Recap / Sword Art Online Alicization Arc

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List of Volumes

• "Alicization Beginning"
• "Alicization Running"
• "Alicization Turning"
• "Alicization Rising"
• "Alicization Dividing"
• "Alicization Uniting"
• "Alicization Invading"
• "Alicization Exploding"
• "Alicization Awakening"
• "Alicization Lasting"

List of Episodes

Alicization

• "Underworld"
• "The Demon Tree"
• "The End Mountains"
• "Departure"
• "Ocean Turtle"
• "Project Alicization"
• "Swordcraft Academy"
• "Swordsman's Pride"
• "Nobleman's Responsibilities"
• "Taboo Index"
• "Central Cathedral"
• "The Sage of the Library"
• "The Ruler and the Mediator"
• "The Crimson Knight"
• "The Relentless Knight"
• "The Osmanthus Knight"
• "Truce"
• "The Legendary Hero"
• "Recollection"
• "The Seal of the Right Eye"
• "Synthesise"
• "The 32nd Knight"
• "Titan of the Sword"
• "Administrator"
• "My Hero"

Plot Summary

A little over half of a year since closing the book on the "Death Gun" murder cases in Gun Gale Online, Kazuto Kirigaya, also known as Kirito, has undertaken a strange new endeavor: working with a mysterious company known as Rath, he has embarked on a new frontier in virtual reality. At the heart of this endeavor is an experimental new fulldive machine called the "Soul Translator", or "STL" for short, which could provide an unparalleled level of realism that current VR tech could not match by sending information directly into the user's "Fluctlights" — in essence, their very soul. Kirito is under a confidentiality agreement and cannot reveal much to his friends about the full scope of his work, especially since his memories of his time in the STL are erased. All he can share is the name of the VR program the STL uses: The Underworld.

One fateful evening, however, Kirito has a real-world encounter with Atsushi "Johnny Black" Kanamoto, the third and final conspirator behind Death Gun, who ambushes him with a poison-filled syringe. While Kirito is saved from dying, he is left in a comatose state. He is subsequently abducted by Rath — led by Seijuro Kikuoka, a man whom Kirito had past dealing with, none of them pleasant — to undergo treatment in the STL in the hopes of restoring him to full consciousness in the real world. Asuna manages to track down Rath's base of operations on a floating fortress in the sea known as the Ocean Turtle, aided by Rinko Kojiro, the lover and assistant of Akihiko Kayaba. There, she learns the true purpose of the STL: to create true artificial intellegence from the bottom up using artificial Fluctlights, with the purpose of creating unmanned military weapons for the Japanese government. As part of their endeavor to facilitate the creation of these advanced AIs, time within the Underworld was accelerated: a day in realtime was equivalent to years in the Underworld.

Kirito awakens to find himself in the Underworld and is greeted by Eugeo, a young man whose "Calling" — his divinity-ordained purpose in life — was to cut down the seemingly insurmountable Gigas Cedar. What neither one realizes at the time is that they knew each other in childhood in the Underworld, but both nonetheless become fast friends. Eugeo explains to Kirito that what he truly wants is to find his childhood friend, Alice, who had been taken away by the Integrity Knights several years ago when she accidentally violated an edict from the Taboo Index. He could not do so without first completing his Calling, however. Kirito manages to learn more about the mechanics of the Underworld and helps Eugeo train in the way of the sword, allowing him to use a sacred weapon from antiquity, the Blue Rose Sword, to finally fell the Gigas Cedar, allowing him to pursue a new Calling. Kirito also uses some wood from the Gigas Cedar to fashion a new sword for himself.

Together, Kirito and Eugeo enroll at a knights' academy in the capital city of Centoria with the shared goal of becoming Integrity Knights, so that they may find Alice. Their goals are forced to be put aside, however, when two nobles in the academy, hated rivals of Kirito and Eugeo, attempt to rape their pages. The Taboo Index had no rules about the nobles' foul deeds, but to raise a sword against them would be a crime. Eugeo's initial attempts to fight the nobles causes a strange red sigil to fill his right eye as the systems of the Underworld try to force his compliance, but he overcomes them, destroying his right eye as he and Kirito fight off the nobles, killing one of them in the process.

The following morning, after an instructor restores Eugeo's eye, both he and Kirito are taken into custody by an Integrity Knight: none other than Alice, herself! Strangely, however, she has no memories of Eugeo and treats him and Kirito harshly as she transports them to a prison beneath the Central Cathedral. The two make their escape and are aided by a mysterious ally named "Cardinal" — a virtual avatar for the error-checking systems of the Cardinal System that ran the Underworld. Cardinal explains that the source of the Integrity Knights is the self-proclaimed goddess of the Underworld, "Administrator". Once a mortal woman named Quinella, she was raised to a position of power through her training in the sacred arts — reality-warping commands within the Underworld — and used forbidden arts to stop her own aging, regain her youth, and take over as pontifax of the Axiom Church, essentially becoming ruler of the Human Empire. To ensure no one could potentially usurp her, she abolished the Human Empire's military, save for the Integrity Knights. Unfortunately, this would leave the Human Empire at a grave disadvantage when the Final Load Test began and the gate seperating the Human Empire from the Dark Territory fell. If the Human Empire fell during the ensuing battle, the people in the real world running the Underworld would reset it. In addition, Administrator tried to take over Cardinal's Fluctlight to expand her memory capacity, but in so doing made her equal in power to herself, and has been trying to destroy her since.

To ensure the Integrity Knights' loyalty, Administrator implanted a "piety module" in their heads which blocked past memories and allowed her to alter their minds. In order to restore their minds, they would have to remove the module: this was the only way to restore Alice's memories. She also enlists Kirito and Eugeo's aid in fighting back against Administrator.

Upon returning to the Cathedral, Kirito and Eugeo fight their way past the Integrity Knights, now armed with knowledge on how to unlock the full power of their weapons. They eventually find Alice, and Kirito squares off with her, only for the two to end up blown outside the tower and forced to climb back up from the outer walls. During the climb, Kirito and Alice set aside their differences when they find Dark Territory monsters perched on the Cathedral's outer walls, leading to Alice questioning Administrator. When Kirito explains to her everything that has happened to him in the Underworld up to this point, Alice finds truth in his words and vows to rebel against Administrator, in so doing activating her Seal of the Right Eye, but through force of will, she overcomes the seal, losing her eye in the process.

Kirito and Alice continue to fight their way to the top of the Cathedral, only to encounter Eugeo, whom Administrator brainwashed into becoming an new Integrity Knight. Eugeo is forced to fight Kirito, but with the process by which he was brainwashed being rushed and incomplete, he manages to retain enough control to merely hinder Kirito and Alice temporarily. When he returns to Administrator and has his Piety Module removed to restart the brainwashing process, he rebels against her as Kirito and Alice join him. Administator then sics her prime minister, Chudlekin, upon the three, only for him to be easily defeated.

Realizing that Kirito is not just any swordsman, but someone who came to the Underworld from the real world, she pulls out all the stops by summoning a Sword Golem, an artificial monster of her own making, which was created through the forced conversion of several innocent people, and which she planned to make more of to repel the coming incursion from the Dark Territory at the cost of several more lives. Cardinal enters the fray, forcing Administrator to cut the cathedral off from the outside world to contain her. Administrator then mortally wounds Cardinal, but with the last of her strength, she uses her power to draw a crystal containing Alice's memories before becoming an Integrity Knight to Eugeo and transforms them into a sentient sword. In this form, Eugeo destroys the Sword Golem and wounds Administrator, but is, himself, mortally wounded.

With the last of his strength, Eugeo uses his blood to reforge his shattered sword for Kirito to use. With two swords in his hands, Kirito is able to overwhelm Administrator, driving her to attempt retreat to the real world, only to be killed by Chudlekin when he latches onto her and incinerates them both. With Administrator defeated at last, Kirito uses a console in the room to make contact with the outside world, only to discover that the Ocean Turtle is under attack by mercenaries. Kikuoka instructs Kirito to take Alice to World's End Alter in the Dark Territory, but before he is able to act, the mercenaries cut the main power in the Ocean Turtle, causing a power surge that strikes Kirito's fluctlight...

War of Underworld

• "In the Far North"
• "Raids"
• "The Final Load Test"
• "Dark Territory"
• "The Night Before Battle"
• "Battle of the Knights"
• "Stigma of the Disqualified"
• "Blood and Life"
• "Sword and Fist"
• "Stacia, Goddess of Creation"
• "Heartless Choice"
• "Ray of Light"
• "The War of Underworld"
• "End to Eternity"
• "Instigation"
• "Code 871"
• "Prince of Hell"
• "Memories"
• "Awakening"
• "The Night-Sky Blade"
• "Beyond Time"
• "Alice"
• "New World"

Plot Summary

It has been six months in the Underworld since Administrator's death. As a result of the power surge caused by the attack on the Ocean Turtle, Kirito's fluctlight was damaged, rendering him catatonic. Alice and her younger sister, Selka, had been taking care of Kirito since then. The peace and quiet that followed the battle with Administrator comes to an end, however, when goblins from the Dark Territory appear in her hometown and start killing people.

Meanwhile, in the real world, a team of mercenaries hired by the US government have begun a raid of the Ocean Turtle in order to claim the fluctlight of Alice, the most advanced artificial fluctlight in the Underworld. The mercenaries are led by two VRMMO veterans: Gabriel Miller, a serial murderer who is famed as the winner of the first Bullet of Bullets tournament in GGO under the name "Subtilizer"; and Vassago Casals, an SAO survivor and founder of the player-killing guild "Laughing Coffin" under the name "PoH". With Miller and Casals taking control of the main control room of the Ocean Turtle, Kikuoka, Kojiro, Asuna, and their allies retreat to the sub-control room, racing against time to save Alice from falling into Miller's clutches. With the Final Load Test set to begin shortly, Miller and Casals decide to log into the Underworld using superaccounts of Dark Territory characters: Emperor Vecta for Miller, and a dark knight for Casals. With the armies of the Dark Territory under his command, Vecta orders his soldiers to seek out the "Priestess of Light" and bring her to him alive so that he could claim her soul, and kill everyone else they cross.

The Final Load Test begins, and the gate seperating the Human Empire and Dark Territory falls. The fighting between the two armies is fierce and brutal, with many losing their lives, including many Integrity Knights and members of the Dark Territory's Council of Ten. As Vassago begins a raid on the supply corps where Kirito is being kept, however, an unexpected figure appears: Asuna! Logged in with a superaccount of the creation goddess Stacia, which grants her the ability to manipulate the terrain at will, she kills Vasago's dark knight character and finally reunites with the catatonic Kirito, then vows to lends her aid to the Human Empire.

The war intensifies when Vecta finds and abducts Alice, and Miller's allies in the real world convince tens of thousands of American players to log into the Underworld under the pretense of being beta testers for a new game, swelling the Dark Territory's ranks. Just as the Human Empire army is in danger of being overwhelmed, Sinon joins the battle using a superuser account for the sun goddess Solus. With her superaccount's ability to fly, she gives chase after Vecta whie Leafa also enters the Underworld to help with a superaccount for the earth goddess Terraria, whose special ability allows her to recover quickly from any injuries.

As Bercouli, the first Integrity Knight and father figure to Alice, fights and kills Vecta at the cost of his own life, Cassals logs back in by converting his "PoH" account from SAO to rally the invading real-world players, now joined by players from China and South Korea. The Human Empire, however, receives reinforcements from Kirito's friends, as well as several hundred players from ALO and GGO that they convinced to help them. At the same time, Miller converts his "Subtilizer" character from GGO to continue his hunt for Alice, confronting Sinon as she buys Alice time to reach the World's End Altar.

As Kirito's allies in the real world race to restore his fluctlight using his bonds with Asuna, Leafa, and Sinon, PoH terrorizes the Human Empire army, exerting his murderous will over the invading players and compelling them to continue killing the Human Empire army as well as each other, driven by his single-minded hatred for the Japanese.

At the same time, Kirito, still catatonic, finds himself haunted by memories of those who died since his time trapped in SAO, either by his own hand or indirectly as a result of his actions: the deaths of Sachi and the Moonlit Black Cats, the raid on Laughing Coffin, his killing Kuradeel to protect himself and Asuna, his victories over Heathcliff, Sugou, and Death Gun, and everyone who died since his coming to the Underworld. Wracked with guilt and wishing he had died instead, his memories of Asuna, Suguha, and Shino come to comfort him and assure him of his goodness. A memory fragment of Eugeo, whom Kirito considered his best friend and whose death had sent him to the brink of despair, also encourages him to continue fighting. With the kind words of those closest to his heart giving him strength, Kirito finally regains consciousness!

Kirito begins to fight back against PoH, and after a long and brutal duel, Kirito emerges victorious. PoH promises to keep coming back until he kills Kirito and Asuna, but he would never get the chance: Kirito uses the power of his Night-Sky Sword to transform PoH's body into a Gigas Cedar, trapping his mind inside of the Underworld. With time in the Underworld moving at a faster rate than in the real world, Vassago Casals would be completely cut off from both the virtual and real worlds, driving him insane until his eventual death.

With time running out until the JSDF intervenes, the mercenaries sabotage the fluctlight acceleration process of the Underworld, cranking it past its safety limits: within the next fifteen minutes, time in the Underworld would accelerate so fast that over two hundred years would pass in a matter of minutes, far more time than Kirito and Asuna could possibly endure safely! Kikuoka warns Kirito to get himself and Asuna out of the Underworld before then.

As Asuna helps Alice reach the World's End Altar, Kirito confronts Miller. While Miller proves to be his toughest opponent yet, Kirito unlocks the full power of his Night-Sky Blade, fueled by the thoughts and hopes of his friends from all across the Underworld, and strikes Miller down, destroying his avatar and killing him. Alice is logged out of the Underworld and her fluctlight is sent to the sub-control room just before time begins to accellerate, but Kirito is unable to escape before then. As he despairs over leaving his friends behind, however, Asuna appears before him, having chosen to stay behind with him.

Having failed their mission and lost their leaders, the mercenaries are forced into retreat, but not before rigging the Ocean Turtle's reactor with a plastic explosive. With the reactor room too hot for anyone to enter safely, it seems as if the Ocean Turtle, and everyone still inside, are doomed. However, Akihiko Kayaba's virtual ghost emerges once more, taking control of a prototype robot body and removing the detonator from the bomb, saving everyone on the Ocean Turtle.

Some time after, Dr. Kojiro reveals Alice to the world, her fluctlight placed inside an android body made in her virtual body's likeness. Alice's appearance raises many questions about the nature of artificial intelligence and robotic humanoids, and the possible ramifications of her existence. At the same time, Kirito and Asuna are successfully recovered from the Underworld after having their minds trapped inside for 200 years. Kirito asks that his and Asuna's memories of those 200 years be removed, but one of Kikuoka and Kojiro's colleagues saves a copy of his fluctlight from his two centuries of life within the Underworld. The artificial fluctlight copy of Kirito expresses a desire to protect the Underworld, to which end he would seek out Kayaba's virtual ghost.

Alice meets with Kirito afterwards and expresses her frustration at him having chosen to stay behind in Underworld while she was brought into the real world, unsure of whether she could ever return to her homeworld. Kirito comforts Alice afterwards and, after receiving a strange email, returns to Rath with Alice and Asuna to investigate the Underworld. When they log in, the find themselves in outer space over the planet of Cardina, hundreds of years into the Human Empire's future. In this era, the Human Empire's civilization advanced to the point of space travel, as two soldiers in starfighters square off against a space monster. Kirito and his friends join the battle and destroy the monster, with the Integrity Pilots — descendants of Kirito and Alice's friends — beside themselves with joy as they get to see the heroes of their world's legends, the Star King, Star Queen, and Integrity Knight, firsthand.

This arc provides examples of:

Alicization:

• Action Duo: Initially Kirito and Eugeo had this dynamic, with Kirito being the Action Hero swordsman, accompanied by the inexperienced and cowardly Eugeo serving as the Action Survivor. However they later get upgraded to an Adventure Duo after Eugeo mans up and receives training. They later get upgraded to a Power Trio when Alice rejoins them.
• Action Prologue:
  • The anime skips straight to Kirito being in the Underworld rather than explaining how he got there.
  • Sinon and the rest of the SAO gang are seen playing GGO and fighting against a squadron of PKers led by Subtilizer.
• Adapted Out: There are lots of scenes that got cut from the anime adaptation.
  • Kirito's initial ordeal on trying to figure out whether he's the real Kirito or a Fluctlight copy is omitted. In particular the scene where he experiments on whether he can break the Taboo Index at will, which he does so by giving Selka a kiss on the forehead.
  • The anime glosses over the year spent in Zakkaria along with the Tournament that Kirito and Eugeo took part in. Instead telling it in flashbacks in Episode 7.
• The Ageless: Using System Commands, Quinella reversed her own aging and made herself effectively immortal, always retaining the appearance of her late teens.
• Amnesiac Hero: Kirito in an unusual example of this trope. While he does retain his memories of the real world, it's his prior times spent in the Underworld that he has no recollection. While trapped in the Underworld, Kirito decides it's simpler to just tell everyone that he has no memories period.
• An Arm and a Leg: Quinella first loses her arm against Eugeo in sword form, and later both she and Kirito cut off one another's sword arms. Though Kirito still has one arm left to impale Quinella with.
• Anatomy of the Soul: The arc goes very deeply into defining what a soul is. Based on SAO's "Quantum Brain Dynamics" theory, there are light particles that act as a quantum unit of mind called "Evanescent Photons", which exist within the microtubules of a nerve cell. These light particles exist in a state of indeterminism and fluctuate according to the probability theory. A collection of these particles form a Quantum Field, which have been dubbed "Fluctuating Lights" (or "Fluctlight" for short) which is what makes up the human consciousness, or in other words, the human soul.
• Arc Symbol: Flowers and trees are a reoccurring motif throughout this arc.
  • Both Eugeo and Alice's swords both originated from flowers. Kirito also took to growing Zephyria flowers during his time as a page.
  • The Gigas Cedar was heavily featured at the start of the arc before Eugeo managed to cut it down, where inevitably part of it was used to forge Kirito’s sword.
• Artificial Human: The Underworld residents are "bottom-up" AIs and are a great deal more sophisticated than standard "top-down" AIs, being cloned from the FluctLights or souls of newborns. As Kirito puts it, they are literally souls without bodies. FluctLights can also be given robot bodies, like how it is done with Alice.
• Art Shift: The animation style featured is the same one used in Ordinal Scale which is a great deal more detailed than the traditional animation used in previous seasons. The composite team, now that of Kentaro Waki and Asahi Production (both also returning from Ordinal Scale) is also different, incorporating a lot more False Camera Effects and lighting into the series. This carries over to the following arc.
• Ascended Extra: In the light novels, most of the SAO gang like Lisbeth, Silica, and Klein went Out of Focus but they get featured here in anime only footage in the search for Kirito.
• Awesome by Analysis: In this arc of the anime, Kirito's inner thoughts are heard during battle as he analyses the situation and plans his next move.
• Beam-O-War: Alice and Kirito engage in one, unleashing their respective Full Arnament Controls at each other. The power released is so phenomenal it manages to break the Cathedral Wall despite having near infinite life and supposedly indestructible.
• Beware the Nice Ones: The ever kind-hearted and respectful Eugeo finally loses it when Humbert and Raios attempt to rape Ronye and Tiese, to which he rebels against the Taboo Index and attacks them.
• Big Bad: Quinella for the first half of Alicization.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Kirito pulls one to save Eugeo from Raios when the latter tries to kill him for daring to defy the Taboo Index and keep them from raping Ronye and Tiese.
  • Episode 12. Cardinal is revealed to have been the voice guiding Kirito, and appears in person to save Kirito and Eugeo from the Integrity Knight by opening a portal for them to escape into the library.
• Big Good: Cardinal is the pivotal force for good in the fight against Quinella, spending centuries observing for those with potential that she could recruit into her crusade.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Unlike the other Integrity Knights, Fizel and Linel pretended to be innocent little girls, before they got close enough so they can stab the boys and finally reveal their true identities.
• Bloody Murder: When Eugeo's Blue Rose Sword snaps in half, he uses Incarnation to reforge the blade using how own blood so that Kirito can use it. The new sword is red in color and is christened the Red Rose Sword.
• Book Ends: Johnny Black, the last surviving member of Laughing Coffin and the final member of Death Gun makes a return to ambush Kazuto, managing to inject him in the heart with a toxin.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: After Alice got taken by an Integrity Knight, it's revealed she hadn't been executed as originally claimed but had her mind altered into an Integrity Knight herself. This is also the case for all Integrity Knights.
• The Bully: Raios and Humbert spend nearly every moment tormenting Kirito and Eugeo, constantly mocking the fact they aren't nobles and also destroying Kirito's beloved flower bed.
• The Bus Came Back: Nurse Aki makes her first return since the Phantom Bullet arc, where she is seen at Rath caring for Kirito.
• Call-Back:
  • In Episode 1:
    • Kazuto notices that Sinon no longer has panic attacks from making a finger gun, having finally overcome her phobia.
    • Shino is still visiting Shinkawa and mentions his condition is stabilizing.
    • Kazuto now has an implant to monitor his heart rather than having electrodes always stuck on him like he did in the Phantom Bullet arc.
    • When Asuna and Shino hear that Kirito is losing his memories in the Underworld, they immediately fear it is just like the Augma incident from Ordinal Scale.
  • Episode 5:
    • There is a flashback of the Assault Team's battle with the Laughing Coffin back in SAO, where Asuna is attacked by Johnny Black and Kirito gets in the way, before the scene then changes to the real life battle between the two from the end of Episode 1. Later in the episode, the same flashback is revisited and it's revealed Kirito had fought off Johnny Black to protect Asuna and knocked the psycho to the ground.
    • While Klein is driving the girls to find Kirito, "Longing" by YUNA, is heard playing on the radio.
    • The gang are also using Augmas again to interface with the virtual world on the go such as communicating with Yui.
    • Yui reminds Asuna of how Kirito searched for her back when she was trapped in Alfheim Online and never gave up, and now that their roles are reversed it's her turn to do the same!
    • The Teaser from the end of Mother's Rosario arc is revisited when Kirito mentioned the Medicuboid developer, Rinko Koujiro, was an associate of Kayaba. She appears in person with Asuna contacting her for help in infiltrating Rath.
    • Episode 14 shows flashbacks of Eugeo remembering the lessons in swordsmanship that Kirito taught him during their time at the Academy.
    • Episode 15, Kirito tells Fanatio that he had lost battles going all out to great swordswoman before. The most recent time that happened was against Yuuki, (his constant losses against Sortiliena don't really count since he was handicapped with a training sword in their duels, and they were training duels rather then proper ones like with Yuuki.)
    • Episode 20 has Kirito seeing the Senators and remembering when they first appeared via a portal when he and Eugeo violated the Taboo Index to save Tiese and Ronye from being raped.
• The Cameo: Episode 1 features cameos from Fatal Bullet characters.
  • Kureha and Zeliska are seen at the bar playing pool.
  • Itsuki and Kureha's names are seen on the 5th BoB rankings list.
• Canon Immigrant:
  • Kureha from Fatal Bullet is seen playing pool in a bar in Episode 1. As proof that it is her and not an Identical Stranger, her name is seen in a list of participants for the 5th BoB. The same list also shows Itsuki.
  • The SAO gang ended up playing Gun Gale Online together just like they did in Fatal Bullet, though their avatars look different to what they had in the games, with Kirito and Sinon using their canon avatars rather than having new ones like in FB. Asuna also uses a Photon Sword much like Kirito.
• Chain Pain: Upon first escaping, Kirito and Eugeo use their high durability chains as weapons against Eldrie.
• Chekhov's Gun: The Heart Rate app that Asuna had on her phone to monitor Kirito's vital signs becomes very significant in finding Kirito's location. Yui is able to use its last know transmissions to track possible locations it has been, giving the gang a lead on Kirito's location.
• Childhood Friends: Alice, Eugeo, and Kirito, who are young kids and close friends in the Underworld.
• Child Prodigy: Alice is revealed to be one, having mastered all sorts of spells of the Sacred Arts at the age of ten and trained to become an Integrity Knight.
• Cliffhanger:
  • Episode 1 has two of these. The first one occurs when Alice violates the taboo index and gets taken away by an Integrity Knight for execution, which is immediately followed by Kirito awakening in the real world with no memory of what happened. The second one occurs at the very end of the episode where Kazuto gets attacked by Johnny Black in the real world and is stabbed in the heart by a syringe containing a toxin.
  • Episode 3 ends with Eugeo and Kirito discovering Selka in the End Mountains having been captured by Goblins. The Goblins then notice the boys presence and move in to kill them, with Kirito noticing Eugeo has become paralyzed with fear and keeps calling his name to snap him out of this state.
  • Episode 7 ends with Kirito getting in trouble with Elite Disciple Volo Levantein who decides to punish Kirito with a sparring match.
  • Episode 10 ends with Eugeo and Kirito as criminals and to be apprehended by an Integrity Knight, with the Knight turning out to be Alice.
  • Episode 11 ends with Eugeo and Kirito escaping their prison in the Central Cathedral and being confronted by Integrity Knight Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-One.
  • Episode 19 ends with Eugeo coming across Quinella, who seduces and synthesizes him into becoming the Integrity Knight Eugeo Synthesis-Thirty Two.
• Contrived Coincidence: The fact that the FluctLight who defied the Taboo Index was named Alice, the same name as the acronym of the project Rath sought to create, Project Alicization.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: In a rare instance where avoiding the plot was actually less favorable. Kirito and Eugeo discuss that if they had graduated the Swordcraft Academy and become Integrity Knights the proper way, then they may have ended up having their memories wiped just like Alice. By entering the Central Cathedral as criminals actually allowed their personalities to remain intact and allowed them to meet Cardinal who armed them with additional knowledge.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Upon seeing Johnny Black, Kazuto instantly reached behind his back for his sword. Only to find there isn't one there, to the delight of Johnny Black.
• Darker and Edgier: Much more so when compared to the previous installments.
• A Day in the Limelight: Episode 9 and 10 are told entirely from Eugeo's POV and has him taking central stage.
• Death of Personality: By the end of Alicization Uniting, the original young Alice Zuberg dies along with Eugeo, leaving only Alice Synthesis Thirty.
• Demiurge Archetype: Quinella. She rebelled against the Underworld's version of God in order to become one herself, setting herself up as one gifted by the gods before constructing a false faith in her own name, eventually succeeded in her goals, and ruled enforced by her specially-prepared laws and her Integrity Knights.
• Didn't See That Coming:
  • Quinella was completely caught off-guard when her attempts to take over a child's Fluctlight, led to the Cardinal sub-processor (the error-checking program of the Cardinal system) taking over said child and attacking her.
  • Alice's Divine Weapon being already in Perfect Weapon Control form and taking the appearance of an Oliver Tree, really shocks Kirito and Eugeo, which throws their initial plan of incapacitating her out the window.
  • Quinella is completely caught off guard in Episode 21 after she restores Eugeo's memories; he not only resists her persuasion, but also manages to break through her barrier with his dagger despite her immunity to metal weapons.
• Elemental Powers: Several Sacred Arts or System Commands involve generating elemental attacks.
• Enemy Mine: When Kirito and Alice get blown off the tower and are left hanging on the outside, Kirito persuades Alice to work together to get back inside. Alice begrudgingly agrees but makes it clear she intends to slay him the instance they are safe from falling.
• Exact Words: When Eugeo Synthesis Thirty-Two is sent to stop the rebels, Kirito and Alice, he imprisons them in ice rather than killing them, as he specifically states to Chudelkin that the Pontifiex's orders were to stop them and not kill them.
• Existential Horror: As seen with Higa's FluctLight, any FL copied from a real person will be unable to process their status as a copy of the original which will lead them to lose all rationality and breakdown. For this reason Rath were forced to raise FLs cloned from newborns with no prior memories and experience.
• Eye Scream: The Seal of the Right Eye is a security measure put in to ensure the Underworld residents behave. Whenever they think about defying authority, a System Code appears on their right eye causing immense pain along with the words "System Alert", and any further defying of it will cause the eyeball to burst as is what happened with Eugeo and Alice.
• Foil:
  • Further parallels are painted between Kayaba and Kirito through Rinko's flashbacks. Kayaba was once a scrawny boy and a The Shut-In who immersed himself with the virtual world. The only difference is Kayaba let his ambition override his conscience.
  • Alice and Quinella. Both girls were prodigies when it came to the Sacred Arts, but Alice was born in a commoner village while Quinella was raised in nobility. Alice had a kind heart while Quinella grew up to be corrupt. Alice (after she breaks the Seal of the Right Eye, and hears out Kirito about her past) fights for the good of the world and its people, while Quinella is only concerned with maintaining an iron hard grip over it.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Deusolbert Synthesis-Seven was the Integrity Knight who took Alice away from Rulid Village at the age of eleven, but he had no memory of this when he met Eugeo and Kirito years later. This is because, Quinella had erased his memories of the incident, as Integrity Knights are made to believe they descended from the heavens and had no past, which would also include the creation of another Integrity Knight.
• Fountain of Youth: During his early days in the Underworld, Kirito was regressed to the age of a child and had his memories of the real world erased.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: This is why Artificial Fluctlights are cloned from babies instead of grown people. Higa made an Artificial Fluctlight out of himself, and the moment the Fluctlight finds out that it's a clone of that original, it goes insane and dies from Fluclight collapse. Artificial Fluctlights made from babies, in contrast, do not have any baggage from being cloned from a grown person and thus do not end up going insane and collapsing.
• Gratuitous English: "Sacred Arts" are given in the form of computer "System Commands" which are all spoken in English.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: Eugeo in Sword-form gets shattered in half by Quinella, so when he reverts back, the real Eugeo is bisected in half at the torso.
• Hand Blast: Certain Sacred Arts manifest themselves as blasts of elemental energy, which Sacred Art users can harness in combat.
• Hate Sink: Raios and Humbert were already awful for being smug bullies who tormented Kirito and Eugeo, with Humbert abusing his own page into humiliating actions, but then they cross into irredeemable territory when they have Tiese and Ronye Bound and Gagged and attempt to rape them.
• Have We Met?: After Kirito returns to the Underworld in Episode 2, neither he nor Eugeo remember each other, but both of them feel like there is something familiar about the other as if they knew one another in a different life.
• Heel Realization: It takes Alice falling off the tower with Kirito and him saving her life, in order for her to see he is who he says he is, not a criminal who wishes to topple the Axiom Church, but a man with very strong moral convictions that believes the Pontifex is the one who is corrupt.
• Heroic Spirit: Invoked. Power in the Underworld is shaped by ones imagination and emotions, the stronger the drive one has, the more powerful their weapon and attacks become. Kirito thinking of his friends, and Eugeo thinking of Alice, allow them to tremendously ascend their power.
• Heroic Willpower: The hold of the Seal of the Right Eye can be broken if one individual has enough willpower, which both Eugeo and Alice have done. Though at the cost of said eye.
• History Repeats:
  • Kirito's female companion jumping in the path of a Big Bad's blade meant for Kirito, happens yet again this time with Alice. Kirito immediately gets flashes of Asuna doing the same thing back in SAO.
  • Followed shortly by, Kirito picking up the weapon of his fallen weapon of his comrade to go Dual Wielding, this time Eugeo's broken Blue Rose Sword, reformed with a red blade thanks to Eugeo using Incarnation to fix the blade with his blood. It is also this comrade's weapon that Kirito picks up that ultimately impales and kills the villain, just as Asuna's rapier had done to Heathcliff.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: It's Quinella's own attempts to take over a child's Fluctlight and store her excess memories, that led to Cardinal taking over said girl and orchestrating her defeat for centuries.
• Hope Spot: The first episode seemed like the stuff that made up Sweet Dreams Fuel, of a young Kirito playing with Eugeo and Alice. Then Alice breaks the Taboo Index and gets taken away by an Integrity Knight for execution.
• Human All Along: Integrity Knights are made to believe they descended from the heavens and have no past, but in reality they are humans with their memories altered so they are completely loyal to Quinella.
• Idiot Ball:
  • Quinella went to a lot of trouble in her self-preservation, creating Brainwashed and Crazy Integrity Knights who are completely loyal to her, having erased the memories of their past lives. However, her one fatal mistake was to let the Integrity Knights keep the names from their previous lives, which allowed someone who knew their past to be able to remind them and trigger memories. This is what happened with Eldrie, as Eugeo was able to stimulate his memories.
  • Quinella presumes that Eugeo has become completely loyal to her even before Synthesis, so she removes his memory module to redo it. Unaware that Eugeo was ready to break free the second she gave him the chance.
• I Know Mortal Kombat: Kirito is able to use his past experience with the sword from his time in SAO to great effect in the Underworld. When Eugeo asks what the style was called, Kirito dubs it "Aincrad Style".
• Imagination-Based Superpower: Incarnation. By focusing one's willpower a user can literally reshape reality, either in the form of enhancing attacks or manifesting objects.
• Immortality Seeker: Quinella. After achieving her first desire was to possess and rule, Quinella was soon made aware of her growing age and finite lifespan, so she utilized forbidden Sacred Arts. At the very end of her natural life, she restored her life to her prime and halted its natural decline, giving herself eternal youth.
• Improbable Weapon User: While Eugeo and Kirito are locked in the Central Cathedral prison with nothing but their beds, water basins, and some really tough chains. Kirito comes up with the idea of using the two high durability chains to wear down each other's durability. Kirito then uses it as a makeshift weapon to break open the cell door and later as an actual weapon in the fight against Integrity Knight Eldrie.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: After making his final assault on Kirito, Atsushi Kanamoto/Johnny Black is soon arrested.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia:
  • Kirito is unable to retain any memories of his time spent in the Underworld, also while he's in the Underworld his memories of the real world get blocked so he's essentially a true resident of the Underworld. This becomes a problem in Episode 2 when he enters the Underworld but is able to remember the real world.
  • It appears all of the Underworld residents have also had their memories wiped of Kirito since his last visit, as Eugeo does not remember him at all and his memories of their times spent with Alice only feature the two of them. Both Eugeo and Kirito regain their childhood memories in Eugeo's dying moments.
  • It's later revealed that all Integrity Knights have had the memories of their old lives blocked so they remain completely loyal to their cause, including Alice.
• Literal Split Personality: Due to the unorthodox nature of Alice's Synthesis, the original Alice Zuberg gained a FluctLight of her own during the creation of Alice Synthesis Thirty and ended up residing within the memory crystal.

• Master-Apprentice Chain: Sortiliena mentored Kirito who in turn mentors Ronye.
• Master of Disguise: Asuna is able to successfully infiltrate Rath by disguising herself as Rinko's assistant, Mayumi Reynolds, using nothing but a wig, a pair of sunglasses, and speaking Gratuitous English.
• Monster Clown: Chudelkin has the appearance of one and unlike the Integrity Knights he is unconditionally evil.
• My Skull Runneth Over: After ruling for seventy years as an Immortal Rules, Quinella discovered that her FluctLight had reached its limit of stored memories, so the solution she came up with was overwrite a child's FluctLight with her own memories and FluctLight using the Synthesis Ritual. Though this would be her undoing as she ended up giving this girl power equal to her own and she would end up becoming Cardinal.
• Neck Lift: Asuna pulls this on Kikuoka via the front of his shirt after the attack on Ocean Turtle causes a power surge that damages Kirito's FluctLight. It's even pointed out that she's a slight teenage girl whereas he is a grown man with a good 6" on her.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • Quinella's attempt to amend her overflowing memory by imprinting to another FluctLight was what allowed Cardinal to split off from her and seize control of another individual, the little girl who would come to be known as Cardinal and resist her.
  • Quinella deciding to redo Eugeo's Synthesis properly forced her to remove the module she had put on his head, thereby allowing Eugeo to break free of her control.
• Oh, Crap!: When approaching Alice standing next to a tree, Kirito believed she didn't have her sword with her. Then he realizes the tree was her sword and it was already in Perfect Weapon Control form.
• Out of Focus: Alice first appears in Alicization Beginning as a child but disappears after she gets taken by an Integrity Knight. Much of the early arc is dedicated to Kirito and Eugeo attempting to travel to Centoria to find her and she doesn't return until the end of Alicization Turning as an Integrity Knight herself.
• Power of Friendship:
  • Kirito learns to channel this, due to the Underworld drawing on the power of imagination. Imagining all his friends, Kirito's sword uptakes that power, glows and momentarily grows longer.
  • In Episode 15, seeing Eugeo struggle against Integrity Knight Fanatio Synthesis Two, Kirito himself invokes this and tells Eugeo that he can't win with The Power of Hate and instead tells him to focus on his love for Alice.
  • Overlapping with The Power of Love, this is what enables Eugeo in sword form to defeat the Sword Golem, despite being only a single sword. His and Alice's love for each other was far stronger than the fleeting inhumane love felt by the Sword Golem, making his sword form far more powerful.
  • This is what empowers Kirito in the final battle against Quinella, being urged on by Eugeo, who uses Incantation to recreate his broken Blue Rose Sword using his own blood. Kirito himself then uses Incantation to materialise his Black Swordsman outfit from SAO and duels Quinella evenly.
• Power Trio: Alice, Eugeo, and Kirito, back when they were kids. It later makes a return once Alice allies with them and the three of them face off against Quinella together.
• Product Placement: A poster for "Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet" is seen in GGO during Episode 1. Doubling as Breaking the Fourth Wall as that's a game based on the universe they live in featuring them.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Raios and Humbert were already despicable bullies, but they are firmly cemented as Hate Sink when they perform Attempted Rape on Ronye and Tiese to spite Kirito and Eugeo.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Kirito delivers one to Raios after pulling a Big Damn Heroes.
  Kirito: I don't care about your taboos and noble rights. Eugeo's my friend. And you are scum lower than the goblins from the land of darkness!
• Reality Warper: <<Incarnation>> is a secret technique in the Underworld which allows a user with enough willpower to alter the reality around them using only their imagination.
  • Kirito first learns to use it to through experimenting if it was possible to grow Zephyria flowers in Northern soil, which were traditionally impossible. However Incarnation allows him to overcome the traditional laws of nature.
  • The most notable instances are Eugeo using Incarnation to fuse his spilled blood into the broken blade of his Blue Rose Sword and forging into the Red Rose Sword, Kirito manifesting his Black Swordsman outfit from SAO to face Quinella, and Chudelkin turning himself into a fiery demon like creature in order to touch Quinella in the moments before his death.
• The Reveal:
  • Cardinal is an anthropomorphic interface of the Cardinal System program that runs the worlds of the Seed and the one who had been guiding Kirito.
  • The Taboo Index was created and enforced by Quinella as the System Administrator, not out of good will, but out of her own selfish motives of self-preservation.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Eugeo very nearly goes on one against Deusolbert Synthesis-Seven, after he realizes he was the one who took Alice away from the village all those years ago.
• Rousing Speech: Yui gives one to Asuna in Episode 5, encouraging her not to give up hope on finding Kirito and that the two of them shared a bond which could never be severed.
• Samus Is a Girl: Fanatio Synthesis Two is revealed to actually be a woman underneath her helm, and she hates how others do not fight seriously upon discovering her gender.
• Saying Too Much: As Kirito is pretending to not recollect any memories from the real world out of convenience, there are several times he nearly blows his cover with his knowledge from there.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: An important part of Eugeo's growth as a character. Kirito teaches him that doing what was morally right is more important than upholding a rule, even if it was in direct defiance. When Humbert and Raios find a Loop Hole Abuse in the Taboo Index, Eugeo is put in a conflicting dilemma where he must either break the Taboo Index or save his and Kirito's valets. After an internal struggle, he finally rebels against the Taboo Index, at the cost of his eye and cuts off Humbert's arm to save Ronye.
• Ship Tease: Tiese as a low ranking noble would have an Arranged Marriage to another higher noble. However she didn't want a life like this and wanted to spend her days with Eugeo. She all but states her desire to marry Eugeo. Problem is Eugeo is only interested in finding Alice, but as to not crush the girl's spirits he does promise to return for her.
• Shout-Out: A lot of Alice in Wonderland references are dropped, with most of them from Asuna. These include the name Rath and Underworld having a similar name to the place Alice visited.
• The Slacker: While Kirito is a good student in the real world, in the Underworld he's notorious for being lazy and goofing off, which Eugeo always chastises him over.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil:
  • Quinella's creation of the Integrity Knights involve her taking the greatest warriors in the human realm and erasing the memories so they believe themselves to have descended from heaven and become fiercely loyal to her. They are nothing but puppets to carry out the Axion Church's will.
  • And it doesn't end there, it's revealed many of her subjects are all left as mindless slaves including the Elevating Platform girl and the Senators, who no longer have any individuality and are all made to unquestioningly carry out their orders like robots.
• So Proud of You: Sortiliena tells Kirito this after he finishes his duel with Levantein and shows off his full strength.
• Spin to Deflect Stuff: This is a specific skill in the Underworld to protect against attacks. Kirito names this attack "Spinning Shield" as a technique of the Aincrad style.
  • Kirito uses this in his fight against Deusolbert, spinning his sword at high speeds to block an Armament Control Art.
• Stock Light-Novel Hero: Subverted. Ironically, despite this arc shifting the series closer to the Isekai genre, Kirito himself moves away from the usual cliches for this character archetype. He is a lot more underpowered than previous arcs as he has to gradually learn about the new world and work towards power, unlike previous arcs where he was often at his peak when he took on obstacles. Also the girls that join his Supporting Harem each arc has been largely absent and Kirito instead forms a Bash Brothers dynamic with Eugeo, then later a Power Trio with both him and Alice.
• Student–Master Team: Kirito taught Eugeo in the art of the Aincrad Style, making him and Eugeo this on the battlefield. This gets brought up by Kirito when he fights his former student, Eugeo Synthesis Thirty-Two.
  Kirito: Eugeo you probably don't remember, but you learned your sword skills from me. As the master, I'm not ready to lose to my student just yet!
• Swapped Roles:
  • Kirito and Asuna have traded places compared to the Fairy Dance arc. Now it's Kirito in a coma in the real world while his mind is trapped in a virtual world, facilitating Asuna to journey in and rescue him.
  • Kirito manages to make Alice see reason and help her to defy the Axion Church's conditioning, but at the same time Eugeo is brought to Quinella where he gets preyed upon and Synthesised into the most loyal Integrity Knight yet who obeys Quinella's will without the slightest questioning. It's ultimately averted when Quinella removes the synthesis block from his head, allowing Eugeo to finally remember his old memories.
• Switching P.O.V.: This arc is told from two different perspectives. From Kirito trapped in the Underworld, and from Asuna looking for Kirito in the real world.
• Time Skip:
  • Episode 7 skips two years of Underworld time so Kirito and Eugeo go from leaving the village to bring enrolled in Swordcraft Academy.
  • The end of Episode 8 has Kirito and Eugeo going from valets to their elite trainee mentors, to being mentors themselves to their own valets, Ronye and Tiese.
• That Man Is Dead: Alice Synthesis Thirty considers herself and the Alice Zuberg to be different people and that she had stolen the body of the original Alice. This is revealed to be very literal, as the Synthesis used to create Alice Synthesis Thirty ended up making the young Alice Zuberg a separate individual, trapped in the memory crystal. It is this young Alice Zuberg who reunites with Eugeo and later dies along with him when he passes on.
• There Was a Door: A bit of Running Gag is Kirito always enters and exits the Swordcraft dormitory using the window rather than the door.
• Those Two Girls: Ronye and Tiese are inseparable and almost always seen together.
• Trapped in Another World: In a very different way to Sword Art Online during the Aincrad arc. SAO was merely a fictional simulated game that couldn't be logged out of. Underworld is a very real world with real inhabitants who have always existed there, despite its foundations being a Virtual World. Kirito getting trapped there is much closer to the standard Isekai genre and having to learn about the way the world works from its residents.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Once their true natures are revealed, Fizel and Linel are able to talk very casually and cheerfully about killing, while holding sweet smiles on their faces. This whole demonstration thoroughly disturbs Eugeo.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Kirito and Eugeo are this in spades. They usually behave like typical Best Friends, but often will start giving each other hard times through insults and teasing.
• Was Once a Man: Quinella, having essentially burned the fundamental command possessed by the Cardinal System onto her own Fluct Light, fusing her soul with Cardinal and effectively becoming the new god of the world. When she awakens from the process she was no longer human, no longer aging, requiring food or water, and with unparalleled power.
• Weak, but Skilled: Kirito starts off as this, having all of his past experience with a sword but with his Object Control Authority being very low. Though it doesn't last as Kirito gains experience and slowly build towards being Strong and Skilled.
• Wham Line: Eugeo demonstrates a Sacred Art with the incantation "System Call" which shocks Kirito.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?:
  • At the start of the arc, Kirito questions whether he is the real Kirito or a FluctLight copied from the real Kirito. He tests this by seeing if he is able to break the Taboo Index on his own volition, doing so by giving Selka a kiss on the forehead.
  • The debate is brought up over whether AIs made from Fluctlights counted as real humans with cognitive ability. Kikuoka seems to view them as being Expendable Clones to be used as tools of war, while Asuna argues they had rights and freedom just like any human did.
  • This debate is seen again between Quinella and Cardinal. Quinella is convinced that human units are nothing but data, but Cardinal insists that they are living, breathing, loving humans and that it doesn't matter if they exist in a simulation or in the real world.
• Worthy Opponent:
  • Integrity Knight, Eldrie, gains a lot of respect towards Kirito both for his bravdo and his skill.
  • Deusolbert follows suit, at first believing Eugeo and Kirito to resort to dirty tactics, but after trading blows with them and being defeated by their expertise swordsmanship, he too came to respect them. He praises the boys, asking what their techniques were and their names, and even giving a Face Death with Dignity moment as he bestows some valuable information about the Integrity Knights to the boys since he would be disgracefully discharged as an Integrity Knight.
  • While Fanatio doesn't directly say so, it appears that she does indeed respect Kirito for for not treating her any differently upon finding out she's a woman, coming at her with the same ferocity without holding back.
  • Alice acknowledges Kirito's power after he's the first to withstand her sword, despite her overwhelming him.
  • Bercouli comes to greatly respect Eugeo not only for battling him, but with his triumphing through his Taking You with Me strategy, and once he sees Eugeo's heart is righteous even sides with him.
• Would Hit a Girl: Kirito makes it clear to Fanatio Synthesis Two, that he had no intention of holding back because she was a woman, as he had lost plenty of battles against Swordswomen before. Fanatio acknowledges that Kirito is the first who attacked with the intent of actually slashing her after seeing her face.
  Kirito: I don't intend to hold back because you're a woman. I've lost plenty of battles to swordswomen!
• Year Inside, Hour Outside: Time runs faster in the Underworld. In between Episode 5 and 8 where only a few days passed in the real world, two years have passed in the Underworld for Kirito and Eugeo.

War of Underworld:

• Adaptation Distillation: In the anime, Vassago's threat to Kirito about killing him and Asuna in real-life and his subsequent Fate Worse than Death moment of being turned into a tree take place during their final battle, as opposed to after it.
• Apocalypse How: Vassago threatens a variant of Class 4 to Asuna, threatening to kill her and everyone else in the Underworld, human, demon and monster alike, including his own forces, to get Kirito to awaken from his coma.
• Beneath the Mask: On the surface Gabriel remains a clam composure, but underneath he's deeply unhinged and completely insane.
• Big Bad: Gabriel and Vassago form a Big Bad Duumvirate, with Gabriel as the overall Big Bad and Vassago as The Dragon bordering on The Starscream near the end.
• Bloodier and Gorier: In stark contrast from the relative Bloodless Carnage of the previous arcs, Alicization has levels of violence that wouldn't seem out of place in a seinen manga. Limbs are hacked off with blood spewing, attempted rape is shown at a level never before seen in SAO, characters endure painful torture, and to top it all off, one character gets a spear impaled through her eye with graphic results. This is all worse considering the characters all feel these effects in the real world.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • Vassago, a.k.a. PoH, the former leader of the Laughing Coffin guild in SAO makes his return, this time allied with Glowgen Defense Systems who are the team raiding Rath.
  • After a lengthy absence since Kirito and Eugeo get apprehended, Tiese and Ronye make a return at the war camp of the Human Empire, in the hopes of seeing Kirito and Eugeo again. They are devastated to find out Kirito is now an Empty Shell while Eugeo lost his life.
• The Cavalry:
  • To start off with Asuna logs into the Underworld as Goddess of Creation Stacia and provides huge assistance to the Human Realm by putting up a chasm.
  • After American foreign players enter into the Underworld, Sinon and Leafa are called to another Rath branch and login as Sun Goddess Solus and Earth Goddess Terraria.
  • With the help of Lisbeth and the rest of the SAO gang, many ALO players are convinced to convert their accounts to assist, including General Eugene, Sakuya, Alicia Rue, the Sleeping Knights, and even Eiji and Yuna. Later on, it's revealed GGO players like Dyne and Yamikaze have been called in too, wielding crossbows in the Underworld. [[spoiler:Yuuki's spirit also appears to give Asuna the strength to stand up against PoH and giving her a power-up to overpower his Mate-Chopper.
• Companion Cube: Crippled Kirito now treats Eugeo's Blue Rose Sword as this, not willing to go anywhere without carrying it in his arm.
• Continuity Cavalcade: Much like Ordinal Scale, the war features a culmination of all previous virtual worlds. ALO players are called in as The Cavalry to assist in fighting the Human Empire against the Foreign Players. Vassago uses his PoH account from SAO to reenter the Underworld. GGO players are called in to help too, with Gabriel using his Subtilizer account after his Vecta account gets destroyed. Sinon and Gabriel both Incarnate in their GGO weapons to have a Sniper Duel. Finally Kirito makes his big return with his SAO avatar.
• Darker and Edgier: Hands down the darkest story arc in the series.
• Defrosting the Ice Queen:
  • Alice has substantially mellowed out, since first meeting Kirito, now putting on a friendly demeanor and frequently smiling.
  • Fanatio learned to embrace her femininity after Kirito fought all-out and defeated her, despite knowing that she was a woman. She now puts on makeup, talks femininely, and talks very politely to Alice.
• The Dreaded: Subtilizer is this to Sinon. The anime even adds in her having a nightmare where she gets strangled by him.
• Enemy Mine: Once the American foreign players arrive in the Underworld and start slaughtering both Human Realm and Dark Territory alike, the two former factions team up to face this new common threat.
• Empty Shell: Kirito's state for the majority of War of the Underworld.
• Existential Horror: Alice is disgusted by how she and Kirito are treated when she helps cut a tree down, and wonders why they fought so hard to save this world.
• Famed In-Story: At the end of the story, far into the Underworld's future, Kirito, Asuna, and Alice are deified as the Star King, the Star Queen, and the Integrity Knight, respectively.
• Fate Worse than Death: Vassago's final fate is, being turned into a tree by Kirito, and he may have even died.
• Forced to Watch: Vassago's Just Between You and Me threat to Kirito about killing both him and Asuna in real life in the anime is framed with him delivering it from the perspective of both Asuna and some of their allies watching the fight as it wraps up. The threat now carrying the implication that he'll go after them as well.
• The Glasses Come Off: Alice does this with her Eyepatch of Power in Episode 2, ripping it off just as she Incarnates her eye back, then proceeds to take on the Goblins attacking Rulid village.
• Godzilla Threshold: Alice wanted to keep her being an Integrity Knight a secret, but in Episode 2 left with no choice against the Village Noble's foolish decisions, she reveals herself and overrides his authority and orders everyone to flee.
• Gondor Calls for Aid:
  • Kirito's friends manage to convince all of the ALO players to convert over the Underworld and they arrive to take on the Foreign Players and assist the Human Empire. Among their ranks include Sakuya, Alicia Rue, General Eugene, the Sleeping Knights, and even Eiji.
  • Much like Ordinal Scale, GGO players like Dyne and Yamikaze have also been called in as reinforcements, now wielding crossbows in the Underworld.
• Gratuitous English:
  • Vassago loves spouting odd English phrases midspeech, especially "Bro".
  • The foreign players speak entirely in English, but are all voiced by Japanese voice actors so come across as speaking very broken engrish with very obvious accents.
• I Owe You My Life: The reason for Alice's dedication to Kirito, as he allowed her to see the truth and taught her it was fine to have a free will of her own and fight for what she believed in. Alice believes this as Kirito saving her life and has been taking care of him since.
• Mêlée à Trois: At first the war is between the Human Empire and the Dark Territory, with Rath and the SAO gang assisting the humans, while Gabriel and Glowgen are supported by the Dark Territory. Then, Critter adds a third faction, foreign players who enter the Underworld who are not allied with either side and attack both. This eventually leads the Human Empire and Dark Territory to form an Enemy Mine against this common threat.
• The Mole: Yanai, one of Kikuoka's colleagues, was a former employee of Sugou and sabotaged the Underworld simulation with Administrator's aid by implementing the Seal of the Right Eye. The System Alert code number for the seal, "871", is a reference to his name (in Japanese, the numbers 8, 7, and 1 can be read as "ya", "na", and "i").
• Not Too Dead to Save the Day:
  • Much like Ordinal Scale Yuuki's spirit appears to give courage and strength to Asuna to fight against PoH.
  • Eugeo appears in Kirito's mind to give him the final push to bring him out of his coma, before his spirit also helps him fight against PoH.
• One-Man Army:
  • All of the Integrity Knights are able to take out whole platoons of enemies on their own.
  • All three of the goddesses prove to this. Asuna as Stacia reforms the land and sends enemies falling into chasms, Solus bombards from the skies with her infinite arrows, while Terraria’s Healing Factor allows her to endlessly cut through opponents.
  • Then there's Gabriel as Dark God Vecta of course, who puts a Curb-Stomp Battle against anyone he faces.
• Onee-sama: Ever since Alice's return to the village, she addresses her as "Nee-sama", likely both out of respect to her as a sister and Alice's position as an Integrity Knight.
• Out of Focus: Due to Kirito suffering severe brain damage from the power surge, he's left an Empty Shell in a wheelchair and relegated to Supporting Protagonist. Alice instead takes up the role of The Protagonist.
• Power Trio: The Beauty, Brains, and Brawn variant is seen with Asuna, Leafa, and Sinon when the three girls use Underworld Super Accounts to dive in. Asuna as Stacia is the Beauty, Leafa as Terraria is the Brawn, Sinon as Solus is the Brains.
• Reality Warper: While <<Incarnation>> was shown in the first half of the anime, it was never explicitly named. In the War of the Underworld half it is shown to be a much more common practice that many people have mastered.
  • Vixur was able to use it in his Heroic Second Wind to conjure up a vortex to attempt to kill Gabriel.
  • Bercouli generated an Incarnate Dagger at Alice in order to test Kirito, to which Kirito even in his absence state managed to deflect it.
  • Alice herself uses Incarnation to restore her childhood outfit, in order to show Tiese and Ronye that it was who they were on the inside that mattered and determined who they were.
  • Sinon uses Incarnation to turn her bow into Hecate and engages Gabriel in a Sniper Duel.
• Senseless Sacrifice: Bercouli manages to kill Gabriel in his Vecta account at the cost of his life, only for Gabriel to return using his Subtilizer account.
• She Is All Grown Up: Selka has really grown in the two years after the Time Skip.
• Sit Com Arch Nemesis: It's clear Alice and Fanatio possess a rivalry of sorts and are prone to Snark-to-Snark Combat, even after both ladies mellowing out and becoming kinder.
• Suddenly Voiced: Dakira, one of the Whirling Blades, suddenly speaks up when she performs a Heroic Sacrifice to save Fanatio and has her helm broken.
• Time Skip: In the anime, the present day begins four months after the events of Kirito defeating Quinella, with Alice now living with a catatonic Kirito just outside Rulid village. The rest of the events that occurred inbetween are told via flashbacks.
• World's Best Warrior:
  • While that title was formerly held by Bercouli, Alice is revealed to have grown more powerful and attained the status of strongest Integrity Knight of all having mastered the true power of Sacred Arts.
  • Bercouli believes Kirito to be this. Having seen the boy's true willpower through Incarnation and noted that Kirito has at least had as much true fighting experience (fighting for one's life) as he has. In addition, Kirito defeating Administrator was an unparalleled feat and he believes Kirito may be the one to turn the tides of the battle.
• You Are in Command Now: At the conclusion of the first half of Alicization, with both Quinella and Chudelkin gone, Bercouli takes charge of the Central Cathedral.
• Your Soul Is Mine!: Gabriel's trademark is consuming the souls of others which he actively desires.
• You Can't Go Home Again: After the battle in Centoria Cathedral ends, Alice returns to her home village, only to find that she's still being treated as a criminal, despite being unable to remember her crime of stepping into the Dark Territory, and her own father prohibits her from returning.
• You Shall Not Pass!: Kirito pulls one on Gabriel in the Final Battle, believing he had no chance of defeating Gabriel but still determined to stall him long enough for Alice and Asuna to reach the World's End Altar. Gabriel knows this fully well and gives Kirito the chance to entertain him in the time it takes the girls to reach the top.
• Zerg Rush: The forces of the Dark Territory are not formidable compared to the Integrity Knights of the human empire, but they are much greater in numbers.