Roast Punishment" if Haru reports it to the school's staff. Given his last act in the series was to attempt to run both Haruyuki and Kuroyukihime over with his car before his second arrest, one can only assume how serious those previous threats were.
• Batman Gambit: When Kuroyukihime tricks Araya into punching Haru and sending him flying into her in front of a school security camera, knowing that Araya will be arrested for his actions. It immediately comes back to haunt her when Araya is released on bail and uses his car to run her and Haru over, resulting in Araya's second arrest.
• Be Yourself: Kuroyukihime and Chiyuri both attempt to convince Haruyuki that he has good points, and that he is not complete trash. He isn't buying it yet but only time will tell.
• Big Brother Is Watching: There are the Social Cameras, which are just about everywhere (except very low-traffic areas like rooftops, or far enough away from any buildings), and keep track of your movements 24/7...
• Big Damn Heroes: Just as Cyan Pile is about to be struck down by Dusk Taker, permanently, Black Lotus appears to save the day.
• Big "NO!": In episode 10, Haruyuki yells "No!" when he gets caught by Chiyuri while Kuroyukihime ties his necktie.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: The avatar of Black Lotus uses these (type 3 on both arms) to great effect.
• Bland-Name Product:
  • Seen in Dural: Ncdonalds.
  • Episode 15 has a suspicious search engine that has Google's color.
• Blatant Lies: When Haruyuki is asked by the School Newspaper News Hound if he is dating Kuroyukihime. He says he was just fixing her Neurolink OS. Not a bad lie, but they see through it with further questioning.
• Blessed with Suck: When Haru becomes the 6th Generation Chrome Disaster. However, each subsequent generation from the first seems to be easier to defeat.
  • It should be noted that during the first Disaster, there were NO level 9s. So each new generation being "easier" to defeat only meant that everybody else was becoming stronger.
  • Also keep in mind that the previous Chrome Disasters were far more badass before being possessed. First Chrome Disaster had pseudo-teleportation and was really pissed. Second had possessed a dragon-like Duel Avatar with the ability to breathe flames. Third was a sword saint with skills second only to Blue Knight's. Fourth took a while to take down. Then came the fifth whose color is a mix between red and yellow, meaning he had low defense and poor melee damage. The Disaster makes you strong, but not invincible. Then came Silver Crow as the 6th Chrome Disaster, who was weaker in terms of raw power because he did not give into insanity, yet better overall because he had a semblance of control and rationality allowing him to match elite Linkers like Iron Pound in 1 on 1.
• "Blind Idiot" Translation: Suffers from the same type of Translation Trainwreck that populates Hellsinker, which is not a bad thing, but it could be better.
  (final prompt for Sudden Death matches) ARE YOU VERY GOOD?
• Bloodless Carnage:
  • Justified in that it's a game and they apparently didn't want to animate realistic blood from the fighters. Apparently, in Accel World's future, there aren't any more violent video games, which is why Haru's collection of old video games is hidden away like a Porn Stash.
  • Averted in the real world though when people are hurt they bleed. However, there is very little physical violence in the real world, and it's not taken to unrealistic levels.
• Both Sides Have a Point: In the first volume, there's the dispute between Haru and Kuroyukihime over whether Chiyu is Cyan Pile.
  • While Haruyuki is ultimately right that it isn't Chiyuri, Kuroyukihime has legitimate reasons for suspecting Chiyuri, considering that the Burst Linker challenged Kuroyukihime while she was connected to her school's intranet, and Chiyuri goes to Kuroyukihime and Haruyuki's school. It later turns out that the culprit used a backdoor program in Chiyuri's Neurolinker, but since Haruyuki was unable to obtain evidence of the program's existence, Kuroyukihime realizes that he could be lying to protect his friend. Kuroyukihime also notices Chiyuri's hostility toward her, and while Haruyuki claims Chiyuri's jealous of their closeness, Kuroyukihime points out that it doesn't make sense, since Chiyuri has a boyfriend.
  • As for Haruyuki, he realizes that Chiyuri isn't very good at video games or lying, so the idea of her secretly being a Burst Linker is ridiculous, especially considering that Cyan Pile is Level 4. Likewise, he realizes that there are other reasons for her hostility toward Kuroyukihime, and he's right that Chiyuri is jealous about Kuroyukihime succeeding in helping him. He also manages to find out that Chiyuri isn't a Burst Linker, even if Kuroyukihime is skeptical of his claims.
• Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: Portrayed realistically. When two friends part on bad terms, there will be no shortage of awkwardness if they get together years later, even if they don't necessarily hate each other. It takes Kuroyukihime and Sky Raker until the end of Volume 5 to fully reconcile, despite having reunited at the end of the previous volume, and that reconciliation is largely triggered by Sky Raker regaining her legs, thereby undoing the cause of their rift.
• Breather Episode: Episodes 18-19, in the middle of the relatively dark Dusk Taker arc, show Kuroyukihime and Megumi on a trip in Okinawa.
• Bridal Carry: Silver Crow carries Black Lotus like this once.
• Bullet Time: An ability granted to all Burst Players. By spending burst points, one can speed up their thoughts in the real world so that a few seconds in real time take as long as 30 minutes. Normally, one cannot move during this period, and the program uses Social Cameras and the brain's memory to extrapolate their surroundings; but this does give a distinct advantage to tests, stock market choices, strategies, etc. (Which is why most players don't want to finish the game.)
• Cain and Abel: Kuroyukihime and her sister, the White King White Cosmos. The latter is the Cain, having manipulated Kuroyukihime into killing Red Rider, and heading up the antagonistic Acceleration Research Society, while the former is the leader of the protagonists.
• Calling Your Attacks:
  • Cyan Pile's SPLASH STINGER. Happens a few other times.
  • Let's not forget "Lightning Cyan Spike".
  • Played for Laughs when Silver Crow was fighting Scarlet Rain, and names his final kick "Silver Crow's All-or-nothing Kick!"
• Car Fu: After being released on bail, Araya spitefully attempts to run over Kuroyukihime and Haruyuki with his car after disabling its control AI. It doesn't work out, as Araya gets arrested once again.
• Central Theme: Our emotional flaws have the potential to become our greatest strengths.
• Cerebus Call-Back: After losing to Wolfram Cerebus, Haruyuki remembers boasting about how Taku couldn't defeat him, and feels terrible now that he's in Taku's position.
• Character Level: Pretty much like any RPG style manga. Brain Burst's level cap is 10, but no one has achieved that cap, since it requires reaching Level 9 and defeating five other Burst Linkers of the same level. Few Burst Linkers have reached the higher levels, and even getting up to Level 4 is a significant accomplishment.
• Chekhov's Gun: The Legendary Reins that Black Lotus got after beating Sulfur Pot, were later used to let her tame an Enemy which she rode for 15 hours from Okinawa to Tokyo, just in time for her Big Damn Heroes moment.
• Chest Blaster: Cyan Pile has missiles in his chest.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Haruyuki, Taku, and Chiyuri grew up in the same apartment complex. Chiyuri and Taku are dating, but Taku feels jealous and threatened by how close Chiyuri and Haruyuki still are. It's implied that this is another reason for his Start of Darkness and his use of Accel in his sports and academics to make himself that much better than Haruyuki.
• Childhood Friends: Haruyuki, Taku, and Chiyuri.
• Circle of Shame: Episode 1 of anime, in one segment of more surrealistic depictions of Haruyuki's laments about his life in general.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Kuroyukihime shows signs of this.
  • The Purple King, Purple Thorn, who reacts to every little interaction Red Rider has to Black Lotus.
• Code Name: Being about a game world, most people use "user names" to refer each other.
• Color Character: The Duel Avatars of the players in the Accelerated World.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: You can have a basic idea of what strengths your opponent has by the color included in their user name. The closer to a "pure" color, the more focus is given on a particular fighting style.
  • The "kings" of the game are pure blue, red, yellow, green, purple, white, and black.
  • Haru's avatar is silver, and his fighting style is centered on his unique ability to fly.
• Compressed Adaptation: The manga compresses most of the events from Volumes 3 and 4 of the light novel to a single chapter, so it can get to the Bridge Floating in Starlight arc more quickly.
• Continuity Nod: Episode 22 shows a Nerve Gear helmet, which is explicitly stated to have been the precursor to Neuro-Linkers.
• Cool Bike: Haruyuki's first fight pits him against a Ghost Rider wannabe, Ash Roller, who puts all of his level-up bonuses into upgrading his motorcycle for combat purposes.
• The Corruption:
  • Taku got it from using Brain Burst too much for his academics and sports.
  • Even more accurate examples are Chrome Disasters, until the 5th one.
  • The ISS kits, which give the users the ability to use the Incarnate system more easily, while corrupting the duel avatar.
• Crapsaccharine World: The setting of Accel World is a futuristic society with many seemingly wonderful advances in technology, but the Neurolinkers essentially enable Parental Neglect, and even an advanced network of security cameras doesn't keep the world entirely safe. Brain Burst is also like this, as it's a ruthless struggle for survival, where people desperately cling to their points and often do very unethical things to earn them.
• Cumbersome Claws: This is something Kuroyukihimi laments about her Brain Burst avatar. Focused around attack, Black Rose's hands are swords, completely incapable of anything but cutting her opponents to ribbons. She's unable to shake hands, clap friends on the back, or even casually hug people unlike the vast majority of other avatars, including those also infused by the black color. This actually extends from her hidden fear that she herself is incapable of doing anything but causing harm to those she loves, manifested by the Accelerated World's programming.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Silver Crow vs Ash Roller round one. Haruyuki didn't know how to play yet, and was crushed because of it. Fortunately, starting players can afford to lose a few times before their situation gets dire.
  • Played with in Haru's match against Cyan Pile. "Round one" as it were goes unabashedly to the level 4 player, with Haru losing a leg and an arm and getting knocked from the top of a building down to its deepest levels. While here though, he manages to activate his wings allowing him to move so fast the shockwave he leaves in his wake knocks people off their balance, and his single punch is enough to all but obliterate Cyan Pile.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: While Silver Crow never stood a chance against Scarlet Rain, he managed the surprising feat of forcing her to dodge one of his attacks.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique:
  • Physical Full Burst, which lets players move their physical bodies at high speed, at the cost of 99% of their Burst Points.
  • Incarnation attacks count as well. They're so secret the players are not supposed to realize the technique even exists without external assistance. The reason for their status as this trope is because an incarnation technique gone wrong is what gave birth to the Chrome Disaster; hence the Kings' unwritten rules banning first-use except in self-defense against another user.
• Darkest Hour: In Episode 23, Dusk Taker uses Lime Bell as a hostage, and is able to dismember Cyan Pile, leaving him on the brink of death and total point loss. Silver Crow barely staves off Zero Fill to escape from Black Vise, but runs out of steam before he can do much. All seems lost until Black Lotus does a Big Damn Heroes entrance.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Kuroyukihime dresses in black and has a black duel avatar, but is one of the good guys.
• David Versus Goliath:
  • Silver Crow vs Cyan Pile, level 1 vs level 4.
  • The Red King (the best long-range lv 9) vs. Silver Crow (lv 4).
  • Early on there is also Silver Crow vs Ash Roller. Twice. (complete newbie vs level 1, then level 1 rematch vs a newly minted level 2).
  • In the Light Novels it's mentioned many times that unless you invest your Level Up Bonus there is almost no difference between levels. Thus, a level 1 can match a level 3 as long as their combat skills are roughly the same, and there's almost no difference between level 4 and 5. However, those in the upper brass (level 7 and above) have far more combat experience and are specialized, making it a stretch to defeat them. Thus we have for example...
  • Silver Crow (Level 5) vs. Black Lotus (Level 9). Of course, Silver Crow's goal isn't to win, but to restore Lotus's fighting spirit, and he succeeds.
  • Silver Crow (Level 5) vs. Iron Pound (Level 7)
  • Silver Crow (Level 5) vs. Argon Array (Level 8)
  • Reversed with Silver Crow (Level 5) vs. Wolfram Cerebus (Level 1).
  • Downplayed with Silver Crow, Cyan Pile, Lime Bell and Blood Leopard (the former three are Level 5, and the latter is Level 8) vs. Black Vise, Argon Array and Wolfram Cerebus (the former two are Level 8 and the latter is now Level 5). The protagonists technically have a higher combined level (23 vs 21), but the narration points out that Cerberus is an unusually strong Level 5, so the antagonists have the advantage.
• Declaration of Protection: Kuroyukihime to Haruyuki before the Diving Save from Araya's car.
• Deep-Immersion Gaming: Every game that has been seen thus far, but specifically the Brain Burst Fighting Game. They even feel pain while fighting.
• Defeat Means Friendship: With the promise of admitting their mistake, and trying to atone for them.
• Department of Redundancy Department:
  • At the start of Volume 17, Kuroyukihime, Fuko, Utai and Akira give Haru the following pieces of advice prior to the meeting with the other Legions.
    “You absolutely cannot say a single word.”
    “You absolutely have to be quiet right up to the end.”
    “You absolutely must stay quiet.”
    “You absolutely cannot get mad no matter what happens.”
  • Araya likes giving "command orders" to Haru, who makes note of how ridiculous the phrase sounds.
• Despair Event Horizon: The death of Saffron Blossom at the hands of those whom she was trying to help with the Destiny caused Chrome Falcon to go insane with rage and combine with Incarnate System the Starcaster and the Destiny into the Disaster.
• Determinator: Haruyuki will not give up a net fight after he learned how. He got his arm and leg blown off fighting someone three levels higher than him and he would not back down.
• Disproportionate Retribution: When Kuroyukihime gets the Gang of Bullies expelled and arrested, Araya tries to murder her and Haruyuki after being released on bail.
• Distracted by the Sexy: During a doubles match of virtual tennis with Kuroyukihime and Chiyu, Haru and Taku are unable to concentrate on the game by the constant possibility of a panty shot thanks to the girls' tennis skirts, although Kuroyukihime notes that Taku is also considering letting Chiyu win.
• Diving Save: Kuroyukihime uses up most of her points to save Haru even while time is slowed down in Brain Burst.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: It is often said that wire connection only occurs with lovers or close friends. It's even possible to get a virus from someone untrustworthy. You can imagine what Noumi forcing Chiyu to connect with him means.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Haruyuki does not like the idea at all that his friends are pitying him.
• Dub-Induced Plot Hole:
  • The localization of the light novel omits honorifics, including "senpai". As a result of that, when Wolfram Cerberus' third personality calls Silver Crow "Arita-senpai," (which is what Noumi had called Haru), it's a bit harder to recognize that's something only Noumi would say.
  • The dub of the anime has Taku say that Seiji Nomi's older brother Yuichi is three years older than Taku. That would make him about 16 at the start of the series, too old to be a Burst Linker.
    • While the light novel also says Yuichi is three years older than the trio, it also mentions that he is just barely young enough to fit the criterion for being a Burst Linker.
• Dysfunction Junction: It's indicated that since one's duel avatar's abilities are born from one's personal trauma, and (according to Kuroyukihime), parents are using the Neurolinkers as a substitute for spending time with their kids, it thus follows that most of them are not well-adjusted people. Chrome Falcon while becoming Chrome Disaster, is appalled that people who were tormented in real life would become bullies themselves in Brain Burst.
• Enemy Mine: Despite Kuroyukihime being at war with the other Kings, all of them put aside their differences to fight their common enemy, the Acceleration Research Society. In Infinite Burst, Nyx serves as a similar enemy, especially since it threatens the existence of Brain Burst itself.
• Equivalent Exchange: The way Brain Burst works, with points being transferred from the loser to the winner in a zero-sum exchange, spent every time the user uses Brain Burst, and only being gained by defeating Enemies results in a rather unsustainable model. Because of this, Green Grande donates his points to cards and feeds them to Enemies in hopes that players will fight the enemies and win points, for the long-term goal of preventing Brain Burst from collapsing like its sister projects.
• Erotic Dream: Haruyuki is glad he does not have the app that records dreams after this.
• "Eureka!" Moment:
  • Haruyuki figures out who Cyan Pile is by noticing that Taku has been acting strangely, and realizing he's the only one who could have installed a backdoor program on Chiyu's Neurolinker.
  • In Episode 6 of the anime, Taku realizes that he'll need to find some way to help Haru get his points back that doesn't involve Taku giving them to him. As Chiyu insists that Taku and Haru help her finish the flavors of ice cream she had them buy her, Taku sees a "Choco Bouncer" flavor, and realizes Haru can hire "the bouncer."
• Evil Plan: Inverted. The plot is driven by Kuroyukihime's desire to complete the game which means she's the one stirring up conflict in the Brain Burst community. However, given that Brain Burst is a fighting game by design, it's not exactly evil.
• Face–Heel Turn: Chiyuri fools everyone into thinking this during the Dusk Taker arc.
• Fake Defector: Chiyuri in the Dusk Taker arc.
• Fetish:
  • Kuroyukihime seemed worried that Haruyuki might check out her legs during their first use of Brain Burst.
  • After Haruyuki grabs Niko's ankles (her heel in the anime) to keep her from kicking him, she accuses him of "fooling around" with her feet. This becomes a Running Gag later on.
  • He later actually does develop a fetish for feet.
• Festival Episode: In Infinite Burst, many of the characters from Nega Nebulus and Prominence (which have merged by this point) attend a festival midway through, with the girls wearing yukatas.
• Fighter, Mage, Thief:
  • Cyan Pile (Fighter), Silver Crow (Thief), and Lime Bell (Mage).
  • Among the old Nega Nebulus, Black Lotus and Graphite Edge (Fighters), Ardor Maiden (Mage), Sky Raker (Thief), and Aqua Current (Magic Knight).
• Fighting Back Is Wrong: A reconstructed example occurs when Kuroyukihime is introducing Haru to Acceleration (essentially a mental time stop). After encountering Araya yet again, Kuroyukihime responds by taunting the former, and Haru Accelerates for the first time with Araya's fist an inch away from his face. He initially suggests that he could use his new abilities to dodge the punch and fight back, but Kuroyukihime has Haru roll with the punch and knock over her table, then she slams herself into a wall and plays dead (complete with blood). Since they're surrounded by witnesses and security cameras, this results in Araya's expulsion. Punching the guy, i.e. fighting, is not the answer, but doing something to punish the bullying is definitely okay. Unfortunately, this comes back to haunt Kuroyukihime when Araya is released on bail and tries to kill both Kuroyukihime and Haru with his car, ultimately leading to Araya's second arrest.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: After Silver Crow and Cyan Pile have seemingly defeated Dusk Taker, you can hear the sound of bells. Lime Bell then shows up and heals him.
• Flight: A big deal in the Accel World. Haruyuki is the first to have a flying avatar, although Sky Raker got the closest to that point with her Enhanced Armament, Gale Thruster (a jetpack).
• Foreshadowing:
  • Haru wishes he could fly into the sky, away from everything else, just before his Duel Avatar awakens. He ends up getting an avatar with the power of Flight.
  • Niko mentions that when she saw Cherry Rook after he lost Brain Burst, he was just like he was when they first met. This foreshadows that losing Brain Burst erases all the memories related to it.
  • Notice how Chiyu's 'healing' ability depletes her target's special gauge? She's really reversing time, rather than healing them.
    • On top of that, whenever she uses her ability, you hear the sound of bells, similar to those of a clock, and on at least one occasion clockwork gears are visible inside the cannon itself.
  • As Rust Jigsaw is entering the net cafe at the end of episode 21 he passes by a poster of a character dressed as Snow White. Given who leads the Acceleration Research Society and that person's relation to Kuroyukihime (Princess Snow Black)...
  • When Crikin hands her the Mystical Reins Enhanced Armament, Black Lotus rejects it, saying she has no use for it. He insists, including mentioning some enemies that could be tamed with it (flying horses). Mana also suggests that she would soon have need of it.
    • In the next to last episode, her Big Damn Heroes moment comes with her riding in on, you guessed it, a flying horse.
  • In the first volume, Taku casually mentions Haru getting "the Chii special" for Lunch (the lunch that Haru had refused), even though he shouldn't have known about that. Chiyu later denies telling Taku about Haru being ridiculed. Both of these foreshadow that Taku has a backdoor program and is spying on her.
  • When going shopping with Kuroyukihime and Haru, Niko acts strangely when seeing a young girl with her parents. It's revealed at the end of the arc that Niko is an orphan.
  • When discussing her "parent," Kuroyukihime mentions how she utterly hates that person, but due to the nature of their relationship, she can't fight against them. When later talking about the three healer types- Chiyuri, someone who left the Accelerated world and the White King- Kuroyukihime doesn't want Haruyuki to get anywhere near them. As you can likely tell from Kuroyukihime's similar disdain for both individuals, they're actually one and the same, as White Cosmos, the White King, is Kuroyukihime's parent.
• The Four Gods: The supreme bosses of the Accel World, guarding the Imperial Palace, are based off of these Four Gods- Byakko, Suzaku, Genbu and Seiryu- and each guards the gate associated with their cardinal direction. Each of them has an elemental affinity- respectively wind, fire, earth and water- and Kuroyukihime had one of her Legion members with the same element fight each one.
• The Four Loves: Chiyuri agreed to return Taku's romantic love in order to keep his friendship, and only when Haruyuki promised not to leave.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • In the anime, when Haru and Akira are looking at the match list for a tag team duel, one of the teams is Bush Utan and Olive Grab, a team that doesn't debut until later in the light novels.
  • When Haru is about to face Ash Roller for the third time, you can see a schoolgirl running by the bus he's on just before he accelerates for the duel. It turns out that schoolgirl is Ash Roller.
• Funny Background Event: In Episode 24, as Kuroyukihime greets Haru, you can see Megumi glaring at Haru with glowing red eyes.
• Gang of Bullies: Haruyuki is frequently ridiculed by Araya and his gang until Kuroyukihime gets them expelled with a Batman Gambit.
• Gecko Ending: The manga ends after the Bridge Floating in Starlight arc- Kuroyukihime and Fuuko are fully reconciled and Nega Nebulus vows to stand together to protect Haruyuki against the other legions, but none of the other plot threads are resolved.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Kuroyukihime tries to slap the Angst and self hatred out of Haruyuki.
  • And again to Cyan Pile when she challenges him to a fight.
• Give Geeks a Chance: The relationship between Haru and Kuroyukihime is that of the School Idol and a pudgy nobody. It's an unusual example in that Kuroyukihime was the one smitten by Haru instead of the inverse, and the School Idol is arguably more of a geek.
• Godlike Gamer:
  • Virtually all Burst Linkers are this to an extent, as to even qualify to play Brain Burst requires specific parameters to be met. But among the community, the seven Kings are regarded as the best of the best being the only level-nine players in the game. One of said Kings is female protagonist, Kuroyukihime/Black Lotus.
  • Played with in regards to The Protagonist Haruyuki/Silver Crow, while he at first seemed like your run-of-the-mill newbie with Crippling Overspecialization that made him a Fragile Speedster, but then he's revealed to have natural talent and learns how to activate his wings (implied to be an Incarnate Skill which is very difficult to master), making him one of the few who can fly and as a result one of the most dangerous Burst Linkers alive.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: Haru's wings look vaguely like an angel's. When Dusk Taker steals his flying ability and uses it, his wings look like a bat's.
• Gotta Kill Them All: The only way to get to level 10 is to Player Kill all other level 9s. (Thus permanently uninstalling Brain Burst from them.) Specifically, according to the wiki, one has to kill 5 level 9 players, meaning five of the Seven Kings of Color must be beaten.
• G-Rated Sex: Direct-linking with someone is considered an extremely intimate action because there is no information security involved, and thus, it is a sign of deep trust. When Kuroyukihime nonchalantly offers to do so with Haru, everyone around her does a spit-take and Kuroyukihime later gets jealous when she hears that Chiyuri received Brain Burst from Haru via a short cord than she herself used with him.
• Green-Eyed Monster:
  • Kuroyukihime does not appreciate the closeness that Haruyuki and Chiyuri share. Not that Haruyuki could understand that until someone flat out told him she was jealous. Even then he was confused and he literally looked up the word.
  • Haruyuki and Chiyuri's relationship is a sore point with Taku as well. In a variation, it's also indicated that he believes that if he doesn't go out with Chiyuri, she'll spend the rest of her life taking care of Haru.
  • Chiyuri is jealous that Kuroyukihime and Haruyuki had a direct connection, and that Kuroyukihime made more progress in helping Haru soon after they met than Chiyuri did in months. She does, however, approve of Haru becoming Kuroyukihime's boyfriend if it means they'll have a more equal relationship.
  • After Kuroyukihime lost her connection cable which she used to connect with Haruyuki, she bought the shortest one she could find. Supposedly because she didn't have money for a longer one, but it's very probable that she did so because she was jealous about Haruyuki connecting with Chiyuri through an even shorter cable.
    • Also she gets jealous when Scarlet Rain spends the night in Haruyuki's apartment, thus causing her to sleep over as well.

H-O

• Hate Sink:
  • Noumi, is a member of the Acceleration Research Society, who are implied to be the main antagonists of the series, but Noumi seems to be fairly low-ranking. He does, however, prove to be a thoroughly unpleasant Smug Snake who blackmails Haru into gathering points for him and having Haru's friend Chiyu become his tag partner unaware that Chiyu is planning on betraying him and returning Haru's wings. He does have a Freudian Excuse (although since the same goes for most Burst Linkers, it doesn't say much)- Seiji's older brother bullied him, and forced him to give points to Yuichi (like Yuichi does with his victims), until Seiji unlocked his ability and brutally erased his brother from Brain Burst- but given that Seiji took sadistic pleasure in doing so, it doesn't inspire much sympathy. The closest Haru, who was bullied himself, gets to sympathizing with Noumi is saying that they might have been friends if Noumi had approached him and his companions as another Burst Linker.
  • Araya is also shown to be a despicable character, which is especially driven home when he not only harasses Haru and steals his lunch money, but also when he tries to kill both Kuroyukihime and Haru in retaliation for getting him expelled and arrested.
• Heel–Face Turn: Cyan Pile starts out as a bounty hunter seeking Kuroyukihime's head for the points bounty, but then becomes the first person besides Haru to join Kuroyukihime in the revived Nega Nebulus.
• "Hell, Yes!" Moment: In the anime finale, Haruyuki and Chiyuri have a big one when Noumi's wings unexpectedly disappear and Silver Crow unexpectedly starts to float without the Gale Thruster being on. What actually happened is that Chiyu's healing ability actually rewinds time and she not only managed to level it up enough to undo Dusk Taker's stealing of Silver Crow's wings but waited until the opportune moment in the battle where both combatants are in the air before backstabbing Noumi, sending him plummeting down like a rock and enabling Haru to utterly obliterate the now helpless Dusk Taker with a single attack.
• Heroic Second Wind: In the fight Haruyuki vs Cyan Pile after Haruyuki loses An Arm and a Leg he crawls over to Kuroyukihime's bed where she is fighting for her life after her Diving Save, and he won't back down which helps him unlock more of his power.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Haruyuki hates himself and this causes much confusion and problems because of how this messes up his relationships.
• Hollywood Hacking: Subverted. Even in a society as advanced as the one in this series, hacking can involve surprisingly mundane methods. In Volume 1, Taku abuses Chiyu's trust in him to install a backdoor program on her Neurolinker without her realizing it, while in Volume 3, Taku unwittingly transmits a virus to Haru's neurolinker, since Haru doesn't realize that the file size for the attached photo of Noumi's older brother is larger than it should be until it's too late.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Sand Duct and Nickel Doll. Also, Cyan Pile and Lime Bell.
• Humongous Mecha: The Red King's combat form. One of Kuroyukihime's old Level 7 acquaintances can build himself one out of scrap metal and is mentioned as having firepower second only to the Red King herself.
• I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me: Haruyuki to anyone. The kid has self-esteem in the negative numbers because of his physical appearance and all the bullying he has endured.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: In the anime, all episode titles end with "-tion".
• I Kiss Your Foot: Haruyuki does this for Niko after she agrees to teach him and Takumu about the incarnate system. She responds by kicking him.
• I Know Your True Name: The Burst Linkers rarely reveal their real names to others.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: After their break up, Takumu still loves Chiyuri, but he knows she probably won't become his girlfriend again. He still wishes for her happiness, regardless.
• Indignant Slap: After Haruyuki accuses her of using him as a pawn to degrade herself, Kuroyukihime slaps him and starts crying because she's very hurt to hear him demean her feelings for him in such a way.
• Innocuously Important Episode: Kuroyukihime's trip to Okinawa. Initially, it seems to merely show what she was up to while she was away, but it also reveals that her close friend Megumi used to be a Burst Linker, a revelation that becomes very important once Megumi returns, fighting for the White Legion in Volume 21.
• Jet Pack: Sky Raker's Gale Thruster. When Dusk Taker steals Silver Crow's wings, Haru borrows the Thruster and subsequently gives it back in the final episode as he no longer needs them.
• Jumped at the Call: Haruyuki accepted Brain Burst much faster than Kuroyukihime anticipated.
• Karmic Death: Dusk Taker "dies" in the exact same way he "killed" his own older brother: outsmarted by somebody he thought was under his control, overpowered, and left whimpering and begging for his life before finally losing his last Burst Point. However, there's also an element of Hoist by His Own Petard, because whereas Dusk Taker's brother had to be killed over and over again to deplete his points, Dusk Taker arranged for the fight against Silver Crow and Cyan Pile to be "sudden death", meaning one death would be enough to completely drain the loser's points. Of course, Dusk Taker never imagined he could lose the fight.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: Haruyuki has never shown any hesitation to jump on and pummel his opponents while they are down in the game if he can manage it. This backfired in his fight against Cyan Pile though.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia:
  • Aqua Current induces this on Haruyuki regarding her identity and how she helped him.
  • Losing Brain Burst will make you lose all memories relating to it.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: There are several in Infinite Burst.
  • Sky Raker, Ardor Maiden and Aqua Current rejoined Nega Nebulus, showing that the Legion was able to save the latter two from the Four Gods. As for Sky Raker, while she did start to reconcile with Kuroyukihime at the end of the anime, she doesn't officially rejoin until Volume 5, after recovering her legs, something that Infinite Burst spoils.
  • The initial Territories battle spoils that Prominence merged with Nega Nebulus.
  • The film makes no secret of the fact that Ash Roller is actually a girl, whose Duel Avatar has her older brother's personality inside, something that was hinted at in the anime but not shown outright.
  • At the climax, Silver Crow gets assistance from Metatron, a Legend-class enemy he'd fought against with his allies.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Chiyuri and Kuroyukihime.
• Lighter and Softer: The short web animations made alongside the show.
• Logical Weakness: Metallic avatars display properties similar to the real metal, eg. Silver Crow is resistant to poison but vulnerable to electricity.
• Loophole Abuse: How Kuroyukihime gets away with her Non-Uniform Uniform. The Umesato dress code only allows "uncolored" shirts, and Kuroyukihime, knowing that black isn't technically a color, specially ordered a uniform shirt with black fabric.
• Love Confession: Kuroyukihime claims that Haruyuki turned down her confession. Even if Haruyuki was able to get over his personal problems her "confession" wasn't exactly obvious.
• Macross Missile Massacre: The Red King's missile spam.
• Manga Effects: It may sound redundant to say as that is pretty much given for many Japanese manga, anime and Light novels, but all the characters have made the silly facial iconography.
• Meaningful Echo: Immediately before blackmailing Haru, Seiji Noumi says "That's game over, Arita- I mean, Silver Crow." When Haru figures out that Noumi's using an illegal chip, he says, "That's game over, Seiji Noumi- I mean, Dusk Taker."
• Mistress and Servant Boy: Haruyuki sees his relationship with Kuroyukihime this way. This causes Chiyuri and Kuroyukihime herself call him out of it.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • Episode 9 of the anime ends with Kuroyukihime and Niko(aka Scarlet Rain) becoming Vitriolic Best Buds, resulting in some cute and funny moments between the two. As Haru sees the two fast asleep together, he then remembers something Taku said earlier that episode- that the two, being Kings who seek to become Level 10, will inevitably fight to the death, and the episode ends on an ominous note.
  • In Infinite Burst, Haru starts on a heartwarming speech about how Brain Burst changed his life for the better and he's confident that everyone will remain friends in real life, only to be interrupted by Kuroyukihime repeatedly calling out his name. He then realizes, after a moment, that his hand is on her butt, much to his embarrassment. It then turns out that it isn't what Kuroyukihime wanted to tell him about, but she forgot what she was going to say.
• Mooks: Haruyuki complains that his Brain Burst Avatar looks like a mook. His moveset is also plain and simple: Punch, Kick, and a Headbutt as a finisher, though this "simple" moveset eventually changes once it's revealed that these moves are supposed to be used in conjunction with his ability to fly, which makes them far more powerful.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Blood Leopard, anyone?
  • User names are generated by the system and so can be a bit hit and miss. However the Red Baron type titles that can be bestowed in the user base can really hit this trope hard. Blue Knight and Black Lotus probably take the cake with their titles: Vanquish and World End respectively.
• Nanomachines: Apparently they use these in the field of medicine - the story takes place in 2040's.
• Navel-Deep Neckline: Kuroyukihime's net avatar outfit is worn open, exposing her chest and stomach. Not that it, or she, has much cleavage to show.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: While her ploy to trick Araya into hitting Haru and send him flying into her in front of a school security camera does lead to his first arrest, it also leads to Araya trying to use his car to ram into the two of them after he is released on bail.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Haruyuki, and it is played for drama with his very low self esteem and bullying at the series start. Of course, to the viewer or reader though, he's drawn more cartoonishly, so he doesn't look particularly ugly at all.
• Not What It Looks Like: Unintentionally invoked. When Haru and Taku talk on a bus ride about Chiyu's apparent removal of their relationship from the two guys in the previous episode, Taku becomes excessively dramatic about the situation since he loves Chiyu. However, since they are talking privately and since none of the other riders know about the context, the majority take this as Ho Yay. It does not help that the lines spoken afterwards make this even more Ho Yay. It also looks like all the girls in the bus want that supposed kiss to happen.
  Haru: (out loud) Wait, Taku. You should be the one hitting me.
• Oblivious to Love: Haruyuki because of his low self esteem. He takes to a new level by finding signs that Kuroyukihime does like him and refusing point blank to even consider it.
• Oddly Small Organization: The Legion Nega Nebulus declares war against the rest of the Accel players and vows to reach level 10. It has four people in it thus far. It will, however, have slightly more members in the future, most of them with high levels, very rare abilities or avatars of unique design, like Aqua Current or Graphite Edge.
  • Note that the original Nega Nebulus was much bigger; it's obvious that when Kuroyukihime decides to revive the Legion, part of her plans involve reuniting with Sky Raker, and freeing the three remaining Elements from their captivity. It's not a stretch to think that eventually, the old members who didn't join another legion will ask to come back and be welcomed. Nor is it a stretch that Nega Negulus might have a slew of applications for membership, that haven't been background-checked and sorted through yet because of a) the very slow timeline (thanks to Burst linking, half a book's worth of action can take place in an hour IRL) and b) they've pretty much been reeling from crisis to crisis for most of the series.
• Offscreen Break Up: The novels have Takumu saying, at the start of the second arc, that he and Chiyuri have broken up. The anime omits this line, but keeps Haruyuki asking Takumu during third arc whether he wants to be Chiyu's boyfriend again. As a result, when and why they broke up isn't as clear in the anime, although it can be inferred that it happened when Taku confessed to installing that backdoor on Chiyu's Neuro-Linker, a massive invasion of privacy.
• Older Than They Look / The Slow Path: Even though the oldest Burst Linker's physical age is limited to 15 years or younger, time passes faster in-game at 17 minutes for every 1 real second, or six weeks for every 1 real hour, making those who spend more time there much older mentally. Also, the main benefit of Burst Points in the real world is to slow down time. So it's anyone's guess as to how old the earliest players really are.
• Once More, with Clarity: In Episode 14, Haru tries to follow Nomi into the showers, but ends up going into the girls' showers instead; the blue sign points left and the pink sign points right. After Chiyu finds him, he insists that he checked the signs, and they're shown from his perspective, with the pink sign pointing left and the blue sign pointing right.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Kuroyukihime (Princess Snow Black). Even after she tells Haruyuki her name and tells him to call her by name from that point (the readers don't get to hear the name), he doesn't use it because it's embarrassing to. However, both Sky Raker/Fuuko and her student council friend Megumi call her 'Sachi', which has led to some interesting fan theories.
  • On a broader level most Burst Linkers know each other only through Brain Burst and thus know each other only by their duel Avatar names. Niko in particular, only refers to people by their Duel Avatar names, even when she knows their real identities.

P-Z

• Parental Neglect:
  • When Kuroyukihime is in the hospital after she was hit by Araya's car her parents never show up. Instead they sent over a lawyer, and you know that makes everything better. This also counts as Foreshadowing for Kuroykuihime's tangled and tragic family history, which won't show up for another 10 books or so.
  • Not to mention Haruyuki; as of LN 14 his mother has had roughly three lines during very quick one scene... in the entire series. One of the reasons that Haru's apartment is the legion HQ is that his mother's weird work schedule means she sleeps during school hours and is out all the others. But given the amount of girls Haru's had sleeping over (usually in her bed) you'd think his mother would suspect something is going on.
  • In fact, at one point Kuroyukihime states outright that parental neglect is the norm for Burst Linkers. You need to have worn a Neurolinker for almost all your life, and the normal reason for that was that your parents used the Neurolinker as a babysitter, instead of actually spending time with you as an infant.
• Personality Powers: Each Burst Linker's inner traumas determine the type of Duel Avatar they would obtain. Thus, the loneliest person in the world gets the most powerful Duel Avatar.
  • Silver Crow's wings were derived from Haruyuki's desire to become faster than anyone else so he could fly out of his problems, namely bullies and his physical appearance.
  • The Red King Scarlet Rain is currently the best long-range type avatar in the Accelerated World. Niko, being afraid of the world, prefers to keep distance from everything she fears that would hurt her the more she gets close to it, giving her an avatar designed for long-range combat, and true enough, she invested all of her points on strengthening its long-ranged attacks.
  • Despite being designed for close range combat, Cyan Pile's weapon is best suited for long range combat. That's because Taku desires revenge towards his Kendo club seniors who bullied him way back from third to fifth grade.
  • Lime Bell is currently the third known healer-type avatar in the Accelerated World. Although what it actually does is reversing a Duel Avatar's personal time to the point of non-injury. This stemmed from Chiyu's desire to go back in time to the point when she, Haru, and Taku were together as kids.
• Point Build System: Brain Burst allows Burst Linkers to select various level up bonuses, usually in the form of special abilities. Choosing the right ones is key to staying competitive.
• P.O.V. Boy, Poster Girl: In marketing to an extent, but subverted by the story itself. Kuroyukihime fulfills all the qualities of a poster girl, but Haruyuki is far less generic and much more developed as a protagonist than is typical for light novels and can easily stand on his own. It helps that he's visually distinct as well.
• Power Perversion Potential: There is some mischief one can get into using Brain Burst, but slowing down time to look up a girl's skirt is specifically mentioned not to work, unless it's been seen by your eyes or a camera.
  • Taku when he used a virus to spy on his girlfriend's sight and hearing. Haruyuki does not mess with it because that might alert Cyan Pile that he knows, although Taku later admits to seeing Haru snooping around.
• Power Gives You Wings: Foreshadowed in Haruyuki's user name: Silver Crow.
• Precision F-Strike: Happens twice in the English dub.
  • When confronting Noumi, Haruyuki yells "Shut up Noumi, I'm sick of you, get the fuck out of my life!"
  • In episode 8, Niko gives Haruyuki a hearty "Fucking pervert!" before attacking him.
  • The second episode also has Ash Roller dropping the F-Bomb twice.
• Property of Love: Kuroyukihime claims she owns Haruyuki. This quote says it all:
  Kuroyukihime: Haruyuki-kun, listen... you belong to me. Up till now, and from now on. For eternity, I will not give you to anyone.
• Psychic Link: Kind of. A device is installed at the back of people's heads that acts like a small modem, which lets them link to network just like in real life.
• Really 700 Years Old: Burst Linkers in general tend to be mentally much older than their physical age due to the Year Inside, Hour Outside properties of Brain Burst. This is especially true for Black Lotus and Niko, who had played long enough to reach Level 9.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Taku delivers one to Noumi after unleashing his Cyan Blade. Noumi quickly -counters however, with a psychotic Motive Rant.
• Red Baron: Everyone goes by a nickname in Brain Burst and protecting your identity is rule number one.
  • Burst Linkers can also get separate titles as well, such as how Blue Knight is sometimes called "Legend Slayer" due to his ability to solo Legendary monsters, and how Sky Raker is called "ICBM" because her role in territory battles is equivalent of being a strategic weapon of mass destruction.
  • Blue Knight gets another one. "Vanquish". And Black Lotus gets the ominous "World End", hinting at her ambitious desire to reach level 10, no matter what that may due to the status quo of Brain Burst's society.
  • Sky Raker is also called "Icarus" because she was the only Duel Avatar who came the closest to ever fly, until Silver Crow, the first flying Duel Avatar, came along.
  • Haruyuki is an odd case for not fitting this trope despite being famous enough in the Accelerated World to earn such a title, probably because the name Iron Crow describes him so well and became a household name so quickly. Even the relative newcomer, Lime Bell gets the moniker "Time Witch".
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Haruyuki's net avatar is a cute little piggy. He does not like it, seeing as it was forced on him as part of his ongoing humiliation (more specifically, he's overweight and it's a pig). But he never replaces it, even after the bullies are gone, because Kuroyukihime finds it cute.
• School Festival: Umesato Junior High holds one in Volume 13. It takes place in June, which is unusually early in the school year, and the cast wonders if the school's name is why the festival takes place in the rainy season.
• School Newspaper News Hound: Two of them, in charge of the gossip section no less, give Haruyuki surprisingly accurate advice and even turned off the camera beforehand. Nice people.
• Shout-Out:
  • Haruyuki's signature kick is a dead ringer for these words "RIDER KICK!!!"
  • In episode 8 upon noticing his cousin Haruyuki says verbatim: "There is no way my little sister is this cute."
  • Haru's Avatar in the Akihabara Dive Cafe is either from Bubble Bobble or the Lizardman enemies from Secret of Mana.
  • Also in the Akihabara Cafe are Avatars resembling Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.
  • One of Centaurea Sentry's nicknames is "Omega Weapon," a name Haruyuki finds familiar for some reason.
• Show, Don't Tell: Umesato Junior High School has a color-coding system for the boys' neckties and girls' neck ribbons; first-years wear green, second-years wear blue, and third-years wear red. The light novel tells about the system, but in the anime, when Haru goes to the lounge, some girls comment on how he's the only first-year there, and you can see that he's the only one with a green tie.
• Signature Headgear: Chiyuri has her little cat pin on one side and hair clips on the other.
• Slasher Smile:
  • The Red King seems to have been taking lessons in expression from Accelerator.
  • Seiji Noumi aka Dusk Taker does this when threatening both Haru and Chiyuri.
• Smug Snake:
  • Noumi is an overconfident gamer. It makes his Villainous Breakdown all the more satisfying.
  • Yellow Radio has shades of this, especially when he expects Kuroyuki to stay down after reliving her worst memory and is shocked when she gets back up. He's still more badass than the aforementioned.
• Spider-Man Send-Up: Haru is a meek, fat nerdy kid who's a magnet for bullies... until he gains access to the Cyberspace world of Brain Burst. There he gains a double life as Silver Crow, where he experiences the joy of zooming through the air (accompanied in the Animated Adaptation by soaring orchestral music). While his wings are unique they're far from a Story-Breaker Power, and his biggest asset in combat is said to be his bottomless reserves of Heroic Spirit lurking beneath the surface. And then he gets infected by a Clingy Costume which slowly grows in influence and threatens to turn him into an insane berserker, but can be rendered inert temporarily by the sound of bells and permanently by sacred fire.
• Spoiler Opening :
  • The first opening shows Taku in an Umesato uniform, standing alongside the other protagonists.
  • The second opening shows Dusk Taker flying, implying that he stole Haruyuki's wings.
• Stealth Pun: Haruyuki's normal avatar is a pig and one of Silver Crow's main powers is flight. This means that the entire plot could only move forward "when pigs fly".
• Supporting Harem: Several female Linkers take an interest in Haruyuki, but he stays devoted to Kuroyukihime who also loves him. In book 26, when Haruyuki and Kuroyukihime finally share a kiss and declare themselves a proper couple, she orders him to sort the harem situation out, and lists everyone she's aware of: Rin, Niko and Chiyuri love him explicitly (Rin even confessed to him), Fuko, Utai and Shoko most likely too, but haven't admitted it yet, Metatron is pretty blatant in her Tsundere way, and she suspects Azure Heir as well, lampshading the situation.
• Sweat Drop: In the anime, Haruyuki has an animated hourglass icon in a Speech Bubble-esque chat window hovering next to his head for this effect. It's both hilarious and appropriate, considering the setting.
• Tempting Fate: Cyan Pile does it by telling Silver Crow in their duel to use his special power, to mock Silver Crow's comparatively low strength. And then Silver Crow activates his power for the first time, turning the tables in just one attack.
• Theme-and-Variations Soundtrack: In the anime, Haru's Leitmotif "Silver Wing" gets a number of remixes for various situations (including a rock remix, "Iron Will", for Gale Thruster). "Blood History"/"Re-Incarnate" gets similar treatment, with Sky Raker's theme being among its mixes.
• Theme Naming:
  • Nicknames of players are generated by the system, which always start with a keyword related to a color or a kind of material. A few key characters are named after famous cards in Magic: The Gathering. Kuroyukihime herself is named after the top card of the Power Nine - Black Lotus. The key villain of the story is named Black Vise, and there is a player named Ivory Tower whose intentions have not been revealed yet. An interesting fact is that the cards Black Vise and Ivory Tower are exact counterparts of each other.
  • Black Vise is both an alternative form as well as an alias of Ivory tower.
  • The chapters of the Accel World Dural manga are all named after cards in Magic: The Gathering - and if it's not a card name, it's a significant line of text from a card, like "Absolutely Removed from the Freaking Game Forever".
• Time Stands Still: The Burst Link, which amplifies the speed of human thought to the point where time seems to crawl to a halt.
• Title Drop: While Brain Burst is colloquially referred to as "the accelerated world" for much of the series, Metatron drops the title in Volume 16.
  Metatron: “My servant…must not cry. I know you will reach it someday. The end of this Accelerated World we live in... This... Accel World.”
• Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe: Probably at least partly justified given how such a large percentage of Japan's population lives in or around Tokyo but still rather dramatic. Tokyo has hundreds of Burst Linkers divided into seven Legions fighting over virtual territory, points and prestige. Okinawa has three and one of them is from Tokyo originally.
  • Another possible justification: you need to be physically link up to pass on and install Brain Burst, and you only have one chance to do so. Thus everyone who has Brain Burst got it due to them living in Tokyo and knowing another Brain Burst user living in Tokyo, and chances are high the "children" are on very friendly terms with the "parents". Case in point: the two non-"imported" Okinawa Burst Linkers and their relationship with each other and their "parent".
  • Not to mention the age limit: Burst Link appears to be a very new program with steep entry requirements (including the link-from-birth requirement) and a poor distribution model (one time only face-to-face, except if the Parent is one of the Originators). It is likely that the program is only just starting to spread from Tokyo, although it's also suggested that the creators of Brain Burst have no desire for there to be more than a thousand Burst Linkers at any one time.
  • And finally, it's noted that Brain Burst uses the omnipresent cameras scattered around Tokyo to generate the maps in the Unlimited Neutral Field with 3D composition of the 2D camera images. Trying to Burst Link outside of a place with so many cameras instead sends your avatar to a location where there are sufficient cameras to model your surroundings - and at that point, it's just convenient to move to Tokyo.
• Too Awesome to Use: Noted as a property of one of the Seven Arcs, "The Infinity" - a sword which becomes more powerful the longer it remains in its sheath (with no upper limit), but resets back to its base stats after each use.
• Training from Hell:
  • Haruyuki develops a training program in order to teach himself to dodge bullets... from a virtual revolver shooting at his pig avatar from a few meters away. When it started it would randomly fire at him at him sometime within 30 minutes of starting, so not only would he have to dodge, he would have to be able to focus on the gun for up to 30 minutes waiting for the bullet. He also programmed the bullets to inflict the maximum amount of pain it could, so it would feel like he was actually getting shot, giving him an incentive to dodge. He then added to this by downloading an illegal app that disables the feature that would cause the Neuro-Linker to automatically disconnect him when he felt such immense pain, in order to do it at as many times as possible. And he did this all of his own volition in order to learn how to dodge better. Kuroyukihime isn't happy when she learns that he's been taking things this far.
  • And then there's the Incarnate System training for both Haruyuki and Taku. Sky Raker pushes Haruyuki off a very, VERY tall tower and makes him climb back up, while Niko just shoots lots and lots of missiles at Taku.
• A Truce While We Gawk: A large battle royale that's taking place stops fighting to watch Black Lotus fight Yellow Radio. Justified in that said fight is the first time two level 9s fought each other seriously.
• Tsundere: Niko is a Type A and Kuroyukihime is a Type B.
• Ultra Super Death Gore Fest Chainsawer 3000: Every single game in the entire (Western) collection Haruyuki has. The one demonstrated on screen has a Boom, Headshot! in Gorn. Played by Fiery Redhead no less. The light novels reveal that games with this much blood and gore are things of the past, and Haru's collection of such games is likened to a Porn Stash.
• Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: The manga features a fight between Haruyuki and Kirito, with the latter testing the predecessor to what would become the Brain Burst program but inadvertently accessing the future with it. It ends in a draw.
• Unstoppable Rage: In episode 20, Noumi successfully manages to piss off Haru to an extent no one managed before. Cue Haru's rage awakening the piece of Chrome Disaster hiding on his avatar's back... Good thing the duel timed out or things would've gotten VERY ugly very fast.
• Villainous Breakdown: Noumi gets two. A minor one when Haruyuki tells him he knows how he stays off the matching list, and a second very satisfying one when he is finally beaten by Haruyuki for good.
• We Have Become Complacent: Kuroyukihime accuses the Kings and the Burst Linkers as a whole of this trope, calling them fakes. Part of her desire to become level 10 is to get rid of the "false tranquility" that she considers their peace treaty and pull the Accelerated World out of stagnation.
• We Used to Be Friends:
  • Taku, a.k.a. Cyan Pile, and Haruyuki. It's indicated that while Haru distanced himself from Chiyu and Taku out of a desire to not be pitied, Taku grew to hate Haru, thinking of him as nothing more than a burden on Chiyu. Their friendship gets rekindled after their fight.
  • Kuroyukihime and Fuko. Interestingly enough, there aren't any hard feelings between them- they feel guilty, instead of blaming each other.
• Wham Episode:
  • Volume 3 introduces the Acceleration Research Society. The first member the heroes encounter, Seiji Noumi(aka Dusk Taker) manages to blackmail Haru with footage that could get Haru expelled, then steals Silver Crow's wings. By the end of the volume, Chiyu has joined him
  • Volume 5 has Silver Crow become the sixth Chrome Disaster, thus setting him on an arduous quest to rid himself of the Chrome Disaster lest he be purged from Brain Burst.
  • Volume 25 begins with Silver Crow being abducted and ends with Silver Crow being forced to join the White Legion.
• Wham Line: Has its own page.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Haru and Taku's argument after Haru loses his wings to Dusk Taker is a double example of this. Taku, having noticed that Chiyu is upset and that Haru is avoiding her for some reason (but not about the aforementioned event) angrily calls Haru out on how Haru is treating her. Haru, meanwhile, criticizes Taku for unwittingly sending him a virus in a file that was too large to be a simple image.
  • Chrome Falcon mentally delivers one to all Burst Linkers, asking why people who are bullied and rejected in real life would do the same thing to their fellow players.
  • In volume 9, Haruyuki does this to Green Grande and Iron Pound in Volume 9, angrily asking them why, if they consider themselves enemies of the Acceleration Research Society, they did nothing while people using the Society's ISS kits were beating up and repeatedly killing two members of their legion nearby.
  • Also from the same volume, Kuroyukihime also gives Haru one, not for giving in to Chrome Disaster, but for even considering disappearing and leaving his friends behind, when he'd never abandoned any of them.
• The World Is Just Awesome: Haruyuki declares that the Accel World is infinite The first time he flies.
• Wrong Bathroom Incident: Seiji uses visual masking to trick Haruyuki into going to the girl's changing room, then threatening to blackmail Haruyuki into giving him Burst Points whenever he wants.
• Year Inside, Hour Outside: The Unlimited Neutral Field enables Burst Linkers over level 4 to Accelerate for an unlimited amount of time. Haruyuki calculates that since one second in the real world is equal to seventeen minutes of Acceleration, a full day of real time spent in the Unlimited Neutral Field would equal three years. Taku and Kuroyukihime advise him not to spend overly large amounts of time inside the Field, saying that doing so would cause him to become increasingly disconnected from the real world since while his body doesn't age from the months of memories, his mind and soul do.

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