Sword Art Online – 15
Post-gaming depression…don’t let it get to you. Find the closest imouto and give them a hug.
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Nope nope and nope! Sword Art Online is not over so everyone can calm down for now, but what else will Kirito and Asuna do next after beating the game? Just kidding everyone! I already saw a few things about the newest MMORPG popping up for Kirito to explore; however will things be different for or main character this time around? I think so, anyway what have you been up to Overcooled? |
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Studying and writing tests…hence the lateness of this post. It’s totally not because I’ve been playing Pokemon White 2 at a feverish pace. Totally. Anyways, I’m sorry, so maybe the fact that we’re entering a brand-spanking new arc with a new OP, ED and plot will distract you from the delay. |
Suffering in the Real World
Foshizzel // So how many months have passed since Kirito took out Heathcliff and saved everyone in Sword Art Online? Just two months have passed and things haven’t been so great for our main hero with all the hospital visits and physical therapy. At this point Kirito’s physical pain is probably nowhere near the pain he feels in his heart after he was forcefully separated from Asuna! He misses her a lot and often wakes up in a cold sweat after suffering from the occasional nightmare. Most of the time I don’t care what happens to Kirito, but I sort of feel bad for him right now; however lucky for Kirito he has his adorable little sister named Suguha or Sugu around to watch after him or as we learn later on she is really his cousin all along! Wait a minute she is his COUSIN when did that happen?
Yeah…I know apparently the two of them are not blood related siblings, but how does that even affect the main STORY? I suppose it opens the door for some surprise incest-ish themed route later on? Now I don’t really care too much for that them because hey this is anime and I have grown used to the HERP-A-DERP-incest-themed anime story, but Sugu doesn’t really come off as a creepy-bro-con right now; however I everyone could tell that she got super jealous that Kirito planned to visit Asuna in the hospital…so there might be a hardcore yandere side to Kirito’s cousin or someone that generally loves him? I know each and every girl that he met in the game world instantly fell for him.
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Imouto has Joined Your Party
Overcooled // “You know what this show needs? A sister who isn’t really his sister to fall in love with him for an incestual subplot!”. Whoever thought that should be fired. Does every little sister need to be in romantic love with their brother? Oh, sorry…COUSIN. Siblings share 50% of their DNA, but since cousins share 12.5% maybe they thought that was a good cut-off point for things to be less creepy. Incest, no matter the situation, is always really unsettling for me. I liked Suguha until she started to become jealous of Asuna and alarm bells started to ring. It just got worse as the episode progressed too. Really though…an incest subplot! Why?! She’s part of the main focus in the OP and ED too, so you just know this isn’t the last time she crawls into bed with her onii-chan and blushes all the time in his presence.
If I have to look on the bright side of things, I am thankful that Suguha’s affections for Kirito are shown in a more serious way than “onii-chan, please have sex with meeee.” The incest thing is played straight in a way that makes me feel sorry for her instead of grossed out. It’s handled well, but ultimately I would have preferred to have them as close siblings who just comfort each other in times of need. The addition of romance is superfluous. I liked all the scenes where they interacted as siblings much more than as a one-sided love thing. For example, it was sweet seeing Suguha comfort Kirito and givd him some invaluable advice about not giving up on things that are important…until she started talking about her own love.
I also liked their sparring match quite a bit. It was a nice way to show Suguha’s strengths as well as how Kirito is basically fully recovered from his lengthy hospital stay. On a side note, it also just goes to show that video game skills aren’t directly transferable to reality. Kirito’s brain remembers all the fine motor movements of swordplay, but his body never actually performed him, so he doesn’t have the muscle memory to be as strong or as fast as Suguha. He also had the skill system aiding him in the game. I’m glad Suguha’s hard work in the real world trumped his SAO skills. Even as the most agile player in the game, he still can’t beat his imouto in kendo. It’s good to see him eat some humble pie for once!
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Evil Real World Bosses
Foshizzel // Every time we finish an arc of a shounen type of anime we usually head into random filler mode where that story has nothing to do with the main plot! However in Sword Art Online we are pushing right along to the next exciting arc. , but what ends up happening when we start a new arc? Most of the time the series gains plenty of good guys and with every good character we have to deal with more evil characters and this time around Kirito’s newest arch rival comes in the form of a hardcore business man named Sugou Nobuyuki who pays Asuna a special visit with her father only to drop the biggest shocker of our heroes life! Wait for it…he intends to marry Asuna…DUN DUN DUUUN! I swear after I heard that line I was seriously like DUDE WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON RIGHT NOW!? Did this old dude say he was going to marry Kirito’s girlfriend? Also her father owns the company which in turn will go to Sugou after the wedding. So yeah Sugou is technically keeping Asuna alive because he will eventually own the servers from Sword Art Online.
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The Ones Who Were Left Behind
“So, did my allowance add up over all this time, or…?”
Overcooled // This is the first time we’ve gotten a real look at the world outside of the game, and I must say it’s a welcome change. We get to see a few glimpses at what Kirito’s family went through as he was stuck in a coma. It was rough, but they seemed to stay fairly positive. It takes a lot of strength to say “happy birthday” to someone who may never wake up. It must have been really hard on all the parents, friends, and family of SAO players waiting for someone to clear the game. I wonder if those close to players who didn’t wake up (like Asuna) feel jealous or bitter that some people are still trapped. I have no idea why there’s this divide in the first place. Asuna was stabbed, so I can plausibly see why she could be stuck in virtual reality limbo, but I doubt 200 players died at that exact time. What’s going on here?
It’s kind of interesting that Kirito never really talks about his experiences in the game. I suppose it’s not like a vacation where you bring back trinkets and tell quirky stories about your travels and more like coming home from war. Kirito just wants to forget the horrors he’s faced, and avoid burdening his loved ones with things that are impossible for them to truly understand. Likewise, it’s not exactly an easy topic to ask about. Suguha knows the memories are painful and probably wants his brother to focus on the here and now instead of his time spent lying in bed for 2 years. The only real good memories Kirito had were spent with Asuna, and that’s not very comforting to think of when you take her current situation into consideration. That gold-digging, marriage-proposing scumbag is so infuriating that I won’t even begin to rant about him.
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Expansion Time
Foshizzel // Before the episode wraps up Kirito discovers a random message on his computer which is linked to a screenshot showing off some girl trapped in a cage, but who is this girl? None other than Asuna! I mean *cough* your digital girlfriend is in another MMORPG *cough* so Kirito is probably going to train up and enter this new game world to save his beloved Asuna-chan from the evil Sugou who I can only assume is some overpowered badass of that game which is filled with fairies, elves, cat people and all kinds of other things oh and the hardcore Yui fans will be happy to see her in the opening as a tiny fairy…so does this mean SAO is introducing the world of magic and spell casting?! I am still curious to see if this new game has any “death” penalty in play? I sure hope the game designers learned what NOT TO DO inside their new MMORPG…
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Final Thoughts
Call me crazy, but this might be one of my favourite episodes in quite a while. The real world segments show the remnants left behind from all the pain of players slogging their way through SAO. Those who woke up had to recover their strength, those who didn’t wake up are being kept alive on a server, and Kayaba Akihiko is gone. The company who produced the game went bankrupt, yet Akihiko managed to slip away and hide. For a guy willing to say such blase things as “eh, dunno why I did this” he sure is averse to being punished for it. Will he pop up again later? It feels weird that he isn’t being punished for his actions. If he’s getting off easy, I hope that this Nobuyuki character gets his just desserts. Akihiko was like a wet noodle and this guy is just over-the-top evil. Is there no middle ground here? I strongly dislike him as the villain…but I imagine all that will go down the drain once Kirito enters this new, fairy-related game. I’ll hold my tongue until I actually see him in the game, but I will say that I never expected…fairies. It’s just hard to make fairies badass, you know? We’ll see. Maybe all this show really needs is some pixie dust.
So yeah Kirito is not having a good day at all in this episode and I kind of expected him to be a bit down in the dumps because he really misses being with Asuna, but to make matters worse even though he can see her in the real world there is that one dude who is being all touchy feely with Asuna while she is in a coma! WHAT THE HELL! The only thing I can think of is Sugou Nobuyuki is just really jealous that Kirito got to spend so much time in the game with her or he was jealous over kirito’s harem? Anyway going into the next arc I have to be honest and say those elf ears…look…so…freaking dumb! I swear all of the random elves characters look quite lame to me, but ah well hopefully the action and story are better this time around? Also I want to know more about Suguha (voiced by Ayana Taketatsu aka Azunyan from K-ON) and how she plays into the game because she was about to tell Kirito something about the game but she didn’t get the chance to say it. I think she might appear in the new game world! I hope so and I think she is the blonde girl or I could be way off? I wasn’t sure if the elf stuff required your real face.
It’s just missing fairy wings…Hmm…guess we’ll need to wait for next week for that~
About Tag Team
We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
one thing i can say Sugou is creepy… i had imagined him in a much cooler manner kind of like Suoh, the lider from the red’s on “K”(tha new anime with loli girl and the ball)
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Hell ya! Sugou is a big time CREEPER! Smelling someones hair in front of another person…wow…what…the…hell…
Ahahahaha true that xD
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
Considering tht Asuna hair is not washed in 2 years…. Creepy b*stard.
I do wonder, is there any equipment to wash her hair with the Nerv Gear on??
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
I think they have like a powder that acts as shampoo? Yeah I can’t imagine what Sugou was thinking other than
“I wanna do something ULTRA creepy…OH I CAN SMELL Asuna’s HAIR!”
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Creepers gonna creep…
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
ALWAYS
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
A filler episode has never been this entertaining to watch. Free from the game but Kirito is still consumed by his old habits. Signs of withdrawal are definitely there. Though it’s interesting that he is able to re-adapt to the real world this quickly. Most would take about double the isolation time to fully recover.
Good thing Sugu was revealed as his cousin cause it looked like she was trying to come onto him. There is no need for incest in this anime. I don’t mind it since this is anime but this time, that’s reserved for the ecchi genre, not this show.
I don’t know which are worse, Game villains or real world villains. I got one look at the guy and I already labeled him a total slimeball. He’s nothing but a mooching freeloader looking for the easy life. One sided and arranged marriges should be against the law. It’s even worse, near sick in nature, if one of the intended is unable to defend themselves and their point of view.
What were the odds that Asuna would sent to another game instead of waking up like everyone else? There needs to be detailed information on that. And judging from the new OP (Which I still feel is giving away entertaining information again), it’s an elf/fairy based fantasy game because everyone has pointy ears and the scenery screams elves. Asuna still looks the same in a way but Kirito looks awkward.
Though the OP gave it away, I knew once Kirito saw there was a chance to get Asuna back, he’d take it without a second thought and wouldn’t even consider the consequences of putting the Nervegear back on. Love makes people do unthinkable things.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
Love makes people do amazing things. <-fixed.
It's kind of common knowledge that new OPs are usually spoilerific, so I usually skip them until I'm several episodes in that I can no longer be spoiled.
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
it’s not filler…it’s part of the novel
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
YAYYYY FILLERRRR! Even though I know it is part of the “official” story line I have no idea what to expect with all those fairies flying around in the OP…
Right there really is no need for incest themes, but this is the world of anime and that always means its totally fine in the 2D world! Then again I know that subject is always up for debate I suppose >.>
I think real world villains are tougher because you have laws and money keeping Kirito away from Asuna, but I think video game villains might be easier to deal with especially for a pro gamer like Kirito hopefully.
I KNOW! WHAT THE HELL MAN?! I was kind of pissed at that whole thing because they missed their chance to do something dramatic and touching for us! ah well derp on them xD
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Since the theme of incest keeps coming up in these shows, I don’t know if I’ve said it here, but I’ll say it now: I have no problem with any two people who can consent to love each other loving each other. Whether they’re brother and sister, brother and brother, sister and sister, farmer’s daughter and city yokel, whatever. I have no problem with any people who can consent marrying each other, in any number or combination. Yes, with siblings, or cousins, or whatever, there’s a chance of bad gene reinforcement. But there’s also adoption and egg and sperm donation, if a brother / sister couple wanted to have children, along with nearly foolproof contraception (including the option of sterilization). Now, yes, the word consent is heavily featured in there, and opens up a lot of gray area, but if we’re talking normal people of actual romance age, it’s not that tough.
And since that might cause a bit of a comment thread (or hell, it may pass completely unnoticed, just crazy ol’ Highway again), maybe I’ll put show thoughts in another comment.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
You should take a look at RC SAO 15 comment section lol.
http://randomc.net/2012/10/13/sword-art-online-15/
Freaking out over incest.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
True it might not be a problem for most of us out there because we have seen countless anime with incest themes! I mean every damn season has a brand new one for us to either hate or kind of enjoy as a guilty pleasure? I know the current sister show is HILARIOUS! but they throw around the joke of the sister wanting the brother in a comical way…
As for IRL I don’t really have any issues with that other than to me personally I think it is reallllly wrong, but we should take into account how incest is seen in other countries I know for the US it probably is really frowned upon; however everyone is p much allowed to have their own views on that subject.
LOL no worries Highway! thanks for sharing your thoughts !
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Well, I’ve already railed on Metanorn’s comment sections about what I think is the horrible attitudes regarding sex in most human cultures. I just don’t see why anyone should be telling people who consent what they can and can’t do that doesn’t hurt other people. And like I said, people really get hung up on the offspring aspect, but it’s not like we’re living in the middle ages here. Pretty much anyone in the world can tell you about increased risk of birth defects, and there’s tons of workarounds for that.
And really, as prevalent as incest themes are in anime, it *never* happens in the real world. When the subject came up on another forum I read, a study was brought up that it’s been found that any people who spend a lot of time together before puberty are really unlikely to develop romantic or sexual feelings for each other. Of course, this puts the kibosh on half of the anime romances (childhood friends and incest), but I think we all acknowledge that they’re rare anyway. So it’s not like people are going to “catch” the incest bug from watching animes.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
True you are onto something with the talk of offspring! I think that is where things go into the OH GOD THAT IS SICK department and yeah there are plenty of other birth defects in the real world that don’t always involve incest.
Ahh I haven’t seen that anime and yeah not like watching that stuff infects you with some virus, but with anything and EVERYTHING people can take things from anime or video games and of course it paints a bad image for all of us…I suppose it really just depends on each person and how they take things they watch?
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
For the show, I liked it a lot. Per my comment above, I have no problem with Suguha having a crush on big brother, and who knows what kinds of things happen when someone has to tend to another person, and spends a lot of time thinking about that person’s needs. I had the distinct impression that before SAO, those two were not close. So it’s probably a nice change for Kazuto that his sister is now so close to him. Maybe he’ll find out later that it’s a little more than he bargained for, but nice anyway.
I hated this villain. It was like “Hey, Noumi was such a great character for Accel World, I’ll bring the older version of him in here for SAO!” Really, my reaction to this guy was almost exactly the same, and if he’s in the show a lot, it might elicit the same reaction. *skip skip skip*
Other than that, it was just getting us into the next arc. Panzer Vor!
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Right I don’t blame Suguha for falling for Kirito without the bad use of harem themes, but you are correct she probably spent every day watching after her brother/cousin.
Yeah the new villain isn’t really doing anything for me right now…and I Agree! Noumi was a lame ass bad guy! I hated him every freaking week and now we have this new creepy dude? Wow…I guess those two shows have that in common huh? Crappy villains we don’t want! Ahh!
Yeah new arc time even though I am not really excited to see those elfs and fairies…gah…the hair and ears are so dumb looking on Kirito.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 109 comments
if you hated shogou in this episode for what he did to asuna in the real world just wait he will do much worse ugly things to asuna
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Ohhh I can only imagine what he does to Asuna in the game world…and that sounds really terrible for her T__T
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
Sugou: Operation pissing the viewers of is a great success!! So tht why I should put more SMUG power and go over the top to ensure complete. global. hatestorm.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
ahahaha yes! Indeed! I really hate him so much…ahhhh he needs to go away, but I hope he is in the game world so Kirito can own him.