Sword Art Online – 18
She’s got a lot of loot in her treasure chest, if you know what I mean.
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Woop woop time to start your epic questing adventures with Kirito, Yui and Leafa because the team is assembled and ready to pwn some noobs! Just kidding a certain little sister/cousin has to figure out if she is suffering from the feels about Mr. Kirito…oh god…she is going to be so angry…anyway Overcooled are you prepared for this episode? |
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So prepared. My reading week just started today, so I have enough free time to (hopefully) catch up on anime, video games, and blog faster than the speed of sound. My posts will create a sonic boom of grandeur and amazement! …Or maybe I’ll actually work ahead on my neurobiology assignment. Balance is key. |
Exploration Fun with Leafa
Foshizzel // Just like Suguha I had a similar first start in the amazing world of MMORPG gaming after watching and hearing about them from my dad and brother but for some reason I always thought they were so dull and boring, until I gave it a shot and became quite addicted to them even now. So what drove Suguha to explore the virtual world? I think that answer is quite simple because she just wanted to share the experience just like Kirito without the fear of getting trapped in some random video game. I think siblings in general want to do whatever their older or younger siblings do or as my mom and dad used to say monkey see monkey do…yes…my parents were strange! So I know from personal experience my little sister would always get so jealous of me and my brother for riding a bus to school when she had to walk to her elementary school; however her school was like fifty steps from our house! But when she got the chance to ride a bus to her middle school she was like well that was kind of lame. Can you remember any events in your past or even now where you wanted to do similar things like your siblings, cousins or friends because they had fun with it or were you a super cool lone wolf who discovered new and exciting things on your own? Part of me wants Suguha to keep her virtual identity a secret forever; however I that Shinichi Nagata “Recon” will spill the beans after he discovers her brother is really the hero Kirito from Sword Art Online or will he keep it a secret? I guess we will have to wait and find out if he decides to investigate it because I have a feeling he knows the name Kirito.
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Anything for My Onii-chan
Overcooled // Without so much as a moment’s hesitation, Suguha drops her connection to her party and forsakes her position as a non-renegade player just to help Kirito. She’s just met him and knows next to nothing about him, yet she still finds the decision an easy one to make. It’s like a repeat of SAO where Asuna’s guild shackled her to her duties and freaked out as soon as she tried to exert even a little bit of freedom. I don’t know why there always has to be a possessive guild or party that can’t tolerate members leaving and has extreme reactions to everything. It’s irritating because I just know this means the party is going to face off with Leafa again and Kirito will end up saving her somehow. Everything always revolves around him. Seeing so many narrow-minded, selfish people who want to hog members to themselves is also pretty dumb. Why would you even party with someone like that in the first place? It’s not like you need to fight to escape back to the real world! JUST CHILL!
It’s great that Suguha does her own thing, but it all seems to come back around to relate to Kirito. She plays ALFO herself, but that’s because of her brother. Likewise, she quits her party and goes to the World Tree just for him (although she doesn’t know it’s for him). She’s a go-getter, but the story is framing everything so that is (unfortunately) revolves around Mr. Harem-magnet. The conversations or monologues about Suguha fawning over him couldn’t have been any more boring. Girl, you shoulda just left the party on your own time and partied it up =A=
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Asuna Still In Danger
Foshizzel // Yes Asuna is still stuck dealing with the dumb ass main boss character that has two things on his mind! Taking over the virtual world by altering and stealing memories and the thought of getting “closer” to Asuna! So what is she going to do? Simple for now she just has to play hard to get until Kirito breaks through the cage to save his princess, but how long can she really distract Sugou? I bet she has no idea what he does to her in the real world. Not that any of us really want to know how far his creeper powers go; however there probably is a chapter in the light novel for all your NSFW needs right? While that was annoying and creepy to watch I did grin and cheer when Asuna used the mirror to watch Sugou use his access code for the cage because as we saw in the previous episode her vision was blurry and now we have to wait and see if she even tries to use the code to escape, but I don’t think that will happen because she wants Kirito so save her and to kick the lame Fairy King from his tower of doom.
Overcooled // I didn’t really care much for the sections with Suguha and Kirito this week (*yawns dramatically*) but Asuna dealing with the sleazy advances of Sugou are always fun! Sugou gets even creepier this week, even pulling a maniacal laugh/face combo as he taunts Asuna about their future wedding and how Kirito will be invited. This saddens Asuna, but it also gives her hope to know Kirito is actually alive. Sugou forgot about that little detail. He also fails to notice that mirrors disable whatever sort of visual barrier he had to block Asuna from seeing the passcode to the cage. Now, she’ll have to time her escape properly for it to have any effect, so she’s not home free yet. Her mind is still stuck there, so escape does absolutely nothing for her. Sugou could just snatch her and stuff her back into the cage, and then alter her memories. In fact, I doubt he even needs to re-capture her. He could make her willingly flutter back to him and claim her undying love at his feet if he wanted to. So Asuna will have to be careful with this knowledge. I’m not even sure how Kirito can save Asuna since defeating him in the game does nothing. He would have to gather evidence of Sugou’s secret experiments in order to get people to investigate the issue and free the minds of the players. So far I have no idea how dicking around inside the actual game could achieve that unless Yui does some pretty insane hacking.
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Switching Teams
Foshizzel // During the episode after Leafa hooks up Kirito with a really GIANT FREAKING sword they start their pre adventure fun, but not before what I assume is her guild leader Sigurd showing up basically acting like WHOA GIRL WHERE YOU GOING? YOU CAN’T LEAVE! I swear that scene made me get so damn irritated because we have seen this before; like seriously Asuna had to deal with her guild letting her go away with Kirito and now Leafa is dealing with the same garbage? I mean sure it isn’t entirely the same, but I guess girls are ultra-rate in ALfheim Online huh? I already know Kirito will be the bamf of this arc and he will save everyone and sadly I think Leafa’s main role right now is just around to provide fanservice in the game world and real world thanks to a shower scene and random undressing events in the real world. Even though Leafa doesn’t really do anything for me personally as a character I still enjoyed watching her interact with Kirito and Yui which showed off some crazy expressions and over the top reactions about loveeeee and liking someone.
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Final Thoughts
In theory, a show that balanced the real world with the virtual world was something that I wanted. Seeing how deeply the game affected people in real life and switching between the two settings for variety sounded great. However, almost all of the time spent “offline” is dedicated to one-sided romance stories involving Suguha, and this woeful use of the real world has me in despair. Why focus on the useless friend who just so happens to like her? Why must every thought Suguha have revolve around Kirito or her love for her cousin (which is the same thing)? The worst part about it is that we don’t even have a 1% of believing all this fawning is going to have any effect on Kirito, because he’s with Asuna. It’s a giant waste of time to put Suguha’s love in the spotlight. Perhaps some of you like it as a tragic story of unrequited love, but it really turns me off. Can we please, please just have more exploring and magic and less of Suguha taking showers while thinking about you-know-who? Those parts are good! It’s just about everything else that has me rolling my eyes until they tumble out of my skull.
Not the best episode ever for me because there really is not a whole lot going on right now with Sword Art Online err I mean fairy incest art online, but there were plenty of good things for plot development all over the place! Like the sneaky red dudes at the end of the episode; however I wasn’t really blown away by that reveal. Will those dudes ever learn? I guess they really like getting owned by Kirito every time they challenge him huh? Aside from the lame ending I enjoyed all the random reactions from Leafa this week because she spazzes out over the littlest things like Yui almost revealing that she likes Kirito? That and her reaction to the pixie stick thing. At this point in the series I just want them to get to the mission of saving Asuna and move onto Kirito versus Sugou in an epic showdown, but I know we have to endure these “building up” episodes with Suguha fighting her feelings for Kirito.
What happens when you max it out? Will the censor mist disappear? TUNE IN NEXT WEEK TO FIND OUT!
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: iLurker with 19 comments
“but I guess girls are ultra-rate in ALfheim Online huh?”
I suppose “rate” means “rare”: But no, girls are actually relatively common in ALO. Maybe the anime doesn’t make it quite clear: but they don’t want her to leave because she is one of the strongest Sylphs due to her Kendo training, aside from Sigurd being a possessive, egoistic, short-tempered jerk.
Also, there is no NSFW chapter in the light novel and as far as I remember the light novel hadn’t really this much fanservice w.r.t. Leafa except mentioning 1-2 times that she has a rather large bust. The anime is much more generous with this.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yeah I figured there were girls in ALfheim online we just don’t get to SEE that because of course the story is set on Kirito/Asuna/Leafa/Evil dude for the most part.
True Leafa is a pro at Kendo so that helps a ton with combat and stuff like that! LOL yeah that part with Sigurd was a bit lame…
Ohhhh? I kept hearing about stuff he has done to Asuna in the real world, but I think after 16.5 we don’t really need to know any more stories like that because it doesn’t really “add” anything new lolol
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I didn’t find the “Hey, you can’t leave our guild/party!” possessive attitude to be out of character for an MMO at all. That has been happening in WoW for 8 years now, and I’m sure that it’s not anything special about WoW. I must admit I’ve even been guilty of it a few times, before I realized that people should just be happy with what they’re doing, and that nobody can ‘make’ someone leave your guild. If they want to leave, they want to leave.
Seems like as OC likes the story, I don’t, and as she doesn’t, I do. I’m totally fine with silly romance hijinks, and it’s not like the story is *all* romance hijinks. There’s still cretinous Slimegou, and now there’s going to be a big fight coming up.
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
yeah, i sufered that, like years ago when ragnarok was like at the begining on Asian or european servers; i have always been the aloof guy who disapears in caves and the likes, but, when it came the “guild wars” people like turn into mindless beasts, wich is kinda like what happened in the anime because each race is a big clan or the likes; sothe are at constantly confrontation, totally diferent from the KOBxAsuna problem
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
I know what you mean Highway, been there done that whole thing with WoW! You can’t really tell someone to leave like you said they either stay or do whatever makes them happy.
Ahhh yeah I am kind of in the middle of liking/hating the story and the romance stuff is nice but just not for me! I don’t mind that we have romance in SAO because it has always been there even from the start with the side arcs xD
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I guess it’s not out of character for Guilds and parties t become possessive of members who are very talented. I usually decline guild requests, but my friend was pressured into staying in his Guild for longer because he was such an asset. It’s mostly just annoying to think that people are that selfish =A=
We have opposite tastes for what we like in SAO it seems, haha. If it was ALL romance I wouldn’t have made it this far without dropping it, so I’m thankful for that much at least!
POWUH: iLurker with 2 comments
Eh…Kirito wasn’t really the reason Leafa left Sylvian. It was more that she wanted to be free, and Sigurd annoyed her greatly. It’s hinted that she didn’t even like Sylvian really. Kirito was just an easy excuse. The action should pick up soon if it follows the light novel correctly.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Hmmm even if that is true the anime version certainly made it appear as if Kirito was the sole reason she left her “group” but maybe she wanted to leave a long time ago? That might explain why she wasn’t jumping on the chance to play the game or do her Kendo practice?
Still I think Kirito might have been the push Leafa needed for leaving even if that wasn’t his intent after meeting her.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I thought it was pretty obvious that her satisfaction with the group and what she was doing was pretty low, and that Kirito and his self-quest to get to the tree were finally her excuse / justification to leave. I think that Recon was a big part of that, since she’s not interested in him at all, and he’s fawning over her, but it’s hard to discount Sigurd’s horrible attitude. That kind of possessive attitude comes out more regularly than you think, not just when someone is going to leave.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
True I guess she was planning on quitting that team eventually to see the rest of the game world, but with Kirito suddenly appearing I assume the other players automatically think he is stealing Leafa away! I guess you could use that angle huh?
Yeah…Sigurd needs to back off and leave Leafa to her own thoughts and wishes! After all she is able to make her own choices.
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
man they should make a poll:
wich one is more disgusting? Sigourd or Sugou?
which by the way got even more creepy and bizarre
and
Saturday’s battle is gonna be awesome*-*9
man Yui is soooo cute and the kiss she gave on kirito’s cheek…so moe!it alomst melted my cold and black heart! Ç.Ç
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
ahahah that would be a interesting poll.
I hope so! I WANT SOME FIGHTING and action! I am getting bored of the whole sibling romance…seriously SAVE ASUNA ALREADY…
I don’t mind tiny Yui anymore she is growing on me <3
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
i think they’re stalking because from what i know it’s suppose to finish at episode 25 so they’re putting the whole suguha’s conflict kiritoXkazuto(she dosen’t know yet)
if it were me i would jump all this jazz to make the arc faster and more neat, becauseShow ▼
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yeah I guess so huh? I just don’t want it to be episode 25 at the final fifteen minutes she discovers the truth about Kirito and then were left to guess how things ended…
I can’t wait! BRING ON THE SPEED <3
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
And I shall say, wait for S2 xD
Don’t worry, the reveal will come be4 the finale.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Sugu’s fascination with ALfheim Online after she dreaded virtual reality for trapping Kirito shows people would prefer being in a fantasy world rather than reality any day of the week. That’s why I like these kinds of animes. The worlds and scenery are great to look at.
It’s annoying how these guilds are always so possessive. Just because someone joins a group, it doesn’t mean they become property so they can maintain their reputation. They care more about that then their own members. The leads are always the center of attention so it’s not surprising Leafa gave up nearly everything to go off with Kirito. The girls abandon everything while the guy gains everything. On a side note, Kirito is stealing the Soldier look from Final Fantasy VII with his clothes. Particularly Sephiroth’s look. They are very similar. But he also has spiky hair like Zack Fair and that Buster sword he just got.
Sugou… Why won’t you die? It’s nothing short of creepy every time I see this guy on screen, real world or otherwise. Asuna wins points for not being the helpless damsel in distress waiting for a rescue. Better to try figure out an escape by yourself instead of wasting valuable time but I have a feeling Sugou is onto her.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
They’re so rude! They even said Leafa could leave whenever she wanted at first, but then changed their minds when they found out she was so good at the game. I think Kirito is already a renegade, so he’s kind of dragging her down…not that he really cares much about the game. He’s just there to save Asuna.
Do you think Sugou knows she knows the code and is baiting her to try a reckless escape? I didn’t think he noticed.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I’ll take this opportunity to admit that I was wrong about Kirito’s initial weirdness in ALO. If Slimegou had been bright enough to figure out to make an exception for Kirito, he would also have put something that would WARN HIM if Kirito ever joined the game. Instead, he spends his time gloating to Asuna that he drove Kazuto away from her bedside, and saying he’s probably too scared to do anything for her. So Slimegou is not just a really bad guy, he’s a stupid really bad guy. I made a mistake in overestimating his apparently paltry intelligence.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
And what I meant to add to that comment was that if Slimegou isn’t bright enough to trace Kirito in his own game, then he’s not bright enough to realize that Asuna is trying to memorize the code to break out.
What I find stupid, also, is that the game needs him to *punch in a combination* to get in and out of the cage. Really? This isn’t either an item he has, or a special command, or ANYTHING else? It feels like a lame Macguffin. Gosh, why doesn’t he make a point of hanging the key up on the nail right outside the cage!
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
i think that’s because he’s overconfident
and
beacuse punching combinations on door is badass*not on a game of fairies of course! Now if had an especial incantation that apeared in front of him, now that would be Top.
POWUH: 500-599 with 543 comments
I have to say, Asuna is more interesting right now because of her awkward situation. While I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, it makes a better story than one that seems an awful lot like a previous one… oh, right, it was in this show too. Kirito trying to climb up a tower. Yayyy
Sugou is so annoying and yucky. Just yucky. Nothing more, really. As BlackBriar said, points to Asuna for using mirror skills and wanting to get out.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
Be glad tht you are not seeing the same background everytime or forced to watch them climb every step of it ala Tartarus lol. Also ALo is just SAO with a new paint job so its justified?
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
actually it’s kinda worse than that, ALO, an unfinished beta version of SAO;they just put magic system and fairies
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
Slimegou and RECTO is one hell of a lazy @$$holes.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I’m glad Asuna is taking charge (as much as she can while in captivity).
Since ALO is so similar to SAO I don’t know how much they’ll be able to spice it up. Especially without a death penalty.
…Speaking of Tartarus, I wonder when we’ll get to see that Persona 3 movie? <3
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 109 comments
here the next episode preview you wanted focus on the quest to save asuna looks like it will happen in the next episode along with some action http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Qx7lPU76Ltk it seems we will have some magic too
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
FK YA 19 looks 1000% better than 15-18 >.<
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 109 comments
and here the next episodes titles which will end the show:
episode 20:General of the Blazing Flames
episode 21: The Truth about ALfheim
episode 22:Grand Quest
episode 23: Bonds
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
fufufu thanks!